Man. 10.1Satis multa mihi verba fēcisse videor quā rē esset hoc bellum genere ipsō necessārium, magnitūdine perīculōsum.I think I have said enough about why this war is by its very nature necessary and by its scale dangerous. Man. 10.1Restat ut dē imperātōre ad id bellum dēligendō ac tantīs rēbus praeficiendō dīcendum esse videātur.It remains, it seems, to speak about choosing a commander for that war and putting him in charge of such great affairs. Man. 10.1Vtinam, Quirītēs, virōrum fortium atque innocentium cōpiam tantam habērētis ut haec vōbīs dēlīberātiō difficilis esset quemnam potissimum tantīs rēbus ac tantō bellō praeficiendum putārētis!I wish, citizens, that you had so great a supply of brave and upright men that this deliberation would be difficult for you, whom above all you thought should be put in charge of such great affairs and so great a war! Man. 10.1Nunc vērō cum sit ūnus Pompeius quī nōn modo eōrum hominum quī nunc sunt glōriam sed etiam antīquitātis memoriam virtūte superārit, quae rēs est quae cuiusquam animum in hāc causā dubium facere possit?But as things are, since Pompey is the one man who has surpassed in merit not only the glory of the men of today but even the memory of antiquity, what is there that could make anyone's mind doubtful in this case?
Man. 10.28Ego enim sīc exīstimō, in summō imperātōre quattuor hās rēs īnesse oportēre, scientiam reī mīlitāris, virtūtem, auctōritātem, fēlīcitātem.For my view is this, that a supreme commander ought to possess these four qualities: knowledge of warfare, ability, authority and good fortune. Man. 10.28Quis igitur hōc homine scientior umquam aut fuit aut esse dēbuit?Who, then, has ever been, or ought to have been, more knowledgeable than this man? Man. 10.28quī ē lūdō atque ē pueritiae disciplīnīs bellō maximō atque ācerrimīs hostibus ad patris exercitum atque in mīlitiae disciplīnam profectus est, quī extrēmā pueritiā mīles in exercitū summī fuit imperātōris, ineunte adulēscentiā maximī ipse exercitūs imperātor, quī saepius cum hoste cōnflīxit quam quisquam cum inimīcō concertāvit, plūra bella gessit quam cēterī lēgērunt, plūrīs prōvinciās cōnfēcit quam aliī concupīvērunt, cuius adulēscentia ad scientiam reī mīlitāris nōn aliēnīs praeceptīs sed suīs imperiīs, nōn offēnsiōnibus bellī sed victōriīs, nōn stīpendiīs sed triumphīs est ērudīta.He went from school and the training of boyhood, in a very great war and against the fiercest enemies, to his father's army and to the discipline of military service; at the very end of boyhood he was a soldier in the army of a supreme commander, and at the start of manhood was himself commander of a very great army; he has clashed with the enemy more often than anyone has quarrelled with a personal opponent, has waged more wars than others have read of, has subdued more provinces than others have coveted; his youth was trained in the knowledge of warfare not by the precepts of others but by his own commands, not by defeats in war but by victories, not by campaigns but by triumphs.
Man. 10.28Quod dēnique genus esse bellī potest in quō illum nōn exercuerit fortūna reī pūblicae?What kind of war, in short, can there be in which the fortune of the state has not exercised him? Man. 10.28Cīvīle, Āfricānum, Trānsalpīnum, Hispāniēnse mīxtum ex cīvibus atque ex bellicōsissimīs nātiōnibus, servīle, nāvāle bellum, varia et dīversa genera et bellōrum et hostium nōn sōlum gesta ab hōc ūnō sed etiam cōnfecta nūllam rem esse dēclārant in ūsū positam mīlitārī quae huius virī scientiam fugere possit.Civil war, African, Transalpine, Spanish — a mixture of citizens and the most warlike nations — the slave war, the naval war: these varied and different kinds both of wars and of enemies, not only waged by this one man but also brought to an end, declare that there is nothing within military experience that could escape this man's knowledge.