e Senate
mistrusted him and in addition feared the consequences of creating such an
extensive extraordinary command. But since 71 B. C. Pompey had stood on
the side of the _populares_ and now, like Marius, he found in the
tribunate an ally able to aid him in attaining his goal. In 67 B. C. the
tribune Aulus Gabinius proposed a law for the appointment of a single
commander of consular rank who should have command over the whole sea
within the pillars of Hercules and all Roman territory to a distance of
fifty miles inland. His appointment was to be for three years, he was to
have the power to nominate senatorial _legati_, to raise money in addition
to what he received from the quaestors, and recruit soldiers and sailors
at discretion for his fleet. This command was modelled upon that of
Antonius the praetor in 74 B. C., but conveyed higher authority and
greater resources. The Senate bitterly resisted the passage of the bill
but it passed and the Senate had to relinquish its prerogative of creating
the extraordinary commands. Although no person had been nominated for this
command in the law of Gabinius, the opinion of the voters had been so
clearly expressed in a _contio_ that the Senate had to appoint Pompey. He
received twenty-four _legati_ and a fleet of five hundred vessels.

*The pirates crushed.* Pompey set to work energetically and
systematically. In forty days he swept the pirates from the western
Mediterranean. In forty-nine more he cornered them in Cilicia, where he
forced the surrender of their strongholds. His victory was hastened by the
mildness shown to those who surrendered. They received their lives and
freedom, and in many cases were used as colonists to revive cities with a
declining population. Within three months he had brought the pirate war to
a triumphant conclusion, but his _imperium_ would not terminate for three
years and he was anxious to gather fresh laurels.

*The Manilian Law, 66 B. C.* It so happened that Pompey's success
coincided with the temporary check to the Roman arms in Pontus, owing to
the disaffection of the troops of Lucullus and the machinations of the
latter's enemies in Rome. Pompey now sought to have the command of
Lucullus added to his own, and in this he had the support of the
equestrian order. Early in 66 B. C. one of the tribunes, Caius Manilius,
proposed a law transferring to Pompey the provinces of Bithynia and
Cilicia and the conduct of the war against Mithradates and Tig