Pompey   

POMPEY

THE people of Rome seem to have entertained for Pompey from his
childhood the same affection that Prometheus, in the tragedy of
Aeschylus, expresses for Hercules, speaking of him as the author of
his deliverance, in these words:-

"Ah cruel Sire! how dear thy son to me!
The generous offspring of my enemy!"

For on the one hand, never did the Romans give such demonstrations
of a vehement and fierce hatred against any of their generals as
they did against Strabo, the father of Pompey; during whose
lifetime, it is true, they stood in awe of his military power, as
indeed he was a formidable warrior, but immediately upon his death,
which happened by a stroke of thunder, they treated him with the
utmost contumely, dragging his corpse from the bier, as it was carried
to his funeral. On the other side, never had any Roman the people's
good-will and devotion more zealous throughout all the changes of
fortune, more early in its first springing up, or more steadily rising
with his prosperity, or more constant in his adversity than Pompey
had. In Strabo, there was one great cause of their hatred, his
insatiable covetousness; in Pompey, there were many that helped to
make him the object of their love; his temperance, his skill and
exercise in war, his eloquence of speech, integrity of mind, and
affability in conversation and address; insomuch that no man ever
asked a favour with less offence, or conferred one with a better
grace. When he gave, it was without assumption; when he received, it
was with dignity and honour.
In his youth, his countenance pleaded for him, seeming to anticipate
his eloquence, and win upon the affections of the people before he
spoke. His beauty even in his bloom of youth had something in it at
once of gentleness and dignity; and when his prime of manhood came,
the majesty and kingliness of his character at once became visible
in it. His hair sat somewhat hollow or rising a little; and this, with
the languishing motion of his eyes, seemed to form a resemblance in
his face, though perhaps more talked of than really apparent, to the
statues of the King Alexander. And because many applied that name to
him in his youth, Pompey himself did not decline it, insomuch that
some called him so in derision. And Lucius Philippus, a man of
consular dignity, when he was pleading in favour of him, thoug
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ht it
not unfit to say, that people could not be surprised if Philip was a
lover of Alexander.
It is related of Flora, the courtesan, that when she was now
pretty old, she took great delight in speaking of her early
familiarity with Pompey, and was wont to say that she could never part
after being with him without a bite. She would further tell, that
Geminius, a companion of Pompey's, fell in love with her, and made his
court with great importunity; and on her refusing, and telling him,
however her inclinations were, yet she could not gratify his desires
for Pompey's sake, he therefore made his request to Pompey, and Pompey
frankly gave his consent, but never afterwards would have any converse
with her, notwithstanding that he seemed to have a great passion for
her; and Flora, on this occasion, showed none of the levity that might
have been expected of her, but languished for some time after under
a sickness brought on by grief and desire. This Flora, we are told,
was such a celebrated beauty, that Caecilius Metellus, when he adorned
the temple of Castor and Pollux with paintings and statues, among
the rest dedicated hers for her singular beauty. In his conduct also
to the wife of Demetrius, his freed servant (who had great influence
with him in his lifetime, and left an estate of four thousand