The Civil War
De Bello Civili
Headnote
Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Civili are his account of the war against Pompey and the senatorial party, written, like the Gallic commentaries, in the effaced third person and in the same lean campaign-report voice. Three books cover the years 49–48 BC, from the breakdown at Rome that drove Caesar across the Rubicon to the murder of Pompey in Egypt and the opening of the Alexandrian war, where the narrative breaks off. The work is more guarded and more pointed than the Gallic War: this is a war against fellow citizens, and Caesar is managing how it is seen. He opens with the Senate’s last decree and the suppression of the tribunes’ veto, so that the march on Italy reads as the defense of constitutional right; throughout, he records his own repeated overtures for peace and the other side’s refusals, and he keeps the surface cool while the Pompeian camp fills with arrogance, debt, and the dividing of spoils not yet won. The restraint that protected him in Gaul is doing the same work here, closer to the surface.
Book 1 carries the lightning campaign in Italy—Corfinium, where Domitius is besieged, surrenders, and is pointedly spared—and then the Spanish campaign against Pompey’s legates Afranius and Petreius, decided at Ilerda not by battle but by maneuver, thirst, and the cutting of supply, ending in a bloodless surrender Caesar is at pains to present as clemency. Book 2 sets three pieces side by side: the long siege of Massilia, with its set-piece of the brick tower and the musculus and the two sea-battles; Varro’s collapse in Further Spain; and, against these successes, the disaster in Africa, where the rash young Curio, lured by a feigned retreat, loses his army and his life on the Bagradas to Juba’s Numidians. Book 3 is the heart of the war: the winter crossing of the Adriatic past Bibulus’s blockade, the vast circumvallation at Dyrrachium, the costly reverse there when the Allobrogian deserters betray the gap in the lines, and then the reversal at Pharsalus, narrated with deliberate flatness—Pompey’s cavalry plan, the hidden fourth line that breaks it, the flight, and the captured camp with its arbors and silver. The book ends in Egypt with Pompey’s murder in the boat off Pelusium, the portents of victory reported from the temples of Asia, and Caesar drawn into the Alexandrian war. The later wars—Alexandria, Africa, Spain—were continued after Caesar’s death by other hands and are not part of this work.
The translation renders Caesar’s rapid, exact Latin in clear modern English at a high register, keeping the third-person reportage, the technical precision of the military, naval, and engineering vocabulary, and the measured cadence with which the most consequential events—a massacre of surrendered recruits, the murder of Pompey, the dead piled in the ditches at Dyrrachium—are set down. Roman offices, ranks, and realia are kept in their own world (consul, proconsul, legate, the tribunes’ veto, the Senate’s final decree, the recalled veterans, the musculus and the testudo); the apparatus is carried in the glossary rather than in footnotes to the text. Direct speech, where Caesar gives it—Curio rallying his wavering army, Labienus swearing not to return except as victor, the dying eagle-bearer—is kept direct and spare; the long chains of reported argument are rendered as clean reported speech without manufacturing quotation the Latin does not give.
When the dispatch from Caesar had been delivered by Fabius to the consuls, it was only with difficulty, and after the keenest insistence of the tribunes of the plebs, that they were brought to allow it to be read aloud in the Senate; that any motion be put to the Senate on the strength of the dispatch could not be obtained at all.
Litteris a Fabio C. Caesaris consulibus redditis aegre ab his impetratum est summa tribunorum plebis contentione ut in senatu recitarentur; ut vero ex litteris ad senatum referretur, impetrari non potuit.
The consuls bring before the House the state of the commonwealth in unbounded terms. Lucius Lentulus the consul promises that he will not fail the Senate and the commonwealth, if they are willing to speak their views boldly and resolutely;
referunt consules de re publica infinite. L. Lentulus consul senatu rei publicae se non defuturum pollicetur, si audacter ac fortiter sententias dicere velint;
but if they have regard to Caesar and court his favor, as they had done on earlier occasions, then he will take counsel for himself and will not bow to the Senate’s authority: he too has a way back to Caesar’s favor and friendship.
sin Caesarem respiciant atque eius gratiam sequantur, ut superioribus fecerint temporibus, se sibi consilium capturum neque senatus auctoritati obtemperaturum; habere se quoque ad Caesaris gratiam atque amicitiam receptum.
This speech of Scipio’s, since the Senate was meeting within the city and Pompey was close at hand, seemed to issue from Pompey’s own mouth.
Haec Scipionis oratio, quod senatus in urbe habebatur Pompeiusque aderat, ex ipsius ore Pompei mitti videbatur.
Some had advanced a milder opinion, as at first Marcus Marcellus, who, entering upon that line, held that the matter ought not to be brought before the Senate until levies had been held throughout Italy and armies enrolled, under whose protection the Senate might dare to decree, in safety and freedom, whatever it wished;
dixerat aliquis leniorem sententiam, ut primo M. Marcellus, ingressus in eam orationem, non oportere ante de ea re ad senatum referri, quam dilectus tota Italia habiti et exercitus conscripti essent, quo praesidio tuto et libere senatus quae vellet decernere auderet;
or Marcus Calidius, who moved that Pompey should set out for his own provinces, so that there might be no cause for arms: Caesar was afraid, he urged, since two legions had been wrested from him, that Pompey seemed to be holding them back near the city to his peril; or Marcus Rufus, who followed Calidius’s proposal with a few changes.
ut M. Calidius, qui censebat, ut Pompeius in suas provincias proficisceretur, ne qua esset armorum causa; timere Caesarem ereptis ab eo duabus legionibus, ne ad eius periculum reservare et retinere eas ad urbem Pompeius videretur; ut M. Rufus, qui sententiam Calidi paucis fere mutatis rebus sequebatur.
All of these were set upon and harried by the abuse of the consul Lucius Lentulus.
hi omnes convicio L. Lentuli consulis correpti exagitabantur.
Lentulus flatly refused to put Calidius’s motion to the vote, and Marcellus, terrified by the abuse, withdrew from his own proposal.
Lentulus sententiam Calidi pronuntiaturum se omnino negavit, Marcellus perterritus conviciis a sua sententia discessit.
So, by the consul’s shouting, by the dread of the army at hand, and by the threats of Pompey’s friends, the greater number were driven, unwilling and under compulsion, to adopt Scipio’s proposal: that Caesar should disband his army before a fixed day; if he did not, he should be held to be acting against the commonwealth.
sic vocibus consulis, terrore praesentis exercitus, minis amicorum Pompei plerique compulsi inviti et coacti Scipionis sententiam sequuntur: uti ante certam diem Caesar exercitum dimittat; si non faciat, eum adversus rem publicam facturum videri.
Marcus Antonius and Quintus Cassius, tribunes of the plebs, interpose their veto. The question of the tribunes’ veto is at once brought up.
intercedit M. Antonius Q. Cassius tribuni plebis. refertur confestim de intercessione tribunorum.
Harsh opinions are spoken; and the more bitterly and cruelly each man spoke, the more loudly he was praised by Caesar’s enemies.
dicuntur sententiae graves; ut quisque acerbissime crudelissimeque dixit, ita quam maxime ab inimicis Caesaris collaudatur.
The Senate having been dismissed toward evening, all who belong to that order are summoned by Pompey. He praises the eager and stiffens their resolve for the future; the more sluggish he chides and goads on.
Misso ad vesperum senatu omnes, qui sunt eius ordinis, a Pompeio evocantur. laudat promptos atque in posterum confirmat, segniores castigat atque incitat.
Many are called up from every quarter out of Pompey’s veteran armies by the hope of rewards and promotions; many are sent for out of the two legions that had been handed over by Caesar.
multi undique ex veteribus Pompei exercitibus spe praemiorum atque ordinum evocantur, multi ex duabus legionibus, quae sunt traditae a Caesare arcessuntur.
The city is filled, and the Sacred Slope, and the Comitium, with tribunes, centurions, and recalled veterans.
All the friends of the consuls, the connections of Pompey and of those who bore old quarrels against Caesar, are herded into the Senate.
omnes amici consulum, necessarii Pompei atque eorum, qui veteres inimicitias cum Caesare gerebant, in senatum coguntur.
By their shouting and their massed presence the weaker are cowed, the wavering are stiffened, and from the greater number the power of deciding freely is taken away.
quorum vocibus et concursu terrentur infirmiores, dubii confirmantur, plerisque vero libere decernendi potestas eripitur.
Lucius Piso the censor offers to go to Caesar, and likewise Lucius Roscius the praetor, to inform him of these matters; they ask a space of six days to accomplish it.
pollicetur L. Piso censor sese iturum ad Caesarem, item L. Roscius praetor, qui de his rebus eum doceant; sex dies ad eam rem conficiendam spatii postulant.
Opinions are even voiced by some that envoys be sent to Caesar to set the Senate’s will before him.
dicuntur etiam ab nonnullis sententiae, ut legati ad Caesarem mittantur, qui voluntatem senatus ei proponant.
All these proposals are resisted, and against them all is set the speech of the consul, of Scipio, and of Cato. Old quarrels with Caesar drive Cato on, and the smart of his defeat at the polls.
Omnibus his resistitur omnibusque oratio consulis, Scipionis, Catonis opponitur. Catonem veteres inimicitiae Caesaris incitant et dolor repulsae.
Lentulus is moved by the greatness of his debts, by the hope of an army and of provinces, and by the bribes of those who would have him name them kings; among his own circle he boasts that he will be a second Sulla, to whom the supreme command shall pass.
Lentulus aeris alieni magnitudine et spe exercitus ac provinciarum et regum appellandorum largitionibus movetur, seque alterum fore Sullam inter suos gloriatur, ad quem summa imperii redeat.
The same hope of a province and of armies drives Scipio on—armies that he thinks he will share with Pompey by reason of their kinship—and at the same time the fear of prosecutions, and his own ostentation, and the flattery of the powerful, who at that time counted for most in public affairs and in the courts.
Scipionem eadem spes provinciae atque exercituum impellit, quos se pro necessitudine partiturum cum Pompeio arbitratur, simul iudiciorum metus atque ostentatio sui et adulatio potentium, qui in re publica iudiciisque tum plurimum pollebant.
Pompey himself, spurred on by Caesar’s enemies, and because he wished no one to be made his equal in standing, had turned wholly away from Caesar’s friendship and had returned to favor with their common enemies—most of whom he had himself fastened upon Caesar during the time of their connection by marriage;
ipse Pompeius ab inimicis Caesaris incitatus, et quod neminem dignitate secum exaequari volebat, totum se ab eius amicitia averterat et cum communibus inimicis in gratiam redierat, quorum ipse maximam partem illo adfinitatis tempore iniunxerat Caesari;
For these reasons everything is done in haste and confusion. No time is granted to Caesar’s connections to inform him, nor to the tribunes of the plebs is the opportunity given to plead against the danger to themselves, or even to retain by their veto the last right that Lucius Sulla had left them;
His de causis aguntur omnia raptim atque turbate. nec docendi Caesaris propinquis eius spatium datur, nec tribunis plebis sui periculi deprecandi neque etiam extremi iuris intercessione retinendi, quod L. Sulla reliquerat, facultas tribuitur,
but on the seventh day they are forced to think of their own safety—those tribunes whom, in earlier times, the most turbulent of their kind had been used to take account of and to fear only after eight months of their various proceedings.
sed de sua salute septimo die cogitare coguntur, quod illi turbulentissimi superioribus temporibus tribuni plebis post octo denique menses variarum actionum respicere ac timere consuerant.
Recourse is had to that final and uttermost decree of the Senate, to which men had never before descended except almost amid the very burning of the city and the desperate boldness of authors of subversion when all hope of safety was gone: that the consuls, the praetors, the tribunes of the plebs, and those of proconsular rank who are near the city should see to it that the commonwealth take no harm.
decurritur ad illud extremum atque ultimum senatus consultum, quo nisi paene in ipso urbis incendio atque in desperatione omnium salutis latorum audacia numquam ante descensum est: dent operam consules, praetores, tribuni plebis, quique pro consulibus sunt ad urbem, nequid res publica detrimenti capiat.
These measures are entered in the decree of the Senate on the seventh day before the Ides of January. And so in the first five days on which the Senate could meet, from the day Lentulus entered upon his consulship—two days of public assembly excepted—both concerning Caesar’s command and concerning men of the highest rank, the tribunes of the plebs, the gravest and most bitter decrees are passed.
haec senatus consulto perscribuntur a. d. vii id. Ian. itaque v primis diebus, quibus haberi senatus potuit, qua ex die consulatum iniit Lentulus, biduo excepto comitiali et de imperio Caesaris et de amplissimis viris, tribunis plebis, gravissime acerbissimeque decernitur.
At once the tribunes of the plebs flee from the city and betake themselves to Caesar. He was at that time at Ravenna, awaiting an answer to his most moderate demands, in case the matter might be brought to a peaceful settlement by any fairness on men’s part.
profugiunt statim ex urbe tribuni plebis seseque ad Caesarem conferunt. is eo tempore erat Ravennae exspectabatque suis lenissimis postulatis responsa, siqua hominum aequitate res ad otium deduci posset.
Over the following days the Senate is held outside the city. Pompey urges those same points he had set forth through Scipio; he praises the courage and constancy of the Senate and lays out his forces: he has ten legions ready;
Proximis diebus habetur extra urbem senatus. Pompeius eadem illa, quae per Scipionem ostenderat, agit, senatus virtutem constantiamque collaudat, copias suas exponit: legiones habere sese paratas x;
moreover, he has learned and ascertained that the soldiers’ minds are estranged from Caesar, and that they cannot be persuaded to defend him or follow him.
praeterea cognitum compertumque sibi alieno esse animo in Caesarem milites, neque iis posse persuaderi, uti eum defendant aut sequantur.
On the remaining matters report is made to the Senate: that a levy be held throughout Italy; that Faustus Sulla be sent as propraetor to Mauretania; that money be given to Pompey from the treasury. Report is also made concerning King Juba, that he be made an ally and a friend.
de reliquis rebus ad senatum refertur: tota Italia dilectus habeatur; Faustus Sulla pro praetore in Mauretaniam mittatur; pecunia uti ex aerario Pompeio detur. refertur etiam de rege Iuba, ut socius sit atque amicus.
Marcellus declares he will not permit this for the present; concerning Faustus, the tribune of the plebs Philippus blocks it.
Marcellus non passurum in praesentia negat; de Fausto impedit Philippus tribunus plebis.
On the rest, decrees of the Senate are drawn up. The provinces are assigned to private citizens, two consular and the rest praetorian. Syria falls to Scipio, Gaul to Lucius Domitius. By a private arrangement Philippus and Cotta are passed over, and their lots are not cast.
de reliquis rebus senatus consulta perscribuntur. provinciae privatis decernuntur, duae consulares, reliquae praetoriae. Scipioni obvenit Syria, L. Domitio Gallia. Philippus et Cotta privato consilio praetereuntur, neque eorum sortes deiciuntur.
Into the remaining provinces praetors are sent. Nor do they wait, as had happened in earlier years, for their command to be referred to the people and for them to go out in the general’s cloak, having pronounced their vows.
in reliquas provincias praetores mittuntur. neque exspectant, quod superioribus annis acciderat, ut de eorum imperio ad populum feratur paludatique votis nuncupatis exeant.
The consuls—a thing that had never happened before this time—set out from the city, and private men have lictors in the city and on the Capitol, against all the precedents of antiquity.
consules, quod ante id tempus accidit nunquam, ex urbe proficiscuntur, lictoresque habent in urbe et Capitolio privati contra omnia vetustatis exempla.
Throughout all Italy levies are held, arms are requisitioned, monies are exacted from the towns and taken from the shrines, and all law human and divine is thrown into confusion.
tota Italia dilectus habentur, arma imperantur, pecuniae a municipiis exiguntur, e fanis tolluntur, omnia divina humanaque iura permiscentur.
When these things were known, Caesar addresses his soldiers in assembly. He recalls the wrongs done him by his enemies through all this time; he complains that Pompey had been led astray and corrupted by them, through envy and disparagement of his own renown—Pompey, whose honor and standing he had himself always favored and furthered.
Quibus rebus cognitis Caesar apud milites contionatur. omnium temporum iniurias inimicorum in se commemorat; a quibus deductum ac depravatum Pompeium queritur invidia atque obtrectatione laudis suae, cuius ipse honori et dignitati semper faverit adiutorque fuerit.
He complains that a new precedent had been brought into the commonwealth, that the tribunes’ veto should be branded and crushed by arms—the veto that in earlier years had been restored by arms.
novum in re publica introductum exemplum queritur, ut tribunicia intercessio armis votaretur atque opprimeretur, quae superioribus annis armis esset restituta.
Sulla, who had stripped the tribunician power of everything else, had nonetheless left its veto free;
Sullam nudata omnibus rebus tribunicia potestate tamen intercessionem liberam reliquisse;
Pompey, who is held to have restored what was lost, had taken away even what they had possessed before.
Pompeium, qui amissa restituisse videatur bona, etiam, quae ante habuerint, ademisse.
Whenever it had been decreed that the magistrates should see to it that the commonwealth take no harm—by which formula and which decree of the Senate the Roman people had been called to arms—it had been done in the case of ruinous laws, of tribunician violence, of a secession of the people who had seized the temples and the higher ground;
quotienscumque sit decretum, darent operam magistratus, nequid res publica detrimenti caperet, qua voce et quo senatus consulto populus Romanus ad arma sit vocatus, factum in perniciosis legibus, in vi tribunicia, in secessione populi, templis locisque editioribus occupatis;
and he points out that these precedents of an earlier age had been atoned for by the fates of Saturninus and the Gracchi. Of all these things, at that time, none had been done—none even contemplated: no law promulgated, no dealing with the people begun, no secession made.
atque haec superioris aetatis exempla expiata Saturnini atque Gracchorum casibus docet. quarum rerum illo tempore nihil factum, ne cogitatum quidem nulla lex promulgata, non cum populo agi coeptum, nulla secessio facta.
He exhorts them, who under his command as their general had for nine years served the commonwealth with the greatest success, had fought very many victorious battles, and had pacified all Gaul and Germany, to defend their general’s reputation and standing from his enemies.
hortatur, cuius imperatoris ductu viiii annis rem publicam felicissime gesserint plurimaque proelia secunda fecerint, omnem Galliam Germaniamque pacaverint, ut eius existimationem dignitatemque ab inimicis defendant.
The soldiers of the Thirteenth Legion, which was present—for this one he had called up at the first sign of trouble, the rest had not yet assembled—cry out as one that they are ready to defend their general and the tribunes of the plebs from the wrongs done them.
conclamant legionis xiii, quae aderat, milites — hanc enim initio tumultus evocaverat, reliquae nondum convenerant — sese paratos esse imperatoris sui tribunorumque plebis iniurias defendere.
Having learned the soldiers’ will, he sets out for Ariminum with that legion, and there meets the tribunes of the plebs who had fled to him. The remaining legions he calls up from their winter quarters and orders to follow after.
Cognita militum voluntate Ariminum cum ea legione proficiscitur, ibique tribunos plebis, qui ad eum confugerant, convenit. reliquas legiones ex hibernis evocat et subsequi iubet.
There comes the young Lucius Caesar, whose father was a legate of Caesar’s. Having finished the rest of his discourse, the business for which he had come, he indicates that he has charges from Pompey to him touching a private matter:
Pompey wishes to clear himself in Caesar’s eyes, that Caesar should not turn the things he had done for the commonwealth’s sake into an affront to himself. He had always held the interests of the commonwealth above private ties. Caesar too, for the sake of his own dignity, ought to lay aside his partisan zeal and his anger for the commonwealth’s sake, and not be so bitterly enraged at his enemies that, in hoping to harm them, he harm the commonwealth.
velle Pompeium se Caesari purgatum, ne ea, quae rei publicae causa egerit, in suam contumeliam vertat. semper se rei publicae commoda privatis necessitudinibus habuisse potiora. Caesarem quoque pro sua dignitate debere et studium et iracundiam suam rei publicae dimittere neque adeo graviter irasci inimicis, ut cum illis nocere se speret, rei publicae noceat.
He adds a few things of the same kind, joined with an apology for Pompey. To nearly the same effect and in nearly the same words the praetor Roscius treats with Caesar, and indicates that Pompey had spoken of these matters to him.
pauca eiusdem generis addit cum excusatione Pompei coniuncta. eadem fere atque eisdem verbis praetor Roscius agit cum Caesare sibique Pompeium commemorasse demonstrat.
Although these things seemed to bear in no way on lightening the wrongs, yet, having found suitable men through whom to convey to Pompey what he wished, Caesar asks of both, since they had brought Pompey’s charges to him, that they not be loath to carry his own demands to Pompey as well, if by a little labor they might remove great disputes and free all Italy from fear.
Quae res etsi nihil ad levandas iniurias pertinere videbantur, tamen idoneos nactus homines, per quos ea quae vellet ad eum perferrentur, petit ab utroque, quoniam Pompei mandata ad se detulerint, ne graventur sua quoque ad eum postulata deferre, si parvo labore magnas controversias tollere atque omnem Italiam metu liberare possint.
For himself, his standing had always been foremost and dearer to him than life. It had grieved him that a favor of the Roman people was being wrenched from him by his enemies through insult, and that, his command cut short by six months, he was being dragged back to the city—he whose candidacy in absence at the next elections the people had ordered should be allowed.
sibi semper primam fuisse dignitatem vitaque potiorem. doluisse se, quod populi Romani beneficium sibi per contumeliam ab inimicis extorqueretur ereptoque semenstri imperio in urbem retraheretur, cuius absentis rationem haberi proximis comitiis populus iussisset.
Yet this loss of his honor, for the commonwealth’s sake, he had borne with an even mind; when he had sent a letter to the Senate that all should give up their armies, not even that had he obtained.
tamen hanc iacturam honoris sui rei publicae causa aequo animo tulisse; cum litteras ad senatum miserit, ut omnes ab exercitibus discederent, ne id quidem impetravisse.
Throughout Italy levies are held; the two legions are retained that had been led away from him under the pretense of a Parthian war; the state is under arms. To what could all this point, if not to his ruin?
tota Italia dilectus haberi, retineri legiones ii, quae ab se simulatione Parthici belli sint abductae, civitatem esse in armis. quonam haec omnia nisi ad suam perniciem pertinere?
Yet, even so, he was ready to come down to anything and to endure anything for the commonwealth’s sake. Let Pompey go to his provinces; let both of them disband their armies; let all in Italy lay down their arms; let fear be removed from the state; let there be free elections, and let the whole conduct of the commonwealth be entrusted to the Senate and the Roman people.
sed tamen ad omnia se descendere paratum atque omnia pati rei publicae causa. proficiscatur Pompeius in suas provincias, ipsi exercitus dimittant, discedant in Italia omnes ab armis, metus e civitate tollatur, libera comitia atque omnis res publica senatui populoque Romano permittatur.
That these things might be done the more easily and on settled terms, and sanctioned by an oath, let Pompey either come nearer himself or allow Caesar to come nearer; by conferences all the disputes would be composed.
haec quo facilius certisque condicionibus fiant et iureiurando sanciantur, aut ipse propius accedat aut se patiatur accedere; fore uti per colloquia omnes controversiae componantur.
Having received the charges, Roscius reaches Capua with Caesar’s man and there finds the consuls and Pompey; he reports Caesar’s demands.
Acceptis mandatis Roscius cum Caesare Capuam pervenit ibique consules Pompeiumque invenit; postulata Caesaris renuntiat.
They, the matter deliberated, give their answer and send back to him through the same men their charges in writing, the substance of which was this:
illi deliberata re respondent scriptaque ad eum mandata per eosdem remittunt, quorum haec erat summa:
that Caesar should return to Gaul, withdraw from Ariminum, and disband his armies; if he did this, Pompey would go to the Spains.
Caesar in Galliam reverteretur, Arimino excederet, exercitus dimitteret; quae si fecisset, Pompeium in Hispanias iturum.
Meanwhile, until a pledge had been given that Caesar would do what he promised, the consuls and Pompey would not break off their levies.
interea quoad fides esset data Caesarem facturum, quae polliceretur, non intermissuros consules Pompeiumque dilectus.
It was an unfair condition to demand that Caesar withdraw from Ariminum and return to his province, while Pompey himself held provinces and legions that were not his own; to wish that Caesar’s army be disbanded, while he held a levy;
Erat iniqua condicio postulare, ut Caesar Arimino excederet atque in provinciam reverteretur, ipsum et provincias et legiones alienas tenere; exercitum Caesaris velle dimitti, dilectus habere;
to promise that he would go to his province, yet not to fix the day before which he would go—so that, if he had not set out when Caesar’s consulship was over, he might still seem bound by no lying oath;
polliceri se in provinciam iturum neque, ante quem diem iturus sit, definire, ut, si peracto consulatu Caesaris non profectus esset, nulla tamen mendaci religione obstrictus videretur;
and to grant no time for a conference, nor to promise that he would come nearer, brought on great despair of peace.
tempus vero colloquio non dare neque accessurum polliceri magnam pacis desperationem adferebat.
On learning of his approach, Thermus, mistrusting the town’s goodwill, leads his cohorts out of the city and flees. On the march his soldiers desert him and return home.
cuius adventu cognito diffisus municipii voluntati Thermus cohortes ex urbe reducit et profugit. milites in itinere ab eo discedunt ac domum revertuntur.
Curio recovers Iguvium with the fullest goodwill of all. When this was known, Caesar, trusting in the goodwill of the towns, leads the cohorts of the Thirteenth Legion out of their garrisons and sets out for Auximum—a town that Attius was holding with cohorts he had brought in, and where, with senators sent round through all Picenum, he was conducting a levy.
When Caesar’s approach was known, the decurions of Auximum come in a body to Attius Varus; they declare that the matter is not for their judgment, and that neither they nor the rest of the townsmen could endure that Gaius Caesar, a general who had deserved well of the commonwealth and had performed such great deeds, should be shut out from the town and its walls: let him therefore have regard to posterity and to his own danger.
Adventu Caesaris cognito decuriones Auximi ad Attium Varum frequentes conveniunt; docent sui iudicii rem non esse; neque se neque reliquos municipes pati posse C. Caesarem imperatorem, bene de re publica meritum, tantis rebus gestis oppido moenibusque prohiberi: proinde habeat rationem posteritatis et periculi sui.
Moved by their speech, Varus leads out of the town the garrison he had brought in, and flees.
quorum oratione permotus Varus praesidium, quod introduxerat, ex oppido educit ac profugit.
A few soldiers from Caesar’s front ranks overtook him and forced him to halt.
hunc ex primo ordine pauci Caesaris consecuti milites consistere coegerunt.
When battle was joined, Varus is deserted by his own men; some part of the soldiers disperse to their homes, the rest come over to Caesar, and together with them Lucius Pupius, a chief centurion, is taken and brought in—a man who had held this same rank before in the army of Gnaeus Pompey.
commisso proelio deseritur a suis Varus; nonnulla pars militum domum discedit; reliqui ad Caesarem perveniunt, atque una cum iis deprensus L. Pupius, primi pili centurio, adducitur, qui hunc eundem ordinem in exercitu Cn. Pompei antea duxerat.
But Caesar praises Attius’s soldiers, releases Pupius, thanks the people of Auximum, and promises that he will remember their deed.
at Caesar milites Attianos collaudat, Pupium dimittit, Auximatibus agit gratias seque eorum facti memorem fore pollicetur.
When these things were reported at Rome, so great a terror suddenly fell upon the city that, when the consul Lentulus had come to open the treasury and bring out money for Pompey by decree of the Senate, he fled from the city at once, the inner treasury barely opened. For it was being falsely reported that Caesar was now approaching and that his cavalry were at hand.
Quibus rebus Romam nuntiatis tantus repente terror invasit, ut cum Lentulus consul ad aperiendum aerarium venisset ad pecuniamque Pompeio ex senatus consulto proferendam, protinus aperto sanctiore aerario ex urbe profugeret. Caesar enim adventare iam iamque et adesse eius equites falso nuntiabantur.
His colleague Marcellus and most of the magistrates followed him.
hunc Marcellus collega et plerique magistratus consecuti sunt.
Gnaeus Pompey had set out from the city the day before and was making his way to the legions he had received from Caesar and stationed in Apulia for winter quarters.
Cn. Pompeius pridie eius diei ex urbe profectus iter ad legiones habebat, quas a Caesare acceptas in Apulia hibernorum causa disposuerat.
The levies around the city are broken off; nothing on this side of Capua seems safe to anyone. At Capua they first regain their confidence and rally, and set about holding a levy of the colonists who had been settled at Capua under the Julian law; and the gladiators whom Caesar kept there in a training-school Lentulus has brought out into the forum and, with the hope of freedom, confirms in their loyalty, assigns them horses, and orders them to follow him;
dilectus circa urbem intermittuntur; nihil citra Capuam tutum esse omnibus videtur. Capuae primum sese confirmant et colligunt dilectumque colonorum, qui lege Iulia Capuam deducti erant, habere instituunt; gladiatoresque quos ibi Caesar in ludo habebat, ad forum productos Lentulus libertatis spe confirmat atque iis equos attribuit et se sequi iussit;
but afterward, warned by his friends, since the measure was being censured by everyone’s judgment, he distributes them among the households of the assize-district of Campania, to be kept under guard.
quos postea monitus ab suis, quod ea res omnium iudicio reprehendebatur, circum familias conventus Campaniae custodiae causa distribuit.
Advancing from Auximum, Caesar traverses the whole territory of Picenum. All the prefectures of those regions receive him with the gladdest hearts and aid his army with everything.
Auximo Caesar progressus omnem agrum Picenum percurrit. cunctae earum regionum praefecturae libentissimis animis eum recipiunt exercitumque eius omnibus rebus iuvant.
Even from Cingulum, a town that Labienus had founded and built up at his own expense, envoys come to him and promise that they will most eagerly do whatever he commands.
etiam Cingulo, quod oppidum Labienus constituerat suaque pecunia exaedificaverat, ad eum legati veniunt, quaeque imperaverit, se cupidissime facturos pollicentur.
He requisitions soldiers; they send them. Meanwhile the Twelfth Legion overtakes Caesar. With these two he sets out for Asculum Picenum. That town Lentulus Spinther was holding with ten cohorts; on learning of Caesar’s approach he flees from the town and, trying to lead his cohorts away with him, is deserted by a great part of his soldiers.
milites imperat; mittunt. interea legio xii Caesarem consequitur. cum his duabus Asculum Picenum proficiscitur. id oppidum Lentulus Spinther x cohortibus tenebat; qui Caesaris adventu cognito profugit ex oppido cohortesque secum abducere conatus magna parte militum deseritur.
Left on the march with a few men, he falls in with Vibullius Rufus, sent by Pompey into the territory of Picenum to steady the people. From him Vibullius, informed of what was being done in Picenum, takes over the soldiers and dismisses the man himself.
relictus in itinere cum paucis incidit in Vibullium Rufum missum a Pompeio in agrum Picenum confirmandorum hominum causa. a quo factus Vibullius certior, quae res in Piceno gererentur, milites ab eo accipit, ipsum dimittit.
Likewise from the neighboring regions he draws together what cohorts he can out of the Pompeian levies; among them he takes up Lucilius Hirrus, fleeing from Camerinum with six cohorts he had kept there in garrison;
item ex finitimis regionibus quas potest contrahit cohortes ex dilectibus Pompeianis; in his Camerino fugientem Lucilium Hirrum cum sex cohortibus, quas ibi in praesidio habuerat, excipit;
when these are gathered, he makes thirteen. With these he reaches Domitius Ahenobarbus at Corfinium by forced marches, and reports that Caesar is at hand with two legions.
quibus coactis xiii efficit. cum his ad Domitium Ahenobarbum Corfinium magnis itineribus pervenit Caesaremque adesse cum legionibus duabus nuntiat.
Firmum recovered and Lentulus driven out, Caesar orders that the soldiers who had deserted him be sought out and a levy begun. He himself, delaying there a single day for the sake of grain, hastens to Corfinium.
Recepto Firmo expulsoque Lentulo Caesar conquiri milites, qui ab eo discesserant, dilectumque institui iubet. ipse unum diem ibi rei frumentariae causa moratus Corfinium contendit.moratus Corfinium contendit.
When he had reached it, five cohorts sent ahead by Domitius from the town were breaking down a bridge over the river, which was about three miles from the town.
eo cum venisset, cohortes v praemissae a Domitio ex oppido pontem fluminis interrumpebant, qui erat ab oppido milia passuum circiter iii.
There, when battle had been joined with Caesar’s advance guard, Domitius’s men were swiftly driven back from the bridge and withdrew into the town.
ibi cum antecursoribus Caesaris proelio commisso celeriter Domitiani a ponte repulsi se in oppidum receperunt.
Caesar, having led his legions across, halted at the town and pitched camp close by the wall.
Caesar legionibus transductis ad oppidum constitit iuxtaque murum castra posuit.
The matter known, Domitius sends to Pompey in Apulia men acquainted with the country, with a great reward set before them and a letter, to seek and beg him to come to his aid: Caesar, with two armies and the narrowness of the ground, could easily be cut off and kept from grain.
Re cognita Domitius ad Pompeium in Apuliam peritos regionum magno proposito praemio cum litteris mittit, qui petant atque orent, ut sibi subveniat; Caesarem duobus exercitibus et locorum angustiis facile intercludi posse frumentoque prohiberi.
If he did not do this, he and more than thirty cohorts and a great number of senators and Roman knights would come into danger.
quod nisi fecerit, se cohortesque amplius xxx magnumque numerum senatorum atque equitum Romanorum in periculum esse venturum.
Meanwhile, having exhorted his men, he disposes engines on the walls and assigns to each his fixed sector for the city’s defense;
interim suos cohortatus tormenta in muris disponit certasque cuique partes ad custodiam urbis attribuit;
in an assembly he promises the soldiers land out of his own holdings, four iugera each, and a proportional share to the centurions and recalled veterans.
militibus in contione agros ex suis possessionibus pollicetur, quaterna in singulos iugera, et pro rata parte centurionibus evocatisque.
Meanwhile it is reported to Caesar that the people of Sulmo, a town seven miles distant from Corfinium, were eager to do what he wished, but were prevented by the senator Quintus Lucretius and Attius the Paelignian, who held the town with a garrison of seven cohorts.
Interim Caesari nuntiatur Sulmonenses, quod oppidum a Corfinio vii milium intervallo abest, cupere ea facere quae vellet, sed a Q. Lucretio senatore et Attio Paeligno prohiberi, qui id oppidum vii cohortium praesidio tenebant.
He sends there Marcus Antonius with five cohorts of the Thirteenth Legion. As soon as the people of Sulmo saw our standards, they opened the gates, and all of them, townsmen and soldiers alike, came out to meet Antonius with congratulations.
mittit eo M. Antonium cum legionis xiii cohortibus v. Sulmonenses simulatque signa nostra viderunt, portas aperuerunt universique, et oppidani et milites, obviam gratulantes Antonio exierunt.
Lucretius and Attius threw themselves down from the wall. Attius, brought before Antonius, asked to be sent to Caesar. Antonius returned with the cohorts and with Attius on the same day he had set out.
Lucretius et Attius de muro se deiecerunt. Attius ad Antonium deductus petit ut ad Caesarem mitteretur. Antonius cum cohortibus et Attio eodem die quo profectus erat revertitur.
Caesar joined those cohorts to his own army and released Attius unharmed. In the first days Caesar set about fortifying his camp with great works, bringing in grain from the neighboring towns, and awaiting the rest of his forces.
Caesar eas cohortes cum exercitu suo coniunxit Attiumque incolumem dimisit. Caesar primis diebus castra magnis operibus munire et ex finitimis municipiis frumentum comportare reliquasque copias exspectare instituit.
Within those three days the Eighth Legion came to him, and twenty-two cohorts from the new levies of Gaul, and about three hundred horsemen from the king of Noricum. At their arrival he pitches a second camp on the other side of the town and puts Curio in charge of it.
eo triduo legio viii ad eum venit cohortesque ex novis Galliae dilectibus xxii equitesque ab rege Norico circiter ccc. quorum adventu altera castra ad alteram oppidi partem ponit; his castris Curionem praefecit.
In the remaining days he set about surrounding the town with a rampart and forts. When the greater part of this work had been completed, at about the same time the men sent to Pompey return.
reliquis diebus oppidum vallo castellisque circumvenire instituit. cuius operis maxima parte effecta eodem fere tempore missi ad Pompeium revertuntur.
Having read the letter through, Domitius conceals its import and announces in his council that Pompey will come quickly to their relief; he exhorts them not to lose heart and to make ready whatever might serve for the town’s defense.
Litteris perlectis Domitius dissimulans in consilio pronuntiat Pompeium celeriter subsidio venturum hortaturque eos ne animo deficiant, quaeque usui ad defendendum oppidum sint parent.
He himself, in secret, confers with a few of his intimates and resolves to take the course of flight.
ipse arcano cum paucis familiaribus suis colloquitur consiliumque fugae capere constituit.
Since Domitius’s face did not agree with his words, and he did everything more nervously and timidly than had been his custom on previous days, and conferred much with his own circle apart, against his habit, for the sake of taking counsel, and shunned the gatherings and assemblies of men, the matter could no longer be hidden and disguised.
cum vultus Domiti cum oratione non consentiret, atque omnia trepidantius timidiusque ageret, quam superioribus diebus consuesset, multumque cum suis consiliandi causa secreto praeter consuetudinem colloqueretur, concilia conventusque hominum fugeret, res diutius tegi dissimularique non potuit.
For Pompey had written back that he would not bring the matter into the gravest peril, and that it was not by his counsel or wish that Domitius had betaken himself into the town of Corfinium: therefore, if any chance offered, let him come to him with all his forces.
