POMPEY.
[Sidenote: Pompey.]
While Caesar had thus been rising to so high an elevation, there was
another Roman general who had been, for nearly the same period, engaged,
in various other quarters of the world, in acquiring, by very similar
means, an almost equal renown. This general was Pompey. He became, in
the end, Caesar's great and formidable rival. In order that the reader
may understand clearly the nature of the great contest which sprung up
at last between these heroes, we must now go back and relate some of the
particulars of Pompey's individual history down to the time of the
completion of Caesar's conquests in Gaul.
[Sidenote: His birth.]
[Sidenote: Pompey's personal appearance.]
Pompey was a few years older than Caesar, having been born in 106 B.C.
His father was a Roman general, and the young Pompey was brought up in
camp. He was a young man of very handsome figure and countenance, and of
very agreeable manners. His hair curled slightly over his forehead, and
he had a dark and intelligent eye, full of vivacity and meaning. There
was, besides, in the expression of his face, and in his air and address,
a certain indescribable charm, which prepossessed every one strongly in
his favor, and gave him, from his earliest years, a great personal
ascendency over all who knew him.
[Sidenote: Plans to assassinate him.]
Notwithstanding this popularity, however, Pompey did not escape, even in
very early life, incurring his share of the dangers which seemed to
environ the path of every public man in those distracted times. It will
be recollected that, in the contests between Marius and Sylla, Caesar
had joined the Marian faction. Pompey's father, on the other hand, had
connected himself with that of Sylla. At one time, in the midst of these
wars, when Pompey was very young, a conspiracy was formed to assassinate
his father by burning him in his tent, and Pompey's comrade, named
Terentius, who slept in the same tent with him, had been bribed to kill
Pompey himself at the same time, by stabbing him in his bed. Pompey
contrived to discover this plan, but, instead of being at all
discomposed by it, he made arrangements for a guard about his father's
tent and then went to supper as usual with Terentius, conversing with
him all the time in even a more free and friendly manner than usual.
That night he arranged his bed so as to make it appear as if he was in
it, and then stole away. When the appointed hour arrived, Terentius came
into the tent, and, approaching the couch where he supposed Pompey was
lying asleep, stabbed it again and again, piercing the coverlets in many
places, but doing no harm, of course, to his intended victim.
[Sidenote: Pompey's adventures and escapes.]
[Sidenote: Death of his father.]
[Sidenote: Pompey appears in his father's defense.]
In the course of the wars between Marius and Sylla, Pompey passed
through a great variety of scenes, and met with many extraordinary
adventures and narrow escapes, which, however, can not be here
particularly detailed. His father, who was as much hated by his soldiers
as the son was beloved, was at last, one day, struck by lightning in his
tent. The soldiers were inspired with such a hatred for his memory, in
consequence, probably, of the cruelties and oppressions which they had
suffered from him, that they would not allow his body to be honored with
the ordinary funeral obsequies. They pulled it off from the bier on
which it was to have been borne to the funeral pile, and dragged it
ignominiously away. Pompey's father was accused, too, after his death,
of having converted some public moneys which had been committed to his
charge to his own use, and Pompey appeared in the Roman Forum as an
advocate to defend him from the charge and to vindicate his memory. He
was very successful in this defense. All who heard it were, in the first
instance, very deeply interested in favor of the speaker, on account of
his extreme youth and his personal beauty; and, as he proceeded with his
plea, he argued with so much eloquence and power as to win universal
applause. One of the chief officers of the government in the city was so
much pleased with his appearance, and with the promise of future
greatness which the circumstances indicated, that he offered him his
daughter in marriage. Pompey accepted the offer, and married the lady.
Her name was Antistia.
[Sidenote: His success as a general.]
[Sidenote: Pompey defeats the armies.]
Pompey rose rapidly to higher and higher degrees of distinction, until
he obtained the command of an army, which he had, in fact, in a great
measure raised and organized himself, and he fought at the head of it
with great energy and success against the enemies of Sylla. At length he
was hemmed in on the eastern coast of Italy by three separate armies,
which were gradually advancing against him, with a certainty, as they
thought, of effecting his destruction. Sylla, hearing of Pompey's
danger, made great efforts to march to his rescue. Before he reached the
place, however, Pompey had met and defeated one after another of the
armies of his enemies, so that, when Sylla approached, Pompey marched
out to meet him with his army drawn up in magnificent array, trumpets
sounding and banners flying, and with large bodies of disarmed troops,
the prisoners that he had taken, in the rear. Sylla was struck with
surprise and admiration; and when Pompey saluted him with the title of
_Imperator_, which was the highest title known to the Roman
constitution, and the one which Sylla's lofty rank and unbounded power
might properly claim, Sylla returned the compliment by conferring this
great mark of distinction on him.
