031 



P01IPEIUS CNEIUS. 



POMPEIUS CNEIUS. 



923 



but Pompey would hear of nothing but absolute submission, and the 

 negociatious were brokon off. Soon after, when Pompey was pro- 

 ceeding southward to add Arabia to his conquests, he received 

 intelligence of the death of Mitbridates ; and having secured the 

 submission of some Arabian chiefs, he hastened through Syria and 

 Cilicia back to Pontus. Immense treasures were here surrendered to 

 him : and Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, sent the body of his father 

 to Pompey ; but he refused to see it, and ordered it to be buried 

 with royal honours at Sinope. Pompey now gave to Pharnaces the 

 kingdom of Bosporus ; Deiotarus, tetiarch of Qalatia, was rewarded 

 with Lesser Armenia ; Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus were made 

 a Koman province under the name of Bithynia; Cilicia and Pam- 

 phylia under the name of Cilicia and Syria. Ariobarzanes received 

 Cappadocia, and Tigranes was allowed to remain king of Great 

 Armenia. 



Having thus settled the affairs of Asia, Pompey proposed to return 

 to Rome, where the anticipation of his arrival called forth the activity 

 of the several parties. In January B.C. 61, Pompey landed at Brun- 

 dusium and dismissed his armies ; but he did not continue his journey 

 towards Home until party rage had subsided. He was everywhere 

 received with enthusiasm, and the greater part of the population of 

 Rome left the city to meet him before the gates, where he was 

 solemnly received by the senate. After an interval of some months, 

 he celebrated his triumph over the pirates and Mithridates, the moat 

 magnificent that Itome had ever beheld. Large tables were carried 

 before him, containing an account of the countries and princes that 

 he had subdued ; and of the ships, treasures, and prisoners he had 

 gained for the republic ; an immense tram of waggons followed, 

 loaded with the spoils of the East. On the second day the imperator 

 himself entered the city, and before bis chariot walked the most dis- 

 tinguished of his prisoners, 324 in number, and behind him followed 

 his legates and military tribunes. His army took no part in the 

 triumph. (Appian ; Dion Cass., xxxvii. 24.) After the triumph was 

 over, Pompey dismissed his prisoners to their native countries, with 

 the exception of young Tigranes and Aristobulus ; an<J*with his spoils 

 he built a temple to Minerva, with inscriptions to commemorate his 

 victories. 



After his triumph, he naturally expected that all his measures in 

 Asia and the distribution of lauds which he had promised to his 

 soldiers would be sanctioned by the senate, especially as he thought 

 he was secure of the support of L. Afranius, whom he had promoted 

 to the consulship. But he found himself not only opposed by Cato 

 and the heads of the senatorial party, but abandoned by Afranius. 

 This blow was too severe for a man like Pompey to bear, and he now 

 openly joined the popular party, a step which he could not safely 

 retract, and which involved him in those difficulties in which he at 

 last perished. Caesar supported Pompey, and thus at once weakened 

 the power of the aristocracy, and gamed over Pompey to his own 

 interests. Crassus, the wealthiest of the Romans and the friend of 

 the senate, was also easily gained over, and these three men now 

 formed what is generally called the first triumvirate. During his 

 consulship, Csesar (B.C., 59), by his Agrarian law, enabled Pompey 

 to fu!61 the promises which he had made to bin veterans : large dis- 

 tricts of public land in Campania were assigned to them. Caesar at 

 length also obtained for him the sanction of the arrangements he had 

 made in Asia before he left it. Pompey in his turn supported Caesar, 

 his apparent friend, in all his designs, and thus rendered himself more 

 and more obnoxious to the aristocratic party; while on the other 

 hand he was neither himself sincerely devoted to the people, nor 

 perhaps regarded by them with any other feeling than astonishment 

 for his military success. As Pompey had divorced Mucia (Cic., ' ad 

 Att.,' i. 12) the mother of his two sons, Caesar, to secure Lim still 

 more, gave him his daughter Julia in marriage, with whom Pompey 

 spent most of bin time during this period in his villa of Albanuui 

 near Home, unconcerned about the sufferings of his great eulogist 

 Cicero, who wag driven into exile by the tribune Clodius ; and it was 

 not until Clodiua had made an attempt to assassinate Pompey that he 

 promoted the recall of Cicero. Gratitude induced Cicero to endeavour 

 to re-establish Pompey in the popular favour, by procuring for him 

 the prafectura annonse for five years, and the proconsular power over 

 all provinces, with fifteen legions at his command. (Cic., ' Ad Att.,' 

 iy. 1; Dion Cass., xxxix. 9.) In this capacity he went to Sicily, 

 whence he sent provisions to Rome, and the favour of the people was 

 easily gained, as the price of corn immediately began to fall At the 

 commencement of the year B.C. 56, Pompey returned to Rome, where 

 be exerted his influence for the restoration of Ptolemaous Auletes, king 

 of Egypt, who had been expelled from his kingdom. Clodius, who 

 had become curule a.-Jile, accused Milo; and when Pompey defended 

 him, he was loaded with abuse by Clodius. This affair also involved 

 him in a contest with the tribune Cato, who attacked him in the 

 senate, and accused him of faithlessness to Cicero. The silence of 

 the audience inflamed Pompey's anger, and he openly spoke of secret 

 conspiracies against himself, pointing out his colleague Crassus as their 

 author. He was now conscious of having lost the favour of all parties, 

 and saw nothing left but to repair to Ctesar, who had taken up his 

 winter-quarters at Luca, and to whom Crassus had already gone. 

