He allowed his own eulogist, Cicero, to be
driven into banishment by the tribune Clodius, whom
he had attached to his interest; but, having after-
ward himself quarrelled with Clodius, he had Cicero
recalled.
driven into banishment by the tribune Clodius, whom
he had attached to his interest; but, having after-
ward himself quarrelled with Clodius, he had Cicero
recalled.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
Polyspcrchon, on his
part, neglected nothing that was necessary to strength-
en his interests; and he found himself compelled to
have recourse to measures, of which some were inju-
dicious, and others positively hurtful. The only wise
step which he took (luring this emergency was an al-
liance with Eumcnes, whom, in the name of the kings,
he appointed sole general of the army serving in Asia,
and invested, at the same time, with the uncontrolled
disposal of all the resources of the eastern empire.
Desirous, too. by all possible means, to increase the
popularity of his cause in Macedon, and to check the
influence of Eurydice, who had still a powerful party
in the army, Polysperchon advised the recall of Olym-
pias, the mother of Alexander, bin he had soon rea-
son to repent of this step; far Olympias, still un-
taught by events and thirsting for revenge, returned
to the Macedonian capital only to gratify her worst
prasions, and to disturb the tranquillity of private life.
But of ill the measures into which Polysperchon was
diiven by the pressure of affairs, none was more ques-
tionable than the following. Eager to retain the
Greeks in his interest, and to defeat the plans of Cas-
sander, who, before the death of Antipater was known
at Athcc;, ill sent Nicanor thither to succeed Me-
nylliu in tne command of the garrison of Munychia,
mid had soon after made himself master of the Pireus,
Polysperchon published an edict for re-establishing
democracy in all the states which owned the protec-
tion of Macedon The policy of this step was not
. ess wicked than its effects were pernicious: the boon
of democracy created such a degree of contention and
popular licentiousness in most of the states, that the
arms of the citizens were for a time employed against
one another. Almost every individual distinguished
by rank or merit was stripped of his property, ban-
ished, or put to death. The condition of Athens, con-
trolled by the garrison in the Munychia, prevented the
people of that city from partaking of the benefit held
out to them by Polysperchon. But when Alexander,
the ion of the latter, reached Athens with a body of
forces, the democracy was restored, and Phocion and
others were put to death. (VOL. Phocion. ) Cassan-
der, however, soon after made himself master of Ath-
ens, and Polysperchon, on receiving intelligence of
this, immediately hastened to besiege him in that city;
but, as the siege took up much time, he left part of
his troops before the place, and advanced with the
rest into the Peloponnesus, to force the city of Mega-
lopolis to surrender. The attempt, however, was an
unsuccessful one; and it was fortunate for the mili-
? ? tary character of the protector that an apology for his
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? POM
POM
K>>>. She was also nurse to Queci Hypsipylj. It
was by her advice that the Lemnian women murdered
their husbands. (Apoll. Rhod. , 1, 668. -- Val. Ftacc,
2,316. --Hygm. ,fab. , 16. )--II. A female, a native of
Argos, who married Tlepolemus, son of Hercules.
When her husband was compelled to flee, in conse-
quence of the accidental homicide of Licymnius, broth-
er of Alcmena, Polyxo accompanied him to Rhodes,
where the inhabitants chose him for their king. On
the death of Tlepolemus, who fell in the Trojan war,
Polyxo became sole mistress of the kingdom, and du-
ring her reign Helen came to Rhodes, having been
driven from the Peloponnesus, after the death of Men-
elaus, by Nicostratus and Megapenthes. Polyxo, de-
termined to avenge her husband's fall, caused some of
her female attendants to habit themselves like Furies,
seize Helen while bathing, and hang her on a tree.
The Rhodians afterward, in memory of the deed, con-
secrated a temple to Helen, giving her the surname of
Dendritis (Aevdpinc) from the manner of her death.
<Pausan, 3, 19, 10. --Sicbtlis ad Pausan. , I. c. --Bit-
itger, Furicnmaske, p. 47, seq. )
Polyzelus, I. a poet of the uld comedy, who flour-
ished about the time of the battle of Argiuusae. The
titles of some of his pieces have reached us. (Fabric,
MM. Gr. , v. 2, p. 488, ed. Harks. --Hemsterhus. ad
Polluc. , 10,76. )--II. An historian, a native of Rhodes.
{Van, Hist. Gr. , 3, p. 406. --Athentcus, 8, p. 361, c. )
Pom itia. Vid. Suessa Pometia.
Pomona (from pomum, "fruit"), a goddess among
the Romans, presiding over fruit-trees. Her worship
was of long standing at Rome, where there was a
Flamen Pomonalis, who sacrificed to her every year
for the preservation of the fruit. The story of Pomo-
na and Vertumnus is prettily told by Ovid. This
Hamadryad lived in the time of Procas, king of Alba.
She was devoted to the culture of gardens, to which
? he confined herself, shunning all society with the
male deities. Vertumnus, among others, was enam-
oured of her, and under various shapes tried to win
her hand: sometimes he came as a reaper, sometimes
as a haymaker, sometimes as a ploughman or a vine-
dresser: he was a soldier and a fisherman, but to
equally little purpose. At length, under the guise of
an old woman, he won the confidence of the goddess;
and, by enlarging on the evils of a single life and the
blessings of the wedded state; by launching out into
the praises of Vertumnus, and relating a tale of the
punishment of female cruelty to a lover, he sought to
move the heart of Pomona: then resuming his real
form, he obtained the hand of the no longer reluctant
nymph. (Omd, Met. , 14, 623, seqq. --Kcighllcy's
Mythology, p. 539. )
Pompeia Gins, an illustrious plebeian family at
Rome, divided into two branches, the Rufi and Stra-
bones. A subdivision of the Rufi bore the surname
of Bithynicus, from a victory gained by one of their
number in Bithynia. From the line of the Strabones
Pompcy the Great was descended. (Veil. Paterc, 2,
21. --Putean. ad Veil. , I. c. )
Pomfku, I. daughter of Q. Pompeius, and third
wife of Julius Cassaf. She was suspected of criminal
intercourse with Clodius, who introduced himself into
her dwelling, during the festival of the Bona Dea, in
the disguise of a female musician. Caesar divorced
Pompeia; but when the trial of Clodius came on for
this act of impiety, he gave no testimony against him;
? ? neither did he affirm that he was certain of any injury
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? POM
POMPEIUS.
her of sko'etor. s discovered in Pompeii does not ex-
ceed sixty; and ten times this number would be in
considerable, when compared with the extent and pop-
ulation of the city. Besides, the first agitation and
threatening aspect of the mountain must have filled
every breast with terror, and banished all gayety and
amusement. No doubt the previous intimations were
of such a nature as to have fully apprized the inhabi-
tants of their danger, and induced the great mass of
them to save themselves by flight. The discovery of
Pompeii (rid. Herculaneum), after having lain so long
buried and unknown, has furnished us with many cu-
rious and valuable remains of antiquity. The excava-
tions are still continued. Although two thirds are still
covered, it is estimated that the town was three quar-
ters of a mile in length by nearly half a mile in
breadth. The walls are from eighteen to twenty feet
high, and twelve thick, and contained several main
gates, of which nix have been uncovered. Twenty
? treets, fifteen feet wide, paved with lava, and having
footways of three feet broad, have also been excava-
ted. The houses are joined together, and are gener-
ally only two stories, with terraces for roofs. The
fronts are often shops, with inscriptions, frescoes, and
ornaments of every kind. The principal rooms are in
the rear: in the centre is a court, which often con-
tains a marble fountain. In some of the houses the
rooms have been found very richly ornamented. A
forum, surrounded by handsome buildings, two thea-
tres, temples, baths, fountains, statues, urns, utensils
of all sorts, &c. ( have been discovered. Most of the
objects of curiosity have been deposited in the muse-
ums of Naples and Portici: among them are a great
number of manuscripts. It is certainly surprising,
that this most interesting city should have remained
undiscovered till so late a period, and that antiquaries
ind learned men should have so long and materially
erred about its situation. In many places, masses
of ruins, portions of the buried theatres, temples, and
bou<<? s. were not two feet below the surface of the
toi. . The country people were continually digging up
pieceo of worked marble and other antique objects.
