THE ARRIVAL OF THE ‘FIRST TRIUMVIRATE’

Pompey, on his march towards Rome, was accompanied by a jubilant crowd. In September 61 he gave a public speech about his military campaigns and celebrated his third and greatest triumph for his victory over piracy and over King Mithridates. Cato alone – who had earlier supported a plebiscite that narrowed the criteria for awarding so great an honour – would say that this had been ‘a war against little ladies’.¹ Pompey had reached the peak of glory and had heaped Rome with riches. Appian’s Mithridatic Wars devotes ample space to the account of his extraordinary triumph, celebrated on 28