day having always borne the name of invincible. For the relationship that had been made between them, and the charms of Julia, and that marriage, were from the very first only deceitful and suspected pledges of an alliance formed from interested motives, in which there was not a particle of true friendship.
LXXI. Now when the plain of Pharsalus was filled with men and horses and arms, and the signal for battle was raised on both sides, the first to spring forward from the line of Cæsar was Caius Crassianus[376] a centurion who had the command of one hundred and twenty men, and was now fulfilling a great promise to Cæsar. For as Cæsar observed him to be the first that was quitting the camp, he spoke to him and asked what he thought of the battle; and Crassianus stretching out his right hand replied with a loud voice, "You shall have a splendid victory, Cæsar; and as to me, you shall praise me whether I survive the day or die." Remembering what he had said, he rushed forward and carrying many along with him fell on the centre of the enemy. The struggle was forthwith with the sword and many fell; but while Crassianus was pushing forwards and cutting down those who were in the front ranks, a soldier made a stand against him and drove his sword through his mouth so that the point came out at the back of the neck. When Crassianus had fallen, the battle was equally contested in this part of the field. Now Pompeius did not quickly lead on the right wing, but was looking at the opposite wing and lost time in waiting for the cavalry to get into action. The cavalry were now extending their companies with the view of surrounding Cæsar, and they drove Cæsar's cavalry who were few in number upon the line in front of which they were stationed. But upon Cæsar giving the signal, the cavalry retired, and the cohorts which had been reserved to meet the enemy's attempt to outflank them, rushed forward, three thousand in number, and met the enemy; then fixing themselves by the side of the horsemen, they pushed their spears upwards, as they had been instructed, against the horses, aiming at the faces of the riders. The horsemen, who were altogether inexperienced in fighting, and had never expected or heard of such a mode of attack, did not venture to stand or endure the blows aimed at their eyes and mouths, but turning their backs and holding their hands before their faces they ingloriously took to flight. The soldiers of Cæsar leaving these fugitives to escape advanced against the infantry, and they made their attack at that point where the wing having lost the protection of the cavalry gave them the opportunity of outflanking and surrounding them. These men falling on the enemy in the flank and the tenth legion attacking them in front, the enemy did not stand their ground nor keep together, for they saw that while they were expecting to surround the enemy, they were themselves surrounded.
LXXII. After the infantry were routed, and Pompeius seeing the dust conjectured what had befallen the cavalry, what reflections passed in his mind, it is difficult to say; but like a madman more than anything else and one whose reason was affected, without considering that he was Magnus Pompeius, without speaking a word to any one, he walked slowly back to his camp, so that one may properly apply to him the verses[377] "But lofty father Zeus struck fear in Ajax; He stood confounded, and behind him threw His shield of seven-ox-hide, and trembling look'd Towards the crowd."
In this state Pompeius came to his tent and sat down without speaking, until many of the pursuers rushed into the camp with the fugitives; and then merely uttering these words, "What, even to the camp!" and nothing more, he rose and taking a dress suitable to his present condition made his way out. The rest of the legions also fled, and there was great slaughter in the camp of those who were left to guard the tents and of the slaves; but Asinius Pollio[378] says that only six thousand soldiers fell, and Pollio fought in that battle on Cæsar's side. When Cæsar's men took the camp, they saw evidence of the folly and frivolity of the enemy. For every tent was crowned with myrtle and furnished with flowered coverings to the couches and tables loaded with cups; and bowls of wine were laid out, and there was the preparation and decoration of persons who had performed a sacrifice and were celebrating a festival,[379] rather than of men who were arming for battle. So blinded by their hopes, and so full of foolish confidence did they come out to war.
