Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/718

 698 POMPEY ular favor by an exhibition of gladiatorial shows and combats of wild beasts in a large theatre he had constructed in the Campus Martius. The people soon began to express their discon- tent that Pompey should send his legates to Spain, the government of which province he had secured, instead of conducting the war there personally. For two years after the ex- piration of his consulship Pompey remained at home, and by secretly abetting intestine feuds promoted a state of anarchy which compelled the senate to invoke his assistance. He was made " consul without colleague," in reality dictator, in February, 52, and soon restored comparative order in the city. He now be- came the acknowledged head of the aristocracy. Various measures were at once brought for- ward to check the designs of Caesar, whose in- fluence with the people was steadily increas- ing; and on his announcing his intention to stand for the consulship for the year 48, Pom- pey and the aristocracy demanded that he should present himself in Rome as a candidate for the office. Caesar declined to place himself in the power of his enemies, but agreed to re- sign his offices and command if Pompey would do the same. As this proposition was unpalata- ble to the senate, a decree was passed in Janu- ary, 49, by which Caesar was required to dis- band his army before a specified time, under penalty of being declared an enemy to the re- public. Caesar immediately crossed the Rubi- con and marched upon Rome. Pompey, con- fident of his capacity to raise any number of troops which the exigencies of the state might demand, had taken no measures to provide against this movement ; and when Csesar with his veteran legions, trained in the wars of Gaul, was at the city gates, he found himself utterly unable to offer resistance, and with the consuls and the greater part of the senate and aris- tocracy fled to Brundusium. Being vigorously followed, he crossed the Adriatic, and at Dyr- rhachium, on the coast of Illyria, assembled a numerous army. Early in 48 Caesar, having conquered Pompey's legates in Spain, arrived in Epirus, with forces less numerous than those of his antagonist, but greatly superior in disci- pline. He manoeuvred in vain to draw Pom- pey from his position ; the latter was bent upon weakening his enemy without risking a battle. But the clamorous impatience of the Roman nobles and senators thwarted his purpose, and when Caesar, after a severe check at Dyrrha- chium, was compelled through failure of sup- plies to direct his march into Thessaly, Pom- pey was urged against his better judgment to follow and give him battle on the plains of Pharsalia. His army was completely routed by Caesar's veterans, and he himself fled with a few friends to Lesbos, whence he went to Pamphylia, where a number of his party with ships and troops joined him. Being advised to seek an asylum with the young king of Egypt, to whose father he had rendered signal ser- vices, he arrived off the coast of that country ' and disembarked in a small boat with a few attendants. The chief officers of the king, who were awaiting him on the shore, had deter- mined, as a means of propitiating Caesar, upon putting him to death ; and as he was about to leave the boat Septimius, who had been one of his centurions and was now in the service of the king of Egypt, stabbed him in the back. The rest then drew their swords, and Pompey, seeing that resistance was hopeless, covered his face with his toga and was despatched upon the spot. His body was cast out naked on the shore, where it was buried by a freedman, and his head sent to Caesar, who wept upon behold- ing it, and put his murderers to death. In pri- vate life Pompey was temperate and frugal, and was a kind and indulgent husband. He was married five times, his last wife, Cornelia, surviving him. II. Cneius, eldest son of the pre- ceding by his third wife, Mucia, born between 80 and 75 B. C., killed in Lauron on the Span- ish coast in 45. His first important military service was in the war between his father and Caesar. After the battle of Pharsalia he was left in possession of a formidable fleet, and in 47 began to take active measures to renew the war. He collected an army of 13 legions in Spain, whither in the latter part of 46 Caesar followed him. He was totally defeated in the desperate battle of Munda, March 17, 45, and shortly after was overtaken and killed. III. Sextos, brother of the preceding, born in 75 B. C., killed at Miletus, Asia Minor, in 35. After the defeat at Munda he assembled a considerable force of fugitives and malcon- tents, with whom he defeated Asinius Pollio, the Roman legate, and acquired possession of Baetica and other portions of Spain. So for- midable did he become, that the senate voted to allow him to return to Rome and to indem- nify him for the confiscation of his father's possessions. The formation of the second tri- umvirate defeated this project, and Sextus, be- ing included among the murderers of Caesar, although he had not participated in the deed, and declared an outlaw, made a descent upon Sicily, which was speedily reduced. He now for years harassed his enemies by cutting off their supplies of provisions from Sicily, and in 42 he defeated in the straits of Sicily a fleet sent against him by Octavius. During the campaign of the triumvirs against Brutus and Cassius he remained inactive, but subsequently the vigi- lance of his fleet in intercepting the supplies of corn destined for Rome produced such a scarcity in the capital, that the populace rising in insurrection demanded that peace should be concluded with him. By this peace Sextus ob- tained the provinces of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsi- ca, and Achaia, and 17,500,000 denarii for his private fortune. Antony refusing to give up Achaia, Sextus recommenced his piracy; and Menas, his general, having surrendered Sar- dinia and Corsica, Octavius ventured upon an- other war. It began with signal advantages to Sextus, whose admirals in 38 twice defeated