Pompeius enim rescripserat sese rem in summum periculum deducturum non esse, neque suo consilio aut voluntate Domitium se in oppidum Corfinium contulisse: proinde, siqua fuisset facultas, ad se cum omnibus copiis veniret.
That this could not be done was the work of the siege and the encircling fortification of the town.
id ne fieri posset, obsidione atque oppidi circummunitione fiebat.
Domitius’s plan once made known, the soldiers who were at Corfinium hold a meeting at early evening and so confer among themselves, through the military tribunes and centurions and the most honorable men of their own rank: that they were being besieged by Caesar;
Divulgato Domiti consilio milites, qui erant Corfinii, primo vesperi secessionem faciunt atque ita inter se per tribunos militum centurionesque atque honestissimos sui generis colloquuntur: obsideri se a Caesare;
that the works and fortifications were nearly finished; that their own leader Domitius, in whose hope and confidence they had held on, was taking the course of flight, casting them all aside; that they ought to take thought for their own safety.
opera munitionesque prope esse perfectas; ducem suum Domitium, cuius spe atque fiducia permanserint, proiectis omnibus fugae consilium capere; debere se suae salutis rationem habere.
At first the Marsi begin to dissent from them and seize that part of the town which seemed most strongly held, and so great a discord arises between them that they attempt to come to blows and fight it out with arms;
ab his primo Marsi dissentire incipiunt eamque oppidi partem quae munitissima videretur occupant, tantaque inter eos dissensio exsistit, ut manum conserere atque armis dimicare conentur;
a little later, however, when go-betweens had been sent back and forth, they learn what they had not known, of Lucius Domitius’s flight.
post paulo tamen internuntiis ultro citroque missis, quae ignorabant, de L. Domiti fuga cognoscunt.
And so all of them, with one accord, bring Domitius out into public view, surround him and keep him under guard, and send envoys from their own number to Caesar: that they were ready to open the gates, to do whatever he commanded, and to hand Lucius Domitius over alive into his power.
itaque omnes uno consilio Domitium productum in publicum circumsistunt et custodiunt, legatosque ex suo numero ad Caesarem mittunt: sese paratos esse portas aperire, quaeque imperaverit facere, et L. Domitium vivum in eius potestatem tradere.
When these things were known, Caesar, although he reckoned it of great importance to gain the town as soon as possible and to bring the cohorts over to himself in his camp, lest by bribery or by some firming of resolve or by false reports any change of will should occur—
Quibus rebus cognitis Caesar, etsi magni interesse arbitrabatur quam primum oppido potiri cohortesque ad se in castra traducere, nequa aut largitionibus aut animi confirmatione aut falsis nuntiis commutatio fieret voluntatis,
for often in war great outcomes turn on small moments—nonetheless, fearing that by the soldiers’ entry and the license of the night the town might be plundered, he praises those who had come and sends them back into the town, ordering the gates and walls to be kept under guard.
quod saepe in bello parvis momentis magni casus intercederent, tamen veritus ne militum introitu et nocturni temporis licentia oppidum diriperetur, eos qui venerant collaudat atque in oppidum dimittit, portas murosque adservari iubet.
He himself stations his soldiers along the works he had begun, not with fixed intervals left between them, as had been the practice of the previous days, but in continuous watches and pickets, so that they touch one another and fill out the whole line of fortification;
ipse iis operibus, quae facere instituerat, milites disponit, non certis spatiis intermissis, ut erat superiorum dierum consuetudo, sed perpetuis vigiliis stationibusque, ut contingant inter se atque omnem munitionem expleant;
he sends the military tribunes and prefects round and exhorts them not only to guard against sallies but also to watch for the secret escape of individual men.
tribunos militum et praefectos circummittit atque hortatur, non solum ab eruptionibus caveant, sed etiam singulorum hominum occultos exitus adservent.
And indeed there was no one among them all of so slack and listless a spirit as to rest that night.
neque vero tam remisso ac languido animo quisquam omnium fuit, qui ea nocte conquieverit.
So great was the suspense over the issue of it all that one man’s mind and heart were drawn one way, another’s another, as to what would befall the people of Corfinium themselves, what Domitius, what Lentulus, what the rest, and what outcomes would overtake each.
tanta erat summae rerum exspectatio, ut alius in aliam partem mente atque animo traheretur, quid ipsis Corfiniensibus, quid Domitio, quid Lentulo, quid reliquis accideret, qui quosque eventus exciperent.
About the fourth watch Lentulus Spinther speaks from the wall with our watches and guards: he wishes, if the opportunity be granted him, to meet with Caesar.
Quarta vigilia circiter Lentulus Spinther de muro cum vigiliis custodibusque nostris colloquitur: velle, si sibi fiat potestas, Caesarem convenire.
The opportunity granted, he is sent out of the town, nor do Domitius’s soldiers leave him until he is brought into Caesar’s sight.
facta potestate ex oppido mittitur, neque ab eo prius Domitiani milites discedunt, quam in conspectum Caesaris deducatur.
With him he pleads for his own safety and entreats him to spare him; he recalls their old friendship and sets out Caesar’s services to him, which were very great:
cum eo de salute sua orat atque obsecrat ut sibi parcat veteremque amicitiam commemorat Caesarisque in se beneficia exponit, quae erant maxima:
that through him he had entered the college of pontiffs, that he had held the province of Spain after his praetorship, that he had been supported in his candidacy for the consulship.
quod per eum in collegium pontificum venerat, quod provinciam Hispaniam ex praetura habuerat, quod in petitione consulatus erat sublevatus.
Caesar breaks off his speech: he had left his province not to do any harm, but to defend himself from the affronts of his enemies, to restore to their standing the tribunes of the plebs driven from the state in that affair, and to set himself and the Roman people free, oppressed as they were by the faction of a few.
cuius orationem Caesar interpellat: se non maleficii causa ex provincia egressum, sed uti se a contumeliis inimicorum defenderet, ut tribunos plebis in ea re ex civitate expulsos in suam dignitatem restitueret, et se et populum Romanum factione paucorum oppressum in libertatem vindicaret.
Heartened by his words, Lentulus asks that he be allowed to return into the town: what he had obtained concerning his own safety would be a comfort to the rest as well in their hope; some were so terrified that they were being driven to take harsher counsel for their own lives. The opportunity granted, he departs.
cuius oratione confirmatus Lentulus, ut in oppidum reverti liceat, petit: quod de sua salute inpetraverit, fore etiam reliquis ad suam spem solacio; adeo esse perterritos nonnullos, ut suae vitae durius consulere cogantur. facta potestate discedit.
Caesar, when day broke, orders all the senators and senators’ children, the military tribunes and Roman knights, to be brought before him.
Caesar, ubi luxit, omnes senatores senatorumque liberos, tribunos militum equitesque Romanos ad se produci iubet.
There were five of senatorial rank: Lucius Domitius, Publius Lentulus Spinther, Lucius Caecilius Rufus, Sextus Quintilius Varus the quaestor, and Lucius Rubrius; besides them Domitius’s son and several other young men, and a great number of Roman knights and decurions whom Domitius had called up from the towns.
erant quinque senatorii ordinis, L. Domitius, P. Lentulus Spinther, L. Caecilius Rufus, Sex. Quintilius Varus quaestor, L. Rubrius; praeterea filius Domiti aliique complures adulescentes et magnus numerus equitum Romanorum et decurionum, quos ex municipiis Domitius evocaverat.
All these, when brought forward, he protects from the insults and abuse of the soldiers; he speaks a few words to them, that no gratitude had been shown him by their party in return for his very great services to them; he releases them all unharmed.
hos omnes productos a contumeliis militum conviciisque prohibet; pauca apud eos loquitur, quod sibi a parte eorum gratia relata non sit pro suis in eos maximis beneficiis; dimittit omnes incolumes.
The six million sesterces that Domitius had brought and deposited in the public treasury, brought to him by the four magistrates of Corfinium, he returns to Domitius, lest he should seem more restrained over men’s lives than over money, though it was agreed that the money was public and had been given by Pompey for pay.
HS lx, quod advexerat Domitius atque in publico deposuerat, allatum ad se ab quattuorviris Corfiniensibus Domitio reddit, ne continentior in vita hominum quam in pecunia fuisse videatur, etsi eam pecuniam publicam esse constabat datamque a Pompeio in stipendium.
He orders Domitius’s soldiers to swear the oath of allegiance to him, and on that day breaks camp and completes a full day’s march, having lingered at Corfinium seven days in all, and through the territory of the Marrucini, the Frentani, and the people of Larinum he comes into Apulia.
milites Domitianos sacramentum apud se dicere iubet atque eo die castra movet iustumque iter conficit vii omnino dies ad Corfinium commoratus, et per fines Marrucinorum Frentranorum Larinatium in Apuliam pervenit.
Pompey, on learning of these things that had been done at Corfinium, sets out from Luceria to Canusium and from there to Brundisium.
Pompeius his rebus cognitis, quae erant ad Corfinium gestae, Luceria proficiscitur Canusium atque inde Brundisium.
He orders all his forces from every quarter, drawn from the new levies, to be mustered to him; he arms slaves and herdsmen and assigns them horses; from these he makes up about three hundred cavalry.
copias undique omnes ex novis dilectibus ad se cogi iubet; servos, pastores armat atque iis equos attribuit; ex his circiter ccc equites conficit.
Lucius Manlius the praetor flees from Alba with six cohorts, Rutilius Lupus the praetor from Tarracina with three; these, catching sight from afar of Caesar’s cavalry, commanded by Vibius Curius, abandon the praetor, carry their standards over to Curius, and go over to him.
L. Manlius praetor Alba cum cohortibus sex profugit, Rutilius Lupus praetor Tarracina cum tribus; quae procul equitatum Caesaris conspicatae, cui praeerat Vibius Curius, relicto praetore signa ad Curium transferunt atque ad eum transeunt.
Likewise on the other roads some cohorts fall in with Caesar’s column, others with his cavalry. Numerius Magius of Cremona, prefect of engineers to Gnaeus Pompey, caught on the march, is brought back to him.
item reliquis itineribus nonnullae cohortes in agmen Caesaris, aliae in equites incidunt. reducitur ad eum deprensus ex itinere N. Magius Cremona, praefectus fabrum Cn. Pompei.
Caesar sends him back to Pompey with this charge: since up to that time there had been no chance to confer, and he himself was going to come to Brundisium, it was in the interest of the commonwealth and of the common safety that he confer with Pompey; and indeed the same thing was not achieved over the long stretch of a journey, when terms are carried by intermediaries, as when all the terms are debated face to face.
quem Caesar ad eum remittit cum mandatis: quoniam ad id tempus facultas colloquendi non fuerit atque ipse Brundisium sit venturus, interesse rei publicae et communis salutis se cum Pompeio colloqui; neque vero idem profici longo itineris spatio, cum per alios condiciones ferantur, ac si coram de omnibus condicionibus disceptetur.
Having given these charges, he reaches Brundisium with six legions, three of veterans and the rest such as he had made up from the new levy and filled out on the march; for the Corfinian cohorts he had sent straight from Corfinium into Sicily.
His datis mandatis Brundisium cum legionibus vi pervenit, veteranis iii et reliquis quas ex novo dilectu confecerat atque in itinere conpleverat; Domitianas enim cohortes protinus a Corfinio in Siciliam miserat.
He found that the consuls had set out for Dyrrachium with a great part of the army, and that Pompey remained at Brundisium with twenty cohorts;
repperit consules Dyrrachium profectos cum magna parte exercitus, Pompeium remanere Brundisii cum cohortibus xx;
nor could it be ascertained for certain whether he had remained there to hold Brundisium, the more easily to keep the whole Adriatic sea in his power, from the farthest parts of Italy and the regions of Greece, and to conduct the war from either side, or whether he had stayed for want of ships;
neque certum inveniri poterat, obtinendine Brundisi causa ibi remansisset, quo facilius omne Hadriaticum mare ex ultimis Italiae partibus regionibusque Graeciae in potestate haberet atque ex utraque parte bellum administrare posset, an inopia navium ibi restitisset;
and fearing that Pompey might decide that Italy was not to be given up, Caesar set about blocking the exits and approaches of the harbor of Brundisium.
veritusque ne ille Italiam dimittendam non existimaret, exitus administrationesque Brundisini portus inpedire instituit.
The plan of these works was this: where the mouth of the harbor was at its narrowest, he threw out a mole and an earthwork from either shore, because the sea in these places was shallow.
quorum operum haec erat ratio: qua fauces erant angustissimae portus, moles atque aggerem ab utraque parte litoris iaciebat, quod his locis erat vadosum mare.
Having advanced farther out, where the earthwork could not hold in the deeper water, he placed double rafts thirty feet square opposite the end of the mole.
longius progressus, cum agger altiore aqua contineri non posset, rates duplices quoquoversus pedum xxx e regione molis collocabat.
These he fixed with four anchors at the four corners, that they might not be moved by the waves.
has quaternis ancoris ex iv angulis destinabat, ne fluctibus moverentur.
When these were finished and set in place, he joined on others in succession, of equal size.
his perfectis collocatisque alias deinceps pari magnitudine rates iungebat.
These he covered over with earth and rubble, that the approach and the rush forward for defense might not be hindered; in front and on either flank he protected them with wicker screens and mantlets;
has terra atque aggere integebat, ne aditus atque incursus ad defendendum impediretur; a fronte atque ab utroque latere cratibus ac pluteis protegebat;
and on every fourth one he raised towers of two stories, the more conveniently to defend them from the assault of ships and from fire.
in quarta quaque earum turres binorum tabulatorum excitabat, quo commodius ab impetu navium incendiisque defenderet.
Against these works Pompey fitted out large transport ships, which he had seized in the harbor of Brundisium. On them he raised towers of three stories, and, filling them with many engines and every kind of missile, he brought them up to Caesar’s works, to break through the rafts and throw the works into disorder. So daily on both sides there was fighting at long range with slings, arrows, and the rest of the missiles.
Contra haec Pompeius naves magnas onerarias, quas in portu Brundisino deprehenderat, adornabat. ibi turres cum ternis tabulatis erigebat easque multis tormentis et omni genere telorum completas ad opera Caesaris adpellebat, ut rates perrumperet atque opera disturbaret. sic cotidie utrimque eminus fundis, sagittis reliquisque telis pugnabatur.
And Caesar conducted all this in such a way as to think the terms of peace not to be let go; and although he greatly wondered that Magius, whom he had sent to Pompey with charges, was not sent back to him—and although this matter, often attempted, kept slowing his own thrust and designs—nonetheless he thought he must persevere in it by every means.
atque haec Caesar ita administrabat, ut condiciones pacis dimittendas non existimaret; ac tametsi magnopere admirabatur Magium, quem ad Pompeium cum mandatis miserat, ad se non remitti, atque ea res saepe temptata etsi impetus eius consiliaque tardabat, tamen omnibus rebus in eo perseverandum putabat.
And so he sends Caninius Rebilus, a legate, an intimate and close connection of Scribonius Libo, to him for the sake of a conference; he charges him to urge Libo to bring about peace; above all, he demands that he himself confer with Pompey;
itaque Caninium Rebilum legatum, familiarem necessariumque Scriboni Libonis, mittit ad eum colloquii causa; mandat ut Libonem de concilianda pace hortetur; in primis, ut ipse cum Pompeio colloqueretur, postulat;
he shows that he has great confidence that, if the chance for this were given, it would come about that they laid down their arms on fair terms; and a great part of the credit and esteem for it would accrue to Libo, if on his prompting and through his agency the arms were laid down.
magnopere sese confidere demonstrat, si eius rei sit potestas facta, fore ut aequis condicionibus ab armis discedatur. cuius rei magnam partem laudis atque existimationis ad Libonem perventuram, si illo auctore atque agente ab armis sit discessum.
Libo, parting from his conference with Caninius, sets out for Pompey. A little later he reports that, since the consuls were away, no business of an accommodation could be done without them.
Libo a colloquio Canini digressus ad Pompeium proficiscitur. paulo post renuntiat, quod consules absint, sine illis non posse agi de compositione.
So, the matter having been often attempted in vain, Caesar judges that at last he must let it go and turn to the conduct of the war.
ita saepius rem frustra temptatam Caesar aliquando dimittendam sibi iudicat et de bello agendum.
When nearly half the work had been completed by Caesar, and nine days spent upon it, the ships sent back from Dyrrachium by the consuls, which had carried over there the earlier part of the army, return to Brundisium.
Prope dimidia parte operis a Caesare effecta diebusque in ea re consumptis ix, naves a consulibus Dyrrachio remissae, quae priorem partem exercitus eo de portaverant, Brundisium revertuntur.
Pompey, whether moved by Caesar’s works or because from the first he had resolved to quit Italy, begins at the arrival of the ships to prepare his departure, and,
Pompeius sive operibus Caesaris permotus sive etiam, quod ab initio Italia excedere constituerat, adventu navium profectionem parare incipit et,
the more easily to slow Caesar’s assault, lest the soldiers should burst into the town at the very moment of departure, he blocks up the gates, builds across the lanes and squares, draws transverse trenches across the streets, and there fixes stakes and sharpened posts.
quo facilius impetum Caesaris tardaret, ne sub ipsa profectione milites oppidum inrumperent, portas obstruit, vicos plateasque inaedificat, fossas transversas viis praeducit atque ibi sudes stipitesque praeacutos defigit.
These he levels over with light wicker and earth; but the two approaches and roads that led outside the wall to the harbor he fences off with very large beams driven in and sharpened.
haec levibus cratibus terraque inaequat; aditus autem atque itinera duo, quae extra murum ad portum ferebant, maximis defixis trabibus atque eis praeacutis praesepit.
These things prepared, he orders the soldiers in silence to embark, and posts the light-armed from among the recalled veterans, with archers and slingers, thinly along the wall and towers.
his paratis rebus milites silentio naves conscendere iubet, expeditos autem ex evocatis, sagittariis funditoribusque raros in muro turribusque disponit.
These he resolves to recall by a fixed signal, when all the soldiers had embarked, and for them he leaves swift boats in a convenient place.
hos certo signo revocare constituit, cum omnes milites naves conscendissent, atque iis expedito loco actuaria navigia relinquit.
The people of Brundisium, stirred by the wrongs of the Pompeian soldiers and by Pompey’s own affronts, favored Caesar’s cause.
Brundisini Pompeianorum militum iniuriis atque ipsius Pompei contumeliis permoti Caesaris rebus favebant.
And so, when Pompey’s departure was known, while those men were running about and busied with it, they commonly signaled from the rooftops. Through them Caesar, learning of the matter, orders ladders to be made ready and the soldiers to arm, so as not to let slip any chance for action.
itaque cognita Pompei profectione concursantibus illis atque in ea re occupatis volgo ex tectis significabant. per quos re cognita Caesar scalas parari militesque armari iubet, nequam rei gerendae facultatem dimittat.
Pompey weighs anchor at nightfall. Those who had been posted on the wall as guards are recalled by the signal agreed upon, and by paths they knew run down to the ships.
Pompeius sub noctem naves solvit. qui erant in muro custodiae causa collocati, eo signo, quod convenerat, revocantur notisque itineribus ad naves decurrunt.
The soldiers, placing their ladders, climb the walls; but warned by the people of Brundisium to beware of the hidden palisade and the trenches, they halt, and led round by a long way by these people, reach the harbor, and with skiffs and boats catch two ships, full of soldiers, that had stuck against Caesar’s moles, and, once caught, take them.
milites positis scalis muros ascendunt, sed moniti a Brundisinis, ut vallum caecum fossasque caveant, subsistunt et longo itinere ab his circumducti ad portum perveniunt duasque naves cum militibus, quae ad moles Caesaris adhaeserant, scaphis lintribusque reprehendunt, reprehensas excipiunt.
Caesar, although for the hope of finishing the business he most approved of gathering ships, crossing the sea, and following Pompey before he could strengthen himself with reinforcements from overseas, nonetheless feared the delay and the long stretch of time it would take, because Pompey, by collecting all the ships, had taken from him any present means of pursuit.
Caesar etsi ad spem conficiendi negoti maxime probabat coactis navibus mare transire et Pompeium sequi, priusquam ille sese transmarinis auxiliis confirmaret, tamen eius rei moram temporisque longinquitatem timebat, quod omnibus coactis navibus Pompeius praesentem facultatem insequendi sui ademerat.
It remained that ships should be awaited from the more distant regions of Gaul and Picenum and from the Strait. This, on account of the season of the year, seemed long and difficult.
relinquebatur, ut ex longinquioribus regionibus Galliae Picenique et a freto naves essent exspectandae. id propter anni tempus longum atque impeditum videbatur.
Meanwhile he was unwilling that his veteran army and the two Spains should be confirmed in the enemy’s favor—one of the Spains being bound to Pompey by the greatest services—that auxiliaries and cavalry should be gathered, and that Gaul and Italy should be tampered with in his absence.
interea veterem exercitum, duas Hispanias confirmari, quarum erat altera maximis beneficiis Pompei devincta, auxilia, equitatum parari, Galliam Italiamque temptari se absente nolebat.
And so for the present he gives up the plan of following Pompey and resolves to set out for Spain; he orders the chief magistrates of all the towns to seek out ships and see that they are brought to Brundisium.
Itaque in praesentia Pompei sequendi rationem omittit, in Hispaniam proficisci constituit, duumviris municipiorum omnium imperat, ut naves conquirant Brundisiumque deducendas curent.
He sends into Sardinia the legate Valerius with one legion, and into Sicily Curio as propraetor with four legions; the same man, when he had recovered Sicily, he orders to carry his army straight over into Africa. Sardinia was held by Marcus Cotta, Sicily by Marcus Cato; Africa, by lot, Tubero was to hold.
mittit in Sardiniam cum legione una Valerium legatum, in Siciliam Curionem pro praetore cum legionibus iiii; eundem, cum Siciliam recepisset, protinus in Africam traducere exercitum iubet. Sardiniam obtinebat M. Cotta, Siciliam M. Cato; Africam sorte Tubero obtinere debebat.
The people of Caralis, as soon as they heard that Valerius was being sent against them, of their own accord—before he had even set out from Italy—drive Cotta out of the town. He, terrified, because he saw that the whole province was of one mind, flees from Sardinia into Africa.
Caralitani, simul ad se Valerium mitti audierunt, nondum profecto ex Italia sua sponte Cottam ex oppido eiciunt. ille perterritus, quod omnem provinciam consentire intellegebat, ex Sardinia in Africam profugit.
Cato in Sicily was refitting old warships and requisitioning new ones from the communities. These things he did with great zeal. Among the Lucanians and the Bruttii he was holding levies of Roman citizens through his legates, and exacting a fixed number of horse and foot from the communities of Sicily.
Cato in Sicilia naves longas veteres reficiebat, novas civitatibus imperabat. haec magno studio agebat. in Lucanis Bruttiisque per legatos suos civium Romanorum dilectus habebat, equitum peditumque certum numerum a civitatibus Siciliae exigebat.
When these things were nearly finished, on learning of Curio’s approach he complains in an assembly that he had been cast aside and betrayed by Gnaeus Pompey, who, with everything wholly unprepared, had taken up a needless war and, when questioned by him and the rest in the Senate, had assured them that all was fit and ready for war. Having made this complaint in the assembly, he fled from the province.
quibus rebus paene perfectis adventu Curionis cognito queritur in contione sese proiectum ac proditum a Cn. Pompeio, qui omnibus rebus imparatissimis non necessarium bellum suscepisset et ab se reliquisque in senatu interrogatus omnia sibi esse ad bellum apta ac parata confirmavisset. haec in contione questus ex provincia fugit.
Finding Sardinia and Sicily free of their commanders, Valerius and Curio arrive there with their armies.
Nacti vacuas ab imperiis Sardiniam Valerius, Curio Siciliam, cum exercitibus eo perveniunt.
Tubero, when he had come into Africa, found Attius Varus in the province with command—the man who, at Auximum, as we have shown above, had lost his cohorts and had come straight from his flight into Africa, had on his own initiative seized it while it was vacant, and, holding a levy, had made up two legions, gaining his openings for these attempts from his knowledge and experience of men and places in that province, since a few years before he had held it after his praetorship.
Tubero cum in Africam venisset, invenit in provincia cum imperio Attium Varum; qui ad Auximum, ut supra demonstravimus, amissis cohortibus protinus ex fuga in Africam pervenerat atque eam sua sponte vacuam occupaverat dilectuque habito duas legiones effecerat, hominum et locorum notitia et usu eius provinciae nactus aditus ad ea conanda, quod paucis ante annis ex praetura eam provinciam obtinuerat.
This man bars Tubero, who came to Utica with his ships, from the harbor and the town, and does not allow him to put his son, sick with illness, ashore, but, anchors weighed, forces him to leave the place.
hic venientem Uticam navibus Tuberonem portu atque oppido prohibet neque adfectum valetudine filium exponere in terra patitur, sed sublatis ancoris excedere eo loco cogit.
These matters finished, Caesar, that the rest of the time might be a respite from toil, leads his soldiers into the nearest towns; he himself sets out for the city.
His rebus confectis Caesar, ut reliquum tempus a labore intermitteretur, milites in proxima municipia deducit; ipse ad urbem proficiscitur.
The Senate convened, he recounts the wrongs of his enemies. He shows that he had sought no extraordinary honor, but had awaited the lawful time of the consulship and been content with what lay open to every citizen.
coacto senatu iniurias inimicorum commemorat. docet se nullum extraordinarium honorem adpetisse, sed exspectato legitimo tempore consulatus eo fuisse contentum, quod omnibus civibus pateret.
A proposal had been carried by the ten tribunes of the plebs, his enemies opposing it—Cato indeed resisting most fiercely and, by his old practice of speaking, dragging out the days with delay—that his candidacy in absence be allowed, Pompey himself being consul; if Pompey had disapproved it, why had he let it be carried? If he had approved it, why had he barred Caesar from using the people’s favor?
latum ab x tribunis plebis contradicentibus inimicis, Catone vero acerrime repugnante et pristina consuetudine dicendi mora dies extrahente, ut sui ratio absentis haberetur, ipso consule Pompeio; qui si inprobasset, cur ferri passus esset? si probasset, ur se uti populi beneficio prohibuisset?
He sets forth his own forbearance, since he had of his own accord demanded that the armies be disbanded, a thing in which he himself would suffer a loss of standing and honor.
cpatientiam proponit suam, cum de exercitibus dimittendis ultro postulavisset, in quo iacturam dignitatis atque honoris ipse facturus esset.
He shows the bitterness of his enemies, who refused in their own case what they demanded of another, and would rather throw everything into confusion than give up command and armies.
acerbitatem inimicorum docet, qui quod ab altero postularent, in se recusarent, atque omnia permisceri mallent quam imperium exercitusque dimittere.
He proclaims the wrong in the wresting away of his legions, the cruelty and insolence in the curbing of the tribunes of the plebs; he recounts the terms he had offered, the conferences he had sought and been denied.
iniuriam in eripiendis legionibus praedicat, crudelitatem et insolentiam in circumscribendis tribunis plebis; condiciones a se latas, expetita colloquia et denegata commemorat.
For these reasons he exhorts and demands that they take up the commonwealth and administer it together with him. But if they shrink back in fear, he would not be a burden to them and would administer the commonwealth himself.
pro quibus rebus hortatur ac postulat, ut rem publicam suscipiant atque una secum administrent. sin timore defugiant, illis se oneri non futurum et per se rem publicam administraturum.
Envoys ought to be sent to Pompey concerning an accommodation; nor did he dread what Pompey had said a little before in the Senate—that authority is attributed to those to whom envoys are sent, and the fear of those who send them is thereby signaled.
legatos ad Pompeium de compositione mitti oportere, neque se reformidare, quod in senatu Pompeius paulo ante dixisset, ad quos legati mitterentur, his auctoritatem attribui timoremque eorum qui mitterent significari.
These seemed the marks of a slight and feeble spirit. He himself, as he had striven to be foremost in achievement, so wished to surpass in justice and fairness.
tenuis atque infirmi haec animi videri. se vero, ut operibus anteire studuerit, sic iustitia et aequitate velle superare.
The Senate approves the sending of envoys; but men to be sent were not to be found, and chiefly out of fear each man for his own part refused this duty of an embassy.
Probat rem senatus de mittendis legatis; sed qui mitterentur non reperiebantur, maximeque timoris causa pro se quisque id munus legationis recusabat.
For Pompey, departing from the city, had said in the Senate that he would hold in the same regard those who had stayed at Rome and those who had been in Caesar’s camp.
Pompeius enim discedens ab urbe in senatu dixerat eodem se habiturum loco, qui Romae remansissent, et qui in castris Caesaris fuissent.
So three days are dragged out in disputations and excuses. There is even suborned by Caesar’s enemies a tribune of the plebs, Lucius Metellus, to pull this matter apart and to obstruct whatever else Caesar set about doing.
sic triduum disputationibus excusationibusque extrahitur. subicitur etiam L. Metellus tribunus plebis ab inimicis Caesaris, qui hanc rem distrahat, reliquasque res, quascumque agere instituerit, impediat.
His design discovered, Caesar—after some days had been spent in vain—lest he lose the rest of his time, leaves undone what he had meant to do, sets out from the city, and reaches Further Gaul.
cuius cognito consilio Caesar frustra diebus aliquot consumptis, ne reliquum tempus amittat, infectis iis quae agere destinaverat, ab urbe proficiscitur atque in ulteriorem Galliam pervenit.
When he had come there, he learns that Vibullius Rufus had been sent into Spain by Pompey—the man whom, a few days before, he had himself released after his capture at Corfinium;
Quo cum venisset, cognoscit missum in Hispaniam a Pompeio Vibullium Rufum, quem paucis ante diebus Corfinio captum ipse dimiserat;
and that envoys had also been sent ahead to Massilia—young nobles of the city—whom Pompey, departing from the city, had urged not to let Caesar’s recent kindnesses drive out the memory of Pompey’s own old services to them.
praemissos etiam legatos Massilienses domum, nobiles adulescentes, quos ab urbe discedens Pompeius erat adhortatus, ne nova Caesaris officia veterum suorum beneficiorum in eos memoriam expellerent.
On receiving these charges, the people of Massilia had shut their gates against Caesar; they had summoned to themselves the Albici, barbarous men who had of old been under their protection and dwelt in the mountains above Massilia;
quibus mandatis acceptis Massilienses portas Caesari clauserant; Albicos, barbaros homines, qui in eorum fide antiquitus erant montesque supra Massiliam incolebant, ad se vocaverant;
they had carried grain into the city from the neighboring regions and from all their forts, had set up arms-workshops in the city, and were repairing the walls, the gates, and their fleet.
frumentum ex finitimis regionibus atque ex omnibus castellis in urbem convexerant, armorum officinas in urbe instituerant, muros portas classem reficiebant.
Caesar calls to him the fifteen chief men of Massilia. With them he urges that the beginning of waging war not arise from the people of Massilia: they ought to follow the authority of all Italy rather than obey the will of one man.
Evocat ad se Caesar Massilia xv primos. cum his agit, ne initium inferendi belli a Massiliensibus oriatur; debere eos Italiae totius auctoritatem sequi potius quam unius hominis voluntati obtemperare.
The rest of what he judged to bear on healing their minds he recounts.
reliqua, quae ad eorum sanandas mentes pertinere arbitrabatur, commemorat.
The envoys carry his speech home, and on the authority of their senate report this to Caesar: they understood that the Roman people was divided into two parties; it was neither within their judgment nor within their power to discern which party had the juster cause.
cuius orationem legati domum referunt atque ex senatus auctoritate haec Caesari renuntiant: intellegere se divisum esse populum Romanum in partes duas. neque sui iudicii neque suarum esse virium discernere, utra pars iustiorem habeat causam.
The leaders of those parties, moreover, were Gnaeus Pompey and Gaius Caesar, both patrons of their state—of whom the one had publicly granted them the lands of the Volcae Arecomici and the Helvii, while the other had assigned them the Sallyes, conquered in war, and increased their revenues.
principes vero esse earum partium Cn. Pompeium et C. Caesarem, patronos civitatis, quorum alter agros Volcarum Arecomicorum et Helviorum publice iis concesserit, alter bello victos Sallyas adtribuerit vectigaliaque auxerit.
Therefore, their services being equal, they ought to render equal goodwill to both, and aid neither against the other, nor receive either into their city and harbors.
quare paribus eorum beneficiis parem se quoque voluntatem tribuere debere, et neutrum eorum contra alterum iuvare aut urbe ac portibus recipere.
While these things are being transacted among them, Domitius reaches Massilia with his ships and, received by them, is put in charge of the city; the supreme conduct of the war is entrusted to him.
Haec dum inter eos aguntur, Domitius navibus Massiliam pervenit atque ab iis receptus urbi praeficitur; summa ei belli administrandi permittitur.
At his command they send the fleet in every direction; they seize the transport ships they can find anywhere and bring them into harbor, and use such as are poorly furnished with bolts or timber and tackle to arm and refit the rest;
eius imperio classem quoquoversus dimittunt; onerarias naves, quas ubique possunt, deprehendunt atque in portum deducunt, parum clavis aut materia atque armamentis instructis ad reliquas armandas reficiendasque utuntur;
what grain is found they bring into the public store; the rest of the goods and provisions they keep back against a siege of the city, should it come.
frumenti quod inventum est, in publicum conferunt; reliquas merces commeatusque ad obsidionem urbis, si accidat, reservant.
Stirred by these wrongs, Caesar brings three legions up to Massilia; he sets about moving towers and mantlets up for the assault of the city, and building twelve warships at Arelate.
quibus iniuriis permotus Caesar legiones tres Massiliam adducit; turres vineasque ad oppugnationem urbis agere, naves longas Arelate numero xii facere instituit.
When these had been finished and fitted out within thirty days from the day the timber was cut, and brought up to Massilia, he puts Decimus Brutus in charge of them and leaves the legate Gaius Trebonius for the siege of Massilia.
quibus effectis armatisque diebus xxx, a qua die materia caesa est, adductisque Massiliam his D. Brutum praeficit, C. Trebonium legatum ad oppugnationem Massiliae relinquit.
While he prepares and arranges these things, he sends the legate Gaius Fabius ahead into Spain with the three legions that he had stationed at Narbo and around those places for wintering, and orders the Pyrenean passes to be seized quickly—passes that at that time were held by garrisons under the legate Lucius Afranius.
Dum haec parat atque administrat, C. Fabium legatum cum legionibus iii, quas Narbone circumque ea loca hiemandi causa disposuerat, in Hispaniam praemittit celeriterque saltus Pyrenaeos occupari iubet, qui eo tempore ab L. Afranio legato praesidiis tenebantur.
The remaining legions, which were wintering farther off, he orders to follow.
reliquas legiones, quae longius hiemabant, subsequi iubet.
Fabius, as he had been ordered, applying speed, threw the garrison out of the pass and hastened by forced marches to the army of Afranius.
Fabius, ut erat imperatum, adhibita celeritate praesidium ex saltu deiecit magnisque itineribus ad exercitum Afrani contendit.
On the arrival of Lucius Vibullius Rufus, who, as has been shown, had been sent by Pompey into Spain, Afranius, Petreius, and Varro—Pompey’s legates, of whom one held Hither Spain with three legions, another Further Spain from the pass of Castulo to the Anas with two legions, and the third the territory of the Vettones and Lusitania from the Anas with an equal number of legions—
Adventu L. Vibulli Rufi, quem a Pompeio missum in Hispaniam demonstratum est, Afranius et Petreius et Varro legati Pompei, quorum unus Hispaniam citeriorem tribus legionibus, alter ulteriorem; a saltu Castulonensi ad Anam duabus legionibus, tertius ab Ana Vettonum agrum Lusitaniamque pari numero legionum obtinebat,
divide their duties among themselves: that Petreius should set out from Lusitania through the Vettones with all his forces to join Afranius, while Varro should guard all Further Spain with the legions he had.
officia inter se partiuntur, uti Petreius ex Lusitania per Vettones cum omnibus copiis ad Afranium proficiscatur, Varro cum iis quas habebat legionibus omnem ulteriorem Hispaniam tueatur.
These things settled, cavalry and auxiliaries are requisitioned from all Lusitania by Petreius, and from Celtiberia, the Cantabri, and all the barbarians who reach to the Ocean by Afranius.
his rebus constitutis equites auxiliaque toti Lusitaniae a Petreio, Celtiberiae Cantabris barbarisque omnibus qui ad Oceanum pertinent, ab Afranio imperantur.
When these were gathered, Petreius quickly reached Afranius through the Vettones, and by common counsel they resolve to wage the war at Ilerda, on account of the advantage of the place itself.
quibus coactis celeriter Petreius per Vettones ad Afranium pervenit, constituuntque communi consilio bellum ad Ilerdam propter ipsius loci opportunitatem gerere.
There were, as has been shown above, three legions of Afranius and two of Petreius, and besides about eighty cohorts of shield-bearing troops of the Hither province and target-bearing troops of Further Spain, and about five thousand cavalry of both provinces.
Caesar had sent six legions ahead into Spain; of auxiliary infantry none, but three thousand cavalry, which he had kept through all his earlier wars, and an equal number from Gaul, which he had himself pacified, summoning by name from every state each of its noblest and bravest men; to these he had added men of the best stock from among the Aquitani and the mountaineers who border on the province of Gaul.
Caesar legiones in Hispaniam praemiserat VI; auxilia peditum nulla, equitum iii milia, quae omnibus superioribus bellis habuerat, et parem ex Gallia numerum, quam ipse pacaverat, nominatim ex omnibus civitatibus nobilissimo et fortissimo quoque evocato; huc optimi generis hominum ex Aquitanis montanisque, qui Galliam provinciam attingunt, adiecerat.