LXXIII. Pompeius having proceeded a little way from the camp let his horse go, and with very few persons about him, went on slowly as no one pursued him, and with such thoughts, as would naturally arise in the mind of a man who for four-and-thirty years had been accustomed to conquer and to have the mastery in everything, and now for the first time in his old age experienced what defeat and flight were; reflecting also that in a single battle he had lost the reputation and the power which were the fruit of so many struggles and wars, and while a little before he was protected by so many armed men and horses, and armaments, now he was retreating and had become so weak and humbled, as easily to escape the notice of his enemies who were looking for him. After passing Larissa[380] and arriving at Tempe, being thirsty he threw himself down on his face and drank of the river, and then rising up he proceeded through Tempe till he reached the sea. There he rested for the remainder of the night in a fisherman's hut, and at daybreak embarking on board of one of the river-boats and taking with him those of his followers who were freemen, and bidding his slaves go to Cæsar without any apprehension for their safety, he rowed along the coast till he saw a large merchant-ship preparing to set sail, the master of which was a Roman, who had no intimacy with Pompeius, but knew him by sight: his name was Peticius. It happened the night before that Peticius saw Pompeius in a dream, not as he had often seen him, but humble and downcast, speaking to him. And it happened that he was telling his dream to his shipmates, as is usual with men in such weighty matters, who have nothing to do; when all at once one of the sailors called out that he spied a river-boat rowing from the land with men in it who were making signals with their clothes and stretching out their hands to them.
Accordingly Peticius turning his eyes in that direction recognised Pompeius just as he had seen him in the dream, and striking his forehead he ordered the sailors to put the boat alongside, and he stretched out his right hand and called to Pompeius, already conjecturing from his appearance the fortune and the reverses of the man. Upon which the master, without waiting to be entreated or addressed, took on board with him, all whom Pompeius chose (and these were the two Lentuli[381] and Favonius), and set sail; and shortly after seeing King Deiotarus making his way from the land as fast as he could they took him in also. When it was supper time and the master had made the best preparation that he could, Favonius observing that Pompeius had no domestics and was beginning to take off his shoes, ran up to him and loosed his shoes and helped him to anoint himself. And henceforward Favonius continued to wait on Pompeius and serve him, just as slaves do their master, even to the washing of his feet and preparing his meals, so that a witness of the free will of that service and the simplicity and absence of all affectation might have exclaimed "To generous minds how noble every task."[382] LXXIV. In such wise Pompeius coasted to Amphipolis,[383] and thence crossed over to Mitylene, wishing to take up Cornelia and her son.
Upon reaching the shore of the island he sent a message to the city, not such as Cornelia expected, for the pleasing intelligence that she had received both by report and by letter led her to hope that the war was terminated near Dyrrachium, and that all that remained for Pompeius was to pursue Cæsar. The messenger, who found her in this state of expectation, did not venture to salute her, but indicating by tears more than words the chief and greatest of her misfortunes, he bade her hasten, if she wished to see Pompeius in a single vessel and that not his own. Cornelia, on hearing these words, threw herself on the ground, and lay there a long time without sense or speech, and with difficulty recovering herself, and seeing that it was not a time for tears and lamentations, she ran through the city to the sea.
Pompeius met and caught her in his arms as she was just ready to sink down and fall upon him, when Cornelia said, "I see you, husband, not through your own fortune but mine, reduced to a single vessel, you who before your marriage with Cornelia sailed along this sea with five hundred ships. Why have you come to see me, and why did you not leave to her evil dæmon one who has loaded you also with so much misfortune?
How happy a woman should I have been had I died before I heard that Publius, whose virgin bride I was, had perished by the Parthians; and how wise, if even after he died I had put an end to my own life, as I attempted to do; but forsooth I have been kept alive to be the ruin of Pompeius Magnus also."
LXXV. So it is said Cornelia spoke, and thus Pompeius replied: "It is true, Cornelia, you have hitherto known only one fortune, and that the better; and perhaps it has deceived you too, in that it has abided with me longer than is wont. But as we are mortals, we must bear this change, and still try fortune; for it is not hopeless for a man to attempt from this condition to recover his former state who has come to this after being in that other." Accordingly Cornelia sent for her property and slaves from the city; and though the Mitylenæans came to pay their respects to Pompeius, and invited him to enter the city, he would not, but he exhorted them also to yield to the conqueror and to be of good heart, for Cæsar was merciful and of a humane disposition.
But turning to Kratippus[384] the philosopher, for he had come down from the city to see him, Pompeius found fault with and in a few words expressed some doubts about Providence, Kratippus rather giving way to him and trying to lead him to better hopes, that he might not give him pain at so unseasonable a time by arguing against him; for Pompeius might have questioned him about Providence, and Kratippus might have shown that the state of affairs at Rome required a monarchy on account of the political disorder; and he might have asked Pompeius, "How, Pompeius, and by what evidence shall we be persuaded that you would have used your fortune better than Cæsar, if you had been victorious?" But these matters that concern the gods we must leave as they are.
