Pompeius clears the Seas of Pirates, 67 B.C.
Quis enim umquam aut obeundi negoti aut consequendi quaestus studio tam brevi tempore tot loca adire, tantos cursus conficere potuit, quam celeriter Cn. Pompeio duce tanti belli impetus navigavit? Qui nondum tempestivo ad navigandum mari Siciliam 5 adiit, Africam exploravit, in Sardiniam cum classe venit, atque haec tria frumentaria subsidia rei publicae firmissimis praesidiis classibusque munivit. Inde cum se in Italiam recepisset, duabus Hispaniis et Gallia transalpina praesidiis ac navibus confirmata, 10 missis item in oram Illyrici maris et in Achaiam omnemque Graeciam navibus Italiae duo maria maximis classibus firmissimisque praesidiis adornavit, ipse autem, ut Brundisio profectus est, undequinquagesimo die totam ad imperium populi Romani 15 Ciliciam adiunxit: omnes, qui ubique praedones fuerant, partim capti interfectique sunt, partim unius huius se imperio ac potestati dediderunt. Ita tantum bellum, tam diuturnum, tam longe lateque dispersum, quo bello omnes gentes ac nationes 20 premebantur, Cn. Pompeius extrema hieme adparavit, ineunte vere suscepit, media aestate confecit.
Cicero, pro Lege Manilia, 34, 35.
4 tanti belli impetus, fig. for an attacking fleet of such force, which from its size would ordinarily sail slowly.—Wilkins.
5-8 Qui . . . munivit. Early in the year (nondum tempestivo ad navigandum) Pompeius cleared of pirates the Sicilian, African, and Sardinian waters, so re-establish the supply of grain from these provinces to Italy.
14-18 undequagesimo . . . dediderunt. The bold Cilician seakings alone ventured to face the Roman fleet in the offing of Coracesium (at the W. frontier of Cilicia), but were completely defeated. Forty-nine days (undequinquagesimo) after Pompeius had appeared in the Eastern seas, Cilicia was subdued, and the war at an end. ‘In all about 1300 piratical vessels are said to have been destroyed: besides which the richly filled arsenals and magazines of the buccaneers were burnt. Of the pirates, about 10,000 perished (interfecti); upwards of 20,000 fell alive (partim capti—partim se dediderunt) into the hands of the victor.’—M.
22 ineunte vere . . . confecit. ‘In the summer of 67 B.C., three months after the beginning of the campaign, commerce resumed its wonted course, and instead of the former famine abundance prevailed in Italy.’—M.
This was the first trial of rule centralised in a single hand, and Pompeius fully justified the confidence that was placed in him.