ed
by Pompey himself, who was determined not to resign his command. Sylla
was at first very indignant that his authority should be despised and
his power braved, as he expressed it, by "such a boy;" for Pompey was
still, at this time, very young. When, however, he learned the truth, he
conceived a higher admiration for the young general than ever. He went
out to meet him as he approached the city, and, in accosting him, he
called him Pompey the Great. Pompey has continued to bear the title thus
given him to the present day.

[Sidenote: He demands a triumph.]

Pompey began, it seems, now to experience, in some degree, the usual
effects produced upon the human heart by celebrity and praise. He
demanded a triumph. A triumph was a great and splendid ceremony, by
which victorious generals, who were of advanced age and high civil or
military rank, were received into the city when returning from any
specially glorious campaign. There was a grand procession formed on
these occasions, in which various emblems and insignia, and trophies of
victory, and captives taken by the conqueror, were displayed. This great
procession entered the city with bands of music accompanying it, and
flags and banners flying, passing under triumphal arches erected along
the way. Triumphs were usually decreed by a vote of the Senate, in cases
where they were deserved; but, in this case, Sylla's power as dictator
was supreme, and Pompey's demand for a triumph seems to have been
addressed accordingly to him.

[Sidenote: Sylla refuses Pompey a triumph.]

Sylla refused it. Pompey's performances in the African campaign had
been, he admitted, very creditable to him, but he had neither the Age
nor the rank to justify the granting him a triumph. To bestow such an
honor upon one so young and in such a station, would only bring the
honor itself, he said, into disrepute, and degrade, also, his
dictatorship for suffering it.

[Sidenote: But at last consents.]

To this Pompey replied, speaking, however, in an under tone to those
around him in the assembly, that Sylla need not fear that the triumph
would be unpopular, for people were much more disposed to worship a
rising than a setting sun. Sylla did not hear this remark, but,
perceiving by the countenances of the by-standers that Pompey had said
something which seemed to please them, he asked what it was. When the
remark was repeated to him, he seemed pleased himself with its justness
or with its wit, and