Pompey \'Magnus\'

[Gaius_Calvus]

Pompey was under a lot of pressure to fight -- after all, no one who cognominates himself "Magnus" should be afraid of a guy like Caesar, right?

Had he followed his strategy of exhaustion, he might have been successful in ultimately forcing Caesar to at least accept an armistice. In the end, Caesar enticed him to fight by ceding to him the better terrain -- the high ground -- which, combined with the pressure from the dilettantes surrounding him, caused Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus to offer battle.

The rest, as they say, is history. :wink:

Edge

[SOCL]

Pompey was under a lot of pressure to fight -- after all, no one who cognominates himself "Magnus" should be afraid of a guy like Caesar, right?

Not to be a stickler, but I thought Sulla named Pompey "Magnus"? :? At least jokingly so. Perhaps Pompey took the joke a little seriously?

[Gaius_Calvus]

Pompey was already naming himself that -- Sulla accorded him the title to flatter him upon his return to Italy following the first Mithridatid war in 83 BC.

Edge

[SOCL]

Pompey was already naming himself that -- Sulla accorded him the title to flatter him upon his return to Italy following the first Mithridatid war in 83 BC.

Edge

Thanks for clearing that up. I just remember Sulla being somehow involved.

[sulla felix]

The flattery was necessary - Sulla may well have thought that Pompey (in control of a very large private army) was about to challenge him. Many historians have suggested that Pompey during this period (i.e. before the rise of Caesar) was a political "fence sitter", although I think this could be said of many prominent individuals or families during this period.

I also seem to remember reading that Pompey did not use "Magnus" until much later in life, although I cannot recall the source right now.

[Robert Vermaat]

I split this one from the thread about Pharsalos tactics.

[SOCL]

Just for the sake information, here's the relevant quote from Plutarch:

• But when [Sulla] learnt the truth, and realized that the whole of the population of Rome was intending to welcome Pompey home and escort him into the city as a token of their goodwill, he hastened to outdo them all. He came out of Rome to meet him and gave him the warmest possible welcome, acclaiming him in a loud voice as 'Magnus'--which is to say, 'the Great'--and telling those present to use this title when addressing him. Others, however, say that this title was originally applied to him by the whole army in Africa, and that Sulla merely confirmed it, giving it authority and endurance. But Pompey himself was the last to use the title; it was only many years later, when he was sent to Spain as proconsul to fight Sertorius, that he began to sign his letters and decrees as 'Pompey the Great', since by then the title had become familiar, and had stopped arousing resentment.
  -Plutarch, Pompey 13

There is also a footnote which makes mention of this being a two-fold political move on Sulla's part. In part as a maneuver to appease the young and powerful Pompey, as he was--as already mentioned--a "fence sitter" of the day. The other reason likely has to do with Pompey's request immediately after in Plutarch's narrative, that is in requesting a triumph from Sulla, something Sulla does not appreciate.

Also of interest, in Pompey 8, Plutarch mentions Sulla saluting Pompey as "Imperator" following Pompey's raising of a large army. This adds credence to the title 'Magnus' being given as a political move to keep Pompey from letting the "power go to his head."

[sulla felix]

Thanks Saul, for the excellent quotations and sources

[Jon Eaton]

Remember also Pompey's remark to Sulla that 'more people worship the rising sun than the setting sun' (Plutarch, Pompey). Clearly there was some ambiguity and perhaps rivalry in this relationship.