son.

For that reason he was not allowed to conduct the accusation, which was assigned to C. Caesar instead (Cic. Div. in Caecil. 19). He was probably praetor in B. c. 94, and obtained in the following year the government of Sicily (Cic. Verr. iii. 16, v. 66). On the breaking out of the Social or Marsic war, in B. c. 90, Pompeius served as legate under the consul P. Rutilius Lupus. Pompeius was at first defeated, and obliged to take refuge at Firmum, where he was besieged by Afranius, one of the Italian generals. But when Sulpicius came to his assistance, Afranius was attacked at once by the two Roman armies, and lost his life in the battle: his troops fled in confusion to Asculum. To this town Pompeius proceeded to lay siege; and as he seems to have been regarded as a general of no mean abilities, he was elected to the consulship, B. C. 89, with L. Porcius Cato. Soon after entering upon his consulship, he defeated the Italians on the east coast, who, ignorant that the Etruscans had made terms with the Romans, were marching to their assistance. He followed up this victory by others, and defeated, in succession, the Marsi, Marrucini, and Vestini. He at length took Asculum, and subdued the Picentines, and returned to Rome at the end of the year, which he entered in triumph on the 27th of December. Before he laid down his consulship, he probably brought forward the law (lex Pompeia), which gave to all the towns of the Transpadani the Jus Latii or Latinitas.

In the following year, B. c. 88, occurred the dreadful struggle between Marius and Sulla for the command of the Mithridatic war, which ended in the proscription of Marius, and his flight from Italy. Strabo had returned to his army, and was engaged in southern Italy in completing the subjugation of the Italians, when he learnt that the senate had deprived him of the command, and had assigned his army to the consul Q. Pompeius Rufus, to whom the care of Italy was entrusted, while his colleague Sulla was engaged in the Mithridatic war. But Strabo, who was excessively fond of power, was indignant at this decision. He however concealed his resentment and handed over the army to Rufus; but at the same time he secretly instigated the soldiers to murder their new commander, which they accordingly did shortly afterwards. He affected great horror of the crime, but took no steps to bring the perpetrators to justice; and Sulla, who was on the point of starting for the East, was obliged to overlook the murder.

Next year, B. c. 87, the Marian party obtained the upper hand. L. Cinna, who had been driven out of the city by his colleague Cn. Octavius, had collected a formidable army, and being joined by Marius, advanced against Rome. The aristocracy summoned Pompeius Strabo to their aid; but as he commanded against their wish, and had been refused a second consulship this year, he was unwilling to espouse their side. Still, not being prepared to join the other party, he advanced by slow marches to the relief of the city, and, contrary to his wishes, was obliged to fight near the Colline Gate with Cinna and Sertorius. The battle was not decisive, but Strabo was unable to play any longer a neutral part. Cinna attempted to remove him by assassination, but he was saved by the energy and prudence of his son, who also quelled a dangerous mutiny among the soldiers. Shortly after these events, and in the course of the same

year, B. C. 87, Strabo was killed by lightning. His avarice and cruelty had made him hated by the soldiers to such a degree, that they tore his corpse from the bier and dragged it through the streets. Cicero describes him (Brut. 47) as "worthy of hatred on account of his cruelty, avarice, and perfidy." He possessed some reputation as an orator, and still more as a general. He left behind him a considerable property, especially in Picenum; and his anxiety to protect his estates probably led him to make that neighbourhood one of the principal seats of the war against the Italians (Appian, B. C. i. 40, 47, 52, 66—68, 80; Liv. Epit. 7479; Vell. Pat. ii. 20, 21; Flor. iii. 18; Oros. v. 18; Plut. Pomp. 1, 3; Cic. Philipp. xii. 11.)

22. CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS, the son of No. 21, and afterwards the triumvir, was born on the 30th of September, B. c. 106, in the consulship of Atilius Serranus and Servilius Caepio. He was consequently a few months younger than Cicero, who was born on the 3d of January in this year, and six years older than Caesar. He had scarcely left school before he was summoned to serve under his father in the Social war. He fought under him in B. C. 89 against the Italians, when he was only seventeen years of age, and continued with him till his death two years afterwards. He was present at the battle of the Colline Gate, in B. c. 87, and, as has been already related, he saved the life of his father, and quelled an insurrection of the soldiers by his courage and activity. The death of his father soon after this event left Pompey his own master at the age of nineteen. The aristocratical party were no longer able to offer any opposition to Marius and Cinna, who accordingly entered Rome shortly afterwards, and took a bloody revenge on their opponents. Pompey's house was plundered; and he did not venture to appear in public till after the death of Marius in the following year, B. C. 86. His enemies, however, immediately accused him of having shared with his father in the plunder of Asculum. Not trusting either to the justice of his cause, or to the eloquence of his advocates, L. Marcius Philippus and Q. Hortensius, he agreed to marry the daughter of the praetor Antis. tius, who presided at the trial, and was in consequence acquitted.

