1Come now, how greatly this fact declares the same man's authority among the enemies of the Roman people, that from places so far away and so different, in so short a time, they all surrendered to him alone! 1that envoys from the Cretan confederacy, though our commander and his army were on their island, came to Gnaeus Pompey almost at the ends of the earth and said that all the cities of the Cretans wished to surrender to him! 1What then? 1did not this same Mithridates send an envoy all the way to Spain to that same Pompey? 1the man whom Pompey always regarded as an envoy, those who were annoyed that he had been sent to Pompey of all people preferred to regard as a spy rather than an envoy.
1You can therefore now decide, citizens, how much you think this authority, enlarged afterwards by many achievements and by your great judgements, will count for with those kings and with foreign nations. 47It remains for me to speak of good fortune, which no one can guarantee for himself but which we can remember and record of another, cautiously and briefly, as it is right for men to speak of the power of the gods. 47For my view is this, that commands were entrusted and armies committed more often to Maximus, Marcellus, Scipio, Marius and the other great commanders not only because of their merit but also because of their fortune.
47For there has surely been, for certain very great men, a kind of fortune joined to them by the gods, leading to greatness and glory and the successful conduct of great affairs. 47But concerning the good fortune of this man of whom we are now speaking I shall use this restraint in speaking: I shall not say that fortune lies in his power, but we shall be seen to remember the past and hope for what remains, lest our speech seem either hateful or ungrateful to the immortal gods. 48And so I am not going to proclaim how great were the deeds he performed at home and in the field, on land and sea, and with how great good fortune, so that not only did citizens always assent to his wishes, allies comply and enemies obey, but even winds and storms favoured them; 48this I shall say very briefly, that no one has ever been so shameless as to dare to wish silently from the immortal gods for as many and as great blessings as the immortal gods have bestowed on Pompey.
48That this may be his own and lasting, citizens, you ought, as you do, both to wish and to pray, for the sake both of the common safety and of the empire and of the man himself. 49Therefore, since the war is both so necessary that it cannot be neglected and so great that it must be conducted with the utmost care, and since you can put in charge of it a commander in whom there is outstanding knowledge of war, singular merit, most illustrious authority and exceptional fortune, do you hesitate, citizens, to apply this great blessing, which has been offered and given to you by the immortal gods, to preserving and enlarging the state?
49But if at Rome Gnaeus