[Sidenote: His rising fame.]
[Sidenote: Pompey's modesty.]
Pompey proceeded to Rome, and the fame of his exploits, the singular
fascination of his person and manners, and the great favor with Sylla
that he enjoyed, raised him to a high degree of distinction. He was not,
however, elated with the pride and vanity which so young a man would be
naturally expected to exhibit under such circumstances. He was, on the
contrary, modest and unassuming, and he acted in all respects in such a
manner as to gain the approbation and the kind regard of all who knew
him, as well as to excite their applause. There was an old general at
this time in Gaul--for all these events took place long before the time
of Caesar's campaigns in that country, and, in fact, before the
commencement of his successful career in Rome--whose name was Metellus,
and who, either on account of his advancing age, or for some other
reason, was very inefficient and unsuccessful in his government. Sylla
proposed to supersede him by sending Pompey to take his place. Pompey
replied that it was not right to take the command from a man who was so
much his superior in age and character, but that, if Metellus wished for
his _assistance_ in the management of his command, he would proceed to
Gaul and render him every service in his power. When this answer was
reported to Metellus, he wrote to Pompey to come. Pompey accordingly
went to Gaul, where he obtained new victories, and gained new and higher
honors than before.
[Sidenote: An example.]
[Sidenote: Pompey divorces his wife.]
[Sidenote: He marries Sylla's daughter-in-law.]
These, and various anecdotes which the ancient historians relate, would
lead us to form very favorable ideas of Pompey's character. Some other
circumstances, however, which occurred, seem to furnish different
indications. For example, on his return to Rome, some time after the
events above related, Sylla, whose estimation of Pompey's character and
of the importance of his services seemed continually to increase, wished
to connect him with his own family by marriage. He accordingly proposed
that Pompey should divorce his wife Antistia, and marry Aemilia, the
daughter-in-law of Sylla. Aemilia was already the wife of another man,
from whom she would have to be taken away to make her the wife of
Pompey. This, however, does not seem to have been thought a very serious
difficulty in the way of the arrangement. Pompey's wife was put away,
and the wife of another man taken in her place. Such a deed was a gross
violation not merely of revealed and written law, but of those universal
instincts of right and wrong which are implanted indelibly in all human
hearts. It ended, as might have been expected, most disastrously.
Antistia was plunged, of course, into the deepest distress. Her father
had recently lost his life on account of his supposed attachment to
Pompey. Her mother killed herself in the anguish and despair produced by
the misfortunes of her family; and Aemilia the new wife, died suddenly,
on the occasion of the birth of a child, a very short time after her
marriage with Pompey.
[Sidenote: Pompey's success in Africa.]
[Sidenote: Attachment of his soldiers.]
[Sidenote: Pompey's title as "Great."]
These domestic troubles did not, however, interpose any serious obstacle
to Pompey's progress in his career of greatness and glory. Sylla sent
him on one great enterprise after another, in all of which Pompey
acquitted himself in an admirable manner. Among his other campaigns, he
served for some time in Africa with great success. He returned in due
time from this expedition, loaded with military honors. His soldiers had
become so much attached to him that there was almost a mutiny in the
army when he was ordered home. They were determined to submit to no
authority but that of Pompey. Pompey at length succeeded, by great
efforts, in subduing this spirit, and bringing back the army to their
duty. A false account of the affair, however, went to Rome. It was
reported to Sylla that there was a revolt in the army of Africa, headed
by Pompey himself, who was determined not to resign his command. Sylla
was at first very indignant that his authority should be despised and
his power braved, as he expressed it, by "such a boy;" for Pompey was
still, at this time, very young. When, however, he learned the truth, he
conceived a higher admiration for the young general than ever. He went
out to meet him as he approached the city, and, in accosting him, he
called him Pompey the Great. Pompey has continued to bear the title thus
given him to the present day.
[Sidenote: He demands a triumph.]
Pompey began, it seems, now to experience, in some degree, the usual
effects produced upon the human heart by celebrity and praise. He
demanded a triumph. A triumph was a great and splendid ceremony, by
which victorious generals, who were of advanced age and high civil or
military rank, were received into the city when returning from any
specially glorious campaign. There was a grand procession formed on
these occasions, in which various emblems and insignia, and trophies of
victory, and captives taken by the conqueror, were displayed. This great
procession entered the city with bands of music accompanying it, and
flags and banners flying, passing under triumphal arches erected along
the way. Triumphs were usually decreed by a vote of the Senate, in cases
where they were deserved; but, in this case, Sylla's power as dictator
was supreme, and Pompey's demand for a triumph seems to have been
addressed accordingly to him.