In B. c. 84, the Marian party made great preparations to oppose Sulla, who had now finished the Mithridatic war, and was on his way to Italy. Pompey, though so young, was fired with the ambition of distinguishing himself above all the other leaders of the aristocracy; and while the rest were content to wait quietly for Sulla's arrival in Italy to deliver them from their enemies, Pompey resolved to share with Sulla the glory of crushing the Marian party. He accordingly fled from the camp of Cinna shorly before the latter was murdered, and hastened to Picenum, where he proceeded to levy troops without holding any public office, and without any authority from the senate or people. The influence which he possessed by his large estates in Picenum, and by his personal popularity, enabled him to raise an army of three legions by the beginning of the following year, B. C. 83. He assumed the command at Auximum, a town in the north of Picenum, not far from Ancona; and while the rest of the aristocracy hastened to join Sulla, who had landed at Brundisium, Pompey was anxious to distinguish himself by some brilliant success over the enemy. The faults

of the Marian generals gave him the wished-for opportunity; he was surrounded by three armies, commanded respectively by M. Brutus, C. Caelius Caldus, and C. Carrinas, whose great object seems to have been to prevent his escape to Sulla. Pompey now displayed for the first time the great military abilities for which he became afterwards so conspicuous; he concentrated all his forces in one spot, and then fell upon M. Brutus at a time when he could receive no assistance from the other generals, and completely defeated him. Pompey also distinguished himself by his personal bravery in this engagement, charging at the head of his cavalry, and striking down a Celtic horseman with his own hand. The Marian generals, after the loss of this battle, quarrelled among themselves, and withdrew from the country. Pompey, who had no longer an enemy to oppose him, set out to join Sulla, and was hailed as a deliverer by the towns of Picenum, who had now no other alternative but submission. He was proscribed by the senate, but his troops proved faithful to him, and he joined Sulla in safety, having already gained for himself a brilliant reputation. He was received by Sulla with still greater distinction than he had anticipated; for when he leapt down from his horse, and saluted Sulla by the title of Imperator, the latter returned the compliment by addressing him by the same title. Pompey was only twentythree, and had not held any public office when he received this unprecedented mark of honour.

Next year, B. c. 82, the war was prosecuted with vigour against the Marian party. Pompey took a prominent part in it as one of Sulla's legates, and by his success gained still further distinction. The younger Marius, who was now consul, was blockaded in Praeneste, and his colleague, Carbo, was making every effort to relieve him. Sulla himself fought an indecisive battle against Carbo; but his legates, Marcius and Carrinas, were defeated by Pompey. Carbo then retreated to Ariminum, and sent Marcius to the relief of Praeneste; but Pompey defeated the latter again in the Apennines, and compelled him to retire. Despairing of success, Carbo then abandoned Marius to his fate, and set sail for Africa. Praeneste shortly afterwards surrendered. Sulla thus became the master of Italy, and was proclaimed dictator. He then proceeded to reward his partizans, and to take vengeance on his enemies; and in order to connect Pompey more closely with himself, he compelled him to marry his step-daughter Aemilia, the daughter of his wife Caecilia Metella, by her former husband Aemilius Scaurus. To effect this marriage two divorces had to take place: Pompey was obliged to put away his wife Antistia, though her father had been murdered by Marius as a partizan of Sulla, simply on account of his connection with Pompey; and Aemilia was obliged to leave her husband M. Glabrio, although she was pregnant at the time. Aemilia died shortly after

wards in child-birth.

