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<div>Justin wrote:</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> The Caesar ref that Shane invokes I
don't get. Pompey, Caesar's rival, cleared the Mediterranean of
pirates.</blockquote>
<div><br>
The story, found in both Plutarch and Suetonius, is that the
young Caesar,</div>
<div>while on service in the Eastern Mediterranean, was captured by
Cilician</div>
<div>pirates and held for ransom. When they asked for a ransom
of 20</div>
<div>talents Caesar was outraged and told them that this was a
paltry</div>
<div>sum to ask for a Caesar and insisted that the sum be 50.
While awaiting</div>
<div>the arrival of the ransom Caesar maintained a congenial
relationship</div>
<div>with his hosts even though he constantly reminded them that,
once</div>
<div>freed, he would return and hang them all. This he did, even
though,</div>
<div>once captured, they became subject to Roman judicial process
and</div>
<div>therefore escaped hanging--all were crucified.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Pompey's campaign against piracy in the Mediterranean took place
shortly after this.</div>
<div>At that time Caesar and Pompey were not yet
rivals--Pompey's</div>
<div>rival was Caesar's friend and bankroller Marcus Crassus,
and</div>
<div>Caesar's political objective was to reconcile the two men.
His</div>
<div>success in this led to the "first triumvirate" and to
Pompey, though much older,</div>
<div>becoming Caesar's son-in-law. It was only after the death
of Julia</div>
<div>that the break between Caesar and Pompey, which ultimately
resulted in</div>
<div>Pompey's serving as the<i> optimates'</i> front man in the
first stage of the</div>
<div><i>bellum civile,</i> took place.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Shane Mage<br>
<br>
"When we read on a printed page the doctrine of Pythagoras that
all things are made of numbers, it seems mystical, mystifying, even
downright silly.<br>
</div>
<div>When we read on a computer screen the doctrine of Pythagoras that
all things are made of numbers, it seems self-evidently true."
(N. Weiner)</div>
<div><br></div>
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