148 POMPEY.

at anchor at a distance from shore, was forced to wait the sentence of this tribunal. It seems they were so far dif- ferent in their opinions that some were for sending the man away, and others again for inviting and receiving him ; but Theodotus, to show his cleverness and the co- gency of his rhetoric, undertook to demonstrate, that neither the one nor the other was safe in that juncture of affairs. For if they entertained him, they would be sure to make Caesar their enemy, and Pompey their mas- ter ; or if they dismissed him, they might render them- selves hereafter obnoxious to Pompey, for that inhospita- ble expulsion, and to Caesar, for the escape ; so that the most expedient course would be to send for him and take away his life, for by that means they would ingratiate themselves with the one, and have no reason to fear the other ; adding, it is related, with a smile, that " a dead man cannot bite." This advice being approved of, they committed the execution of it to Achillas. He, therefore, taking with him as his accomplices one Septimius, a man that had formerly held a command under Pompey, and Salvius, another centurion, with three or four attendants, made up towards Pompey's galley. In the mean time, all the chiefest of those who accompanied Pompey in this voy- age, were come into his ship to learn the event of their embassy. But when they saw the manner of their recep- tion, that in appearance it was neither princely nor hon- orable, nor indeed in any way answerable to the hopes of Theophanes, or their expectation, (for there came but a few men in a fisherman's boat to meet them,) they began to suspect the meanness of their entertainment, and gave warning to Pompey that he should row back his galley, whilst he was out of their reach, and make for the sea. By this time, the Egyptian boat drew near, and Septimius

standing up first, saluted Pompey in the Latin tongue, by