is bed so as to make it appear as if he was in
it, and then stole away. When the appointed hour arrived, Terentius came
into the tent, and, approaching the couch where he supposed Pompey was
lying asleep, stabbed it again and again, piercing the coverlets in many
places, but doing no harm, of course, to his intended victim.

[Sidenote: Pompey's adventures and escapes.]
[Sidenote: Death of his father.]
[Sidenote: Pompey appears in his father's defense.]

In the course of the wars between Marius and Sylla, Pompey passed
through a great variety of scenes, and met with many extraordinary
adventures and narrow escapes, which, however, can not be here
particularly detailed. His father, who was as much hated by his soldiers
as the son was beloved, was at last, one day, struck by lightning in his
tent. The soldiers were inspired with such a hatred for his memory, in
consequence, probably, of the cruelties and oppressions which they had
suffered from him, that they would not allow his body to be honored with
the ordinary funeral obsequies. They pulled it off from the bier on
which it was to have been borne to the funeral pile, and dragged it
ignominiously away. Pompey's father was accused, too, after his death,
of having converted some public moneys which had been committed to his
charge to his own use, and Pompey appeared in the Roman Forum as an
advocate to defend him from the charge and to vindicate his memory. He
was very successful in this defense. All who heard it were, in the first
instance, very deeply interested in favor of the speaker, on account of
his extreme youth and his personal beauty; and, as he proceeded with his
plea, he argued with so much eloquence and power as to win universal
applause. One of the chief officers of the government in the city was so
much pleased with his appearance, and with the promise of future
greatness which the circumstances indicated, that he offered him his
daughter in marriage. Pompey accepted the offer, and married the lady.
Her name was Antistia.

[Sidenote: His success as a general.]
[Sidenote: Pompey defeats the armies.]

Pompey rose rapidly to higher and higher degrees of distinction, until
he obtained the command of an army, which he had, in fact, in a great
measure raised and organized himself, and he fought at the head of it
with great energy and success against the enemies of Sylla. At length he
was hemmed in on the eastern coast of Italy by three separate armies,
which