Nor would he be content until he had penetrated into the Holy of Holies, where the High Priest alone might enter once every year. Here he saw the golden table and the golden candlesticks, of which you have read in Old Testament stories. But the Roman, although he felt a Presence there, looked in vain for the God of the Jews, for His dwelling is in a house ‘not made with hands.’
While Pompey was still in Palestine, he heard that the king whose rebellion had brought him to the East was dead.
Forsaken by his allies, deserted by the one son who was still alive, Mithridates had cared to live no longer, and had taken poison, which he had carried with him in the hilt of his sword.
After his death there was no one to lead an army against the Romans. So the rebellion in Asia came to an end, and Pompey the Great was free to return to Italy.
Once again the Roman citizens wondered what would happen when he came. Would his many victories have changed the conqueror into a tyrant? But once again the people found that their fears were groundless. For as soon as he landed in Italy Pompey disbanded his army and set out for Rome, attended only by a few friends.
When the Italian cities saw Pompey the Great journeying in this simple guise they determined to send him to Rome in more suitable fashion.
So, in happy, careless mood, the citizens crowded around him, and themselves became his escort. In such multitudes did they follow him that they were more in number than the troops which he had disbanded.
Never was such a triumph as Pompey held! Although, indeed, he had to wait more than nine months before he was allowed to hold it.
His long list of victories was written on tablets that all might read. Kings, princes, chiefs were led in chains in his procession, while the temples of Rome were enriched by the treasures that he had brought from the East.
Plutarch, who writes the life of Pompey, says, that he seemed to have led the whole world captive, for his first triumph was over ‘Africa, his second over Europe, and his third over Asia.’