Chapter XIII: Part 13

While Pompey was in Sicily, he received a decree of the senate, and letters from Sylla, in which he was commanded to cross over to Africa and to carry on the war with the utmost vigor against Domitius, who had assembled a much more powerful army than that which Marius carried not long before from Africa to Italy, when he made himself master of Rome, and from a fugitive became a tyrant. Pompey soon finished his preparation for this expedition; and leaving the command in Sicily to Memmius, his sister's husband, he set sail with one hundred and twenty armed vessels, and eight hundred store-ships, laden with provisions, arms, money, and machines of war. Part of his fleet landed at Utica, and part at Carthage: immediately after which seven thousand of the enemy came over to him; and he had brought with him six legions complete.

On his arrival he met with a whimsical adventure. Some of his soldiers, it seems, found a treasure, and rest of the troops concluded that the place was full of money, which the Carthaginians had hid there in some time of public distress. Pompey, therefore could make no use of them for several days, as they were searching for treasures; and he had nothing to do but walk about and amuse himself with the sight of so many thousands digging and turning up the ground. At last, they gave up the point, and bade him lead them wherever be pleased, for they were sufficiently punished for their folly.

Domitius advanced to meet him, and put his troops in order of battle. There happened to be a channel between them, craggy and difficult to pass. Moreover, in the morning it began to rain, and the wind blew violently; insomuch that Domitius, not imagining there would be any action that day, ordered his army to retire. But Pompey looked upon this as his opportunity, and he passed the defile with the utmost expedition. The enemy stood upon their defence, but it was in a disorderly and tumultuous manner, and the resistance they made was neither general nor uniform. Besides the wind and rain beat in their faces. The storm incommoded the Romans, too, for they could not well distinguish each other. Nay, Pompey himself was in danger of being killed by a soldier, who asked him the pass-word, and did not receive a speedy answer. At length, however, he routed the enemy with great slaughter; not above three thousand of them escaping out of twenty thousand. The soldiers then saluted Pompey, Imperator, but he said he would not accept that title while the enemy's camp stood untouched; therefore, if they chose to confer such an honor upon him, they must first make themselves masters of the intrenchments.

At that instant they advanced with great fury against them. Pompey fought without his helmet, for fear of such an accident as he had just escaped. The camp was taken, and Domitius slain; in consequence of which most of the cities immediately submitted, and rest were taken by assault. He took Iarbas, one of the confederates of Domitius, prisoner, and bestowed his crown on Hiempsal. Advancing with the same tide of fortune, and while his army had all the spirits inspired by success, he entered Numidia, in which he continued his march for several days, and subdued all that came in his way. Thus he revived the terror of the Roman name, which the barbarians had begun to disregard. Nay, he chose not to leave the savage beasts in the deserts without giving them a specimen of the Roman valor and success. Accordingly he spent a few days in hunting lions and elephants. The whole time he passed in Africa, they tell us, was not above forty days; in which he defeated the enemy, reduced the whole country, and brought the affairs of its kings under proper regulations, though he was only in his twenty-fourth year.

Upon his return to Utica, he received letters from Sylla, in which he was ordered to send home the rest of his army, and to wait there with one legion only for a successor. This gave him a great deal of uneasiness, which he kept to himself, but the army expressed their indignation aloud; insomuch that when he entreated them to return to Italy, they launched out into abusive terms against Sylla, and declared they would never abandon Pompey, or suffer him to trust a tyrant. At first, he endeavored to pacify them with mild representations; and when he found those had no effect, he descended from the tribunal, and retired to his tent in tears. However, they went and took him thence, and paced him again upon the tribunal, where they spent a great part of the day; they insisting that he should stay and keep the command, and he in persuading them to obey Sylla's orders, and to form no new faction. At last, seeing no end of their clamors and importunity, he assured them, with an oath, that he would kill himself, if they attempted to force him. And even this hardly brought them to desist.

The first news that Sylla heard was, that Pompey had revolted; upon which he said to his friends, "Then it is my fate to have to contend with boys in my old age." This he said, because Marius, who was very young, had brought him into so much trouble and danger. But when he received true information of the affair, and observed that all the people flocked out to receive Pompey to conduct him home with marks of great regard, he resolved to exceed them in his regards, if possible. He, therefore, hastened to meet him, and embracing him in the most affectionate manner, saluted him aloud by the surname of Magnus, or The Great; at the same time he ordered all about him to give him the same appellation. Others say, it was given him by the whole army in Africa, but did not generally obtain till it was authorized by Sylla. It is certain, he was the last to take it himself, and he did not make use of it till a long time after, when he was sent into Spain with the dignity of pro-consul against Sertorius. Then he began to write himself in his letters in all his edicts, Pompey the Great; for the world was accustomed to the name, and it was no longer invidious. In this respect we may justly admire the wisdom of the ancient Romans, who bestowed on their great men such honorable names and titles, not only for military achievements, but for the great qualities and arts which adorn civil life.

