L. Pompeius being appointed to look after the management and the supply of corn, sent his deputies and friends to many places, and he himself sailed to Sicily and Sardinia and Libya and collected grain.  When he was about to set sail, there was a violent wind on the sea, and the masters of the ships were unwilling to put out, but Pompeius embarking first and bidding them raise the anchor, cried, “It is necessary to sail; there is no necessity to live.”  By such boldness and zeal, and the help of good fortune, Pompeius filled the markets with grain and the sea with ships, so that the superfluity of what he got together sufficed even for those who were without, and there was as from a spring an abundant overflowing for all.

LI.  During this time the Celtic wars[320] raised Caesar to great distinction; and though he was considered to be a very long way from Rome, and to be occupied with Belgae and Suevi and Britanni, he contrived, by his skilful management, without being perceived, in the midst of the popular assemblies, and in the most important matters, to frustrate the political measures of Pompeius.  For Caesar’s military force was like a body that invested him, and he was training it to toil, and making it invincible and formidable, not to oppose the barbarians, but he was disciplining his men in these contests just as if it were merely hunting wild beasts and pursuing them with dogs; and in the meantime he was sending to Rome gold and silver, and the rest of the spoil and wealth which he got in abundance from so many enemies, and by tempting people there with gifts, and assisting aediles in their expenses, and generals and consuls and their wives, he was gaining over many of them; so that when he had crossed the Alps and was wintering in Luca, there was a great crowd of men and women who vied with one another in their eagerness to visit him, besides two hundred of the Senatorian class, among whom were Pompeius and Crassus; and one hundred and twenty fasces of proconsuls and praetors were seen at Caesar’s doors.  Now, after filling all the rest with hopes and money, he sent them off; but a compact was made between him and Crassus and Pompeius, that they should be candidates for the consulship, and that Caesar should help them by sending many of his soldiers to vote, and that as soon as they were elected, they should secure for themselves the command of provinces and armies, and should confirm Caesar’s provinces to him for another five years.  Upon this being publicly known, the first men in the State were displeased, and Marcellinus coming forward before the popular assembly, asked both Crassus and Pompeius to their faces, if they would be candidates for the consulship.  The assembly bade them give him an answer, on which Pompeius spoke first, and said, that perhaps he should and perhaps he should not.  Crassus replied in a manner more befitting a citizen,[321] for he said that he would act either way, as he should think it best for the common weal.  But when Marcellinus stuck close to Pompeius, and was considered to be speaking in violent terms, Pompeius said that Marcellinus, of all men, showed the least regard to fair dealing, because he was not grateful to him in that he was the means of Marcellinus becoming eloquent, though he was formerly mute, and of now being so full as to vomit, though formerly he was starving of hunger.