 Caesar reconciled the two men, and, about the middle of April, B.C. 

 66, concluded a secret treaty with them, according to which his own 



governorship of Gaul was to be prolonged for five years, and Pompey 

 and Crassus to be made consuls for the following year, with the pro- 

 vinces of Spain aud Africa for Pompey, and Syria for Crassus. He 

 moreover promised to exert all his influence with the people in then- 

 favour. 



Pompey now returned to Rome with renewed courage and arrogance, 

 and with Crassus was a candidate for the consulship. The opposition, 

 headed by the inflexible Cato, who saw through the plans of the 

 triumvirs, was fierce, though useless ; but when the day of election 

 came, it was only after the forum had been occupied by armed forces 

 that Pompey and Crassus attained their object. The tribune Tribonius 

 was bribed to assign to the new consuls the provinces on which they 

 themselves had already determined. Pompey, now again at the head 

 of the Roman world, indulged in vain dreams of a final victory over 

 his rivals. Pompey built a magnificent theatre, and amused the mul- 

 titude for several days with the most gorgeous spectacles. But the 

 result did not entirely answer his expectations, and when he shortly 

 after raised troops in Italy and Cisalpine Gaul, and sent them to Spain 

 under his legates Afrianus and Petreius, the people loudly expressed 

 their discontent. At the end of the year Crassus went to Syria, but 

 Pompey governed his province by his legates, and remained with his 

 army in the neighbourhood of Rome, ostensibly to provide the city 

 with provisions, but really in the hope to obtain dictatorial power, and 

 to disarm Caesar through the senate and the people without striking a 

 blow. He interfered with the administration of justice, prevented the 

 election of new consuls, and secretly kept up hostilities between the 

 two parties at Rome. In September of the year B.C. 54, his wife Julia 

 died, and when proposals were made for a new alliuuce with the family 

 of Caesar, he rejected them. Crassus in the meanwhile perished hi 

 Asia, and the triumvirate was changed into a duumvirate. Pompey 

 had long wished for the dictatorship, and when the tribunes Lucceius 

 Hirrus and Ccelius Vinicianus prevented the elections, and at last pro- 

 posed to make Pompey dictator, he was obliged to come forward, but 

 perceiving the vehement opposition of the senate and Cato, he with- 

 drew, and Domitius Calvinus and Valerius Messala were elected 

 consuls for the remainder of the year. At the end of their consulship, 

 the elections were again disturbed, and Pompey conceived fresh hopes. 

 In the ensuing quarrels between Milo and Clodius [ClCEBo], the senate, 

 unable to maintain peace and order in the city, empowered Pompey to 

 collect troops, and to put an end to the disturbances. Pompey was 

 now again in his proper sphere : his first object was, with the assist- 

 ance of his soldiers, to thwart the plans of Milo, and to get rid of him 

 he not only introduced new forms of procedure, but also surrounded 

 the court with soldiers during the trial of Milo. Milo was exiled, 

 while others who were equally guilty were acquitted, as Pompey had 

 no ground for fearing them. 



On the 25th of February Pompey was made solo consul, but on the 

 1st of August he made Metellus Scipiq, whoso daughter Cornelia he 

 had married, his colleague, and with him held the comitia to elect the 

 consuls for the year following. At the same time an old law, that in 

 many instances had been neglected, was renewed, which required that 

 every candidate for a public office should be a candidate in person at 

 Rome. This was aimed at Caesar, who thereby would be compelled to 

 give up the command of his armies and to appear in Rome, if he 

 wished to be a candidate for the consulship. For himself, Pompey 

 obtained a prolongation of his proconsulship over Spain for five 

 years. While Pompey during whose illness at Naples all Italy 

 prayed for his recovery was more and more confirmed in his con- 

 viction that he was the first man of the republic, Coesar had by the 

 distribution of large sums of money increased his party at Rome, and 

 gained over to bis interest several tribunes, among whom was the bold 

 and eloquent Curio. Caesar, though absent from Rome, claimed to be 

 elected consul for the following year; and when Pompey and the 

 senate required him to dismiss his army and present himself at Rome 

 as a candidate, Curio insisted that Pompey should likewise dismiss his 

 army. [CAESAR.] After long discussions, the party of Pompey gained 

 the day, and a decree was made declaring Caesar a public enemy unless 

 he resigned his command and came to Rome as a private man. The 

 public authorities at the same time received orders to guard the 

 republic against any danger, and Pompey was allowed to make use of 

 the public treasury for the purpose of raising an army in Italy. 

 Pompey had declared that he only needed to stamp with his foot 

 upon the earth to call forth new legions ; but when he found that he 

 had miscalculated, he and the whole senatorial party were thrown 

 into the greatest confusion by the intelligence that Caesar was 

 advancing towards Home. On this occasion Cicero exclaimed, " Pom- 

 pey, thou hast betrayed us ! " Cato however thought it advisable to 

 declare Pompey general of the republic. Pompey with his few 

 troops could do nothing ; he left the city, accompanied by the consuls, 

 most of the senators, Cato, Cicero, and others of the aristocratic 

 party ; they hastened to Capua, and thence to Brundusium. From 

 Bruudusium Pompey fled to Dyrrhachium in Epirus, which he 

 strongly garrisoned and fortified, while Caesar established his power in 

 the west. The position of Pompey was more advantageous to him 

 than any other he could have chosen, for the fleet was at his com- 

 mand, and he could raise new troops without great difficulties ; but 

 he had to struggle with his own party, some blaming him for not 

 offering battle to Ctesar, and others for not accepting the proposals of 



