Such was
Cato in everything.
LV. After entering the city, Pompeius married Cornelia,[331] a
daughter of Metellus Scipio, who was not a virgin, but had lately been
left a widow by Publius, the son of Crassus, who had lost his life
among the Parthians, and whose virgin bride she was. The young woman
possessed many charms besides her youthful beauty, for she was well
instructed in letters, in playing on the lyre, and in geometry, and
she had been accustomed to listen to philosophical discourses with
profit. In addition to this she had a disposition free from all
affectation and pedantic display, faults which such acquirements
generally breed in women: her father also, both in respect to family
and reputation, was above all imputation. Still the marriage did not
please some people on account of the disparity of years; for the youth
of Cornelia made her a fitter match for a son of Pompeius. But those
who were more judicious considered that Pompeius had overlooked the
state, which was in an unfortunate condition, to cure which the state
had selected him for her physician, and put herself solely in his
hands; and he was wearing chaplets and celebrating a marriage, when he
ought to have considered his consulship a calamity, as it would not
have been conferred on him so contrary to all constitutional practice,
if his country were in a prosperous condition. However, he presided at
the trials for corruption and bribery,[332] and drew up laws, pursuant
to which the trials were conducted, and with the exception presently
to be mentioned, he conducted all the proceedings with dignity and
fairness, and he secured to the courts safety, order, and quiet, by
taking his own place there with armed men; but when his father-in-law
Scipio was under trial, he sent for the three hundred and sixty
judices to his house and obtained their support for him, and the
accuser gave up the prosecution when he saw Scipio conducted from the
Forum by the judices.
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