τότε δὲ Καῖσαρ ἐλθὼν ἀπὸ στρατείας ἥψατο πολιτεύματος ὃ πλείστην μὲν αὐτῷ χάριν ἐν τῷ παρόντι καὶ δύναμιν εἰσαῦθις ἤνεγκε, μέγιστα δὲ Πομπήϊον ἔβλαψε καὶ τὴν πόλιν. ὑπατείαν μὲν γὰρ μετῄει πρώτην ὁρῶν δὲ ὅτι Κράσσου πρὸς Πομπήϊον διαφερομένου θατέρῳ προσθέμενος ἐχθρῷ χρήσεται τῷ ἑτέρῳ, τρέπεται πρὸς διαλλαγὰς ἀμφοῖν, πρᾶγμα καλὸν μὲν ἄλλως καὶ πολιτικόν, αἰτίᾳ δὲ φαύλῃ καὶ μετὰ δεινότητος ὑπʼ ἐκείνου συντεθὲν ἐπιβούλως.
At this time Caesar had returned from his province and had inaugurated a policy which brought him the greatest favour for the present and power for the future, but proved most injurious to Pompey and the city. He was a candidate for his first consulship, and seeing that, while Crassus and Pompey were at variance, if he attached himself to the one he would make an enemy of the other, he sought to reconcile them with one another,—a thing which was honourable in itself and conducive to the public good, but he undertook it for an unworthy reason and with all the cleverness of an intriguer.
ἡ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἓν σκάφει τὰς ἀποκλίσεις ἐπανισοῦσα τῆς πόλεως ἰσχὺς εἰς ἓν συνελθοῦσα καὶ γενομένη μία τὴν πάντα πράγματα καταστασιάσασαν καὶ καταβαλοῦσαν ἀνανταγώνιστον ῥοπὴν ἐποίησεν. ὁ γοῦν Κάτων τοὺς λέγοντας ὑπὸ τῆς ὕστερον γενομένης πρὸς Καίσαρα Πομπηΐῳ διαφορᾶς ἀνατραπῆναι τὴν πόλιν ἁμαρτάνειν ἔλεγεν αἰτιωμένους τὸ τελευταῖον·
For those opposing forces which, as in a vessel, prevented the city from rocking to and fro, were united into one, thereby giving to faction an irresistible momentum that overpowered and overthrew everything. At all events, Cato, when men said that the state had been overturned by the quarrel which afterwards arose between Caesar and Pompey, declared that they wrongly laid the blame on what had merely happened last;
οὐ γὰρ τὴν στάσιν οὐδὲ τὴν ἔχθραν, ἀλλὰ τὴν σύστασιν καὶ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν αὐτῶν τῇ πόλει κακὸν πρῶτον γενέσθαι καὶ μέγιστον. ᾑρέθη μὲν γὰρ ὕπατος Καῖσαρ· εὐθὺς δὲ θεραπεύων τὸν ἄπορον καὶ πένητα κατοικίας πόλεων καὶ νομὰς ἀγρῶν ἔγραφεν, ἐκβαίνων τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀξίωμα καὶ τρόπον τινὰ δημαρχίαν τὴν ὑπατείαν καθιστάς.
for it was not their discord nor yet their enmity, but their concord and harmony which was the first and greatest evil to befall the city. Caesar was, indeed, chosen consul; but he at once paid his court to the indigent and pauper classes by proposing measures for the founding of cities and the distribution of lands, thereby lowering the dignity of his office and making the consulate a kind of tribunate.
