Pompey

Pompey the Great (Cneius Pompeius Magnus), a famous Roman general and statesman, was born in 106 B.C., and was the son of Cneius Pompeius Strabo, under whom he commenced his military career. His father getting into trouble, the house was attacked during the Marian tumults in Rome, and Pompey did not re-enter public life till after Marius' death. He raised some legions and went to the assistance of Sulla, who was then carrying on his Mithradatic War. Sulla welcomed him warmly, and gave him shortly after his stepdaughter in marriage, Pompey basely repudiating his lawful wife. He was sent by Sulla to Sicily, to Africa, and elsewhere, against the Marians, whom he defeated. Sulla made him one of his legates, and surnamed him Magnus. After Sulla's death he quelled the revolt of Sertorius in Spain and put an end to the Servile War, and in 70 B.C. he and Crassus were made consuls. Special powers were subsequently conferred on him for the suppression of piracy in the Mediterranean, and for the conduct of the Mithradatic War. He crushed the pirates in three months, routed Mithradates' army, and made Pontus a Roman province, conquered Jerusalem, and returned to Rome in 62 B.C. He might then easily have risen to the height afterwards attained by Caesar, but he had not the political ability or readiness requisite for acting alone. Joining, therefore, with Caesar and Crassus in a league against the senatorial rule, he became sole consul after the death of the latter. Caesar and he became enemies and a war commenced, in which Pompey posed as the champion of the senate and the constitution. Caesar, who knew Pompey was unprepared, followed him to Greece, and totally defeated him at Pharsalia. Seeking refuge in Egypt, Pompey was assassinated there in 48 B.C. Despite his many bad qualities, Pompey was a great military genius.