He liv'd to learn, fresh fame requir'd fresh deeds; For glory which advances not, recedes. Great was his name in arms, but envious fate 1365 Oppos'd him to a rival still more great,* More wise, more young, more bold, and fortunate.. BATTLE 4 Nec coïere pares; alter vergentibus annis In senium, longoque togæ tranquillior usu, Dedidicit jam pace ducem:-. LUCAN. l. i. 129. The superiority of Cæsar's personal character over Pompey's, appears in several instances; in none, perhaps, more conspicuously than in their different conduct with respect to Labienus. He had been one of Cæsar's favourite lieutenants, and always victorious when fighting under his auspices: however, he left his old general, and passed over to the camp of Pompey. Cæsar heard the account of his desertion with his usual magnanimity, and generously sent after him all his money, equipage, and whatever besides he had left behind him. Pompey, on the contrary, received him as an acquisition of the highest value, and listened with avidity to his flattering intelligence of the weak condition of the enemy, till he was at last mournfully convinced of his mistaken credulity, by his total overthrow. Lucan makes Cæsar thus speak of Labienus: fortis in armis Cæsareis Labienus erat; nunc transfuga vilis Cum duce prælato terras atque æquora lustrat. Luc. 1. v. 345. Upon considering the whole of Pompey's character and conduct, I am persuaded, that as he had more vanity than Cæsar, so was he not BATTLE OF PHARSALIA. A. U. C. 706. Now Pompey to rude clamour forc❜d to yield, Draws forth his legions in Pharsalia's field. The less ambitious. What his admirers were pleased to dignify with the name of patriotism, and love of the constitution, or, in other words, his being more willing than Cæsar to allow the senate sufficient authority, resulted less from his own disposition, than from sentiments which had been instilled into him by such men as Cato, Tully, and Brutus. These excellent persons seem not only to have directed his conduct, but to have formed his political mind. They had so often assisted him in the attainment of his objects, and had extolled him so much for his moderation, that he must have been divested of all feeling, could he have forgot his obligations to them; or had he been eager to undeserve, if I may be allowed the expression, the high opinion they had so publickly declared of him. He found it less hazardous, and more reputable, to be the first of several great men, than to be the only great man: besides, he loved approbation and good will, which, he knew, had he avowed a passion for governing singly, would have been immediately converted into flattery and hatred. That this, however, was his object, is clear from a circumstance mentioned by Plutarch in his life of the younger Cato, whom he would not trust with the command of the fleet (though he had already promised to invest him with it) lest he should be enabled by this means to compel him to lay down his arms, as soon as Cæsar was vanquished: and Cato himself thought, that, whether Pompey or Cæsar The impatient youth deride his cold delays, 1370 By buzzing wits, and keener Tully's tongue.' The Cæsar should be victorious, the event would be equally fatal to the liberty of the commonwealth. The constitution of Rome was as much subverted during the triumvirate of Pompey, Crassus, and Cæsar, as when the last ruled alone; but Cicero complains less, because Pompey made a part of it. The orator knew he had little chance of managing a man of such high views and such great capacity as Cæsar. Brutus, in his letters, probes him to the quick, when he seems willing to disguise to himself, and to the world, his real motives for abetting Octavius; the chief of which seems to have been, the assurance given him by that young dissembler, that he would be principally governed by his advice and experience. 6 cum mixto murmure turba Castrorum fremuit, fatisque trahentibus orbem ? Addidit invalidæ robur facundia causæ. Ibid. Middleton asserts, that Cicero endeavoured to dissuade Pompey from hazarding the fortune of the republick on the event of a battle, and produces passages from his letters to that purpose; but how is this to be reconciled with his for ever complaining of Pompey's dilatoriness and inactivity? He seems to have been full of apprehensions, and to have disapproved of every thing. A man is sometimes apt to mistake his fears for his foresight. Р The vulgar, too, in many a factious band, foresight. Pompey is known to have said of him, "Cupio ad hostes Cicero transeat, ut nos timeat." If he wished him not to risk a battle, what objection could he have to his inactivity? I think, but am not certain, that Cicero does not say he was against fighting, till after the unfortunate event of the battle of Pharsalia was known. However, I mean no attempt to diminish any credit due to the letters of Cicero, which certainly contain the very best materials for the most interesting period of the whole Roman story. It would have been more candid, perhaps, to have lamented his advice, than to have denied having given it; or had he confined his complaints to Pompey's conduct after his defeat, they would have been reasonable. No age, perhaps, has produced together men of such genius and capacity as flourished in Rome at this period. This is the consideration which makes the history of these times so interesting. The magnitude of the object of contention is in some degree lost in the greatness of the contenders' characters. What a proficiency in morals and in science might not have been expected, had Cæsar, Pompey, Cicero, Cato, and Brutus, united as strenuously to improve the world, as they struggled to govern it! For For he who each new counsellor will hear," Sol's orient lustre dazzling from their steel; 1386 1390 Trim glittering bands, who in their splendour see 1395 Kai Surapesos diexYXIT. EURIP. Iphigen. in Aul. 3 Morti erano infiniti, e derelitti Al lupo, al corvo, a l'aquila grifagna. ARIOST. can. xiv. 9ex tertia acie singulas cohortes detraxit, atque ex his quartam instituit, equitatuique opposuit. Cæs. de Bel. Civ. 1. iii. |