XXIII. Now when the term of office was near expiring for Pompeius, and the differences with Crassus wore increasing, one Caius Aurelius,[231] who though a man of equestrian rank did not meddle with public affairs, on the occasion of an assembly of the people ascended the Rostra, and coming forward said, that Jupiter had appeared to him in his sleep and had bid him tell the consuls not to lay down their office before they were reconciled. On this being said, Pompeius stood still, without saying a word, but Crassus making the first advance to take his hand and address him, said, "I think I am doing nothing ignoble or mean, fellow citizens, in being first to give way to Pompeius, whom you considered worthy of the name of Magnus before he had a beard, and decreed to him two triumphs before he was a senator." Upon this they were reconciled and laid down their office. Now Crassus continued the kind of life which he had originally adopted; but Pompeius withdrew himself from his numerous engagements as advocate, and gradually quitted the forum, and seldom went into public, and always with a large crowd of people. For it was no longer easy to meet with him or see him without a train; but he took most pleasure in showing himself with a numerous company close around him, and by these means he threw a dignity and importance about his presence, and thought that he ought to keep his high rank from contact or familiarity with the many. For life in the garment of peace is a hazardous thing towards loss of reputation for those who have gained distinction in arms and are ill suited for civil equality; for such men claim the first place in peace also, as in war, while those who get less honour in war cannot submit to have no advantage in peace at least. Wherefore when they meet in the Forum with the man who has been distinguished in camps and triumphs, they humble him and cast him down; but if a man renounces all pretensions to civil distinction and withdraws, they maintain his military honours and power untouched by envy. Facts soon showed this.
XXIV. Now the power of the pirates[232] had its beginning in Cilicia, and at first its adventure was attended with hazard and sought concealment, but it gained confidence and daring in the Mithridatic war by lending itself to aid the king. Then, the Romans being engaged in the civil wars about the gates of Rome, the sea was left destitute of all protection, and this by degrees drew them on, and encouraged them not to confine their attacks to those who navigated the sea, but to ravage islands and maritime cities. And now men who were powerful by wealth and of distinguished birth, and who claimed superior education, began to embark on board piratical vessels and to share in their undertakings as if the occupation was attended with a certain reputation and was an object of ambition. There were also piratical posts established in many places and fortified beacons, at which armaments put in, which were fitted out for this peculiar occupation not only with bold vigorous crews and skilful helmsmen and the speed and lightness of the ships, but more annoying than their formidable appearance was their arrogant and pompous equipment, with their golden streamers[233] and purple sails and silvered oars, as if they rioted in their evil practices and prided themselves on them. And flutes and playing on stringed instruments and drinking along the whole coast, and capture of persons high in office, and ransomings of captured cities, were a disgrace to the Roman supremacy. Now the piratical ships had increased to above a thousand, and the cities captured by them were four hundred. They attacked and plundered the asyla and sacred places which had hitherto been unapproached, such as those of Claros,[234] Didyma, Samothrace, the temple of Chthonia in Hermione, the temple of Æsculapius in Epidaurus, and those of Neptune at the Isthmus and Tænaros and Kalauria, and those of Apollo at Actium and Leucas, and that of Juno in Samos, and in Argos, and Lacinium. They also performed strange rites on Olympus[235] and celebrated certain mysterious ceremonies, among which were those of Mithras[236] and they are continued to the present time, having been first introduced by them. But they did most insult to the Romans, and going up from the sea they robbed on their roads and plundered the neighbouring villas. They once seized two prætors Sextilius and Bellinus in their purple dress, and they carried off with them their attendants and lictors. They also took the daughter of Antonius, a man who had enjoyed a triumph, as she was going into the country, and she was ransomed at great cost. But their most insulting behaviour was in the following fashion. Whenever a man who was taken called out that he was a Roman and mentioned his name, they would pretend to be terror-struck and to be alarmed, and would strike their thighs and fall down at his knees praying him to pardon them; and their captive would believe all this to be real, seeing that they were humble and suppliant. Then some would put Roman shoes on his feet, and others would throw over him a toga, pretending it was done that there might be no mistake about him again. When they had for some time mocked the man in this way and had their fill of amusement, at last they would put a ladder down into the sea, and bid him step out and go away with their best wishes for a good journey; and if a man would not go, then they shoved him into the water.