When Pompey arrived at Rome, he demanded a triumph, in which he was opposed by Sylla. The latter alleged that the laws did not allow that honor to any person who was not either consul or praetor. Hence it was that the first Scipio, when he returned victorious from greater wars and conflicts with the Carthaginians in Spain, did not demand a triumph; for he was neither consul nor praetor. He added, that if Pompey, who was yet little better than a beardless youth, and who was not of age to be admitted into the senate, should enter the city in triumph, it would bring an odium both upon the dictator's power, and those honors of his friend. These arguments Sylla insisted on, to show him that he would not allow of his triumph, and that, in case he persisted, he would chastise his obstinacy.

Pompey, not in the least intimidated, bade him consider, that more worshiped the rising than the setting sun; intimating that his power was increasing, and Sylla's upon the decline. Sylla did not hear well what he said, but perceiving by the looks and gestures of the company that they were struck with the expression, he asked what it was. When he was told it, he admired the spirit of Pompey and cried, "Let him triumph! Let him triumph!"

There is no doubt that he might then have been easily admitted a senator, if he had desired it; but his ambition was to pursue honor in a more uncommon track. It would have been nothing strange, if Pompey had been a senator before the age fixed for it; but it was a very extraordinary instance of honor to lead up a triumph before he was a senator. And it contributed not a little to gain him the affections of the multitude; the people were delighted to see him, after his triumph, class with the equestrian order.

The power of the pirates had its foundation in Cilicia. Their progress was the more dangerous, because at first it was little taken notice of. In the Mithridatic war they assumed new confidence and courage, on account of some services they had rendered the king. After this, the Romans being engaged in civil wars at the very gates of their capital, the sea was left unguarded, and the pirates by degrees attempted higher things; they not only attacked ships, but islands, and maritime towns. Many persons, distinguished for their wealth, their birth, and their capacity, embarked with them, and assisted in the depredations, as if their employment had been worthy the ambition of men of honor. They had in various places arsenals, ports, and watch-towers, all strongly fortified. Their fleets were not only extremely well manned, supplied with skillful pilots, and fitted for their business by their lightness and celerity; but there was a parade of vanity about them more mortifying than their strength, in gilded sterns, purpose canopies, and plated oars; as if they took a pride and triumphed in their villainy. Music resounded, and drunken revels were exhibited on every coast. Here generals were made prisoners; there the cities the pirates had taken were paying their ransom; all to the great disgrace of the Roman power. The number of their galleys amounted to one thousand, and the cities they were masters of to four hundred.

Temples which had stood inviolably sacred till that time, they plundered. They ruined the temple of Apollo at Claros, that of the Cabiri in Samothrace, of Ceres at Hermione, of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, those of Neptune in the Isthmus, at Taenarus and in Calauria, those of Apollo at Actium and in the isle of Leucas, those of Juno at Samos, Argos, and the promontory of Lacinium.

They likewise offered strange sacrifices; those of Olympus I mean; and they celebrated certain secret mysteries, among which those of Mithra continue to this day, being originally instituted by them. They not only insulted the Romans at sea but infested the great roads, and plundered the villas near the coast; they carried off Sextilius and Bellinus, two praetors, in their purple robes, which all their servants and lictors. They seized the daughter of Antony, a man who had been honored with a triumph, as she was going to her country house, and he was forced to pay a large ransom for her.

But the most contemptible circumstance of all was, that when they had taken a prisoner, and he cried out that he was a Roman, and told them his name, they pretended to be struck with terror, smote their thighs, and fell upon their knees to ask him pardon. The poor man, seeing them thus humble themselves before him, thought them in earnest, and said he would forgive them; for some were so officious as to put on his shoes, and others to help him on with his gown, that his quality might no more be mistaken. When they had carried on this farce, and enjoyed it for some time, they let a ladder down into the sea, and bade him go in peace; and if he refused to do it, they pushed him off the deck, and drowned him.

Their power extended over the whole Tuscan sea, so that the Romans found their trade and navigation entirely cut off. The consequence of which was, that their markets were not supplied, and they had reason to apprehend a famine. This at last led them to send Pompey to clear the sea of pirates. Gabinius, one of Pompey's intimate friends, proposed the decree, which created him not admiral, but monarch, and invested him with absolute power. The decree gave him the empire of the sea as far as the Pillars of Hercules, and of the land for 400 furlongs from the coasts. There were few parts of the Roman empire which this commission did not take in; and the most considerable of the barbarous nations, and most powerful kings, were moreover comprehended in it. Besides this he was empowered to choose out of the senators fifteen lieutenants, to act under him in such districts, and with such authority as he should appoint. He was to take from the quaestors, and other public receivers, what money he pleased, and equip a fleet of two hundred sail. The number of marine forces, of mariners and rowers, was left entirely to his discretion.

When this decree was read in the assembly, the people received it with inconceivable pleasure. The most respectable part of the senate saw, indeed, that such an absolute and unlimited power was above envy, but they considered it as a real object of fear. They therefore all, except Caesar, opposed its passing into a law. He was for it, not out of regard for Pompey, but to insinuate himself into the good graces of the people, which he had long been courting. The rest were very severe in the expressions against Pompey; and one of the consuls venturing to say, "If he imitates Romulus, he will not escape his fate," was in danger of being pulled in pieces by the populace.