He had heard that Pompey was marching through Mauretania with legions into Spain and would arrive at once. At the same time he took loans of money from the military tribunes and centurions; these he distributed to the army.
audierat Pompeium per Mauretaniam cum legionibus iter in Hispaniam facere confestimque esse venturum. simul a tribunis militum centurionibusque mutuas pecunias sumpsit; has exercitui distribuit.
By doing this he gained two ends: he bound the centurions’ loyalty by the pledge, and he bought the soldiers’ goodwill by the largesse.
quo facto duas res consecutus est, quod pignore animos centurionum devinxit, et largitione militum voluntates redemit.
Fabius kept sounding the dispositions of the neighboring states by letters and messengers. He had made two bridges over the river Sicoris, four miles apart from each other. By these bridges he kept sending out foragers, because he had used up in the previous days what had been on the near side of the river.
Fabius finitimarum civitatum animos litteris nuntiisque temptabat. in Sicori flumine pontes effecerat duos distantes inter se milia passuum iiii. his pontibus pabulatum mittebat, quod ea quae citra flumen fuerant superioribus diebus consumpserat.
The leaders of the Pompeian army did almost the same thing and for the same reason, and often contended with one another in cavalry skirmishes.
hoc idem fere atque eadem de causa Pompeiani exercitus duces faciebant, crebroque inter se equestribus proeliis contendebant.
When, by their daily practice, the two Fabian legions had gone out and crossed the river by the nearer bridge to guard the foragers, and the baggage and all the cavalry were following, the bridge was suddenly broken by the force of the winds and the volume of the water, and the rest of the mass of cavalry was cut off.
huc cum cotidiana consuetudine egressae pabulatoribus praesidio propiore ponte legiones Fabianae duae flumen transissent, impedimentaque et omnis equitatus sequeretur, subito vi ventorum et aquae magnitudine pons est interruptus et reliqua multitudo equitum interclusa.
When Petreius and Afranius learned of this from the earthwork and the wickerwork that were being carried down the river, Afranius quickly crossed over by his own bridge, which he had joined to the town and his camp, with four legions and all his cavalry, and met the two Fabian legions.
quo cognito a Petreio et Afranio ex aggere atque cratibus, quae flumine ferebantur, celeriter suo ponte Afranius, quem oppido castrisque coniunctum habebat, legiones iiii equitatumque omnem traiecit duabusque Fabianis occurrit legionibus.
When his approach was reported, Lucius Plancus, who was in command of the legions, compelled by necessity took higher ground and drew up his line facing two ways, that he might not be surrounded by the cavalry. So, engaging with an unequal number, he withstands the heavy charges of the legions and cavalry.
cuius adventu nuntiato L. Plancus, qui legionibus praeerat, necessaria re coactus locum capit superiorem diversamque aciem in duas partes constituit, ne ab equitatu circumveniri posset. ita congressus impari numero magnos impetus legionum equitatusque sustinet.
When the battle had been begun by the cavalry, the standards of two legions are sighted at a distance by both sides—legions that Gaius Fabius had sent by the farther bridge to support our men, suspecting what in fact happened: that the leaders of the enemy would use the occasion and the gift of fortune to crush our forces. At their arrival the battle is broken off, and each side leads its legions back into camp.
commisso ab equitibus proelio signa legionum duarum procul ab utrisque conspiciuntur, quas C. Fabius ulteriore ponte subsidio nostris miserat, suspicatus fore, id quod accidit, ut duces adversariorum occasione et beneficio fortunae ad nostros opprimendos uterentur. quarum adventu proelium dirimitur ac suas uterque legiones reducit in castra.
Within those two days Caesar arrives in the camp with nine hundred cavalry, which he had kept as a guard for himself. The bridge that had been broken by the storm was nearly repaired; he ordered it to be finished by night.
Eo biduo Caesar cum equitibus dcccc, quos sibi praesidio reliquerat, in castra pervenit. pons, qui fuerat tempestate interruptus, paene erat refectus; hunc noctu perfici iussit.
He himself, having learned the nature of the ground, leaves six cohorts to guard the bridge and the camp, along with all the baggage, and the next day sets out for Ilerda with all his forces drawn up in triple battle line, halts beneath Afranius’s camp, and, after lingering a short while there under arms, offers the chance of fighting on level ground. The chance offered, Afranius leads out his forces and posts them halfway up a hill, below his camp.
ipse cognita locorum natura ponti castrisque praesidio sex cohortes relinquit atque omnia impedimenta et postero die omnibus copiis triplici instructa acie ad Ilerdam proficiscitur et sub castris Afrani consistit et ibi paulisper sub armis moratus facit aequo loco pugnandi potestatem. potestate facta Afranius copias educit et in medio colle sub castris constituit.
When Caesar saw that the failure to fight a battle lay with Afranius, he resolved to make a camp about four hundred paces from the lowest roots of the mountain,
Caesar ubi cognovit per Afranium stare, quominus proelio dimicaretur, ab infimis radicibus montis intermissis circiter passibus cccc castra facere constituit,
and, lest his soldiers, while at work, should be terrified by a sudden onset of the enemy and kept from the work, he forbade it to be fortified with a rampart, which would necessarily stand out and be seen from afar, but ordered a ditch fifteen feet wide to be made on the front facing the enemy.
et, ne in opere faciundo milites repentino hostium incursu exterrerentur atque opere prohiberentur, vallo muniri vetuit, quod eminere et procul videri necesse erat, sed a fronte contra hostem pedum xv fossam fieri iussit.
The first and second lines stayed under arms, as had been set from the first; behind these the work was done out of sight by the third line. So the whole work was finished before Afranius understood that a camp was being fortified.
et prima et secunda acies in armis, ut ab initio constituta erat, permanebat; post hos opus in occulto a iii acie fiebat. sic omne prius est perfectum opus, quam intellegeretur ab Afranio castra muniri.
Toward evening Caesar leads his legions back within this ditch and there rests under arms the next night.
sub vesperum Caesar intra hanc fossam legiones reducit atque ibi sub armis proxima nocte conquiescit.
The next day he keeps his whole army within the ditch, and, because the material for an earthwork had to be sought farther off, for the present sets in hand a like plan of work: he assigns to each legion one side of the camp to fortify, and orders the ditches to be finished to the same dimension; the remaining legions, in light order under arms, he posts facing the enemy.
Postero die omnem exercitum intra fossam continet, et, quod longius erat agger petendus, in praesentia similem rationem operis instituit, singulaque latera castrorum singulis attribuit legionibus munienda, fossasque ad eandem magnitudinem perfici iubet; reliquas legiones in armis expeditas contra hostem constituit.
Afranius and Petreius, to terrify them and hinder the work, lead their forces out to the lowest roots of the mountain and provoke battle. Yet Caesar does not on that account break off the work, trusting in the protection of his three legions and the defense of the ditch.
Afranius Petreiusque terrendi causa atque operis impediendi copias suas ad infimas montis radices producunt et proelio lacessunt. neque idcirco Caesar opus intermittit confisus praesidio legionum trium et munitione fossae.
They, not lingering long nor advancing farther from the foot of the hill, lead their forces back into camp.
illi non diu commorati nec longius ab infimo colle progressi copias in castra reducunt.
On the third day Caesar fortifies the camp with a rampart, and orders the remaining cohorts, which he had left in the upper camp, and the baggage to be brought over to him.
tertio die Caesar vallo castra communit, reliquas cohortes, quas in superioribus castris reliquerat, impedimentaque ad se traduci iubet.
Between the town of Ilerda and the nearest hill, where Petreius and Afranius had their camp, there was a plain of about three hundred paces, and at about the midpoint of this space was a knoll a little raised;
Erat inter oppidum Ilerdam et proximum collem, ubi castra Petreius atque Afranius habebant, planities circiter passuum ccc, atque in hoc fere medio spatio tumulus erat paulo editior;
if Caesar should seize and fortify it, he was confident he would cut his adversaries off from the town, the bridge, and all the supplies they had brought into the town.
quem si occupavisset Caesar et communivisset, ab oppido et ponte et commeatu omni, quem in oppidum contulerant, se interclusurum adversarios confidebat.
Hoping for this, he leads three legions out of camp, and, his line drawn up in suitable places, orders the front-rank men of one legion to run forward and seize that knoll.
hoc sperans legiones iii ex castris educit acieque in locis idoneis structa unius legionis antesignanos procurrere atque eum tumulum occupare iubet.
When this was known, the cohorts of Afranius which were on guard before the camp are quickly sent by a shorter route to seize the same place.
qua re cognita celeriter, quae in statione pro castris erant Afrani cohortes, breviore itinere ad eundem occupandum locum mittuntur.
The matter is contested in battle, and, because Afranius’s men had reached the knoll first, our men are driven back, and, when other supports were sent up against them, are forced to turn their backs and withdraw to the standards of the legions.
contenditur proelio, et, quod prius in tumulum Afraniani venerant, nostri repelluntur atque aliis submissis subsidiis terga vertere seque ad signa legionum recipere coguntur.
The manner of fighting of those soldiers was to run forward at first with a great rush, boldly seize a position, keep their ranks with no great care, fight scattered and apart, and, if pressed, to think it no disgrace to give ground and quit their position,
Genus erat pugnae militum illorum, ut magno impetu primo procurrerent, audacter locum caperent, ordines suos non magno opere servarent, rari dispersique pugnarent, si premerentur, pedem referre et loco excedere non turpe existimarent,
being accustomed, from their dealings with the Lusitanians and the rest of the barbarians, to a certain kind of fighting; for it generally happens that in whatever places a soldier has grown old, he is much shaped by the habits of those regions.
cum Lusitanis reliquisque barbaris genere quodam pugnae assuefacti; quod fere fit, quibus quisque in locis miles inveteraverit, ut multum earum regionum consuetudine moveatur.
This method then threw our men into confusion, unused as they were to this kind of fighting; for they thought they were being encircled on their open flank by men running forward singly, while they themselves had judged it right to keep their ranks, not to leave the standards, and not without grave cause to give up the position they had taken.
haec tum ratio nostros perturbavit insuetos huius generis pugnae; circumiri enim sese ab aperto latere procurrentibus singulis arbitrabantur; ipsi autem suos ordines servare neque ab signis discedere neque sine gravi causa eum locum, quem ceperant, dimitti censuerant oportere.
And so, the front-rank men thrown into confusion, the legion that had taken its stand on that wing did not hold its ground but withdrew to the nearest hill.
itaque perturbatis antesignanis legio, quae in eo cornu constiterat, locum non tenuit atque in proximum collem sese recepit.
Caesar, with nearly the whole line terrified—since what had happened was contrary to expectation and habit—having exhorted his men, leads up the Ninth Legion in support; he checks the enemy as they pursued our men with arrogance and ferocity, and forces them in turn to turn their backs, withdraw toward the town of Ilerda, and halt beneath the wall.
Caesar paene omni acie perterrita, quod praeter opinionem consuetudinemque acciderat, cohortatus suos legionem nonam subsidio ducit; hostem insolenter atque acriter nostros insequentem supprimit rursusque terga vertere seque ad oppidum Ilerdam recipere et sub muro consistere cogit.
But the soldiers of the Ninth Legion, carried away by zeal, while they wish to make good the loss suffered, rashly pursued the fleeing enemy too far, advanced onto unfavorable ground, and came up under the mountain on which the town of Ilerda was set.
sed nonae legionis milites elati studio, dum sarcire acceptum detrimentum volunt, temere insecuti longius fugientis in locum iniquum progrediuntur et sub montem, in quo erat oppidum positum Ilerda, succedunt.
When from here they wished to withdraw, the enemy in turn pressed our men from the higher ground.
hinc se recipere cum vellent, rursus illi ex loco superiore nostros premebant.
The place was steep, sheer on either side, and stretched only so far in breadth that three cohorts in line filled it, so that neither could supports be sent up from the flanks nor could the cavalry be of use to the men in distress.
praeruptus locus erat utraque ex parte derectus, ac tantum in latitudinem patebat, ut tres instructae cohortes eum locum explerent, ut neque subsidia a lateribus submitti neque equites laborantibus usui esse possent.
From the town, moreover, the ground sloped down with a gentle gradient over a length of about four hundred paces.
ab oppido autem declivis locus tenui fastigio vergebat in longitudinem passus circiter cccc.
This way lay our men’s retreat, since, driven by their zeal, they had advanced too rashly; here they fought, on ground unfavorable both because of its narrowness and because they had halted right at the roots of the mountain, so that no missile was hurled against them in vain. Yet they strove on by courage and endurance and bore every wound.
hac nostris erat receptus, quod eo incitati studio inconsultius processerant; hoc pugnabatur loco et propter angustias iniquo, et quod sub ipsis radicibus montis constiterant, ut nullum frustra telum in eos mitteretur. tamen virtute et patientia nitebantur atque omnia vulnera sustinebant.
The enemy’s forces were being increased, and cohorts were repeatedly sent up from the camp through the town, so that fresh men might relieve the weary.
augebantur illis copiae, atque ex castris cohortes per oppidum crebro submittebantur, ut integri defessis succederent.
Caesar was forced to do the same, that by sending cohorts up to the same place he might draw off the weary.
hoc idem Caesar facere cogebatur, ut submissis in eundem locum cohortibus defessos reciperet.
When the fight had been carried on in this manner continuously for five hours, and our men were being too heavily pressed by numbers, all their missiles spent, they draw their swords and charge uphill against the cohorts, and, a few thrown down, force the rest to turn about.
Hoc cum esset modo pugnatum continenter horis quinque nostrique gravius a multitudine premerentur, consumptis omnibus telis gladiis destrictis impetum adversus montem in cohortis faciunt, paucisque deiectis eliquos sese convertere cogunt.
The cohorts driven back beneath the wall, and some part of them, out of terror, forced into the town, an easy retreat was given our men.
summotis sub murum cohortibus ac nonnulla parte propter terrorem in oppidum compulsis facilis est nostris receptus datus.
Our cavalry, moreover, on either flank, though it had taken its stand on low and unfavorable ground, nonetheless with the utmost courage struggles up onto the ridge, and, riding between the two lines, gives our men a more convenient and safer retreat. So the fight was waged with shifting fortune.
equitatus autem noster ab utroque latere, etsi deiectis atque inferioribus locis constiterat, tamen summa in iugum virtute conititur, atque inter duas acies perequitans commodiorem ac tutiorem nostris receptum dat. ita vario certamine pugnatum est.
Of our men about seventy fell in the first encounter, among them Quintus Fulginius, of the first hastatus of the Fourteenth Legion, who, on account of his exceptional courage, had risen from the lower ranks to that grade; more than six hundred are wounded.
nostri in primo congressu circiter lxx ceciderunt, in his Q. Fulginius ex primo hastato legionis xiiii, qui propter eximiam virtutem ex inferioribus ordinibus in eum locum pervenerat; vulnerantur amplius dc.
Of Afranius’s men there are killed Titus Caecilius, a chief centurion, and besides him four centurions and more than two hundred soldiers.
ex Afranianis interficiuntur T. Caecilius, primi pili centurio, et praeter eum centuriones iiii, milites amplius cc.
But this opinion of that day prevails, that each side reckoned it had come off the better;
Sed haec eius diei praefertur opinio, ut se utrique superiores discessisse existimarent;
Afranius’s men, because, though they seemed by everyone’s judgment to be the weaker, they had stood at close quarters so long, had withstood our men’s charge, had at first held the position and the knoll, which had been the cause of fighting, and had forced our men in the first encounter to turn their backs;
Afraniani, quod cum esse omnium iudicio inferiores viderentur, comminus tamdiu stetissent et nostrorum impetum sustinuissent et initio locum tumulumque tenuissent, quae causa pugnandi fuerat, et nostros primo congressu terga vertere coegissent;
our men, however, because, having engaged on unfavorable ground and with an unequal number, they had sustained the battle for five hours, had climbed the mountain with drawn swords, had forced their adversaries from the higher ground to turn their backs, and had driven them into the town.
nostri autem, quod iniquo loco atque impari congressi numero quinque horis proelium sustinuissent, quod montem gladiis destrictis ascendissent, quod ex loco superiore terga vertere adversarios coegissent atque in oppidum compulissent.
The enemy fortified with great works that knoll over which the fighting had been, and placed a garrison there.
illi eum tumulum, pro quo pugnatum est, magnis operibus muniverunt praesidiumque ibi posuerunt.
There befell also a sudden misfortune within the two days in which these things were done. For so great a storm arose that it was agreed there had never been higher waters in those places.
Accidit etiam repentinum incommodum biduo, quo haec gesta sunt. tanta enim tempestas cooritur, ut numquam illis locis maiores aquas fuisse constaret.
And then it washed the snows down from all the mountains and overtopped the highest banks of the river, and broke both bridges that Gaius Fabius had made on a single day.
tum autem ex omnibus montibus nives proluit ac summas ripas fluminis superavit pontisque ambos, quos C. Fabius fecerat, uno die interrupit.
This brought great difficulties on Caesar’s army. For the camp, as has been shown above, being between two rivers, the Sicoris and the Cinga, over a space of thirty miles, neither of these could be crossed, and of necessity all were confined within these straits.
quae res magnas difficultates exercitui Caesaris attulit. castra enim, ut supra demonstratum est, cum essent inter flumina duo, Sicorim et Cingam, spatio milium xxx, neutrum horum transiri poterat, necessarioque omnes his angustiis continebantur.
Neither could the states that had come over to Caesar’s friendship bring up grain, nor could those who had gone too far out to forage return, cut off by the rivers, nor could the great convoys that came from Italy and Gaul reach the camp.
neque civitates, quae ad Caesaris amicitiam accesserant, frumentum supportare neque ii, qui pabulatum longius progressi erant, interclusi fluminibus reverti neque maximi commeatus, qui ex Italia Galliaque veniebant, in castra pervenire poterant.
The season, moreover, was the most difficult, when there was no grain in the storehouses and it was not far from ripening, and the states were drained, because Afranius had carried nearly all the grain to Ilerda before Caesar’s arrival, and what had been left over Caesar had consumed in the previous days;
tempus erat autem difficillimum, quo neque frumenta in cavernis erant, neque multum a maturitate aberant, ac civitates exinanitae, quod Afranius paene omne frumentum ante Caesaris adventum Ilerdam convexerat, reliqui siquid fuerat, Caesar superioribus diebus consumpserat;
the cattle, which could have been the next resource in straitened circumstances, the neighboring states had removed farther off on account of the war.
pecora, quod secundum poterat esse inope re subsidium, propter bellum finitimae civitates longius removerant.
Those who had gone out to forage or to gather grain were hunted by the light-armed Lusitanians and the target-bearers of Hither Spain, men acquainted with those regions, to whom it was easy to swim across the river, since it is the custom of all of them not to go to the army without skins.
qui erant pabulandi aut frumentandi causa progressi, hos levis armaturae Lusitani peritique earum regionum caetrati citerioris Hispaniae consectabantur; quibus erat proclive tranare flumen, quod consuetudo eorum omnium est, ut sine utribus ad exercitum non eant.
But the army of Afranius abounded in plenty of everything. Much grain had been provided and brought together in earlier times, much was being carried in from the whole province; a great supply of fodder was at hand.
At exercitus Afrani omnium rerum abundabat copia. multum erat frumentum provisum et convectum superioribus temporibus, multum ex omni provincia comportabatur; magna copia pabuli suppetebat.
The means of all these things the bridge of Ilerda afforded without any danger, and the country beyond the river untouched, which Caesar could not approach at all.
harum omnium rerum facultates sine ullo periculo pons Ilerdae praebebat et loca trans flumen integra, quo omnino Caesar adire non poterat.
These floods lasted several days. Caesar tried to repair the bridges, but neither did the size of the river permit it, nor did the adversaries’ cohorts, posted along the bank, allow it to be finished.
Hae permanserunt aquae dies complures. conatus est Caesar reficere pontes, sed nec magnitudo fluminis permittebat, neque ad ripam dispositae cohortes adversariorum perfici patiebantur.
It was easy for them to prevent it, both from the nature of the river itself and the volume of the water, and because missiles were hurled from the whole length of the banks onto one narrow spot;
quod illis prohibere erat facile cum ipsius fluminis natura atque aquae magnitudine, tum quod ex totis ripis in unum atque angustum locum tela iaciebantur;
and it was difficult at one and the same time to complete works in a most rapid river and to dodge the missiles.
atque erat difficile eodem tempore rapidissimo flumine opera perficere et tela vitare.
It is reported to Afranius that great convoys, which were making their way to Caesar, had halted at the river. There had come archers from the Ruteni, cavalry from Gaul with many wagons and great baggage, as the Gallic custom bears.
Nuntiatur Afranio magnos commeatus, qui iter habebant ad Caesarem, ad flumen constitisse. venerant eo sagittarii ex Rutenis, equites ex Gallia cum multis carris magnisque impedimentis, ut fert Gallica consuetudo.
There were besides about six thousand persons of every sort, with slaves and free; but no order, no fixed command, since each man followed his own counsel and all journeyed without fear, relying on the license of earlier times and marches.
erant praeterea cuiusque generis hominum milia circiter vi cum servis liberisque; sed nullus ordo, nullum imperium certum, cum suo quisque consilio uteretur atque omnes sine timore iter facerent usi superiorum temporum atque itinerum licentia.
There were several young men of rank, sons of senators and of the equestrian order; there were embassies of states, there were legates of Caesar.
erant complures honesti adulescentes, senatorum filii et ordinis equestris; erant legationes civitatum, erant legati Caesaris.
All these the rivers held fast. To crush them, Afranius sets out by night with all his cavalry and three legions, and, his cavalry sent ahead, attacks them unawares. Quickly, however, the Gallic cavalry get themselves ready and join battle.
hos omnis flumina continebant. ad hos opprimendos cum omni equitatu tribusque legionibus Afranius de nocte proficiscitur inprudentisque ante missis equitibus adgreditur. celeriter sese tamen Galli equites expediunt proeliumque committunt.
While the matter could be fought on equal terms, these few held out against a great number of the enemy; but when the standards of the legions began to draw near, having lost a few, they betake themselves to the nearest mountains.
ii dum pari certamine res geri potuit, magnum hostium numerum pauci sustinuere; sed ubi signa legionum adpropinquare coeperunt, paucis amissis sese in proximos montes conferunt.
This interval of fighting brought our men a great moment toward their safety; for, gaining a space, they withdrew to higher ground. There were lost that day about two hundred archers, a few cavalry, and no great number of camp-servants and baggage.
hoc pugnae tempus magnum attulit nostris ad salutem momentum; nacti enim spatium se in loca superiora receperunt. desiderati sunt eo die sagittarii circiter cc, equites pauci, calonum atque impedimentorum non magnus numerus.
For all this, the price of grain rose for them. This is a thing that generally grows worse not only from present want but also from fear of the time to come.
His tamen omnibus annona crevit. quae fere res non solum inopia praesenti, sed etiam futuri temporis timore ingravescere consuevit.
and in so few days a great change of circumstances had come about, and fortune had so shifted, that our men were afflicted with great want of necessities, while the enemy abounded in everything and were held the superior.
et tam paucis diebus magna erat rerum facta commutatio ac se fortuna inclinaverat, ut nostri magna inopia necessariarum rerum conflictarentur, illi omnibus abundarent rebus superioresque haberentur.
Caesar, of the states that had come over to his friendship, since the supply of grain was scant, requisitioned cattle; he sent his camp-servants to the more distant states; he himself, by such supports as he could, guarded against the present want.
Caesar iis civitatibus, quae ad eius amicitiam accesserant, quod minor erat frumenti copia, pecus imperabat; calones ad longinquiores civitates dimittebat; ipse praesentem inopiam, quibus poterat subsidiis, tutabatur.
These things Afranius and Petreius and their friends wrote to their people at Rome in still fuller and richer terms. Rumor added much, so that the war seemed almost finished.
Haec Afranius Petreiusque et eorum amici pleniora etiam atque uberiora Romam ad suos perscribebant. multa rumores adfingebant, ut paene bellum confectum videretur.
When these letters and reports had been carried to Rome, great gatherings at Afranius’s house and great congratulations took place; many set out from Italy to Gnaeus Pompey, some that they might seem the first to have brought such news, others lest they should seem to have awaited the outcome of the war, or to have come last of all.
quibus litteris nuntiisque Romam perlatis magni domum concursus ad Afranium magnaeque gratulationes fiebant; multi ex Italia ad Cn. Pompeium proficiscebantur, alii, ut principes talem nuntium attulisse, alii, ne eventum belli exspectasse aut ex omnibus novissimi venisse viderentur.
When matters stood in these straits and all the roads were beset by Afranius’s foot and horse, and the bridges could not be finished, Caesar orders his soldiers to make boats of the kind that his experience of Britain in earlier years had taught him.
Cum in his angustiis res esset atque omnes viae ab Afranianis militibus equitibusque obsiderentur nec pontes perfici possent, imperat militibus Caesar ut naves faciant, cuius generis eum superioribus annis usus Britanniae docuerat.
The keels and first ribs were made of light timber; the rest of the body of the boats, woven of withies, was covered over with hides.
carinae ac prima statumina ex levi materia fiebant; reliquum corpus navium viminibus contextum coriis integebatur.
When these were finished, he conveys them on coupled wagons by night to a point twenty-two miles from the camp, ferries his soldiers across the river in these boats, and seizes unexpectedly a hill adjoining the bank.
has perfectas carris iunctis devehit noctu milia passuum a castris xxii militesque his navibus flumen transportat continentemque ripae collem improviso occupat.
This he quickly fortifies, before it is perceived by the adversaries. Then he transfers a legion across to it and, working from either side, finishes within two days a bridge he had begun.
hunc celeriter, priusquam ab adversariis sentiatur, communit. huc legionem postea transicit atque ex utraque parte pontem institutum biduo perficit.
So he safely receives the convoys and those who had gone out for grain, and begins to set his grain supply in order.
ita commeatus et, qui frumenti causa processerant, tuto ad se recipit et rem frumentariam expedire incipit.
On the same day he ferried a great part of his cavalry across the river. They, attacking the foragers unawares and scattered without any fear, cut off a great number of beasts and men, and, when target-bearing cohorts were sent up in support, skillfully divide into two parts, some to guard the plunder, others to resist the comers and drive them off,
Eodem die equitum magnam partem flumen transiecit. qui inopinantes pabulatores et sine ullo dissipatos timore adgressi magnum numerum iumentorum atque hominum intercipiunt cohortibusque caetratis subsidio missis scienter in duas partes sese distribuunt, alii ut praesidio sint praedae, alii ut venientibus resistant atque eos propellant,
and one cohort, which had rashly run forward ahead of the rest outside the line, they cut off from the others, surround, and kill, and return unharmed with great plunder to camp by the same bridge.
unamque cohortem, quae temere ante ceteras extra aciem procurrerat, seclusam ab reliquis circumveniunt atque interficiunt, incolumesque cum magna praeda eodem ponte in castra revertuntur.
While these things are being done at Ilerda, the people of Massilia, following the counsel of Lucius Domitius, fit out seventeen warships, of which eleven were decked.
Dum haec ad Ilerdam geruntur, Massilienses usi L. Domiti consilio navis longas expediunt numero xvii, quarum erant xi tectae.
To these they add many smaller craft, that our fleet might be terrified by their very number. They put aboard a great number of archers and a great number of the Albici, of whom mention has been made above, and incite these with rewards and promises.
multa huc minora navigia addunt, ut ipsa multitudine nostra classis terreatur. magnum numerum sagittariorum, magnum Albicorum, de quibus supra demonstratum est, inponunt, atque hos praemiis pollicitationibusque incitant.
Domitius claims certain ships for himself and fills them with the tenants and herdsmen he had brought with him.
certas sibi deposcit navis Domitius atque has colonis pastoribusque, quos secum adduxerat, complet.
Thus, the fleet equipped in every way, they advance with great confidence against our ships, which were commanded by Decimus Brutus. These were holding station at the island that lies opposite Massilia.
sic omnibus rebus instructa classe magna fiducia ad nostras navis procedunt, quibus praeerat D. Brutus. hae ad insulam, quae est contra Massiliam, stationes obtinebant.
Brutus was far inferior in number of ships. But Caesar had assigned to that fleet the bravest men, chosen from all the legions—front-rank men and centurions—who had themselves demanded that duty.
Erat multo inferior numero navium Brutus. sed electos ex omnibus legionibus fortissimos viros, antesignanos, centuriones, Caesar ei classi attribuerat, qui sibi id muneris depoposcerant.
These had made ready grappling-irons and hooks, and had furnished themselves with a great number of javelins, darts, and the rest of the missiles. So, on learning of the enemy’s approach, they lead their ships out of harbor and engage the men of Massilia.
hi manus ferreas atque harpagones paraverant, magnoque numero pilorum, tragularum reliquorumque telorum se instruxerant. ita cognito hostium adventu suas naves ex portu educunt, cum Massiliensibus confligunt.
On both sides there was fighting most brave and most fierce; nor did the Albici yield much to our men in courage—rough men, mountaineers, and trained in arms;
pugnatum est utrimque fortissime atque acerrime; neque multum Albici nostris virtute cedebant, homines asperi et montani et exercitati in armis;
and these, but lately parted from the people of Massilia, held their recent promise fresh in their minds, while Domitius’s herdsmen, roused by the hope of freedom, were eager to prove their service under their master’s eyes.
atque hi modo digressi a Massiliensibus recentem eorum pollicitationem animis continebant, pastoresque Domiti spe libertatis excitati sub oculis domini suam probare operam studebant.
The men of Massilia themselves, trusting in the speed of their ships and the skill of their helmsmen, kept eluding our men and parrying their charges, and, as long as they could use a wider space, with their line drawn out farther they strove to surround our men, or to set upon single ships with several of their own, or, running past, to shear off the oars, if they could.
Ipsi Massilienses et celeritate navium et scientia gubernatorum confisi nostros eludebant impetusque eorum excipiebant et, quoad licebat latiore uti spatio, producta longius acie circumvenire nostros aut pluribus navibus adoriri singulas aut remos transcurrentes detergere, si possent, contendebant.
When of necessity it had come to closer quarters, they fled from the skill and contrivances of their helmsmen to the courage of the mountaineers.
cum propius erat necessario ventum, ab scientia gubernatorum atque artificiis ad virtutem montanorum confugiebant.
Our men, since they employed less practiced rowers and less skilled helmsmen, who had suddenly been brought out of the transport ships, the names of the tackle not yet even learned, were also hampered by the slowness and heaviness of the ships; for, made suddenly of green timber, they had not the same advantage of speed.
nostri cum minus exercitatis remigibus minusque peritis gubernatoribus utebantur, qui repente ex onerariis navibus erant producti nequedum etiam vocabulis armamentorum cognitis, tum etiam tarditate et gravitate navium impediebantur; factae enim subito ex umida materia non eundem usum celeritatis habuerant.
And so, as long as a chance of fighting at close quarters was given, they faced single ships against two with even minds, and, a grappling-iron thrown on and each ship held fast, fought from both sides, crossed over onto the enemy’s ships, and, a great number of Albici and herdsmen killed, sink part of the ships, capture some with their crews, and drive the rest into harbor.
itaque dum locus comminus pugnandi daretur, aequo animo singulas binis navibus obiciebant atque iniecta manu ferrea et retenta utraque navi diversi pugnabant atque in hostium naves transcendebant et magno numero Albicorum et pastorum interfecto partem navium deprimunt, nonnullas cum hominibus capiunt, reliquas in portum compellunt.
On that day nine ships of the people of Massilia perish, with those that are captured.
eo die naves Massiliensium cum his, quae sunt captae, intereunt viiii.
When first this was reported to Caesar at Ilerda, at the same time, the bridge finished, fortune is quickly changed.
Hoc cum primum Caesari ad Ilerdam nuntiatur, simul perfecto ponte celeriter fortuna mutatur.
The enemy, terrified by the courage of the cavalry, ranged less freely, less boldly; sometimes, advancing no great distance from camp so as to have a quick retreat, they foraged within narrower bounds; sometimes, by a longer circuit, they avoided the cavalry’s outposts and pickets, or, having suffered some loss, or having sighted the cavalry from afar, they fled back from the middle of their march, casting away their packs.
illi perterriti virtute equitum minus libere, minus audacter vagabantur; alias non longo a castris progressi spatio, ut celerem receptum haberent, angustius pabulabantur, alias longiore circuitu custodias stationesque equitum vitabant, aut aliquo accepto detrimento aut procul equitatu viso ex medio itinere proiectis sarcinis refugiebant.
At last they had resolved both to let several days pass and, against everyone’s custom, to forage by night.
postremo et plures intermittere dies et praeter consuetudinem omnium noctu constituerant pabulari.
Meanwhile the people of Osca and of Calagurris, who were attached to the people of Osca, send envoys to him and promise that they will do what is commanded.
Interim Oscenses et Calagurritani, qui erant cum Oscensibus contributi, mittunt ad eum legatos seseque imperata facturos pollicentur.
These the people of Tarraco and the Iacetani and the Ausetani follow, and a few days later the Illurgavonenses, who border on the river Ebro.
hos Tarraconenses et Iacetani et Ausetani et paucis post diebus Illurgavonenses, qui flumen Hiberum attingunt, insequuntur.
He asks of all these that they help him with grain. They promise, and, with all the beasts of burden sought out from every quarter, carry it into the camp.
petit ab his omnibus, ut se frumento iuvent. pollicentur atque omnibus undique conquisitis iumentis in castra deportant.
A cohort of the Illurgavonenses, too, comes over to him, when its state’s resolve was known, and carries its standards over from its post.
transit etiam cohors Illurgavonensis ad eum cognito civitatis consilio et signa ex statione transfert.
A great change of circumstances quickly. The bridge finished, five great states joined to his friendship, the grain supply set in order, the rumors quenched about the reinforcing legions that were said to be coming with Pompey through Mauretania, many of the more distant states fall away from Afranius and follow Caesar’s friendship.
magna celeriter commutatio rerum. perfecto ponte, magnis quinque civitatibus ad amicitiam adiunctis, expedita re frumentaria, exstinctis rumoribus de auxiliis legionum, quae cum Pompeio per Mauretaniam venire dicebantur, multae longinquiores civitates ab Afranio desciscunt et Caesaris amicitiam sequuntur.
With the spirits of his adversaries thus terrified, Caesar, that the cavalry might not always have to be sent by the long circuit over the bridge, having found a suitable place, set about making several ditches thirty feet wide, by which to draw off some part of the Sicoris and make a ford in that river.
Quibus rebus perterritis animis adversariorum Caesar, ne semper magno circuitu per pontem equitatus esset mittendus, nactus idoneum locum, fossas pedum xxx in latitudinem complures facere instituit, quibus partem aliquam Sicoris averteret vadumque in eo flumine efficeret.
When these were nearly finished, Afranius and Petreius come into great fear of being wholly cut off from grain and fodder, because Caesar was strong in cavalry. And so they resolve to leave the place themselves and transfer the war into Celtiberia.
his paene effectis magnum in timorem Afranius Petreiusque perveniunt, ne omnino frumento pabuloque intercluderentur, quod multum Caesar equitatu valebat. itaque constituunt ipsi locis excedere et in Celtiberiam bellum transferre.
This plan was favored also by the fact that, of the two opposed classes of states, those that had stood with Sertorius in the earlier war, being beaten, feared the name and command of the absent Pompey, while those that had remained in friendship, having received great services, loved him; but among the barbarians Caesar’s name was more obscure.
huic consilio subfragabatur etiam illa res, quod ex duobus contrariis generibus quae superiore bello cum Sertorio steterant civitates, victae nomen atque imperium absentis Pompei timebant, quae in amicitia manserant magnis adfectae beneficiis eum diligebant, Caesaris autem erat in barbaris nomen obscurius.
Here they looked for great cavalry and great auxiliaries, and thought to draw the war out into winter in their own country.
hic magnos equitatus magnaque auxilia exspectabant et suis locis bellum in hiemem ducere cogitabant.
This plan adopted, they order ships to be sought along the whole river Ebro and brought to Otogesa. This was a town set on the Ebro and thirty miles distant from the camp.
hoc inito consilio toto flumine Hibero navis conquiri et Otogesam adduci iubent. id erat oppidum positum ad Hiberum miliaque passuum a castris aberat xxx.
At that point of the river they order a bridge to be made of joined ships, lead two legions across the river Sicoris, and fortify a camp with a rampart twelve feet high.
ad eum locum fluminis navibus iunctis pontem imperant fieri legionesque duas flumen Sicorim transducunt castraque muniunt vallo pedum xii.
When this was learned through scouts, Caesar, by the utmost labor of his soldiers, the work of turning the river kept up day and night, had now brought the matter to this point: that the cavalry, though it was done with difficulty and pain, could nonetheless and dared to cross the river,
Qua re per exploratores cognita summo labore militum Caesar continuato diem noctemque opere in flumine avertendo huc iam deduxerat rem, ut equites, etsi difficulter atque aegre fiebat, possent tamen atque auderent flumen transire,
while the infantry stood out only to the shoulders and the top of the breast, and were hindered from crossing both by the depth of the water and by the swiftness of the river.
pedites vero tantummodo umeris ac summo pectore extarent et cum altitudine aquae tum etiam rapiditate fluminis ad transeundum impedirentur.
But nonetheless at about the same time the bridge over the Ebro was reported nearly finished, and a ford was found in the Sicoris.
sed tamen eodem fere tempore pons in Hibero prope effectus nuntiabatur et in Sicori vadum reperiebatur.
Now indeed the enemy thought they must hasten their march the more. And so, leaving two auxiliary cohorts as a garrison at Ilerda, they cross the Sicoris with all their forces and join their camp with the two legions they had led across in the previous days.
