dispensation to stand for the consulship without having held the lower offices. Now, after the popular
measures of his consulship, enthusiastic tribunes secured for him from the people first, in 67, sweeping
powers to clear the Mediterranean of pirates and then, in the next year, the command of the war against
Mithridates, in which, true to form, he replaced Sulla's trusty officer L. Licinius Lucullus, who had been
appointed some years ago by the Senate.
In Pompey's absence, Rome speculated on the manner of his return. Would the great man come home in
a conservative or a radical mood? In the end he tried to manoeuvre a return in the company of his troops
as in the past, but a move to recall him to suppress Catiline's forces was thwarted by the consul's
decisiveness and the Optimates' determination. Eventually, towards the close of 62, Pompey dismissed
his army at Brundisium and returned to confront the Senate of Sulla making its last stand.
Head Of Pompey (Cn. Pompeius Magnus), the most powerful Roman general of the 70s and 60s B.C.
and chief architect of the downfall of Sulla's political system. During the 50s he lost ground to his fellow
triumvir, Julius Caesar, and was assassinated in the course of the civil wars of 49-45. The romantic
Alexander-inspired hairstyle sits oddly on the realistic facial features- furrowed brow, large nose, small
piggy eyes, double chin.