SECTION 27 & 28

Question 0

restat ut de imperatore ad id bellum deligendo ac tantis rebus praeficiendo dicendum esse videatur.

Answer 0

it remains for me to have to speak about choosing a general for this war and putting him in charge of such important matters.

Question 1

satis mihi multa verba fecisse videor, quare esset hoc bellum genere ipso necessarium, magnitudine periculosum:

Answer 1

I think I spoke long enough as to why this war was, by its very nature, necessary and dangerous in its magnitude:

Question 2

utinam, Quirites, virorum fortium atque innocentium copiam tantam habaretis,

Answer 2

Citizens, would that you had such a great supply of brave and blameless men

Question 3

ut haec vobis deliberatio difficilis esset, quemnam potissimum tantis rebus ac tanto bello praeficiendum putaretis!

Answer 3

that this deliberation about whom you thought above all others should be put in charge of such important matters and such an important war would be difficult for you!

Question 4

nunc vero cum sit unus Cn. Pompeius, qui non modo eorum hominum, qui nunc sunt, gloriam, sed etiam antiquitatis memoriam virtute superarit,

Answer 4

Now in truth, since there is only one Gnaeus Pompeius, who by his merit has surpassed not only the glory of those men who now exist, but also the memory of times past,

Question 5

quae res est quae cuiusquam animum in hac causa dubium facere possit?

Answer 5

what reason is there which could make anyone’s mind doubtful in this case?

Question 6

Ego enim sic existimo,

Answer 6

For this is what I think,

Question 7

in summo imperatore quattor has res inesse oportere:

Answer 7

that in a very great general there should be the following four qualities:

Question 8

scientiam rei militaris, vitutem, auctoritatem, felicitatem.

Answer 8

knowledge of military matters, ability, prestige and good luck.

Question 9

quis igitur hoc homine scientior umquam aut fuit autvesse debuit?

Answer 9

So, who at any time either was or should have been more knowledgeable than this man?

Question 10

qui e ludo atque pueritiae disciplinis,

Answer 10

Straight from school and boyhood studies,

Question 11

bello maximo atque acerrimis hostibus,

Answer 11

when there was a very important war and fierce enemies,

Question 12

ad patris exercitum atque in militiae disciplinam profectus est;

Answer 12

this man set out for his father’s army to learn about warfare;

Question 13

qui extrema pueritia miles in exercitu fuit summi imperatoris,

Answer 13

barely out of his boyhood, he was a soldier in the army of a supreme general,

Question 14

ineunte adulescentia maximi ipse exercitus imperator;

Answer 14

and at the beginning of his adolescence was himself general of a very great army;

Question 15

qui saepius cum hoste conflixit quam quisquam cum inimico concertavit,

Answer 15

this man has fought with a foreign enemy more often than anyone has striven with a private enemy,

Question 16

plura bella gessit quam ceteri legerunt,

Answer 16

waged more wars than the rest have read about,

Question 17

plures provincias confecit quam alii concupiverunt;

Answer 17

performed more public offices than others have desired;

Question 18

cuius adulescentia ad scientiam rei militaris non alienis praeceptis sed suis imperiis,

Answer 18

as a youth this man was trained for knowledge of warfare, not by the rules of other, but by the holding of his own commands,

Question 19

non offensionibus belli sed victoriis,

Answer 19

not by defeats in war, but by victories,

Question 20

non stipendiis sed triumphis erudita.

Answer 20

not by campaigns, but by triumphs.

Question 21

quod denique genus esse bellu potest,

Answer 21

To sum up, what kind of war can there be,

Question 22

in quo illum non exercuerit fortuna rei publicae?

Answer 22

in which the misfortune of the state has not employed him?

Question 23

civile, Africanum, Transalpinum, Hispaniense, servile, navale bellum,

Answer 23

The Civil War, the war in Africa, in Transalpine Gaul, in Spain, the slave war, the naval war,

Question 24

varia et diversa genera et bellorum et hostium,

Answer 24

various and different types both of wars and enemies,

Question 25

non solum gesta ab hoc uno, sed etiam confecta nullum rem esse declarant in usu positam militari, quae huius viri scientiam fugere possit.

Answer 25

not only waged by this man alone, but also brought to a comclusion, show that there is nothing contained in military experience which can be unknown to the knowledge of this man.