Man. 17.1Pompeius prīvātus esset hōc tempore, tamen ad tantum bellum is erat dēligendus atque mittendus;Pompey were a private citizen at this time, he ought still to be chosen and sent to so great a war; Man. 17.1nunc cum ad cēterās summās ūtilitātēs haec quoque opportūnitās adiungātur ut in eīs ipsīs locīs adsit, ut habeat exercitum, ut ab eīs quī habent accipere statim possit, quid exspectāmus?now, when to his other supreme advantages there is added this opportunity too, that he is present in those very regions, that he has an army, that he can at once take over from those who have armies, what are we waiting for? Man. 17.1aut cūr nōn ducibus dīs immortālibus eīdem cui cētera summā cum salūte reī pūblicae commissa sunt hoc quoque bellum rēgium commendāmus?or why, with the immortal gods as our guides, do we not entrust this war against the kings too to the same man to whom everything else has been entrusted with the greatest benefit to the state? Man. 17.51At enim vir clārissimus, amantissimus reī pūblicae, vestrīs beneficiīs amplissimīs adfectus, Catulus, itemque summīs ōrnāmentīs honōris, fortūnae, virtūtis, ingenī praeditus, Hortēnsius, ab hāc ratiōne dissentiunt.But, it is said, a most illustrious man and a great lover of the state, endowed with your most generous favours, Catulus, and likewise a man endowed with the highest distinctions of office, fortune, merit and talent, Hortensius, disagree with this plan.
Man. 17.51Quōrum ego auctōritātem apud vōs multīs locīs plūrimum valuisse et valēre oportēre cōnfiteor;Their authority, I admit, has carried the greatest weight with you on many occasions and ought to carry weight; Man. 17.51sed in hāc causā, tametsī cognōstis auctōritātēs contrāriās virōrum fortissimōrum et clārissimōrum, tamen omissīs auctōritātibus ipsā rē ac ratiōne exquīrere possumus vēritātem, atque hōc facilius quod ea omnia quae ā mē adhūc dicta sunt īdem istī vēra esse concēdunt, et necessārium bellum esse et magnum et in ūnō Cn. Pompeiō summa esse omnia.but in this case, although you know that the authorities of very brave and very illustrious men are opposed, we can nevertheless set authorities aside and search out the truth from the facts themselves and from reason, and all the more easily because these same men concede that everything I have said so far is true: that the war is necessary and great, and that all the highest qualities are found in Gnaeus Pompey alone. Man. 17.52Quid igitur ait Hortēnsius?What, then, does Hortensius say? Man. 17.52Sī ūnī omnia tribuenda sint, dignissimum esse Pompeium, sed ad ūnum tamen omnia dēferrī nōn oportēre.That if everything is to be given to one man, Pompey is most worthy of it, but that nevertheless everything ought not to be entrusted to one man.
Man. 17.52Obsolēvit iam ista ōrātiō rē multō magis quam verbīs refūtāta.That argument is out of date now, refuted far more by facts than by words. Man. 17.52Nam tū īdem, Hortēnsī, multa prō tuā summā cōpiā ac singulārī facultāte dīcendī et in senātū contrā virum fortem, Gabīnium, graviter ōrnātēque dīxistī, cum is dē ūnō imperātōre contrā praedōnēs cōnstituendō lēgem prōmulgāsset, et ex hōc ipsō locō permulta item contrā eam lēgem verba fēcistī.For you yourself, Hortensius, with your great fluency and singular skill in speaking, spoke at length, gravely and eloquently, in the senate against a brave man, Gabinius, when he had proposed a law about appointing a single commander against the pirates, and from this very place you likewise made a great many speeches against that law. Man. 17.53Quid?What then? Man. 17.53tum, per deōs immortālīs!at that time, by the immortal gods! Man. 17.53sī plūs apud populum Rōmānum auctōritās tua quam ipsīus populī Rōmānī salūs et vēra causa valuisset, hodiē hanc glōriam atque hoc orbis terrae imperium tenērēmus?if your authority had counted for more with the Roman people than the safety and true interest of the Roman people itself, would we today hold this glory and this empire over the world?
Man. 17.53An tibi tum imperium hoc esse vidēbātur cum populī Rōmānī lēgātī quaestōrēs praetōrēsque capiēbantur, cum ex omnibus prōvinciīs commeātū et prīvātō et pūblicō prohibēbāmur, cum ita clausa nōbīs erant maria omnia ut neque prīvātam rem trānsmarīnam neque pūblicam iam obīre possēmus?Or did this seem to you to be an empire at the time when envoys, quaestors and praetors of the Roman people were being captured, when we were cut off from all the provinces from supplies both private and public, when all the seas were so closed to us that we could no longer conduct either private or public business overseas?