Iam vero eo magis illi maturandum iter existimabant. itaque duabus auxiliaribus cohortibus Ilerdae praesidio relictis omnibus copiis Sicorim transeunt et cum duabus legionibus, quas superioribus diebus traduxerant, castra coniungunt.
Nothing was left to Caesar but to harass and worry the adversaries’ column with his cavalry. For his own bridge involved a great circuit, so that the enemy could reach the Ebro by a much shorter route.
relinquebatur Caesari nihil, nisi uti equitatu agmen adversariorum male haberet et carperet. pons enim ipsius magnum circuitum habebat, ut multo breviore itinere illi ad Hiberum pervenire possent.
The cavalry sent by him cross the river, and, when Petreius and Afranius had broken camp at the third watch, they suddenly show themselves at the rear of the column and, swarming round in great numbers, begin to delay it and hinder the march.
equites ab eo missi flumen transeunt, et, cum de tertia vigilia Petreius atque Afranius castra movissent, repente sese ad novissimum agmen ostendunt, et magna multitudine circumfusa morari atque iter impedire incipiunt.
At first light it could be seen from the higher ground that adjoined Caesar’s camp that the enemy’s rear was being heavily pressed by the battle of our cavalry, and that sometimes the hindmost column held its ground and was broken through, sometimes the standards advanced and our men were driven off by the charge of whole cohorts, then again, turning, pursued.
Prima luce ex superioribus locis, quae Caesaris castris erant coniuncta, cernebatur equitatus nostri proelio novissimos illorum premi vehementer ac nonnumquam sustinere extremum agmen atque interrumpi, alias ferri signa et universarum cohortium impetu nostros propelli, dein rursus conversos insequi.
Throughout the whole camp the soldiers gathered in knots and grieved that the enemy was being let slip from their hands and the war necessarily drawn out longer, and went to the centurions and military tribunes and entreated them that through them Caesar might be informed that he should spare neither their toil nor their danger: they were ready, and able and daring, to cross the river there where the cavalry had been led across.
totis vero castris milites circulari et dolere hostem ex manibus dimitti, bellum necessario longius duci, centurionesque tribunosque militum adire atque obsecrare, ut per eos Caesar certior fieret, ne labori suo neu periculo parceret; paratos esse sese, posse et audere ea transire flumen, qua traductus esset equitatus.
Roused by their zeal and their words, Caesar, although he feared to expose his army to so great a river, nonetheless judges that he must attempt and try it.
quorum studio et vocibus excitatus Caesar, etsi timebat tantae magnitudini fluminis exercitum obicere, conandum tamen atque experiendum iudicat.
And so he orders the weaker soldiers to be picked out from all the centuries, whose spirit or strength seemed unable to bear up.
itaque infirmiores milites ex omnibus centuriis deligi iubet, quorum aut animus aut vires videbantur sustinere non posse.
These, with one legion, he leaves to guard the camp; the rest of the legions, in light order, he leads out, and, a great number of beasts of burden set in the river above and below, he leads the army across.
hos cum legione una praesidio castris relinquit; reliquas legiones expeditas educit magnoque numero iumentorum in flumine supra atque infra constituto traducit exercitum.
A few of these soldiers, swept off by the river, are caught and held up by the cavalry; yet no one perishes. The army led across unharmed, he draws up his forces and begins to lead his triple line.
pauci ex his militibus ablati flumine ab equitatu excipiuntur ac sublevantur; interit tamen nemo. traducto incolumi exercitu copias instruit triplicemque aciem ducere incipit.
And there was so great zeal among the soldiers that, with six miles added to the march by the circuit to the ford, and a great delay interposed by the river, they overtook before the ninth hour of the day those who had gone out at the third watch.
ac tantum fuit in militibus studii, ut milium vi ad iter addito ad vadum circuitu magnaque fluminis mora interposita eos, qui de tertia vigilia exissent, ante horam diei viiii consequerentur.
When Afranius, with Petreius, caught sight of these men seen from afar, terrified by the strange event, he halts on higher ground and draws up his line.
Quos ubi Afranius procul visos cum Petreio conspexit, nova re perterritus locis superioribus consistit aciemque instruit.
Caesar refreshes his army on the plain, that he might not throw it, worn out, into battle; again, as the enemy try to advance, he follows and delays them.
Caesar in campis exercitum reficit, ne defessum proelio obiciat; rursus conantis progredi insequitur et moratur.
They, of necessity, pitch camp earlier than they had resolved. For there were mountains close at hand, and from five miles off difficult and narrow passes awaited them.
illi necessario maturius quam constituerant, castra ponunt. suberant enim montes atque a milibus passuum v itinera difficilia atque angusta excipiebant.
These mountains they desired to enter, to escape Caesar’s cavalry, and, by posting garrisons in the narrows, to keep his army from the route, while they themselves led their forces across the Ebro without danger or fear.
hos montes intrare cupiebant, ut equitatum effugerent Caesaris praesidiisque in angustiis collocatis exercitum itinere prohiberent, ipsi sine periculo ac timore Hiberum copias traducerent.
This they had to attempt and accomplish by every means; but, worn out by the whole day’s fighting and the labor of the march, they put the matter off to the next day. Caesar too pitches camp on the nearest hill.
quod fuit illis conandum atque omni ratione efficiendum; sed totius diei pugna atque itineris labore defessi rem in posterum diem distulerunt. Caesar quoque in proximo colle castra ponit.
About midnight, when those who had gone too far from camp for water were seized by the cavalry, Caesar is informed by them that the leaders of the adversaries were leading their forces out of camp in silence. On learning this, he orders the signal to be given and the baggage-call to be sounded in military fashion.
Media circiter nocte iis qui aquandi causa longius a castris processerant, ab equitibus correptis, fit ab his certior Caesar duces adversariorum silentio copias castris educere. quo cognito signum dari iubet et vasa militari more conclamari.
They, hearing the shout, fearing that by night, hampered under their loads, they might be forced to fight, or be held in the narrows by Caesar’s cavalry, check their march and keep their forces in camp.
illi exaudito clamore veriti ne noctu impediti sub onere confligere cogerentur aut ne ab equitatu Caesaris in angustiis tenerentur, iter supprimunt copiasque in castris continent.
The next day Petreius sets out secretly with a few horsemen to scout the ground. The same is done from Caesar’s camp. Lucius Decidius Saxa is sent with a few men to examine the nature of the ground.
postero die Petreius cum paucis equitibus occulte ad exploranda loca proficiscitur. hoc idem fit ex castris Caesaris. mittitur L. Decidius Saxa cum paucis qui loci naturam perspiciat.
Each reports the same to his own side: that the nearest five miles were of level march, and from there harsh and mountainous ground took over; whoever had seized these narrows first, for him it was no trouble to keep the enemy off.
uterque idem suis renuntiat: v milia passuum proxima intercedere itineris campestris, inde excipere loca aspera et montuosa; qui prior has angustias occupaverit, ab hoc hostem prohiberi nihil esse negotii.
It is debated in the council by Petreius and Afranius, and the time of departure is sought. The greater number held that they should march by night: they could reach the narrows before they were perceived.
Disputatur in consilio a Petreio atque Afranio et tempus profectionis quaeritur. plerique censebant, ut noctu iter facerent; posse prius ad angustias veniri, quam sentiretur.
Others, because the baggage-call had been raised the night before in Caesar’s camp, took it as evidence that they could not get out secretly.
alii, quod pridie noctu conclamatum esset Caesaris castris, argumenti sumebant loco non posse clam exiri.
Caesar’s cavalry, they argued, swarmed round by night and beset all the ground and roads; and night battles were to be avoided, because a terrified soldier in a civil strife is wont to consult his fear rather than his oath.
circumfundi noctu equitatum Caesaris atque omnia loca atque itinera obsidere; nocturnaque proelia esse vitanda, quod perterritus miles in civili dissensione timori magis quam religioni consulere consuerit.
But daylight of itself brought much shame before the eyes of all, and much too the presence of the military tribunes and centurions, by which things the soldiers are wont to be restrained and held to their duty.
at luce multum per se pudorem omnium oculis, multum etiam tribunorum militum et centurionum praesentiam adferre, quibus rebus coerceri milites et in officio contineri soleant.
Therefore by every means they must break through by day; even if some loss were suffered, yet, with the bulk of the army safe, the place they sought could be taken.
quare omni ratione esse interdiu perrumpendum; etsi aliquo accepto detrimento, tamen summa exercitus salva locum quem petant capi posse.
This opinion prevails in the council, and they resolve to set out at first light the next day.
haec vincit in consilio sententia, et prima luce postridie constituunt proficisci.
Caesar, the country explored, at the whitening of the sky leads all his forces out of camp, and by a great circuit leads his army by no fixed route. For the roads that led to the Ebro and Otogesa were held, blocked by the enemy’s camp.
Caesar exploratis regionibus albente caelo omnes copias castris educit, magnoque circuitu nullo certo itinere exercitum ducit. nam quae itinera ad Hiberum atque Otogesam pertinebant, castris hostium oppositis tenebantur.
They themselves had to cross very great and most difficult valleys; in many places sheer rocks hindered the march, so that arms had to be passed from hand to hand, and the soldiers, unarmed and supported one by another, completed a great part of the way.
ipsi erant transcendendae valles maximae ac difficillimae, saxa multis locis praerupta iter impediebant, ut arma per manus necessario traderentur militesque inermes sublevatique alii ab aliis magnam partem itineris conficerent.
But no one refused this labor, because they thought it would be the end of all their labors, if they could cut the enemy off from the Ebro and keep him from grain.
sed hunc laborem recusabat nemo, quod eum omnium laborum finem fore existimabant, si hostem Hibero intercludere et frumento prohibere potuissent.
And at first the soldiers of Afranius ran out gladly from their camp to look on, and pursued our men with insulting cries: that, driven by want of needful food, they were fleeing and returning to Ilerda. For the march was away from the goal proposed, and seemed to be going in the contrary direction.
Ac primo Afraniani milites visendi causa laeti ex castris procurrebant contumeliosisque vocibus prosequebantur nostros: necessarii victus inopia coactos fugere atque ad Ilerdam reverti. erat enim iter a proposito diversum, contrariamque in partem iri videbatur.
Their leaders, moreover, extolled their own plan with praises, that they had kept to their camp; and what much aided their belief was that they saw our men set out for the march without beasts and baggage, so that they were confident they could not endure the want any longer.
duces vero eorum consilium suum laudibus ferebant, quod se castris tenuissent; multumque eorum opinionem adiuvabat, quod sine iumentis impedimentisque ad iter profectos videbant, ut non posse inopiam diutius sustinere confiderent.
But when they saw the column gradually wheeling to the right, and noticed that the foremost were now passing the line of their camp, there was no one so slow or so shy of labor as not to think he must at once go out from camp and meet them.
sed ubi paulatim retorqueri agmen ad dextram conspexerunt iamque primos superare regionem castrorum animadverterunt, nemo erat adeo tardus aut fugiens laboris quin statim castris exeundum atque occurrendum putaret.
The call to arms is raised, and all the forces, a few cohorts left as a guard, go out and make straight for the Ebro.
conclamatur ad arma, atque omnes copiae paucis praesidio relictis cohortibus exeunt rectoque ad Hiberum itinere contendunt.
The whole contest was set in speed—which side should first seize the narrows and the mountains. But the difficulties of the roads delayed Caesar’s army, while Caesar’s cavalry, pursuing, held back Afranius’s forces.
Erat in celeritate omne positum certamen, utri prius angustias montesque occuparent. sed exercitum Caesaris viarum difficultates tardabant, Afrani copias equitatus Caesaris insequens morabatur.
The matter, however, had of necessity been brought by Afranius’s men to this point: that, even if they should reach first the mountains they sought and so escape danger themselves, they could not save the baggage of the whole army and the cohorts left in camp; and these, once cut off by Caesar’s army, could by no means be relieved.
res tamen ab Afranianis huc erat necessario deducta, ut, si priores montis quos petebant attigissent, ipsi periculum vitarent, impedimenta totius exercitus cohortisque in castris relictas servare non possent; quibus interclusis exercitu Caesaris auxilium ferri nulla ratione poterat.
Caesar completed the march first, and, having found level ground out of great cliffs, drew up his line there facing the enemy. Afranius, his rear pressed by the cavalry and the enemy before him, having found a certain hill, halted there.
confecit prior iter Caesar atque ex magnis rupibus nactus planitiem in hac contra hostem aciem instruit. Afranius, cum ab equitatu novissimum agmen premeretur et ante se hostem videret, collem quendam nactus ibi constitit.
From that place he sends four cohorts of target-bearers to a mountain that was the highest in everyone’s view. He orders them to seize it at a run, with this plan: that he himself should make for the same point with all his forces and, his route changed, reach Otogesa by the ridges.
ex eo loco iiii caetratorum cohortis in montem qui erat in conspectu omnium excelsissimus mittit. hunc magno cursu concitatos iubet occupare, eo consilio, uti ipse eodem omnibus copiis contenderet et mutato itinere iugis Otogesam perveniret.
As the target-bearers made for it by a slanting route, Caesar’s cavalry, catching sight of them, charge the cohorts; nor could the target-bearers withstand the cavalry’s force for the least part of an hour, and all of them, surrounded by them, are killed in the sight of both armies.
hunc cum obliquo itinere caetrati peterent, conspicatus equitatus Caesaris in cohortis impetum facit; nec minimam partem temporis equitum vim caetrati sustinere potuerunt omnesque ab eis circumventi in conspectu utriusque exercitus interficiuntur.
There was an opportunity for a good stroke. Nor indeed did it escape Caesar that an army terrified by so great a loss suffered before its eyes could not hold out, especially surrounded on every side by cavalry, were the fight on level and open ground; and this was demanded of him from every quarter.
Erat occasio bene gerendae rei. neque vero id Caesarem fugiebat tanto sub oculis accepto detrimento perterritum exercitum sustinere non posse, praesertim circumdatum undique equitatu, cum in loco aequo atque aperto confligeretur; idque ex omnibus partibus ab eo flagitabatur.
The legates, centurions, and military tribunes ran together: let him not hesitate to join battle.
concurrebant legati, centuriones tribunique militum: ne dubitaret proelium committere.
The spirits of all the soldiers were most ready. Afranius’s men, on the contrary, had given signs of their own fear by many things: that they had not come to the aid of their own, that they did not come down from the hill, that they barely withstood the cavalry’s charges, and that, their standards gathered into one place, packed together, they kept neither ranks nor standards.
omnium esse militum paratissimos animos. Afranianos contra multis rebus sui timoris signa misisse: quod suis non subvenissent, quod de colle non decederent, quod vix equitum incursus sustinerent collatisque in unum locum signis conferti neque ordines neque signa servarent.
But if he feared the unfavorableness of the ground, an opportunity of fighting would nonetheless be given in some place, since Afranius must certainly come down from there and could not stay without water.
quodsi iniquitatem loci timeret, datum iri tamen aliquo loco pugnandi facultatem, quod certe inde decedendum esset Afranio nec sine aqua permanere posset.
Caesar had come into this hope: that he could finish the matter without a battle and without a wound to his men, because he had cut his adversaries off from the grain supply.
Caesar in eam spem venerat se sine pugna et sine volnere suorum rem conficere posse, quod re frumentaria adversarios interclusisset.
Why should he lose any of his men even in a successful battle? Why let soldiers who had deserved excellently of him be wounded? Why, in short, put fortune to the test? Especially when it was no less a general’s part to conquer by counsel than by the sword.
cur etiam secundo proelio aliquos ex suis amitteret? cur volnerari pateretur optime meritos de se milites? cur denique fortunam periclitaretur? praesertim cum non minus esset imperatoris consilio superare quam gladio.
He was moved, too, by pity for the citizens whom he saw must be killed; he preferred to gain his end with them safe and unharmed.
movebatur etiam misericordia civium, quos interficiendos videbat; quibus salvis atque incolumibus rem optinere malebat.
This plan of Caesar’s was not approved by most; the soldiers indeed spoke openly among themselves that, since such an opportunity of victory was being let slip, they would not fight even when Caesar wished. He perseveres in his resolve and withdraws a little from that place, to lessen the adversaries’ fear.
hoc consilium Caesaris plerisque non probabatur; milites vero palam inter se loquebantur, quoniam talis occasio victoriae dimitteretur, etiam cum vellet Caesar, sese non esse pugnaturos. ille in sua sententia perseverat et paulum ex eo loco digreditur, ut timorem adversariis minuat.
Petreius and Afranius, the chance offered, betake themselves into camp. Caesar, garrisons posted in the mountains, all the route to the Ebro cut off, fortifies his camp as close as he can to the enemy’s.
Petreius atque Afranius oblata facultate in castra sese referunt. Caesar praesidiis in montibus dispositis omni ad Hiberum intercluso itinere, quam proxime potest hostium castris, castra communit.
The next day the leaders of the adversaries, dismayed because they had lost all hope of the grain supply and of the river Ebro, deliberated about the rest.
Postero die duces adversariorum perturbati, quod omnem rei frumentariae fluminisque Hiberi spem imiserant, de reliquis rebus consultabant.
There was one route, if they wished to return to Ilerda, another, if they made for Tarraco. While they were taking counsel, it is reported to them that their water-carriers were being pressed by our cavalry.
derat unum iter, Ilerdam si reverti vellent, alterum, si Tarraconem peterent. haec consiliantibus eis nuntiantur aquatores ab equitatu premi nostro.
On learning this they set out frequent pickets of cavalry and of allied cohorts, intersperse legionary cohorts, and begin to draw a rampart from the camp to the water, that they might fetch water within the fortification, without fear and without pickets.
qua re cognita crebras stationes disponunt equitum et cohortium alariarum legionariasque intericiunt cohortis vallumque ex castris ad aquam ducere incipiunt, ut intra munitionem et sine timore et sine stationibus aquari possent.
This work Petreius and Afranius divide between them, and they themselves advance some distance for the sake of completing it.
id opus inter se Petreius atque Afranius partiuntur ipsique perficiendi operis causa longius progrediuntur.
At their departure the soldiers, gaining a free chance for conversation, come forward in great numbers, and each man seeks out and calls by name whoever in the enemy camp was known to him or a fellow townsman.
Quorum discessu liberam nacti milites colloquiorum facultatem volgo procedunt, et quem quisque in castris notum aut municipem habebat, conquirit atque evocat.
First all give thanks to all, because the day before they had spared them in their terror: by their kindness they were alive. Then they ask after the general’s good faith, whether they would be entrusting themselves to him rightly, and they complain that they had not done so from the first, and that they had crossed arms with men who were their friends and kin.
primum agunt gratias omnes omnibus, quod sibi perterritis pridie pepercissent; eorum se beneficio vivere. deinde imperatoris fidem quaerunt, rectene se illi sint commissuri, et quod non ab initio fecerint armaque quod cum hominibus necessariis et consanguineis contulerint, queruntur.
Provoked by these conversations, they ask of the general a pledge for the lives of Petreius and Afranius, that they might not seem to have conceived a crime against themselves or betrayed their own. These things confirmed, they declare that they will at once carry their standards over, and send centurions of the first ranks as envoys to Caesar concerning peace.
his provocati sermonibus fidem ab imperatore de Petrei atque Afrani vita petunt, nequod in se scelus concepisse neu suos prodidisse videantur. quibus confirmatis rebus se statim signa translaturos confirmant legatosque de pace primorum ordinum centuriones ad Caesarem mittunt.
Meanwhile some bring their own people into the camp to be their guests, others are led away by their own, so that the two camps now seemed made into one; and several military tribunes and centurions come to Caesar and commend themselves to him.
interim alii suos in castra invitandi causa adducunt, alii ab suis abducuntur, adeo ut una castra iam facta ex binis viderentur; compluresque tribuni militum et centuriones ad Caesarem veniunt seque ei commendant.
The same is done by the chief men of Spain, whom the enemy had called up and kept with them in the camp in the place of hostages. These sought out their acquaintances and guest-friends, through whom each of them might have an opening of recommendation to Caesar.
idem hoc fit a principibus Hispaniae, quos illi evocaverant et secum in castris habebant obsidum loco. hi suos notos hospitesque quaerebant, per quem quisque eorum aditum commendationis haberet ad Caesarem.
Afranius’s son, too, a young man, was treating with Caesar through the legate Sulpicius concerning his own safety and his father’s.
Afrani etiam filius adulescens de sua ac parentis sui salute cum Caesare per Sulpicium legatum agebat.
Everything was full of joy and congratulation, both of those who seemed to have escaped such great dangers and of those who seemed to have accomplished such great things without a wound; and Caesar reaped a great reward of his former leniency in the judgment of all, and his plan was approved by everyone.
erant plena laetitia et gratulatione omnia et eorum qui tanta pericula vitasse, et eorum qui sine volnere tantas res confecisse videbantur, magnumque fructum suae pristinae lenitatis omnium iudicio Caesar ferebat, consiliumque eius a cunctis probabatur.
When these things were reported, Afranius leaves off the work begun and withdraws into his camp, prepared, as it seemed, to bear whatever chance befell with a quiet and even mind.
Quibus rebus nuntiatis Afranius ab instituto opere discedit seque in castra recipit, sic paratus, ut videbatur, ut, quicumque accidisset casus, hunc quieto et aequo animo ferret.
Petreius, however, does not desert himself. He arms his household; with this and the praetorian cohort of target-bearers and a few barbarian horsemen, his own beneficiaries whom he had been wont to keep for his own guard, he flies unexpectedly to the rampart, breaks off the soldiers’ conversations, drives our men from the camp, and kills those he catches.
Petreius vero non deserit sese. armat familiam; cum hac et praetoria cohorte caetratorum barbarisque equitibus paucis, beneficiariis suis, quos suae custodiae causa habere consueverat, improviso ad vallum advolat, colloquia militum interrumpit, nostros repellit a castris, quos deprendit, interficit.
The rest come together, and, terrified by the sudden danger, wrap their cloaks round their left arms and draw their swords, and so defend themselves from the target-bearers and horsemen, trusting in the nearness of the camp, and withdraw into the camp, and are defended by the cohorts that were on guard at the gates.
reliqui coeunt inter se et repentino periculo exterriti sinistras sagis involvunt gladiosque destringunt atque ita se a caetratis equitibusque defendunt castrorum propinquitate confisi seque in castra recipiunt et ab iis cohortibus quae erant in statione ad portas, defenduntur.
These things accomplished, Petreius goes round the maniples weeping and addresses the soldiers, and entreats them not to hand over to their adversaries for punishment himself or Pompey, their absent general.
Quibus rebus confectis flens Petreius manipulos circumit militesque appellat, neu se neu Pompeium absentem imperatorem suum adversariis ad supplicium tradant, obsecrat.
A gathering quickly takes place at the headquarters. He demands that all swear they will not desert or betray the army and its leaders, nor take counsel for themselves apart from the rest.
fit celeriter concursus in praetorium. postulat, ut iurent omnes se exercitum ducesque non deserturos neque prodituros neque sibi separatim a reliquis consilium capturos.
He himself first swears to these words; he administers the same oath to Afranius; the military tribunes and centurions follow; the soldiers, brought forward by centuries, swear the same.
princeps in haec verba iurat ipse; idem iusiurandum adigit Afranium; subsequuntur tribuni militum centurionesque; centuriatim producti milites idem iurant.
They issue an order that each man in whose keeping is a soldier of Caesar’s should bring him forward: those brought forward they kill openly at the headquarters. But most of them those who had taken them in conceal, and send out by night over the rampart.
edicunt, penes quem quisque sit Caesaris miles, ut producat: productos palam in praetorio interficiunt. sed plerosque ii qui receperant celant noctuque per vallum emittunt.
So the terror offered by the leaders, the cruelty in the punishment, the new bond of the oath, took away the hope of an immediate surrender, turned the soldiers’ minds, and brought the matter back to the former conduct of the war.
sic terror oblatus a ducibus, crudelitas in supplicio, nova religio iurisiurandi spem praesentis deditionis sustulit mentesque militum convertit et rem ad pristinam belli rationem redegit.
Caesar orders the soldiers of the adversaries who had come into his camp during the time of the conferences to be sought out with the utmost diligence and sent back.
Caesar, qui milites adversariorum in castra per tempus colloqui venerant, summa diligentia conquiri et remitti iubet.
But of the number of military tribunes and centurions some remained with him of their own will. These he afterward held in great honor; the centurions he restored to their former ranks, the Roman knights to the rank of tribune.
sed ex numero tribunorum militum centurionumque nonnulli sua voluntate apud eum remanserunt. quos ille postea magno in honore habuit; centuriones in priores ordines, equites Romanos in tribunicium restituit honorem.
Afranius’s men were pressed in their foraging and watered with difficulty. The legionaries had some supply of grain, because they had been ordered to bring twenty-two days’ grain from Ilerda; the target-bearers and auxiliaries had none, whose means of providing it were small and whose bodies were unused to carrying loads.
Premebantur Afraniani pabulatione, aquabantur aegre. frumenti copiam legionarii nonnullam habebant, quod dierum xxii ab Ilerda frumentum iussi erant efferre, caetrati auxiliaresque nullam, quorum erant et facultates ad parandum exiguae et corpora insueta ad onera portanda.
And so a great number of them deserted daily to Caesar. The matter stood in these straits. But of the two plans proposed, it seemed easier to return to Ilerda, because there they had left a little grain. There they were confident they would work out the rest of their plan.
itaque magnus eorum cotidie numerus ad Caesarem perfugiebat. in his erat angustiis res. sed ex propositis consiliis duobus explicitius videbatur Ilerdam reverti, quod ibi paulum frumenti reliquerant. ibi se reliquum consilium explicaturos confidebant.
Tarraco was farther off; in which distance they understood that more chances could intervene. This plan approved, they set out from camp.
Tarraco aberat longius; quo spatio plures rem posse casus recipere intellegebant. hoc probato consilio ex castris proficiscuntur.
Caesar, his cavalry sent ahead to worry and hinder the rearmost column, himself follows with the legions. No time passed but the hindmost were skirmishing with the cavalry.
Caesar equitatu praemisso, qui novissimum agmen carperet atque impediret, ipse cum legionibus subsequitur. nullum intercedebat tempus, quin extremi cum equitibus proeliarentur.
The manner of fighting was this. Light-armed cohorts closed the rearmost column, and several halted in the level places.
Genus erat hoc pugnae. expeditae cohortes novissimum agmen claudebant pluresque in locis campestribus subsistebant.
If a mountain had to be climbed, the very nature of the ground easily repelled the danger, because from the higher ground those who had gone ahead protected the climbers from above;
si mons erat ascendendus, facile ipsa loci natura periculum repellebat, quod ex locis superioribus, qui antecesserant, desuper ascendentis protegebant;
when a valley or sloping ground lay before them, and those who had gone ahead could not bring help to the laggards, while the cavalry from the higher ground hurled missiles on their backs, then the matter was in great danger.
cum vallis aut locus declivis suberat neque ii qui antecesserant morantibus opem ferre poterant, equites vero ex loco superiore in aversos tela coiciebant, tum magno erat in periculo res.
It remained that, when such ground had been approached, they should order the standards of the legions to halt and by a great charge repel the cavalry, and, the cavalry once driven off, suddenly at a quickened run let themselves all down into the valley, and so, having crossed over, halt again on higher ground.
relinquebatur, ut cum eiusmodi locis esset adpropinquatum, legionum signa consistere iuberent magnoque impetu equitatum repellerent, eo submoto repente incitati cursu sese in vallis universi demitterent atque ita transgressi rursus in locis superioribus consisterent.
For so far were they from the help of their own cavalry, of which they had a great number, that they took them, terrified by the earlier battles, into the middle of the column and protected them besides; and none of these could leave the march without being caught by Caesar’s cavalry.
nam tantum ab equitum suorum auxiliis aberant, quorum numerum habebant magnum, ut eos superioribus perterritos proeliis in medium reciperent agmen ultroque eos tuerentur; quorum nulli ex itinere excedere licebat, quin ab equitatu Caesaris exciperetur.
While they fight in such fashion, the advance is slow and gradual, and they halt often to be a help to their own; as then happened.
Tali dum pugnatur modo, lente atque paulatim proceditur crebroque, ut sint auxilio suis, subsistunt; ut tum accidit.
For, having advanced four miles and been harried more violently by the cavalry, they seize a high mountain and there fortify a camp with only one front facing the enemy, and do not take the loads off the beasts.
milia enim progressi iiii vehementiusque peragitati ab equitatu montem excelsum capiunt ibique una fronte contra hostem castra muniunt neque iumentis onera deponunt.
When they noticed that Caesar’s camp was pitched and the tents set up, and the cavalry sent off to forage, they suddenly break out about the sixth hour of the same day, and, hoping for a delay through the departure of our cavalry, begin to march.
ubi Caesaris castra posita tabernaculaque constituta et dimissos equites pabulandi causa animum adverterunt, sese subito proripiunt hora circiter sexta eiusdem diei et spem nacti morae discessu nostrorum equitum iter facere incipiunt.
Aware of this, Caesar follows with his legions refreshed, leaves a few cohorts to guard the baggage, and orders the foragers and cavalry to be recalled at the tenth hour and to follow. Quickly the cavalry returns to its daily duty of the march.
qua re animum adversa Caesar refectis legionibus subsequitur, praesidio impedimentis paucas cohortis relinquit; hora x subsequi, pabulatores equitesque revocari iubet. celeriter equitatus ad cotidianum itineris officium revertitur.
There is fierce fighting at the rearmost column, so that they almost turn their backs, and several soldiers, even some centurions, are killed. Caesar’s column was pressing close and hanging over the whole of it.
pugnatur acriter ad novissimum agmen, adeo ut paene terga convertant, compluresque milites, etiam nonnulli centuriones, interficiuntur. instabat agmen Caesaris atque universum inminebat.
Then indeed, no chance being given either to scout a suitable place for a camp or to advance, they of necessity halt and pitch camp far from water and on naturally unfavorable ground.
Tum vero neque ad explorandum idoneum locum castris neque ad progrediendum data facultate consistunt necessario et procul ab aqua et natura iniquo loco castra ponunt.
But for the same reasons that have been shown above, Caesar does not provoke battle. And that day he did not allow tents to be set up, that all might be the readier to pursue, whether the enemy broke out by night or by day.
sed isdem de causis Caesar, quae supra sunt demonstratae, proelio non lacessit. et eo die tabernacula statui passus non est, quo paratiores essent ad insequendum omnes, sive noctu sive interdiu erumperent.
The enemy, the fault of their camp noticed, extend their fortifications all night and turn camp against camp. They do the same the next day from first light and spend the whole day on it.
illi animadverso vitio castrorum tota nocte munitiones proferunt castraque castris convertunt. hoc idem postero die a prima luce faciunt totumque in ea re diem consumunt.
But the farther they advanced with the work and extended the camp, the farther off they were from water, and remedies for a present evil were given by other evils.
sed quantum opere processerant et castra protulerant, tanto aberant ab aqua longius, et praesenti malo aliis malis remedia dabantur.
On the first night no one goes out of camp for water; the next day, a guard left in camp, they lead all their forces out to the water, but no one is sent out to forage.
prima nocte aquandi causa nemo egreditur ex castris; proximo die praesidio in castris relicto universas ad aquam copias educunt, pabulatum emittitur nemo.
By these sufferings Caesar preferred them to be worn down and to undergo a necessary surrender rather than to fight it out in battle. Yet he tries to wall them about with rampart and ditch, to delay as far as possible their sudden sallies; to which he reckoned they would necessarily come down.
his eos suppliciis male haberi Caesar et necessariam subire deditionem quam proelio decertare malebat. conatur tamen eos vallo fossaque circummunire, ut quam maxime repentinas eorum eruptiones demoretur; quo necessario descensuros existimabat.
They, driven both by want of fodder and that they might be lighter for the march, order all the pack-animals to be killed.
illi et inopia pabuli adducti et quo essent ad iter expeditiores, omnia sarcinaria iumenta interfici iubent.
On these works and plans two days are spent. On the third day a great part of Caesar’s work had now advanced. The enemy, to hinder the rest of the fortification, about the ninth hour, the signal given, lead out their legions and draw up their line below the camp.
In his operibus consiliisque biduum consumitur. tertio die magna iam pars operis Caesaris processerat. illi impediendae reliquae munitionis causa hora circiter viiii signo dato legiones educunt aciemque sub castris instruunt.
Caesar recalls his legions from the work, orders all the cavalry to assemble, and draws up his line; for to seem, against the soldiers’ expectation and everyone’s talk, to have shirked battle would bring great loss.
Caesar ab opere legiones revocat, equitatum omnem convenire iubet, aciem instruit; contra opinionem enim militum famamque omnium videri proelium defugisse magnum detrimentum adferebat.
But for the same reasons that are known he was moved against wishing to fight, and the more so because the shortness of the space, even with the adversaries thrown into flight, could not much help toward the sum of victory.
sed eisdem de causis, quae sunt cognitae, quominus dimicare vellet, movebatur, atque hoc etiam magis, quod spatii brevitas etiam in fugam coniectis adversariis non multum ad summam victoriae iuvare poterat.
For the camps were no more than two miles apart. Of this, two parts the two lines occupied; the third was left empty, free for the charge and onset of the soldiers.
non enim amplius pedum milibus duobus a castris castra distabant. hinc duas partes acies occupabant duae; tertia vacabat ad incursum atque impetum militum relicta.
If battle were joined, the nearness of the camp gave the beaten a quick retreat from flight. For this reason he had resolved to resist those who brought the attack on, but not to provoke battle first.
si proelium committeretur, propinquitas castrorum celerem superatis ex fuga receptum dabat. hac de causa constituerat signa inferentibus resistere, prior proelio non lacessere.
Afranius’s line was a double one of five legions; the third place, in reserve, the allied cohorts held;
Acies erat Afraniana duplex legionum v, tertium in subsidiis locum alariae cohortes obtinebant;
Caesar’s was triple; but the first line four cohorts from each of five legions held, behind these three reserve cohorts, and again as many more, each of its own legion, followed; the archers and slingers were contained within the middle line, the cavalry girt the flanks.
Caesaris triplex; sed primam aciem quaternae cohortes ex v legionibus tenebant, has subsidiariae ternae et rursus aliae totidem suae cuiusque legionis subsequebantur; sagittarii funditoresque media continebantur acie, equitatus latera cingebat.
With the line drawn up in such fashion, each seemed to hold to his purpose: Caesar, not to join battle unless forced; the other, to hinder Caesar’s works. The matter was, however, drawn out, and the lines kept facing until sunset; then both withdraw into camp.
tali instructa acie tenere uterque propositum videbatur: Caesar, nisi coactus proelium non committeret, ille, ut opera Caesaris impediret. producitur tamen res aciesque ad solis occasum continentur; inde utrique in castra discedunt.
The next day Caesar prepares to finish the fortifications begun; the enemy, to try the ford of the river Sicoris, in case they could cross.
postero die munitiones institutas Caesar parat perficere; illi vadum fluminis Sicoris temptare, si transire possent.
Aware of this, Caesar throws across the river the light-armed Germans and part of the cavalry, and sets frequent guards along the banks.
qua re animadversa Caesar Germanos levis armaturae equitumque partem flumen traicit crebrasque in ripis custodias disponit.
At last, beset in every way, now a fourth day with their beasts kept without fodder, in want of water, wood, and grain, they ask for a conference, and that, if it might be, in a place apart from the soldiers.
Tandem omnibus rebus obsessi quartum iam diem sine pabulo retentis iumentis, aquae lignorum frumenti inopia, colloquium petunt et id, si fieri possit, semoto a militibus loco.
When this was refused by Caesar, but it was granted that they might confer openly if they wished, Afranius’s son is given to Caesar in the place of a hostage. They come to the place Caesar chose.
ubi id a Caesare negatum, et palam si colloqui vellent, concessum est, datur obsidis loco Caesari filius Afrani. venitur in eum locum quem Caesar delegit.
In the hearing of both armies Afranius speaks: that neither they nor the soldiers ought to be blamed for having wished to keep faith toward their general Gnaeus Pompey.
audiente utroque exercitu loquitur Afranius: non esse aut ipsis aut militibus suscensendum, quod fidem erga imperatorem suum Cn. Pompeium conservare voluerint.
But they had now done enough for duty and borne enough of punishment, having endured want of everything. Now, indeed, walled about almost like wild beasts, they were kept from water, kept from movement, and could bear neither the pain in their bodies nor the disgrace in their minds.
sed satis iam fecisse officio satisque supplicii tulisse perpessos omnium rerum inopiam. nunc vero paene ut feras circummunitos prohiberi aqua, prohiberi ingressu, neque corpore dolorem neque animo ignominiam ferre posse.
And so they confessed themselves beaten; they begged and entreated, if any room for pity were left, that they not be forced to go on to the utmost penalty. This he sets forth as humbly and submissively as he can.
itaque se victos confiteri; orare atque obsecrare, siqui locus misericordiae relinquatur, ne ad ultimum supplicium progredi necesse habeant. haec quam potest demississime et subiectissime exponit.
To this Caesar replied: that to no man of all had this part of either complaint or self-pity less befitted.
Ad ea Caesar respondit: nulli omnium has partis vel querimoniae vel miserationis minus convenisse.
For all the rest had done their duty: he himself, who even on good terms, in a favorable place and at a fair time, had been unwilling to fight, that all might be as untouched as possible for peace; his army, which, even after a wrong suffered and its men killed, had preserved and protected those it had in its power; and finally the soldiers of that other army, who of their own accord had treated for making peace, in which matter they had thought they must take thought for the lives of all their own.
reliquos enim omnis officium suum praestitisse: se, qui etiam bona condicione et loco et tempore aequo confligere noluerit, ut quam integerrima essent ad pacem omnia; exercitum suum, qui iniuria etiam accepta suisque interfectis, quos in sua potestate habuerit, conservarit et texerit; illius denique exercitus milites, qui per se de concilianda pace egerint, qua in re omnium suorum vitae consulendum putarint.
