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 favor with less
offense, or conferred one with a better grace. When he gave,
it was without assumption, when he received, it was with
dignity and honor.
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 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 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
favor of him, thought 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...