[Sidenote: Sylla refuses Pompey a triumph.]
Sylla refused it. Pompey's performances in the African campaign had
been, he admitted, very creditable to him, but he had neither the Age
nor the rank to justify the granting him a triumph. To bestow such an
honor upon one so young and in such a station, would only bring the
honor itself, he said, into disrepute, and degrade, also, his
dictatorship for suffering it.
[Sidenote: But at last consents.]
To this Pompey replied, speaking, however, in an under tone to those
around him in the assembly, that Sylla need not fear that the triumph
would be unpopular, for people were much more disposed to worship a
rising than a setting sun. Sylla did not hear this remark, but,
perceiving by the countenances of the by-standers that Pompey had said
something which seemed to please them, he asked what it was. When the
remark was repeated to him, he seemed pleased himself with its justness
or with its wit, and said, "Let him have his triumph."
[Sidenote: Pompey's triumph.]
The arrangements were accordingly made Pompey ordering every thing
necessary to be prepared for a most magnificent procession. He learned
that some persons in the city, envious at his early renown, were
displeased with his triumph; this only awakened in him a determination
to make it still more splendid and imposing. He had brought some
elephants with him from Africa, and he formed a plan for having the car
in which he was to ride in the procession drawn by four of these huge
beasts as it entered the city; but, on measuring the gate, it was found
not wide enough to admit such a team, and the plan was accordingly
abandoned. The conqueror's car was drawn by horses in the usual manner,
and the elephants followed singly, with the other trophies, to grace
the train.
[Sidenote: His course of conduct at Rome.]
Pompey remained some time after this in Rome, sustaining from time to
time various offices of dignity and honor. His services were often
called for to plead causes in the Forum, and he performed this duty,
whenever he undertook it, with great success. He, however, seemed
generally inclined to retire somewhat from intimate intercourse with the
mass of the community, knowing very well that if he was engaged often in
the discussion of common questions with ordinary men, he should soon
descend in public estimation from the high position to which his
military renown had raised him. He accordingly accustomed himself to
appear but little in public, and, when he did so appear, he was
generally accompanied by a large retinue of armed attendants, at the
head of which he moved about the city in great state, more like a
victorious general in a conquered province than like a peaceful citizen
exercising ordinary official functions in a community governed by law.
This was a very sagacious course, so far as concerned the attainment of
the great objects of future ambition. Pompey knew very well that
occasions would probably arise in which he could act far more
effectually for the promotion of his own greatness and fame than by
mingling in the ordinary municipal contests of the city.
[Sidenote: The Cilician pirates.]
[Sidenote: Their increasing depredations.]
[Sidenote: Ships and fortresses of the Cilicians.]
[Sidenote: Their conquests.]
At length, in fact, an occasion came. In the year B.C. 67, which was
about the time that Caesar commenced his successful career in rising to
public office in Rome, as is described in the third chapter of this
volume, the Cilician pirates, of whose desperate character and bold
exploits something has already been said, had become so powerful, and
were increasing so rapidly in the extent of their depredations, that the
Roman people felt compelled to adopt some very vigorous measures for
suppressing them. The pirates had increased in numbers during the wars
between Marius and Sylla in a very alarming degree. They had built,
equipped, and organized whole fleets. They had various fortresses,
arsenals, ports, and watch-towers all along the coasts of the
Mediterranean. They had also extensive warehouses, built in secure and
secluded places, where they stored their plunder. Their fleets were well
manned, and provided with skillful pilots, and with ample supplies of
every kind; and they were so well constructed, both for speed and
safety, that no other ships could be made to surpass them. Many of them,
too, were adorned and decorated in the most sumptuous manner, with
gilded sterns, purple awnings, and silver-mounted oars. The number of
their galleys was said to be a thousand. With this force they made
themselves almost complete masters of the sea. They attacked not only
separate ships, but whole fleets of merchantmen sailing under convoy;
and they increased the difficulty and expense of bringing grain to Rome
so much, by intercepting the supplies, as very materially to enhance the
price and to threaten a scarcity. They made themselves masters of many
islands and of various maritime towns along the coast, until they had
four hundred ports and cities in their possession. In fact, they had
gone so far toward forming themselves into a regular maritime power,
under a systematic and legitimate government, that very respectable
young men from other countries began to enter their service, as one
opening honorable avenues to wealth and fame.
