He liked Pompey, he
was under obligations to him, and Pompey had not acted after all in a
manner so very unlike his own. He summoned him home, but he gave him a
triumph for his African conquests, and allowed him to call himself by the
title of "_Magnus_," or "_The Great_." Pompey was a promising
soldier, without political ambition, and was worth an effort to secure. To
prevent the risk of a second act of insubordination, Sylla made personal
arrangements to attach Pompey directly to himself. He had a step-daughter,
named Aemilia. She was already married, and was pregnant. Pompey too was
married to Antistia, a lady of good family; but domestic ties were not
allowed to stand in the way of higher objects. Nor did it matter that
Antistia's father had been murdered by the Roman populace for taking
Sylla's side, or that her mother had gone mad and destroyed herself, on
her husband's horrible death. Late Republican Rome was not troubled with
sentiment. Sylla invited Pompey to divorce Antistia and marry Aemilia.
Pompey complied. Antistia was sent away. Aemilia was divorced from her
husband, and was brought into Pompey's house, where she immediately died.
In another young man of high rank, whom Sylla attempted to attach to
himself by similar means, he found less complaisance. Caesar was now
eighteen, his daughter Julia having been lately born.
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