r conveying the vast accumulation of treasures
and spoils, was two days in passing into the city; and enough was left
after all for another triumph. Pompey was, in a word, on the very summit
of human grandeur and renown.

[Sidenote: The first triumvirate.]
[Sidenote: Pompey's wife Julia.]
[Sidenote: Pompey and Caesar open enemies.]
[Sidenote: Their ambition.]

He found, however, an old enemy and rival at Rome. This was Crassus, who
had been Pompey's opponent in earlier times, and who now renewed his
hostility. In the contest that ensued, Pompey relied on his renown,
Crassus on his wealth. Pompey attempted to please the people by combats
of lions and of elephants which he had brought home from his foreign
campaigns; Crassus courted their favor by distributing corn among them,
and inviting them to public feasts on great occasions. He spread for
them, at one time, it was said, ten thousand tables. All Rome was filled
with the feuds of these great political foes. It was at this time that
Caesar returned from Spain, and had the adroitness, as has already been
explained, to extinguish these feuds, and reconcile these apparently
implacable foes. He united them together, and joined them with himself
in a triple league, which is celebrated in Roman history as the first
_triumvirate_. The rivalry, however, of these great aspirants for power
was only suppressed and concealed, without being at all weakened or
changed. The death of Crassus soon removed him from the stage. Caesar
and Pompey continued afterward, for some time, an ostensible alliance.
Caesar attempted to strengthen this bond by giving Pompey his daughter
Julia for his wife. Julia, though so young--even her father was six
years younger than Pompey--was devotedly attached to her husband, and he
was equally fond of her. She formed, in fact, a strong bond of union
between the two great conquerors as long as she lived. One day, however,
there was a riot at an election, and men were killed so near to Pompey
that his robe was covered with blood. He changed it; the servants
carried home the bloody garment which he had taken off, and Julia was so
terrified at the sight, thinking that her husband had been killed, that
she fainted, and her constitution suffered very severely by the shock.
She lived some time afterward, but finally died under circumstances
which indicate that this occurrence was the cause. Pompey and Caesar now
soon became open enemies. The ambitious aspirations