he was seized and brought in chains to Pompey, at Lilybaeum, who put him to death, and sent his head to Sulla. He likewise executed several others of the Marian party; but he can scarcely be reproached with cruelty for so doing, as he had no other alternative, even if he had wished to save them; and he treated the cities which had espoused the popular side with greater leniency than might have been expected. Next year, B. C. 81, Pompey left Sicily, and passed over to Africa, in order to oppose Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the son-in-law of Cinna, who, with the assistance of Hiarbas, had collected a formidable army. But his troops, chiefly consisting of Numidians, were no match for the veterans who had conquered the well-disciplined Italian allies. Still they fought with great bravery, and out of 20,000 only 3000 are said to have survived the decisive battle. Their camp was taken, and Domitius fell. In a few months Pompey reduced the whole of Numidia; Hiarbas was taken prisoner and put to death, and his throne was given to Hiempsal. But it was not only his military achievements that gained him great renown at Rome; unlike other Roman governors, he abstained from plundering the province, which seemed the more extraordinary, since the disturbed state of the country afforded him particular facilities for doing so. Intent upon triumphing, he collected a great number of elephants and lions in Numidia, and returned to Rome, in the same year, covered with glory. As he approached Rome, numbers flocked out of the city to meet him; and the dictator himself, who formed one of the crowd, greeted him with the surname of MAGNUS, which he bore ever afterwards, and handed down to his children.* But Pompey did not find it easy to obtain his wished-for triumph. Hitherto no one but a dictator, consul, or praetor, had enjoyed this distinction, and it seemed a monstrous thing for a simple eques, who had not yet obtained a place in the senate, to covet this honour. Sulla at first tried to dissuade Pompey from pressing his request; and as he would not relinquish his design, the matter was referred to the senate, and there Sulla positively opposed it. Pompey was not, however, to be cowed, and uttered a threat about the rising and the setting sun; whereupon Sulla, indignant at his impudence. shouted out contemptuously, "Let him triumph then!" It is true that Sulla's dominion was too firmly established to be overthrown by Pomper; but he probably could not have put him down without a struggle, and therefore thought it better to let him have his own way. Pompey therefore entered Rome in triumph as a simple eques in the month of September B. c. 81, and before he had completed his twenty-fifth year. Pompey's conduct in insisting upon a triumph on this occasion has been represented by many modern writers as vain and childish; but it should be recollected that it was a vanity which all distinguished Romans shared, and that to enter Rome drawn in

There can be little doubt that this surname was given to Pompey on this occasion, though many writers assign it to a different time. The question is discussed at length by Drumann, vol. iv. p. 335. Pompey did not use it himself till he was appointed to the command of the war against Sertorius (Plut. Pomp. 13).

the triumphal car was regarded as one of the noblest objects of ambition.

Having thus succeeded in carrying his point against the dictator Pompey again exhibited his power in promoting in B. C. 79 the election of M. Aemilius Lepidus to the consulship, in opposition to the wishes of Sulla. Through Pompey's influence Lepidus was not only elected, but obtained a greater number of votes than his colleague Q. Catulus, who was supported by Sulla. The latter had now retired from public affairs, and would not relinquish his Epicurean enjoyments for the purpose of defeating Pompey's plans, but contented himself with warning the latter, as he met him returning from the comitia in triumph, "Young man, it is time for you not to slumber, for you have strengthened your rival against yourself." The words of Sulla were prophetic; for upon his death, which happened in the course of the same year, Lepidus attempted to repeal the laws of Sulla, and to destroy the aristocratical constitution which he had established. He seems to have reckoned upon the support of Pompey; but in this he was disappointed, for Pompey remained faithful to the aristocracy, and thus saved his party. During the year of the consulship of Lepidus and Catulus, B. c. 78, peace was with difficulty preserved [LEPIDUS, No. 13]; but at the beginning of the following year B. c. 77, Lepidus, who had been ordered by the senate to repair to his province of Further Gaul, marched against Rome at the head of an army, which he had collected in Etruria. Here Pompey and Catulus were ready to receive him; and in the battle which followed under the walls of the city, Lepidus was defeated and obliged to take to flight. While Catulus followed him into Etruria, Pompey marched into Cisalpine Gaul, where M. Brutus, the father of the so-called tyrannicide, commanded a body of troops on behalf of Lepidus. On Pompey's approach Brutus threw himself into Mutina, which he defended for some time, but at length surrendered the town to Pompey, on condition that his life should be spared. This was granted by Pompey; but next day he was murdered, by Pompey's orders, at Rhegium, a small town on the Po, whither he had retired after the surrender of Mutina. Pompey was much blamed for this cruel and perfidious act, which was however more in accordance with the spirit of his party than his own general conduct. But he seems to have acted now in accordance with Sulla's principles; for he likewise put to death Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the son of Lepidus, whom he took prisoner at Alba in Liguria. The war in Italy was now at an end; for Lepidus, despairing of holding his ground in Etruria, had sailed with the remainder of his forces to Sardinia, where he died shortly afterwards

