A triumphal
inscription in Rome declared that Pompey, the people's general, had in
three years captured fifteen hundred cities, and had slain, taken, or
reduced to submission twelve million human beings. He justified what
Cicero had foretold of his moral uprightness. In the midst of
opportunities such as had fallen to no commander since Alexander, he
outraged no woman's honor, and he kept his hands clean from "the accursed
thing." When he returned to Rome, he returned, as he went, personally
poor, but he filled the treasury to overflowing. His campaign was not a
marauding raid, like the march of Lucullus on Artaxata. His conquests were
permanent. The East, which was then thickly inhabited by an industrious
civilized Graeco-Oriental race, became incorporated in the Roman dominion,
and the annual revenue of the State rose to twice what it had been.
Pompey's success had been dazzlingly rapid. Envy and hatred, as he well
knew, were waiting for him at home, and he was in no haste to present
himself there. He lingered in Asia, organizing the administration and
consolidating his work, while at Rome the constitution was rushing on upon
its old courses among the broken waters, with the roar of the not distant
cataract growing every moment louder.
[1] The name of Marius, it is to be observed, remained so popular in Rome
that Cicero after this always spoke of him with respect.
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