Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Gnaeus Pompey was loved by the Romans as much as his father was hated. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pompey, chap. i. (619 B).) In his youth he was heart and soul for Sulla’s party, and without holding public office or being in the Senate, he enlisted many men in Italy for the army. [*](Ibid. chap. vi. (621 D).) When Sulla summoned him, he refused to present his troops before the commander-in-chief without spoils and without their having been through bloodshed. And he did not come until after he had vanquished the generals of the enemy in many battles. [*](Ibid. 621 F.)

When he was sent by Sulla to Sicily [*](In 82 B.C.) in the capacity of general, he perceived that the soldiers on the marches kept dropping out of the ranks to do violence and to plunder, and so he punished those who were straggling and running about, and placed seals upon the swords of those who were officially sent by him. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pompey, chap. x. (624 A).)