It is true, when Catulus rose up to speak against the law, out of reverence for his person they listened to him with great attention. After he had freely given Pompey the honor that was his due, and said much in his praise, he advised them to spare him, and not to expose such a man to so many dangers; "for where will you find another," said he, "if you lose him?" They answered with one voice, "Yourself." Finding his arguments had no effect, he retired. Then Roscius mounted the rostrum, but not a man would give ear to him. However he made signs to them with his fingers, that they should not appoint Pompey alone, but give him a colleague. Incensed at the proposal, they set up such a shout, that a crow, which was flying over the forum, was stunned with the force of it, and fell down among the crowd. Hence we may conclude, that when birds fall on such occasions, it is not because the air is so divided with the shock as to leave a vacuum, but rather because the sound strikes them like a blow, when it ascends with force, and produces so violent an agitation.

The assembly broke up that day without coming to any resolution. When the day came that they were to give their suffrages, Pompey retired into the country; and, on receiving information that the decree was passed, he returned to the city by night, to prevent the envy which the multitudes of people coming to meet him would have excited. Next morning at break of day he made his appearance, and attended the sacrifice. After which, he summoned an assembly, and obtained a grant of almost as much more as the first decree had given him. He was empowered to fit out 500 galleys, and to raise an army of 120,000 foot, and 5,000 horse. Twenty-four senators were selected, who had all been generals or praetors, and were appointed his lieutenants; and he had two quaestors given him. As the price of provisions fell immediately, the people were greatly pleased, and it gave them occasion to say that the very name of Pompey had terminated the war.

However, in pursuance of his charge, he divided the whole Mediterranean into thirteen parts, appointing a lieutenant for each, and assigning him a squadron. By thus stationing his fleet in all quarters, he enclosed the pirates as it were in a net, took great numbers of them, and brought them into harbor. Such of their vessels as had dispersed and made off in time, or could escape the general chase, retired to Cilicia, like so many bees into a hive. Against these he proposed to go himself, with sixty of his best galleys; but first he resolved to clear the Tuscan sea, and the coasts of Africa, Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily, of all piratical adventurers; which he effected in forty days, by his own indefatigable endeavors and those of his lieutenants. But, as the consul Piso was indulging his malignity at home, in wasting his stores and discharging his seamen, he sent his fleet round to Brundusium, and went himself by land through Tuscany to Rome.

As soon as the people were informed of his approach, they went in crowds to receive him, in the same manner as they had done a few days before, to conduct him on his way. Their extraordinary joy was owing to the speed with which he had executed his commission, so far beyond all expectation, and to the superabundant plenty which reigned in the markets. For this reason Piso was in danger of being deposed from the consulship, and Gabinius had a decree ready drawn up for that purpose; but Pompey would not suffer him to propose it. On the contrary, his speech to the people was full of candor and moderation; and when he had provided such things as he wanted, he went to Brundusium, and put to sea again. Though he was straightened for time, and in his haste sailed by many cities without calling, yet he stopped at Athens. He entered the town and sacrificed to the gods; after which he addressed the people, and then prepared to reembark immediately. As he went out of the gate he observed two inscriptions, each comprised in one line.

That within the gate was:

But know thyself a man, and be a god.

That without:

We wish'd, we saw; we loved, and we adored.

Some of the pirates, who yet traversed the seas, made their submission; and as he treated them in a humane manner, when he had them and their ships in his power, others entertained hope of mercy, and avoiding the other officers, surrendered themselves to Pompey, together with their wives and children. He spared them all; and it was principally by their means that he found out and took a number who were guilty of unpardonable crimes, and therefore had concealed themselves.

Still, however, there remained a great number, and indeed the most powerful part of these corsairs, who sent their families, treasures, and all useless hands, into castles and fortified towns upon Mount Taurus. Then they manned their ships, and waited for Pompey at Coracesium, in Cilicia. A battle ensued, and the pirates were defeated; after which they retired into the fort. But they had not been long besieged before they capitulated, and surrendered themselves, together with the cities and islands which they had conquered and fortified, and which by their works as well as situation were almost impregnable. Thus the war was finished, and whole force of the pirates destroyed, within three months at the farthest.

Besides the other vessels, Pompey took ninety ships with beaks of brass; and the prisoners amounted to 20,000. He did not choose to put them to death, and at the same time he thought it wrong to suffer them to disperse, because they were not only numerous, but warlike and necessitous, and therefore would probably knit again and give future trouble. He reflected, that man by nature is neither a savage nor an unsocial creature; and when he becomes so, it is by vices contrary to nature; yet even then he may be humanized by changing his place of abode, and accustoming him to a new manner of life; as beasts that are naturally wild put off their fierceness when they are kept in a domestic way. For this reason he determined to remove the pirates to a great distance from the sea, and bring them to taste the sweets of civil life, by living in cities, and by the culture of the ground. He placed some of them in the little towns of Cilicia, which were almost desolate, and which received them with pleasure, because at the same time he gave them an additional proportion of lands. He repaired the city of Soli, which had lately been dismantled and deprived of its inhabitants by Tigranes, king of Armenia, and peopled it with a number of these corsairs. The remainder, which was a considerable body, he planted in Dyma, a city of Achaia, which, though it had a large and fruitful territory, was in want of inhabitants.

