desolated that wealthy province. _Cicero_ showed such vigor in the prosecution that _Verres_ was driven into exile. This event weakened the senatorial oligarchy, and helped _Pompeius_ in his contest with it. WAR WITH THE PIRATES.--In 69 B.C., _Pompeius_ retired from office; but, two years later, he assumed command in the war against the pirates. These had taken possession of creeks and valleys in Western _Cilicia_ and _Pamphylia_, and had numerous fleets. Not confining their depredations to the sea, they plundered the coasts of Italy, and stopped the grain-ships on which Rome depended for food. _Pompeius_ undertook to exterminate this piratical community. By the _Gabinian Law_, he was clothed with more power than had ever been committed to an individual. He was to have absolute command over the Mediterranean and its coasts for fifty miles inland. He used this unlimited authority for war purposes alone, and, in three months, completely accomplished the work assigned him. He captured three thousand vessels, and put to death ten thousand men. Twenty thousand captives he settled in the interior of _Cilicia_. POMPEIUS IN THE EAST.--The success of Pompeius was the prelude to a wider extension of his power and his popularity. After the return of _Sulla_ from the East, another _Mithridatic War_ (83-81), the second in the series, had ended in the same terms of peace that had been agreed upon before (p. 157). In 74 the contest began anew against _Mithridates_, and _Tigranes_ of Armenia, his son-in-law. For a number of years _Lucullus_, the Roman commander, was successful; but finally _Mithridates_ regained what he had lost, and kept up his aggressive course. In 66 B.C., on a motion that was supported by _Cicero_, but opposed by the aristocratic party in the Senate, _Pompeius_ was made commander in the East for an indefinite term. So extensive powers had never before been committed to a Roman. He drove _Mithridates_ out of Pontus into Armenia. _Tigranes_ laid his crown at the feet of the Roman general, and was permitted to retain _Armenia_. _Mithridates_ fled beyond the Caucasus, and, in 63 B.C., committed suicide. _Pompeius_ overthrew the Syrian kingdom of the _Seleucidae_. He entered _Judaea_, captured Jerusalem from _Aristobulus_ the reigning prince, and placed his brother _Hyrcanus_ on the throne, who became tributary to Rome. _Pompeius_ with his officers entered the sanctuary of the temple, and was surprised to find there neither image nor statue. He established in the Roman territories in Asia the two provinces, _Pontus_ and _Syria_, and re-organized the province of _Cilicia_. Several kingdoms he allowed to remain under Roman protection. After this unexampled exercise of power and responsibility as the disposer of kingdoms, he slowly returned to Italy, dismissed his army at _Brundisium_, and entered the capital as a private citizen, where, in 61 B.C., he enjoyed a magnificent triumph that lasted for two days.