In several spots they had even laid open the outer
_ walls of the town; and yet men did not find out what
it was that the peculiarly isolated mound of cinders and
ashes, earth and pumice-stone covered. There is an-
other circumstance which increases the wonder of
Pompeii being so long concealed. A subterraneous
canal, cut from the river Sarno, traverses the city, and
is seen darkly and silentl) gliding under the temple
of Isis. This is said to tiave been cut towards the
middle of the fifteenth century, to supply the contiguous
town of Torre deW Anmtnziata with fresh water; it
probably ran anciently in the same channel; but, in cut-
ting it or clearing it, workmen must have crossed un-
der Pompeii from one side to the other. --For a more
detailed account of the excavations made at this place,
consult Sir W. Gell's "Pomptiana," Land. , 1832,
8vo; Within's Vieios of Pompeii; Cooke's Delinea-
tions (London, 1827, 2 vols. fol. , 90 plates); Bibent's
Plan of Pompeii (Paris, 1826), showing the progress
of the excavations from 1703 to 1825; Komauelli,
Viaggio a P&mpei ed Ercola. no, &c.
POMPEIOS, I. Q. Nepos Rufus, was consul B. C.
141, and the first of the Pompoian family who was ele-
vated to that high office. He is said to have attained
to it by practising a deception on his friend Lselius,
? ? who was a candidate for the same station, by promi-
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? P0MPE1U3.
POMPEIUS.
with Jt litis Cffisir. Hewi. oorn B. C. 106, the sami
rear with Cicero. As soon as he had assurrcd the
manly gown, he entered the Roman army, and made
Dis first campaigns with great distinction under the
orders of his parent. The beauty of his person, the
zrace and elegance of his manners, and his winuing
eloquence, gained him, at an early age, the hearts of
both citizens and soldiers; and he even, on one occa-
lion, pcisesscd sufficient influence to save the life of
zia (ither, when Cinnr. had gained over some of the
joldiery of Strabo, and a mutiny ensued. After the
death of his parent, a charge was preferred against the
latter that he had converted the public money to his
own use; and Pompey, as his heir, was obliged to an-
swer it. But he pleaded his own cause with so much
ability and acuteness, and gained so much applause,
that Antistius, the prator, who had the hearing of the
cause, conceived a high regard for him, and offered
him hia daughter in marriage. After the establish-
ment of Cinna's power at Rome, Pompey retired to
Picenum, where ho possessed some property, and
where his father's memory, hated as it was by the
Romans, was regarded with respect and affection.
To account for this, we must suppose that, during the
long period of his military command in that neighbour-
hood, he had prevented his soldiers from being bur-
densome to the people, and had found means of obli-
ging or gratifying some of tho principal inhabitants.
Be this as it may, the aon possessed so much influence
in Picenum as to succeed in raising an army of three
legions, or about sixteen or seventeen thousand men.
With this force he set out to join Sylla, and, after
successfully repelling several attacks from the adverse
party, he effected a junction with that commander,
who received him in the most Battering manner, and
saluted him, though a mere youth, only 23 years of
? ge, with tho title of Impcrator. So struck, indeed,
wei Sylla with the merits of the young Roman, that
tie persuaded Pompey to divorce the daughter of An-
tistius, and marry yEmilia, the daughter-in-law of Syl-
la. Three years after this (B. C. 80), Pompey retook
Sicily from the partisans of Marius, and drove them
also fiom Africa, in forty days. The Roman people
were astonished at these rapid successes, but they
served at the same time to excite the jealousy of
Sylla, who commanded him to dismiss his forces and
return to Rome. On his coming back to the capital,
Pompey was received with every mark of favour by
Sylla. According to Plutarch, the latter hastened to
meet him, and, embracing him in the most affectionate
manner, saluted him aloud with the surname of "Mag-
fats," or " the Great," a title which Pompey thence-
forward was always accustomed to bear. The jeal-
ousy of the dictator, however, was revived when
Pompey demanded a triumph. Sylla declared to him
that he should oppose this claim with all his power;
but Pompey did not hesitate to reply, that the people
were more ready to worship the rising than the setting
tun, and Sylla yielded. Pompey therefore obtained
the honour of a triumph, though he was the first Ro-
man who had been admitted to it without possessing
a higher dignity than that of knighthood, and was not
yet of tho legal age to be received into the senate.
Sylla soon after abdicated the dictatorship, and, at the
consular election, had the mortification to feel his
rival's ascendancy. After the death of Sylla, Pompey
came to be generally considered as chief of the aristo-
? ? cratic party, and as heir of the influence exercised by
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? POMPEIUS.
POMPEIUS.
>>ej, 31 bringing the Mithradalic war to a close, have
been related elsewhere. (Vid. Mithradates VI. ) Af-
ter Pompey had settled the affairs of Asia, he visited
Greece, where he displayed his respect for philosophy
by making a valuable gift to the city of Athens. On
his return to Italy, he dismissed his army as soon as
he landed at Brundisium, and entered Rome as a pri-
vate man. The whole city met him with acclama-
tions; his claim of a triumph was admitted without op-
position, and never had Home yet witnessed such a
display as on the two days of his triumphal procession.
Pompey's plan was now, under the appearance of a
private individual, to maintain the first place in the
state; but he found obstacles on every side. Lucul-
us and Crassus were superior to him in wealth; the
tealous republicans looked upon him with suspicion;
and Cesar was laying the foundation of hia future
greatness. The last-mentioned individual, on his re-
turn from Spain, aspired to the consulship. To ef-
fect this purpose, he reconciled Pomfey and Crassus
with each other, and united them in forming the co-
alition which is known in history under the name of
the First Triumvirate. He was chosen consul B. C.
59, and, by the marrisge of his daughter Julia with
Pompey (/Emilia having died in childbed), seemed
to have secured his union with the latter. From this
time Pompey countenanced measures which, as a good
citizen, he should have opposed as subversive of free-
dom.
He allowed his own eulogist, Cicero, to be
driven into banishment by the tribune Clodius, whom
he had attached to his interest; but, having after-
ward himself quarrelled with Clodius, he had Cicero
recalled. lie supported the illegal nomination of Cse-
sar to a five years' command in Gaul; the fatal con-
sequences of which compliance appeared but too
plainly afterward. --The fall of Crassus in Parthia left
but two masters to the Roman world; and, on the
death of Julia in childbed, these friends became rivals.