Pompey, having secured the sea from Phoenicia to the Bosphorus, marched in quest of Mithridates, who had an army of 30,000 foot and 2,000 horse, but durst not stand an engagement. That prince was in possession of a strong and secure post upon a mountain, which he quitted upon Pompey's approach, because it was destitute of water. Pompey encamped in the same place; and conjecturing, from the nature of the plants and the crevices in the mountain, that springs might be found, he ordered a number of wells to be dug, and the camp was in a short time plentifully supplied with water. He was not a little surprised that this did not occur to Mithridates during the whole time of his encampment there.

After this, Pompey followed him to his new camp, and drew a line of circumvallation round him. Mithridates stood a siege of forty-five days, after which he found means to steal off with his best troops, having first killed all the sick, and such as could be of no service. Pompey overtook him near the Euphrates, and encamped over against him; but fearing he might pass the river unperceived, he drew out his troops at midnight. At that time Mithridates is said to have had a dream prefigurative of what was to befall him. He thought he was upon the Pontic Sea, sailing with a favorable wind, and in sight of the Bosphorus; so that he felicitated his friends in the ship, like a man perfectly safe, and already in harbor. But suddenly he beheld himself in the most destitute condition, swimming upon a piece of wreck. While he was in all the agitation which this dream produced, his friends awaked him, and told him that Pompey was at hand. He was now under a necessity of fighting for his camp, and his generals drew up the forces with all possible expedition.

Pompey, seeing them prepared, was loth to risk a battle in the dark. He thought it sufficient to surround them, so as to prevent their flight; and what inclined him still more to wait for daylight, was the consideration that his troops were much better than the enemy's. However, the oldest of his officers entreated him to proceed immediately to the attack, and at last prevailed. It was not indeed very dark; for the moon, though near her setting, gave light enough to distinguish objects. But it was a great disadvantage to the king's troops, that the moon was so low, and on the backs of the Romans; because she projected their shadows so far before them, that the enemy could form no just estimate of the distances, but thinking them at hand, threw their javelins before they could do the least execution.

The Romans, perceiving their mistake, advanced to the charge with all the alarm of voices. The enemy were in such a consternation, that they made not the least stand, and, in their flight, vast numbers were slain. They lost above 10,000 men, and their camp was taken. As for Mithridates, he broke through the Romans with 800 horses, in the beginning of the engagement. That corps, however, did not follow him far before they dispersed, and left him with only three of his people.

The pursuit of Mithridates was attended with great difficulties; for he concealed himself among the nations settled about the Bosphorus and the Palus Maeotis. Besides, news was brought to Pompey that the Albanians had revolted, and taken up arms again. The desire of revenge determined him to march back, and chastise them. But it was with infinite trouble and danger that he passed the Cyrnus again, the barbarians having fenced it on their side with palisades all along the banks. And when he was over, he had a large country to traverse, which afforded no water. This last difficulty he provided against by filling 10,000 bottles; and pursuing his march, he found the enemy drawn up on the banks of the river Abas, to the number of 60,000 foot and 12,000 horse, but many of them ill-armed, and provided with nothing of the defensive kind but skins of beasts.

They were commanded by the king's brother, named Cosis; who, at the beginning of the battle, singled out Pompey, and rushing in upon him, struck his javelin into the joints of his breastplate. Pompey in return run him through with his spear, and laid him dead on the spot. It is said that the Amazons came to the assistance of the barbarians from the mountains near the river Thermodon, and fought in this battle. The Romans, among the plunder of the field, did, indeed, meet with bucklers in the form of a half-moon, and such buskins as the Amazons wore; but there was not the body of a woman found among the dead. They inhabit that part of Mount Caucasus which stretches toward the Hyrcanian Sea, and are not next neighbors to the Albanians; for Gelae and Leges lie between; but they meet that people, and spend two months with them every year on the banks of the Thermodon; after which they retire to their own country.

Pompey had advanced near to Petra, and encamped, and was taking some exercise on horseback without the trenches, when messengers arrived from Pontus; and it was plain they brought good news, because the points of their spears were crowned with laurel. The soldiers seeing this, gathered about Pompey, who was inclined to finish his exercise before he opened the packet; but they were so earnest in their entreaties, that they prevailed upon him to alight and take it. He entered the camp with it in his hand; and as there was no tribunal ready, and the soldiers were too impatient to raise one of turf, which the common method, they piled a number of pack-saddles one upon the other, upon which Pompey mounted, and gave them this information: "Mithridates is dead. He killed himself upon the revolt of his son Pharnaces. And Pharnaces has seized all that belonged to his father; which he declares he has done for himself and Romans."