So the part of all ranks had stood on the side of pity; the leaders alone had shrunk from peace; they had kept neither the laws of conference nor of truce, and had most cruelly killed unskilled men who had been deceived during a conference.
sic omnium ordinum partis in misericordia constitisse, ipsos duces a pace abhorruisse; eos neque colloquii neque indutiarum iura servasse et homines imperitos et per colloquium deceptos crudelissime interfecisse.
There had befallen them, therefore, what generally befalls men through excessive obstinacy and arrogance: that they run back to and most eagerly seek what a little before they had scorned.
accidisse igitur his, quod plerumque hominibus nimia pertinacia atque adrogantia accidere soleat, uti eo recurrant et id cupidissime petant, quod paulo ante contempserint.
Nor did he now, by their abasement or by any advantage of the moment, demand the things by which his own power might be increased; but he wished those armies disbanded that they had for many years now maintained against him.
neque nunc se illorum humilitate neque aliqua temporis opportunitate postulare, quibus rebus opes augeantur suae; sed eos exercitus, quos contra se multos iam annos aluerint, velle dimitti. iam annos aluerint, velle dimitti.
For not for any other cause had six legions been sent into Spain and a seventh enrolled there, nor so many and so great fleets prepared, nor leaders skilled in war sent up.
neque enim sex legiones alia de causa missas in Hispaniam septimamque ibi conscriptam, neque tot tantasque classis paratas neque submissos duces rei militaris peritos.
None of these things had been provided for pacifying the Spains, none for the needs of the province, which, owing to the long continuance of peace, had wanted no aid.
nihil horum ad pacandas Hispanias, nihil ad usum provinciae provisum, quae propter diuturnitatem pacis nullum auxilium desiderarit.
All these things had long been prepared against himself; against himself commands of a new kind were established, that the same man should preside over the affairs of the city at its gates and, absent, hold for so many years two most warlike provinces;
omnia haec iam pridem contra se parari; in se novi generis imperia constitui, ut idem ad portas urbanis praesideat rebus et duas bellicosissimas provincias absens tot annos obtineat;
against himself the rights of magistrates were altered, that men be sent into provinces not after the praetorship and consulship, as always, but approved and chosen through a few; against himself the excuse of age availed nothing, but men approved in earlier wars were called up to hold armies;
in se iura magistratuum commutari, ne ex praetura et consulatu, ut semper, sed per paucos probati et electi in provincias mittantur; in se aetatis excusationem nihil valere, quin superioribus bellis probati ad optinendos exercitus evocentur;
against himself alone was not observed what had always been granted to all generals, that, their affairs prosperously accomplished, they return home either with some honor or at least without disgrace, and disband their army.
in se uno non servari, quod sit omnibus datum semper imperatoribus, ut rebus feliciter gestis aut cum honore aliquo aut certe sine ignominia domum revertantur exercitumque dimittant.
Yet all these things he had borne patiently and would bear; nor was he now aiming to keep for himself the army taken from them—which, however, would not be difficult for him—but that they should not have what they could use against him.
quae tamen omnia et se tulisse patienter et esse laturum; neque nunc id agere, ut ab illis abductum exercitum teneat ipse, quod tamen sibi difficile non sit, sed ne illi habeant, quo contra se uti possint.
Therefore, as had been said, let them quit the provinces and disband the army; if this were done, he would harm no one. This was the one and final condition of peace.
proinde, ut esset dictum, provinciis excederent exercitumque dimitterent; si id sit factum, se nociturum nemini. hanc unam atque extremam esse pacis condicionem.
This indeed was most welcome and pleasing to the soldiers, as could be known from their very show of feeling: that men who had expected some just penalty should of their own accord carry off the reward of a discharge.
Id vero militibus fuit pergratum et iucundum, ut ex ipsa significatione cognosci potuit, ut, qui aliquid iusti incommodi expectavissent, ultro praemium missionis ferrent.
For when a dispute was raised about the place and time of the matter, all of them, by voice and gesture, from the rampart where they had taken their stand, began to signify that they should be discharged at once, and that no pledge, however interposed, could be firm if it were put off to another time.
nam cum de loco et de tempore eius rei controversia inferretur, et voce et manibus universi ex vallo, ubi constiterant, significare coeperunt, ut statim dimitterentur, neque omni interposita fide firmum esse posse, si in aliud tempus differretur.
When the matter had been argued in a few words on both sides, it is brought to this: that those who had a home or a holding in Spain should be discharged at once, the rest at the river Var; that they take no harm, and that no one be forced against his will to take the oath, is provided for by Caesar.
paucis cum esset in utramque partem verbis disputatum, res huc deducitur, ut ii qui habeant domicilium aut possessionem in Hispania, statim, reliqui ad Varum flumen dimittantur; nequid iis noceatur neu quis invitus sacramentum dicere cogatur, a Caesare cavetur.
Caesar promises that from that time, until they come to the river Var, he will give grain. He adds also that whatever any of them had lost in the war, which is in the hands of his own soldiers, be restored to those who had lost it; to the soldiers, a fair valuation made, he pays money for these things.
Caesar ex eo tempore, dum ad flumen Varum veniatur, se frumentum daturum pollicetur. addit etiam, ut quid quisque eorum in bello amiserit, quae sint penes milites suos, iis qui amiserant restituatur; militibus aequa facta aestimatione pecuniam pro his rebus dissolvit.
Whatever disputes the soldiers afterward had among themselves, they came of their own accord before Caesar for judgment.
quascumque postea controversias inter se milites habuerunt, sua sponte ad Caesarem in ius adierunt.
When pay was demanded of Petreius and Afranius by the legions, almost to the point of mutiny—pay whose due day, they said, had not yet come—it was demanded that Caesar should hear the case, and with his decision both sides were content.
Petreius atque Afranius cum stipendium ab legionibus paene seditione facta flagitaretur, cuius illi diem nondum venisse dicerent, Caesar ut cognosceret, postulatum est, eoque utrique, quod statuit, contenti fuerunt.
About a third part of the army having been discharged within those two days, he ordered his own two legions to go ahead and the rest to follow, so that they should pitch camp no great distance apart, and put the legate Quintus Fufius Calenus in charge of that business.
parte circiter tertia exercitus eo biduo dimissa duas legiones suas antecedere, reliquas subsequi iussit, ut non longo inter se spatio castra facerent, eique negotio Q. Fufium Calenum legatum praefecit.
By this prescription of his the march was made from Spain to the river Var, and there the remaining part of the army was discharged.
hoc eius praescripto ex Hispania ad Varum flumen est iter factum, atque ibi reliqua pars exercitus dimissa est.
While these things are being done in Spain, the legate Gaius Trebonius, who had been left for the siege of Massilia, set about moving up against the town, on two sides, an earthwork, mantlets, and towers.
Dum haec in Hispania geruntur, C. Trebonius legatus, qui ad oppugnationem Massiliae relictus erat, duabus ex partibus aggerem, vineas turresque ad oppidum agere instituit.
One was nearest the harbor and the docks, the other at the gate by which there is access from Gaul and Spain, toward that sea which lies against the mouth of the Rhone.
una erat proxima portu navalibusque, altera ad portam, qua est aditus ex Gallia atque Hispania, ad id mare, quod adiacet ad ostium Rhodani.
For Massilia is washed by the sea on nearly three sides of the town; the remaining fourth is that which has access from the land. Of this stretch too the part that pertains to the citadel, fortified by the nature of the ground and by a very deep valley, makes for a long and difficult siege.
Massilia enim fere tribus ex oppidi partibus mari alluitur; reliqua quarta est, quae aditum habeat ab terra. huius quoque spatii pars ea quae ad arcem pertinet, loci natura et valle altissima munita longam et difficilem habet oppugnationem.
To complete these works Gaius Trebonius calls a great multitude of beasts and men from the whole province, and orders withies and timber to be brought together. With these things provided, he raises an earthwork to a height of eighty feet.
ad ea perficienda opera C. Trebonius magnam iumentorum atque hominum multitudinem ex omni provincia vocat, vimina materiamque comportari iubet. quibus conparatis rebus aggerem in altitudinem pedum lxxx exstruit.
But so great of old were the stores of every kind for war in the town, and so great the number of engines, that no mantlets woven of withies could withstand their force.
Sed tanti erant antiquitus in oppido omnium rerum ad bellum apparatus tantaque multitudo tormentorum, ut eorum vim nullae contextae viminibus vineae sustinere possent.
For beams twelve feet long, tipped with iron points and hurled from the greatest ballistas, were driven into the ground through four layers of wicker.
asseres enim pedum xii cuspidibus praefixi atque hi maximis balistis missi per quattuor ordines cratium in terram defigebantur.
And so galleries were roofed over with foot-thick timbers joined together, and along these the earthwork was carried forward from hand to hand.
itaque pedalibus lignis coniunctis inter se porticus integebantur, atque hac agger inter manus proferebatur.
In front went a tortoise sixty feet long for leveling the ground, made likewise of the strongest timbers and wrapped about with everything by which casts of fire and stones could be warded off.
antecedebat testudo pedum lx aequandi loci causa facta item ex fortissimis lignis, convoluta omnibus rebus, quibus ignis iactus et lapides defendi possent.
But the magnitude of the works, the height of the wall and towers, and the number of engines slowed the whole operation.
sed magnitudo operum, altitudo muri atque turrium, multitudo tormentorum omnem administrationem tardabat.
Frequent sallies, too, were made from the town by the Albici, and fire was carried against the earthwork and the towers. These our soldiers easily repelled, and, inflicting great losses in turn, threw back into the town those who had made the sally.
crebrae etiam per Albicos eruptiones fiebant ex oppido, ignesque aggeri et turribus inferebantur. quae facile nostri milites repellebant magnisque ultro inlatis detrimentis eos, qui eruptionem fecerant, in oppidum reiciebant.
Meanwhile Lucius Nasidius, sent by Gnaeus Pompey with a fleet of sixteen ships, among which a few were bronze-beaked, to the aid of Lucius Domitius and the people of Massilia, is carried through the Strait of Sicily, Curio neither aware nor expecting it,
Interim L. Nasidius ab Cn. Pompeio cum classe navium ivx, in quibus paucae erant aeratae, L. Domitio Massiliensibusque subsidio missus freto Siciliae imprudente atque inopinante Curione pervehitur
and, his ships put in at Messana, where the flight of the chief men and the senate took place out of sudden terror, he draws a ship out of their docks.
appulsisque Messanam navibus atque inde propter repentinum terrorem principum ac senatus fuga facta ex navalibus eorum navem deducit.
Joining this to the rest of his ships, he completes his course toward Massilia, and, sending a small boat secretly ahead, informs Domitius and the people of Massilia of his arrival, and greatly urges them to fight again with Brutus’s fleet, with his own reinforcements added.
hac adiuncta ad reliquas naves cursum Massiliam versus perficit praemissaque clam navicula Domitium Massiliensisque de suo adventu certiores facit eosque magnopere hortatur, ut rursus cum Bruti classe additis suis auxiliis confligant.
The people of Massilia, after their earlier setback, had brought old ships out of the docks to the same number, refitted them, and armed them with the utmost industry—a great supply of rowers and helmsmen was at hand—
Massilienses post superius incommodum veteres ad eundem numerum ex navalibus productas navis refecerant summaque industria armaverant — remigum, gubernatorum magna copia subpetebat —
and they had added fishing boats and decked them over, so that the rowers might be safe from the stroke of missiles; these they filled with archers and engines.
piscatoriasque adiecerant atque contexerant, ut essent ab ictu telorum remiges tuti; has sagittariis tormentisque conpleverunt.
The fleet equipped in such fashion, roused by the prayers and weeping of all the old men, the matrons, and the maidens that they should come to the city’s aid in its last extremity, they embark with spirit and confidence no less than they had fought with before.
tali modo instructa classe omnium seniorum, matrum familiae, virginum precibus et fletu excitati, extremo tempore civitati subvenirent, non minore animo ac fiducia quam ante dimicaverant, naves conscendunt.
For it comes about by a common fault of our nature that we trust the more in things unseen and unknown and are the more violently terrified by them; as then happened. For the arrival of Lucius Nasidius had filled the city with the highest hope and goodwill.
communi enim fit vitio naturae, ut invisitatis atque incognitis rebus magis confidamus vehementiusque exterreamur; ut tum accidit. adventus enim L. Nasidi summa spe et voluntate civitatem conpleverat.
Catching a favorable wind, they go out of harbor and reach Nasidius at Tauroeis, a fort of the people of Massilia, and there make their ships ready, again steel their spirits for the fight, and share their plans. The right wing is assigned to the people of Massilia, the left to Nasidius.
nacti idoneum ventum ex portu exeunt et Tauroenta, quod est castellum Massiliensium, ad Nasidium perveniunt ibique naves expediunt rursusque se ad confligendum animo confirmant et consilia communicant. dextra pars attribuitur Massiliensibus, sinistra Nasidio.
To the same place Brutus hastens, the number of his ships increased. For to those that had been made at Arelate by Caesar’s order, six captured from the people of Massilia had been added. These he had refitted in the previous days and equipped in every way.
Eodem Brutus contendit aucto navium numero. nam ad eas, quae factae erant Arelate per Caesarem, captivae Massiliensium accesserant sex. has superioribus diebus refecerat atque omnibus rebus instruxerat.
And so, having exhorted his men that, since they had beaten the enemy at full strength, they should scorn them now beaten, he sets out against them full of good hope and spirit.
itaque suos cohortatus, quos integros superavissent, ut victos contemnerent, plenus spei bonae atque animi adversus eos proficiscitur.
It was easy, from Gaius Trebonius’s camp and all the higher ground, to look down into the city—how all the youth who had remained in the town and all of older years, with their children and wives and the public guards, either stretched their hands to heaven from the wall, or went to the temples of the immortal gods and, prostrate before the images, demanded victory from the gods.
facile erat ex castris C. Treboni atque omnibus superioribus locis prospicere in urbem, ut omnis iuventus, quae in oppido remanserat, omnesque superioris aetatis cum liberis atque uxoribus publicis custodiisque aut muro ad caelum manus tenderent aut templa deorum immortalium adirent et ante simulacra proiecti victoriam ab dis exposcerent.
Nor was there anyone of all of them who did not think that on the chance of that day rested the outcome of all his fortunes.
neque erat quisquam omnium, quin in eius diei casu suarum omnium fortunarum eventum consistere existimaret.
For both the men of rank among the youth and the most eminent of every age, summoned and entreated by name, had embarked, so that, if anything adverse befell, they saw there would be nothing left them even to attempt; but if they should win, they trusted to save the city by their own resources or by aid from abroad.
nam et honesti ex iuventute et cuiusque aetatis amplissimi nominatim evocati atque obsecrati navis conscenderant, ut siquid adversi accidisset, ne ad conandum quidem sibi quicquam reliqui fore viderent; si superavissent, vel domesticis opibus vel externis auxiliis de salute urbis confiderent.
When battle was joined, no quality was lacking to the people of Massilia for courage. But mindful of those charges they had received a little before from their own, they fought with this spirit, as men who seemed likely to have no other time for the attempt, and who reckoned that those to whom danger of life fell in the battle went not so very far before the fate of the rest of the citizens, who, the city taken, must endure the same fortune of war.
Commisso proelio Massiliensibus res nulla ad virtutem defuit. sed memores eorum praeceptorum, quae paulo ante ab suis acceperant, hoc animo decertabant, ut nullum aliud tempus ad conandum habituri viderentur, et quibus in pugna vitae periculum accideret, non ita multo se reliquorum civium fatum antecedere existimarent, quibus urbe capta eadem esset belli fortuna patienda.
As our ships gradually drew apart, room was given both to the helmsmen’s skill and to the nimbleness of the ships; and if ever our men, finding the chance, had grappled and made a ship fast with iron hands, the enemy ran up from every side to help their own in distress.
diductisque nostris paulatim navibus et artificio gubernatorum et mobilitati navium locus dabatur, et siquando nostri facultatem nacti ferreis manibus iniectis navem religaverant, undique suis laborantibus succurrebant.
Nor indeed did the Albici, joined to them, fail in close fighting, nor did they yield much in courage to our men. At the same time, from the smaller ships, a great mass of missiles hurled at long range dealt many wounds to our men, who were caught off guard and encumbered.
neque vero coniuncti Albici comminus pugnando deficiebant neque multum cedebant virtute nostris. simul ex minoribus navibus magna vis eminus missa telorum multa nostris de improviso imprudentibus atque inpeditis vulnera inferebant.
Two triremes, having caught sight of Decimus Brutus’s ship—which could be easily recognized by its ensign—had launched themselves at it from two sides. But Brutus, the matter foreseen, strained the speed of his ship and got ahead by a small margin.
conspicataeque naves triremes duae navem D. Bruti, quae ex insigni facile agnosci poterat, duabus ex partibus sese in eam incitaverant. sed tantum re provisa Brutus celeritate navis enisus est ut parvo momento antecederet.
They drove together so heavily that both were violently damaged by the collision, and one indeed, its beak shattered, was wholly disabled.
illae adeo graviter inter se incitatae conflixerunt, ut vehementissime utraque ex concursu laborarent, altera vero praefracto rostro tota conlabefieret.
This noticed, the ships of Brutus’s fleet that were nearest that spot charge them in their plight and quickly sink them both.
qua re animadversa, quae proximae ei loco ex Bruti classe naves erant, in eas inpeditas impetum faciunt celeriterque ambas deprimunt.
But Nasidius’s ships were of no use and quickly withdrew from the fight. For neither the sight of their homeland nor the charges of kinsmen drove these to face the utmost danger of life.
Sed Nasidianae naves nullo usui fuerunt celeriterque pugna excesserunt. non enim has aut conspectus patriae aut propinquorum praecepta ad extremum vitae periculum adire cogebant.
And so of that number of ships none was lost; of the fleet of Massilia five are sunk, four captured, one fled with Nasidius’s ships; all of these made for Hither Spain.
itaque ex eo numero navium nulla desiderata est; ex Massiliensium classe v sunt depressae, iiii captae, una cum Nasidianis profugit; quae omnes citeriorem Hispaniam petiverunt.
But of the rest, one sent ahead to Massilia to carry this news, when it was now drawing near the city, the whole multitude poured out to learn the report, and, when it was known, so great a grief took hold that the city seemed at that very moment to have been taken by the enemy.
at ex reliquis una praemissa Massiliam huius nuntii perferendi gratia cum iam adpropinquaret urbi, omnis sese multitudo ad cognoscendum effudit, et re cognita tantus luctus excepit, ut urbs ab hostibus capta eodem vestigio videretur.
The people of Massilia nonetheless, none the less, began to prepare the rest for the defense of the city.
Massilienses tamen nihilo setius ad defensionem urbis reliqua apparare coeperunt.
It was observed by the legionaries who were managing the right side of the works that, from the enemy’s frequent sallies, it could be a great protection to them if they made there, as a fort and a refuge, a tower of brick beneath the wall. At first, against sudden onsets, they made it low and small.
Est animadversum ab legionariis, qui dextram partem operis administrabant, ex crebris hostium eruptionibus magno sibi esse praesidio posse, si ibi pro castello ac receptaculo turrim ex latere sub muro fecissent. quam primo ad repentinos incursus humilem parvamque fecerunt.
To this they would withdraw; from it, if any greater force pressed them, they fought back; from it they ran out to repel and pursue the enemy. It extended thirty feet each way, but the thickness of the walls was five feet.
huc se referebant; hinc, siqua maior oppresserat vis, propugnabant; hinc ad repellendum et prosequendum hostem procurrebant. patebat haec quoquoversus pedes xxx, sed parietum crassitudo pedes v.
Afterward, however—for experience is the master of all things—men’s ingenuity being applied, it was found that it could be of great use if it were raised to the height of a tower. This was accomplished in the following way.
postea vero, ut est rerum omnium magister usus, hominum adhibita sollertia inventum est magno esse usui posse, si haec esset in altitudinem turris elata. id hac ratione perfectum est.
When the height of the tower had been carried up to a story, they set it into the walls in such a way that the ends of the beams were covered by the outermost structure of the walls, so that nothing should project where the enemy’s fire might catch.
Ubi turris altitudo perducta est ad contabulationem, eam in parietes instruxerunt, ita ut capita tignorum extrema parietum structura tegerentur, nequid emineret, ubi ignis hostium adhaeresceret.
Above this flooring they built up with small brick as far as the cover of the mantlet and the mantlets allowed, and over that point they threw two cross-beams not far from the outer walls, by which to hang the flooring that was to be the tower’s roof, and over those beams they laid cross-timbers at right angles and bound them with planks.
hanc insuper contignationem, quantum tectum plutei ac vinearum passum est, latericulo adstruxerunt supraque eum locum duo tigna transversa iniecerunt non longe ab extremis parietibus, quibus suspenderent eam contignationem quae turri tegimento esset futura, supraque ea tigna derecto transversas trabes iniecerunt easque axibus religaverunt.
These timbers they made a little longer and more projecting than the outer walls, so that there might be a place from which coverings could hang in front to defend against and beat off the blows, while the walls were built up below that flooring;
has trabes paulo longiores atque eminentiores quam extremi parietes erant, effecerunt ut esset ubi tegimenta praependere possent ad defendendos ictus ac repellendos, cum infra eam contignationem parietes extruerentur;
and that topmost flooring they paved with brick and clay, that no fire of the enemy could do harm, and they threw quilted mats on top, so that neither should missiles hurled by engines break through the flooring, nor should stones from catapults shatter the brickwork.
eamque contabulationem summam lateribus lutoque constraverunt, nequid ignis hostium nocere posset, centonesque insuper iniecerunt, ne aut tela tormentis missa tabulationem perfringerent, aut saxa ex catapultis latericium discuterent.
They made, moreover, three mats out of anchor-cables, as broad as the walls of the tower were long, four feet wide, and bound them, hanging round the tower from the projecting timbers, on the three sides that faced the enemy; this one kind of covering they had found in other places could be pierced by no missile or engine.
storias autem ex funibus ancorariis tres in longitudinem parietum turris latas iiii pedes fecerunt easque ex tribus partibus quae ad hostes vergebant, eminentibus trabibus circum turrim praependentes religaverunt; quod unum genus tegimenti aliis locis erant experti nullo telo neque tormento traici posse.
But when that part of the tower which was finished had been roofed and protected from every blow of the enemy, they drew the mantlets off to other works; they began to raise and lift the tower’s roof, by itself, by jacking it up from the first story.
ubi vero ea pars turris, quae erat perfecta, tecta atque munita est ab omni ictu hostium, pluteos ad alia opera abduxerunt; turris tectum per se ipsum pressionibus ex contignatione prima suspendere ac tollere coeperunt.
When they had raised it as far as the lowering of the mats allowed, hidden and protected within these coverings, they built up the walls with brick, and again, by another jacking, made room for themselves to build.
ubi quantum storiarum demissio patiebatur, tantum elevarant, intra haec tegimenta abditi atque muniti parietes lateribus exstruebant, rursusque alia pressione ad aedificandum sibi locum expediebant.
When the time for another story seemed at hand, they set in beams, roofed at the outer brickwork as at first, and from that flooring again raised the topmost flooring and the mats.
ubi tempus alterius contabulationis videbatur, tigna item ut primo tecta extremis lateribus instruebant exque ea contignatione rursus summam contabulationem storiasque elevabant.
So, safely and without any wound or danger, they built six stories, and left windows, in such places as seemed good, for discharging engines as they built.
ita tuto ac sine ullo vulnere ac periculo vi tabulata exstruxerunt fenestrasque, quibus in locis visum est, ad tormenta mittenda in struendo reliquerunt.
When they were confident that from this tower they could protect the works round about, they set about making a gallery sixty feet long, of two-foot timber, to run from the brick tower to the enemy’s tower and wall.
Ubi ex ea turri quae circum essent opera tueri se posse sunt confisi, musculum pedes lx longum ex materia bipedali, quem a turri latericia ad hostium turrim murumque perducerent, facere instituerunt.
The form of this gallery was as follows. First two beams of equal length are laid on the ground, four feet apart from each other, and on them are fixed small posts five feet high.
cuius musculi haec erat forma. duae primum trabes in solo aeque longae distantes inter se pedes iiii collocantur inque eis columellae pedum in altitudinem v defiguntur.
These they join together with rafters at a gentle pitch, where they set the timbers that they place to roof the gallery. Over these they throw two-foot timbers and bind them with strips and nails.
has inter se capreolis molli fastigio coniungunt, ubi tigna quae musculi tegendi causa ponant collocentur. eo super tigna bipedalia iniciunt eaque aminis clavisque religant.
At the end of the gallery’s roof and the outermost beams they fix square laths, four fingers broad, to hold in place the bricks that are built up over the gallery.
lad extremum musculi tectum trabesque extremas quadratas regulas iiii patentis digitos defigunt, quae lateres, qui super musculo struantur, contineant.
So, pitched and built course by course as the beams were set on the rafters, the gallery is covered over with bricks and clay, to be safe from the fire that might be hurled from the wall.
ita fastigato atque ordinatim structo ut trabes erant in capreolis collocatae, lateribus lutoque musculus, ut ab igni qui ex muro iaceretur tutus esset, contegitur.
Over the bricks hides are drawn, so that water let in by pipes could not dissolve the bricks. And the hides, that they might not in turn be destroyed by fire and stones, are covered with quilted mats.
super lateres coria inducuntur, ne canalibus aqua immissa lateres diluere posset. coria autem ne rursus igni ac lapidibus corrumpantur, centonibus conteguntur.
This whole work, roofed with mantlets, they complete right up to the tower, and suddenly, the enemy not expecting it, by naval machinery, rollers set beneath, they move it up to the enemy’s tower, so that it is joined to the building.
hoc opus omne tectum vineis ad ipsam turrim perficiunt subitoque inopinantibus hostibus machinatione navali phalangis subiectis ad turrim hostium admovent, ut aedificio iungatur.
Terrified by this evil, the townsmen suddenly heave forward with levers the largest stones they can, and, cast down from the wall, roll them onto the gallery. The strength of the timber withstands the blow, and whatever falls slides off the gallery’s pitched roof.
Quo malo perterriti subito oppidani saxa, quam maxima possunt, vectibus promovent, praecipitataque muro in musculum devolvunt. ictum firmitas materiae sustinet, et quidquid incidit, fastigio musculi elabitur.
When they see this, they change their plan; they kindle casks stuffed with pine-resin and pitch and roll them down from the wall onto the gallery. Rolling, they slide off, and, once fallen, are removed from the work at the sides with poles and forks.
id ubi vident, mutant consilium; cupas taeda ac pice refertas incendunt easque de muro in musculum devolvunt. involutae labuntur, delapsae ab lateribus longuriis furcisque ab opere removentur.
Meanwhile, under the gallery, the soldiers pry loose with levers the lowest stones of the enemy’s tower, by which the foundations were held together. The gallery is defended from the brick tower by our missiles and engines; the enemy are cleared from the wall and towers; no free chance of defending the wall is given.
interim sub musculo milites vectibus infima saxa turris hostium, quibus fundamenta continebantur, convellunt. musculus ex turri latericia a nostris telis tormentisque defenditur; hostes ex muro ac turribus submoventur; non datur libera muri defendendi facultas.
When several stones had now been drawn out from that tower which was close at hand, a part of the tower collapsed in sudden ruin, and the rest, following, was sinking, when the enemy, terrified at the plundering of their city, rush out unarmed through the gate in a body, with priestly fillets, and stretch out suppliant hands to the legates and the army.
compluribus iam lapidibus ex illa quae suberat turri subductis repentina ruina pars eius turris concidit, pars reliqua consequens procumbebat, cum hostes urbis direptione perterriti inermes cum infulis se porta foras universi proripiunt, ad legatos atque exercitum supplices manus tendunt.
At this strange turn the whole conduct of the war comes to a stop, and the soldiers, turned from the battle, are carried away by eagerness to hear and learn.
Qua nova re oblata omnis administratio belli consistit, militesque aversi a proelio ad studium audiendi et cognoscendi feruntur.
When the enemy had come to the legates and the army, they all throw themselves at their feet; they beg that the arrival of Caesar be awaited.
ubi hostes ad legatos exercitumque pervenerunt, universi se ad pedes proiciunt; orant, ut adventus Caesaris expectetur.
They saw their city taken, the works finished, the tower undermined; therefore they desisted from defense. No delay could arise to prevent them, when he had come, from being plundered on the instant, if they did not do what was commanded at his nod.
captam suam urbem videre, opera perfecta, turrim subrutam; itaque ab defensione desistere. nullam exoriri moram posse, quominus cum venisset, si imperata non facerent ad nutum, e vestigio diriperentur.
They point out that, had the tower fallen altogether, the soldiers could not be held back from bursting into the city in hope of plunder and destroying it. These things and many of the same kind, as by educated men, are pronounced with great pity and weeping.
docent, si omnino turris concidisset, non posse milites contineri, quin spe praedae in urbem inrumperent urbemque delerent. haec atque eiusdem generis complura ut ab hominibus doctis magna cum misericordia fletuque pronuntiantur.
Moved by these things, the legates lead the soldiers off from the work, desist from the assault, and leave guards at the works.
Quibus rebus commoti legati milites ex opere deducunt, oppugnatione desistunt; operibus custodias relinquunt.
A kind of truce made out of pity, the arrival of Caesar is awaited. No missile is thrown from the wall, none by our men; as though the matter were finished, all relax their care and diligence.
indutiarum quodam genere misericordia facto adventus Caesaris expectatur. nullum ex muro, nullum a nostris mittitur telum; ut re confecta omnes curam et diligentiam remittunt.
For Caesar had earnestly charged Trebonius by letter not to allow the town to be stormed by force, lest the soldiers, too gravely stirred both by hatred of the revolt and by contempt for being despised and by their long labor, should kill all the grown men;
Caesar enim per litteras Trebonio magnopere mandaverat, ne per vim oppidum expugnari pateretur, ne gravius permoti milites et defectionis odio et contemptione sui et diutino labore omnes puberes interficerent;
which they threatened to do, and were then with difficulty held back from bursting into the town, and took it ill that it seemed to have rested with Trebonius that they did not gain the town.
quod se facturos minabantur aegreque tunc sunt retenti, quin oppidum inrumperent, graviterque eam rem tulerunt, quod stetisse per Trebonium, quominus oppido potirentur, videbatur.
But the enemy, faithless, seek a time and occasion for fraud and trickery, and, some days interposed, when our men were slack and at ease in spirit, suddenly at midday, when one had gone off and another had given himself to rest, out of long labor, on the very works, and all the arms had been laid aside and covered, they burst out of the gates and, with a strong and favorable wind, set fire to the works.
At hostes sine fide tempus atque occasionem fraudis ac doli quaerunt, interiectisque aliquot diebus, nostris languentibus atque animo remissis, subito meridiano tempore, cum alius discessisset, alius ex diutino labore in ipsis operibus quieti se dedisset, arma vero omnia reposita contectaque essent, portis se foras erumpunt, secundo magnoque vento ignem operibus inferunt.
The wind so spread this that at one time the earthwork, the mantlets, the tortoise, the tower, and the engines caught flame, and all these were consumed before it could be perceived how it had happened.
hunc sic distulit ventus, uti uno tempore agger plutei testudo turris tormenta flammam conciperent et prius haec omnia consumerentur, quam quemadmodum accidisset, animadverti posset.
Our men, dismayed by the sudden turn of fortune, snatch what arms they can, others rush out from the camp. An attack is made on the enemy, but they are prevented from pursuing the fugitives by arrows and engines from the wall.
nostri repentina fortuna permoti arma quae possunt adripiunt, alii ex castris sese incitant. fit in hostis impetus eorum, sed de muro sagittis tormentisque fugientes persequi prohibentur.
The enemy withdraw beneath their wall and there freely burn the gallery and the brick tower. So the labor of many months perished in a moment of time through the enemy’s treachery and the force of the wind.
illi sub murum se recipiunt ibique musculum turrimque latericiam libere incendunt. ita multorum mensum labor hostium perfidia et vi tempestatis puncto temporis interiit.
The people of Massilia tried this same thing the next day. Catching the same weather, with greater confidence they fought by a sally against the other tower and the earthwork, and brought up much fire.
temptaverunt hoc idem Massilienses postero die. eandem nacti tempestatem maiore cum fiducia ad alteram turrim aggeremque eruptione pugnaverunt multumque ignem intulerunt.
But as our men had relaxed all the effort of the earlier time, so, warned by the chance of the previous day, they had made everything ready for defense. And so, many killed, they drove the rest back into the town, their object unachieved.
sed ut superioris temporis contentionem nostri omnem remiserant, ita proximi diei casu admoniti omnia ad defensionem paraverant. itaque multis interfectis reliquos infecta re in oppidum reppulerunt.
Trebonius set about managing and restoring what had been lost, with much greater zeal on the soldiers’ part. For when they saw that their great labors and preparations had fallen out so ill, and grieved that, the truce violated by crime, their valor would be made a mockery—since there was nothing left from which an earthwork could be brought together at all, all the trees having been cut down and carried off far and wide in the territory of Massilia—they set about making an earthwork of a new and unheard-of kind, out of two brick walls six feet thick with a flooring laid across those walls, at nearly the same height as that piled-up earthwork of timber had been.
Trebonius ea quae sunt amissa multo maiore militum studio administrare et reficere instituit. nam ubi tantos suos labores et apparatus male cecidisse viderunt, indutiisque per scelus violatis suam virtutem inrisui fore perdoluerunt, quod, unde agger omnino conportari posset, nihil erat reliquum, omnibus arboribus longe lateque in finibus Massiliensium excisis et convectis, aggerem novi generis atque inauditum ex latericiis duobus muris senum pedum crassitudine atque eorum murorum contignatione facere instituerunt aequa fere altitudine, atque ille congesticius ex materia fuerat agger.
Wherever either the span between the walls or the weakness of the timber seemed to require it, piers are set between, cross-beams are thrown in that may serve as a stay, and whatever is floored over is laid with wicker, and the wicker is covered with clay.
ubi aut spatium inter muros aut imbecillitas materiae postulare videretur, pilae interponuntur, traversaria tigna iniciuntur, quae firmamento esse possint, et quidquid est contignatum, cratibus consternitur, crates luto integuntur.
Under cover, the soldier, shielded on right and left by the wall and in front by the screen of a mantlet, brings up without danger whatever is of use for the work.
sub tecto miles dextra ac sinistra muro tectus, adversus plutei obiectu, operi quaecumque sunt usui, sine periculo subportat.
The business is managed quickly; the loss of long labor is, by the soldiers’ skill and valor, made good in a short time. Gates, in such places as seems good, are left in the wall for the purpose of sallying.
celeriter res administratur; diuturni laboris detrimentum sollertia et virtute militum brevi reconciliatur. portae, quibus locis videtur, eruptionis causa in muro relinquuntur.
When the enemy saw that the works they had hoped could not be restored save over a long stretch of time were so restored by the labor and toil of a few days that there was no room for treachery or sally, and nothing at all was left by which either the soldiers could be harmed with missiles or the works with fire,
Quod ubi hostes viderunt, ea, quae diu longoque spatio refici non posse sperassent, paucorum dierum opera et labore ita refecta, ut nullus perfidiae neque eruptioni locus esset, neque quicquam omnino relinqueretur, qua aut telis militibus aut igni operibus noceri posset,
and perceived that by the same method the whole city, on the side where there is access from the land, could be ringed with wall and towers, so that they themselves had no place to stand on their own fortifications—since the ramparts seemed almost built into their walls by our army, and a missile was thrown by hand—and that the use of their own engines,
eodemque exemplo sentiunt totam urbem, qua sit aditus ab terra, muro turribusque circumiri posse, sic ut ipsis consistendi in suis munitionibus locus non esset, cum paene inaedificata in muris ab exercitu nostro moenia viderentur, ac telum manu coiceretur suorumque tormentorum usum,
on which they had set great hopes, was lost through the nearness of the range, and they understood that, given an equal footing for fighting from wall and towers, they could not match our men in valor, they fall back on the same terms of surrender.
quibus ipsi magna speravissent, spatii propinquitate interire parique condicione ex muro ac turribus bellandi data se virtute nostris adaequare non posse intellegunt, ad easdem deditionis condiciones recurrunt.
Marcus Varro in Further Spain, when at the outset he learned what had been done in Italy, distrusting the Pompeian cause, spoke most amicably of Caesar:
M. Varro in ulteriore Hispania initio cognitis iis rebus quae sunt in Italia gestae, diffidens Pompeianis rebus amicissime de Caesare loquebatur:
that he was forestalled, holding his commission from Gnaeus Pompey, and was bound by his pledge; yet that his own connection with Caesar was no less, and that he was not ignorant of what the duty of a legate was who held a delegated charge, nor of what his own strength was, nor of the goodwill of the whole province toward Caesar.
praeoccupatum sese legatione ab Cn. Pompeio, teneri obstrictum fide; necessitudinem quidem sibi nihilo minorem cum Caesare intercedere, neque se ignorare, quod esset officium legati, qui fiduciariam operam obtineret, quae vires suae, quae voluntas erga Caesarem totius provinciae.
These things he kept saying in all his conversations and inclined to neither side.
haec omnibus ferebat sermonibus neque se in ullam partem movebat.
