Dum bellum autem infert patriae Cinna, Cn. Pompeius, Magni pater, cuius praeclara opera bello Marsico praecipue circa Picenum agrum, ut praescripsimus, usa erat res publica quique Asculum ceperat, circa quam urbem, cum in multis aliis regionibus exercitus dispersi forent, quinque et septuaginta milia civium Romanorum, amplius sexaginta Italicorum una die conflixerant, frustratus spe continuandi consulatus ita se dubium mediumque partibus praestitit, ut omnia ex proprio usu ageret temporibusque insidiari videretur, et huc atque illuc, unde spes maior adfulsisset potentiae, sese exercitumque deflecteret.
While Cinna was waging war against his country, the conduct of Gnaeus Pompeius, the father of Pompey the Great, was somewhat equivocal. As I have already told, the state had made use of his distinguished services in the Marsian war, particularly in the territory of Picenum; he had taken Asculum, in the vicinity of which, though armies were scattered in other regions also, seventy-five thousand Roman citizens and more than sixty thousand Italians had met in battle on a single day. Foiled in his hope of a second term in the consulship, he maintained a doubtful and neutral attitude as between the two parties, so that he seemed to be acting entirely in his own interest and to be watching his chance, turning with his army now to one side and now to the other, according as each offered a greater promise for power for himself.
final_alignments\Velleius_Paterculus_Compendium.json