ἐναντιουμένου δὲ τοῦ συνάρχοντος αὐτῷ Βύβλου, καὶ Κάτωνος ἐρρωμενέστατα τῷ Βύβλῳ παρεσκευασμένου βοηθεῖν, προαγαγὼν ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος Πομπήϊον ἐμφανῆ καὶ προσαγορεύσας ἠρώτησεν εἰ τοὺς νόμους ἐπαινοίη· τοῦ δὲ συμφήσαντος, οὐκοῦν, εἶπεν, ἄν τις τοὺς νόμους βιάζηται, εἰς τὸν δῆμον ἀφίξῃ βοηθῶν;
And when he was opposed by his colleague Bibulus, and Cato stood ready to support Bibulus with all his might, Caesar brought Pompey on the rostra before the people, and asked him in so many words whether he approved the proposed laws: and when Pompey said he did, Then, said Caesar, in case any resistance should be made to the laws, will you come to the aid of the people?
πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη ὁ Πομπήϊος, ἀφίξομαι, πρὸς τοὺς ἀπειλοῦντας τὰ ξίφη μετὰ ξίφους καὶ θυρεὸν κομίζων. τούτου Πομπήϊος οὐδὲν οὔτε εἰπεῖν οὔτε ποιῆσαι μέχρι τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης φορτικώτερον ἔδοξεν, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς φίλους ἀπολογεῖσθαι φάσκοντας ἐκφυγεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ καιροῦ τὸ ῥῆμα. τοῖς μέντοι μετὰ ταῦτα πραττομένοις φανερὸς ἦν ἤδη παντάπασιν ἑαυτὸν τῷ Καίσαρι χρήσασθαι παραδεδωκώς.
Yes, indeed, said Pompey, I will come, bringing, against those who threaten swords, both sword and buckler. Never up to that day had Pompey said or done anything more vulgar and arrogant, as it was thought, so that even his friends apologized for him and said the words must have escaped him in the spur of the moment. However, by his subsequent acts he made it clear that he had now wholly given himself up to do Caesar’s bidding.
Ἰουλίαν γὰρ τὴν Καίσαρος θυγατέρα, Καιπίωνι καθωμολογημένην καὶ γαμεῖσθαι μέλλουσαν ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν, οὐδενὸς ἂν προσδοκήσαντος ἔγημε Πομπήϊος, μείλιγμα Καιπίωνι τῆς ὀργῆς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα καταινέσας, Φαύστῳ τῷ παιδὶ Σύλλα πρότερον ἐγγεγυημένην. αὐτὸς δὲ Καῖσαρ ἔγημε Καλπουρνίαν τὴν Πείσωνος.
For to everybody’s surprise he married Julia, the daughter of Caesar, although she was betrothed to Caepio and was going to be married to him within a few days; and to appease the wrath of Caepio, Pompey promised him his own daughter in marriage, although she was already engaged to Faustus the son of Sulla. Caesar himself married Calpurnia, the daughter of Piso.
ἐκ δὲ τούτου Πομπήϊος ἐμπλήσας στρατιωτῶν τὴν πόλιν ἅπαντα τὰ πράγματα βίᾳ κατεῖχε. βύβλῳ τε γὰρ εἰς ἀγορὰν τῷ ὑπάτῳ κατιόντι μετὰ Λευκόλλου καὶ Κάτωνος ἄφνω προσπεσόντες κατέκλασαν τὰς ῥάβδους, αὐτοῦ δέ τις κοπρίων κόφινον ἐκ κεφαλῆς τοῦ Βύβλου κατεσκέδασε, δύο δὲ δήμαρχοι τῶν συμπροπεμπόντων ἐτρώθησαν.
After this, Pompey filled the city with soldiers and carried everything with a high hand. As Bibulus the consul was going down into the forum with Lucullus and Cato, the crowd fell upon him and broke the fasces of his lictors, and somebody threw a basket of ordure all over the head of Bibulus himself, and two of the tribunes who were escorting him were wounded.
οὕτω δὲ τῶν ἐνισταμένων τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐρημώσαντες ἐπεκύρωσαν τὸν περὶ τῆς διανομῆς τῶν χωρίων νόμον δελεασθεὶς ὁ δῆμος εἰς πᾶσαν ἤδη τιθασὸς αὐτοῖς ἐγεγόνει καὶ κατάντης πρᾶξιν, οὐδὲν πολυπραγμονῶν, ἀλλʼ ἐπιφέρων σιωπῇ τοῖς γραφομένοις τὴν ψῆφον.
