Asia Minor, he said, was of all the Roman provinces the most important,
because it was the most wealthy.[2] So rich it was and fertile that, for
the productiveness of its soil, the variety of its fruits, the extent of
its pastures, and the multitude of its exports, there was no country in
the world to be compared with it; yet Asia was in danger of being utterly
lost through the worthlessnesss of the governors and military commanders
charged with the care of it. "Who does not know," Cicero asked, "that the
avarice of our generals has been the cause of the misfortunes of our
armies? You can see for yourselves how they act here at home in Italy; and
what will they not venture far away in distant countries? Officers who
cannot restrain their own appetites can never maintain discipline in their
troops. Pompey has been victorious because he does not loiter about the
towns for plunder or pleasure, or making collections of statues and
pictures. Asia is a land of temptations. Send no one thither who cannot
resist gold and jewels and shrines and pretty women. Pompey is upright and
pure-sighted. Pompey knows that the State has been impoverished because
the revenue flows into the coffers of a few individuals. Our fleets and
armies have availed only to bring the more disgrace upon us through our
defeats and losses.
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