DE PROVINCIIS CONSULARIBUS ORATIO. INTRODUCTION. In the tribunate of C. Sempronius Gracchus (B.c. 123) a Lex was enacted, pursuant to which before the Consular Comitia of each year, the senate named two provinces which the consuls who might be elected were to have after the expiration of their office. The provinces were named Consulares; and the senate could select out of all the provinces the two which should be assigned to the future consuls. The consules designati determined by lot which consular province each should have (Verr. ii. 3, c. 95). In the matter of the consular provinces the Tribuni had no power of Intercessio, as they formerly had (Livy, xxxii. 28). The praetorian provinces were assigned during the year of the praetors' office, and in this matter, as it seems, the tribunes retained the power of Intercessio (De Prov. Cons. c. 7 and 15). According to this arrangement about the consular provinces, there was an interval of about a year and a half between the determination of the consular provinces and the time when the consuls took possession of them, the consular comitia being generally held about the month of July. In B.C. 56 when the question of the consular provinces came before the senate, Cicero was asked his opinion. At this time Gabinius had the province of Syria and Piso had Macedonia, and their administration had been very bad. Cicero hated both of them and with good reason, for he says that they got their provinces not in the regular way, but pursuant to a Lex Clodia, and as their reward for helping Clodius to drive Cicero out of Rome. Caesar at this time (B.C. 56) held the two Galliae and was continuing his victorious career. Accordingly Cicero proposed that the provinces of Syria and Macedonia should be given to the consuls who would be elected in that year, and that they should be Praetoriae provinciae in the year which would intervene between the election of the consuls and the time of the consuls taking possession of them, and during this interval should be administered by praetors. He also was of opinion that Caesar should keep his two provinces (c. 6 and 7). Though Cicero had reason to complain of Caesar's behaviour towards him in the matter of his exile from Rome, he thought it prudent now to support his interests; and two years later (B.o. 54) we find his brother Quintus in Gallia, as one of Caesar's legati. Caesar had received his provinces for five years, to the end of B.C. 54, but Caesar's enemies at Rome wished to recall him before the time. The consul Marcellinus proposed to take from Caesar at least Gallia Cisalpina (c. 7), and there were various other proposals, as the oration shows. Crassus (Ad Fam. i. 9) defended Gabinius against Cicero's attacks, and Cicero replied in bitter language. Nothing was done as to Caesar's provinces, and in the next year (B.c. 55) he got them for five years more. Gabinius also was not superseded for the present, but Piso was in B.C. 55 (In Pison. c. 36). The speech and the letters of Cicero, particularly the long letter to Lentulus (Ad Fam. i. 9), explain the matter plain enough. The oration Pro Sestio also, if it has been read, will help to explain this. This oration is edited by Baiter in the second edition of Orelli's Cicero. The following are the MSS. to which he refers :— P cod. Parisinus num. 7794 a Duebnero et ab Halmio collatus. = latus. E = cod. Erfurtensis, nunc Berolinensis apud Wunderum p. 53 sqq. et Freundium p. 40 sq. C = codices PGE inter se consentientes. In P. the Inscriptio Orationis is In Senatum de Provintiis Consularib. M. TULLII CICERONIS DE PROVINCIIS CONSULARIBUS IN SENATU ORATIO. I. Si quis vestrum, patres conscripti, exspectat quas sim provincias decreturus, consideret ipse secum qui mihi homines ex provinciis potissimum detrahendi sint: non dubitabit quid sentire me conveniat, quum quid mihi sentire necesse sit cogitarit. Ac si princeps eam sententiam dicerem, laudaretis profecto: si solus, certe ignosceretis; etiamsi paullo minus utilis vobis sententia videretur, veniam tamen aliquam dolori meo tribueretis. Nunc vero, patres conscripti, non parva afficior voluptate, vel quod hoc maxime rei publicae conducit Syriam Macedoniamque decerni, ut dolor meus nihil a communi utilitate dissentiat, vel quod habeo auctorem P. Servilium, qui ante me sententiam dixit, virum clarissimum et quum in universam rem publicam, tum etiam erga meam salutem fide ac benevolentia singulari. Quod si ille et paullo ante, et quotiescumque ei locus dicendi ac potestas fuit, Gabinium et Pisonem, duo rei publicae portenta ac paene funera, quum propter alias caussas, tum maxime propter illud insigne scelus eorum et impor 1. provincias] "provintias, P.: sic plerumque (Baiter). I have often noticed this orthography; which is the genuine form of the word. Index, Vol. iii.