(Encyclop. Amerie. , vol. 10, p. 239, segg. ) Pompey's
studied deference to the senate secured his influence
with that body; and he gained the good-will of the
people by hia judicious discharge of the duties of com-
missary of supplies during a time of scarcity. In the
mean time, he secretly fomented the disorders of the
state, and the abuses practised in the filling up the
magistracies, many of which remained vacant for eight
months, and others were supplied by insufficient and
ignorant persons, through the disgust of those who
were capable of sustaining them with ability and hon-
our. The friends of Pompey whispered about the ne-
cessity of a dictator, and pointed to him as the man
l whose great services, and whose devotion to the sen-
ate and the people, entitled him to expect the general
suffrage; while be himself appeared to decline the sta-
tion, and even made a show of being indignant at the
proposal. His position at Rome, while Cresar was
absent in his province, was singularly advantageous to
hia pretensions: he had, in fact, always kept himsell
in the public eye; and in the triumvirate division of
power, which he had himself planned (B. C. 50), in or-
der to strengthen his own influence by the rising tal-
ents and sctivity of Caesar, and the high birth and
riches of Crassus, he had taken care to reserve to him-
self Rome, where he continued to reside, governing
the Spaina by bis lieutenants, while he despatched
Crassus to Asia and Cesar to the Gauls. He had
also acquired a popularity by rescinding, under one of
? ? his consulships, the law which Sylla, for his own pur-
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? PUMPERS.
POMPEIVS.
Thia aHnoueT: plausibly directed at what Pompey
just! ) called The root of the stale disorders, seemed to
be aimed covertly at Caesar; though Pompey appeared
offended at the suggestion, and affected to consider
Caesar as above suspicion. He presided in the court
during the trials with a guard, that the judges might
not be intimidated. Several, convicted of intrigue and
malversation, were banished, and others fined. With
a great appearance of moderation, he declined to hold
the single consulship to the extent of the full period,
and for the rest of the year adopted his father-in-law,
Lucius Scipio, as his colleague; but, even after the
return to the regular consulships, as well as for the
months during which Scipio was associated with him-
self in office, he continued, in reality, to direct the af-
fairs of state. The senate gave him two additional
legions, and prolonged his command in his provinces.
Hitherto Pompey had proceeded with infinite address;
but the craftiness of his policy was no match for the
frankness and directness of that of Caesar, who acted
in this conjuncture, so critical to the Roman liberty,
with a real moderation and candour that absolutely
disconcerted his rival. Caesar, indeed, who was made
acquainted, by the exiles that flocked to bis camp, with
everything passing at Rome, and who found himself
obliged to stand on the defensive, availed himself of
the means which hia acquired wealth placed in his
hands, and which the practice of the age too much
countenanced, to divide the hostile party by-buying
off the enmity of some of them newly elected To office.
Aware of the cabals which were forming against him,
Caesar knew that, in returning to a private station, he
should be placed at the feet of Pompey and his party .
he therefore resisted the decree of his recall till he
could assure himself of such conditions as would pre-
vent his obedience from being attended with danger.
His demands were reasonable; his propositions fair
and open, and his desire of effecting a compromise
apparently sincere. The unintermitted continuation
of a consul's office through several years, and even
his creation in his absence, were not unconstitutional:
both hid been granted to Marius; and Caesar him-
self hao. been re-elected, while absent, by the ten
tribunes, Pompey, when he brought in the law against
allowing absent candidates to stand, having made a
special exception in favour of Caesar, and recorded
it. His requests that he might stand for the con-
sulship in his absence; that he might retain his army
till chosen consul; that he might have his command
prolonged in the province of Hither Gaul, should
that of Farther Gaul not be also conceded to him,
were refused. In the irritation of the moment, he
is said to have grasped the hilt of his sword, and ejac-
ulated, "This shall give it me. " Curio, in the mean
time, loudly protested against Caesar's being recalled,
unless Pompey would also disband his legions and re-
sign his provinces; and the people were so satisfied
with the equity of the proposal, that they accompanied
the tribune to his own door, and strewed flowers in his
way. Pompey professed that he had received his com-
mand against his will, and that he would cheerfully lay
it down, though the time was not yet expired; thus
contrasting his own moderation with the unwillingness
of Caesar to relinquish office, even at the termination
of the full period. Curio, however, contended openly
'hat the promise was not to be taken for the perform-
ance; but exclaimed against Pompey's avarice of
? ? power; and urged with such adroitness the necessity
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? POMPEIUS.
POMPEIUS.
Hid a>>5 reputed, with the general panic of his troops
and the lost of many standards; and his own camp
would have been taken if Pompey had not drawn off
his forces in apprehension of an ambuscade; on which
Caesar remarked that " the war could have been at an
w. d, if Pompey knew how to use victory" Ca'sar
retreated into Thestaly, and was followed by Pompey.
A generil battle was fought on the plains of Pharsa-
lus; the -. riny of Pompey being greatly superior in
numbers, as it consisted of 40,000 foot and 12,000
r. jrsc, composed of the transmarine legions and tho
auxiliary forces of different kings and tetrarchs; while
that ol Caesar did not exceed 30,000 foot and 1000
horse. Pompey was, however, out-manoeuvred, his
army thrown into total rout, his camp pillaged, and
himself obliged to fly, leaving the field with only his
son Sextus and a few followers of rank. He set sail
from Mytilene, having taken on board his wife Cor-
nelia, and made for Egypt, intending to claim the hos-
pitality of the young King Ptolemy, to whom the sen-
ate had appointed him guardian. As he came near
Mount Casius, the Egyptian army was seen on the
shore, and their fleet lying off at some distance, when,
presently, a boat was observed approaching the ship
from the land. The persons in the boat invited him
to enter, for the purpose of landing; but, as he waa
stepping ashore, he was stabbed in the Bight of his wife
and son; and his head and ring were sent to Caesar,
who, shedding tears, turned away his face, and ordered
the head to be burned with perfuinea in the Roman
method. --{Elton's Roman Emperors, p. 4, teqq. , In-
trod. ) -- Cornelia and her friends instantly put to sea,
and escaped the pursuit of the Egyptian fleet, which
at first threatened to intercept them. Their feelings,
as is natural, were, for the moment, so engrossed by
their own danger that they could scarcely compre-
hend the full extent of their loss (Cic, Tusc. Disp ,
3, 27); nor was it till they reached the port of Tyre
in safety that grief succeeded to apprehension, and
they began to understand what cause they had for sor-
row. But tho tears that were shed for Pompey were
not only those of domestic affliction; his fate called
forth a more general and honourable mourning. No
man had ever gained, at so early an age, the affections of
his countrymen; none had enjoyed them so largely, or
preserved them so long with so little interruption; and,
at the distance of eighteen centuries, the feeling of
his contemporaries may be sanctioned by the sober
judgment of history. He entered upon public life
as a distinguished member of an oppressed party,
which was just arriving at its hour of triumph and
retaliation; he saw his associates plunged in rapine
and massacre, but he preserved himself pure from
the contagion of their crimes; and when the death
of Sylla left him at the head of the aristocratical
party, he served them ably and faithfully with his
sword, while he endeavoured to mitigate the evils of
their ascendancy, by restoring to the commons of
Rome, on the earliest opportunity, the most important
of those privileges and liberties which they had lost
under the tyranny of their late master. He received
the due reward of his honest patriotism in the unusual
honours and trusts that were conferred upon him; but
his greatness could not corrupt his virtue; and the
boundless powers with which he was repeatedly in-
vested, he wielded with the highest ability and up-
rightness to the accomplishment of his task, and then,
? ? without any undue attempts to prolong their duration,
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? fUM
PON
rwtttbtioii of his (other's properly Antony aupportet
his claim, and Sextus, without obtaining precisely what
he solicited, still received as an indemnity a large sum
of money from the public treasury, and with it the title
Pi commander of the seas. In place, however, of
? ^oing to Rome to enjoy his success, he got together
all the vessels he could find in the harbours of Spain
and Gaul, and, as soon as he saw the second trium-
virate formed, he made himself master of Sicily, and
gained over Octavius the battle of Scylla. While pro-
scription was raging at Rome, Sextus opened an asy-
lum for the fugitives, and promised to any one who
should save the lifo of a proscribed person twice as
much as the triumvirs offered for his head. Many were
saved in consequence by bis generous care. At the
same time, his fleet increased to so large a size in the
Mediterranean as to intercept the supplies of grain in-
tended for the Roman capital, and the people, dread-
ing a famine, compelled Antony and Octavius to ne-
gotiate for a peace with the son of Pompey. Sextus
demanded nothing less than to be admitted into the
triumvirate at the expense of Lepidus, who was to be
displaced; and he would, in all likelihood, have ob-
tained what he sought, had not his friends compelled
him to hasten the conclusion of the alliance. Aa it
was, however, the terms agreed upon were extremely
favourable to Sextus. Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and
Achaia were given him; he was promised the consul-
ship for the ensuing year, and the proscribed persons
whom he had saved were erased from the fatal list.
