[15]
I, indeed, think on the contrary, O judges, that while Cnaeus Pompeius
excels in every kind and variety of accomplishment, even of those which are
not easily learnt without the most perfect leisure for their study, his most
extraordinary credit and his most admirable knowledge consists in his
thorough acquaintance with the treaties, and agreements, and conditions of
other peoples, kings, and foreign nations, in short, with the entire laws of
war and peace; unless, indeed, you mean to make out that the things which
our books teach us while in the shade and at our leisure, Cnaeus Pompeius
was incapable of learning, either from books, when he was in the enjoyment
of peace, or from the actual transactions, when he was engaged in the
business of the state.
It is my opinion, O judges,1 this action is
more to be attributed to the fault of the times than of the individual. Nor
will I say any more about a trial of so scandalous a description. For it is
the stain and disgrace of this age to envy virtue, and to seek to crush the
budding flower of worth and dignity. In truth, if Cnaeus Pompeius had lived
five hundred years ago,
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1 Orellius considers the text here as hopelessly corrupt, I have translated the reading of Hottomann, which Orellius approves, and gives in his note.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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