LXXVI. Taking on board his wife and friends, Pompeius continued his voyage, only putting in at such ports as of necessity he must for water or provisions. The first city that he came to was Attaleia[385] of Pamphylia; and there some galleys from Cilicia met him, and some soldiers were collecting, and there were again about sixty senators about him. Hearing that his navy still kept together, and that Cato had recruited many soldiers and was passing over to Libya, he lamented to his friends and blamed himself for being forced to engage with his army only, and for not making any use of the force which was beyond all dispute superior to that of the enemy; and that his navy was not so stationed that if he were defeated by land he might forthwith have had what would have made him a match for the enemy, a strength and power so great by sea close at hand. Indeed Pompeius committed no greater fault, nor did Cæsar show any greater generalship, than in withdrawing the field of battle so far beyond the reach of assistance from the navy. However, being compelled in the present state of affairs to decide and do something, he sent round to the cities, and himself sailing about to some, asked them for money, and began to man ships. But fearing the rapid movements and speed of his enemy, lest he should come upon him and take him before he was prepared, he looked about for a place of refuge for the present and a retreat. Now there appeared to them upon consideration to be no province to which they could safely fly; and as to the kingdoms, Pompeius gave it as his opinion that the Parthian[386] at the present was the best able to receive and protect them in their present weakness, and to strengthen them again and to send them forth with the largest force; of the rest, some turned their thoughts towards Libya and Juba,[387] but Theophanes of Lesbos pronounced it madness to leave Egypt, which was only three days' sail distant, and Ptolemæus,[388] who was still a youth, and indebted to Pompeius for the friendship and favour which his father had received from him, and to put himself in the hands of the Parthians, a most treacherous nation; and to be the first of all persons who did not choose to submit to a Roman who had been connected with him by marriage, nor to make trial of his moderation, and to put himself in the power of Arsakes,[389] who was not able to take even Crassus so long as he was alive; and to carry a young wife of the family of Scipio among barbarians, who measured their power by their insolence and unbridled temper; and if no harm should befall Cornelia, and it should only be apprehended that she might suffer injury, it would be a sad thing for her to be in the power of those who were able to do it. This alone, it is said diverted Pompeius from proceeding to the Euphrates; if indeed any reflection still guided Pompeius, and he was not rather directed by a dæmon to the way that he took.
LXXVII. Accordingly when the proposal to fly to Egypt prevailed, Pompeius setting sail from Cyprus in a galley of Seleukeia[390] with his wife (and of the rest some accompanied him also in ships of war, and others in merchant vessels), crossed the sea safely; and hearing that Ptolemæus[391] was seated before Pelusium with his army, being engaged in war against his sister, he came to that part of the coast and sent forward a person to announce his arrival to the king and to pray for his protection. Now Ptolemæus was very young, and Potheinus who managed everything, summoned a council of the chief persons; and the chief persons were those whom he chose to make so, and he bade each man give his opinion. It was indeed a sad thing that such men should deliberate about Pompeius Magnus, as Potheinus the eunuch and Theodotus of Chios who was hired as a teacher of rhetoric and the Egyptian Achillas: for these were the chief advisers of the king among the eunuchs and others who had the care of his person; and such was the court whose decision Pompeius was waiting for at anchor some distance from the shore and tossed by the waves, he who thought it beneath him to be indebted to Cæsar for his life. Now opinions among the rest were so far divided that some advised they should drive away Pompeius, and others, that they should invite and receive him: but Theodotus displaying his power in speech and his rhetorical art proved that neither of these courses was safe, but that if they received Pompeius, they would have Cæsar for an enemy and Pompeius for their master, and if they drove him away, they would incur the displeasure of Pompeius for ejecting him and of Cæsar for the trouble of the pursuit; it was therefore best to send for the man and kill him, for thus they would please Cæsar and have nothing to fear from Pompeius.
And he concluded with a smile, as it is said, A dead man does not bite.
LXXVIII. Having determined on this they intrust the execution to Achillas, who taking with him one Septimius who had a long time ago served under Pompeius as a centurion and Salvius another centurion and three or four slaves, put out towards the ship of Pompeius. It happened that all the most distinguished persons who accompanied Pompeius had come on board his ship to see what was going on.
