Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/717

 POMPEY 69T the constitution of Sulla, and when Lepidus in 77 marched upon Rome at the head of an army, he joined Catulus in defeating him. In the succeeding year he was sent by the senate to cooperate with Metellus Pius in the reduc- tion of Spain, where Sertorius, the last and ablest general of the Marian party, continued to hold out against the aristocracy. Their first encounter resulted in the defeat of Pom- pey, and in several succeeding battles he was again worsted by his opponent. He received reinforcements from the senate, and Sertorius having been assassinated by his rival Perper- na, he brought the war to a successful termi- nation, and in 71 returned with his army to Rome. Passing through northern Italy, he cut to pieces a body of 6,000 gladiators, who had escaped from the battle in which their lead- er Spartacus was overthrown by Crassus, and thus claimed the merit of finishing the servile war also. His demand for a triumph was will- ingly granted, while Crassus, who had in real- ity crushed the formidable revolt of Spartacus, received only an ovation. In the following year Pompey and Crassus entered upon the consulship, notwithstanding both were exclu- ded by the laws of Sulla ; and the former in- creased his popularity by restoring the tribu- nician power, and instituting a reform of the judicial system. These measures involved the severance of his former party ties, and thence- forth for many years he was the avowed ene- my of the aristocracy. For two years after the expiration of his consulship he kept aloof from civil affairs ; and in 67, after an obstinate resistance by the aristocracy, he was appoint- ed with unlimited and irresponsible power for three years commander-in-chief of an immense naval force destined to exterminate the pirates who infested the Mediterranean. He speedily cleared the sea west of Greece of the enemy, and sailing eastward annihilated their entire force in a great battle off Coracesium, on the coast of Cilicia. In three months the war was completed, and the victorious commander, du- ring his absence from Rome in 66, was invest- ed by acclamation with the command of the war against Mithridates. This commission was accompanied with a grant of unlimited control over the land and naval forces in the East, and with proconsular power in the whole of Asia as far as Armenia ; so that Pompey now wield- ed the most extensive authority hitherto con- ferred by law upon a Roman citizen, with the exception of Sulla. The aristocratic party nat- urally looked upon him with more jealousy and distrust than ever, while in the estimation of the people he was the foremost man in Rome. In the summer of 66 he assumed the command of the army of the East, and pushing forward with rapidity surprised and totally defeated Mithridates in Lesser Armenia. For the next four years his career was one of uninterrupted success. All eastern Asia Minor was subjected to the Roman sway, and Armenia, the south- ern Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Judea were either made tributaries to the republic or were reduced to the condition of conquered provinces. In 63 Mithridates, a fugitive in the Tauric Chersonesus, after vain endeavors to unite the barbarous tribes of eastern Europe against Rome, put an end to his life; and Pompey, who had taken Jeru- salem and was meditating new conquests in the remote East, led back his troops to the Euxine, and at Sinope honored the remains of his adversary with a royal funeral. Early in 62 he left Asia, and proceeding by slow marches reached Rome at the end of a twelvemonth, bringing with him an immense train of royal and noble captives, and an almost fabulous amount of eastern spoils. His third triumph, lasting two days, was celebrated Sept. 29 (the anniversary of his birth) and 30, 61. Almost immediately afterward he met with a rebuff from the senate, who refused to ratify his measures in Asia without detailed examina- tion, and to make an assignment of the lands he had promised to his veterans, a promise which the senate had in a general way con- firmed. This widened the breach between Pompey and the aristocracy, and hastened the downfall of both. Pompey found a friend in Caesar. They agreed to support each other in their prominent public measures ; and Crassus, formidable from his great wealth and aristo- cratic connections, joined the coalition, which is known as the first triumvirate. In the suc- ceeding year, 59, Caesar entered upon his first consulship, and secured for Pompey the ratifi- cation of his acts in Asia, and also by his agra- rian law enabled him to make good his promises to his soldiers. At the same time he gave him his daughter Julia in marriage, Pompey having shortly before divorced his wife Mucia. Pom- pey now surrendered himself to the pleasures of domestic life, with little care for the mach- inations of his enemies, or regard for the welfare of his friends. Cicero, his panegyrist, was allowed to go into exile ; and only when his own life was threatened by the enemies of the orator did Pompey make an effort to pro- cure his recall. In gratitude for this Cicero proposed Pompey for the office of prcefectus annoncB for five years, and the senate passed a law to that effect. Notwithstanding he was enabled to cheapen the price of corn in Rome, he found that his influence was waning at home, and that he had gradually lost the confidence of all parties. Exasperated by the attacks of Clodius, Cato, and others, who, he charged, were acting at the instigation of Crassus, he went in 56 to Caesar's winter quarters at Lucca, where he was reconciled to Crassus, and the triumvirate was ratified anew, the agreement being that Pompey and Crassus should be con- suls during the ensuing year and obtain prov- inces and armies, while Caesar was to have his government of Gaul continued for five years. Accordingly, in 55, after some opposition, Pom- pey and his colleague were inducted into office, and the former endeavored to regain the pop-