The peace, however, proved a hollow one. Hostilities
soon commenced anew, and Octavius encountered two
defeats, one through his lieutenant Calvisius, and an-
other in person. Two years after, however, having
repaired his losses, he proved more successful. Agrip-
pa, his lieutenant, gained an important advantage over
the fleet of Pompey off Mylas, on the coast of Sicily,
and afterward a decisive victory between Myla? and
Naulochus. Sextus, now without resources, fled with
? iiteen vessels to Asia, where he excited new troubles;
but, at the end of a few months, he fell into the hands
of Antony's lieutenants, who put him to death B. C.
35. In allusion to his great naval power, Sextus Pom-
pey used to style himself" the son of Neptune" (Nep-
tunius. -- Horat. Epod. , 9, 7. -- Milsch. , ad loc. --
Dio Cass. , 48, 19. -- Veil. Paterc. , 2, 72. -- Flor. , 4,
2. --Plut. , Vit. Ant. --Appian, Bell. Civ. , 2, 105 --
Id ib. , 4, 84, &c. )
Pompei. o, a city of Hispania Tarraconensis, in the
territory of the Vascones, now Pampcluna. (Plin. ,
1, 3 -- Slrab. , 161)
Pompilius Nuha, the second king of Rome. (Vid.
Numa. )
Pomponios, I. Atticus. (Vid. Atticus )--II. Mela.
(Fid. Mela. )--III. Festus. (Vid. Festus. )--IV. An-
dronicus, a native of Syria, and a follower of the Epi-
curean sect. He pursued, at Rome, the profession of
a grammarian, but his attachment to philosophical pur-
suits prevented him from being very useful as a philo-
logical instructor. He was a contemporary of M. An-
tonius Gnioho, who was one of Cicero's instructed.
Finding this latter grammarian, as well as others of
inferior note, preferred to himself, he retired to Cumss,
where ho lived in great poverty, and composed several
works. These were published by Orbilius after the
death of Andronicus. (Suettm. , de Illustr. Grajn. ,
9. )--V. Marcel. us, a Latin grammarian in the time
? ? of Tiberius. Suetonius describes him as a most troub-
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? PON
PUP
? till lemams, ami is called Cumin. These marshes
were neglected after ihc lime of Augustus until the
re'gns of Nerva and Trajan, the latter of whom drained
the country from Treponti and Terracina, and restored
u. <: Appian Way, which the neglect of the marshes
in the previous reigns had rendered nearly impassable.
During the convulsions of the following centuries, the
marshes were again overflowed, until again drained
in the reign of Tneodaric, by Caciliua Decius, a pub-
lic-spirited individual, and apparently with good effect.
(Ciuitod. , 2, Efist. 32 and 33. ) They were never,
however, completely exhausted of their water until the
pontificate of Pius VI. , although many preceding popes
had made the experiment. During the French inva-
lion, however, the precautions necessary to keep open
the canals of communication were neglected, and the
witers again began to stagnate. These marshes,
therefore, are again formidable at the present day, and,
though contracted in their limits, still corrupt the at-
mosphere for many miles around. (Cramer's Anc.
Italy, vol. 2, p. 96, teqq. )
PONTIOS, an able commander of the Samnites, who
entrapped the Homai army in the defile of Samnium
called the "Caudine Forks" (Furcte Caudintz), and
compelled them to pass under the yoke. (Liv,, 9, 2,
itqq. ) He was afterward defeated in his turn, and
subjected to the same ignominy by the Romans.
(Lit. , 9, 15. )
POXTUS, I. a country of Asia Minor. Tl. s name
implies a political rather than a geographical division
of territory: having been applied, in the first instance,
to the coast of the Euxine, situated between the Col-
chian territory and the river Halys, it was, in process
of time, extended to the mountainous districts which
lie towards Cappadocia and Armenia; and it even, at
one time, included Paphlagonia and part of Bithynia.
The denomination itself was unknown to Herodotus,
who always designated this part of Asia by referring
to the particular tribes who inhabited it, and who then
? njoyed a separate political existence, though tributa-
ry to the Persian empire. Xenophon also appears to
Dave been ignorant of it, since he adheres always to
the same local distinctions of nations and tribes used
hy Herodotus; such as the Chalybes, Tibareni. Mo-
synojci, Ac. It was not till after the death of Alex-
ander that the Pontine dynasty makes any figure in
history; and an account of it will be found under the
article Mithradates. --After the overthrow of Mithra-
date* the Great, Pompey annexed the greater part of
Pontus to Bithynia, and the rest he assigned to Deio-
larus, tetrarch of Galatia, and a zealous ally of Rome;
a small portion of Paphlagonia being reserved for some
native chiefs of that country. (Slrab , 641, seqq. --
Appian, Bell. Mithrad. , c. 114. ) During the civil
wars waged by Ctcsar and Pompey, Pharnaces made
an attempt to recover his hereditary dominions, and
succeeded in taking Sinope, Amisus, and some other
towns of Pontus. But Julius Caesar, after the defeat
and death of Pompey, marched into Pontus, and, en-
countering the army of Pharnaces near the city of
Zela, gained a complete victory; the facility with
which it was obtained being expressed by the victor
in those celebrated words," rent, Vidi, Viet. " (Hirt,
Be/I. Alex. , c. 72. --JVu(. , Vit. Cox --Saeton. , Vit.
part, neglected nothing that was necessary to strength-
en his interests; and he found himself compelled to
have recourse to measures, of which some were inju-
dicious, and others positively hurtful. The only wise
step which he took (luring this emergency was an al-
liance with Eumcnes, whom, in the name of the kings,
he appointed sole general of the army serving in Asia,
and invested, at the same time, with the uncontrolled
disposal of all the resources of the eastern empire.
