dinners which he gave.


POMPEY AND CRASSUS.

The Sullan system stood for nine years, and was then overthrown, as it
had been established, by a soldier. It was the fortune of Pompey, a
favorite officer of Sulla, to cause the first violation of the laws
laid down by his general.

GNEIUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS (106-48) led a soldier's life from his boyhood
to his death. When a youth of seventeen he fought by his father's side
in the civil struggles between Marius and Sulla. He was a partisan of
the latter, and connected himself with the cause of the aristocracy.
He defeated the followers of Marius in Sicily and Africa, and in 81
was allowed to enjoy a triumph, though still an Eques and not legally
qualified. Sulla then greeted him with the surname of Magnus, which he
ever afterwards bore. He was then sent to Spain, with what success we
have seen in the previous chapter. In 70 Pompey and MARCUS LICINIUS
CRASSUS were elected Consuls amid great enthusiasm.

Crassus (108-53), the conqueror of Spartacus, had amassed immense
wealth by speculation, mining, dealing in slaves, and other methods.
Avarice is said to have been his ruling passion, though he gave large
sums to the people for political effect.

Neither Pompey nor Crassus, according to the laws passed by Sulla, was
eligible to the consulship. The former had never been Quaestor, and
was only thirty-five years old; the latter was still Praetor, and
ought to have waited two years.