The senate, who now began to dread Pompey, ordered him to disband his army; but he found various excuses for evading this command, as he was anxious to obtain the command of the war against Sertorius in Spain. Sertorius was the only surviving general of the Marian party, who still continued to hold out against the aristocracy. By his extraordinary genius and abilities he had won the hearts of the Spaniards, and had for the last three years successfully opposed Metellus Pius, one of the ablest of Sulla's generals [SERTORIUS]. The misfortunes of Metellus only increased Pompey's eagerness to gain laurels, where a veteran

general had met with nothing but disasters; and he therefore still continued at the head of his army in the neighbourhood of Rome. The senate, however, hesitated to give him this opportunity for gaining fresh distinction and additional power; but as Sertorius was now joined by Perperna, and was daily becoming more formidable, it became absolutely necessary to strengthen Metellus ; and as they had no general except Pompey, who was either competent or willing to conduct the war against Sertorius, they at length unwillingly determined to send him to Spain, with the title of Proconsul, and with equal powers to Metellus. In the debate in the senate which ended in his appointment, it was urged that no private man ought to receive the title of Proconsul, whereupon L. Philippus replied with bitter scorn, in allusion to the insignificance of the existing consuls, "Non ego illum mea sententia pro consule, sed pro consulibus mitto."

In forty days Pompey completed his preparations, and left Italy with an army of 30,000 foot and 1000 horse, at the beginning of B. C. 76, being then thirty years of age. He crossed the Alps between the sources of the Rhône and the Po, and advanced towards the southern coast of Spain. The Spanish tribes, through which he marched, did not offer him much resistance, and the town of Lauron (not far from Valencia) declared in his favour. But the approach of Sertorius quickly changed the face of matters, and taught Pompey that he had a more formidable enemy to deal with than any he had yet encountered. His army was suddenly surprised by Sertorius, and he was obliged to retreat with the loss of a legion. Sertorius followed up his victory by taking the town of Lauron, which he committed to the flames, almost before Pompey's face. Thus his first campaign in Spain ended ingloriously. He passed the winter in the Nearer Province, and at the beginning of B. c. 75 crossed the Iberus, and again marched southward against C. Herennius and Perperna, the legates of Sertorius. These he defeated, with great loss, near Valencia; and elated with his success, and anxious to wipe off the disgrace of the preceding year, he hastened to attack Sertorius, hoping to crush him entirely before Metellus arrived to share the glory with him. Sertorius, who had advanced from the west, was equally eager to fight before the junction of the two Roman armies. battle, thus eagerly desired by both generals, was fought on the banks of the Sucro (Xucar). It was obstinately contested, but was not decisive. The right wing, where Pompey commanded in person, was put to flight by Sertorius, and Pompey himself was nearly killed in the pursuit; his left wing, however, which was under the command of his legate L. Afranius, drove the right wing of Sertorius's army off the field, and took his camp. Night put an end to the battle; and the approach of Metellus on the following day obliged Sertorius to retire. Pompey and Metellus then continued together for a time, but were reduced to great straits for want of provisions, and were frequently obliged to separate in order to obtain food and fodder. On one of these occasions they were attacked at the same time, Pompey by Sertorius, and Metellus by Perperna; Metellus defeated the latter with a loss of 5000 men, but Pompey was routed by Sertorius, and lost 6000 of his troops. Shortly after this Pompey retired, for the winter

The

good sense to see, what the short-sightedness of the majority of the aristocracy blinded them to, that further opposition to the people would have been most injurious to the interests of the aristocracy itself. The law was passed with little opposition; for the senate felt that it was worse than useless to contend against Pompey, supported as he was by the popular enthusiasm and by his troops, which were still in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. Later in the same year Pompey also struck another blow at the aristocracy by lending his all-powerful aid to the repeal of another of Sulla's laws. From the time of C. Gracchus (B. c. 123) to that of Sulla (B. c. 80), the judices had been taken exclusively from the equestrian order; but by one of Sulla's laws they had been chosen during the last ten years from the senate. The corruption and venality of the latter in the administration of justice had excited such general indignation that some change was clamorously demanded by the people. Accordingly, the praetor L. Aurelius Cotta, with the approbation of Pompey, proposed a law by which the judices were to be taken in future from the senatus, equites, and tribuni aerarii, the latter probably representing the wealthier members of the third order in the state. (Comp. Madvig, De Tribunis aerariis, in Opuscula, vol. ii. p. 242, &c.) This law was likewise carried; but it did not improve the purity of the administration of justice, since corruption was not confined to the senators, but pervaded all classes of the community alike. In carrying both these measures Pompey was strongly supported by Caesar, with whom he was thus brought into close connection, and who, though he was rapidly rising in popular favour, could as yet only hope to weaken the power of the aristocracy through Pompey's means.