Desirous, too. by all possible means, to increase the
popularity of his cause in Macedon, and to check the
influence of Eurydice, who had still a powerful party
in the army, Polysperchon advised the recall of Olym-
pias, the mother of Alexander, bin he had soon rea-
son to repent of this step; far Olympias, still un-
taught by events and thirsting for revenge, returned
to the Macedonian capital only to gratify her worst
prasions, and to disturb the tranquillity of private life.
But of ill the measures into which Polysperchon was
diiven by the pressure of affairs, none was more ques-
tionable than the following. Eager to retain the
Greeks in his interest, and to defeat the plans of Cas-
sander, who, before the death of Antipater was known
at Athcc;, ill sent Nicanor thither to succeed Me-
nylliu in tne command of the garrison of Munychia,
mid had soon after made himself master of the Pireus,
Polysperchon published an edict for re-establishing
democracy in all the states which owned the protec-
tion of Macedon The policy of this step was not
. ess wicked than its effects were pernicious: the boon
of democracy created such a degree of contention and
popular licentiousness in most of the states, that the
arms of the citizens were for a time employed against
one another. Almost every individual distinguished
by rank or merit was stripped of his property, ban-
ished, or put to death. The condition of Athens, con-
trolled by the garrison in the Munychia, prevented the
people of that city from partaking of the benefit held
out to them by Polysperchon. But when Alexander,
the ion of the latter, reached Athens with a body of
forces, the democracy was restored, and Phocion and
others were put to death. (VOL. Phocion. ) Cassan-
der, however, soon after made himself master of Ath-
ens, and Polysperchon, on receiving intelligence of
this, immediately hastened to besiege him in that city;
but, as the siege took up much time, he left part of
his troops before the place, and advanced with the
rest into the Peloponnesus, to force the city of Mega-
lopolis to surrender. The attempt, however, was an
unsuccessful one; and it was fortunate for the mili-
? ? tary character of the protector that an apology for his
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? POM
POM
K>>>. She was also nurse to Queci Hypsipylj. It
was by her advice that the Lemnian women murdered
their husbands. (Apoll. Rhod. , 1, 668. -- Val. Ftacc,
2,316. --Hygm. ,fab. , 16. )--II. A female, a native of
Argos, who married Tlepolemus, son of Hercules.
When her husband was compelled to flee, in conse-
quence of the accidental homicide of Licymnius, broth-
er of Alcmena, Polyxo accompanied him to Rhodes,
where the inhabitants chose him for their king. On
the death of Tlepolemus, who fell in the Trojan war,
Polyxo became sole mistress of the kingdom, and du-
ring her reign Helen came to Rhodes, having been
driven from the Peloponnesus, after the death of Men-
elaus, by Nicostratus and Megapenthes. Polyxo, de-
termined to avenge her husband's fall, caused some of
her female attendants to habit themselves like Furies,
seize Helen while bathing, and hang her on a tree.
The Rhodians afterward, in memory of the deed, con-
secrated a temple to Helen, giving her the surname of
Dendritis (Aevdpinc) from the manner of her death.
<Pausan, 3, 19, 10. --Sicbtlis ad Pausan. , I. c. --Bit-
itger, Furicnmaske, p. 47, seq. )
Polyzelus, I. a poet of the uld comedy, who flour-
ished about the time of the battle of Argiuusae. The
titles of some of his pieces have reached us. (Fabric,
MM. Gr. , v. 2, p. 488, ed. Harks. --Hemsterhus. ad
Polluc. , 10,76. )--II. An historian, a native of Rhodes.
{Van, Hist. Gr. , 3, p. 406. --Athentcus, 8, p. 361, c. )
Pom itia. Vid. Suessa Pometia.
Pomona (from pomum, "fruit"), a goddess among
the Romans, presiding over fruit-trees. Her worship
was of long standing at Rome, where there was a
Flamen Pomonalis, who sacrificed to her every year
for the preservation of the fruit. The story of Pomo-
na and Vertumnus is prettily told by Ovid. This
Hamadryad lived in the time of Procas, king of Alba.
She was devoted to the culture of gardens, to which
? he confined herself, shunning all society with the
male deities. Vertumnus, among others, was enam-
oured of her, and under various shapes tried to win
her hand: sometimes he came as a reaper, sometimes
as a haymaker, sometimes as a ploughman or a vine-
dresser: he was a soldier and a fisherman, but to
equally little purpose. At length, under the guise of
an old woman, he won the confidence of the goddess;
and, by enlarging on the evils of a single life and the
blessings of the wedded state; by launching out into
the praises of Vertumnus, and relating a tale of the
punishment of female cruelty to a lover, he sought to
move the heart of Pomona: then resuming his real
form, he obtained the hand of the no longer reluctant
nymph. (Omd, Met. , 14, 623, seqq. --Kcighllcy's
Mythology, p. 539. )
Pompeia Gins, an illustrious plebeian family at
Rome, divided into two branches, the Rufi and Stra-
bones. A subdivision of the Rufi bore the surname
of Bithynicus, from a victory gained by one of their
number in Bithynia. From the line of the Strabones
Pompcy the Great was descended. (Veil. Paterc, 2,
21. --Putean. ad Veil. , I. c. )
Pomfku, I. daughter of Q. Pompeius, and third
wife of Julius Cassaf. She was suspected of criminal
intercourse with Clodius, who introduced himself into
her dwelling, during the festival of the Bona Dea, in
the disguise of a female musician. Caesar divorced
Pompeia; but when the trial of Clodius came on for
this act of impiety, he gave no testimony against him;
? ? neither did he affirm that he was certain of any injury
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? POM
POMPEIUS.
her of sko'etor. s discovered in Pompeii does not ex-
ceed sixty; and ten times this number would be in
considerable, when compared with the extent and pop-
ulation of the city. Besides, the first agitation and
threatening aspect of the mountain must have filled
every breast with terror, and banished all gayety and
amusement. No doubt the previous intimations were
of such a nature as to have fully apprized the inhabi-
tants of their danger, and induced the great mass of
them to save themselves by flight. The discovery of
Pompeii (rid. Herculaneum), after having lain so long
buried and unknown, has furnished us with many cu-
rious and valuable remains of antiquity. The excava-
tions are still continued. Although two thirds are still
covered, it is estimated that the town was three quar-
ters of a mile in length by nearly half a mile in
breadth. The walls are from eighteen to twenty feet
high, and twelve thick, and contained several main
gates, of which nix have been uncovered. Twenty
? treets, fifteen feet wide, paved with lava, and having
footways of three feet broad, have also been excava-
ted. The houses are joined together, and are gener-
ally only two stories, with terraces for roofs. The
fronts are often shops, with inscriptions, frescoes, and
ornaments of every kind. The principal rooms are in
the rear: in the centre is a court, which often con-
tains a marble fountain. In some of the houses the
rooms have been found very richly ornamented. A
forum, surrounded by handsome buildings, two thea-
tres, temples, baths, fountains, statues, urns, utensils
of all sorts, &c. ( have been discovered. Most of the
objects of curiosity have been deposited in the muse-
ums of Naples and Portici: among them are a great
number of manuscripts. It is certainly surprising,
that this most interesting city should have remained
undiscovered till so late a period, and that antiquaries
ind learned men should have so long and materially
erred about its situation. In many places, masses
of ruins, portions of the buried theatres, temples, and
bou<<? s. were not two feet below the surface of the
toi. . The country people were continually digging up
pieceo of worked marble and other antique objects.
