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POMPEY
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POMPEY , the See also:common See also:English See also:form of Pompeius, the name of a See also:Roman plebeian See also:family. I. GNAEUS POMPEIUS (106–48 B.C.), the triumvir, the first of his family to assume the surname See also:MAGNUS, was See also:born on the 3dth of See also:September in the same See also:year as See also:Cicero. When only seventeen he fought together with his See also:father in the Social See also:War. ' Their See also:history and See also:political See also:character is obscure; they were at any See also:rate connected with the knights (see See also:AERARIUM). He took the See also:side of See also:Sulla against See also:Marius and See also:Cinna, but for a See also:time, in consequence of the success of the Marians, he kept in the background. On the return of Sulla from the Mithradatic War Pompey joined him with an See also:army of three legions, which he had raised in See also:Picenum. Thus See also:early in See also:life he connected himself with the cause of the See also:aristocracy, and a decisive victory which he won in 83 over the Marian armies gained for him from Sulla the See also:title of Imperator. He followed up his successes in See also:Italy. by defeating the Marians in See also:Sicily and See also:Africa, and on his return to See also:Rome in 81, though he was still merely an eques and not legally qualified to celebrate a See also:triumph, he was allowed by See also:general consent to enjoy this distinction, while Sulla greeted him with the surname of Magnus, a title he always retained and handed down to his sons. Latterly, his relations with Sulla were somewhat strained, but after his See also:death he resisted the See also:attempt of the See also:consul M. See also:Aemilius See also:Lepidus to See also:repeal the constitution. In See also:conjunction with A. Lutatius See also:Catulus, the other consul, he defeated Lepidus when he tried to See also: The See also:wild tribes of the See also:Caucasus were cowed by the Roman arms, and Mithradates himself fled across the See also:Black See also:Sea to Panticapaeum (See also:modern Kertch). In the years 64 and 63 See also:Syria and See also:Palestine were annexed to Rome's empire. After the See also:capture of See also:Jerusalem Pompey is said to have entered the See also:Temple, and even the See also:Holy of Holies. See also:Asia and the East generally were left under the subjection of See also:petty See also:kings who were See also:mere vassals of Rome. Several cities had been founded which became centres of See also:Greek life and See also:civilization.
Pompey, now in his forty-fifth year, returned to Italy in 6r to
celebrate the most magnificent triumph which Rome had ever G. See also:Boissier, Cicero and His See also:Friends (Eng. trans., A. D. See also: He found a great change in public See also:opinion, and the See also:people indifferent to his achievements abroad. The optimates resented the extra-See also:ordinary powers that had been conferred upon him; Lucullus and Crassus considered that they had been robbed by him of the See also:honour of concluding the war against Mithradates. The senate refused to ratify the. arrangements he made in Asia or to provide See also:money and lands for See also:distribution amongst his veterans. In these circumstances he See also:drew closer to Caesar on his return from Spain, and became reconciled to Crassus. The result was the so-called first triumvirate (see RoME: History). The See also:remainder of his life is inextricably interwoven with that of Caesar. He was married to Caesar's daughter Julia, and as yet the relations between the two had been friendly. On more than one occasion Caesar had supported Pompey's policy, which of See also:late had been in a decidedly democratic direction. Pompey was now in fact ruler of the greater part of the empire, while Caesar had only the two provinces of See also:Gaul. The control of the See also:capital, the supreme command of the army in Italy and ; of the Mediterranean See also:fleet, the governorship of the two Spains, the superintendence of the corn supplies, which were mainly See also:drawn from Sicily and Africa, and on which the vast See also:population of Rome was wholly dependent, were entirely in the hands of Pompey, who was gradually losing the confidence of all political parties in Rome. The senate and the aristocracy disliked and distrusted him, but they See also:felt that, should things come to the worst, they might still find in him a See also:champion of their cause. Hence the See also:joint See also:rule of Pompey and Caesar was not unwillingly accepted, and anything like a rupture between the two was greatly dreaded as the sure beginning of anarchy throughout the Roman See also:world. With the deaths of Pompey's wife Julia (S4) and of Crassus (53) the relations between him and Caesar became strained, and soon afterwards he drew closer to what we may See also:call the old conservative party in the senate and aristocracy. The end was now near, and Pompey blundered into a false political position and an open See also:quarrel with Caesar. In 5o the senate by a very large See also:majority revoked the extraordinary powers conceded to Pompey and Caesar in Spain and Gaul respectively, and called upon them to disband their armies. Pompey's refusal to submit gave Caesar a See also:good pretext for declaring war and marching at the See also:head of his army into Italy. At the beginning of the contest the advantages were decidedly on the side of Pompey, but the See also:superior political tact of his See also:rival, combined with extraordinary promptitude and decision in following up his blows, soon turned the See also:scale against him. Pompey's cause, with that of the senate and aristocracy, was finally ruined by his defeat in 48 in the neighbourhood of the Thessalian See also:city Pharsalus. That same year he fled with the See also:hope of finding a safe See also:refuge in See also:Egypt, but was treacherously murdered by one of his old centurions as he was landing. He was five times