Pompey

Notwithstanding, after they had been elected consuls, they differed on all points, and were constantly in collision.[*](Cf. the Crassus, xii. 1.f. ) In the senate, Crassus had more weight; but among the people the power of Pompey was great. For he gave them back their tribunate, and suffered the courts of justice to be transferred again to the knights by law.[*](By a law passed in the time of Sulla, only senators were eligible as judges.) But the most agreeable of all spectacles was that which he afforded the people when he appeared in person and solicited his discharge from military service.

It is customary for a Roman knight, when he has served for the time fixed by law, to lead his horse into the forum before the two men who are called censors, and after enumerating all the generals and imperators under whom he has served, and rendering an account of his service in the field, to receive his discharge. Honours and penalties are also awarded, according to the career of each.

At this time, then, the censors Gellius and Lentulus were sitting in state, and the knights were passing in review before them, when Pompey was seen coming down the descent into the forum, otherwise marked by the insignia of his office, but leading his horse with his own hand. When he was near and could be plainly seen, he ordered his lictors to make way for him, and led his horse up to the tribunal.

The people were astonished and kept perfect silence, and the magistrates were awed and delighted at the sight. Then the senior censor put the question: Pompeius Magnus, I ask thee whether thou hast performed all the military services required by law? Then Pompey said with a loud voice: I have performed them all, and all under myself as imperator. On hearing this, the people gave a loud shout, and it was no longer possible to check their cries of joy, but the censors rose up and accompanied Pompey to his home, thus gratifying the citizens, who followed with applause.

When Pompey’s term of office was now about to expire, and his differences with Crassus were increasing, a certain Caius Aurelius, who, though belonging to the equestrian order, had never meddled in public affairs, ascended the rostra at an assembly of the people, and came forward to say that Jupiter had appeared to him in his sleep, bidding him tell the consuls not to lay down their office before they had become friends.

After these words had been said, Pompey stood motionless, but Crassus took the initiative, clasped his hand and greeted him, and then said: I think I do nothing ignoble or mean, my fellow-citizens, in yielding first to Pompey, whom you were pleased to call Magnus when he was still beardless, and to whom you decreed two triumphs before he was a senator. Upon this, they were reconciled, and afterwards laid down their office.[*](Cf. the Crassus, xii. 3. f. )

Now, Crassus continued the manner of life which he had chosen at the outset; but Pompey ceased his frequent appearances as an advocate, gradually forsook the forum, rarely showed himself in public, and when he did, it was always with a retinue of followers. In fact, it was no longer easy to meet him or even to see him without a throng around him, but he took the greatest pleasure in making his appearance attended by large crowds, encompassing his presence thus with majesty and pomp, and thinking that he must keep his dignity free from contact and familiar association with the multitude.

For life in the robes of peace has a dangerous tendency to diminish the reputation of those whom war has made great and ill suited for democratic equality. Such men claim that precedence in the city also which they have in the field, while those who achieve less distinction in the field feel it to be intolerable if in the city at any rate they have no advantage. Therefore when the people find a man active in the forum who has shone in camps and triumphs, they depress and humiliate him, but when he renounces and withdraws from such activity, they leave his military reputation and power untouched by their envy. How true this is, events themselves soon showed.