Two renegades were thus
secured, and when the voting-day came, Trebellius, who was one of them,
put in a veto; the other, Roscius, said that the power intended for Pompey
was too considerable to be trusted to a single person, and proposed two
commanders instead of one. The mob was packed so thick that the house-tops
were covered. A yell rose from tens of thousands of throats so piercing
that it was said a crow flying over the Forum dropped dead at the sound of
it. The old patrician Catulus tried to speak, but the people would not
hear him. The vote passed by acclamation, and Pompey was for three years
sovereign of the Roman world.
It now appeared how strong the Romans were when a fair chance was allowed
them. Pompey had no extraordinary talents, but not in three years, but in
three months, the pirates were extinguished. He divided the Mediterranean
into thirteen districts, and allotted a squadron to each, under officers
on whom he could thoroughly rely. Ships and seamen were found in abundance
lying idle from the suspension of trade. In forty days he had cleared the
seas between Gibraltar and Italy. He had captured entire corsair fleets,
and had sent the rest flying into the Cilician creeks. There, in defence
of their plunder and their families, they fought one desperate engagement,
and when defeated, they surrendered without a further blow.
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