[66]
One man, Publius Servilius, took more captains of pirates
alive than all our commanders put together had done before. Was any one at any time
denied the enjoyment of being allowed to see a captive pirate? On the contrary:
wherever Servilius went he afforded every one that most delightful spectacle, of
pirates taken prisoners and in chains. Therefore, people everywhere ran to meet him,
so that the, assembled not only in the towns through which the pirates were led, but
from all neighbouring towns also, for the purpose of seeing them. And why was it
that that triumph was of all triumphs the most acceptable and the most delightful to
the Roman people? Because nothing is sweeter than victory. But there is no more
certain evidence of victory than to set those whom you have often been afraid of,
led in chains to execution.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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