The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0002/00020.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 27KB | 400 lines

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$Title{Julius Caesar
Chapter V: Pompey}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Abbott, Jacob}
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$Subject{pompey
time
sylla
pompey's
city
rome
power
caesar
himself
pirates}
$Date{1900}
$Log{}
Title:       Julius Caesar
Author:      Abbott, Jacob
Date:        1900

Chapter V: 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.

     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.

     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.

     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.

     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.

     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.

     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