Pompey

Also known as: Cn. Pompey / Cneius Pompey · Family: Roman · Role: consul · First appears: The Gallic War, Book IV, 1–8

In Book IV of the Gallic War, Pompey and Marcus Crassus were consuls. In Book VI, he agreed to send the men he had levied to join Caesar, in the interests of the commonwealth and friendship. By Book I of the Civil War, Pompey had broken with Caesar and reconciled with their common enemies. He summoned senators and secured their votes, while veterans from his armies joined his standard in hope of rewards and promotion. When Caesar proposed that they both disband their armies and meet to settle their disputes, Pompey and the consuls rejected the terms and demanded that Caesar return to Gaul and disband his army.

As the conflict spread, Pompey left Rome for the legions in Apulia. When Lucius Domitius asked him for help at Corfinium, Pompey refused to risk everything in a rescue. At Brundusium he departed by ship; later, he sent Vibullius Rufus to Spain, where his lieutenants Lucius Afranius, Petreius, and Marcus Varro divided their commands. In Book II, he sent Lucius Nasidius with a fleet to aid Lucius Domitius and the Massilians. During the year’s respite from fighting described in Book III, Pompey assembled a fleet and gathered money and forces. He planned to winter at Dyrrachium and other ports, and shared command and honours with Scipio when their forces joined in Thessaly.

At Dyrrachium, Pompey refused to hear Caesar’s peace message. After Caesar began to hem in his camps, Pompey’s forces broke through the unfinished defenses; when the armies later fought at the camps, Pompey’s arrival turned the contest against Caesar’s troops. After that battle, Pompey was saluted Imperator and allowed himself to be addressed by the title. He pursued Caesar’s retreat for a time, then gave up the pursuit. At the battle in Thessaly, his forces were routed; Pompey fled to Larissa and escaped by sea. In Alexandria, he asked the boy king Ptolemy for refuge, appealing to the friendship that had existed between Pompey and the king’s late father, Ptolemy the father. After Pompey embarked in a small boat, Achillas and Lucius Septimius murdered him. A copy of Ptolemy the father’s will had also been kept with Pompey.