The Lex Gabinia, 67 B.C.
Converterat Cn. Pompei persona totum in se terrarum orbem et per omnia maior cive habebatur. Qui cum consul perquam laudabiliter iurasset se in nullam provinciam ex eo magistratu iturum idque servasset, post biennium A. Gabinius tribunus 5 legem tulit, ut cum belli more, non latrociniorum, orbem classibus iam, non furtivis expeditionibus, piratae terrerent, quasdamque etiam Italiae urbis diripuissent, Cn. Pompeius ad eos opprimendos mitteretur essetque ei imperium aequum in omnibus 10 provinciis cum proconsulibus usque ad quinquagesimum miliarium a mari. Quo decreto paene totius terrarum orbis imperium uni viro deferebatur; sed tamen idem hoc ante biennium in M. Antoni praetura decretum erat. Sed interdum persona ut exemplo 15 nocet, ita invidiam auget aut levat: in Antonio homines aequo animo passi erant; raro enim invidetur eorum honoribus, quorum vis non timetur: contra in iis homines extraordinaria reformidant, qui ea suo arbitrio aut deposituri aut retenturi videntur 20 et modum in voluntate habent. Dissuadebant optimates, sed consilia impetu victa sunt.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 31.
3-5 Qui cum consul . . . servasset. Pompeius, consul with Crassus in 71-70 B.C., thought it beneath his dignity to accept a consular province, and waited in Rome as a simple citizen until an opportunity should be offered him to play an extraordinary part.
5 A. Gabinius, a client of Pompeius, a man ruined in finances and character, but a dexterous negotiator, a bold orator, and a brave soldier. In 57 B.C. did excellent service as proconsul of Syria.
6-9 ut cum belli more . . . diripuissent. ‘For twenty years the sea had been rendered unsafe by these curses of human society.’ The commerce of the whole Mediterranean was in their power.
13-15 sed tamen . . . decretum erat. In 74 B.C. M. Antonius, son of the orator and father of the triumvir, was entrusted by the Senate with the task of clearing the seas from the corsairs. In spite of his extensive powers, the utter incapacity of Antonius, and the mismanagement of the Senate, caused the expedition to end in failure and disgrace.
Result. ‘The Gabinio-Manilian proposals terminated the struggle between the senate and the popular party, which the Sempronian laws (133-123 B.C.) had begun. As the Sempronian laws first constituted the revolutionary party into a political opposition, the Gabinio-Manilian first converted it from an opposition into a government.’—M.