At this news the army, as might be expected, gave a loose rein to their joy, which they expressed in sacrifices to the gods, and in reciprocal entertainments, as if 10,000 of their enemies had been slain in Mithridates. Pompey having thus brought the campaign and the whole war to a conclusion so happy, and so far beyond his hopes, immediately quitted Arabia, traverses the provinces between that and Galatia with great rapidity, and soon arrived at Amisus. There he found many presents from Pharnaces, and several corpses of the royal family, among which was that of Mithridates. As for Pompey, he would not see the body, but to propitiate the avenging Nemesis, sent it to Sinope. However, he looked upon and admired the magnificence of his habit, and the size and beauty of his arms. The scabbard of his sword cost four hundred talents, and the diadem was of most exquisite workmanship.

Pompey having thoroughly settled the affairs of Asia, hoped to return to Italy the greatest and happiest of men.

People talked variously at Rome concerning his intentions. Many disturbed themselves at the thought that he would march with his army immediately to Rome and make himself sole and absolute master there. Crassus took his children and money, and withdrew; whether it was that he had some real apprehensions, or rather that he chose to countenance the calumny, and add force to the sting of envy; the latter seems the more probable. But Pompey had no sooner set foot in Italy, than he called an assembly of his soldiers, and, after a kind and suitable address, ordered them to disperse in their respective cities, and attend to their own affairs till his triumph, on which occasion they were to repair to him again.

Pompey's triumph was so great, that though it was divided into two days, the time was far from being sufficient for displaying what was prepared to be carried in procession; there remained still enough to adorn another triumph. At the head of the show appeared the titles of the conquered nations: Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Media, Colchis, the Iberians, the Albanians, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Judaea, Arabia, the pirates subdued both by sea and land. In these countries, it was mentioned that there were not less than 1,000 castles and 900 cities captured, 800 galleys taken from the pirates, and 39 desolate cities repeopled. On the face of the tablets it appeared besides, that whereas the revenues of the Roman empire before these conquests amounted but to 50,000,000 drachmas, by the new acquisitions they were advanced to 85,000,000; and that Pompey had brought into the public treasury in money, and in gold and silver vessels, the value of 20,000 talents; besides what he had distributed among the soldiers, of whom he that received least had 1,500 drachmas to his share. The captives who walked in the procession (not the mention the chiefs of the pirates) were the son of Tigranes, king of Armenia, together with his wife and daughter; Zosima, the wife of Tigranes himself; Aristobulus, king of Judaea; the sister of Mithridates, with her five sons, and some Scythian women. The hostages of the Albanians and Iberians, and of the king of Commagene also appeared in the train; and as many trophies were exhibited as Pompey had gained victories, either in person or by his lieutenants, the number of which was not small.

But the most honorable circumstance, and what no other Roman could boast, was that his third triumph was over the third quarter of the world, after his former triumphs had been over the other two. Others before him had been honored with three triumphs; but his first triumph was over Africa, his second over Europe, and his third over Asia; so that the three seemed to declare him conqueror of the world.

Those who desire to make the parallel between him and Alexander agree in all respects, tell us he was at this time not quite thirty-four, whereas, in fact, he was entering upon his fortieth year. (It should be the forty-sixth year. Pompey was born in the beginning of the month of August, in the year of Rome 647, and his triumph was in the same month in the year of Rome 692.) Happy it had been for him, if he had ended his days while he was blessed with Alexander's good fortune! The rest of his life, every instance of success brought its proportion of envy, and every misfortune was irretrievable.

In the meantime the wars in Gaul lifted Caesar to the first sphere of greatness. The scene of action was at a great distance from Rome, and he seemed to be wholly engaged with the Belgae, the Suevi, and the Britons; but his genius all the while was privately at work among the people of Rome, and he was undermining Pompey in his most essential interests. His war with the barbarians was not his principal object. He exercised his army, indeed, in those expeditions, as he would have done his own body, in hunting and other diversions of the field, by which he prepared them for higher conflicts, and rendered them not only formidable but invincible.

The gold and silver, and other rich spoils which he took from the enemy in great abundance, he sent to Rome; and by distributing them freely among the aediles, praetors, consuls, and their wives, he gained a great party. Consequently when he passed the Alps and wintered at Lucca, among the crowd of men and women, who hastened to pay their respects to him, there were two hundred senators, Pompey and Crassus of the number; and there were no fewer than one hundred and twenty proconsuls and praetors, whose faces were to be seen at the gates of Caesar. He made it his business in general to give them hopes of great things, and his money was at their devotion; but he entered into a treaty with Crassus and Pompey, by which it was agreed that they should apply for the consulship, and that Caesar should assist them, by sending a great number of his soldiers to vote at the election. As soon as they were chosen, they were to share the provinces, and take the command of armies, according to their pleasure, only confirming Caesar in the possession of what he had for five years more.

