§Pomp.1'Si advorsus vos patriamque et deos penatis tot labores et pericula suscepissem, quotiens a prima adulescentia ductu meo scelestissumi hostes fusi et vobis salus quaesita est, nihil amplius in absentem me statuissetis, quam adhuc agitis, patres conscripti, quem contra aetatem proiectum ad bellum saevissumum cum exercitu optume merito, quantum est in vobis, fame, miserruma omnium morte, confecistis.
'If against you, our country, and our household gods I had undertaken as many labors and dangers as the times the most wicked enemies have been routed and safety obtained for you under my leadership from my early youth, you would have decided nothing more against me in my absence, patres conscripti, than you are doing now, when, as far as lies in you, you have destroyed with hunger, the most miserable of all deaths, me who, contrary to my age, was cast into a most savage war with a most deserving army.
§Pomp.2hacine spe populus Romanus liberos suos ad bellum misit? haec sunt praemia pro volneribus et totiens ob rem publicam fuso sanguine? fessus scribundo mittundoque legatos omnis opes et spes privatas meas consumpsi, quom interim a vobis per triennium vix annuos sumptus datus est.
Was it with this hope that the Roman people sent their children to war? Are these the rewards for wounds and for blood shed so many times for the republic? Weary of writing and sending envoys, I have consumed all my private resources and hopes, while in the meantime scarcely a single year's expenses have been given by you over a period of three years.
§Pomp.3per deos inmortalis, utrum censetis me vicem aerari praestare an exercitum sine frumento et stipendio habere posse?
By the immortal gods, do you think that I can supply the place of the treasury, or maintain an army without grain and pay?
§Pomp.4Equidem fateor me ad hoc bellum maiore studio quam consilio profectum, quippe qui nomine modo imperi a vobis accepto diebus quadraginta exercitum paravi hostisque in cervicibus iam Italiae agentis ab Alpibus in Hispaniam submovi.
Indeed I confess that I set out for this war with greater zeal than counsel, since, having received from you only the name of command, in forty days I prepared an army and removed the enemy, who were already pressing upon the neck of Italy, from the Alps into Hispania.
per eas iter aliud atque Hannibal, nobis opportunius, patefeci.
Through them I opened another way, more convenient for us, than Hannibal did.
§Pomp.5recepi Galliam, Pyrenaeum, Lacetaniam, Indigetis et primum impetum Sertori victoris novis militibus et multo paucioribus sustinui hiememque castris inter saevissumos hostis, non per oppida neque ex ambitione mea egi.
I recovered Gallia, the Pyrenees, Lacetania, and the Indigetes, and with raw soldiers and far fewer in number sustained the first onset of the victorious Sertorius, and spent the winter in camp among most savage enemies, not in towns nor out of my own ambition.
§Pomp.6quid deinde proelia aut expeditiones hibernas, oppida excisa aut recepta enumerem? quando res plus valet quam verba.
Why then should I enumerate battles or winter campaigns, towns destroyed or recovered? Since facts are worth more than words.
castra hostium apud Sucronem capta et proelium apud flumen Durium et dux hostium C. Herennius cum urbe Valentia et exercitu deleti satis clara vobis sunt.
The capture of the enemy's camp at Sucro, the battle at the river Durius, and the destruction of the enemy's leader C. Herennius with the city of Valentia and his army are sufficiently well known to you.
pro quis, o grati patres, egestatem et famem redditis.
In return for which, O grateful fathers, you render destitution and hunger.
§Pomp.7Itaque meo et hostium exercitui par condicio est; namque stipendium neutri datur, victor uterque in Italiam venire potest.
Therefore, the condition of my army and that of the enemy is equal; for pay is given to neither, and either as victor can come into Italy.
§Pomp.8quod ego vos moneo quaesoque ut animadvortatis neu cogatis necessitatibus privatim mihi consulere.
Of which thing I warn and entreat you to take heed, and not to compel me to consult for myself privately under necessities.
§Pomp.9Hispaniam citeriorem, quae non ab hostibus tenetur, nos aut Sertorius ad internecionem vastavimus, praeter maritumas civitatis: ultro nobis sumptui onerique sunt.
Nearer Hispania, which is not held by the enemy, either we or Sertorius have devastated to utter destruction, except for the maritime states; they are moreover an expense and a burden to us.
Gallia superiore anno Metelli exercitum stipendio frumentoque aluit et nunc malis fructibus ipsa vix agitat.
In the previous year, Gallia maintained Metellus's army with pay and grain, and now, owing to bad harvests, she herself scarcely subsists.
ego non rem familiarem modo, verum etiam fidem consumpsi.
I have consumed not only my family fortune, but also my credit.
§Pomp.10reliqui vos estis: qui nisi subvenitis, invito et praedicente me exercitus hinc et cum eo omne bellum Hispaniae in Italiam transgredientur. '
You are the ones who remain; and unless you bring help, against my will and despite my warning, the army from here and with it the whole war of Hispania will cross over into Italy.'