Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/501

Rh POMPEIUS. father. He did not, however, remain long in Africa, but in the course of B. c. 47 set sail for Spain, in order to secure that country for his part}', and by means of his father's friends and dependents, to raise troops which might assist the aristocracy in Africa. But Cneius was some time ia reaching Spain ; after making an unsuccessful attack upon the town of Ascurum in Mauritania, he took possession of some of the islands off the Spanish coast, and appears not to have landed on the mainland till B. c. 46. He had not been here long before he was joined by his brother Sextus and others of his party, who had fled from Africa after their defeat at Thapsus. In a short time he was at the head of thirteen legions. Caesar sent his legate C. Didius against him, and towards the end of the year followed himself. The war was brought to a close by the battle of Munda, fought on the 1 7th of March, u. c. 45, in which Caesar en- tirely defeated the Pompeians. It was, however, the most bloody battle during the whole of the civil war : the Pompeians fought with the courage of despair ; they drove back at first Caesar's troops, and it was only by Caesar's throwing him- self into the front line of the battle, and exposing his person like a common soldier, that they were led back again to the charge. Cneius himself escaped with a severe wound, and fled to Carteia on the sea-coast. Here he embarked, and set sail Avith a squadron of twenty ships ; but having been obliged to put to land again in consequence of neg- lecting to provide himself with water, he was sur- prised by Didius, who had sailed from Gades with a fleet, his ships were destroyed, and he himself obliged to take refuge in the interior of the country. But he could not remain concealed ; the troops sent in pursuit of him overtook him near Lauron, and put him to death. His head was cut off, and carried to Caesar, who had it exposed to public view in the town of Hispalis, that there might be no doubt of his death. Cneius seems to have been by nature vehement and passionate ; and the misfortunes of his family rendered him cruel and suspicious. He burned to take vengeance on his enemies, and Rome had nothing to expect from him, if he had conquered, but a terrible and bloody proscription. (Caes. B. C. iii. 5, 40 ; Dion Cass, xlii. 12, 56, xliii. 14, 28—40; Appian, 5. 6 ii. 87, 103—105 ; Cic. ad Fam. vi. 18, xv. 19 ; Hirt, B. Afr. 22, 23 ; Auctor, B. Hisp. 1—39.) The annexed coin was probably struck by Cn. Pompey, when he was in Spain. It contains on the obverse the head of his father with cn. magn. IMP., and on the reverse a commander stepping out of a ship, and shaking hands with a woman, pro- bably intended to represent Spain, with the legend M. MiNAT. SABiN. PR. Q. Some writers suppose that this coin was struck by the triumvir himself, POMPEIUS. 489 COIN OF CN. POMPEIUS, THE SON OF THE TRIUMVIR. but there is no reason to suppose that he ever had his own portrait struck upon his coins. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 282.) 25. Sex. Pompeius Magnus, the younger son of the triumvir [No. 22] by his third wife Mucia, was born b. c. 75, since he was forty at the time of his death in B. c. 35. (Appian, B. C. v. 144.) During the campaign of his father against Caesar in Greece, Sextus was with his mother at Myti- lene ; and after the loss of the battle of Pharsalia in B. c. 48, he and his mother accompanied the elder Pompey to Egypt, and saw him murdered before their eyes. From thence they fled to Cyprus, and shortly afterwards joined Cn. Pompey and Cato. Sextus remained in Africa, while his brother Cneius went to Spain ; but after the battle of Thapsus B. c. 46, which ruined all the hopes of the Pompeians in Africa, Sextus quitted that coun- try, and repaired to his brother in Spain, together with Labienus and others of their party. In Spain he kept possession of Corduba till the defeat of his brother at the battle of Munda in March, B. c. 45. As soon as he heard of the loss of this battle, he fled from Corduba, and lived for a time in concealment in the country of the Lacetani, between the Iberus and the Pyrenees. Here he supported liimself by robbery, and gradually collected a considerable band of followers, with whom he penetrated into the province of Baetica. The governor of the pro- vince, C. Carrinas, was unable to offer any effectual opposition to him ; he was generally supported by the natives and the veterans of his father settled in the province ; Carteia, and other towns, fell into his hands. The death of Caesar still further favoured his enterprises. Asinius Pollio, who had succeeded Carrinas in the government of the province, did not possess much military talent, and was on one occasion surprised and defeated by Sextus. This victory gave Sextus the command of almost the whole of Baetica, and turned towards him the attention of the parties that were now struggling for the supremacy at Rome. But as none of them were yet prepared for open war, Lepidus, who had the command of the Nearer Spain and of Narbonese Gaul, was commissioned to make terras with Sextus. The latter agreed to lay aside hostilities on condition of his being allowed to return to Rome, and of receiving his patrimonial inheritance. These terms were assented to, and the senate voted a large sum of money to Sextus as an indemnification for that portion of his property which had been sold. So far matters seemed quiet, but they did not long continue so. Antony and the aristocratical party soon came to an open rupture ; Antony marched into Cisalpine Gaul to oppose Dec. Brutus, and the senate used every effort to obtain assistance against Antony. For this purpose they applied not only to Lepidus, but also to Pompey, who had come to Massilia with a fleet and an army in order to be nearer the scene of action, and to determine what course he should adopt. The senate, on the proposition of Cicero, passed a laudatory decree in his honour, and likewise appointed him to the command of the re- publican fleet : he did not, however, advance to the re- lief of Mutina, but remained inactive. Shortly after this Octavian threw off the mask he had hitherto worn, wrested the consulship from the senate in the month of August (b. c. 43), and obtained the enact- ment of the Lex Pedia, by which all the mur- derers of Caesar were outlawed. Pompey was iii-