Crassus, upon the expiration of his consulship, repaired to his province. Pompey remaining at Rome, opened his theatre; and to make the dedication more magnificent, exhibited a variety of gymnastic games, entertainments of music, and battles with wild beasts, in which were killed 500 lions; but the battle of elephants afforded the most astonishing spectacle. (Dio says the elephants fought with armed men. There were no less than eighteen of them; and he adds, that some of them seemed to appeal, with piteous cries to the people; who, in compassion, saved their lives. If we may believe him, an oath had been taken before they left Africa, that no injury should be done them.) These things gained him the love and admiration of the public; but he incurred their displeasure again, by leaving his provinces and armies entirely to his friends and lieutenants, and roving about Italy with his wife from one villa to another. The strong attachment of Julia appeared on the occasion of an election of aediles. The people came to blows, and some were killed so near Pompey that he was covered with blood, and forced to change his clothes. There was a great crowd and tumult about his door, when his servants went home with a bloody robe; and Julia, happening to see it, fainted away and was with difficulty restored. Shortly after Julia died, and the alliance which had rather covered than restrained the ambition of the two great competitors for power was now no more. To add to the misfortune, news was brought soon after that Crassus was slain by the Parthians; and in him another great obstacle to a civil war was removed. Out of fear of him, they had both kept some measures with each other. But when fortune had carried off the champion who could take up the conqueror, we may say with the comic poet--

High spirits of emprise
Elates each chief; they oil their brawny limbs,
and dip their hands in dust.

So little able is fortune to fill the capacities of the human mind; when such a weight of power, and extent of command, could not satisfy the ambition of two men. They had heard and read that the gods had divided the universe into three shares,

(Plutarch alludes here to a passage in the fifteenth book of the Iliad, where Neptune says to Iris--

Assign'd by lot our triple rule we know;
Infernal Pluto sways the shades below;
O'er the wide clouds, and o'er the starry plain,
Ethereal Jove extends his high domain;
My court beneath the hoary waves I keep,
And hush the roarings of the sacred deep.)

and each was content with that which fell to his lot, and yet these men could not think the Roman empire sufficient for two of them. Such anarchy and confusion took place that numbers began to talk boldly of setting up a dictator. Cato, now fearing he should be overborne, was of opinion that it were better to give Pompey some office whose authority was limited by law, than to intrust him with absolute power. Bibulus, though Pompey's declared enemy, moved in full senate, that he should be appointed sole consul. "For by that means," said he, "the commonwealth will either recover from her disorder, or, if she must serve, will serve a man of the greatest merit." The whole house was surprised at the motion; and when Cato rose up, it was expected he would oppose it. A profound silence ensued, and he said, he should never have been the first to propose such an expedient, but as it was proposed by another, he thought it advisable to embrace it; for he thought any kind of government better than anarchy, and knew no man fitter to rule than Pompey, in a time of so much trouble. The senate came into his opinion, and a decree was issued, that Pompey should be appointed sole consul, and that if he should have need of a colleague, he might choose one himself, provided it were not before the expiration of two months.

Pompey being declared sole consul by the Interrex Sulpitius, made his compliments to Cato, acknowledged himself much indebted to his support, and desired his advice and assistance in the cabinet, as to the measures to be pursued in his administration. Cato made answer, that Pompey was not under the least obligation to him; for what he had said was not out of regard to him, but to his country. "If you apply to me," continued he, "I shall give you my advice in private; if not, I shall inform you of my sentiments in public." Such was Cato, and the same on all occasions.

Pompey then went into the city, and married Cornelia, the daughter of Metellus Scipio. She was a widow, having been married, when very young, to Publius the son of Crassus, who was lately killed in the Parthian expedition. This woman had many charms beside her beauty. She was well versed in polite literature; she played upon the lyre, and understood geometry; and she had made considerable improvements by the precepts of philosophy. What is more, she had nothing of that petulance and affectation which such studies are apt to produce in women of her age. And her father's family and reputation were unexceptionable.

Pompey's confidence made him so extremely negligent, that he laughed at those who seemed to fear the war. And when they said if Caesar should advance in a hostile manner to Rome, they did not see what forces they had to oppose him, he bade them, with an open and smiling countenance, give themselves no pain: "For, if in Italy," said he, "I do but stamp upon the ground, an army will appear."

Meantime Caesar was exerting himself greatly. He was now at no great distance from Italy, and not only sent his soldiers to vote in the elections, but by private pecuniary applications, corrupted many of the magistrates. Paulus the consul was of the number, and he had one thousand five hundred talents for changing sides. So also was Curio, one of the tribunes of the people, for whom he paid off an immense debt, and Mark Antony, who, out of friendship for Curio, had stood engaged with him for the debt.

It is said, that when one of Caesar's officers, who stood before the senate-house, waiting the issue of the debates, was informed that they would not give Caesar a longer term in his command, he laid his hand on his sword, and said, "But this shall give it." Indeed, all the preparations of his general tended that way; though Curio's demands in behalf of Caesar seemed more plausible. He proposed, that either Pompey should likewise be obliged to dismiss his forces, or Caesar suffered to keep his. "If they are both reduced to a private station," said he, "they will agree upon reasonable terms; or, if each retains his respective power, they will be satisfied. But he who weakens the one, without doing the same by the other, must double that force which he fears will subvert the government."

