[
20]
Many citizens began to talk to each other about this,
saying
that the only remedy for existing evils was the one-man power, but that
there was need of a man who combined strength of character and mildness of
temper, thereby indicating Pompey, who had a sufficient army under his
command and who appeared to be both a friend of the people and a leader of
the Senate by virtue of his rank, a man of temperance and self-control and
easy of access, or at all events so considered. This expectation of a
dictatorship Pompey discountenanced in words, but in fact he did everything
secretly to promote it, and willingly overlooked the prevailing disorder and
the interregnum consequent upon it. Milo, who had assisted him in his
controversy with Clodius, and had acquired great popularity by the recall of
Cicero, now sought the consulship, as he considered it a favorable time in
view of the present interregnum; but
Pompey kept postponing the comitia until
Milo became
disgusted, believing that Pompey was
false to him, and withdrew to his native town of Lanuvium, which they say
was the first city founded in Italy by Diomedes on his return from Troy, and
which is situated about 150 stades from Rome.