Accordingly when they saw a reception which was neither royal nor splendid nor corresponding to the expectations of Theophanes, but a few men in a fishing-boat sailing towards them, this want of respect made them suspect treachery and they advised Pompeius to row back into the open sea, while they were still out of reach of missiles. In the mean time as the boat was nearing, Septimius was the first to rise and he addressed Pompeius as Imperator in the Roman language and Achillas saluting him in Greek invited him to enter the boat, because, as he said, the shallows were of great extent and the sea being rather sandy had not depth enough to float a trireme. At the same time it was observed that some of the king's ships were getting their men on board, and soldiers occupied the shore, so that it appeared impossible to escape even if they changed their minds and made the attempt; and besides, this want of confidence would give the murderers some excuse for their crime. Accordingly, after embracing Cornelia who was anticipating and bewailing his fate, he ordered two centurions to step into the boat before him, and Philippus one of his freedmen and a slave called Scythes, and while Achillas was offering him his hand out of the boat, he turned round to his wife and son and repeated the iambics of Sophocles, "Whoever to a tyrant bends his way, Is made his slave, e'en if he goes a freeman."
LXXIX.[392] These were the last words that he spoke to his friends before he entered the boat: and as it was a considerable distance to the land from the galley, and none of those in the boat addressed any friendly conversation to him, looking at Septimius he said, "I am not mistaken I think in recognising you as an old comrade of mine;" and Septimius nodded without making any reply or friendly acknowledgment.
As there was again a profound silence, Pompeius who had a small roll on which he had written a speech in Greek that he intended to address to Ptolemæus, began reading it. As they neared the land, Cornelia with her friends in great anxiety was watching the result from the galley, and she began to have good hopes when she saw some of the king's people collecting together at the landing as if to honor Pompeius and give him a reception. In the mean time, while Pompeius was taking the hand of Philippus that he might rise more easily, Septimius from behind was the first to transfix him with his sword; and Salvius, and after him Achillas drew their swords. Pompeius drawing his toga close with both hands over his face, without saying or doing anything unworthy of himself, but giving a groan only, submitted to the blows, being sixty years of age save one, and ending his life just one day after his birthday.
LXXX. Those in the ships seeing the murder uttered a shriek which could be heard even to the land, and quickly raising their anchors, took to flight: and a strong breeze aided them in their escape to the open sea, so that the Egyptians, though desirous of pursuing, turned back. They cut off the head of Pompeius, and throwing the body naked out of the boat, left it for those to gaze at who felt any curiosity.
Philippus stayed by the body, till the people were satisfied with looking at it, and then washing it with sea-water he wrapped it up in a tunic of his own; and as he had no other means, he looked about till he found the wreck of a small fishing-boat, which was decayed indeed, but enough to make a funeral pile in case of need for a naked body, and that not an entire corpse. As he was collecting these fragments and putting them together, a Roman, now an old man[393] who had served his first campaigns in his youth under Pompeius, stood by him and said: "Who are you, my friend, that are preparing to perform the funeral rites to Pompeius Magnus?" Philippus replying that he was a freedman, the man said: "But you shall not have this honour to yourself: allow me too to share in this pious piece of good fortune, that I may not altogether have to complain of being in a strange land, if in requital for many sufferings I get this honour at least, to touch and to tend with my hands the greatest of the Roman generals."
Such were the obsequies of Pompeius. On the next day Lucius Lentulus who was on his voyage from Cyprus, not knowing what had happened, was coasting along the shore, when he saw the pile and Philippus standing by it before he was seen himself and said, "Who is resting here after closing his career?" and after a slight interval, with a groan, he added, "perhaps it is you, Pompeius Magnus." Presently he landed, and being seized was put to death. This was the end of Pompeius. Not long after Cæsar arriving in Egypt, which was filled with this horrid deed, turned away from the man who brought him the head of Pompeius, as from a murderer, and when he received the seal of Pompeius, he shed tears; the device was a lion holding a sword. He put to death Achillas and Potheinus, and the king himself being defeated in battle was lost somewhere near the river. Theodotus the sophist escaped the vengeance of Cæsar, for he fled from Egypt and wandered about in a miserable state, the object of detestation; but Brutus Marcus, after he had killed Cæsar and got the power in his hands, finding Theodotus in Asia, put him to death with every circumstance of contumely. Cornelia obtained the remains of Pompeius and had them carried to his Alban villa and interred there.
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 189: This line is from the Prometheus Loosed ([Greek: luomenos] λυόμενος) of Aeschylus which is lost. Prometheus Bound ([Greek: desmôtês] δεσμώτης) is extant. Hermann is of opinion that the Prometheus Loosed did not belong to the same Tetralogy as the Prometheus Bound.]
