to be liable to return hither.

I had almost passed over the light and glory of that army, Caius
Annius Cimber, the son of Lysidicus, a Lysidicus himself in the Greek
meaning of the word, since he has broken all laws, unless perhaps it
is natural for a Cimbrian to slay a German[48]? When Antonius has such
numbers with him, and those too men of that sort, what crime will he
shrink from, when Dolabella has polluted himself with such atrocious
murders without at all an equal troop of robbers to support him?
Wherefore, as I have often at other times differed against my will
from Quintus Fufius, so on this occasion I gladly agree with his
proposition. And from this you may see that my difference is not with
the man, but with the cause which he sometimes advocates.

Therefore, at present I not only agree with Quintus Fufius, but I even
return thanks to him, for he has given utterance to opinions which are
upright, and dignified, and worthy of the republic. He has pronounced
Dolabella a public enemy, he has declared his opinion that his
property ought to be confiscated by public authority. And though
nothing could be added to this, (for, indeed, what could he propose
more severe or more pitiless?) nevertheless, he said that if any of
those men who were asked their opinion after him proposed any more
severe sentence, he would vote for it. Who can avoid praising such
severity as this?

VII. Now, since Dolabella has been pronounced a public enemy, he must
be pursued by war. For he himself will not remain quiet. He has a
legion with him, he has troops of runaway slaves, he has a wicked band
of impious men, he himself is confident, intemperate, and bent on
falling by the death of a gladiator. Wherefore, since, as Dolabella
was voted an enemy by the decree which was passed yesterday, war must
be waged, we must necessarily appoint a general.

Two opinions have been advanced, neither of which do I approve. The
one, because I always think it dangerous unless it be absolutely
necessary, the other, because I think it wholly unsuited to the
emergency. For an extraordinary commission is a measure suited rather
to the fickle character of the mob, one which does not at all become
our dignity or this assembly. In the war against Antiochus, a great
and important war, when Asia had fallen by lot to Lucius Scipio as his
province, and when he was thought to have hardly spirit and hardly
vigour enough for it, and when the senate was inclined