As, However, The Famine Still Continued, The Triumvirate Agreed To Come To
An Accommodation With Pompey:
The principal terms were, that the latter
should retain possession of Sicily, Sardinia,.
&C.; and that he should
moreover receive Peloponnesus; that he might endeavour to obtain the
consulate; that the dignity of Pontifex Maximus should be granted him; that
he should be paid 70,000 great sesterces out of his father's confiscated
estate; and that such of his companions as chose should be allowed to
return. On his part, he promised, that he would no longer interrupt the
Roman trade and navigation; that he would no longer build ships, nor make
descents on the coasts of Italy, nor receive the slaves who fled to him;
and that he would immediately send to Rome the corn he had detained, oblige
the Sicilians to pay annually the tribute of corn due to Rome by that
island, and clear the seas of all the pirates.
From these terms it may be seen how dependent Rome, even at this period,
was on foreign supplies of corn, and how weak she was at sea. Pompey and
the triumvirate seem neither to have been sincere in this treaty: the
former, who still retained the title of governor of the maritime coasts,
had derived too great advantage from his superiority at sea, and his
connection with the pirates, easily to relinquish either; while, on the
other hand, the triumvirate could not regard themselves as masters of the
republic, so long as Pompey had it in his power to starve the city of Rome.
They, therefore, soon quarrelled; upon which Pompey caused his old ships to
be refitted, and new ones to be built; and, when he had got a sufficient
force, he again blocked up the ports of Italy, and reduced the inhabitants
of the capital to the utmost distress for want of provisions.
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