[60]
But let no innovation be established contrary to the
precedents and principles of our ancestors.— I will not say, at this moment, that
our ancestors in peace always obeyed usage, but in war were always guided by expediency, and
always accommodated themselves with new plans to the new emergencies of the times. I will not
say that two most important wars, the Punic war and the Spanish war, were put an end to by one
general; that two most powerful cities, which threatened the greatest danger to this
empire— Carthage and Numantia, were destroyed by the same Scipio. I will not remind
you that it was but lately determined by you and by your ancestors, to rest all the hopes of
the empire on Caius Marius, so that the same man conducted the war against Jugurtha, and
against the Cimbri, and against the Teutones. But recollect, in the case of Cnaeus Pompeius
himself, with reference to whom Catulus objects to having any new regulations introduced, how
many new laws have been made with the most willing consent of Quintus Catulus.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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