Pompey, who was thoroughly anxious to command, and already by reason of his own ambition and the zeal of the populace no longer so much regarded this commission as an honor as the failure to win it a disgrace, seeing the opposition of those in power had a wish to appear as if compulsion were being used.  In general he was as little as possible in the habit of revealing his real desires, but still more on this occasion did he feign reluctance, because of the ensuing jealousy, should he of his own accord lay claim to the leadership, and because of the glory if he should be appointed unwillingly as the one most worthy to command.

[-25-] He now came forward and said:  “Quirites, I rejoice at the honor laid upon me by you.  All men naturally take pride in benefits conferred upon them by the citizens, and I, who have often enjoyed honors at your hands, scarcely know how to be worthily pleased at the present contingency.  However, I do not think that you should be so insatiable with regard to my services, nor that I should incessantly be in some position of command.  For I have labored since childhood, and as you know, you should be promoting others as well.  Do you not recall how many toils I underwent in the war against Cinna, though I was the veriest youth, or how many labors in Sicily and in Africa before I had quite reached the age of iuvenis, or how many dangers I encountered in Spain, while I was not as yet a senator?  I shall not say that you have shown yourselves ungrateful toward me for all these labors.  How could I?  Quite the reverse, in addition to the many other important favors of which you have deemed me worthy, the very fact that I was trusted to undertake the post of general against Sertorius, when no one else was either willing or able, and that I held a triumph, contrary to custom, after resigning it, brought me the greatest honor.  I only say that I have undergone many anxieties and many dangers, that I am worn out in body and wearied in soul.  Do not keep reckoning that I am still young, nor calculate that I have lived just so many years.  For if you count up the campaigns that I have made and the dangers I have faced, you will find them far more in number than my years, and by this means you will more readily believe that I can no longer withstand the anxieties and the hardships.”

[-26-] “Some one might possibly reply:  ’But you see that all such opportunities for toil are causes of jealousy and hatred.’  This feature you hold in no account—­you ought not properly even to pretend to regard it—­but to me it would prove most grievous.  And I must admit that I am not so much disturbed or troubled by any danger to be encountered in the midst of wars as by such exhibitions.  For what person in his right mind could take pleasure in living among men who are jealous of him, and who would feel the heart to carry out any public enterprise, if destined in case of failure to submit to punishment and if successful to be the object of rancorous envy?  In view of