—'dolori:' his resentment for the wrongs which Piso and Gabinius had done him in their consulship, during which he was driven from Rome by Clodius' agitation. decerni] He has just said 'decreturus.' The question before the senate was what provinces should be assigned (decretae) to the consuls who were going to be elected at the next comitia.-'auctorem P. Servilium:' Isauricus, the oldest of the consulares, who accordingly was first called on to deliver his opinion. He had served Cicero in the matter of his return from exile. (Quum Senatui, c. 10, and the note; and Pro Sestio, c. 62, Vol. iii.) tunam in me crudelitatem, non solum sententia sua, sed etiam verborum gravitate esse notandos putavit, quonam me animo in eos esse oportet, cujus illi salutem pro pignore tradiderunt ad explendas suas cupiditates? Sed ego in hac sententia dicenda non parebo dolori meo, non iracundiae serviam. Quo animo unus quisque vestrum debet esse in illos, hoc ero: praecipuum illum et proprium. sensum doloris mei, quem tamen vos communem semper vobis mecum esse duxistis, a sententia dicenda amovebo, ad ulciscendi tempora reservabo. II. Quattuor sunt provinciae, patres conscripti, de quibus adhuc intelligo sententias esse dictas: Galliae duae, quas hoc tempore uno imperio videmus esse conjunctas, et Syria et Macedonia, quas vobis invitis et oppressis pestiferi illi consules pro eversae rei publicae praemiis occupaverunt. Decernendae nobis sunt lege Sempronia duae. Quid est quod possimus de Syria Macedoniaque dubitare? Mitto quod eas ita partas habent ii qui nunc obtinent, ut non ante attigerint quam hunc ordinem condemnarint, quam auctoritatem vestram e civitate exterminarint, quam fidem publicam, quam perpetuam populi Romani salutem, quam me ac meos omnes foedissime crudelissimeque vexarint. Omnia [illa] domestica atque urbana mitto, quae tanta sunt ut numquam Hannibal huic urbi tantum mali optarit quantum illi effecerint. Ad ipsas venio provincias, quarum Macedonia, quae erat antea munita plurimorum explendas] "cod. Car. Stephani" (Baiter). The MSS. reading is 'expiandas,' and there is one reading'expiendas.' A blunder has often been made in this word.-' ad ulciscendi tempora:' he means when these two villains shall be brought to trial for their misdeeds. 2. Galliae duae] Gallia Cisalpina and Gallia Ulterior or Transalpina, which were given to Caesar for five years, together with Illyricum (B.c. 59).—eversae :' ' perversae' P. Baiter. As to the compact between P. Clodius and the consuls Gabinius and Piso, see Pro Sestio, c. 10, and c. 24.'lege Sempronia :' see the Introduction. hunc ordinem condemnarint] The allusion is to the conspirators whom the senate condemned to death. Cicero was condemned, or rather punished for what he had done in this matter, and those who condemned him, condemned the senate, for the senate ordered the execution of the conspirators. fides publica:' fides publica' is the promise given by the state or on the part of the state (See In Cat. iii. c. 4, note.) Fides publica' here means, as Manutius says, the 'fides' given by the senate to Cicero, when he put the conspirators to death by their order; a promise not given in direct words, but implied; for they by ordering the conspirators' punishment were the real punishers. Garatoni compares Pro Sestio, c. 22: "vivit mecum simul exemplum fidei publicae," &c. Omnia [illa]] P. omits illa,' and Baiter. Macedonia: many Roman generals had fought in Macedonia, and triumphed for their victories; T. Quintius Flamininus, L. Paullus (B.c. 168), Q. Caecilius Metellus, who got the cognomen Macedonicus, and others.