[58]
It is now in the power of Cnaeus Pompeius to act on your plan. For he has
made a mistake. He had never had a taste for that philosophy of yours. The
foolish man has already triumphed three times. Crassus, I am ashamed of you.
What was the reason that, after a most formidable war had been brought to a
termination by you, you showed such eagerness to get that laurel crown
decreed to you by the senate? Publius Servilius, Quintus Metellus, Caius
Curio, Lucius Africanus, why did not you all become pupils of this learned,
of this most wise man, before falling into such blunders as you did? Even my
friend Caius Pomptinus has it not now in his power to retrace his steps, for
he is prevented by the religious ceremonies which have been begun.1 O you foolish Camilli,
and Curii, and Fabricii, and Calatini, and Scipios, and Marcelli, and
Maximi! O you insane Paullus, you blockhead Marius! Oh how stupid, too, were
the fathers of both these consuls; for they, too, celebrated triumphs.
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1 Pomptinus had been praetor in Cicero's consulship; the next year he had subdued the Allobroges, but he did not celebrate his triumph till the year A.U.C. 700, in the consulship of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Appius Claudius Pulcher.
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