[Footnote 190: The Gens to which Pompeius belonged was Plebeian. Cn.
Pompeius Strabo, the father of Pompeius Magnus, was consul B.C. 89.
Strabo, a name derived like many other Roman names from some personal peculiarity, signifies one who squints, and it was borne by members of other Roman Gentes also, as the Julia, and Fannia. It is said that the father of Pompeius Magnus had a cook Menogenes, who was called Strabo, and that the name was given to Cn. Pompeius because he resembled his cook. However this may be, Cn. Pompeius adopted the name, and it appears on his coins and in the Fasti. He had a bad character and appears to have deserved it. (Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Pompeii, p.
306.) Compare the Life of Sulla, c. 6. Notes.
The latter part of this chapter is somewhat obscure in the original.
See the note of Coræs.]
[Footnote 191: L. Marcius Philippus, Consul B.C. 91 with Sextus Julius Cæsar, was a distinguished orator.]
[Footnote 192: Some of the commentators have had strange opinions about the meaning of this passage, which Kaltwasser has mistranslated.
It is rightly explained in Schaefer's note, and the learned Lambinus has fully expounded it in a note on Horatius (_Od._ i. 13): but in place of [Greek: adêktos] ἀδήκτος he has a wrong reading [Greek: adêkto] ἀδήκτο. Flora was not the only courtesan who received the distinction mentioned in the text. The gilded statue of Phryne, the work of Praxiteles, was placed in the temple at Delphi, presented by the lady herself. (Pausanias, x. 15).]
[Footnote 193: Pompeius Magnus was born B.C. 106. He was younger than Marcus Crassus, of the same age as Cicero, and six years older than the Dictator Cæsar. The event mentioned in the chapter belongs to the year B.C 87, in which his father fought against L. Cinna. Pompeius Strabo died in this year.]
[Footnote 194: This town, now Ascoli on the Tronto, in Picenum, was taken by Pompeius Strabo B.C. 89 in the Marsic war, and burnt. The inhabitants, who had killed the proconsul P. Servilius and other Romans, were severely handled; and Pompeius Strabo had a triumph (December 89) for his success against the Asculani and other inhabitants of Picenum. (Velleius, ii. 21.)]
[Footnote 195: P. Antistius was prætor B.C. 86, the year after the death of Pompeius Strabo.]
[Footnote 196: Compare the Life of Romulus, c. 14.]
[Footnote 197: Cinna was killed in his fourth consulate, B.C. 84.
Appianus (_Civil Wars_, i. 78) states that he was massacred by his soldiers, but his account may be true and that of Plutarch also, which is more particular, (See also Livius, _Epit._ 83.)]
[Footnote 198: The father of Pompeius had enriched himself during the Social wars.]
[Footnote 199: Now Osimo, was one of the cities of Picenum, south of Ancona. It was a Roman colony.]
[Footnote 200: The three commanders were C. Albius Carinnas, C. Cœlius Caldus and M. Junius Brutus. The word Clœlius in Plutarch may be a mistake of the copyists. Brutus was the father of M. Brutus, one of Cæsar's assassins.]
[Footnote 201: L. Cornelius Scipio, consul B.C. 83. Plutarch speaks of the same event in the Life of Sulla, c. 28, where he states that the soldiers of Scipio came over to Sulla. The two statements are contradictory, Appianus (_Civil Wars_, i. 85) tells the story of Scipio's army going over to Sulla.]
[Footnote 202: A mistake for Æsis (Esino, or Finmesino), a river which formed the boundary between Umbria and Picenum, and enters the sea north of Ancona. Appianus (_Civil Wars_, i. 87) states that Metellus defeated Carinnas, the legatus of Carbo, on the Æsis (B.C. 82).]
[Footnote 203: This was Q. Metellus Pius who afterwards commanded in Iberia against Sertorius. See the Life of Sertorius.]
[Footnote 204: The Greek writers often employ similes and metaphors derived from the athletic contests. There were contests both for boys and full-grown men. Compare the Life of Agesilaus, c. 13.]
[Footnote 205: The marriage arrangements mentioned in this chapter took place after the capture of Præneste, B.C. 82. See the Life of Sulla, c. 33. Sulla attempted to make Cæsar also part with his wife (Cæsar, c. 1): but Cæsar would not. Sulla, who was a cunning man, wished to gain over to his side all the young men of promise.
