VII. Now there rose up against him three hostile generals at once, Carinna,[200] and Clœlius and Brutus, not all in front, nor yet all from the same quarter, but they surrounded him with three armies, with the view of completely destroying him. Pompeius was not alarmed, but getting all his force together he attacked one of the armies, that of Brutus, placing in the front his cavalry, among whom he himself was. From the side of the enemy the Celtæ rode out to meet him, when Pompeius with spear in hand struck the first and strongest of them and brought him down; on which the rest fled and put the infantry also into confusion, so that there was a general rout. Hereupon the generals quarrelled among themselves and retired, as each best could, and the cities took the part of Pompeius, seeing that the enemy had dispersed in alarm. Next came Scipio[201] the consul against him, but before the lines had come close enough to discharge their javelins, the soldiers of Scipio saluted those of Pompeius and changed sides, and Scipio made his escape. Finally, near the river Arsis,[202] Carbo himself attacked Pompeius with several troops of horse, but Pompeius bravely stood the attack, and putting them to flight pursued and drove all of them upon difficult ground where no cavalry could act; and the men, seeing that there was no hope of saving themselves, surrendered with their arms and horses.
VIII. Sulla had not yet received intelligence of these events, but upon the first news and reports about Pompeius, being alarmed at his being among so many hostile generals of such reputation, he made haste to relieve him. Pompeius being informed that Sulla was near, ordered his officers to arm the forces and to display them in such manner that they might make the most gallant and splendid appearance to the Imperator, for he expected to receive great honours from him; and he got more than he expected. For when Sulla saw him approaching and his army standing by, admirable for the brave appearance of the men and elated and rejoicing in their success, he leapt down from his horse, and being addressed, according to custom, by the title of Imperator, he addressed Pompeius in return by the title of Imperator, though nobody would have expected that Sulla would give to a young man who was not yet a member of the Senate, the title for which he was fighting against the Scipios and the Marii. And indeed everything else was in accordance with the first greeting, for Sulla used to rise from his seat as Pompeius approached and take his vest from his head, which he was not observed to do generally to any other person, though there were many distinguished men about him. Pompeius, however, was not made vain by these marks of distinction, but on being immediately sent into Gaul by Sulla, where Metellus[203] commanded and appeared to be doing nothing correspondent to his means, Pompeius said it was not right to take the command from a man who was his senior and superior in reputation; however he said he was ready to carry on the war in conjunction with Metellus, if he had no objection, in obedience to his orders and to give him his assistance. Metellus accepted the proposal and wrote to him to come, on which Pompeius entering Gaul, performed noble exploits, and he also fanned into a flame again and warmed the warlike and courageous temper of Metellus, which was now near becoming extinct through old age, as the liquid, heated stream of copper by flowing about the hard, cold metal is said to soften and to liquefy it into its own mass better than the fire. But as in the case of an athlete[204] who has obtained the first place among men and has gloriously vanquished in every contest, his boyish victories are made of no account and are not registered; so the deeds which Pompeius then accomplished, though of themselves extraordinary, yet as they were buried under the number and magnitude of his subsequent struggles and wars, I have been afraid to disturb them, lest if we should dwell too long on his first exploits, we should miss the acts and events which are the most important and best show the character of the man.