1What state ever existed before (I do not speak of the Athenians, who are said once to have held the sea far and wide, nor of the Carthaginians, who were very strong in fleets and maritime affairs, nor of the Rhodians, whose naval discipline and glory have lasted down to our own time), what state, I say, was ever before so weak or so tiny that it did not defend its own harbours and fields and some part of its region and coast by itself? 1But, by Hercules, for a number of years in succession before the Gabinian law, the Roman people, whose name has remained unconquered in naval battles down to our own time, was deprived of a great part, indeed by far the greatest part, not only of its advantage but also of its dignity and empire.
55We, whose ancestors overcame King Antiochus and Perseus with their fleets and defeated in every naval battle the Carthaginians, men most practised and best prepared in maritime affairs, we were no longer a match for the pirates anywhere. 55We, who previously not only kept Italy safe but could guarantee the safety of all our allies on the furthest coasts by the authority of our empire, at a time when the island of Delos, situated so far from us in the Aegean Sea, to which everyone from everywhere travelled with merchandise and cargoes, packed with riches, small and without a wall, feared nothing, we the same were deprived not only of our provinces and the sea coasts of Italy and our harbours but even of the Appian Way.
55And in those times were the magistrates of the Roman people not ashamed to mount this very place, when our ancestors had left it to us adorned with naval trophies and the spoils of fleets!