Metellus however did not give in, but he took and punished the
pirates, and after insulting and abusing Octavius in his camp he let
him go.
XXX. When news reached Rome that the Pirates' war was at an end and
that Pompeius being now at leisure was visiting the cities,
Manlius,[248] one of the tribunes, proposed a law, that Pompeius
should take all the country and force which Lucullus commanded, with
the addition of Bithynia, which Glabrio[249] had, and should carry on
the war against the kings Mithridates and Tigranes, with both the
naval force and the dominion of the sea on the terms on which he
received it originally. This was in short for the Roman dominion to be
placed at the disposal of one man. For the provinces which alone he
could not touch under the former law, Phrygia, Lycaonia, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Cilicia, the upper Colchis, Armenia, these he now had
together with the armies and resources with which Lucullus defeated
Mithridates and Tigranes. But though Lucullus was thus deprived of the
glory of his achievements and was receiving a successor in a triumph
rather than in a war, the aristocratical party thought less of this,
though they considered that the man was treated unjustly and
ungratefully, but they were much dissatisfied with the power of
Pompeius which they viewed as the setting up of a tyranny, and they
severally exhorted and encouraged one another to oppose the law and
not to give up their freedom.
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