ABSTRACT
While Pompey was conquering the pirates by kindness, Quintus Metellus was spreading fire and bloodshed throughout Crete, massacring his prisoners and growing rich on their loot. Metellus belonged to the small circle of the old nobility who would have liked to govern the Empire on the system of Scipio Æmilianus, and his severity was a deliberate protest against the clemency of the demagogue Pompey who was not ashamed to court the favour of the people by making terms with the evil-doers. In their desperation the pirates appealed to Pompey with offers of submission, and Pompey, only too glad to humiliate Metellus, eagerly accepted them. On the pretext that the Gabinian Law put Crete under his orders, he despatched Lucius Octavius to replace Metellus; but Metellus retorted with a declaration that Crete was outside Pompey's jurisdiction and inflicted condign punishment upon the cities which, in reliance upon Pompey's decree, had refused him obedience. Lucius Octavius was very nearly forced into maintaining the rights of his chief by defending the pirates against a Roman Proconsul. Happily more serious incidents intervened to distract Pompey from this awkward quarrel.
