nāvigāre propter pīrātās, quī ubique castella[1] habērent, unde in nāvēs mercātōrum impetūs facerent subitōs.”
“Per multōs annōs rēs ita sē habēbat,” inquit Cornēlius; “et mercātōrēs hōc modō saepe periērunt, nāvēsque eōrum aut incēnsae sunt aut in marī submersae. Quīn etiam pīrātae istī postrēmō impūnitāte[2] tam audācēs factī sunt, ut nāvīs quoque adorīrentur, quibus[3] vehēbantur magistrātūs nostrī.”
“Papae!” inquit Sextus. “Nōnne nōmen magnum populī Rōmānī veritī sunt? Cūr nōn nāvēs longae istōs scelestōs statim ē marī fugāvērunt?”[4]
“Saepe id temptātum est,” inquit pater; “sed, ut est[5] in vetere prōverbiō,[6] ‘Incipere multō est quam[7] impetrāre[8] facilius.’ Quō modō factum est ut, cum aliōs[9] navēs cōnsectārentur, aliī procul praedēs agerent; nec fīnis fuit, priusquam custōdia tōtius ōrae maritimae Gnaeō Pompeiō Magnō commissa est. Is tam ācriter pīrātās lacessīvit, ut omnēs sexāgintā diēbus[10] aut fugerent aut lēgātōs pācis petendae causā ad eum mittere cōgerentur.”
Tum Pūblius: “Nōnne Caesar dictātor[11] in potestātem istōrum pīrātārum ōlim ipse pervēnit?”
“Rēctē quaeris,” inquit Cornēlius. “Nam ille adhūc iuvenis īnsulam Rhodum adīre volēbat, ut Apollōnium Molōnem clārissimum dīcendī magistrum ibi audīret.[12] Hūc cum hībernīs mēnsibus trānsīret, ā pīrātīs captus, apud eōs mānsit diēs ferē quadrāgintā.
“Interim comitēs Rōmam dīmissī sunt pecūniam quaesītum,[13]
- ↑ castellum, -ī, n., stronghold.
- ↑ impūnitās, -ātis, f., lack of punishment; causal abl.
- ↑ quibus, freely, on which
- ↑ fugāvērunt: not from fugiō.
- ↑ ut est, as it is said.
- ↑ prōverbium, -ī, n. proverb
- ↑ quam: with the comparitive
- ↑ impetrò, -āre, -āvī, -ātus, tr., accomplish.
- ↑ aliōs: note that aliī follows.
- ↑ sexagintā, indecl. num, sixty; with diēbus, time within which.
- ↑ dictātor: distinguishing Julius Caesar from other Caesars.
- ↑ audīret, attend the lectures of. Cicero also went abroad in 79 b.c. to study under Greek masters.
- ↑ quaesitum: supine.
