Backed therefore by his father-in-law and son-in-law, out of all the numerous provinces he made the Gauls his choice, as the most likely to enrich him and furnish suitable material for triumphs. At first, it is true, by the bill of Vatinius he received only Cisalpine Gaul with the addition of Illyricum;
Socero igitur generoque suffragantibus ex omni provinciarum copia Gallias potissimum elegit, cuiuscuius] quae et, Bentley; quae sibi, Kiessling. Of the various emendations of the passage cuius ... triumphorum none is convincing. The general sense is, however, clear. emolumento et oportunitate idonea sit materia triumphorum. Et initio quidem Galliam Cisalpinam Illyrico adiecto lege Vatinia accepit;
but presently he was assigned Gallia Comata as well by the senate, since the members feared that even if they should refuse it, the people would give him this also. Transported with joy at this success, he could not keep from boasting a few days later before a crowded house, that having gained his heart’s desire to the grief and lamentation of his opponents, he would therefore from that time mount on their heads;and when someone insultingly remarked that that would be no easy matter for any woman, he replied in the same vein that Semiramis too had been queen in Syria and the Amazons in days of old had held sway over a great part of Asia.1
mox per senatum Comatam quoque, veritis patribus ne, si ipsi negassent, populus et hanc daret. Quo gaudio elatus non temperavit, quin paucos post dies frequenti curia iactaret, invitis et gementibus adversariis adeptum se quae concupisset, proinde ex eo insultaturum omnium capitibus; ac negante quodam per contumeliam facile hoc ulli feminae fore, responderitresponderit, all the mss., except p and some other late codices, which haverespondit; responderet, σ (Torrentius). quasi adludens: in Suria quoque regnasse Sameramin magnamque Asiae partem Amazonas tenuisse quondam.