Man. 9.1Requīrētur fortasse nunc quem ad modum, cum haec ita sint, reliquum possit magnum esse bellum.Perhaps it will now be asked how, since this is so, what remains of the war can be great. Man. 9.1Cognōscite, Quirītēs;Learn, citizens; Man. 9.1nōn enim hoc sine causā quaerī vidētur.for this does not seem to be asked without reason. Man. 9.1Prīmum ex suō regnō sīc Mithridātēs profūgit ut ex eōdem Pontō Mēdēa illa quondam fūgisse dīcitur, quam praedicant in fugā frātris suī membra in eīs locīs quā sē parēns persequerētur dissipāvisse, ut eōrum conlēctiō dispersa maerorque patrius celeritātem cōnsequendī retardāret.First, Mithridates fled from his kingdom just as Medea of old is said to have fled from this same Pontus; they relate that in her flight she scattered the limbs of her brother in the places where her father would pursue her, so that the gathering of the scattered parts and a father's grief might slow the speed of his pursuit. Man. 9.1Sīc Mithridātēs fugiēns maximam vim aurī atque argentī pulcherrimārumque rērum omnium quās et ā maiōribus accēperat et ipse bellō superiōre ex tōtā Asiā dīreptās in suum regnum congesserat in Pontō omnem relīquit.So Mithridates, as he fled, left behind in Pontus the whole vast mass of gold and silver and of all the most beautiful things which he had both received from his ancestors and had himself plundered from all Asia in the earlier war and heaped up in his kingdom.
Man. 9.1Haec dum nostrī conligunt omnia dīligentius, rēx ipse ē manibus effūgit.While our men were gathering all this up too diligently, the king himself escaped from their hands. Man. 9.1Ita illum in persequendī studiō maeror, hōs laetitia tardāvit.So grief slowed the one in his eagerness to pursue, and joy slowed the others. Man. 9.23Hunc in illō timōre et fugā Tigrānēs, rēx Armenius, excēpit diffīdentemque rēbus suīs cōnfirmāvit et adflīctum ērēxit perditumque recreāvit.In this fear and flight Tigranes, the Armenian king, received him, reassured him when he despaired of his fortunes, raised him up when he was crushed, and revived him when he was ruined. Man. 9.23Cuius in regnum posteā quam Lūcullus cum exercitū vēnit, plūrēs etiam gentēs contrā imperātōrem nostrum concitātae sunt.After Lucullus came into his kingdom with an army, still more nations were stirred up against our commander. Man. 9.23Erat enim metus iniectus eīs nātiōnibus quās numquam populus Rōmānus neque lacessendās bellō neque temptandās putāvit;For fear had been struck into those nations which the Roman people had never thought of either provoking or attacking in war; Man. 9.23erat etiam alia gravis atque vehemēns opīniō quae per animōs gentium barbarārum pervāserat, fānī locuplētissimī et religiōsissimī dīripiendī causā in eās ōrās nostrum esse exercitum adductum.there was also another serious and powerful belief which had spread through the minds of the barbarian peoples, that our army had been led into those regions to plunder a very rich and very holy temple.
Man. 9.23Ita nātiōnēs multae atque magnae novō quōdam terrōre ac metū concitābantur.So many great nations were being stirred up by a new kind of terror and fear. Man. 9.23Noster autem exercitus, tametsī urbem ex Tigrānī regnō cēperat et proeliīs ūsus erat secundīs, tamen nimiā longinquitāte locōrum ac dēsīderiō suōrum commovēbātur.Our army, however, although it had taken a city from Tigranes' kingdom and had enjoyed success in battle, was nevertheless unsettled by the excessive distance of the place and by longing for their families. Man. 9.24Hīc iam plūra nōn dīcam;Here I shall say no more; Man. 9.24fuit enim illud extrēmum ut ex eīs locīs ā mīlitibus nostrīs reditus magis mātūrus quam prōgressiō longior quaererētur.for the end of it was that our soldiers sought a speedy return from those places rather than a further advance. Man. 9.24Mithridātēs autem sē et suam manum iam cōnfirmārat eōrum operā quī ad eum ex ipsīus regnō concesserant et magnīs adventīciīs auxiliīs multōrum rēgum et nātiōnum iuvābātur.Mithridates, meanwhile, had already strengthened himself and his band through the help of those who had gathered to him from his own kingdom, and was aided by large auxiliary forces that came in from many kings and nations.
Man. 9.24Iam hoc ferē sīc fierī solēre accēpimus ut rēgum adflīctae fortūnae facile multōrum opēs adliciant ad misericordiam, maximēque eōrum quī aut rēgēs sunt aut vīvunt in regnō, ut eīs nōmen rēgāle magnum et sānctum esse videātur.We know that this generally tends to happen: that the misfortunes of kings easily draw the resources of many to pity them, especially of those who are either kings or live under a king, since to them the royal name seems great and sacred. Man. 9.25Itaque tantum victus efficere potuit quantum incolumis numquam est ausus optāre.And so in defeat he was able to achieve more than he had ever dared to wish for when unharmed. Man. 9.25Nam cum sē in regnum suum recēpisset, nōn fuit eō contentus quod eī praeter spem acciderat, ut illam posteā quam pulsus erat terram umquam attingeret, sed in exercitum nostrum clārum atque victōrem impetum fēcit.For when he had got back into his kingdom, he was not content with what had happened to him beyond his hope, that he should ever set foot on that land after he had been driven out, but he made an attack on our famous and victorious army.
Man. 9.25Sinite hōc locō, Quirītēs, sīcut poētae solent quī rēs Rōmānās scrībunt, praeterīre mē nostram calamitātem, quae tanta fuit ut eam ad aurīs imperātōris nōn ex proeliō nūntius sed ex sermōne rūmor adferret.Allow me at this point, citizens, as poets do who write of Roman history, to pass over our disaster, which was so great that it reached the commander's ears not through a messenger from the battle but through a rumour from common talk. Man. 9.25Hīc in illō ipsō malō gravissimāque bellī offēnsiōne L. Lūcullus, quī tamen aliquā ex parte eīs incommodīs medērī fortasse potuisset, vestrō iussū coāctus quī imperī diūturnitātī modum statuendum vetere exemplō putāvistis, partim mīlitum quī iam stīpendiīs cōnfectīs erant dīmīsit, partim M'. Glabriōnī trādidit.At this point, in the very midst of that misfortune and most serious reverse in the war, Lucius Lucullus, who might perhaps still have been able to remedy those setbacks in some measure, was compelled by your order — for you thought, following old precedent, that a limit should be set to the length of a command — to discharge part of his soldiers, who had already completed their service, and to hand over part to Manius Glabrio.
Man. 9.26Multa praetereō cōnsultō;I pass over many things on purpose; Man. 9.26sed eā vōs coniectūrā perspicite quantum illud bellum factum putētis quod coniungant rēgēs potentissimī, renovent agitātae nātiōnēs, suscipiant integrae gentēs, novus imperātor noster accipiat vetere exercitū pulsō.but judge for yourselves by conjecture how great you think that war has become which the most powerful kings are joining, stirred-up nations are renewing, untouched peoples are taking up, and a new commander of ours is taking over after the old army has been driven back.