XXV. The power of the pirates extended over the whole of our sea[237] at once in a measure, so that it could not be navigated and was closed against all trade. It was this which mainly induced the Romans, who were hard pressed for provisions and were expecting great scarcity, to send out Pompeius to clear the sea of the pirates. Gabinius,[238] one of the friends of Pompeius, drew up a law which gave Pompeius, not a naval command, but palpably sole dominion and power over all men without any responsibility. For the law gave him authority over the sea within the columns of Hercules and all the main land to the distance of four hundred stadia from the sea. There were not many places within the Roman dominions which lay beyond those limits, but the chief nations and the most powerful of the kings were comprised within them. Besides this, Pompeius was empowered to choose fifteen legati from the Senate who should command in particular parts, to take from the treasuries and from the Publicani as much money as he pleased, and two hundred ships, with full authority as to the number and levying of the armed force and of the rowers for the vessels. When these provisions of the law were read, the people received them with exceeding great satisfaction, but the chief of the Senate and the most powerful citizens considered that this unlimited and indefinite power was indeed too great to be an object of envy, but was a matter for alarm. Accordingly with the exception of Cæsar they opposed the law; but Cæsar spoke in favour of it, though indeed he cared very little for Pompeius, but from the beginning it was his plan to insinuate himself into the popular favour and to gain over the people. But the rest vehemently assailed Pompeius. One of the consuls who had observed to him that if he emulated Romulus he would not escape the end of Romulus, was near being killed by the people. When Catulus came forward to speak against the law, the people out of respect were silent for some time; but after he had spoken at length with honourable mention of Pompeius and without any invidious remark, and then advised the people to spare him and not to expose such a man to repeated dangers and wars, "What other man," he continued, "will you have, if you lose him?" when with one accord all the people replied, "Yourself." Now as Catulus could produce no effect, he retired from the Rostra; when Roscius[239] came forward, nobody listened, but he made signs with his fingers that they should not appoint Pompeius to the sole command, but should give him a colleague. At this it is said that the people being irritated sent forth such a shout, that a crow[240] which was flying over the Forum was stunned and fell down into the crowd. Whence it appears, that birds which fall, do not tumble into a great vacuum in the air caused by its rending and separation, but that they are struck by the blow of the voice, which, when it is carried along with great mass and strength, causes an agitation and a wave in the air.
XXVI. Now for the time the assembly was dissolved. But on the day on which they were going to put the law to the vote, Pompeius privately retired to the country, but on hearing that the law had passed, he entered the city by night, considering that he should make himself an object of jealousy if the people met him and crowded about him. At daybreak he came into public and sacrificed; and an assembly being summoned he contrived to get many other things in addition to what had been voted, and nearly doubled his armament. For he manned five hundred ships, and one hundred and twenty thousand heavy-armed soldiers and five thousand horse were raised. He chose out of the senate twenty-four men who had held command and served the office of prætor; and there were two quæstors. As the prices of provisions immediately fell, it gave the people, who were well pleased to have it, opportunity to say that the very name of Pompeius had put an end to the war. However, by dividing the waters and the whole space of the internal sea into thirteen parts and appointing a certain number of ships and a commander for each, with his force, which was thus dispersed in all directions, he surrounded the piratical vessels that fell in his way in a body, and forthwith hunted them down and brought them into port; but those who separated from one another before they were taken and effected their escape, crowded from all parts and made their way to Cilicia as to a hive; and against them Pompeius himself went with sixty of the best ships. But he did not sail against them till he had completely cleared of the piratical vessels the Tyrrhenian sea, the Libyan, and the seas around Sardinia, and Corsica, and Sicily, in forty days in all, by his own unwearied exertions and the active co-operation of his commanders.