Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius
Pompey the Great, the next major leader who aggravated the crisis, was born Gnaeus Pompeius, but took his own "cognomen" of Magnus ("the Great"). Pompey as a young man was allied to Sulla, but in the consular elections of 78 BC, he supported Lepidus against Sulla's wishes. When Sulla died later that year, Lepidus revolted, and Pompey suppressed him on behalf of the senate. Then he asked for proconsular "imperium" in Hispania, to deal with the populares general Quintus Sertorius, who had held out for the past three years against Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, one of Sulla's most able generals.