[46]
Come, now; what a great proof does this circumstance afford us of the influence of the same
man on the enemies of the Roman people, that all of them, living in countries so far distant
from us and from each other, surrendered themselves to him alone in so short a time? that the
ambassadors of the Cretans, though there was at the time a general 1 and an army
of ours in their island came almost to the end of the world to Cnaeus Pompeius, and said, all
the cities of the Cretans were willing to surrender themselves to him? What did Mithridates
himself do? Did he not send an ambassador into Spain
to the same Cnaeus Pompeius? a man whom Pompeius has always considered an ambassador, but who
that party, to whom it has always been a source of annoyance that he was sent to him
particularly, have contended was sent as a spy rather than as an ambassador. You can now,
then, O Romans, form an accurate judgment how much weight you must suppose that this authority
of his—now, too, that it has been further increased by many subsequent exploits, and
by many commendatory resolutions of your own—will have with those kings and among
foreign nations.
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1 Metellus, afterwards called Creticus, from his victory over the Cretans.
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