Man. 3.1Et quoniam semper appetentēs glōriae praeter cēterās gentīs atque avidī laudis fuistis, dēlenda vōbīs est illa macula Mithridāticō bellō superiōre concepta quae penitus iam īnsēdit ac nimis inveterāvit in populī Rōmānī nōmine, quod is quī ūnō diē tōtā in Asiā tot in cīvitātibus ūnō nūntiō atque ūnā significātiōne omnīs cīvīs Rōmānōs necandōs trucīdandōsque cūrāvit, nōn modo adhūc poenam nūllam suō dignam scelere suscēpit sed ab illō tempore annum iam tertium et vīcēsimum regnat, et ita regnat ut sē nōn Pontī neque Cappadociae latebrīs occultāre velit sed ēmergere ex patriō regnō atque in vestrīs vectīgālibus, hoc est in Asiae lūce, versārī.And since you have always been, beyond all other nations, eager for glory and greedy for praise, you must wipe out that stain contracted in the earlier Mithridatic war, which has now sunk deep and grown too old in the name of the Roman people: that the man who on a single day, throughout all Asia, in so many cities, by a single message and a single signal, had all Roman citizens killed and butchered, has not only so far suffered no punishment worthy of his crime, but is now in the twenty-third year of his reign since that time, and reigns in such a way that he does not wish to hide in the recesses of Pontus or Cappadocia but to break out of his ancestral kingdom and move about among your revenues, that is, in the full light of Asia.
Man. 3.8Etenim adhūc ita nostrī cum illō rēge contendērunt imperātōrēs ut ab illō īnsignia victōriae, nōn victōriam reportārent.Indeed, up to now our commanders have contended with that king in such a way that they brought back from him the trappings of victory, not victory. Man. 3.8Triumphāvit Sulla, triumphāvit Mūrēna dē Mithridāte, duo fortissimī virī et summī imperātōrēs, sed ita triumphārunt ut ille pulsus superātusque regnāret.Sulla triumphed, Murena triumphed over Mithridates, two very brave men and outstanding commanders, but they triumphed in such a way that he, though beaten and overcome, went on reigning. Man. 3.8Vērum tamen illīs imperātōribus laus est tribuenda quod ēgērunt, venia danda quod relīquērunt, proptereā quod ab eō bellō Sullam in Ītaliam rēs pūblica, Mūrēnam Sulla revocāvit.Even so, those commanders must be given praise for what they did and pardon for what they left undone, because the state recalled Sulla from that war to Italy, and Sulla recalled Murena.