But now news was brought that Caesar was marching directly towards Rome with all his forces. The last circumstance, indeed, was not true. He advanced with only three hundred horse and five thousand foot; the rest of his forces were on the other side of the Alps, and he would not wait for them, choosing rather to put his adversaries in confusion by a sudden and unexpected attack, than to fight them when better prepared. When he came to the river Rubicon, which was the boundary of his province, he stood silent a long time, weighing with himself the greatness of his enterprise. At last, like one who plunges down from the top of a precipice into a gulf of immense depth, he silenced his reason, and shut his eyes against the danger; and crying out in the Greek language, "The die is cast," he marched over with his army.

Upon the first report of this at Rome, the city was in greater disorder and astonishment than had ever been known.

All Italy was in motion, with the stir of the coming storm. Those who lived out of Rome fled to it from all quarters, and those who lived in it abandoned it as fast. These saw, that in such a tempestuous and disorderly state of affairs, the well disposed part of the city wanted strength, and that the ill disposed were so refractory that they could not be managed by the magistrates. The terrors of the people could not be removed, and no one would suffer Pompey to lay a plan of action for himself. According to the passion wherewith each was actuated, whether fear, sorrow, or doubt, they endeavored to inspire him with the same; insomuch that he adopted different measures the same day. He could gain no certain intelligence of the enemy's motions, because every man brought him the report he happened to take up, and was angry if it did not meet with credit.

Pompey at last caused it to be declared by a formal edict, that the commonwealth was in danger, and no peace was to be expected. After which, he signified that he should look upon those who remained in the city as the partisans of Caesar; and then quitted it in the dusk of the evening. The consuls also fled, without offering the sacrifices which their customs required before a war. However, in this great extremity, Pompey could not but be considered as happy in the affections of his countrymen. Though many blamed the war, there was not a man who hated the general. Nay, the number of those who followed him, out of attachment to his person, was greater than that of the adventurers in the cause of liberty.

A few days after, Caesar arrived at Rome. When he was in possession of the city, he behaved with great moderation in many respects, and composed in a good measure the minds of its remaining inhabitants.

Pompey, who was the master of Brundusium, and had a sufficient number of transports, desired the consuls to embark without loss of time, and sent them before him with thirty cohorts to Dyrrhachium. But at the same time he sent his father-in-law Scipio and his son Cnaeus into Syria, to provide ships of war. He had well secured the gates of the city, and planted the lightest of his slingers and archers upon the walls; and having now ordered the Brundusians to keep within doors, he caused a number of trenches to be cut, and sharp stakes to be driven into them, and then covered with earth, in all the streets, except two which led down to the sea. In three days all his other troops were embarked without interruption; and then he suddenly gave the signal to those who guarded the walls; in consequence of which, they ran swiftly down to the harbor, and got on board. Thus having his whole complement, he set sail, and crossed the sea to Dyrrhachium.

When Caesar came and saw the walls left destitute of defence, he concluded that Pompey had taken to flight, and in his eagerness to pursue, would certainly have fallen upon the sharp stakes in the trenches, had not the Brundusians informed him of them. He then avoided the streets, and took a circuit round the town, by which he discovered that all the vessels had weighed anchor, except two that had not many soldiers aboard.

This manoeuvre of Pompey was commonly reckoned among the greatest act of generalship. Caesar, however, could not help wondering, that his adversary, who was in possession of a fortified town, and expected his forces from Spain, and at the same time was master of them, should give up Italy in such a manner.

Caesar thus made himself master of all Italy in sixty days without the least bloodshed, and he would have been glad to have gone immediately in pursuit of Pompey. But as he was in want of shipping, he gave up that design for the present, and marched to Spain, with an intent to gain Pompey's forces there.

In the meantime Pompey assembled a great army; and at sea he was altogether invincible. For he had five hundred ships of war, and the number of his lighter vessels was still greater. As for his land forces, he had seven thousand horse, the flower of Rome and Italy, all men of family, fortune, and courage. His infantry, though numerous, was a mixture of raw, undisciplined soldiers; he therefore exercised them during his stay at Beroea, where he was by no means idle, but went through the exercises of a soldier, as if he had been in the flower of his age. It inspired his troops with new courage, when they saw Pompey the Great, at the age of fifty-eight, going through the whole military discipline, in heavy armor, on foot; and then mounting his horse, drawing his sword with ease when at full speed, and as dexterously sheathing it again. As to the javelin, he threw it not only with great exactness, but with such force that few of the young men could dart it to a greater distance.

Many kings and princes repaired to his camp; and the number of Roman officers who had commanded armies was so great, that it was sufficient to make up a complete senate. Labienus, who had been honored with Caesar's friendship, and served under him in Gaul, now joined Pompey.