[Sidenote: Plan for destroying the pirates.]
[Sidenote: Its magnitude.]
Under these circumstances, it was obvious that something decisive must
be done. A friend of Pompey's brought forward a plan for commissioning
some one, he did not say whom, but every one understood that Pompey was
intended, to be sent forth against the pirates, with extraordinary
powers, such as should be amply sufficient to enable him to bring their
dominion to an end. He was to have supreme command upon the sea, and
also upon the land for fifty miles from the shore. He was, moreover, to
be empowered to raise as large a force, both of ships and men, as he
should think required, and to draw from the treasury whatever funds were
necessary to defray the enormous expenses which so vast an undertaking
would involve. If the law should pass creating this office, and a person
be designated to fill it, it is plain that such a commander would be
clothed with enormous powers; but then he would incur, on the other
hand, a vast and commensurate responsibility, as the Roman people would
hold him rigidly accountable for the full and perfect accomplishment of
the work he under took, after they had thus surrendered every possible
power necessary to accomplish it so unconditionally into his hands.
[Sidenote: Pompey appointed to the command.]
[Sidenote: Fall in the price of grain.]
There was a great deal of maneuvering, management, and debate on the one
hand to effect the passage of this law, and, on the other, to defeat it.
Caesar, who, though not so prominent yet as Pompey, was now rising
rapidly to influence and power, was in favor of the measure, because, as
is said, he perceived that the people were pleased with it. It was at
length adopted. Pompey was then designated to fill the office which the
law created. He accepted the trust, and began to prepare for the vast
undertaking. The price of grain fell immediately in Rome, as soon as the
appointment of Pompey was made known, as the merchants, who had large
supplies in the granaries there, were now eager to sell, even at a
reduction, feeling confident that Pompey's measures would result in
bringing in abundant supplies. The people, surprised at this sudden
relaxation of the pressure of their burdens, said that the very name of
Pompey had put an end to the war.
[Sidenote: Pompey's complete success.]
They were not mistaken in their anticipations of Pompey's success. He
freed the Mediterranean from pirates in three months, by one systematic
and simple operation, which affords one of the most striking examples of
the power of united and organized effort, planned and conducted by one
single master mind, which the history of ancient or modern times has
recorded. The manner in which this work was effected was this:
[Sidenote: His mode of operation.]
Pompey raised and equipped a vast number of galleys, and divided them
into separate fleets, putting each one under the command of a
lieutenant. He then divided the Mediterranean Sea into thirteen
districts, and appointed a lieutenant and his fleet for each one of them
as a guard. After sending these detachments forth to their respective
stations, he set out from the city himself to take charge of the
operations which he was to conduct in person. The people followed him,
as he went to the place where he was to embark, in great crowds, and
with long and loud acclamations.
[Sidenote: Pompey drives the pirates before him.]
[Sidenote: Exultation at Rome.]
Beginning at the Straits of Gibraltar, Pompey cruised with a powerful
fleet toward the east, driving the pirates before him, the lieutenants,
who were stationed along the coast being on the alert to prevent them
from finding any places of retreat or refuge. Some of the pirates' ships
were surrounded and taken. Others fled, and were followed by Pompey's
ships until they had passed beyond the coasts of Sicily, and the seas
between the Italian and African shores. The communication was now open
again to the grain-growing countries south of Rome, and large supplies
of food were immediately poured into the city. The whole population was,
of course, filled with exultation and joy at receiving such welcome
proofs that Pompey was successfully accomplishing the work they had
assigned him.
[Sidenote: The pirates concentrate themselves.]
The Italian peninsula and the island of Sicily, which are, in fact, a
projection from the northern shores of the Mediterranean, with a salient
angle of the coast nearly opposite to them on the African side, form a
sort of strait which divides this great sea into two separate bodies of
water, and the pirates were now driven entirely out of the western
division. Pompey sent his principal fleet after them, with orders to
pass around the island of Sicily and the south era part of Italy to
Brundusium, which was the great port on the western side of Italy. He
himself was to cross the peninsula by land, taking Rome in his way, and
afterward to join the fleet at Brundusium. The pirates, in the mean
time, so far as they had escaped Pompey's cruisers, had retreated to the
seas in the neighborhood of Cilicia, and were concentrating their forces
there in preparation for the final struggle.