When they had thus cleared the forum of their opponents, they passed the law concerning the distribution of lands; and the people, caught by this bait, became tame at once in their hands, and ready to support any project, not meddling at all, but silently voting for what was proposed to them.
ἐκυρώθησαν οὖν Πομπηΐῳ μὲν αἱ διατάξεις ὑπὲρ ὧν Λεύκολλος ἤριζε, Καίσαρι δὲ τὴν ἐντὸς Ἄλπεων καὶ τὴν ἐκτὸς ἔχειν Γαλατίαν καὶ Ἰλλυριοὺς εἰς πενταετίαν καὶ τέσσαρα τάγματα τέλεια στρατιωτῶν, ὑπάτους δὲ εἰς τὸ μέλλον εἶναι Πείσωνα τὸν Καίσαρος πενθερὸν καὶ Γαβίνιον, ἄνδρα τῶν Πομπηΐου κολάκων ὑπερφυέστατον.
Accordingly, Pompey got those enactments of his ratified which Lucullus contested; Caesar received the two Gauls and Illyricum for five years, together with four complete legions; and it was decided that the consuls for the ensuing year should be Piso, the father-in-law of Caesar, and Gabinius, who was the most extravagant of Pompey’s flatterers.
πραττομένων δὲ τούτων Βύβλος μὲν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν κατακλεισάμενος ὀκτὼ μηνῶν οὐ προῆλθεν ὑπατεύων, ἀλλʼ ἐξέπεμπε διαγράμματα βλασφημίας ἀμφοῖν ἔχοντα καὶ κατηγορίας, Κάτων δὲ ὥσπερ ἐπίπνους καὶ φοιβόληπτος ἐν τῇ βουλῇ τὰ μέλλοντα τῇ πόλει καὶ τῷ Πομπηΐῳ προηγόρευε, Λεύκολλος δὲ ἀπειπὼν ἡσυχίαν ἦγεν ὡς οὐκέτι πρὸς πολιτείαν ὡραῖος· ὅτε δὴ καὶ Πομπήϊος ἔφη, γέροντι τὸ τρυφᾶν ἀωρότερον εἶναι τοῦ πολιτεύεσθαι.
While this was going on, Bibulus shut himself up in his house and for the eight months remaining of his consulship did not appear in public, but issued edicts which were full of accusations and slanders against Pompey and Caesar; Cato, as though inspired and possessed by a spirit of prophecy, foretold in the senate what the future would bring to the city and to Pompey; while Lucullus renounced the struggle and led a life of ease, on the plea that he was past the age for political affairs; whereat Pompey remarked that for an old man luxurious living was more unseasonable than political activity.
ταχὺ μέντοι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμαλάσσετο τῷ τῆς κόρης ἔρωτι καὶ προσεῖχεν ἐκείνῃ τὰ πολλὰ καὶ συνδιημέρευεν ἐν ἀγροῖς καὶ κήποις, ἠμέλει δὲ τῶν κατʼ ἀγορὰν πραττομένων, ὥστε καὶ Κλώδιον αὐτοῦ καταφρονῆσαι δημαρχοῦντα τότε καὶ θρασυτάτων ἅψασθαι πραγμάτων.
However, Pompey himself also soon gave way weakly to his passion for his young wife, devoted himself for the most part to her, spent his time with her in villas and gardens, and neglected what was going on in the forum, so that even Clodius, who was then a tribune of the people, despised him and engaged in most daring measures.
ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐξέβαλε Κικέρωνα, καὶ Κάτωνα προφάσει στρατηγίας εἰς Κύπρον ἀπέπεμψε, Καίσαρος εἰς Γαλατίαν ἐξεληλακότος, αὑτῷ δὲ προσέχοντα τὸν δῆμον ἑώρα πάντα πράττοντι καὶ πολιτευομένῳ πρός χάριν, εὐθὺς ἐπεχείρει τῶν Πομπηΐου διατάξεων ἐνίας ἀναιρεῖν, καὶ Τιγράνην τὸν αἰχμάλωτον ἀφαρπάσας εἶχε σὺν αὑτῷ, καὶ τοῖς φίλοις δίκας ἐπῆγε, πεῖραν ἐν ἐκείνοις τῆς Πομπηΐου λαμβάνων δυνάμεως.
For after he had driven Cicero into banishment, and sent Cato off to Cyprus under pretence of giving him military command, and Caesar was gone off to Gaul, and when he saw that the people were devoted to him because all his political measures were undertaken to please them, he straightway attempted to repeal some of the arrangements which Pompey had made; he took away his prisoner, Tigranes, and kept him about his own person; and he prosecuted some of his friends, making a test of the power of Pompey by his proceedings against them.
τέλος δέ, προελθόντος αὐτοῦ πρός τινα δίκην, ἔχων ὑφʼ αὑτῷ πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων ἀσελγείας καὶ ὀλιγωρίας μεστὸν αὐτὸς μὲν εἰς ἐπιφανῆ τόπον καταστὰς ἐρωτήματα τοιαῦτα προὔβαλλε· τίς ἐστιν αὐτοκράτωρ ἀκόλαστος; τίς ἀνὴρ ἄνδρα ζητεῖ; τίς ἑνὶ δακτύλῳ κνᾶται τὴν κεφαλήν; οἱ δέ, ὥσπερ χορὸς εἰς ἀμοιβαῖα συγκεκροτημένος, ἐκείνου τὴν τήβεννον ἀνασείοντος ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ μέγα βοῶντες ἀπεκρίναντο· Πομπήϊος.
And finally, when Pompey appeared at a public trial, Clodius, having at his beck and call a rabble of the lewdest and most arrogant ruffians, stationed himself in a conspicuous place and put to them such questions as these: Who is a licentious imperator? What man seeks for a man? Who scratches his head with one finger? And they, like a chorus trained in responsive song, as he shook his toga, would answer each question by shouting out Pompey.
ἠνία μὲν οὖν καί ταῦτα Πομπήϊον ἀήθη τοῦ κακῶς ἀκούειν ὄντα καί μάχης τοιαύτης ἄπειρον ἤχθετο δὲ μᾶλλον αἰσθανόμενος τήν βουλὴν ἐπιχαίρουσαν αὐτῷ προπηλακιζομένῳ καί διδόντι δίκην τῆς Κικέρωνος προδοσίας.
Of course this also was annoying to Pompey, who was not accustomed to vilification and was inexperienced in this sort of warfare; but he was more distressed when he perceived that the senate was delighted to see him insulted and paying a penalty for his betrayal of Cicero.
ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ πληγὰς ἐν ἀγορᾷ μέχρι τραυμάτων συνέβη γενέσθαι, καί Κλωδίου τις οἰκέτης παραδυόμενος ἐν ὄχλῳ διὰ τῶν περιεστώτων πρὸς τὸν Πομπήϊον ἠλέγχθη ξίφος ἔχειν, ταῦτα ποιούμενος πρόφασιν, ἄλλως δὲ τοῦ Κλωδίου τήν ἀσέλγειαν καί τὰς βλασφημίας δεδιώς, οὐκέτι προῆλθεν εἰς ἀγορὰν ὅσον ἐκεῖνος ἦρχε χρόνον, ἀλλʼ οἰκουρῶν διετέλει καὶ σκεπτόμενος μετὰ τῶν φίλων ὅπως ἂν ἐξακέσαιτο τῆς βουλῆς καί τῶν ἀρίστων τήν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὀργήν.
When, however, it had come to blows and even wounds in the forum and a servant of Clodius, stealing along through the crowd of bystanders towards Pompey, was found to have a sword in his hand, Pompey made this his excuse, although he was also afraid of the insolent abuse of Clodius, and came no more into the forum as long as Clodius was tribune, but kept himself continually at home, where he was ever debating with his friends how he might appease the anger of the senate and the nobility against him.