married, and three of his See also:children survived him—Gnaeus, Sextus, and a daughter Pompeia. Pompey, though he had some great and good qualities, hardly deserved his surname of " the Great." He was certainly a very good soldier, and is said to have excelled in all athletic exercises, but he fell See also:short of being a first-rate general. He won great successes in Spain and more espec;ally in the East, but for these he was no doubt partly indebted to what others had already done. Of the gifts which make a good statesman he had really none. As plainly appeared in the last years of his life, he was too weak and irresolute to choose a side and stand by it. But to his See also:credit be it said that in a corrupt time he never used his opportunities for See also:plunder and See also:extortion, and his domestic life was pure and See also:simple. Modern: Histories of Rome in general (see ROME: See also:Ancient History, ad fin.); See also:works quoted under CAESAR and CICERO. Also J. L. See also:Strachan-See also:Davidson's Cicero (1894); Warde See also:Fowler's See also:Julius Caesar (1892); C. W. See also:Oman, Seven Roman Statesmen of the Later See also:Republic (1902); notes in See also:Tyrrell and See also:Purser's See also:Correspondence of Cicero (see See also:index in vii. 8o). 2. GNAEUS POMPEIUS, surnamed See also:Strabo (See also:squint-eyed), Roman statesman, father of the triumvir. He was successively See also:quaestor in See also:Sardinia (103 B.c.), See also:praetor (94), propraetor in Sicily (93) and consul (89). He fought with success in the Social War, and was awarded a triumph for his services. Probably towards the end of the same year he brought forward the See also:law (lex Pompeia de Gallia Transpadana), which conferred upon the inhabitants of that region the privileges granted to the Latin colonies. During the See also:civil war between Marius and Sulla he seems to have shown no See also:desire to attach himself definitely to either side. He certainly set out for Rome from the See also:south of Italy (where he remained as proconsul) at the bidding of the aristocratic party, when the city was threatened by Marius and Cinna, but he displayed little See also:energy, and the engagement which he fought before the See also:Conine See also:gate, although hotly contested, was indecisive. Soon afterwards he was killed by See also:lightning (87). Although he possessed great military talents, Pompeius was the best-hated general of his time owing to his See also:cruelty, avarice and perfidy. His See also:body was dragged from the bier, while being conveyed to the funeral See also:pile, and treated with the greatest indignity. _ See See also:Plutarch, Pompey, 1; See also:Appian, See also:Bell. civ. i. 5o, 52, 66-68, 8o;, See also:Veil. Pat. ii. 21; See also:Livy, Epit. 74–79; See also:Florus iii. 18. 3. GNAEUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS (c. 75-45 B.C.), the See also:elder son of the triumvir. In 48 B.C. during the civil war he commanded his father's fleet in the Adriatic. After the See also:battle of Pharsalus he set out for Africa with the remainder of the Pompeian party, but, See also:meeting with little success, crossed over to Spain. Having been joined by his See also:brother Sextus, he collected a considerable army, the See also:numbers of which were increased by the Pompeians who fled from Africa after the battle of See also:Thapsus (46). Caesar, who regarded him as a formidable opponent, set out against him in See also:person. A battle took See also:place at Munda on the 17th of March 45, in which ' the See also:brothers were defeated. Gnaeus managed to make his See also:escape after the engagement, but was soon (See also:April 12) captured and put to death. He was generally unpopular owing to his cruelty and violent See also:temper. See Pseudo-See also:Oppius, Bellum hispaniense, 1-39; See also:Lucan, Pharsalia, ix. 12o; Dio See also:Cassius xliii. 28–40. 4. SEXTUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS (75–35 B.C.), the younger son of the triumvir. After his father's death he continued the struggle against the new rulers of the Roman Empire. From See also:Cyprus, where he had taken refuge, he made his way to Africa, and after the defeat of the Pompeians at Thapsus (46) crossed over to Spain. After Caesar's victory at the battle of Munda (45), in which he took no actual part, he abandoned Corduba (See also:Cordova), though for a time he held his ground in the south, and defeated Asinius See also:Pollio, the See also:governor of the See also:province. In 43, the year of the triumvirate of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, he was proscribed along with the murderers of Caesar, and, not daring to show himself in Italy, he put himself at the head of a fleet manned chiefly by slaves or proscribed persons, with which he made himself See also:master of Sicily, and from thence ravaged the coasts of Italy. Rome was threatened with a See also:famine, as the corn supplies from Egypt and Africa were cut off by his See also:ships, and it was thought prudent to negotiate a See also:peace with him at See also:Misenum (39), which was to leave him in See also:possession of Sicily, Sardinia and See also:Achaea, provided he would allow Italy to be freely supplied with corn. But the arrangement could not be carried into effect, as Sextus renewed the war and gained some considerable successes at sea. However, in 36 his fleet was defeated and destroyed by See also:Agrippa at Naulochus off the See also:north See also:coast of Sicily. After his defeat he fled to Mytilene, and from there to Asia See also:Minor. In the attempt to make his way to See also:Armenia he was taken prisoner by Antony's troops, and put to death at See also:Miletus. Like his father, he was a brave soldier, but a See also:man of little culture. See Dio Cassius, xlvi–xlix.; Appian, Bell. civ. iv. 84-117, V. 2-143; Veil. Pat. ii. 73–87; Plutarch, Antony; Livy, Epit. 123, 128, 129, 131; Cicero, Philippica, xiii., and many references in Letters to See also:Atticus. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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