Pompey had thus broken with the aristocracy, and had become the great popular hero. On the expiration of his consulship he dismissed his army, which he no longer needed for the purpose of overawing the senate, and for the next two years (B. C. 69 and 68) he remained in Rome, as he had previously declared that he would not accept a province. Having had little or no experience in civil affairs, he prudently kept aloof during this time from all public matters, and appeared seldom in public, and then never without a large retinue, in order to keep up among the people the feelings of respectful admiration with which they had hitherto regarded him. Pompey did not possess the diversified talents of Caesar: he was only a soldier, but he showed no small good sense in abstaining from meddling with matters which he did not understand. But the necessities of the commonwealth did not allow him to remain long in inactivity. The Mediterranean sea was at this time swarming with pirates. From the earliest times down to the present day piracy has more or less prevailed in this sea, which, lying as it does between three continents, and abounding with numerous creeks and islands, presents at the same time both the greatest temptations and the greatest facilities for piratical pursuits. Moreover, in consequence of the civil wars in which the Romans had been engaged, and the absence of any fleet to preserve order upon the sea, piracy had reached an alarming height. The pirates possessed fleets in all parts of the Mediterranean, were in the habit of plundering the most wealthy cities on the coasts, not only of

VOL. III.

Greece and of the islands, but even of Italy itself, and had at length carried their audacity so far as to make descents upon the Appian road, and carry off Roman magistrates, with all their attendants and lictors. All communication between Rome and the provinces was cut off, or at least rendered extremely dangerous; the fleets of corn-vessels, upon which Rome to a great extent depended for its subsistence, could not reach the city, and the price of provisions in consequence rose enormously. Such a state of things had become intolerable, and all eyes were now directed to Pompey. He, however, was not willing to take any ordinary command, and the scarcity of provisions made the people ready to grant him any power he might ask. Still he was prudent enough not to ask in person for such extraordinary powers as he desired, and to appear only to yield to the earnest desires of the people. Accordingly, at the beginning of the year B. c. 67, he got the tribune A. Gabinius, a man of abandoned character, and whose services he had probably purchased, to bring forward a bill, which was intended to give Pompey almost absolute authority over the greater part of the Roman world. It proposed that the people should elect a man with consular rank, who should possess unlimited and irresponsible power for three years over the whole of the Mediterranean, and to a distance of fifty miles inland from its coasts,who should have fifteen legates from the senate, a fleet of 200 ships, with as many soldiers and sailors as he thought necessary, and 6000 Attic talents. The bill did not name Pompey, but it was clear who was meant. The aristocracy were in the utmost alarm, for not only did they dread the ambition of Pompey, but they feared that he might interfere with many of their friends and relatives, who held provinces which would come under his imperium, and probably spoil their plans for making their fortunes by the plunder of the provincials. Accordingly, they resolved to offer the most vigorous opposition to the bill. In the senate Caesar was almost the only member of the senate who came forward in its support. Partyspirit ran to such a height that the most serious riots ensued. The aristocracy, headed by the consul C. Piso, made an attack upon Gabinius, who, in danger of his life, fled for refuge to the people; and they, in their turn, led on by Gabinius, assaulted the senate-house, and would probably have sacrificed the consul to their fury, had not Gabinius effected his rescue, dreading the odium which such a catastrophe would have occasioned. Even Pompey himself was threatened by the consul, "If you emulate Romulus, you will not escape the end of Romulus." When the day came for putting the bill to the vote, Pompey affected to be anxious for a little rest, and entreated the people to appoint another to the command, but this piece of hypocrisy deceived no one. Q. Catulus and Q. Hortensius spoke against the bill with great eloquence, but with no effect. Thereupon the tribune L. Trebellius, whom the aristocracy had gained over, placed his veto upon the voting; and as no threats nor entreaties could induce him to withdraw his opposition, Gabinius proposed that he should be deprived of his tribuneship. Even then it was not till seventeen out of the thirty-five tribes had voted for his degradation, that Trebellius gave way, and withdrew his veto. It was now too late in the day to come to any