-' pax erepta:' the greediness of the governor led him to attack the barbarians who bordered on Macedonia, the Thracians and the Dardani; or as it is said, Pro Sestio, c. 43 (and the note), he made them pay him a sum of money to let them alone, and then allowed them to plunder Macedonia to get the means of paying him. The charge is vague. imperatorum non turribus, sed tropaeis, quae multis victoriis erat jamdiu triumphisque pacata, sic a barbaris quibus est propter avaritiam pax erepta vexatur, ut Thessalonicenses positi in gremio imperii nostri relinquere oppidum et arcem munire cogantur; ut via illa nostra, quae per Macedoniam est usque ad Hellespontum militaris, non solum excursionibus barbarorum sit infesta, sed etiam castris Thraciis distincta ac notata. Ita gentes eae, quae ut pace uterentur vim argenti dederant praeclaro nostro imperatori, ut exhaustas domos replere possent pro empta pace bellum nobis prope justum intulerunt. III. Jam vero exercitus ille noster superbissimo delectu et durissima conquisitione collectus omnis interiit. Magno hoc dico cum dolore. Miserandum in modum milites populi Romani capti, necati, deserti, dissipati sunt, incuria, fame, morbo, vastitate consumpti, ut, quod est indignissimum, scelus imperatoris in poenam exercitus expetitum esse videatur. domitis jam gentibus finitimis barbariaque compressa pacatam ipsam Thessalonicenses] Thessalonica was originally named Therme, one of the chief towns in Macedonia at the head of the gulf of Therme, on the slope of a hill, and the modern Saloniki. Thessalonica was on the Via Egnatia, the road which ran from Dyrrhachium on the Hadriatic through Lychnidus, Heraclea Lyncestis, Edessa, Thessalonica, Amphipolis, and Philippi to Byzantium. (Strabo, p. 322.) This was the great Roman military road to the east, one of their great works, which was made soon after the conquest of Macedonia, for it existed in Polybius' time, who is Strabo's authority for what he says about it. Strabo speaks only of the road from Apollonia to the Hebrus, the length of which was 535 M.P., all measured and marked with mile-stones. A branch of this road began at Apollonia and joined the road from Dyrrhachium. Thraciis] Thraeciis,' Baiter. Infesta' in its passive sense, 'infested,' which we have borrowed (Pro Caelio, c. 4).-'ut pace uterentur :' 'that they might have peace;' one of the many examples of the use of uti.' Caesar (B. G. iii. 22) says "repulsus in oppidum tamen uti eadem deditionis conditione uteretur ab Crasso impetravit." This Thracian invasion of Macedonia was almost like a regular war (prope justum), as he says. 3. delectu] dilectu' Baiter. The commentators do not agree about the meaning of superbissimo.' Manutius takes it to mean most fastidious,' or something of the Atque hanc Macedoniam, kind; a levying of men in which only the best and choicest were taken. He gives an example from Cicero in which he speaks of the 'judicium aurium' as being superbissimum' when it is offended with the least faults. But I think Abrami's explanation is right. He takes it to mean most strict and severe.' Cicero says (In Pison. c. 16): "Habebas exercitum tantum quantum tibi non senatus aut populus Romanus dederat, sed quantum tua libido conscripserat ;" and again, c. 24: "quum orbabas Italiam juventute." vastitate] By being in desert places where there was neither food nor shelter. A passage in the In Pisonem, c. 35, may be compared with this: "tua scelera Dii immortales in nostros milites expiaverunt." The words 'scelus. . . expetitum esse are difficult to explain. G. E. have 'expetitus esse,' and Gulielmius proposed to read 'exercitus expetisse videatur,' explaining the use of expetisse' by similar uses in Plautus. Either this emendation must be accepted or that of 'expiatum esse' founded on the passage in the In Pisonem, and mentioned by Baiter. barbaria] See Vol. iii. Index.--' sine imperio:' a legatus who held a province 'sine imperio.' The imperium' was the authority given by the state to a proconsul or propraetor, by virtue of which he exercised unlimited authority civil and military, as it is said by Cicero, Phil. v. 16. It could be given to a person below the rank of a |