ng which Sulla got after he had made himself master of the
city by arms and war. On receiving the letters and reading the decrees
in the presence of his friends who were congratulating him, Pompeius
is said to have contracted his eyebrows and to have struck his thigh,
and to have spoken like a man who was already tired and averse to
command, "Oh, the endless toils, how much better it were to have been
one unknown to fame, if there shall never be an end to my military
service and I shall never elude this envy and live quietly in the
country with my wife."[252] On hearing these expressions not even his
intimate friends could endure his hypocritical pretences, as they knew
that he was the more delighted, inasmuch as his difference with
Lucullus gave additional fire to his innate ambition and love of
command.

XXXI. And in truth his acts soon discovered his real temper: for he
issued counter-edicts in all directions by which he required the
presence of the soldiers and summoned to him the subject rulers and
kings. And as he traversed the country, he let nothing that Lucullus
had done remain undisturbed, but he both remitted the punishments of
many, and took away what had been given, and in short he left nothing
undone in his eagerness to prove to the admirers of Lucullus[253] that
he was entirely without power. Lucullus through his friends complained
to Pompeius, and it was agreed that they should have a meeting. They
met in Galatia: and as they were most distinguished generals and had
won the greatest victories, their lictors met with the fasces wreathed
with bay; but Lucullus advanced from green and shady parts, and
Pompeius happened to have crossed an extensive tract without trees and
parched. Accordingly the lictors of Lucullus seeing that the bays of
Pompeius were faded and completely withered, gave them some of their
own which were fresh, and so decorated and wreathed the fasces of
Pompeius with them. This was considered a sign that Pompeius was
coming to carry off the prizes of victory and the glory that was due
to Lucullus. As to the order of his consulship and in age also
Lucullus had the priority, but the reputation of Pompeius was more
exalted on account of his two triumphs. However they managed their
first interview with as much civility and friendliness as they could,
magnifying the exploits of each other, and congratulating one another
on their victories: in their conferences however they came to no
reasonabl