Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata
Plutarch
Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).
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).)
The Mamertines, who had joined the other party, he was like to put to death to a man. But Sthennius, their popular leader, said that Pompey
was not doing right in punishing many innocent men instead of one man who was responsible, and that this man was himself, who had persuaded his friends, and compelled his enemies, to choose the side of Marius. Much amazed, Pompey said that he could pardon the Mamertines if they had been persuaded by a man like him who valued his country above his own life; and thereupon he liberated both the city and Sthennius. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pompey, 623 F, where Sthen(n)is stands instead of Sthennius (Sthennon, Moralia, 815 E), and the Himerians instead of the Mamertines.)He crossed over to Africa against Domitius [*](In 81 B.C.) and overcame him in a mighty battle; then, when the soldiers were hailing him as commander-in-chief, he said he could not accept the honour while the enemy’s palisade still stood upright. And they, in spite of a heavy rain that enveloped them, swept on and plundered the camp. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pompey, chaps. xi.-xii. (624 C-E).)
When he returned, Sulla received him graciously with many honours, and was the first to call him Magnus (The Great). He desired to celebrate a triumph, but Sulla would not allow him to do so, since he was not as yet a member of the Senate. When Pompey remarked to those present that Sulla did not realize that more people worship the rising than the setting sun, Sulla cried out, Let him have his triumph ! Servilius, a man of noble family, was indignant, and many of the soldiers stood in his way with their demands of largess before his triumph. But when Pompey said that he would rather give up his triumph than curry favour with them, Servilius said that now he saw that Pompey was truly great, and deserved his triumph. [*](Ibid. chaps. xiii.-xiv. (625-626 B); Moralia, 804 F.)
It is a custom in Rome for the knights, when
they have completed the regular term of service in the army, to lead their horses into the Forum, one at a time, before the two men whom they call censors, and after enumerating their campaigns and the generals under whom they served, to receive such commendation or censure as is fitting. Pompey, who was then consul, with his own hand led his horse before the censors, Gellius and Lentulus, and when they asked him, in conformity with the custom, whether he had served all his campaigns, he replied, Yes, all, and under myself as commander-in-chief. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pompey, chap. xxii. (630 A).)On gaining possession of the papers of Sertorius in Spain, among which were letters from many leading men inviting Sertorius to come to Rome with a view to fomenting a revolution and changing the government, he burned them all, thus offering an opportunity for the miscreants to repent and become better men. [*](Ibid. chap. xx. (p. 629); similar stories are told of others, as, for example, of William III. of England.)