In several spots they had even laid open the outer
_ walls of the town; and yet men did not find out what
it was that the peculiarly isolated mound of cinders and
ashes, earth and pumice-stone covered. There is an-
other circumstance which increases the wonder of
Pompeii being so long concealed. A subterraneous
canal, cut from the river Sarno, traverses the city, and
is seen darkly and silentl) gliding under the temple
of Isis. This is said to tiave been cut towards the
middle of the fifteenth century, to supply the contiguous
town of Torre deW Anmtnziata with fresh water; it
probably ran anciently in the same channel; but, in cut-
ting it or clearing it, workmen must have crossed un-
der Pompeii from one side to the other. --For a more
detailed account of the excavations made at this place,
consult Sir W. Gell's "Pomptiana," Land. , 1832,
8vo; Within's Vieios of Pompeii; Cooke's Delinea-
tions (London, 1827, 2 vols. fol. , 90 plates); Bibent's
Plan of Pompeii (Paris, 1826), showing the progress
of the excavations from 1703 to 1825; Komauelli,
Viaggio a P&mpei ed Ercola. no, &c.
POMPEIOS, I. Q. Nepos Rufus, was consul B. C.
141, and the first of the Pompoian family who was ele-
vated to that high office. He is said to have attained
to it by practising a deception on his friend Lselius,
? ? who was a candidate for the same station, by promi-
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? P0MPE1U3.
POMPEIUS.
with Jt litis Cffisir. Hewi. oorn B. C. 106, the sami
rear with Cicero. As soon as he had assurrcd the
manly gown, he entered the Roman army, and made
Dis first campaigns with great distinction under the
orders of his parent. The beauty of his person, the
zrace and elegance of his manners, and his winuing
eloquence, gained him, at an early age, the hearts of
both citizens and soldiers; and he even, on one occa-
lion, pcisesscd sufficient influence to save the life of
zia (ither, when Cinnr. had gained over some of the
joldiery of Strabo, and a mutiny ensued. After the
death of his parent, a charge was preferred against the
latter that he had converted the public money to his
own use; and Pompey, as his heir, was obliged to an-
swer it. But he pleaded his own cause with so much
ability and acuteness, and gained so much applause,
that Antistius, the prator, who had the hearing of the
cause, conceived a high regard for him, and offered
him hia daughter in marriage. After the establish-
ment of Cinna's power at Rome, Pompey retired to
Picenum, where ho possessed some property, and
where his father's memory, hated as it was by the
Romans, was regarded with respect and affection.
To account for this, we must suppose that, during the
long period of his military command in that neighbour-
hood, he had prevented his soldiers from being bur-
densome to the people, and had found means of obli-
ging or gratifying some of tho principal inhabitants.
Be this as it may, the aon possessed so much influence
in Picenum as to succeed in raising an army of three
legions, or about sixteen or seventeen thousand men.
With this force he set out to join Sylla, and, after
successfully repelling several attacks from the adverse
party, he effected a junction with that commander,
who received him in the most Battering manner, and
saluted him, though a mere youth, only 23 years of
? ge, with tho title of Impcrator. So struck, indeed,
wei Sylla with the merits of the young Roman, that
tie persuaded Pompey to divorce the daughter of An-
tistius, and marry yEmilia, the daughter-in-law of Syl-
la. Three years after this (B. C. 80), Pompey retook
Sicily from the partisans of Marius, and drove them
also fiom Africa, in forty days. The Roman people
were astonished at these rapid successes, but they
served at the same time to excite the jealousy of
Sylla, who commanded him to dismiss his forces and
return to Rome. On his coming back to the capital,
Pompey was received with every mark of favour by
Sylla. According to Plutarch, the latter hastened to
meet him, and, embracing him in the most affectionate
manner, saluted him aloud with the surname of "Mag-
fats," or " the Great," a title which Pompey thence-
forward was always accustomed to bear. The jeal-
ousy of the dictator, however, was revived when
Pompey demanded a triumph. Sylla declared to him
that he should oppose this claim with all his power;
but Pompey did not hesitate to reply, that the people
were more ready to worship the rising than the setting
tun, and Sylla yielded. Pompey therefore obtained
the honour of a triumph, though he was the first Ro-
man who had been admitted to it without possessing
a higher dignity than that of knighthood, and was not
yet of tho legal age to be received into the senate.
Sylla soon after abdicated the dictatorship, and, at the
consular election, had the mortification to feel his
rival's ascendancy. After the death of Sylla, Pompey
came to be generally considered as chief of the aristo-
? ? cratic party, and as heir of the influence exercised by
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? POMPEIUS.
POMPEIUS.
>>ej, 31 bringing the Mithradalic war to a close, have
been related elsewhere. (Vid. Mithradates VI. ) Af-
ter Pompey had settled the affairs of Asia, he visited
Greece, where he displayed his respect for philosophy
by making a valuable gift to the city of Athens. On
his return to Italy, he dismissed his army as soon as
he landed at Brundisium, and entered Rome as a pri-
vate man. The whole city met him with acclama-
tions; his claim of a triumph was admitted without op-
position, and never had Home yet witnessed such a
display as on the two days of his triumphal procession.
Pompey's plan was now, under the appearance of a
private individual, to maintain the first place in the
state; but he found obstacles on every side. Lucul-
us and Crassus were superior to him in wealth; the
tealous republicans looked upon him with suspicion;
and Cesar was laying the foundation of hia future
greatness. The last-mentioned individual, on his re-
turn from Spain, aspired to the consulship. To ef-
fect this purpose, he reconciled Pomfey and Crassus
with each other, and united them in forming the co-
alition which is known in history under the name of
the First Triumvirate. He was chosen consul B. C.
59, and, by the marrisge of his daughter Julia with
Pompey (/Emilia having died in childbed), seemed
to have secured his union with the latter. From this
time Pompey countenanced measures which, as a good
citizen, he should have opposed as subversive of free-
dom.
He allowed his own eulogist, Cicero, to be
driven into banishment by the tribune Clodius, whom
he had attached to his interest; but, having after-
ward himself quarrelled with Clodius, he had Cicero
recalled. lie supported the illegal nomination of Cse-
sar to a five years' command in Gaul; the fatal con-
sequences of which compliance appeared but too
plainly afterward. --The fall of Crassus in Parthia left
but two masters to the Roman world; and, on the
death of Julia in childbed, these friends became rivals.
