LXXIV. In such wise Pompeius coasted to Amphipolis,[383] and thence crossed over to Mitylene, wishing to take up Cornelia and her son. Upon reaching the shore of the island he sent a message to the city, not such as Cornelia expected, for the pleasing intelligence that she had received both by report and by letter led her to hope that the war was terminated near Dyrrachium, and that all that remained for Pompeius was to pursue Cæsar. The messenger, who found her in this state of expectation, did not venture to salute her, but indicating by tears more than words the chief and greatest of her misfortunes, he bade her hasten, if she wished to see Pompeius in a single vessel and that not his own. Cornelia, on hearing these words, threw herself on the ground, and lay there a long time without sense or speech, and with difficulty recovering herself, and seeing that it was not a time for tears and lamentations, she ran through the city to the sea. Pompeius met and caught her in his arms as she was just ready to sink down and fall upon him, when Cornelia said, "I see you, husband, not through your own fortune but mine, reduced to a single vessel, you who before your marriage with Cornelia sailed along this sea with five hundred ships. Why have you come to see me, and why did you not leave to her evil dæmon one who has loaded you also with so much misfortune? How happy a woman should I have been had I died before I heard that Publius, whose virgin bride I was, had perished by the Parthians; and how wise, if even after he died I had put an end to my own life, as I attempted to do; but forsooth I have been kept alive to be the ruin of Pompeius Magnus also."
LXXV. So it is said Cornelia spoke, and thus Pompeius replied: "It is true, Cornelia, you have hitherto known only one fortune, and that the better; and perhaps it has deceived you too, in that it has abided with me longer than is wont. But as we are mortals, we must bear this change, and still try fortune; for it is not hopeless for a man to attempt from this condition to recover his former state who has come to this after being in that other." Accordingly Cornelia sent for her property and slaves from the city; and though the Mitylenæans came to pay their respects to Pompeius, and invited him to enter the city, he would not, but he exhorted them also to yield to the conqueror and to be of good heart, for Cæsar was merciful and of a humane disposition. But turning to Kratippus[384] the philosopher, for he had come down from the city to see him, Pompeius found fault with and in a few words expressed some doubts about Providence, Kratippus rather giving way to him and trying to lead him to better hopes, that he might not give him pain at so unseasonable a time by arguing against him; for Pompeius might have questioned him about Providence, and Kratippus might have shown that the state of affairs at Rome required a monarchy on account of the political disorder; and he might have asked Pompeius, "How, Pompeius, and by what evidence shall we be persuaded that you would have used your fortune better than Cæsar, if you had been victorious?" But these matters that concern the gods we must leave as they are.
LXXVI. Taking on board his wife and friends, Pompeius continued his voyage, only putting in at such ports as of necessity he must for water or provisions. The first city that he came to was Attaleia[385] of Pamphylia; and there some galleys from Cilicia met him, and some soldiers were collecting, and there were again about sixty senators about him. Hearing that his navy still kept together, and that Cato had recruited many soldiers and was passing over to Libya, he lamented to his friends and blamed himself for being forced to engage with his army only, and for not making any use of the force which was beyond all dispute superior to that of the enemy; and that his navy was not so stationed that if he were defeated by land he might forthwith have had what would have made him a match for the enemy, a strength and power so great by sea close at hand. Indeed Pompeius committed no greater fault, nor did Cæsar show any greater generalship, than in withdrawing the field of battle so far beyond the reach of assistance from the navy. However, being compelled in the present state of affairs to decide and do something, he sent round to the cities, and himself sailing about to some, asked them for money, and began to man ships. But fearing the rapid movements and speed of his enemy, lest he should come upon him and take him before he was prepared, he looked about for a place of refuge for the present and a retreat. Now there appeared to them upon consideration to be no province to which they could safely fly; and as to the kingdoms, Pompeius gave it as his opinion that the Parthian[386] at the present was the best able to receive and protect them in their present weakness, and to strengthen them again and to send them forth with the largest force; of the rest, some turned their thoughts towards Libya and Juba,[387] but Theophanes of Lesbos pronounced it madness to leave Egypt, which was only three days' sail distant, and Ptolemæus,[388] who was still a youth, and indebted to Pompeius for the friendship and favour which his father had received from him, and to put himself in the hands of the Parthians, a most treacherous nation; and to be the first of all persons who did not choose to submit to a Roman who had been connected with him by marriage, nor to make trial of his moderation, and to put himself in the power of Arsakes,[389] who was not able to take even Crassus so long as he was alive; and to carry a young wife of the family of Scipio among barbarians, who measured their power by their insolence and unbridled temper; and if no harm should befall Cornelia, and it should only be apprehended that she might suffer injury, it would be a sad thing for her to be in the power of those who were able to do it. This alone, it is said diverted Pompeius from proceeding to the Euphrates; if indeed any reflection still guided Pompeius, and he was not rather directed by a dæmon to the way that he took.
LXXVII. Accordingly when the proposal to fly to Egypt prevailed, Pompeius setting sail from Cyprus in a galley of Seleukeia[390] with his wife (and of the rest some accompanied him also in ships of war, and others in merchant vessels), crossed the sea safely; and hearing that Ptolemæus[391] was seated before Pelusium with his army, being engaged in war against his sister, he came to that part of the coast and sent forward a person to announce his arrival to the king and to pray for his protection. Now Ptolemæus was very young, and Potheinus who managed everything, summoned a council of the chief persons; and the chief persons were those whom he chose to make so, and he bade each man give his opinion. It was indeed a sad thing that such men should deliberate about Pompeius Magnus, as Potheinus the eunuch and Theodotus of Chios who was hired as a teacher of rhetoric and the Egyptian Achillas: for these were the chief advisers of the king among the eunuchs and others who had the care of his person; and such was the court whose decision Pompeius was waiting for at anchor some distance from the shore and tossed by the waves, he who thought it beneath him to be indebted to Cæsar for his life. Now opinions among the rest were so far divided that some advised they should drive away Pompeius, and others, that they should invite and receive him: but Theodotus displaying his power in speech and his rhetorical art proved that neither of these courses was safe, but that if they received Pompeius, they would have Cæsar for an enemy and Pompeius for their master, and if they drove him away, they would incur the displeasure of Pompeius for ejecting him and of Cæsar for the trouble of the pursuit; it was therefore best to send for the man and kill him, for thus they would please Cæsar and have nothing to fear from Pompeius. And he concluded with a smile, as it is said, A dead man does not bite.
