Pompey
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Pompey. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
pom'pi (106-48 B. C.), surnamed the Great, a famous Roman general. He was an ambitious young man of aristocratic birth. Owing to his rapid rise he incurred the jealousy of the senatorial party. He then turned to the common people and bargained with them for the consulate, to which he was elected 70 B. C. In return for their assistance he abolished the aristocratic constitution under Sulla and set up the more plebeian regulations of the Gracchi. He came into power at a time, however, when it mattered little by what constitution the Romans were nominally governed. As a matter of fact, they were subject to the caprice of whoever happened to be in power. Pompey performed several services that gave him a hold on the populace. He crushed the Marian party in Sicily and Africa and reduced the entire peninsula of Spain, then in a state of revolt, to subjection. The Mediterranean Sea was infested by pirates, who made it difficult and hazardous for the Roman merchants to import wheat. The pirates were so numerous and so well organized that they visited various parts of the coast with regularity, collecting tribute or carrying away treasure. They had no less than 1,000 vessels with well appointed dockyards and arsenals. They had, it is said, as many as 400 mountain fastnesses to which they retreated with their booty. They were even bold enough to attack a Roman fleet at the mouth of the Tiber. Pompey was given command of an army of 100,000 men and a fleet of over 200 ships. He prosecuted a war against the pirates with vigor and soon cleared the entire Mediterranean of these pests. In the far East, he conducted a successful campaign against Mithridates, a prince who has always been named with respect as an enemy of Rome deserving to rank with Hannibal. Pompey also conquered Syria and Phoenicia and created a new Roman province. In 63 B. C. he captured the city of Jerusalem. This was the first direct contact of the Roman and the Jew. On his return from this circle of conquests he enjoyed the greatest triumph Rome had ever known. Like a Columbus returning from a new world, he was conducted in triumph through the streets. Three hundred and twenty-two princes walked in chains before his chariot; banners were borne aloft proclaiming that he had overcome twenty-one kings, captured 1,000 strongholds, exacted tribute from 900 towns, and made prizes of 800 ships. Twelve million people, it was announced, had been brought under Roman rule, and $25,000,000 placed in the public treasury. The tribute to be exacted from these conquered provinces might be expected to double the revenues of Rome. The shouting populace hailed him as the conqueror of Europe, of Asia, and of Africa. In the meantime history had been making at Rome. The conspiracy of Catiline had been formed and detected. Cicero had come into prominence and was hailed by the populace as the savior of his country. Pompey now entered into an agreement with Caesar and Crassus, forming the so-called First Triumvirate. The early death of Crassus left Caesar and Pompey to divide the Roman world between them. While Caesar was absent on his famous Gallic campaign Pompey was endeavoring to so fortify himself at Rome as to exclude Caesar from the partnership. He neglected no means of attaching people of importance to him. He pleased the populace with games and amusements on a magnificent scale. He erected an immense theater on the field of Mars, capable of seating 40,000 spectators. The rest of Pompey's story is soon told. Caesar, who was kept informed by friends of what was going on in the city, marched upon Rome with his army, 49 B. C. Pompey and his influential friends, including the majority of the Senate, did not wait for Caesar's arrival, but fled eastward over the Apennines, following the great military road to Brundisium. Here they crossed the Adriatic into Greece with 25,000 soldiers. The senators held pretended meetings at Thessalonica and proclaimed Rome in a state of rebellion. Early in the following year, having quieted Italy and Sicily, Caesar crossed over to Greece with an army and met Pompey's forces on the plains of Pharsalia in Thessaly. It is needless, perhaps, to add that Caesar was completely successful. Pompey fled from the battlefield with a few attendants and escaped to Egypt. On former occasions Pompey had loaded the reigning Ptolemy with favors, and now hoped for a welcome and protection. When Caesar landed in hot pursuit Pompey's bloody head was presented to him in a basket. The sight of the face of his old friend is said to have been too much for Caesar. He burst into tears. The assassins, who had hoped to gain favor, were ordered to execution. Pompey's remains were buried with honors. The news of Pompey's death was received with sincere regret at Rome. Caesar deemed it wise to cause or permit the erection of a monument in his honor. For a clearer statement of the respective political views held by Pompey and his great opponent, the student is referred to the article on CAESAR. See also CRASSUS.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CNEIUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS, son of Pompeius Strabo, a Pompeius Roman general; born in 106 b. c. He distinguished himself against the ene mies of the Roman senate, both within the state and without, and at last fell in the struggle against Cæsar for absolute power. Like his father, serving against Marius, Pompey ranged himself with the aristocratic party of the republic. He was in his 23d year only when he raised three complete legions, 60,000 men, at his own expense, and took the field in behalf of Sylla. By his 26th year Pompey had defeated the remains of the Marian party in Cisalpine Gaul, Sicily, POMPEY THE GREAT and Africa, and on his return to Rome, 83 B. c., was hailed Magnus-the great -by Sylla. On the death of Sylla, in 78 b. c., Pompey went as proconsul to Spain, where the plebeian war was continued by Sertorius, rius, and after a four years' arduous struggle, he remained master of the field, his opponent having been betrayed and assassinated. He returned to Italy in time to give the finishing blow to the similar victories of Crassus, and in 70 B. c. Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls. In the year 67 B. C., he destroyed the lawless bands infesting the coasts of the Mediterranean; was made absolute dictator in the East, and superseded Lucullus in the command against Mithridates. The latter he completely routed in 66 B. C., and becoming master of Asia Minor, pursued his conquests through Syria and Palestine as far as the Red Sea. In 60 B. C. he joined Cæsar and Crassus in the triumvirate, the former of whom gave him his daughter Julia in marriage. Succeeding events caused Pompey to draw closer to the senatorial party, and with him, as the representative of the patrician republic, went Cato, the honest enemy of the ambition of Cæsar. In 54 B. c. Julia died; in the year following, Crassus was slain in Asia; and now the hostility between Cæsar and Pompey rapidly developed itself. The former having applied for the consulship, refused used to present himself in Rome as a private citizen, and a decree of the senate declared him a public enemy unless he resigned his command. Instead of doing so, Cæsar crossed the Rubicon with his , 49 B. C., and Pompey, accomtroops panied by Cato, Cicero, and other nobles of Rome, fell back on Greece, where the great battle of Pharsalia decided his fate. Pompey was advised to seek an asylum in Egypt, then ruled by a sovereign he had protected, Ptolemy XIV. He was received with pretended friendship, but treacherously murdered as soon as he had stepped ashore, 48 B. c., and his head being cut off, it was sent to Cæsar, who turned away from it and could not restrain his tears. Pompey fell, and with him the republic of Rome. CNEIUS, son of Pompey, who endeavored to carry on the war against Cæsar, was defeated and killed at Munda, 45′ b. c. SEXTUS, the younger brother of Cneius, continued the war for 10 years, and rendered himself formidable as a naval commander; but he was at last defeated and killed by order of Antony, 35 b. c.