(Encyclop. Amerie. , vol. 10, p. 239, segg. ) Pompey's
studied deference to the senate secured his influence
with that body; and he gained the good-will of the
people by hia judicious discharge of the duties of com-
missary of supplies during a time of scarcity. In the
mean time, he secretly fomented the disorders of the
state, and the abuses practised in the filling up the
magistracies, many of which remained vacant for eight
months, and others were supplied by insufficient and
ignorant persons, through the disgust of those who
were capable of sustaining them with ability and hon-
our. The friends of Pompey whispered about the ne-
cessity of a dictator, and pointed to him as the man
l whose great services, and whose devotion to the sen-
ate and the people, entitled him to expect the general
suffrage; while be himself appeared to decline the sta-
tion, and even made a show of being indignant at the
proposal. His position at Rome, while Cresar was
absent in his province, was singularly advantageous to
hia pretensions: he had, in fact, always kept himsell
in the public eye; and in the triumvirate division of
power, which he had himself planned (B. C. 50), in or-
der to strengthen his own influence by the rising tal-
ents and sctivity of Caesar, and the high birth and
riches of Crassus, he had taken care to reserve to him-
self Rome, where he continued to reside, governing
the Spaina by bis lieutenants, while he despatched
Crassus to Asia and Cesar to the Gauls. He had
also acquired a popularity by rescinding, under one of
? ? his consulships, the law which Sylla, for his own pur-
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? PUMPERS.
POMPEIVS.
Thia aHnoueT: plausibly directed at what Pompey
just! ) called The root of the stale disorders, seemed to
be aimed covertly at Caesar; though Pompey appeared
offended at the suggestion, and affected to consider
Caesar as above suspicion. He presided in the court
during the trials with a guard, that the judges might
not be intimidated. Several, convicted of intrigue and
malversation, were banished, and others fined. With
a great appearance of moderation, he declined to hold
the single consulship to the extent of the full period,
and for the rest of the year adopted his father-in-law,
Lucius Scipio, as his colleague; but, even after the
return to the regular consulships, as well as for the
months during which Scipio was associated with him-
self in office, he continued, in reality, to direct the af-
fairs of state. The senate gave him two additional
legions, and prolonged his command in his provinces.
Hitherto Pompey had proceeded with infinite address;
but the craftiness of his policy was no match for the
frankness and directness of that of Caesar, who acted
in this conjuncture, so critical to the Roman liberty,
with a real moderation and candour that absolutely
disconcerted his rival. Caesar, indeed, who was made
acquainted, by the exiles that flocked to bis camp, with
everything passing at Rome, and who found himself
obliged to stand on the defensive, availed himself of
the means which hia acquired wealth placed in his
hands, and which the practice of the age too much
countenanced, to divide the hostile party by-buying
off the enmity of some of them newly elected To office.
Aware of the cabals which were forming against him,
Caesar knew that, in returning to a private station, he
should be placed at the feet of Pompey and his party .
he therefore resisted the decree of his recall till he
could assure himself of such conditions as would pre-
vent his obedience from being attended with danger.
His demands were reasonable; his propositions fair
and open, and his desire of effecting a compromise
apparently sincere. The unintermitted continuation
of a consul's office through several years, and even
his creation in his absence, were not unconstitutional:
both hid been granted to Marius; and Caesar him-
self hao. been re-elected, while absent, by the ten
tribunes, Pompey, when he brought in the law against
allowing absent candidates to stand, having made a
special exception in favour of Caesar, and recorded
it. His requests that he might stand for the con-
sulship in his absence; that he might retain his army
till chosen consul; that he might have his command
prolonged in the province of Hither Gaul, should
that of Farther Gaul not be also conceded to him,
were refused. In the irritation of the moment, he
is said to have grasped the hilt of his sword, and ejac-
ulated, "This shall give it me. " Curio, in the mean
time, loudly protested against Caesar's being recalled,
unless Pompey would also disband his legions and re-
sign his provinces; and the people were so satisfied
with the equity of the proposal, that they accompanied
the tribune to his own door, and strewed flowers in his
way. Pompey professed that he had received his com-
mand against his will, and that he would cheerfully lay
it down, though the time was not yet expired; thus
contrasting his own moderation with the unwillingness
of Caesar to relinquish office, even at the termination
of the full period. Curio, however, contended openly
'hat the promise was not to be taken for the perform-
ance; but exclaimed against Pompey's avarice of
? ? power; and urged with such adroitness the necessity
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? POMPEIUS.
POMPEIUS.
Hid a>>5 reputed, with the general panic of his troops
and the lost of many standards; and his own camp
would have been taken if Pompey had not drawn off
his forces in apprehension of an ambuscade; on which
Caesar remarked that " the war could have been at an
w. d, if Pompey knew how to use victory" Ca'sar
retreated into Thestaly, and was followed by Pompey.
A generil battle was fought on the plains of Pharsa-
lus; the -. riny of Pompey being greatly superior in
numbers, as it consisted of 40,000 foot and 12,000
r. jrsc, composed of the transmarine legions and tho
auxiliary forces of different kings and tetrarchs; while
that ol Caesar did not exceed 30,000 foot and 1000
horse. Pompey was, however, out-manoeuvred, his
army thrown into total rout, his camp pillaged, and
himself obliged to fly, leaving the field with only his
son Sextus and a few followers of rank. He set sail
from Mytilene, having taken on board his wife Cor-
nelia, and made for Egypt, intending to claim the hos-
pitality of the young King Ptolemy, to whom the sen-
ate had appointed him guardian. As he came near
Mount Casius, the Egyptian army was seen on the
shore, and their fleet lying off at some distance, when,
presently, a boat was observed approaching the ship
from the land. The persons in the boat invited him
to enter, for the purpose of landing; but, as he waa
stepping ashore, he was stabbed in the Bight of his wife
and son; and his head and ring were sent to Caesar,
who, shedding tears, turned away his face, and ordered
the head to be burned with perfuinea in the Roman
method. --{Elton's Roman Emperors, p. 4, teqq. , In-
trod. ) -- Cornelia and her friends instantly put to sea,
and escaped the pursuit of the Egyptian fleet, which
at first threatened to intercept them. Their feelings,
as is natural, were, for the moment, so engrossed by
their own danger that they could scarcely compre-
hend the full extent of their loss (Cic, Tusc. Disp ,
3, 27); nor was it till they reached the port of Tyre
in safety that grief succeeded to apprehension, and
they began to understand what cause they had for sor-
row. But tho tears that were shed for Pompey were
not only those of domestic affliction; his fate called
forth a more general and honourable mourning. No
man had ever gained, at so early an age, the affections of
his countrymen; none had enjoyed them so largely, or
preserved them so long with so little interruption; and,
at the distance of eighteen centuries, the feeling of
his contemporaries may be sanctioned by the sober
judgment of history. He entered upon public life
as a distinguished member of an oppressed party,
which was just arriving at its hour of triumph and
retaliation; he saw his associates plunged in rapine
and massacre, but he preserved himself pure from
the contagion of their crimes; and when the death
of Sylla left him at the head of the aristocratical
party, he served them ably and faithfully with his
sword, while he endeavoured to mitigate the evils of
their ascendancy, by restoring to the commons of
Rome, on the earliest opportunity, the most important
of those privileges and liberties which they had lost
under the tyranny of their late master. He received
the due reward of his honest patriotism in the unusual
honours and trusts that were conferred upon him; but
his greatness could not corrupt his virtue; and the
boundless powers with which he was repeatedly in-
vested, he wielded with the highest ability and up-
rightness to the accomplishment of his task, and then,
? ? without any undue attempts to prolong their duration,
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? fUM
PON
rwtttbtioii of his (other's properly Antony aupportet
his claim, and Sextus, without obtaining precisely what
he solicited, still received as an indemnity a large sum
of money from the public treasury, and with it the title
Pi commander of the seas. In place, however, of
? ^oing to Rome to enjoy his success, he got together
all the vessels he could find in the harbours of Spain
and Gaul, and, as soon as he saw the second trium-
virate formed, he made himself master of Sicily, and
gained over Octavius the battle of Scylla. While pro-
scription was raging at Rome, Sextus opened an asy-
lum for the fugitives, and promised to any one who
should save the lifo of a proscribed person twice as
much as the triumvirs offered for his head. Many were
saved in consequence by bis generous care. At the
same time, his fleet increased to so large a size in the
Mediterranean as to intercept the supplies of grain in-
tended for the Roman capital, and the people, dread-
ing a famine, compelled Antony and Octavius to ne-
gotiate for a peace with the son of Pompey. Sextus
demanded nothing less than to be admitted into the
triumvirate at the expense of Lepidus, who was to be
displaced; and he would, in all likelihood, have ob-
tained what he sought, had not his friends compelled
him to hasten the conclusion of the alliance. Aa it
was, however, the terms agreed upon were extremely
favourable to Sextus. Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and
Achaia were given him; he was promised the consul-
ship for the ensuing year, and the proscribed persons
whom he had saved were erased from the fatal list.
