POMPEY, CNEIUS, a celebrated Roman general, was the son of Cneius Pompeius St•abo and Lucilia, and was born in the year 107 before Christ. Pompey began his military career against Cinna, in the Marian civil war, and served under his father, who commanded an army in the neighbourhood of Rome, and who rendered himself unpo pular by his avarice and severity. Terentius, a young pa trician, having been engaged by Cinna to murder both the father and the son, Pompey got information of his de signs, and, by retiring from his tent in the night, and plac ing a guard round the prmtorium, he defeated the intentions of his enemies. Some time after, his father was killed by lightning, and the ascendancy of Marius and Cinna de luged the capital with blood.
Attached to the interests of Sylla, Pompey levied three legions for his cause. In the 26th year of his age, he suc ceeded in reducing Sicily, and in 40 clays he recovered all the territories in Africa, that had forsaken the cause of his master. The Romans were astonished at such rapid and unexpected success, and a dread of the rising power of Pompey induced Sylla to recall him to Rome. On his ar rival at the capital, Sylla saluted him with the appellation of Great ; but the ambition of Pompey required something more for its gratification, and when he was refused a tri umph, lie exclaimed, " That there were more worshippers of the rising than of the setting sun." Sylla, alarmed at the boldness of the speech, yielded to a Roman knight a tri umphal procession through the streets of the capital. Upon the death of Sylla. Pompey opposed the Marian faction un der Lcpidus. He put an end to the war which had been occa sioned in Spain by the revolt of Sertorius, and though still a private citizen, lie was honoured by a second triumph. Being soon afterwards made consul, he restored the tribu nitial power to its original dignity, and in 40 days lie put down the pirates in the Mediterranean, who had nearly de stroyed the naval power of Rome. By the influence of Marsilius and his other friends at Rome, he was appointed to carry on the war against Mithridates, king of Pontus, and Tigranes, king of Armenia; and such was the success of his operations, that lie defeated Mithridates, in a gene ral engagement, and soon afterwards received the submis sion of the Armenian king. After conqueringthe Albanims and Iberians, he visited countries c were then scarce ly known at Rome; and at one time lie received homage from twelve crowned heads. Entering Syria, and pushing his conquests as far as the Red Sea, he subdued Arabia, reduced Judea to the state of a Roman province, and re turned to his native country in all the pomp and state of eastern magnificence. The Romans, though dazzled with all this splendour, had too much wisdom not to dread the popularity and influence of such a man. Pompey, antici
pating this feeling, prudently disbanded his army, and en tered Rome as a private citizen. The Romans honoured him with a triumph, and gazed for three successive clays on the spoils of eastern grandeur, which preceded the con queror's chariot. Twenty thousand talents were added to the public treasury, and the revenues of the state were raised from 50 to 85 millions of drachma2.
The dignified elevation to which Pompey was now raised, procured him many enemies. Under the modest guise of a private citizen, it was obviously his ambition to hold the first place in the republic. In wealth lie was still inferior to Crassus and Lucullus. The republican faction watched him with a well-founded jealousy ; and Cesar was busily, though secretly, engaged in laying abroad basis for his boundless ambition.
With the view of increasing his power and pulling down his enemies, Pompey united himself with Cesar and Cras sus—a combination of heterogeneous elements which exter nal causes alone could keep together. In the division of the provinces among this triumvirate, Pompey received Africa and Spain, Crassus was made governor of Syria, and Cxsar was contented with the remainder, and wi•h the pos session of the government of Gaul for other five years. The death of Julia, however,the daughter of Cmsar, whom Pom pey had received in marriage. and the total defeat and slaugh ter of Crassus, in Syria, dissolved this disjointed confede racy, and left the empire of Rome to Pompey and Cesar.
The history of the civil war, which followed these events, has been so minutely given in the life of Cesar, that it is unnecesslry to repeat it in this place. See C/ESAR. After the battle of Pharsalia, Pompey fled for protection to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, and arrived in the bay of Alexandria. When a boat was sent to bring him on shore, Pompey left his galley, after a tender parting with his son and his wife Cornelia. The Egyptian sailors received him on hoard with a gloomy silence, and the moment lie disembarked he was assassinated by Achillas and Septimi us; an event which happened forty-eight years before Christ, and in the 58th or 59th year of his age. his head was cut off and sent to Cesar, and his body was left for some time naked on the sea-shore. One of his freedmen, however, of the name of Philip, formed a burning pile, and deposited the ashes of his master under a mound of earth. Cesar erected a monument to his memory, and the empe ror Valent afterwards repaired it at his own expense. Cneius and Sextus, the sons of Pompey, endeavoured, for a time, to oppose the power of Cesar; but they soon sunk beneath his arm. Cncius fell in the battle of Munda, and Sextus was put to death by Antony, about 35 years before Christ.