use, to the effect that Ptolemaeus
wished Pompeius to be given to him as general instead of Spinther. And
Timagenes[319] says that Ptolemaeus without any reason and without
necessity had quitted Egypt and left it at the advice of Theophanes
who was planning profitable occupation for Pompeius and a subject for
a fresh command. But the villainy of Theophanes does not make this so
probable, as the character of Pompeius makes it improbable, for he had
no ambition of so mean and illiberal a kind.

L. Pompeius being appointed to look after the management and the
supply of corn, sent his deputies and friends to many places, and he
himself sailed to Sicily and Sardinia and Libya and collected grain.
When he was about to set sail, there was a violent wind on the sea,
and the masters of the ships were unwilling to put out, but Pompeius
embarking first and bidding them raise the anchor, cried, "It is
necessary to sail; there is no necessity to live." By such boldness
and zeal, and the help of good fortune, Pompeius filled the markets
with grain and the sea with ships, so that the superfluity of what he
got together sufficed even for those who were without, and there was
as from a spring an abundant overflowing for all.

LI. During this time the Celtic wars[320] raised Caesar to great
distinction; and though he was considered to be a very long way from
Rome, and to be occupied with Belgae and Suevi and Britanni, he
contrived, by his skilful management, without being perceived, in the
midst of the popular assemblies, and in the most important matters, to
frustrate the political measures of Pompeius. For Caesar's military
force was like a body that invested him, and he was training it to
toil, and making it invincible and formidable, not to oppose the
barbarians, but he was disciplining his men in these contests just as
if it were merely hunting wild beasts and pursuing them with dogs; and
in the meantime he was sending to Rome gold and silver, and the rest
of the spoil and wealth which he got in abundance from so many
enemies, and by tempting people there with gifts, and assisting aediles
in their expenses, and generals and consuls and their wives, he was
gaining over many of them; so that when he had crossed the Alps and
was wintering in Luca, there was a great crowd of men and women who
vied with one another in their eagerness to visit him, besides two
hundred of the Senatorian class, among whom were Pompeius and Crassus;
and on