LXXVIII. Having determined on this they intrust the execution to Achillas, who taking with him one Septimius who had a long time ago served under Pompeius as a centurion and Salvius another centurion and three or four slaves, put out towards the ship of Pompeius. It happened that all the most distinguished persons who accompanied Pompeius had come on board his ship to see what was going on. Accordingly when they saw a reception which was neither royal nor splendid nor corresponding to the expectations of Theophanes, but a few men in a fishing-boat sailing towards them, this want of respect made them suspect treachery and they advised Pompeius to row back into the open sea, while they were still out of reach of missiles. In the mean time as the boat was nearing, Septimius was the first to rise and he addressed Pompeius as Imperator in the Roman language and Achillas saluting him in Greek invited him to enter the boat, because, as he said, the shallows were of great extent and the sea being rather sandy had not depth enough to float a trireme. At the same time it was observed that some of the king's ships were getting their men on board, and soldiers occupied the shore, so that it appeared impossible to escape even if they changed their minds and made the attempt; and besides, this want of confidence would give the murderers some excuse for their crime. Accordingly, after embracing Cornelia who was anticipating and bewailing his fate, he ordered two centurions to step into the boat before him, and Philippus one of his freedmen and a slave called Scythes, and while Achillas was offering him his hand out of the boat, he turned round to his wife and son and repeated the iambics of Sophocles,
"Whoever to a tyrant bends his way,
Is made his slave, e'en if he goes a freeman."
LXXIX.[392] These were the last words that he spoke to his friends before he entered the boat: and as it was a considerable distance to the land from the galley, and none of those in the boat addressed any friendly conversation to him, looking at Septimius he said, "I am not mistaken I think in recognising you as an old comrade of mine;" and Septimius nodded without making any reply or friendly acknowledgment. As there was again a profound silence, Pompeius who had a small roll on which he had written a speech in Greek that he intended to address to Ptolemæus, began reading it. As they neared the land, Cornelia with her friends in great anxiety was watching the result from the galley, and she began to have good hopes when she saw some of the king's people collecting together at the landing as if to honor Pompeius and give him a reception. In the mean time, while Pompeius was taking the hand of Philippus that he might rise more easily, Septimius from behind was the first to transfix him with his sword; and Salvius, and after him Achillas drew their swords. Pompeius drawing his toga close with both hands over his face, without saying or doing anything unworthy of himself, but giving a groan only, submitted to the blows, being sixty years of age save one, and ending his life just one day after his birthday.
LXXX. Those in the ships seeing the murder uttered a shriek which could be heard even to the land, and quickly raising their anchors, took to flight: and a strong breeze aided them in their escape to the open sea, so that the Egyptians, though desirous of pursuing, turned back. They cut off the head of Pompeius, and throwing the body naked out of the boat, left it for those to gaze at who felt any curiosity. Philippus stayed by the body, till the people wore satisfied with looking at it, and then washing it with sea-water he wrapped it up in a tunic of his own; and as he had no other means, he looked about till he found the wreck of a small fishing-boat, which was decayed indeed, but enough to make a funeral pile in case of need for a naked body, and that not an entire corpse. As he was collecting these fragments and putting them together, a Roman, now an old man[393] who had served his first campaigns in his youth under Pompeius, stood by him and said: "Who are you, my friend, that are preparing to perform the funeral rites to Pompeius Magnus?" Philippus replying that he was a freedman, the man said: "But you shall not have this honour to yourself: allow me too to share in this pious piece of good fortune, that I may not altogether have to complain of being in a strange land, if in requital for many sufferings I get this honour at least, to touch and to tend with my hands the greatest of the Roman generals." Such were the obsequies of Pompeius. On the next day Lucius Lentulus who was on his voyage from Cyprus, not knowing what had happened, was coasting along the shore, when he saw the pile and Philippus standing by it before he was seen himself and said, "Who is resting here after closing his career?" and after a slight interval, with a groan, he added, "perhaps it is you, Pompeius Magnus." Presently he landed, and being seized was put to death. This was the end of Pompeius. Not long after Cæsar arriving in Egypt, which was filled with this horrid deed, turned away from the man who brought him the head of Pompeius, as from a murderer, and when he received the seal of Pompeius, he shed tears; the device was a lion holding a sword. He put to death Achillas and Potheinus, and the king himself being defeated in battle was lost somewhere near the river. Theodotus the sophist escaped the vengeance of Cæsar, for he fled from Egypt and wandered about in a miserable state, the object of detestation; but Brutus Marcus, after he had killed Cæsar and got the power in his hands, finding Theodotus in Asia, put him to death with every circumstance of contumely. Cornelia obtained the remains of Pompeius and had them carried to his Alban villa and interred there.
FOOTNOTES:
[189] This line is from the Prometheus Loosed (λυόμενος) of Aeschylus which is lost. Prometheus Bound (δεσμώτης) is extant. Hermann is of opinion that the Prometheus Loosed did not belong to the same Tetralogy as the Prometheus Bound.