But afterward, when he learned that Caesar was detained at Massilia, that Petreius’s forces had joined Afranius’s army, that great auxiliaries had assembled, that great hopes were held and looked for, and that the whole Nearer province was of one mind—and received the news of what had since happened concerning the straits of the grain supply at Ilerda, which Afranius wrote to him in too lofty and inflated terms—he too began to move with the movements of fortune.
postea vero quam Caesarem ad Massiliam detineri cognovit, copias Petrei cum exercitu Afrani esse coniunctas, magna auxilia convenisse, magna esse in spe atque expectari, et consentire omnem citeriorem provinciam, quaeque postea acciderant, de angustiis ad Ilerdam rei frumentariae accepit, atque haec ad eum elatius atque inflatius Afranius perscribebat, se quoque ad motus fortunae movere coepit.
He held a levy throughout the province, and, two legions completed, added about thirty allied cohorts. He gathered a great quantity of grain, both to send to the people of Massilia and to Afranius and Petreius. He ordered the people of Gades to make ten warships, and saw to the making of several besides at Hispalis.
All the money and all the ornaments from the temple of Hercules he carried into the town of Gades; there he sent six cohorts from the province as a garrison, and put Gaius Gallonius, a Roman knight and friend of Domitius—who had come there, sent by Domitius, to manage an inheritance—in charge of the town of Gades; all the arms, private and public, he carried into the house of Gallonius.
pecuniam omnem omniaque ornamenta ex fano Herculis in oppidum Gadis contulit; eo sex cohortes praesidii causa ex provincia misit Gaiumque Gallonium equitem Romanum familiarem Domiti, qui eo procurandae hereditatis causa venerat missus a Domitio, oppido Gadibus praefecit; arma omnia privata ac publica in domum Galloni contulit.
He himself held harsh assemblies against Caesar. Often from the tribunal he proclaimed that Caesar had fought unsuccessful battles, that a great number of soldiers had deserted from him to Afranius; that he had learned these things on sure reports, on sure authorities.
ipse habuit graves in Caesarem contiones. saepe ex tribunali praedicavit adversa Caesarem proelia fecisse, magnum numerum ab eo militum ad Afranium perfugisse; haec se certis nuntiis, certis auctoribus comperisse.
By these things he frightened the Roman citizens of that province and compelled them to promise him, for the conduct of the commonwealth, eighteen million sesterces and twenty thousand pounds of silver and a hundred and twenty thousand pecks of wheat.
quibus rebus perterritos civis Romanos eius provinciae sibi ad rem publicam administrandam HS ccxxx et argenti pondo xx milia, tritici modios cxx milia polliceri coegit.
On those states he thought friendly to Caesar he laid heavier burdens and led garrisons into them, and gave judgments against private men who had spoken words and made speeches against the commonwealth; their goods he confiscated to the state. He bound the whole province by an oath of allegiance to himself and to Pompey.
quas Caesari esse amicas civitates arbitrabatur, his graviora onera iniungebat praesidiaque eo deducebat, et iudicia in privatos reddebat, qui verba atque orationem adversus rem publicam habuissent; eorum bona in publicum addicebat. provinciam omnem in sua et Pompei verba iusiurandum adigebat.
Having learned what had been done in Nearer Spain, he prepared for war. His plan of war was this: that he should betake himself with two legions to Gades and keep the ships and all the grain there; for he had learned that the whole province favored Caesar’s cause. On the island, with grain and ships provided, he thought it not difficult to draw the war out.
cognitis iis rebus quae sunt gestae in citeriore Hispania, bellum parabat. ratio autem haec erat belli, ut se cum ii legionibus Gadis conferret, naves frumentumque omne ibi contineret; provinciam enim omnem Caesaris rebus favere cognoverat. in insula frumento navibusque comparatis bellum duci non difficile existimabat.
Caesar, although he was called back to Italy by many pressing matters, had nonetheless resolved to leave no part of the war behind in the Spains, because he knew that Pompey’s services were great and his clienteles great in the Nearer province.
Caesar etsi multis necessariisque rebus in Italiam revocabatur, tamen constituerat nullam partem belli in Hispaniis relinquere, quod magna esse Pompei beneficia et magnas clientelas in citeriore provincia sciebat.
And so, two legions sent into Further Spain with Quintus Cassius, tribune of the plebs, he himself goes ahead by forced marches with six hundred cavalry and sends ahead an edict naming the day by which he wished the magistrates and chief men of all the states to attend on him at Corduba.
Itaque duabus legionibus missis in ulteriorem Hispaniam cum Q. Cassio, tribuno plebis, ipse cum dc equitibus magnis itineribus praegreditur edictumque praemittit, ad quam diem magistratus principesque omnium civitatum sibi esse praesto Cordubae vellet.
When this edict had been published throughout the province, there was no state that did not send part of its senate to Corduba by that time, no Roman citizen of any note who did not assemble by the day.
quo edicto tota provincia pervulgato nulla fuit civitas, quin ad id tempus partem senatus Cordubam mitteret, non civis Romanus paulo notior, quin ad diem conveniret.
At the same time the assembly of Corduba itself, of its own accord, shut the gates against Varro, posted guards and watches on the towers and the wall, and kept with it, for the defense of the town, two cohorts called colonial that had come there by chance.
simul ipse Cordubae conventus per se portas Varroni clausit, custodias vigiliasque in turribus muroque disposuit, cohortis duas, quae colonicae appellabantur, cum eo casu venissent, tuendi oppidi causa apud se retinuit.
In those same days the people of Carmo, which is by far the strongest state of the whole province, three cohorts having been led into the citadel of the town as a garrison by Varro, expelled the cohorts of their own accord and shut the gates.
isdem diebus Carmonenses, quae est longe firmissima totius provinciae civitas, deductis tribus in arcem oppidi cohortibus a Varrone praesidio, per se cohortes eiecit portasque praeclusit.
For this very reason Varro hastened the more to make for Gades with his legions as soon as possible, lest he be cut off on the march or at the crossing; so great and so favorable toward Caesar was the goodwill of the province found to be.
Hoc vero magis properare Varro, ut cum legionibus quam primum Gadis contenderet, ne itinere aut traiectu intercluderetur; tanta ac tam secunda in Caesarem voluntas provinciae reperiebatur.
When he had advanced a little farther, a letter is delivered from Gades: that, as soon as Caesar’s edict was known, the chief men of Gades had agreed with the tribunes of the cohorts that were in garrison there to expel Gallonius from the town and keep the city and the island for Caesar.
progresso ei paulo longius litterae Gadibus redduntur, simulatque sit cognitum de edicto Caesaris, consensisse Gaditanos principes cum tribunis cohortium quae essent ibi in praesidio, ut Gallonium ex oppido expellerent, urbem insulamque Caesari servarent.
This plan adopted, they had given Gallonius notice to leave Gades of his own accord, while it might be done without danger; if he did not, they would take counsel for themselves. Moved by this fear, Gallonius had left Gades.
hoc inito consilio denuntiavisse Gallonio, ut sua sponte, dum sine periculo liceret, excederet Gadibus; si id non fecisset, sibi consilium capturos. hoc timore adductum Gallonium Gadibus excessisse.
When these things were known, one of the two legions, that which was called the native legion, carried off its standards from Varro’s camp, he himself standing by and looking on, and withdrew to Hispalis, and took its seat in the forum and porticoes without doing harm.
his cognitis rebus altera ex duabus legionibus, quae vernacula appellabatur, ex castris Varronis adstante et inspectante ipso signa sustulit seseque Hispalim recepit atque in foro et porticibus sine maleficio consedit.
This deed the Roman citizens of that assize so approved that each most eagerly received the men into his own house as guests.
quod factum adeo eius conventus cives Romani comprobaverunt, ut domum ad se quisque hospitio cupidissime reciperet.
Terrified by these things, Varro, when, his route turned, he had sent word ahead that he would come to Italica, was informed by his own men that the gates were shut.
quibus rebus perterritus Varro, cum itinere converso sese Italicam venturum praemisisset, certior ab suis factus est praeclusas esse portas.
Then indeed, cut off from every route, he sends to Caesar that he is ready to hand over the legion to whomever he orders. Caesar sends Sextus Caesar to him and orders it to be handed over to him.
tum vero omni interclusus itinere ad Caesarem mittit paratum se esse legionem, cui iusserit, tradere. ille ad eum Sex. Caesarem mittit atque huic tradi iubet.
The legion handed over, Varro comes to Caesar at Corduba; the public accounts faithfully rendered to him, he hands over what money is in his keeping, and shows what grain and ships he has, and where.
tradita legione Varro Cordubam ad Caesarem venit; relatis ad eum publicis cum fide rationibus, quod penes eum est pecuniae, tradit, et, quid ubique habeat frumenti ac navium, ostendit.
Caesar, an assembly held at Corduba, gives thanks to all by their several classes: to the Roman citizens, because they had striven to hold the town in their own power; to the Spaniards, because they had expelled the garrisons; to the people of Gades, because they had broken the attempts of the adversaries and set themselves free; to the military tribunes and centurions who had come there as a garrison, because by their valor they had confirmed the others’ plans.
Caesar contione habita Cordubae omnibus generatim gratias agit: civibus Romanis, quod oppidum in sua potestate studuissent habere, Hispanis, quod praesidia expulissent, Gaditanis, quod conatus adversariorum infregissent seseque in libertatem vindicavissent, tribunis militum centurionibusque, qui eo praesidii causa venerant, quod eorum consilia sua virtute confirmavissent.
The monies that the Roman citizens had promised to Varro for the public treasury he remits; he restores their goods to those whom he learned had borne this penalty for speaking too freely.
pecunias, quas erant in publicum Varroni cives Romani polliciti, remittit; bona restituit iis quos liberius locutos hanc poenam tulisse cognoverat.
Granting certain public and private rewards, he fills the rest with good hope for the future, and, after lingering two days at Corduba, sets out for Gades; the monies and offerings that had been carried from the temple of Hercules into a private house he orders to be carried back into the temple.
tributis quibusdam publicis privatisque praemiis reliquos in posterum bona spe complet biduumque Cordubae commoratus Gadis proficiscitur; pecunias monimentaque quae ex fano Herculis collata erant in privatam domum, referri in templum iubet.
He puts Quintus Cassius in charge of the province and assigns him four legions. He himself, with the ships that Marcus Varro and the people of Gades had made by Varro’s order, reaches Tarraco in a few days. There the embassies of nearly the whole Nearer province were awaiting Caesar’s arrival.
provinciae Q. Cassium praeficit; huic iiii legiones adtribuit. ipse iis navibus quas M. Varro quasque Gaditani iussu Varronis fecerant, Tarraconem paucis diebus pervenit. ibi totius fere citerioris provinciae legationes Caesaris adventum exspectabant.
In the same fashion, honors paid privately and publicly to certain states, he leaves Tarraco and reaches Narbo on foot, and from there Massilia. There he learns that a law concerning a dictator had been carried, and that he himself had been named dictator by the praetor Marcus Lepidus.
The people of Massilia, worn out by every evil, reduced to the utmost want of grain, twice beaten in a sea-battle, routed in frequent sallies, afflicted besides by a grievous pestilence from their long confinement and change of diet—for all were fed on old millet and spoiled barley, which they had long since prepared against such emergencies and stored in the public granary—their tower thrown down, a great part of their wall undermined, despairing of aid from the provinces and the armies, which they had learned had come into Caesar’s power, resolve to surrender without treachery.
Massilienses omnibus defessi malis, rei frumentariae ad summam inopiam adducti, bis proelio navali superati, crebris eruptionibus fusi, gravi etiam pestilentia conflictati ex diutina conclusione et mutatione victus — panico enim vetere atque hordeo corrupto omnes alebantur, quod ad huiusmodi casus antiquitus paratum in publicum contulerant — deiecta turri, labefacta magna parte muri, auxiliis provinciarum et exercituum desperatis, quos in Caesaris potestatem venisse cognoverant, sese dedere sine fraude constituunt.
But a few days before, Lucius Domitius, learning the will of the people of Massilia, had got ready three ships, of which he had assigned two to his intimates and embarked on one himself, and, catching stormy weather, set out.
sed paucis ante diebus L. Domitius cognita Massiliensium voluntate navibus iii comparatis, ex quibus duas familiaribus suis adtribuerat, unam ipse conscenderat, nactus turbidam tempestatem profectus est.
The ships that by Brutus’s order kept daily watch off the harbor, catching sight of him, weighed anchor and began to follow.
hunc conspicatae naves quae iussu Bruti consuetudine cotidiana ad portum excubabant, sublatis ancoris sequi coeperunt.
Of these, his own vessel pressed on and held to its flight and, by the help of the storm, passed out of sight; the two, terrified by the converging of our ships, withdrew into the harbor.
ex his unum ipsius navigium contendit et fugere perseveravit auxilioque tempestatis ex conspectu abiit, duo perterrita concursu nostrarum navium sese in portum receperunt.
The people of Massilia bring out the arms and engines from the town, as was ordered, lead the ships out of the harbor and docks, and hand over the money from the treasury.
Massilienses arma tormentaque ex oppido, ut est imperatum, proferunt, navis ex portu navalibusque educunt, pecuniam ex publico tradunt.
These things finished, Caesar, sparing them more for their name and antiquity than for their deserts toward him, leaves two legions there as a garrison, sends the rest into Italy, and himself sets out for the city.
quibus rebus confectis Caesar magis eos pro nomine et vetustate quam pro meritis in se civitatis conservans, duas ibi legiones praesidio relinquit, ceteras in Italiam mittit; ipse ad urbem proficiscitur.
At the same time Gaius Curio, having set out for Africa from Sicily, and from the very first despising the forces of Publius Attius Varus, was transporting two legions of the four he had received from Caesar and five hundred cavalry; and, two days and three nights spent in the voyage, he puts in at the place called Anquillaria.
Isdem temporibus C. Curio in Africam profectus ex Sicilia et iam ab initio copias P. Atti Vari despiciens duas legiones ex iiii quas a Caesare acceperat, d equites transportabat biduoque et noctibus tribus navigatione consumptis adpellit ad eum locum qui appellatur Anquillaria.
This place is twenty-two miles distant from Clupea and has a not inconvenient roadstead for the summer, and is enclosed by two projecting headlands.
hic locus abest a Clupeis passuum xxii milia habetque non incommodam aestate stationem et duobus eminentibus promunturiis continetur.
The younger Lucius Caesar, awaiting his arrival at Clupea with ten warships—ships that Publius Attius had had refitted for this war, drawn up at Utica after the war with the pirates—frightened by the multitude of ships, had fled from the open sea, and, having run a decked trireme ashore on the nearest beach and abandoned it on the shore, had fled on foot to Hadrumetum.
huius adventum L. Caesar filius cum x longis navibus ad Clupeas praestolans, quas navis Uticae ex praedonum bello subductas P. Attius reficiendas huius belli causa curaverat, veritus que navium multitudinem ex alto refugerat appulsaque ad proximum litus trireme constrata et in litore relicta pedibus Hadrumetum perfugerat.
This town Gaius Considius Longus was guarding with a garrison of one legion. The rest of Caesar’s ships, at his flight, withdrew to Hadrumetum.
id oppidum C. Considius Longus unius legionis praesidio tuebatur. reliquae Caesaris naves eius fuga se Hadrumetum receperunt.
Marcius Rufus the quaestor, following him with twelve ships, which Curio had brought out of Sicily as a guard for the transports, when he saw the ship left on the shore, hauled it off with a tow-line; he himself returns with the fleet to Gaius Curio.
hunc secutus Marcius Rufus quaestor navibus xii, quas praesidio onerariis navibus Curio ex Sicilia eduxerat, postquam in litore relictam navem conspexit, hanc remulco abstraxit; ipse ad C. Curionem cum classe redit.
Curio sends Marcius ahead to Utica with the ships; he himself sets out for the same place with the army, and, having advanced a two days’ march, reaches the river Bagradas.
Curio Marcium Uticam navibus praemittit; ipse eodem cum exercitu proficiscitur biduique iter progressus ad flumen Bagradam pervenit.
There he leaves the legate Gaius Caninius Rebilus with the legions; he himself goes ahead with the cavalry to reconnoiter the Cornelian Camp, because that place was held very suitable for a camp.
ibi C. Caninium Rebilum legatum cum legionibus relinquit; ipse cum equitatu antecedit ad Castra exploranda Cornelia, quod is locus peridoneus castris habebatur.
It is a straight ridge jutting out into the sea, sheer and rough on either side, but with a somewhat gentler slope on the side that faces Utica.
id autem est iugum derectum eminens in mare, utraque ex parte praeruptum atque asperum, sed tamen paulo leniore fastigio ab ea parte, quae ad Uticam vergit.
It is distant from Utica by a direct route a little more than a mile. But on this route there is a spring, to which the sea runs up some way, and the place is widely flooded; if anyone wishes to avoid it, he comes to the town by a circuit of six miles.
abest derecto itinere ab Utica paulo amplius passus mille. sed hoc itinere est fons, quo mare succedit longius, lateque is locus restagnat; quem siqui vitare voluerit, vi milium circuitu in oppidum pervenit.
This place reconnoitered, Curio sees Varus’s camp joined to the wall and the town at the gate called Belica, very strongly fortified by the nature of the ground, on one side by the town of Utica itself, on the other by the theater, which is before the town, by the very great substructures of that work—the approach to the camp being difficult and narrow.
Hoc explorato loco Curio castra Vari conspicit muro oppidoque coniuncta ad portam, quae appellatur Belica, admodum munita natura loci, una ex parte ipso oppido Utica, altera a theatro, quod est ante oppidum, substructionibus eius operis maximis, aditu ad castra difficili et angusto.
At the same time he notices much being carried and driven from every quarter along the crowded roads, which were being brought from the fields into the city out of fear of the sudden disturbance.
simul animadvertit multa undique portari atque agi plenissimis viis, quae repentini tumultus timore ex agris in urbem conferebantur.
Here he sends his cavalry to plunder and treat it as spoil; and at the same time, as a support to these people, six hundred Numidian cavalry from the town and four hundred foot are sent by Varus, whom King Juba had sent to Utica a few days before for aid.
huc equitatum mittit, ut diriperet atque haberet loco praedae; eodemque tempore his rebus subsidio dc equites Numidae ex oppido peditesque cccc mittuntur a Varo, quos auxilii causa rex Iuba paucis diebus ante Uticam miserat.
With Juba there was both an ancestral guest-friendship with Pompey and a quarrel with Curio, because, as tribune of the plebs, he had promulgated a law by which he had confiscated Juba’s kingdom.
huic et paternum hospitium cum Pompeio et simultas cum Curione intercedebat, quod tribunus plebis legem promulgaverat, qua lege regnum Iubae publicaverat.
The cavalry charge one another; nor indeed could the Numidians bear our men’s first onset, but, about a hundred and twenty killed, the rest withdrew into the camp by the town.
concurrunt equites inter se; neque vero primum impetum nostrorum Numidae ferre potuerunt, sed interfectis circiter cxx reliqui se in castra ad oppidum receperunt.
Meanwhile, at the arrival of the warships, Curio orders it to be proclaimed to the transport ships, which were lying off Utica, about two hundred in number, that he would treat as an enemy whoever did not at once bring his ships over to the Cornelian Camp.
interim adventu longarum navium Curio pronuntiari onerariis navibus iubet, quae stabant ad Uticam numero circiter cc, se in hostium habiturum loco, qui non ex vestigio ad Castra Cornelia naves traduxisset.
This proclamation made, in a moment of time all weigh anchor, leave Utica, and cross over to where they were ordered. This filled the army with plenty of everything.
qua pronuntiatione facta temporis puncto sublatis ancoris omnes Uticam relinquunt et, quo imperatum est, transeunt. quae res omnium rerum copia complevit exercitum.
These things done, Curio withdraws into the camp at the Bagradas and by the acclamation of the whole army is hailed imperator, and the next day leads the army to Utica and pitches camp near the town.
His rebus gestis Curio se in castra ad Bagradam recipit atque universi exercitus conclamatione imperator appellatur, posteroque die Uticam exercitum ducit et prope oppidum castra ponit.
The work of the camp not yet finished, the cavalry on outpost report that great reinforcements of horse and foot sent by the king were coming to Utica; and at the same time a great cloud of dust was seen, and in an instant the head of the column was in sight.
nondum opere castrorum perfecto equites ex statione nuntiant magna auxilia equitum peditumque ab rege missa Uticam venire; eodemque tempore vis magna pulveris cernebatur, et vestigio temporis primum agmen erat in conspectu.
Stirred by the strangeness of the thing, Curio sends the cavalry ahead to withstand and delay the first onset; he himself quickly leads the legions off from the work and draws up his line.
novitate rei Curio permotus praemittit equites, qui primum impetum sustineant ac morentur; ipse celeriter ab opere deductis legionibus aciem instruit.
The cavalry join battle, and, before the legions could fully deploy and take their stand, the whole of the king’s auxiliaries, hampered and thrown into confusion, because they had marched in no order and without fear, are put to flight; and, almost all the cavalry being unharmed—since it withdrew quickly along the shore into the town—they kill a great number of the foot.
equitesque committunt proelium, et, priusquam plane legiones explicari et consistere possent, tota auxilia regis impedita ac perturbata, quod nullo ordine et sine timore iter fecerant, in fugam coiciunt equitatuque omni fere incolumi, quod se per litora celeriter in oppidum recipit, magnum peditum numerum interficiunt.
The next night two Marsian centurions from Curio’s camp, with twenty-two of their own men, desert to Attius Varus.
Proxima nocte centuriones Marsi duo ex castris Curionis cum manipularibus suis xxii ad Attium Varum perfugiunt.
These, whether they carry to him the opinion they truly held, or even play to Varus’s ears—for what we wish, that we gladly believe, and what we ourselves feel, we hope the rest feel—at any rate assure him that the spirits of the whole army were estranged from Curio, and that there was the greatest need to come within sight of the army and give a chance of conferring.
hi sive vere quam habuerant opinionem ad eum perferunt, sive etiam auribus Vari serviunt — nam quae volumus, ea credimus libenter, et quae sentimus ipsi, reliquos sentire speramus — confirmant quidem certe totius exercitus animos alienos esse a Curione, maximeque opus esse in conspectum exercitus venire et colloquendi dare facultatem.
Led by this opinion, Varus the next morning leads his legions out of camp. Curio does the same, and, with one small valley between, each draws up his forces.
qua opinione adductus Varus postero die mane legiones ex castris educit. facit idem Curio, atque una valle non magna interiecta suas uterque copias instruit.
There was in Varus’s army Sextus Quinctilius Varus, who, as has been shown above, had been at Corfinium. This man, released by Caesar, had come into Africa, and Curio had brought over the legions that Caesar had received at Corfinium in earlier times, so that, a few centurions changed, the same ranks and maniples held together.
Erat in exercitu Vari Sex. Quintilius Varus quem fuisse Corfinii supra demonstratum est. hic dimissus a Caesare in Africam venerat, legionesque eas traduxerat Curio, quas superioribus temporibus Corfinio receperat Caesar, adeo ut paucis mutatis centurionibus idem ordines manipulique constarent.
Seizing this pretext for addressing them, Quinctilius began to go round Curio’s line and to entreat the soldiers not to lay aside the memory of their first oath, which they had sworn before Domitius and before himself as quaestor, nor to bear arms against those who had shared the same fortune and endured the same things in the siege, nor to fight for those by whom they were called deserters in insult.
hanc nanctus appellationis causam Quintilius circumire aciem Curionis atque obsecrare milites coepit, ne primi sacramenti, quod apud Domitium atque apud se quaestorem dixissent, memoriam deponerent, neu contra eos arma ferrent, qui eadem essent usi fortuna eademque in obsidione perpessi, neu pro iis pugnarent, a quibus contumelia perfugae appellarentur.
To this he added a few words touching the hope of largesse, which they ought to expect from his own generosity if they followed him and Attius.
huc pauca ad spem largitionis addidit, quae ab sua liberalitate, si se atque Attium secuti essent, expectare deberent.
This speech made, no sign of any kind is given by Curio’s army, and so each leads his forces back.
hac habita oratione nullam in partem ab exercitu Curionis fit significatio, atque ita suas uterque copias reducit.
And in Curio’s camp a great fear came over the minds of all; it is quickly increased by the various talk of men. For each man framed his own surmises and added something of his own fear to what he had heard from another.
Atque in castris Curionis magnus omnium incessit timor animis; is variis hominum sermonibus celeriter augetur. unusquisque enim opiniones fingebat, et ad id, quod ab alio audierat, sui aliquid timoris addebat.
When this had spread from one source to several and one had passed it to another, there seemed to be several authorities for the thing.
hoc ubi uno auctore ad plures permanaverat atque alius alii tradiderat, plures auctores eius rei videbantur.
It was a civil war—a kind of men free to act and follow as they pleased; these were the very legions that a little before had been with the adversaries, for the custom by which they were offered had altered even Caesar’s kindnesses; the towns, too, were attached to opposing sides; and the men coming against them were of the Marsi and Paeligni, the very messmates and fellow-soldiers of the night before in the tents.
civile bellum; genus hominum cui id liceret libere facere et sequi quod vellet; legiones hae quae paulo ante apud adversarios fuerant. nam etiam Caesaris beneficia mutaverat consuetudo qua offerrentur. municipia etiam diversis partibus coniuncta.;neque enim ex Marsis Paelignisque veniebant ut qui superiore nocte in contuberniis commilitonesque.
Some took the soldiers’ talk more heavily; doubtful things were received too harshly, and some were even invented by those who wished to seem more diligent.
non nulli graviora sermones militum; dubia durius accipiebantur, nonnulla etiam ab his, qui diligentiores videri volebant fingebantur.
For these reasons, a council called, he begins to deliberate on the whole situation.
Quibus de causis consilio convocato de summa rerum deliberare incipit.
There were opinions which held that he must attempt by every means and storm Varus’s camp, because in soldiers’ moods of this kind they reckoned idleness most harmful. Finally they said it was better to try the fortune of war in battle by valor than, deserted and surrounded by their own, to suffer the gravest punishment.
erant sententiae, quae conandum omnibus modis castraque Vari oppugnanda censerent, quod in huius modi militum consiliis otium maxime contrarium esse arbitrarentur. postremo praestare dicebant per virtutem in pugna belli fortunam experiri, quam desertos et circumventos ab suis gravissimum supplicium perpeti.
There were those who held that he should fall back to the Cornelian Camp at the third watch, so that, a greater interval of time interposed, the soldiers’ minds might be healed, and at the same time, if anything graver befell, a retreat into Sicily might be given more safely and easily by the great multitude of ships.
erant, qui censerent de tertia vigilia in Castra Cornelia recedendum, ut maiore spatio temporis interiecto militum mentes sanarentur, simul siquid gravius accidisset, magna multitudine navium et tutius et facilius in Siciliam receptus daretur.
Curio, disapproving both plans, said that the one opinion fell as far short of spirit as the other had too much of it: these reckoned on a most shameful flight, those thought they must fight even on unfavorable ground.
Curio utrumque improbans consilium, quantum alteri sententiae deesset animi, tantum alteri superesse dicebat; hos turpissimae fugae rationem habere, illos etiam iniquo loco dimicandum putare.
"For with what confidence," he said, "do we trust that a camp most strongly fortified both by works and by the nature of the ground can be stormed?
qua enim, inquit, fiducia et opere et natura loci munitissima castra expugnari posse confidimus?
Or what indeed do we gain, if, having suffered great loss, we withdraw from the assault of the camp? As if success in our deeds did not win armies’ goodwill for their generals, and reverses their hatred!
aut vero quid proficimus, si accepto magno detrimento ab oppugnatione castrorum discedimus? quasi non et felicitas rerum gestarum exercitus benevolentiam imperatoribus et res adversae odia concilient!
And what does a change of camp hold but shameful flight, despair of all, and the estrangement of the army? For neither ought the honorable to suspect that they are little trusted, nor the base to know that they are feared, because our fear increases the license of the latter and lessens the zeal of the former.
castrorum autem mutatio quid habet nisi turpem fugam et desperationem omnium et alienationem exercitus? nam neque pudentis suspicari oportet sibi parum credi neque improbos scire sese timeri, quod illis licentiam timor augeat noster, his studia deminuat.
But if now," he said, "we hold as proved these things that are said about the army’s estrangement—which I am confident are either wholly false or at least less than the report—how much better to dissemble and conceal them than to confirm them by our own act?
quod si iam, inquit, haec explorata habeamus, quae de exercitus alienatione dicuntur, quae quidem ego aut omnino falsa aut certe minora opinione esse confido, quanto haec dissimulari et occultari, quam per nos confirmari praestet?
Or ought not the army’s troubles, like the body’s wounds, to be covered, that we may not increase the adversaries’ hope?
an non, uti corporis vulnera, ita exercitus incommoda sunt tegenda, ne spem adversariis augeamus?
But they add, besides, that we should set out at midnight—the greater license, I suppose, for those who would attempt some wrong. For matters of this kind are held in check either by shame or by fear, to which night is most opposed.
at etiam, ut media nocte proficiscamur, addunt, quo maiorem, credo, licentiam habeant, qui peccare conentur. namque huiusmodi res aut pudore aut metu tenentur, quibus rebus nox maxime adversaria est.
Therefore I am neither of so great spirit as to advise storming the camp without hope, nor of so great fear as to fail in hope; and I think everything must be tried first, and I am confident that in great part I shall now, together with you, form my judgment of the matter."
quare neque tanti sum animi, ut sine spe castra obpugnanda censeam, neque tanti timoris, uti spe deficiam, atque omnia prius experienda arbitror magnaque ex parte iam me una vobiscum de re iudicium facturum confido.
The council dismissed, he calls an assembly of the soldiers. He recalls what zeal of theirs Caesar had found at Corfinium, so that he had made a great part of Italy his own by their service and authority.
Dimisso consilio contionem advocat militum. commemorat, quo sit eorum usus studio ad Corfinium Caesar, ut magnam partem Italiae beneficio atque auctoritate eorum suam fecerit.
"For you and your deed," he said, "all the towns thereafter followed; and not without cause did both Caesar judge most kindly of you and they most gravely.
vos enim vestrumque factum, inquit, omnia deinceps municipia sunt secuta, neque sine causa et Caesar amicissime de vobis et illi gravissime iudicaverunt.
For Pompey, driven back in no battle, but dislodged by the prejudgment of your deed, quit Italy; and Caesar entrusted me—whom he held dearest to him—and the provinces of Sicily and Africa, without which he cannot guard the city and Italy, to your good faith.
Pompeius enim nullo proelio pulsus vestri facti praeiudicio demotus Italia excessit; Caesar me, quem sibi carissimum habuit, provinciam Siciliam atque Africam, sine quibus urbem atque Italiam tueri non potest, vestrae fidei commisit.
But there are those who would urge you to fall away from us. For what is more to be desired by them than at one and the same time to surround us and to bind you with an unspeakable crime? Or what in their anger can they conceive more grievous against you than that you should betray those who judge that they owe you everything, and come into the power of those who think that they have perished through you?
at sunt qui vos hortentur, ut a nobis desciscatis. quid enim est illis optatius quam uno tempore et nos circumvenire et vos nefario scelere obstringere? aut quid irati gravius de vobis sentire possunt, quam ut eos prodatis, qui se vobis omnia debere iudicant, in eorum potestatem veniatis, qui se per vos perisse existimant?
Or have you not heard of Caesar’s deeds in Spain? Two armies routed, two leaders overcome, two provinces recovered? And these done in the forty days within which Caesar came in sight of his adversaries?
an vero in Hispania res gestas Caesaris non audistis? duos pulsos exercitus, duos superatos duces, duas receptas provincias? haec acta diebus xl, quibus in conspectum adversariorum venerit Caesar?
Or shall those who could not resist while unharmed resist when ruined? And shall you, who followed Caesar while victory was uncertain, now follow the beaten side when the fortune of war is already decided, when you ought to be reaping the rewards of your duty?
an qui incolumes resistere non potuerunt, perditi resistant? vos autem incerta victoria Caesarem secuti diiudicata iam belli fortuna victum sequamini, cum vestri officii praemia percipere debeatis?
For they say that they were deserted and betrayed by you, and they make mention of your former oath.
desertos enim se ac proditos a vobis dicunt et prioris sacramenti mentionem faciunt.
But was it you who deserted Lucius Domitius, or Domitius who deserted you? Did he not cast you aside, ready to suffer the last extremity? Did he not, unknown to you, seek his own safety in flight? Were you not, betrayed by him, preserved by Caesar’s kindness?
vosne vero L. Domitium, an vos Domitius deseruit? nonne extremam pati fortunam paratos proiecit ille? non sibi clam vobis salutem fuga petivit? non proditi per illum Caesaris beneficio estis conservati?
And how could he hold you by an oath, when, his rods of office thrown aside and his command laid down, he had himself come, a private man and a captive, into another’s power?
sacramento quidem vos tenere qui potuit, cum proiectis fascibus et deposito imperio privatus et captus ipse in alienam venisset potestatem?
A new scruple is left: that, neglecting the oath by which you are bound, you should look back to that one which was annulled by the surrender of your leader and the loss of his civic standing.
relinquitur nova religio, ut eo neglecto sacramento, quo tenemini, respiciatis illud, quod deditione ducis et capitis deminutione sublatum est.
But, I suppose, though you approve of Caesar, you take offense at me. I am not going to proclaim my services to you, which are as yet slighter than both my own will and your expectation; yet soldiers have always sought the rewards of their toil in the outcome of war—and what that will be, not even you doubt. Why should I pass over our diligence, or the fortune to which the matter has thus far advanced?
at, credo, si Caesarem probatis, in me offenditis. qui de meis in vos meritis praedicaturus non sum, quae sunt adhuc et mea voluntate et vestra exspectatione leviora; sed tamen sui laboris milites semper eventu belli praemia petiverunt, qui qualis sit futurus, ne vos quidem dubitatis. diligentiam quidem nostram aut, quem ad finem adhuc res processit, fortunam cur praeteream?
Or does it grieve you that I have brought the army across safe and unharmed, with no ship at all lost? That, arriving, I shattered the enemy’s fleet at the first onset? That twice within two days I conquered in a cavalry battle? That I carried off two hundred laden ships from the harbor and the bay of the adversaries and drove them to such a pass that they can be aided with supplies neither by land nor by sea?
an paenitet vos, quod salvum atque incolumem exercitum nulla omnino navi desiderata traduxerim? quod classem hostium primo impetu adveniens profligaverim? quod bis per biduum equestri proelio superaverim? quod ex portu sinuque adversariorum cc naves oneratas abduxerim eoque illos compulerim, ut neque pedestri itinere neque navibus commeatu iuvari possint?
Will you, repudiating this fortune and these leaders, follow the disgrace of Corfinium, the flight from Italy, the surrender of the Spains, as precedents for the African war?
hac vos fortuna atque his ducibus repudiatis Corfiniensem ignominiam, Italiae fugam, an Hispaniarum deditionem, in Africi belli praeiudicia sequimini!
For my part, I wished to be called Caesar’s soldier; you have hailed me by the name of imperator. If that grieves you, I give you back your gift; restore to me my own name, that you may not seem to have given the honor to insult me."
equidem me Caesaris militem dici volui, vos me imperatoris nomine appellavistis. cuius si vos paenitet, vestrum vobis beneficium remitto, mihi meum restituite nomen, ne ad contumeliam honorem dedisse videamini.
Moved by this speech, the soldiers often interrupted him even as he spoke, so that they seemed to bear the suspicion of disloyalty with great grief; and as he left the assembly they all with one voice exhorted him to be of good courage and not to hesitate, wherever he might, to join battle and to put their loyalty and valor to the test.
Qua oratione permoti milites crebro etiam dicentem interpellabant, ut magno cum dolore infidelitatis suspicionem sustinere viderentur, discedentem vero ex contione universi cohortantur, magno sit animo neubi dubitet proelium committere et suam fidem virtutemque experiri.
By this the will and opinion of all being changed, Curio resolved, with the consent of his men, to commit the matter to battle as soon as the chance was given, and the next day, leading them out, posts them in line in the same place where he had taken his stand on the previous days.
quo facto commutata omnium et voluntate et opinione consensu suorum constituit Curio, cum primum sit data potestas, proelio rem committere, posteroque die productos eodem loco, quo superioribus diebus constiterat, in acie collocat.
Nor does Attius Varus hesitate to lead out his forces, lest, whether the chance of tampering with the soldiers or of fighting on level ground be offered, he let the opportunity slip.
ne Varus quidem Attius dubitat copias producere, sive sollicitandi milites sive aequo loco dimicandi detur occasio, ne facultatem praetermittat.
There was, as has been shown above, a valley between the two lines, not so very great, but with a difficult and steep ascent. Each waited to see whether the adversaries’ forces would try to cross it, that he might join battle on more favorable ground.
Erat vallis inter duas acies, ut supra demonstratum est, non ita magna, at difficili et arduo ascensu. hanc uterque si adversariorum copiae transire conarentur, expectabat, quo aequiore loco proelium committeret.
At the same time, on the left wing, all Publius Attius’s cavalry and several light-armed interspersed among them were seen letting themselves down into the valley.
simul ab sinistro cornu P. Atti equitatus omnis et una levis armaturae interiecti conplures, cum se in vallem demitterent, cernebantur.
Against them Curio sends his cavalry and two cohorts of the Marrucini; the enemy’s horse did not bear their first onset, but, their horses given rein, fled back to their own; abandoned by these, the light-armed who had run forward with them were surrounded and killed by our men. To this point Varus’s whole line, turned, saw its own men fleeing and being cut down.
ad eos Curio equitatum et duas Marrucinorum cohortis mittit; quorum primum impetum equites hostium non tulerunt, sed admissis equis ad suos refugerunt; relicti ab his, qui una procurrerant levis armaturae, circumveniebantur atque interficiebantur ab nostris. huc tota Vari conversa acies suos fugere et concidi videbat.