Κουλλέωνι μὲν οὖν κελεύοντι τήν Ἰουλίαν ἀφεῖναι καί μεταβαλέσθαι πρὸς τήν σύγκλητον ἀπὸ τῆς Καίσαρος φιλίας οὐ προσέσχε, τοῖς δὲ Κικέρωνα καταγαγεῖν ἀξιοῦσιν, ἄνδρα καί Κλωδίῳ πολεμιώτατον καί τῇ βουλῇ προσφιλέστατον, ἐπείσθη· καί προαγαγὼν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ δεόμενον σὺν χειρὶ πολλῇ, τραυμάτων ἐν ἀγορᾷ γενομένων καί τινων ἀναιρεθέντων, ἐκράτησε τοῦ Κλωδίου.
To Culleo, however, who urged him to divorce Julia and exchange the friendship of Caesar for that of the senate, he would not listen, but he yielded to the arguments of those who thought he ought to bring Cicero back, who was the greatest enemy of Clodius and most beloved in the senate, and he escorted Cicero’s brother, who was a petitioner for his return, with a large force into the forum, where, though some were wounded and some killed, he nevertheless got the better of Clodius.
καί νόμῳ κατελθὼν ὁ Κικέρων τήν τε βουλὴν εὐθὺς τῷ Πομπηΐῳ διήλλαττε, καί τῷ σιτικῷ νόμῳ συνηγορῶν τρόπῳ τινὶ πάλιν γῆς καί θαλάττης, ὅσην ἐκέκτηντο Ῥωμαῖοι, κύριον ἐποίει Πομπήϊον. ἐπʼ αὐτῷ γὰρ ἐγίνοντο λιμένες, ἐμπόρια, καρπῶν διαθέσεις, ἑνὶ λόγῳ, τὰ τῶν πλεόντων πράγματα, τὰ τῶν γεωργούντων.
And when Cicero returned to the city by virtue of the law then passed, he immediately reconciled Pompey to the senate, and by his advocacy of the corn law he in a manner once more made Pompey master of all the land and sea in Roman possession. For under his direction were placed harbours, trading-places, distributions of crops,—in a word, navigation and agriculture.
Κλώδιος δὲ ᾐτιᾶτο μὴ γεγράφθαι τὸν νόμον διὰ τήν σιτοδείαν, ἀλλʼ ὅπως ὁ νόμος γραφείη γεγονέναι τήν σιτοδείαν, ὥσπερ ἐκ λιποθυμίας αὐτοῦ μαραινομένην τήν δύναμιν ἀρχῇ νέᾳ πάλιν ἀναζωπυροῦντος καί ἀναλαμβάνοντος. ἕτεροι δὲ τοῦ ὑπάτου Σπινθῆρος ἀποφαίνουσι τοῦτο σόφισμα, κατακλείσαντος εἰς ἀρχὴν μείζονα Πομπήϊον, ὅπως αὐτὸς ἐκπεμφθῇ Πτολεμαίῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ βοηθῶν.
Clodius alleged that the law had not been proposed on account of the scarcity of grain, but the scarcity of grain had arisen in order that the law might be proposed, a law whereby the power of Pompey, which was withering away, as it were, in consequence of his failing spirits, might be rekindled again and recovered in a new office. But others declare that this was a device of the consul Spinther, whose aim was to confine Pompey in a higher office, in order that he himself might be sent out to aid King Ptolemy.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καί Κανίδιος εἰσήνεγκε δημαρχῶν νόμον, ἄνευ στρατιᾶς Πομπήϊον ἔχοντα ῥαβδούχους δύο διαλλάττειν Ἀλεξανδρεῦσι τὸν βασιλέα, καί Πομπήϊος μὲν ἐδόκει τῷ νόμῳ μὴ δυσχεραίνειν, ἡ δὲ σύγκλητος ἐξέβαλεν, εὐπρεπῶς σκηψαμένη δεδιέναι περὶ τἀνδρός. ἦν δὲ γράμμασιν ἐντυχεῖν διερριμμένοις κατʼ ἀγορὰν καί παρὰ τὸ βουλευτήριον ὡς δὴ Πτολεμαίου δεομένου Πομπήϊον αὐτῷ στρατηγὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ Σπινθῆρος δοθῆναι.