Antistius had been murdered in the Senate-house, by the order of the consul, the younger Marius, who was then blockaded in Præneste. Q.
Mucius Scævola, the Pontifex, was murdered at the same time.
[Footnote 206: His true name is Perperna. See the Life of Sertorius.]
[Footnote 207: Cn. Papirius Carbo was put to death, B.C. 82, in his third consulship. Compare Appianus, _Civil Wars_, i. 96, and Life of Sulla, c. 28, Notes. Valerius Maximus, ix. c. 13, gives the story of his begging for a short respite, with some other particulars.]
[Footnote 208: Caius Oppius, an intimate friend of Cæsar. Some persons believed that he was the author of the Books on the Alexandrine, African, and Spanish campaigns, which are printed with the Gallic War of Cæsar. (Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 56.) Hs wrote various biographies.
Oppius is often mentioned by Cicero. There is extant a letter of Cicero to him _Ad Diversos_, xi. 29); but it is entitled in some editions of Cicero 'To Appius.']
[Footnote 209: This was Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the father-in-law of Cinna. He had been consul B.C. 96 with C. Cassius Longinus.]
[Footnote 210: C. Memmius, according to Drumann, the same who afterwards fell in the war against Sertorius. (Life of Sertorius, c.
21.)]
[Footnote 211: The expedition of Pompeius to Africa was in B.C. 81.
Iarbas is said to have been a descendant of Massinissa. He escaped from the battle. The scene of the battle and the subsequent movements of Pompeius cannot be collected from Plutarch's narrative, which here, as in the case of military operations generally, is of no value. As to the age of Pompeius, see the note in Clinton's Fasti B.C. 81.]
[Footnote 212: The lion is a native of North Africa, but it is doubtful if the elephant is. The Carthaginians employed many elephants in their armies, which they probably got from the countries south of the great desert. Plutarch evidently considers the elephant as a native of North Africa, or he would not speak of hunting it; yet in chapter 14 he speaks of the elephants as the King's, or the King's elephants, as if the elephants that Pompeius took were merely some that belonged to Iarbas or some of the African kings, and had got loose. Plinius (_N.H._ viii. 1) speaks of elephants in the forests of Mauritania. They are enumerated by Herodotus (iv. 191) among the beasts of North Africa.]
[Footnote 213: Drumann discusses at some length the question as to the time and occasion on which Pompeius received the appellation: those who are curious may consult his work, _Geschichte Roms_, Pompeii, p.
335.]
[Footnote 214: M. Valerius Maximus, a brother of Publicola. The allusion is to the secession of the Plebs to the Mons Sacer, B.C. 494, which was followed by the institution of the Tribunitian office.
Cicero (Brutus, 14) mentions this Valerius, and the secession to the Mons Sacer. See Livius, ii. 30.]
[Footnote 215: Q. Fabius Maximus Rullus, who was five times consul, and for the last time in B.C. 295. (Livius, x. 22.) He was afterwards Dictator and Censor. It was in his capacity of Censor that he ejected these persons from the Senate, B.C. 304. Compare the Life of Fabius Maximus, c. 1.]
[Footnote 216: Kaltwasser observes that it was not so much a law (lex) as a usage: but Plutarch's words by no means imply that he thought there was a Lex to this effect. Livius (xxxi. c. 20) states that only a dictator, consul, or prætor could have a triumph. The claim of Pompeius was an impudent demand: but he felt his power. The 'first Scipio' is the elder Africanus. See Life of Tiberius Gracchus, c. 1, Notes.]
[Footnote 217: Plutarch may mean that Pompeius really attempted to enter the gate in a chariot drawn by elephants, and finding that he could not do it, he got out and mounted a chariot drawn by horses.
This is perhaps nearer the literal version of the passage, and agrees better with Plinius (_N. H._ viii. 1).]
[Footnote 218: P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus, consul for B.C. 79.
Pompeius triumphed B.C. 81, or in the beginning of 80 B.C., the first of the class of Equites who ever had this honour. The review of the Equites, which is spoken of at the end of this chapter, is explained by c. 22.]
[Footnote 219: Compare the Life of Sulla, c. 31, &c. Sulla died in the consulship of M. Æmilius Lepidus and Q. Lutatius Catulus, B.C. 78.]