Then Rebilus, Caesar’s legate, whom Curio had brought with him from Sicily because he knew he had great experience in war, said: "You see the enemy terrified, Curio; why do you hesitate to use the opportunity of the moment?"
tum Rebilus, legatus Caesaris, quem Curio secum ex Sicilia duxerat, quod magnum habere usum in re militari sciebat, perterritum, inquit hostem vides, Curio; quid dubitas uti temporis opportunitate?
He, having said only that the soldiers should hold in memory what they had assured him the day before, orders them to follow and runs ahead of all. And the valley was so difficult that on the ascent the foremost could not easily struggle up unless supported by their fellows.
ille unum elocutus, ut memoria tenerent milites ea quae pridie sibi confirmassent, sequi se iubet et praecurrit ante omnes. adeoque erat impedita vallis, ut in ascensu nisi sublevati a suis primi non facile eniterentur.
But the minds of Attius’s soldiers, forestalled by fear and by the flight and slaughter of their own, thought nothing of resisting, and all now believed themselves surrounded by the cavalry. And so, before a missile could be thrown or our men came nearer, all Varus’s line turned its back and withdrew into camp.
sed praeoccupatus animus Attianorum militum timore et fuga et caede suorum nihil de resistendo cogitabat, omnesque iam se ab equitatu circumveniri arbitrabantur. itaque priusquam telum adigi possit aut nostri propius accederent, omnis Vari acies terga vertit seque in castra recepit.
In this flight a certain Fabius, a Paelignian from the lowest ranks of Curio’s army, having overtaken the head of the fleeing column, kept calling for Varus loudly by name, so as to seem one of his soldiers wishing to warn him of something and to speak.
Qua in fuga Fabius Paelignus quidam ex infimis ordinibus de exercitu Curionis primum agmen fugientium consecutus magna voce Varum nomine appellans requirebat, uti unus esse ex eius militibus et monere aliquid velle ac dicere videretur.
When Varus, often hailed, looked, halted, and asked who he was or what he wanted, Fabius aimed his sword at his bared shoulder, and came within a little of killing Varus; but he avoided that danger by raising his shield against the thrust. Fabius, surrounded by the nearest soldiers, is killed.
ubi ille saepius appellatus aspexit ac restitit et quis esset aut quid vellet quaesivit, umerum apertum gladio appetit, paulumque afuit quin Varum interficeret; quod ille periculum sublato ad eius conatum scuto vitavit. Fabius a proximis militibus circumventus interficitur.
By this multitude and throng of the fleeing the gates of the camp are blocked and the way is jammed, and more perish in that place without a wound than in the battle or the flight, and it came not far from their being driven even out of the camp; and some pressed on in the same course straight to the town.
hac fugientium multitudine ac turba portae castrorum occupantur atque iter impeditur, pluresque in eo loco sine vulnere quam in proelio aut fuga intereunt, neque multum afuit quin etiam castris expellerentur, ac nonnulli protinus eodem cursu in oppidum contenderunt.
But both the nature of the ground and the fortification of the camp barred the approach, and besides Curio’s soldiers, having gone out for battle, lacked the things that were of use for storming a camp.
sed cum loci natura et munitio castrorum aditum prohibebat, tum quod ad proelium egressi Curionis milites iis rebus indigebant quae ad oppugnationem castrorum erant usui.
And so Curio leads his army back into camp, all his own safe but Fabius, with about six hundred of the adversaries killed and a thousand wounded; all of whom, on Curio’s withdrawal, and many besides under the pretense of wounds, withdraw out of fear from the camp into the town.
itaque Curio exercitum in castra reducit suis omnibus praeter Fabium incolumibus, ex numero adversariorum circiter dc interfectis ac m vulneratis; qui omnes discessu Curionis multique praeterea per simulationem vulnerum ex castris in oppidum propter timorem sese recipiunt.
Varus, aware of this and knowing the army’s terror, a trumpeter left in the camp and a few tents for show, leads the army in silence into the town at the third watch.
qua re animadversa Varus et terrore exercitus cognito bucinatore in castris et paucis ad speciem tabernaculis relictis de tertia vigilia silentio exercitum in oppidum reducit.
The next day Curio set about besieging Utica and walling it round with a rampart. There was in the town a multitude unused to war through the long continuance of peace; the people of Utica were most friendly to Caesar for certain services of his to them; the assize-population was made up of various sorts; the terror from the earlier battles was great.
Postero die Curio obsidere Uticam valloque circummunire instituit. erat in oppido multitudo insolens belli diuturnitate otii, Uticenses pro quibusdam Caesaris in se beneficiis illi amicissimi, conventus is qui ex variis generibus constaret, terror ex superioribus proeliis magnus.
And so all now spoke openly of surrender and pleaded with Publius Attius not to wish, by his obstinacy, that the fortunes of all be overthrown.
itaque de deditione omnes iam palam loquebantur et cum P. Attio agebant, ne sua pertinacia omnium fortunas perturbari vellet.
While these things were going on, messengers sent ahead by King Juba came, to say that he was at hand with great forces and to urge them to guard and defend the city. This steadied their terrified spirits.
haec cum agerentur, nuntii praemissi ab rege Iuba venerunt, qui illum adesse cum magnis copiis dicerent et de custodia ac defensione urbis hortarentur. quae res eorum perterritos animos confirmavit.
These same things were reported to Curio, but for some time no belief could be given them; so great was his confidence in his own affairs.
Nuntiabantur haec eadem Curioni, sed aliquamdiu fides fieri non poterat; tantam habebat suarum rerum fiduciam.
And now Caesar’s successes in Spain were being carried into Africa by messengers and letters. Lifted up by all these things, he thought the king would attempt nothing against him.
iamque Caesaris in Hispania res secundae in Africam nuntiis ac litteris perferebantur. quibus omnibus rebus sublatus nihil contra se regem nisurum existimabat.
But when he learned from sure authorities that the king’s forces were less than twenty-five miles from Utica, he abandoned the fortifications and withdrew to the Cornelian Camp.
sed ubi certis auctoribus comperit minus v et xx milibus longe ab Utica eius copias abesse, relictis munitionibus sese in Castra Cornelia recepit.
Here he began to bring in grain, fortify the camp, and gather timber, and at once sent into Sicily that the two legions and the rest of the cavalry be sent to him.
huc frumentum comportare, castra munire, materiam conferre coepit, statimque in Siciliam misit, uti duae legiones reliquusque equitatus ad se mitteretur.
The camp was most apt for drawing out the war, by its nature, by the fortification of the ground, by the nearness of the sea, and by the abundance of water and salt, a great quantity of which had already been heaped there from the nearby salt-pans.
castra erant ad bellum ducendum aptissima natura et loci munitione et maris propinquitate et aquae et salis copia, cuius magna vis iam ex proximis erat salinis eo congesta.
Neither timber, from the multitude of trees, nor grain, of which the fields were most full, could fail. And so, with the consent of all his men, Curio prepared to await the rest of his forces and draw out the war.
non materia multitudine arborum, non frumentum, cuius erant plenissimi agri, deficere poterat. itaque omnium suorum consensu Curio reliquas copias expectare et bellum ducere parabat.
These things settled and his plans approved, he hears from certain town deserters that Juba, recalled by a war on his borders and by disputes with the people of Leptis, had stayed behind in his kingdom, and that Saburra, his prefect, sent with moderate forces, was approaching Utica.
His constitutis rebus probatisque consiliis ex perfugis quibusdam oppidanis audit Iubam revocatum finitimo bello et controversiis Leptitanorum restitisse in regno et Saburram, eius praefectum, cum mediocribus copiis missum Uticae adpropinquare.
Rashly believing these informants, he changes his plan and resolves to commit the matter to battle. Much toward approving this course did his youth, his greatness of spirit, the success of the earlier time, and his confidence of a good outcome contribute.
his auctoribus temere credens consilium commutat et proelio rem committere constituit. multum ad hanc rem probandam adiuvat adulescentia, magnitudo animi, superioris temporis proventus, fiducia rei bene gerendae.
Impelled by these things, he sends all his cavalry at nightfall against the enemy’s camp at the river Bagradas. Saburra, of whom mention had been made before, was in command there; but the king was following with all his forces and had encamped at an interval of six miles from Saburra.
his rebus impulsus equitatum omnem prima nocte ad castra hostium mittit ad flumen Bagradam. quibus praeerat Saburra, de quo ante erat auditum, sed rex cum omnibus copiis insequebatur et vi milium passuum intervallo ab Saburra consederat.
The cavalry sent make their march by night and attack the enemy unaware and unexpecting. For the Numidians, by a certain barbarian custom, had encamped here and there in no order.
equites missi nocte iter conficiunt imprudentisque atque inopinantis hostis adgrediuntur. Numidae enim quadam barbara consuetudine nullis ordinibus passim consederant.
Falling upon these, overcome by sleep and scattered, they kill a great number of them; many in terror flee. This done, the cavalry return to Curio and bring back captives to him.
hos oppressos somno dispersos adorti magnum eorum numerum interficiunt; multi perterriti profugiunt. quo facto ad Curionem equites revertuntur captivosque ad eum reducunt.
Curio had gone out with all his forces at the fourth watch, leaving five cohorts to guard the camp. Having advanced six miles, he met the cavalry, learned what had been done, and asks of the captives who was in command of the camp at the Bagradas; they answer, Saburra.
Curio cum omnibus copiis quarta vigilia exierat cohortibus v castris praesidio relictis. progressus milia passuum vi equites convenit, rem gestam cognovit; ex captivis quaerit, quis castris ad Bagradam praesit; respondent Saburram.
In his eagerness to complete the march he leaves off asking the rest, and, looking back at the nearest standards, said: "Do you see, soldiers, that the captives’ account agrees with the deserters’? That the king is away, that small forces have been sent, which could not match a few horsemen?
reliqua studio itineris conficiendi quaerere praetermittit proximaque respiciens signa, videtisne, inquit milites, captivorum orationem cum perfugis convenire? abesse regem, exiguas esse copias missas, quae paucis equitibus pares esse non potuerint?
Therefore hasten to the spoil, to glory, that we may now begin to think of your rewards and of returning your service."
proinde ad praedam, ad gloriam properate, ut iam de praemiis vestris et de referenda gratia cogitare incipiamus.
What the cavalry had done was great in itself, especially when their small number was set against so great a multitude of Numidians. Yet it was recounted by the men themselves in too inflated a strain, as men gladly proclaim their own praises.
erant per se magna quae gesserant equites, praesertim cum eorum exiguus numerus cum tanta multitudine Numidarum conferretur. haec tamen ab ipsis inflatius commemorabantur, ut de suis homines laudibus libenter praedicant.
Many spoils besides were displayed, captured men and horses brought forward, so that whatever time passed seemed all to be delaying the victory. Thus the soldiers’ zeal did not fall short of Curio’s hope.
multa praeterea spolia praeferebantur, capti homines equitesque producebantur, ut quidquid intercederet temporis, hoc omne victoriam morari videretur. ita spei Curionis militum studia non deerant.
He orders the cavalry to follow him and quickens his march, that he might fall upon men terrified by flight as much as possible. But they, worn out by the whole night’s march, could not follow, and halted, one in one place, another in another. Not even this delayed Curio in his hope.
equites sequi iubet sese iterque accelerat, ut quam maxime ex fuga perterritos adoriri posset. at illi itinere totius noctis confecti subsequi non poterant atque alii alio loco resistebant. ne haec quidem res Curionem ad spem morabatur.
Juba, informed by Saburra of the night battle, sends up to Saburra two thousand Spanish and Gallic cavalry, whom he had been wont to keep about himself for his own guard, and that part of the infantry in which he most trusted; he himself follows more slowly with the rest of his forces and sixty elephants.
Iuba certior factus a Saburra de nocturno proelio ii milia Hispanorum et Gallorum equitum, quos suae custodiae causa circum se habere consuerat, et peditum eam partem, cui maxime confidebat, Saburrae summittit; ipse cum reliquis copiis elephantisque lx lentius subsequitur.
Suspecting that Curio himself would be at hand with the cavalry sent ahead, Saburra draws up his forces of horse and foot and orders them, in a pretense of fear, to give ground little by little and fall back; he himself, when it was needed, would give the signal for battle and command what he found the situation to require.
suspicatus praemissis equitibus ipsum adfore Curionem Saburra copias equitum peditumque instruit atque his imperat, ut simulatione timoris paulatim cedant ac pedem referant; sese, cum opus esset, signum proelii daturum et quod rem postulare cognovisset imperaturum.
Curio, to his former hope adding the impression of the present moment, thinking the enemy were fleeing, leads his forces down from the high ground into the plain.
Curio ad superiorem spem addita praesentis temporis opinione hostes fugere arbitratus copias ex locis superioribus in campum deducit.
When he had advanced some distance from these places, his army now worn out by the labor of a sixteen-mile stretch, he halted.
Quibus ex locis cum longius esset progressus, confecto iam labore exercitu xvi milium spatio constitit.
Saburra gives his men the signal, forms his line, and begins to go round the ranks and exhort them. But he uses his infantry only at a distance, for show, and sends his cavalry into the line.
dat suis signum Saburra, aciem constituit et circumire ordines atque hortari incipit. sed peditatu dumtaxat procul ad speciem utitur, equites in aciem immittit.
Curio is not wanting to the task and exhorts his men to place all their hope in valor. Neither the soldiers, weary as they were, nor the cavalry, few and worn out with labor, lacked zeal for fighting and courage; but these were two hundred in number, the rest had halted on the march.
non deest negotio Curio suosque hortatur, ut spem omnem in virtute reponant. ne militibus quidem, ut defessis, neque equitibus, ut paucis et labore confectis, studium ad pugnandum virtusque deerat; sed hi erant numero cc, reliqui in itinere substiterant.
On whatever side these charged, they forced the enemy to give ground, but they could neither pursue the fleeing farther nor drive their horses on more vehemently.
hi quamcumque in partem impetum fecerant, hostes loco cedere cogebant, sed neque longius fugientes prosequi, nec vehementius equos incitare poterant.
But the enemy’s cavalry begins to surround our line from both wings and to trample down the men from behind.
at equitatus hostium ab utroque cornu circumire aciem nostram et aversos proterere incipit.
When cohorts had run forward from the line, the Numidians, fresh, by their speed escaped our men’s charge, and again, withdrawing to their own ranks, surrounded them and cut them off from the line. So it seemed safe neither to stay in place and keep the ranks, nor to run forward and undergo the risk.
cum cohortes ex acie procucurrissent, Numidae integri celeritate impetum nostrorum effugiebant, rursusque ad ordines suos se recipientes circumibant et ab acie excludebant. sic neque in loco manere ordinesque servare, neque procurrere et casum subire tutum videbatur.
The enemy’s forces were repeatedly increased by reinforcements sent from the king; our men’s strength failed from weariness, and at the same time those who had received wounds could neither leave the line nor be carried back to a safe place, because the whole line was held surrounded by the enemy’s cavalry.
hostium copiae submissis ab rege auxiliis crebro augebantur; nostros vires lassitudine deficiebant, simul ii qui vulnera acceperant, neque acie excedere, neque in locum tutum referri poterant, quod tota acies equitatu hostium circumdata tenebatur.
These, despairing of their safety, as men are wont to do in the last hour of life, either bewailed their own death or commended their parents, in case fortune could save any from that peril. Everything was full of fear and grief.
hi de sua salute desperantes, ut extremo vitae tempore homines facere consuerunt, aut suam mortem miserabantur aut parentes suos commendabant, siquos ex eo periculo fortuna servare potuisset. plena erant omnia timoris et luctus.
Curio, when he perceived that, all being terrified, neither his exhortations nor his entreaties were heard, judging that one hope of safety was left in their wretched plight, orders them all to seize the nearest hills and the standards to be carried there. These too the cavalry sent by Saburra forestall.
Curio ubi perterritis omnibus neque cohortationes suas neque preces audiri intellegit, unam ut in miseris rebus spem reliquam salutis esse arbitratus proximos colles capere universos atque eo signa inferri iubet. hos quoque praeoccupat missus a Saburra equitatus.
Then indeed our men come to the utmost despair, and some, fleeing, are killed by the cavalry, some, unhurt, sink down.
tum vero ad summam desperationem nostri perveniunt et partim fugientes ab equitatu interficiuntur, partim integri procumbunt.
Gnaeus Domitius, prefect of cavalry, standing round him with a few horsemen, exhorts Curio to seek safety in flight and make for the camp, and promises that he will not leave him.
hortatur Curionem Cn. Domitius praefectus equitum, cum paucis equitibus circumsistens, ut fuga salutem petat atque in castra contendat, et se ab eo non discessurum pollicetur.
But Curio declares that, his army lost, which he had received entrusted to his good faith by Caesar, he will never return into his sight, and so, fighting, is killed.
at Curio numquam se amisso exercitu, quem a Caesare fidei commissum acceperit, in eius conspectum reversurum confirmat atque ita proelians interficitur.
Very few of the cavalry get away from the battle; but those who, as has been shown, had halted at the rear to rest their horses, perceiving from afar the flight of the whole army, betake themselves unharmed into the camp. The soldiers are killed to the last man.
equites ex proelio perpauci se recipiunt; sed ii quos ad novissimum agmen equorum reficiendorum causa substitisse demonstratum est, fuga totius exercitus procul animadversa sese incolumes in castra conferunt. milites ad unum omnes interficiuntur.
When these things were known, the quaestor Marcius Rufus, left in the camp by Curio, exhorts his men not to lose heart. They beg and entreat to be carried back into Sicily by the ships. He promises, and orders the masters of the ships to have all their boats brought to the shore at early evening.
His rebus cognitis Marcius Rufus quaestor in castris relictus a Curione cohortatur suos, ne animo deficiant. illi orant atque obsecrant, ut in Siciliam navibus reportentur. pollicetur magistrisque imperat navium, ut primo vespere omnes scaphas ad litus adpulsas habeant.
But so great was the terror of all that some said Juba’s forces were at hand, others that Varus was pressing on with his legions and that they already saw the dust of their coming—of which nothing at all had happened—others suspected that the enemy’s fleet would swoop in quickly. And so, all being terrified, each took thought for himself.
sed tantus fuit omnium terror, ut alii adesse copias Iubae dicerent, alii cum legionibus instare Varum iamque se pulverem venientium cernere, quarum rerum nihil omnino acciderat, alii classem hostium celeriter advolaturam suspicarentur. itaque perterritis omnibus sibi quisque consulebat.
Those who were in the fleet hastened to set out. Their flight spurred on the masters of the transport ships; a few skiffs came up to do their duty and obey the order.
qui in classe erant, proficisci properabant. horum fuga navium onerariarum magistros incitabat; pauci lenunculi ad officium imperiumque conveniebant.
But so great was the contention, the shores being crowded, as to who of the great number should embark first, that some were sunk by the multitude and the load, and the rest were thereby held back from coming nearer out of fear.
sed tanta erat completis litoribus contentio, qui potissimum ex magno numero conscenderent, ut multitudine atque onere nonnulli deprimerentur, reliqui hoc timore propius adire tardarentur.
By these things it came about that a few soldiers and heads of households, who prevailed either by influence or by pity or could swim out to the ships, were taken in and reached Sicily unharmed. The rest of the forces, centurions sent to Varus by night in the capacity of envoys, surrendered to him.
Quibus rebus accidit, ut pauci milites patresque familiae, qui aut gratia aut misericordia valerent aut naves adnare possent, recepti in Siciliam incolumes pervenirent. reliquae copiae missis ad Varum noctu legatorum numero centurionibus sese ei dediderunt.
Their cohorts of soldiers Juba, catching sight of them before the town the next day, declaring them his own spoil, ordered a great part to be killed and sent a few chosen ones back into his kingdom, while Varus, though he feared that his good faith was being injured by him, did not dare to resist.
quorum cohortes militum postero die ante oppidum Iuba conspicatus, suam esse praedicans praedam, magnam partem eorum interfici iussit, paucos electos in regnum remisit, cum Varus suam fidem ab eo laedi uereretur neque resistere auderet.
Juba himself, riding on horseback into the town, with several senators in attendance—among whose number were Servius Sulpicius and Licinius Damasippus—settled and ordered in a few days at Utica what he wished to be done, and an equal few days later withdrew into his kingdom with all his forces.
ipse equo in oppidum vectus prosequentibus compluribus senatoribus, quo in numero erat Ser. Sulpicius et Licinius Damasippus, paucis diebus quae fieri vellet, Uticae constituit atque imperavit, diebus aeque post paucis se in regnum cum omnibus copiis recepit.
Caesar, holding the elections as dictator, Julius Caesar and Publius Servilius are made consuls; for that was the year in which by the laws it was permitted him to become consul.
Dictatore habente comitia Caesare consules creantur Iulius Caesar et P. Servilius; is enim erat annus, quo per leges ei consulem fieri liceret.
These things finished, since credit was tighter throughout Italy and debts were not being paid, he resolved that arbitrators be appointed; through them valuations should be made of properties and goods, at what each had been worth before the war, and these should be handed over to the creditors.
his rebus confectis, cum fides tota Italia esset angustior, neque creditae pecuniae solverentur, constituit ut arbitri darentur; per eos fierent aestimationes possessionum et rerum, quanti quaeque earum ante bellum fuisset, atque eae creditoribus traderentur.
This he judged most apt both to remove and lessen the fear of a cancellation of debts, which generally follows wars and civil strife, and to protect the debtors’ good name.
hoc et ad timorem novarum tabularum tollendum minuendumque, qui fere bella et civiles dissensiones sequi consuevit, et ad debitorum tuendam existimationem esse aptissimum existimavit.
Likewise, the praetors and tribunes of the plebs bringing bills before the people, he restored in full some men condemned for electoral bribery under the Pompeian law at those times when Pompey had garrisons of legions in the city—trials that had been completed on single days, with one set of judges hearing and another giving the verdict—men who had offered themselves to him at the outset of the civil war, if he wished to use their service in the war, reckoning it the same as if he had used it, since they had put themselves at his disposal.
item praetoribus tribunisque plebis rogationes ad populum ferentibus nonnullos ambitus Pompeia lege damnatos illis temporibus, quibus in urbe praesidia legionum Pompeius habuerat, quae iudicia aliis audientibus iudicibus, aliis sententiam ferentibus singulis diebus erant perfecta, in integrum restituit, qui se illi initio civilis belli obtulerant, si sua opera in bello uti vellet, proinde aestimans ac si usus esset, quoniam sui fecissent potestatem.
For he had decided that these men ought to be restored by the people’s verdict rather than seem received by his own favor, lest he should seem either ungrateful in returning thanks or arrogant in forestalling the people’s gift.
statuerat enim prius hos iudicio populi debere restitui quam suo beneficio videri receptos, ne aut ingratus in referenda gratia aut arrogans in praeripiendo populi beneficio videretur.
To completing these matters, the Latin Festival, and all the elections he gave eleven days; then he resigns the dictatorship, sets out from the city, and reaches Brundisium.
His rebus et feriis Latinis comitiisque omnibus perficiendis xi dies tribuit dictaturaque se abdicat et ab urbe proficiscitur Brundisiumque pervenit.
There he had ordered twelve legions and all the cavalry to come. But he found only so many ships that fifteen thousand legionary soldiers and five hundred cavalry could be transported with difficulty. This one thing—the want of ships—failed Caesar for the speed of finishing the war.
eo legiones xii, equitatum omnem venire iusserat. sed tantum navium repperit ut anguste xv milia legionariorum militum, d equites transportari possent. hoc unum inopia navium Caesari ad celeritatem conficiendi belli defuit.
And those very forces are put aboard the more thinned out, because many had fallen out in Gaul through so many wars, the long march from Spain had diminished a great number, and a heavy autumn in Apulia and around Brundisium had assailed the whole army with sickness—men from the most healthful regions of Gaul and Spain.
atque eae ipsae copiae hoc infrequentiores inponuntur, quod multi Gallia tot bellis defecerant longumque iter ex Hispania magnum numerum deminuerat, et gravis autumnus in Apulia circumque Brundisium ex saluberrimis Galliae et Hispaniae regionibus omnem exercitum valetudine temptaverat.
Pompey, having gained a year’s space for assembling forces, since it had been free of war and at leisure from any enemy, had collected a great fleet from Asia and the Cyclades, from Corcyra, Athens, Pontus, Bithynia, Syria, Cilicia, Phoenicia, and Egypt, and had seen to a great one being built in all quarters;
Pompeius annuum spatium ad conparandas copias nactus, quod vacuum a bello atque ab hoste otiosum fuerat, magnam ex Asia Cycladibusque insulis Corcyra Athenis Ponto Bithynia Syria Cilicia Phoenice Aegypto classem coegerat, magnam omnibus locis aedificandam curaverat,
he had exacted a great sum of money, requisitioned from Asia, Syria, and all the kings, dynasts, and tetrarchs, and the free peoples of Achaia; and a great sum he had forced the tax-companies of the provinces he himself held to count out to him.
magnam imperatam Asiae Syriae regibusque omnibus et dynastis et tetrarchis et liberis Achaiae populis pecuniam exegerat, magnam societates earum provinciarum, quas ipse obtinebat, sibi numerare coegerat.
He had made up nine legions of Roman citizens: five from Italy, which he had brought across; one veteran legion from Cilicia, which, made from two, he called the Twin; one from Crete and Macedonia, out of veteran soldiers who, discharged by former commanders, had settled in those provinces; two from Asia, which the consul Lentulus had seen to enrolling.
Legiones effecerat civium Romanorum viiii: v ex Italia quas traduxerat; unam ex Cilicia veteranam, quam factam ex duabus gemellam appellabat; unam ex Creta et Macedonia ex veteranis militibus, qui dimissi a superioribus imperatoribus in his provinciis consederant; duas ex Asia, quas Lentulus consul conscribendas curaverat.
Beyond these he was awaiting two legions with Scipio from Syria. Of archers from Crete, Lacedaemon, Pontus and Syria and the other states he had three thousand in number, two cohorts of slingers of six hundred each, and seven thousand cavalry. Of these Deiotarus had brought six hundred Gauls, Ariobarzanes five hundred from Cappadocia; to the same number Cotys from Thrace had given, and had sent his son Sadala;
praeter has expectabat cum Scipione ex Syria legiones ii. sagittarios Creta, Lacedaemone, ex Ponto atque Syria reliquisque civitatibus iii milia numero habebat, funditorum cohortes sexcenarias ii, equites vii milia. ex quibus dc Gallos Deiotarus adduxerat, d Ariobarzanes ex Cappadocia; ad eundem numerum Cotus ex Thracia dederat et Sadalam filium miserat;
from Macedonia there were two hundred, commanded by Rhascypolis, a man of outstanding valor; five hundred from the Gabinians at Alexandria—Gauls and Germans, whom Aulus Gabinius had left there as a garrison with King Ptolemy—Pompey the son had brought with the fleet; eight hundred he had mustered from his own slaves and the number of his herdsmen;
ex Macedonia cc erant, quibus Rhascypolis praeerat, excellenti virtute; d ex Gabinianis Alexandria, Gallos Germanosque, quos ibi A. Gabinius praesidii causa apud regem Ptolomaeum reliquerat, Pompeius filius cum classe adduxerat; dccc ex servis suis pastorumque suorum numero coegerat;
three hundred Tarcondarius Castor and Domnilaus had given from Gallograecia—of these the one had come in person, the other had sent his son; two hundred had been sent from Syria by Antiochus of Commagene, on whom Pompey bestowed great rewards, among them most being mounted archers.
ccc Tarcondarius Castor et Domnilaus ex Gallograecia dederant — horum alter una venerat, alter filium miserat —; cc ex Syria a Commageno Antiocho, cui magna Pompeius praemia tribuit, missi erant, in his plerique hippotoxotae.
A very great quantity of grain he had procured from Thessaly, Asia, Egypt, Crete, Cyrene, and the remaining regions.
Frumenti vim maximam ex Thessalia Asia Aegypto Creta Cyrenis reliquisque regionibus comparaverat.
He had resolved to winter at Dyrrachium, Apollonia, and all the maritime towns, to keep Caesar from crossing the sea, and for that purpose had disposed his fleet along the whole sea-coast.
hiemare Dyrrachii Apolloniae omnibusque oppidis maritimis constituerat, ut mare transire Caesarem prohiberet, eiusque rei causa omni ora maritima classem disposuerat.
Pompey the son commanded the Egyptian ships, Decimus Laelius and Gaius Triarius the Asiatic, Gaius Cassius the Syrian, Gaius Marcellus with Gaius Coponius the Rhodian, Scribonius Libo and Marcus Octavius the Liburnian and Achaean fleet.
praeerat Aegyptiis navibus Pompeius filius, Asiaticis D. Laelius et C. Triarius, Syriacis C. Cassius, Rhodiis C. Marcellus cum C. Coponio, Liburnicae atque Achaicae classi Scribonius Libo et M. Octavius.
Over the whole naval service, however, Marcus Bibulus was set and managed everything; to him the supreme command looked.
toti tamen officio maritimo M. Bibulus praepositus cuncta administrabat; ad hunc summa imperii respiciebat.
Caesar, when he came to Brundisium, having harangued his soldiers—that, since they had come nearly to the end of their labors and dangers, they should with even minds leave their slaves and baggage in Italy, and themselves embark in light order, so that a greater number of soldiers could be put aboard, and hope for everything from victory and from his generosity—all crying out that he should command what he wished, and that whatever he commanded they would do with even minds, on the fourth of January he weighs anchor.
Caesar ut Brundisium venit, contionatus apud milites, quoniam prope ad finem laborum ac periculorum esset perventum, aequo animo mancipia atque inpedimenta in Italia relinquerent, ipsi expediti naves conscenderent, quo maior numerus militum posset inponi, omniaque ex victoria et ex sua liberalitate sperarent, conclamantibus omnibus, imperaret quod vellet, quodcumque imperavisset, se aequo animo esse facturos, ii Nonas Ianuarias naves solvit.
Seven legions were put aboard, as has been shown above.
impositae, ut supra demonstratum est, legiones vii.
The next day he reached land. Among the rocks of the Ceraunian mountains and other dangerous places, having found a quiet anchorage and fearing all the harbors, because they were thought to be held by the adversaries, at the place called Palaeste he disembarked his soldiers, all the ships safe to the last one.
postridie terram attigit. Cerauniorum saxa inter et alia loca periculosa quietam nanctus stationem et portus omnes timens, quod teneri ab adversariis arbitrabantur, ad eum locum qui appellabatur Palaeste, omnibus navibus ad unam incolumibus milites exposuit.
But neither did these, distrusting themselves, dare to come out of harbor, although Caesar had brought only twelve warships as escort, of which four were decked; nor did Bibulus, with his ships unready and his rowers dispersed, meet them in time, because Caesar was seen at the mainland before any report of his coming was carried into those regions at all.
sed neque hi sibi confisi ex portu prodire sunt ausi, cum Caesar omnino xii naves longas praesidio duxisset, in quibus erant constratae iiii, neque Bibulus impeditis navibus dispersisque remigibus satis mature occurrit, quod prius ad continentem visus est Caesar, quam de eius adventu fama omnino in eas regiones perferretur.
The soldiers disembarked, the ships are sent back the same night to Brundisium by Caesar, that the remaining legions and the cavalry might be transported.
Expositis militibus naves eadem nocte Brundisium a Caesare remittuntur, ut reliquae legiones equitatusque transportari possent.
Over this duty the legate Fufius Calenus had been set, to apply speed in transporting the legions. But the ships, having put off from land too late and not using the night breeze on the return, came to grief.
huic officio praepositus erat Fufius Calenus legatus, qui celeritatem in transportandis legionibus adhiberet. sed serius a terra provectae naves neque usae nocturna aura in redeundo ffenderunt.
For Bibulus, informed at Corcyra of Caesar’s arrival, hoping he might fall in with some part of the laden ships, fell in with empty ones, and, finding about thirty, vented on them the rage of his own negligence and chagrin, burned them all, and with the same fire killed the sailors and the masters of the ships, hoping that the rest would be terrified by the greatness of the punishment.
oBibulus enim Corcyrae certior factus de adventu Caesaris, sperans alicui se parti onustarum navium occurrere posse inanibus occurrit, et nactus circiter xxx in eas indiligentiae suae ac doloris iracundiam erupit, omnesque incendit eodemque igne nautas dominosque navium interfecit, magnitudine poenae reliquos terreri sperans.
This business done, he occupied the anchorages and all the shores far and wide with his fleets, from Sason to the harbor of Oricum, and, his guards more carefully disposed, himself keeping watch aboard ship in the depth of a most severe winter, despising no labor or duty and awaiting no relief, if he might come to grips with Caesar.
hoc confecto negotio a Sasonis ad Orici portum stationes litoraque omnia longe lateque classibus occupavit, custodiisque diligentius dispositis, ipse gravissima hieme in navibus excubans neque ullum laborem aut munus despiciens neque subsidium exspectans, si in Caesaris complexum venire posset.
At the departure of the Liburnian fleet from Illyricum, Marcus Octavius came with the ships he had to Salonae. There, having stirred up the Dalmatians and the rest of the barbarians, he turned Issa away from Caesar’s friendship.
When he could move the assembly at Salonae neither by promises nor by warning of danger, he set about storming the town. It is, moreover, a town fortified both by the nature of the ground and by a hill.
conventum Salonis cum neque pollicitationibus neque denuntiatione periculi permovere posset, oppidum oppugnare instituit. est autem oppidum et loci natura et colle munitum.
But the Roman citizens quickly fortified themselves with wooden towers, and, since they were weak for resisting because of the fewness of their men, and worn out by frequent wounds, they came down to the last resort and freed all the grown slaves, and, the hair of all the women cut off, made torsion-engines.
sed celeriter cives Romani ligneis effectis turribus sese munierunt, et cum essent infirmi ad resistendum propter paucitatem hominum crebris confecti vulneribus, ad extremum auxilium descenderunt servosque omnes puberes liberaverunt et praesectis omnium mulierum crinibus tormenta effecerunt.
Their resolve known, Octavius surrounded the town with five camps and began at one time to press them both with the siege and with assaults.
quorum cognita sententia Octavius quinis castris oppidum circumdedit atque uno tempore obsidione et oppugnationibus eos premere coepit.
They, ready to endure anything, suffered most of all from the grain supply. For this, envoys sent to Caesar, they sought aid from him; the rest of their hardships they bore as they could by themselves.
illi omnia perpeti parati maxime a re frumentaria laborabant. cui re missis ad Caesarem legatis auxilium ab eo petebant; reliqua, ut poterant, incommoda per se sustinebant.
And, a long interval interposed, when the length of the assault had made Octavius’s men more careless, having seized the occasion of the midday hour at their departure, the boys and women posted on the wall so that nothing of the daily custom might be missed, they themselves, a band formed with those they had lately freed, burst into the nearest camp of Octavius.
et longo interposito spatio cum diuturnitas oppugnationis neglegentiores Octavianos effecisset, nacti occasionem meridiani temporis discessu eorum pueris mulieribusque in muro dispositis, nequid cotidianae consuetudinis desideraretur, ipsi manu facta cum iis quos nuper maxime liberaverant, in proxima Octavi castra inruperunt.
This stormed, with the same rush they attacked a second, then a third and fourth, and so the rest, and drove them out of all the camps, and, a great number killed, forced the rest and Octavius himself to flee to the ships.
his expugnatis eodem impetu altera sunt adorti, inde tertia et quarta et deinceps reliqua, omnibusque eos castris expulerunt et magno numero interfecto reliquos atque ipsum Octavium in naves confugere coegerunt.
This was the end of the assault. And now winter was approaching, and, such great losses suffered, Octavius, despairing of the storming of the town, withdrew to Pompey at Dyrrachium.
hic fuit oppugnationis exitus. iamque hiems adpropinquabat, et tantis detrimentis acceptis Octavius desperata oppugnatione oppidi Dyrrachium sese ad Pompeium recepit.
We have shown that Lucius Vibullius Rufus, Pompey’s prefect, had twice come into Caesar’s power and been released by him, once at Corfinium, again in Spain.
Demonstravimus L. Vibullium Rufum, Pompei praefectum, bis in potestatem pervenisse Caesaris atque ab eo esse dimissum, semel ad Corfinium, iterum in Hispania.
Him Caesar had judged, for his services, a suitable man to send with charges to Gnaeus Pompey, and he understood that the same man had influence with Pompey.
hunc pro suis beneficiis Caesar idoneum iudicaverat, quem cum mandatis ad Cn. Pompeium mitteret, eundemque apud Cn. Pompeium auctoritatem habere intellegebat.
The substance of the charges was this: that both ought to make an end of obstinacy, withdraw from arms, and no longer put fortune to the test.
erat autem haec summa mandatorum: debere utrumque pertinaciae finem facere et ab armis discedere neque amplius fortunam periclitari.
Great enough losses had been suffered on both sides, which they might hold as a discipline and a lesson, that they should fear the rest of the chances:
satis esse magna utrimque incommoda accepta, quae pro disciplina et praeceptis habere possent, ut reliquos casus timerent:
Pompey, driven from Italy, Sicily and Sardinia lost, and the two Spains, and a hundred and thirty cohorts of Roman citizens in Italy and Spain; himself, the death of Curio, the loss of the African army, and the surrender of Antonius and his soldiers at Curicta.
illum Italia expulsum amissa Sicilia et Sardinia duabusque Hispaniis et cohortibus in Italia atque Hispania civium Romanorum c atque xxx; se morte Curionis et detrimento Africani exercitus et Antoni militumque deditione ad Curictam.
Therefore let them spare themselves and the commonwealth, since they were already by their own losses sufficient proof of how much fortune can do in war.
proinde sibi ac rei publicae parcerent, cum quantum in bello fortuna posset, iam ipsi incommodis suis satis essent documento.
