4.
[9]
But Mithridates employed all the time which he had left to him, not in forgetting the old
war, but in preparing for a new one; and, after he had built and equipped very large fleets,
and had got together mighty armies from every nation he could, and had pretended to be
preparing war against the tribes of the Bosphorus, his neighbours, sent ambassadors and
letters as far as Spain to those chiefs with whom we
were at war at the time, in order that, as you would by that means have war waged against you
in the two parts of the world the furthest separated and most remote of all from one another,
by two separate enemies warring against you with one uniform plan, you, hampered by the double
enmity, might find that you were fighting for the empire itself. However;
[10]
the danger on one side, the danger from Sertorius and from Spain, which had much the most solid foundation and the most
formidable strength, was warded off by the divine wisdom and extraordinary valour of Cnaeus
Pompeius. And on the other side of the empire, affairs were so managed by Lucilius Lucullus,
that most illustrious of men, that the beginning, of all those achievements in those
countries, great and eminent as they were, deserve to be attributed not to his good fortune
but to his valour; but the latter events which have taken place lately, ought to be imputed
not to his fault, but to his ill-fortune. However, of Lucullus I will speak hereafter, and I
will speak, O Romans, in such a manner, that his true glory shall not appear to be at all
disparaged by my pleading, nor, on the other hand, shall any undeserved credit seem to be
given to him.
[11]
At present, when we are speaking of the
dignity and glory of your empire, since that is the beginning of my oration, consider what
feelings you think you ought to entertain.
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