[Footnote 220: This is the Roman expression, which Plutarch has rendered by [Greek: hoi aristoi] οἱ άριστοι. Compare Life of Tib.
Gracchus, c. 10.]
[Footnote 221: On the site of Modena. The events of the consulship of Lepidus are very confused. Drumann observes (Pompeii, p. 345) that Plutarch incorrectly tells the story as if Pompeius was not present at the attack of Lepidus on Rome (Appianus, _Civil Wars_, i. 107; Floras, iii. 23): but Plutarch's narrative does not of necessity imply that Pompeius was not there.]
[Footnote 222: See the Life of Brutus.]
[Footnote 223: See the Life of Sertorius, and as to the conduct of Pompeius in the war more particularly, chapter 12, &c.]
[Footnote 224: Pro Consule was the title of a Roman general who was sent to a province with consular authority. It was not unusual to appoint a man Pro Consule who had not been 'consul.' The point of the reply lies in the form of the expression 'Pro Consule,' which was a title, as contrasted with 'Pro Consulibus,' which means 'instead of the consuls, to displace the consuls.' The expression of L. Philippus is recorded by Cicero (_Pro Lege Manilia_, c. 21). Pompeius went to Iberia B.C. 76.]
[Footnote 225: The death of Sertorius took place B.C. 72. As to the death of Perperna, see the Life of Sertorius, c. 26. The allusion to Sicily will be explained by referring to c. 10; but there is nothing there stated for which Pompeius needed to show any gratitude to Perperna. We may assume that Perperna left the island, because he could not safely stay.]
[Footnote 226: The war in Spain was not quite settled by the death of Perperna. There was still some work left to do. Several towns held out, particularly in the country of the warlike Arevaci, who were on the east coast of Spain. Pompeius burnt Uxama; and L. Afranius conducted the war with unsparing severity against the Calaguritani who made a desperate resistance. (Floras, iii. 22.) The capture of their town ended the war. Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Pompeii, p. 376.]
[Footnote 227: The history of the Servile war is in the Life of [Footnote 228: This was in B.C. 71. In B.C. 70 Pompeius was consul for the first time with M. Licinius Crassus.]
[Footnote 229: Sulla had not abolished the tribunitian office, but he had deprived the tribunes of the chief part of their power. It does not seem exactly certain what Sulla did. Appianus (_Civil Wars_, i.
100) says 'that he weakened it very much and carried a law by which no man after being tribune could hold any other office.' Cicero (_De Legibus_, iii. 9) considers the extension of the tribunitian power as unavoidable, and as effected with the least mischief by being the work of Pompeius.]
[Footnote 230: A Cornelia Lex, passed in the time of Sulla, made the Judices in the Judicia Publica eligible only out of the body of Senators. That the Senators had acted corruptly in the administration of justice, we have the authority of Cicero in one of his Verrine orations (_In Verr._ A 1, 13 and 16). The measure for restoring the Equites to a share in the judicial functions was proposed by the prætor L. Aurelius Cotta, the uncle of C. Julius Cæsar, with the approbation of Pompeius and Cæsar, who were now acting in concert. The charges of corruption which Cotta made against the Senate are recorded by Cicero (_In Verr._ iii. 96). The proposed law (rogatio), which was carried, made the Judices eligible out of the Senators, Equites, and Tribuni Ærarii, which three classes are mentioned by Cicero (_Ad Atticum_, i. 16) as represented by the Judices who sat on the trial of Clodius. The purity of the administration of justice was not hereby improved. Cicero, on the occasion of the trial of Clodius, speaks of all these classes having their dishonest representatives among the judices.]
[Footnote 231: Compare the Life of Crassus, c. 12.
The remarks at the end of the chapter may be useful to some men who would meddle with matters political, when their only training has been in camps. Pompeius was merely a soldier, and had no capacity for civil affairs.]
[Footnote 232: The history of piracy in the Mediterranean goes as far back as the history of navigation. The numerous creeks and islands of this inland sea offer favourable opportunities for piratical posts, and accordingly we read of pirates as early as we read of commerce by sea. (Thucydides, i. 5.) The disturbances in the Roman State had encouraged these freebooters in their depredations. Cæsar, when a young man, fell into their hands (Life of Cæsar, c. 1); and also P.
Clodius. The insecure state of Italy is shown by the fact of the pirates even landing on the Italian coast, and seizing the Roman magistrates, Sextilius and Bellienus. Cicero in his oration in favour