Caesar had now made himself master of Pompey's forces in Spain, and though it was not without a battle, he dismissed the officers, and incorporated the troops with his own. After this, he passed the Alps again, and marched through Italy to Brundusium, where he arrived at the time of the winter solstice. There he crossed the sea, and landed at Oricum; from whence he dispatched Vibullius, one of Pompey's friends, whom he had brought prisoner thither, with proposals of a conference between him and Pompey, in which they should agree to disband their armies within three days, renew their friendship, confirm it with solemn oath, and then both return to Italy. Pompey took this overture for another snare, and therefore drew down in haste to the sea, and secured all the forts and places of strength for land forces, as well as all the ports and other commodious stations for shipping; so that there was not a wind that blew, which did not bring him either provisions, or troops, or money. On the other hand, Caesar was reduced to such straits, both by sea and land, that he was under the necessity of seeking a battle. Accordingly, he attacked Pompey's intrenchments, and bade him defiance daily. In most of these attacks and skirmishes he had the advantage; but one day was in danger of losing his whole army. Pompey fought with so much valor, that he put Caesar's whole detachment to flight, after having killed two thousand men upon the spot; but was either unable or afraid to pursue his blow, and enter their camp with them. Caesar said to his friends on this occasion, "This day the victory had been the enemy's had their general known how to conquer."

Pompey's troops, elated with this success, were in great haste to come to a decisive battle. Nay, Pompey himself seemed to give in to their opinions by writing to the kings, the generals, and cities, in his interest, in the style of a conqueror. Yet all this while he dreaded the issue of a general action, believing it much better, by length of time, by famine and fatigue, to tire out men who had been ever invincible in arms, and long accustomed to conquer when they fought together. Besides, he knew the infirmities of age had made them unfit for the other operations of war, for long marches and countermarches, for digging trenches and building forts, and that, therefore, they wished for nothing so much as a battle. Pompey, with all these arguments, found it no easy matter to keep his army quiet.

After this last engagement, Caesar was in such want of provisions, that he was forced to decamp, and he took his way through Athamania into Thessaly. This added so much to the high opinion Pompey's soldiers had of themselves, that it was impossible to keep them within bounds. They cried out with one voice, "Caesar is fled." Some called upon the general to pursue; some to pass over into Italy. Others sent their friends and servants to Rome, to engage homes near the forum, for the convenience of soliciting the great offices of state. And not a few went of their own accord to Cornelia, who had been privately lodged in Lesbos, to congratulate her upon the conclusion of the war.

While he thus softly followed the enemy's steps, a complaint was raised against him, and urged with much clamor, that he was not exercising his generalship upon Caesar, but upon the Senate and the whole commonwealth, in order that he might forever keep the command in his hands, and have those for his guards and servants who had a right to govern the world. Domitius Aenobarbus, to increase the odium, always called him Agamemnon, or king of kings. Favonius piqued him no less with a jest, than others by their unseasonable severity; he went about crying, "My friends, we shall eat no figs in Tusculum this year."

These and many other like sallies of ridicule had such an effect upon Pompey, who was ambitious of being spoken well of by the world, and had too much deference for the opinions of his friends, that he gave up his own better judgment, to follow them in the career of their false hopes and prospects. A thing which would have been unpardonable in the pilot or master of a ship, much more in the commander-in-chief of so many nations and such numerous armies. He had often commended the physician who gives no indulgence to the whimsical longings of his patients, and yet he humored the sickly cravings of his army, and was afraid to give them pain, though necessary for the preservation of their life and being. For who can say that army was in a sound and healthy state, when some of the officers went about the camp canvassing for the offices of consul and praetor; and others, namely, Spinther, Domitius, and Scipio, were engaged in quarrels and cabals about Caesar's high-priesthood, as if their adversary had been only a Tigranes, a king of Armenia, or a prince of the Nabathaeans; and not that Caesar and that army who had stormed one thousand cities, subdued above three hundred nations, gained numberless battles of the Germans and Gauls, taken one million prisoners, and killed as many fairly in the field. Notwithstanding all this, they continued loud and tumultuous in their demands of a battle; and when they came to the plains of Pharsalia, forced Pompey to call a council of war. Lebienus, who had the command of the cavalry, rose up first, and took an oath, that he would not return from the battle, till he had put the enemy to flight. All the other officers swore the same.

The night following, Pompey had this dream. He thought he entered his own theatre, and was received with loud plaudits; after which, he adorned the temple of Venus the Victorious with many spoils. This vision, on one side, encouraged him, and on the other alarmed him. He was afraid that Caesar, who was a descendant of Venus, would be aggrandized at his expense. Besides, a panic (A Panic was so called, from the terror which the god Pan is said to have struck the enemies of Greece with, at the battle of Marathon.) fear ran through the camp, the noise of which awakened him. And about the morning watch, over Caesar's camp, where everything was perfectly quiet, there suddenly appeared a great light, from which a stream of fire issued in the form of a torch, and fell upon that of Pompey. Caesar himself says he saw it as he was going his rounds.