Individuals capture attention and engross history, but the most revolutionary changes in Roman politics were the work of families or of a few men. […] A few years, and Pompeius the Dictator would have been assassinated in the Senate by honourable men, at the foot of his own statue. […] A few names stand out, through merit or accident, from a dreary background. […] About the last three names few attempts at identification have been made, none satisfactory. […] He had few illusions about Pompeius, little sympathy with his allies.