The peace, however, proved a hollow one. Hostilities
soon commenced anew, and Octavius encountered two
defeats, one through his lieutenant Calvisius, and an-
other in person. Two years after, however, having
repaired his losses, he proved more successful. Agrip-
pa, his lieutenant, gained an important advantage over
the fleet of Pompey off Mylas, on the coast of Sicily,
and afterward a decisive victory between Myla? and
Naulochus. Sextus, now without resources, fled with
? iiteen vessels to Asia, where he excited new troubles;
but, at the end of a few months, he fell into the hands
of Antony's lieutenants, who put him to death B. C.
35. In allusion to his great naval power, Sextus Pom-
pey used to style himself" the son of Neptune" (Nep-
tunius. -- Horat. Epod. , 9, 7. -- Milsch. , ad loc. --
Dio Cass. , 48, 19. -- Veil. Paterc. , 2, 72. -- Flor. , 4,
2. --Plut. , Vit. Ant. --Appian, Bell. Civ. , 2, 105 --
Id ib. , 4, 84, &c. )
Pompei. o, a city of Hispania Tarraconensis, in the
territory of the Vascones, now Pampcluna. (Plin. ,
1, 3 -- Slrab. , 161)
Pompilius Nuha, the second king of Rome. (Vid.
Numa. )
Pomponios, I. Atticus. (Vid. Atticus )--II. Mela.
(Fid. Mela. )--III. Festus. (Vid. Festus. )--IV. An-
dronicus, a native of Syria, and a follower of the Epi-
curean sect. He pursued, at Rome, the profession of
a grammarian, but his attachment to philosophical pur-
suits prevented him from being very useful as a philo-
logical instructor. He was a contemporary of M. An-
tonius Gnioho, who was one of Cicero's instructed.
Finding this latter grammarian, as well as others of
inferior note, preferred to himself, he retired to Cumss,
where ho lived in great poverty, and composed several
works. These were published by Orbilius after the
death of Andronicus. (Suettm. , de Illustr. Grajn. ,
9. )--V. Marcel. us, a Latin grammarian in the time
? ? of Tiberius. Suetonius describes him as a most troub-
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? PON
PUP
? till lemams, ami is called Cumin. These marshes
were neglected after ihc lime of Augustus until the
re'gns of Nerva and Trajan, the latter of whom drained
the country from Treponti and Terracina, and restored
u. <: Appian Way, which the neglect of the marshes
in the previous reigns had rendered nearly impassable.
During the convulsions of the following centuries, the
marshes were again overflowed, until again drained
in the reign of Tneodaric, by Caciliua Decius, a pub-
lic-spirited individual, and apparently with good effect.
(Ciuitod. , 2, Efist. 32 and 33. ) They were never,
however, completely exhausted of their water until the
pontificate of Pius VI. , although many preceding popes
had made the experiment. During the French inva-
lion, however, the precautions necessary to keep open
the canals of communication were neglected, and the
witers again began to stagnate. These marshes,
therefore, are again formidable at the present day, and,
though contracted in their limits, still corrupt the at-
mosphere for many miles around. (Cramer's Anc.
Italy, vol. 2, p. 96, teqq. )
PONTIOS, an able commander of the Samnites, who
entrapped the Homai army in the defile of Samnium
called the "Caudine Forks" (Furcte Caudintz), and
compelled them to pass under the yoke. (Liv,, 9, 2,
itqq. ) He was afterward defeated in his turn, and
subjected to the same ignominy by the Romans.
(Lit. , 9, 15. )
POXTUS, I. a country of Asia Minor. Tl. s name
implies a political rather than a geographical division
of territory: having been applied, in the first instance,
to the coast of the Euxine, situated between the Col-
chian territory and the river Halys, it was, in process
of time, extended to the mountainous districts which
lie towards Cappadocia and Armenia; and it even, at
one time, included Paphlagonia and part of Bithynia.
The denomination itself was unknown to Herodotus,
who always designated this part of Asia by referring
to the particular tribes who inhabited it, and who then
? njoyed a separate political existence, though tributa-
ry to the Persian empire. Xenophon also appears to
Dave been ignorant of it, since he adheres always to
the same local distinctions of nations and tribes used
hy Herodotus; such as the Chalybes, Tibareni. Mo-
synojci, Ac. It was not till after the death of Alex-
ander that the Pontine dynasty makes any figure in
history; and an account of it will be found under the
article Mithradates. --After the overthrow of Mithra-
date* the Great, Pompey annexed the greater part of
Pontus to Bithynia, and the rest he assigned to Deio-
larus, tetrarch of Galatia, and a zealous ally of Rome;
a small portion of Paphlagonia being reserved for some
native chiefs of that country. (Slrab , 641, seqq. --
Appian, Bell. Mithrad. , c. 114. ) During the civil
wars waged by Ctcsar and Pompey, Pharnaces made
an attempt to recover his hereditary dominions, and
succeeded in taking Sinope, Amisus, and some other
towns of Pontus. But Julius Caesar, after the defeat
and death of Pompey, marched into Pontus, and, en-
countering the army of Pharnaces near the city of
Zela, gained a complete victory; the facility with
which it was obtained being expressed by the victor
in those celebrated words," rent, Vidi, Viet. " (Hirt,
Be/I. Alex. , c. 72. --JVu(. , Vit. Cox --Saeton. , Vit.