Pompey was received at Rome with the utmost enthusiasm. The people came
out in throngs to meet him as he approached the city, and welcomed him
with loud acclamations. He did not, however, remain in the city to enjoy
these honors. He procured, as soon as possible, what was necessary for
the further prosecution of his work, and went on. He found his fleet at
Brundusium, and, immediately embarking, he put to sea.
[Sidenote: Some of them surrender.]
Pompey went on to the completion of his work with the same vigor and
decision which he had displayed in the commencement of it. Some of the
pirates, finding themselves hemmed in within narrower and narrower
limits, gave up the contest, and came and surrendered. Pompey, instead
of punishing them severely for their crimes, treated them, and their
wives and children, who fell likewise into his power, with great
humanity. This induced many others to follow their example, so that the
number that remained resisting to the end was greatly reduced. There
were, however, after all these submissions, a body of stern and
indomitable desperadoes left, who were incapable of yielding. These
retreated, with all the forces which they could retain, to their
strong-holds on the Silician shores, sending their wives and children
back to still securer retreats among the fastnesses of the mountains.
[Sidenote: A great battle.]
[Sidenote: Disposal of the pirates.]
Pompey followed them, hemming them in with the squadrons of armed
galleys which he brought up around them, thus cutting off from them all
possibility of escape. Here, at length, a great final battle was fought,
and the dominion of the pirates was ended forever. Pompey destroyed
their ships, dismantled their fortifications, restored the harbors and
towns which they had seized to their rightful owners, and sent the
pirates themselves, with their wives and children, far into the interior
of the country, and established them as agriculturists and herdsmen
there, in a territory which he set apart for the purpose, where they
might live in peace on the fruits of their own industry, without the
possibility of again disturbing the commerce of the seas.
[Sidenote: Pompey's conquests in Asia Minor.]
[Sidenote: His magnificent triumph.]
Instead of returning to Rome after these exploits, Pompey obtained new
powers from the government of the city, and pushed his way into Asia
Minor, where he remained several years, pursuing a similar career of
conquest to that of Caesar in Gaul. At length he returned to Rome, his
entrance into the city being signalized by a most magnificent triumph.
The procession for displaying the trophies, the captives, and the other
emblems of victory, and for conveying the vast accumulation of treasures
and spoils, was two days in passing into the city; and enough was left
after all for another triumph. Pompey was, in a word, on the very summit
of human grandeur and renown.
[Sidenote: The first triumvirate.]
[Sidenote: Pompey's wife Julia.]
[Sidenote: Pompey and Caesar open enemies.]
[Sidenote: Their ambition.]
He found, however, an old enemy and rival at Rome. This was Crassus, who
had been Pompey's opponent in earlier times, and who now renewed his
hostility. In the contest that ensued, Pompey relied on his renown,
Crassus on his wealth. Pompey attempted to please the people by combats
of lions and of elephants which he had brought home from his foreign
campaigns; Crassus courted their favor by distributing corn among them,
and inviting them to public feasts on great occasions. He spread for
them, at one time, it was said, ten thousand tables. All Rome was filled
with the feuds of these great political foes. It was at this time that
Caesar returned from Spain, and had the adroitness, as has already been
explained, to extinguish these feuds, and reconcile these apparently
implacable foes. He united them together, and joined them with himself
in a triple league, which is celebrated in Roman history as the first
_triumvirate_. The rivalry, however, of these great aspirants for power
was only suppressed and concealed, without being at all weakened or
changed. The death of Crassus soon removed him from the stage. Caesar
and Pompey continued afterward, for some time, an ostensible alliance.
Caesar attempted to strengthen this bond by giving Pompey his daughter
Julia for his wife. Julia, though so young--even her father was six
years younger than Pompey--was devotedly attached to her husband, and he
was equally fond of her. She formed, in fact, a strong bond of union
between the two great conquerors as long as she lived. One day, however,
there was a riot at an election, and men were killed so near to Pompey
that his robe was covered with blood. He changed it; the servants
carried home the bloody garment which he had taken off, and Julia was so
terrified at the sight, thinking that her husband had been killed, that
she fainted, and her constitution suffered very severely by the shock.
She lived some time afterward, but finally died under circumstances
which indicate that this occurrence was the cause. Pompey and Caesar now
soon became open enemies. The ambitious aspirations which each of them
cherished were so vast, that the world was not wide enough for them both
to be satisfied. They had assisted each other up the ascent which they
had been so many years in climbing, but now they had reached very near
to the summit, and the question was to be decided which of the two
should have his station there.