However, Canidius, as tribune of the people, brought in a law providing that Pompey, without an army, and with two lictors only, should go out as a meditator between the king and the people of Alexandria. Pompey was thought to regard the law with no disfavour, but the senate rejected it, on the plausible pretence that it feared for his safety. Besides, writings were to be found scattered about the forum and near the senate-house, stating that it was Ptolemy’s wish to have Pompey given to him as a commander instead of Spinther.
Τιμαγένης δὲ καί ἄλλως τὸν Πτολεμαῖον οὐκ οὔσης ἀνάγκης ἀπελθεῖν φησι, καί καταλιπεῖν Αἴγυπτον ὑπὸ Θεοφάνους πεισθέντα πράττοντος Πομπηΐῳ χρηματισμοὺς καί στρατηγίας καινῆς ὑπόθεσιν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν οὐχ οὕτως ἡ Θεοφάνους μοχθηρία πιθανὸν ὡς ἄπιστον ἡ Πομπηΐου ποιεῖ φύσις, οὐκ ἔχουσα κακόηθες οὐδʼ ἀνελεύθερον οὕτω τὸ φιλότιμον.
And Timagenes actually says that Ptolemy left home without sufficient reason and under no necessity, and that his abandonment of Egypt was owing to the persuasions of Theophanes, who was aiming to give Pompey profitable occupation in the holding of a new command. But this is not made credible by the baseness of Theophanes as much as it is made incredible by the nature of Pompey, in which ambition was not of such a mean and base order.
Ἐπισταθεὶς δὲ τῇ περὶ τὸ σιτικὸν οἰκονομίᾳ καὶ πραγματείᾳ, πολλαχοῦ μὲν ἀπέστειλε πρεσβευτὰς καὶ φίλους, αὐτὸς δὲ πλεύσας εἰς Σικελίαν καὶ Σαρδόνα καὶ Λιβύην ἤθροιζε σῖτον· ἀνάγεσθαι δὲ μέλλων πνεύματος μεγάλου κατὰ θάλατταν ὄντος καὶ τῶν κυβερνητῶν ὀκνούντων, πρῶτος ἐμβὰς καὶ κελεύσας τὴν ἄγκυραν αἴρειν ἀνεβόησε· πλεῖν ἀνάγκη, ζῆν οὐκ ἀνάγκη·
Having thus been set over the administration and management of the grain trade, Pompey sent out his agents and friends in various directions, while he himself sailed to Sicily, Sardinia and Africa, and collected grain. When he was about to set sail with it, there was a violent storm at sea, and the ship-captains hesitated to put out; but he led the way on board and ordered them to weigh anchor, crying with a loud voice:
τοιαύτῃ δὲ τόλμῃ καὶ προθυμίᾳ χρώμενος μετὰ τύχης ἀγαθῆς ἐνέπλησε σίτου τὰ ἐμπόρια καὶ πλοίων τὴν θάλασσαν, ὥστε καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς ἀνθρώποις ἐπαρκέσαι τὴν περιουσίαν ἐκείνης τῆς παρασκευῆς, καὶ γενέσθαι καθάπερ ἐκ πηγῆς ἄφθονον ἀπορροὴν εἰς πάντας.
To sail is necessary; to live is not. By this exercise of zeal and courage attended by good fortune, he filled the sea with ships and the markets with grain, so that the excess of what he had provided sufficed also for foreign peoples, and there was an abundant overflow, as from a spring, for all.
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