This was the one time for treating of peace, while each had confidence in himself and both seemed equal; but if fortune had granted even a little advantage to one, he who seemed the superior would not use terms of peace, nor would he who trusted he would have everything be content with an equal share.
hoc unum esse tempus de pace agendi, dum sibi uterque confideret et pares ambo viderentur; si vero alteri paulum modo tribuisset fortuna, non esse usurum condicionibus pacis eum, qui superior videretur, neque fore aequa parte contentum, qui se omnia habiturum confideret.
The terms of peace, since they had not been able to agree before, ought to be sought at Rome from the Senate and the people.
condiciones pacis quoniam antea convenire non potuissent, Romae ab senatu et a populo peti debere.
Meanwhile it ought to please both the commonwealth and themselves if each swore at once in an assembly that he would disband his army within the next three days.
interea et rei publicae et ipsis placere oportere, si uterque in contione statim iuravisset se triduo proximo exercitum dimissurum.
Their arms and the auxiliaries in which they now trusted laid aside, each would of necessity be content with the verdict of the people and the Senate.
depositis armis auxiliisque, quibus nunc confiderent, necessario populi senatusque iudicio fore utrumque contentum.
That these things might be the more easily approved by Pompey, he would disband all his forces of the land and of the towns.
haec quo facilius Pompeio probari possent, omnis suas terrestris urbiumque copias dimissurum.
Vibullius, set ashore at Corcyra, judged it no less necessary to inform Pompey of Caesar’s sudden arrival, so that he might take counsel for it before negotiations on the charges began, and therefore, his march kept up by night and day and his beasts changed in every town for speed, hastened to Pompey to announce that Caesar was at hand.
Vibullius expositus Corcyrae non minus necessarium esse existimavit de repentino adventu Caesaris Pompeium fieri certiorem, uti ad id consilium capere posset, ante quam de mandatis agi inciperetur, atque ideo continuato nocte ac die itinere atque omnibus oppidis mutatis ad celeritatem iumentis ad Pompeium contendit, ut adesse Caesarem nuntiaret.
Pompey was at that time in Candavia and was on his way from Macedonia into winter quarters at Apollonia and Dyrrachium. But, dismayed by the strange news, he began to make for Apollonia by greater marches, lest Caesar seize the cities of the sea-coast.
Pompeius erat eo tempore in Candavia iterque ex Macedonia in hiberna Apolloniam Dyrrachiumque habebat. sed re nova perturbatus maioribus itineribus Apolloniam petere coepit, ne Caesar orae maritimae civitates occuparet.
But Caesar, his soldiers disembarked, sets out the same day for Oricum. When he had come there, Lucius Torquatus, who by Pompey’s order was in command of the town and had there a garrison of Parthini, tried to defend the town with the gates shut;
at ille expositis militibus eodem die Oricum proficiscitur. quo cum venisset, L. Torquatus, qui iussu Pompei oppido praeerat praesidiumque ibi Parthinorum habebat, conatus portis clausis oppidum defendere,
but when he ordered the Greeks to climb the wall and take up arms, and they refused to fight against the command of the Roman people, while the townsmen even of their own accord tried to receive Caesar, despairing of all aid he opened the gates and surrendered himself and the town to Caesar, and was preserved unharmed by him.
cum Graecos murum ascendere atque arma capere iuberet, illi autem se contra imperium populi Romani pugnaturos negarent, oppidani autem etiam sua sponte Caesarem recipere conarentur, desperatis omnibus auxiliis portas aperuit et se atque oppidum Caesari dedidit incolumisque ab eo conservatus est.
Oricum recovered, Caesar, no delay interposed, sets out for Apollonia. His arrival heard, Lucius Staberius, who was in command there, began to bring water into the citadel and fortify it, and to demand hostages from the people of Apollonia.
Recepto Caesar Orico nulla interposita mora Apolloniam proficiscitur. eius adventu audito L. Staberius, qui ibi praeerat, aquam comportare in arcem atque eam munire obsidesque ab Apolloniatibus exigere coepit.
But they refused to give them, and to shut the gates against a consul, and to take judgment upon themselves contrary to what all Italy and the Roman people had judged.
illi vero daturos se negare neque portas consuli praeclusuros neque sibi iudicium sumpturos contra, atque omnis Italia populusque Romanus iudicavisset.
Their will known, Staberius fled secretly from Apollonia. They send envoys to Caesar and receive him into the town.
quorum cognita voluntate clam profugit Apollonia Staberius. illi ad Caesarem legatos mittunt oppidoque recipiunt.
These the people of Byllis and the Amantini and the rest of the neighboring states, and all Epirus, follow, and, envoys sent to Caesar, promise to do what he commands.
hos sequuntur Byllidenses et Amantini et reliquae finitimae civitates totaque Epirus et legatis ad Caesarem missis, quae imperaret, facturos pollicentur.
But Pompey, having learned of these things done at Oricum and Apollonia, fearing for Dyrrachium, hastened there by marches day and night.
At Pompeius cognitis his rebus, quae erant Orici atque Apolloniae gestae, Dyrrachio timens diurnis eo nocturnisque itineribus contendit.
At the same time Caesar was said to be approaching; and so great a terror fell upon Pompey’s army, because, hurrying, he had joined night to day and had not broken his march, that almost all from Epirus and the neighboring regions abandoned their standards, many threw away their arms, and the march looked like a flight.
simul Caesar adpropinquare dicebatur; tantusque terror incidit eius exercitui, quod properans noctem diei coniunxerat neque iter intermiserat, ut paene omnes ex Epiro finitimisque regionibus signa relinquerent, complures arma proicerent, ac fugae simile iter videretur.
But when Pompey had halted near Dyrrachium and ordered camp to be measured out, the army being still terrified, Labienus comes forward first and swears that he will not desert him and will undergo whatever chance fortune should assign him.
sed cum prope Dyrrachium Pompeius constitisset castraque metari iussisset, perterrito etiam tum exercitu princeps Labienus procedit iuratque se eum non deserturum eundemque casum subiturum, quemcumque ei fortuna tribuisset.
The same the rest of the legates swear; the military tribunes and centurions follow them, and the whole army swears the same.
hoc idem reliqui iurant legati; hos tribuni militum centurionesque sequuntur, atque idem omnis exercitus iurat.
Caesar, the road to Dyrrachium forestalled, makes an end of hurrying and pitches camp by the river Apsus in the territory of the people of Apollonia, that the forts and outposts might be a protection to a state that had deserved well of him, and there resolved to await the arrival of the remaining legions from Italy and to winter under hides.
Caesar praecepto itinere ad Dyrrachium finem properandi facit castraque ad flumen Apsum ponit in finibus Apolloniatium, ut castellis vigiliisque bene meritae civitatis tutae essent praesidio, ibique reliquarum ex Italia legionum adventum expectare et sub pellibus hiemare constituit.
This same Pompey did, and, his camp pitched across the river Apsus, gathered there all his forces and auxiliaries.
hoc idem Pompeius fecit et trans flumen Apsum positis castris eo copias omnis auxiliaque conduxit.
Calenus, his legions and cavalry put aboard the ships at Brundisium, as Caesar had directed, weighed anchor with what facility of ships he had, and, having advanced a little from the harbor, received a letter from Caesar by which he was informed that the harbors and all the shores were held by the adversaries’ fleets.
Calenus legionibus equitibusque Brundisi in navis inpositis, ut erat praeceptum a Caesare, quantam navium facultatem habebat, navis solvit paulumque a portu progressus litteras a Caesare accepit, quibus est certior factus portus litoraque omnia classibus adversariorum teneri.
On learning this he withdraws into harbor and recalls all the ships. One of these, which kept on and did not obey Calenus’s order, because it was without soldiers and was managed by private decision, was carried to Oricum and stormed by Bibulus;
quo cognito se in portum recipit navisque omnis revocat. Una ex his quae perseveravit neque imperio Caleni obtemperavit, quod erat sine militibus privatoque consilio administrabatur, delata Oricum atque a Bibulo expugnata est;
he exacted punishment from all the slaves and free, down to the boys, and killed them to the last man. So in a brief time and a great chance the safety of the whole army turned.
qui de servis liberisque omnibus ad impuberes supplicium sumit et ad unum interficit. Ita in exiguo tempore magnoque casu totius exercitus salus constitit.
Bibulus, as has been shown above, was with the fleet off Oricum, and, just as he kept Caesar from the sea and the harbors, so he himself was kept from all the land of those regions.
Bibulus, ut supra demonstratum est, erat cum classe ad Oricum, et sicuti mari portibusque Caesarem prohibebat, ita ipse omni terra earum regionum prohibebatur.
For, garrisons disposed, all the shores were held by Caesar, and there was no chance of gathering wood or water or of mooring a ship to land.
Praesidiis enim dispositis omnia litora a Caesare tenebantur, neque lignandi atque aquandi neque navis ad terram religandi potestas fiebat.
The matter was in great difficulty, and they were pressed by the utmost want of necessities, so that they were forced to bring wood and water, like the rest of their supplies, from Corcyra in transport ships,
erat res in magna difficultate, summisque angustiis rerum necessariarum premebantur, adeo ut cogerentur sicuti reliquum commeatum ita ligna atque aquam Corcyra navibus onerariis supportare,
and it even happened at one time that, meeting harder weather, they were forced to catch the night dew from the hides with which the ships were covered.
atque etiam uno tempore accidit, ut difficilioribus usi tempestatibus ex pellibus, quibus erant tectae naves, nocturnum excipere rorem cogerentur.
Yet these difficulties they bore patiently and with even minds, and did not think they should bare the shores and leave the harbors.
quas tamen difficultates patienter atque aequo animo ferebant, neque sibi nudanda litora et relinquendos portus existimabant.
But when they were in the straits I have shown, and Libo had joined Bibulus, both speak from their ships with the legates Manius Acilius and Statius Murcus, of whom the one was in command of the town’s walls, the other of the land garrisons: that they wished to speak with Caesar on matters of the greatest moment, if the chance were given them.
sed cum essent in quibus demonstravi angustiis ac se Libo cum Bibulo coniunxisset, loquuntur ambo ex navibus cum M’. Acilio et Statio Murco legatis, quorum alter oppidi muris, alter praesidiis terrestribus praeerat: velle se de maximis rebus cum Caesare loqui, si sibi eius facultas detur.
To this they add a few words to confirm the thing, so that they might seem about to treat of an accommodation. Meanwhile they ask that there be a truce, and they obtain it from them.
huc addunt pauca rei confirmandae causa, ut de compositione acturi viderentur. interim postulant, ut sint indutiae, atque ab eis impetrant.
For what they brought seemed great, and they knew that Caesar greatly desired it, and it was thought that something had been gained from Vibullius’s charges.
magnum enim, quod adferebant, videbatur, et Caesarem id summe sciebant cupere, et profectum aliquid Vibulli mandatis existimabatur.
Caesar at that time, having set out with one legion to recover the more distant states and to settle the grain supply, of which he had a scant store, was at the town of Buthrotum, opposite Corcyra.
Caesar eo tempore cum legione una profectus ad recipiendas ulteriores civitates et rem frumentariam expediendam, qua anguste utebatur, erat ad Buthrotum oppidum oppositum Corcyrae.
There, informed by Acilius and Murcus by letter of the demands of Libo and Bibulus, he leaves the legion; he himself returns to Oricum.
ibi certior ab Acilio et Murco per litteras factus de postulatis Libonis et Bibuli legionem relinquit; ipse Oricum revertitur.
When he had come there, they are summoned to a conference. Libo comes forward and excuses Bibulus, because he was of the most violent temper and had even private enmities with Caesar, conceived from his aedileship and praetorship; for that reason he had avoided the conference, lest matters of the greatest hope and greatest usefulness be hindered by his anger.
eo cum venisset, evocantur illi ad colloquium. prodit Libo atque excusat Bibulum, quod is iracundia summa erat inimicitiasque habebat etiam privatas cum Caesare ex aedilitate et praetura conceptas; ob eam causam colloquium vitasse, ne res maximae spei maximaeque utilitatis eius iracundia impedirentur.
Pompey’s wish was, and had always been, that they be reconciled and withdraw from arms; but he had no power over the matter, because by the council’s decision they had entrusted the whole of the war and of all affairs to Pompey.
Pompei summam esse ac fuisse semper voluntatem, ut componerentur atque ab armis discederetur, sed potestatem eius rei nullam habere, propterea quod de consili sententia summam belli rerumque omnium Pompeio permiserint.
But, Caesar’s demands learned, they would send to Pompey, and he would settle the rest himself, at their own urging. Meanwhile let the truce hold, until there could be a return from him, and let neither harm the other. To this he adds a few words about his case and about his own forces and auxiliaries.
sed postulatis Caesaris cognitis missuros ad Pompeium, atque illum reliqua per se acturum hortantibus ipsis. interea manerent indutiae, dum ab illo rediri posset, neve alter alteri noceret. huc addit pauca de causa et de copiis auxiliisque suis.
To these things Caesar thought he need make no reply then, nor do we now think there is cause enough to set it down for the record.
Quibus rebus neque tum respondendum Caesar existimavit, neque nunc, ut memoriae prodatur, satis causae putamus.
Caesar demanded that he be allowed to send envoys to Pompey without danger, and that they themselves should guarantee this, or take them and conduct them through to him.
postulabat Caesar, ut legatos sibi ad Pompeium sine periculo mittere liceret idque ipsi fore reciperent aut acceptos per se ad eum perducerent.
As for the truce, the plan of the war was so divided that they with their fleet hindered his ships and auxiliaries, while he kept them from water and land.
quod ad indutias pertineret, sic belli rationem esse divisam, ut illi classe naves auxiliaque sua impedirent, ipse ut aqua terraque eos prohiberet.
If they wished this remitted to themselves, let them remit their own sea-guards; if they held to that, he too would hold to this. None the less negotiation of an accommodation could go forward, even if these were not remitted, and this would be no hindrance to it.
si hoc sibi remitti vellent, remitterent ipsi de maritimis custodiis; si illud tenerent, se quoque id retenturum. nihilominus tamen agi posse de compositione, ut haec non remitterentur, neque hanc rem illi esse impedimento.
Libo would neither receive Caesar’s envoys nor guarantee their safety, but referred the whole matter to Pompey; one thing only he pressed, about the truce, and contended for it most vehemently.
Libo neque legatos Caesaris recipere neque periculum praestare eorum, sed totam rem ad Pompeium reicere; unum instare de indutiis vehementissimeque contendere.
When Caesar understood that he had framed his whole speech to avoid the present danger and want, and brought no hope or condition of peace, he betook himself back to the rest of his thoughts on the war.
quem ubi Caesar intellexit praesentis periculi atque inopiae vitandae causa omnem orationem instituisse, neque ullam spem aut condicionem pacis adferre, ad reliquam cogitationem belli sese recepit.
Bibulus, kept from the land many days and entangled in a graver illness from cold and toil, since he could neither be cured nor would desert the duty he had undertaken, could not withstand the force of the disease.
Bibulus multos dies terra prohibitus et graviore morbo ex frigore ac labore inplicitus, cum neque curari posset neque susceptum officium deserere vellet, vim morbi sustinere non potuit.
At his death the supreme command returned to no single man, but each managed his own fleet separately, at his own discretion.
eo mortuo ad neminem unum summa imperii redit, sed separatim suam quisque classem ad arbitrium suum administrabat.
Vibullius, the disturbance settled that Caesar’s sudden arrival had stirred up, as soon as he had returned, calling in Libo and Lucius Lucceius and Theophanes, with whom Pompey was wont to share matters of the greatest moment, set about treating of Caesar’s charges.
Vibullius sedato tumultu, quem repentinus Caesaris adventus concitaverat, ubi primum reversus est, adhibito Libone et L. Lucceio et Theophane, quibuscum communicare de maximis rebus Pompeius consueverat, de mandatis Caesaris agere instituit.
Pompey interrupted him as he entered upon the discourse and forbade him to say more. "What need have I," he said, "of life or of citizenship, which I shall be thought to hold by Caesar’s favor? The opinion of this could not be removed, when I shall be reckoned to have been brought back into Italy, from which I set out."
quem ingressum in sermonem Pompeius interpellavit et loqui plura prohibuit. quid mihi, inquit aut vita aut civitate opus est, quam beneficio Caesaris habere videbor? cuius rei opinio tolli non poterit, cum in Italiam, ex qua profectus sum reductus existimabor.
Caesar learned of these things, when the war was over, from those who took part in the conversation. He nonetheless tried by other means to treat of peace through conferences.
bello perfecto ab iis Caesar haec facta cognovit, qui sermoni interfuerunt. conatus tamen nihilominus est aliis rationibus per colloquia de pace agere.
Between the two camps of Pompey and Caesar there lay only one river, the Apsus, and the soldiers held frequent conversations with one another, nor meanwhile was any missile thrown across, by the agreements of those who spoke.
Inter bina castra Pompei atque Caesaris unum flumen tantum intererat Apsus, crebraque inter se colloquia milites habebant, neque ullum interim telum per pactiones loquentium traiciebatur.
He sends the legate Publius Vatinius to the very bank of the river, to treat of what seemed most to pertain to peace, and to proclaim repeatedly in a loud voice: was it not permitted for citizens to send two envoys to citizens about peace, when this had been allowed even to runaway slaves from the Pyrenean pass and to pirates, especially when they were doing it that citizens might not fight it out with citizens by arms?
mittit P. Vatinium legatum ad ripam ipsam fluminis, qui ea quae maxime ad pacem pertinere viderentur ageret, et crebro magna voce pronuntiaret, liceretne civibus ad cives de pace duos legatos mittere, quod etiam fugitivis ab saltu Pyrenaeo praedonibusque licuisset, praesertim cum id agerent, ne cives cum civibus armis decertarent.
He spoke much in a suppliant strain, as he owed, concerning his own and the common safety, and was heard in silence by the soldiers of both sides.
multa suppliciter locutus, ut de sua atque omnium salute debebat, silentioque ab utrisque militibus auditus.
It was answered from the other side that Aulus Varro professed he would come the next day to a conference, and would consider together how the envoys could come safely and set forth what they wished; and a fixed time was appointed for the matter.
responsum est ab altera parte Aulum Varronem profiteri se altera die ad colloquium venturum atque una visurum, quemadmodum tuto legati venire et quae vellent exponere possent; certumque ei rei tempus constituitur.
When that day was come, a great multitude assembled on both sides, and there was great expectation of the thing, and the minds of all seemed bent on peace.
quo cum esset postero die ventum, magna utrimque multitudo convenit, magnaque erat expectatio eius rei atque omnium animi intenti esse ad pacem videbantur.
From this throng Titus Labienus comes forward and begins to speak of peace in a lowered voice and to wrangle with Vatinius.
qua ex frequentia T. Labienus prodit, summissa oratione loqui de pace atque altercari cum Vatinio incipit.
Their discourse is suddenly broken off midway by missiles hurled from every side; these Labienus avoided, covered by the arms of the soldiers; yet several are wounded, among them Cornelius Balbus, Marcus Plotius, and Lucius Tiburtius, centurions, and some soldiers.
quorum mediam orationem interrumpunt subito undique tela immissa; quae ille obtectus armis militum vitavit; vulnerantur tamen complures, in his Cornelius Balbus, M. Plotius L. Tiburtius centuriones militesque non nulli.
Then Labienus said: "Cease, then, to speak of an accommodation; for there can be no peace for us unless Caesar’s head is brought back."
tum Labienus: desinite ergo de conpositione loqui; nam nobis nisi Caesaris capite relato pax esse nulla potest.
At the same time Marcus Caelius Rufus the praetor, having taken up the cause of the debtors, at the beginning of his magistracy placed his tribunal next to the seat of Gaius Trebonius, the city praetor, and promised that, if anyone appealed concerning the valuation and the payments that were made through an arbitrator, as Caesar had established when present, he would be a help to him.
Isdem temporibus M. Caelius Rufus praetor causa debitorum suscepta initio magistratus tribunal suum iuxta C. Treboni, praetoris urbani, sellam collocavit, et siquis appellavisset de aestimatione et de solutionibus, quae per arbitrum fierent, ut Caesar praesens constituerat, fore auxilio pollicebatur.
But it came about, through the fairness of the decree and the humanity of Trebonius, who thought that in these times the law should be administered mildly and with moderation, that none could be found from whom a beginning of appealing might arise.
sed fiebat aequitate decreti et humanitate Treboni, qui his temporibus clementer et moderate ius dicendum existimabat, ut reperiri non possent, a quibus initium appellandi nasceretur.
For perhaps to plead poverty and to complain of misfortune, whether one’s own or of the times, and to set forth the difficulties of selling at auction, is the mark even of a moderate spirit; but to keep one’s possessions whole while confessing oneself a debtor—of what spirit, of what shamelessness is that?
nam fortasse inopiam excusare et calamitatem aut propriam suam aut temporum queri et difficultates auctionandi proponere etiam mediocris est animi; integras vero tenere possessiones, qui se debere fateantur, cuius animi aut cuius impudentiae est?
And so there was found no one to demand this. And Caelius was found harsher than the very men to whose advantage it pertained.
itaque, hoc qui postularet, reperiebatur nemo. atque ipsis, ad quorum commodum pertinebat, durior inventus est Caelius.
And, setting out from this beginning, lest he should seem to have entered upon a base cause in vain, he promulgated a law that loans of money be paid in six years’ time without interest.
et ab hoc profectus initio, ne frustra ingressus turpem causam videretur, legem promulgavit, ut sexenni die sine usuris creditae pecuniae solvantur.
When the consul Servilius and the rest of the magistrates resisted, and he accomplished less than his own expectation, to rouse men’s zeal he annulled the earlier law and promulgated two: one by which he made a gift to tenants of a year’s house-rents,
Cum resisteret Servilius consul reliquique magistratus et minus opinione sua efficeret, ad hominum excitanda studia sublata priore lege duas promulgavit, unam, qua mercedes habitationum annuas conductoribus donavit,
the other of a cancellation of debts; and, an assault of the multitude made on Gaius Trebonius and some men wounded, he drove him from the tribunal.
aliam tabularum novarum, impetuque multitudinis in C. Trebonium facto et nonnullis vulneratis eum de tribunali deturbavit.
Concerning these matters the consul Servilius reported to the Senate, and the Senate voted that Caelius be removed from public affairs. By this decree the consul barred him from the Senate, and, as he tried to address an assembly, led him down from the Rostra.
de quibus rebus Servilius consul ad senatum rettulit, senatusque Caelium ab re publica removendum censuit. hoc decreto eum consul senatu prohibuit et contionari conantem de rostris deduxit.
He, stirred by the disgrace and the indignation, openly pretended to set out to Caesar; but, messengers secretly sent to Milo, who, Clodius having been killed, had been condemned on that charge, and Milo summoned into Italy—because, having given great gladiatorial shows, he had the remnants of a gladiatorial troop—he joined him to himself and sent him ahead into the territory of Thurii to stir up the herdsmen.
ille ignominia et dolore permotus palam se proficisci ad Caesarem simulavit; clam nuntiis ad Milonem missis, qui Clodio interfecto eo nomine erat damnatus, atque eo in Italiam evocato, quod magnis muneribus datis gladiatoriae familiae reliquias habebat, sibi coniunxit atque eum in Thurinum ad sollicitandos pastores praemisit.
He himself, when he had come to Casilinum, and at the one time his military standards and arms had been seized at Capua and a troop seen at Naples that was preparing the betrayal of the town, his designs laid bare, shut out from Capua and fearing danger—because the assize-population had taken up arms and thought he must be held in the place of an enemy—gave up his plan and turned aside from that route.
ipse cum Casilinum venisset unoque tempore signa eius militaria atque arma Capuae essent comprensa et familia Neapoli visa quae proditionem oppidi appararet, patefactis consiliis exclusus Capua et periculum veritus, quod conventus arma ceperat atque eum hostis loco habendum existimabat, consilio destitit atque eo itinere sese avertit.
Meanwhile Milo, letters sent round the towns, kept stirring up those he thought labored under debt, claiming that what he did he did by the order and command of Pompey, charges that had been conveyed to him through Vibullius.
Interim Milo dimissis circum municipia litteris se ea quae faceret iussu atque imperio facere Pompei, quae mandata ad se per Vibullium delata essent, quos ex aere alieno laborare arbitrabatur, sollicitabat.
When he could accomplish nothing with these, certain workhouses opened, he began to assault Compsa in the territory of the Hirpini. When the praetor Quintus Pedius came there with a legion, struck by a stone from the wall, he perished.
apud quos cum proficere nihil posset, quibusdam solutis ergastulis Compsam in agro Hirpino oppugnare coepit. eo cum a Q. Pedio praetore cum legione, lapide ictus ex muro perit.
And Caelius, having set out, as he kept saying, to Caesar, reached Thurii. There, when he was tampering with certain men of that town and promising money to Caesar’s Gallic and Spanish cavalry, who had been sent there as a garrison, he was killed by them.
et Caelius profectus, ut dictitabat, ad Caesarem pervenit Thurios. ubi cum quosdam eius municipii sollicitaret equitibusque Caesaris Gallis atque Hispanis, qui eo praesidii causa missi erant, pecuniam polliceretur, ab his est interfectus.
So the beginnings of great events, which kept Italy anxious through the preoccupation of its magistrates and times, had a quick and easy ending.
ita magnarum initia rerum, quae occupatione magistratuum et temporum sollicitam Italiam habebant, celerem et facilem exitum habuerunt.
Libo, having set out from Oricum with the fleet of fifty ships he commanded, came to Brundisium and seized the island that lies opposite the harbor of Brundisium, because he thought it better to hold the one place through which our men’s exit was unavoidable than to guard all the shores and harbors closed by watch.
Libo profectus ab Orico cum classe cui praeerat navium l Brundisium venit insulamque quae contra portum Brundisinum est occupavit, quod praestare arbitrabatur unum locum, qua necessarius nostris erat egressus, quam omnia litora ac portus custodia clausos tueri.
Here, by his sudden arrival, he caught and burned certain transport ships and carried off one laden with grain, and threw great terror into our men, and, soldiers and archers landed by night, he dislodged a guard of cavalry, and so far profited by the advantage of the place that he sent a letter to Pompey: let him order the rest of the ships, if he wished, to be hauled up and refitted; with his own fleet he would keep off Caesar’s reinforcements.
hic repentino adventu naves onerarias quasdam nactus incendit et unam frumento onustam abduxit magnumque nostris terrorem iniecit, et noctu militibus ac sagittariis in terra expositis praesidium equitum deiecit et adeo loci opportunitate profecit, uti ad Pompeium litteras mitteret, naves reliquas, si vellet, subduci et refici iuberet; sua classe auxilia sese Caesaris prohibiturum.
Antonius was at that time at Brundisium; he, trusting in the valor of his soldiers, covered about sixty skiffs of the large ships with wicker and screens, put picked soldiers aboard them, disposed them on the shore separately in several places, and ordered two triremes, which he had had made at Brundisium, to come forward to the mouth of the harbor under the pretext of exercising the rowers.
Erat eo tempore Antonius Brundisii; is virtute militum confisus scaphas navium magnarum circiter lx cratibus pluteisque contexit eoque milites delectos inposuit atque eas in litore pluribus locis separatim disposuit navesque triremes duas, quas Brundisii faciendas curaverat, per causam exercendorum remigum ad faucis portus prodire iussit.
When Libo saw these advancing too boldly, hoping they could be cut off, he sent five quadriremes against them. When these had drawn near our ships, our veterans fled back into the harbor, and the enemy, driven by zeal, followed too incautiously.
has cum audacius progressas Libo vidisset, sperans intercipi posse quadriremes V ad eas misit. quae cum navibus nostris propinquassent, nostri veterani in portum refugiebant, illi studio incitati incautius sequebantur.
Now from all sides suddenly Antonius’s skiffs, the signal given, hurled themselves at the enemy, and at the first onset captured one of these quadriremes with its rowers and defenders, and forced the rest to flee shamefully.
iam ex omnibus partibus subito Antonianae scaphae signo dato se in hostes incitaverunt primoque impetu unam ex his quadriremem cum remigibus defensoribusque suis ceperunt, reliquas turpiter refugere coegerunt.
To this loss was added that, the cavalry disposed by Antonius along the sea-coast, they were kept from water. Moved by this necessity and disgrace, Libo withdrew from Brundisium and gave up the blockade of our men.
ad hoc detrimentum accessit, ut equitibus per oram maritimam ab Antonio dispositis aquari prohiberentur. qua necessitate et ignominia permotus Libo discessit a Brundisio obsessionemque nostrorum omisit.
Many months were now gone and the winter was far advanced, and the ships and legions did not come to Caesar from Brundisium. And some occasions for this seemed to Caesar to have been let slip, because sure winds had often blown to which he thought one must of necessity commit oneself.
Multi iam menses erant et hiems praecipitaverat, neque Brundisio naves legionesque ad Caesarem veniebant. ac nonnullae eius rei praetermissae occasiones Caesari videbantur, quod certi saepe flaverant venti, quibus necessario committendum existimabat.
And the more the time advanced, the keener were those who commanded the fleets at their watches, and the greater confidence they had of barring the way; and they were chided by Pompey’s frequent letters, because, having at first not kept Caesar off as he came, they should at least hinder the rest of his army; and they looked for a harsher season each day for the crossing, as the winds grew milder.
quantoque eius amplius processerat temporis, tanto erant alacriores ad custodias, qui classibus praeerant, maioremque fiduciam prohibendi habebant, et crebris Pompei litteris castigabantur, quoniam primo venientem Caesarem non prohibuissent, ut reliquos eius exercitus impedirent, duriusque cotidie tempus ad transportandum lenioribus ventis expectabant.
Moved by these things, Caesar wrote more sharply to his men at Brundisium that, having caught a suitable wind, they should not let slip the chance of sailing, if they could direct their course even to the shores of the people of Apollonia and run the ships aground there.
quibus rebus permotus Caesar Brundisium ad suos severius scripsit, nacti idoneum ventum ne occasionem navigandi dimitterent, si vel ad litora Apolloniatium cursum dirigere atque eo naves eicere possent.
These places were most free of the fleets’ watches, because they did not dare to commit themselves too far from the harbors.
haec a custodiis classium loca maxime vacabant, quod se longius a portibus committere non auderent.
They, boldness and valor applied, Marcus Antonius and Fufius Calenus directing, the soldiers themselves much exhorting and refusing no danger for Caesar’s safety, having caught a south wind, weigh anchor and on the next day are carried past Apollonia and Dyrrachium.
Illi adhibita audacia et virtute administrantibus M. Antonio et Fufio Caleno, multum ipsis militibus hortantibus neque ullum periculum pro salute Caesaris recusantibus, nacti austrum naves solvunt atque altero die Apolloniam Dyrrachiumque praetervehuntur.
When they had been seen from the mainland, Coponius, who commanded the Rhodian fleet at Dyrrachium, leads his ships out of harbor, and, when he had now drawn near our men as the wind slackened, the same south wind freshened and was a protection to our men.
qui cum essent ex continenti visi, Coponius, qui Dyrrachii classi Rhodiae praeerat, naves ex portu educit, et cum iam nostris remissiore vento adpropinquasset, idem auster increbruit nostrisque praesidio fuit.
Nor indeed did he on that account desist from the attempt, but hoped that even the force of the storm could be overcome by the toil and perseverance of his sailors, and pursued our men, carried past Dyrrachium by the great force of the wind, none the less.
neque vero ille ob eam causam conatu desistebat, sed labore et perseverantia nautarum et vim tempestatis superari posse sperabat praetervectosque Dyrrachium magna vi venti nihilo setius sequebatur.
Our men, using the kindness of fortune, nonetheless feared the fleet’s onset, if the wind should chance to slacken. Having found a harbor called Nymphaeum, three miles beyond Lissus, they brought the ships in there—a harbor sheltered from the southwest, but not safe from the south—and reckoned the danger of the storm less than that of the fleet.
nostri usi fortunae beneficio tamen impetum classis timebant, si forte ventus remisisset. nacti portum, qui appellatur Nymphaeum, ultra Lissum milia passuum iii, eo naves introduxerunt — qui portus ab Africo tegebatur, ab austro non erat tutus — leviusque tempestatis quam classis periculum aestimaverunt.
As soon as they had gone in, by incredible good luck the south wind, which had blown for two days, shifted into the southwest.
quo simulatque intro est itum, incredibili felicitate auster, qui per biduum flaverat, in Africum se vertit.
Here one might see a sudden reversal of fortune. Those who but now had feared for themselves, the safest harbor received; those who had brought danger on our ships were forced to fear for their own.
Hic subitam commutationem fortunae videre licuit. qui modo sibi timuerant, hos tutissimus portus recipiebat; qui nostris navibus periculum intulerant, de suo timere cogebantur.
And so, the situation reversed, the storm both sheltered our men and shattered the Rhodian ships, so that all the decked ones, sixteen in number, were dashed to pieces to the last and perished in shipwreck, and of the great number of rowers and fighting men part were killed, dashed against the rocks, part were drawn off by our men, all of whom Caesar preserved and sent home.
itaque tempore commutato tempestas et nostros texit et naves Rhodias adflixit, ita ut ad unam omnes constratae numero xvi eliderentur et naufragio interirent, et ex magno remigum propugnatorumque numero pars ad scopulos allisa interficeretur, pars ab nostris detraheretur, quos omnes conservatos Caesar domum remisit.
Two of our ships, which had finished their course more slowly and were caught by night, not knowing what place the rest had taken, lay at anchor opposite Lissus.
Nostrae naves duae tardius cursu confecto in noctem coniectae, cum ignorarent, quem locum reliquae cepissent, contra Lissum in ancoris constiterunt.
These Otacilius Crassus, who was in command at Lissus, prepared to storm with skiffs and several smaller craft sent up; at the same time he treated of their surrender and promised safety to those who surrendered.
has scaphis minoribusque navigiis compluribus summissis Otacilius Crassus, qui Lissi praeerat, expugnare parabat; simul de deditione eorum agebat et incolumitatem deditis pollicebatur.
One of these ships had taken aboard two hundred and twenty from a legion of recruits, the other a little less than two hundred from a veteran legion.
harum altera navis ccxx e legione tironum sustulerat, altera ex veterana paulo minus cc.
Here one might learn how great a protection there is for men in firmness of spirit. For the recruits, terrified by the multitude of ships and worn out by the swell and seasickness, an oath taken that the enemy would do them no harm, surrendered to Otacilius; and all of them, brought before him, contrary to the sanctity of the oath, are most cruelly killed in his sight.
hic cognosci licuit, quantum esset hominibus praesidii in animi firmitudine. tirones enim multitudine navium perterriti et salo nausiaque confecti iureiurando accepto nihil iis nocituros hostes se Otacilio dediderunt; qui omnes ad eum producti contra religionem iurisiurandi in eius conspectu crudelissime interficiuntur.
But the soldiers of the veteran legion, likewise afflicted by the troubles of the storm and the bilge, thought they must remit nothing of their old valor, and, the first part of the night drawn out by treating of terms and a pretense of surrender, they force the helmsman to run the ship ashore,
at veteranae legionis milites, item conflictati et tempestatis et sentinae vitiis, neque ex pristina virtute remittendum aliquid putaverunt, et tractandis condicionibus et simulatione deditionis extracto primo noctis tempore gubernatorem in terram navem eicere cogunt,
and themselves, having found a suitable place, spent the rest of the night there, and at first light, when about four hundred cavalry, who guarded that part of the sea-coast, and those who followed them in arms from the garrison were sent against them by Otacilius, they defended themselves, and, some of them killed, withdrew unharmed to our men.
ipsi idoneum locum nacti reliquam noctis partem ibi confecerunt et luce prima missis ad eos ab Otacilio equitibus, qui eam partem orae maritimae adservabant, circiter cccc, quique eos armati ex praesidio secuti sunt, se defenderunt et nonnullis eorum interfectis incolumes se ad nostros receperunt.
This done, the assembly of Roman citizens who held Lissus—a town Caesar had before assigned to them and had had fortified—received Antonius and aided him in everything. Otacilius, fearing for himself, fled from the town and came to Pompey.
Quo facto conventus civium Romanorum, qui Lissum obtinebant, quod oppidum iis antea Caesar attribuerat muniendumque curaverat, Antonium recepit omnibusque rebus iuvit. Otacilius sibi timens oppido fugit et ad Pompeium pervenit.
All his forces disembarked—the sum of which was three veteran legions and one of recruits and eight hundred cavalry—Antonius sends most of the ships back to Italy to transport the remaining soldiers and cavalry,
expositis omnibus copiis Antonius, quarum erat summa veteranarum trium legionum uniusque tironum et equitum dccc, plerasque naves in Italiam remittit ad reliquos milites equitesque transportandos,
and leaves at Lissus the pontoons, which is a kind of Gallic ship, with this plan: that if perchance Pompey, thinking Italy unguarded, should cross his army there—an opinion that had been spread among the people—Caesar might have some means of pursuit; and he sends messengers to him quickly, in what regions he had landed the army and how many soldiers he had carried over.
pontones, quod est genus navium Gallicarum, Lissi relinquit, hoc consilio, ut si forte Pompeius vacuam existimans Italiam eo traiecisset exercitum, quae opinio erat edita in vulgus, aliquam Caesar ad insequendum facultatem haberet, nuntiosque ad eum celeriter mittit, quibus regionibus exercitum exposuisset et quid militum transvexisset.
These things Caesar and Pompey learn at about the same time. For they had seen the ships carried past Apollonia and Dyrrachium, and had themselves directed their march along those lands, but where the ships had been carried they did not know in the first days.
Haec eodem fere tempore Caesar atque Pompeius cognoscunt. nam praetervectas Apolloniam Dyrrachiumque naves viderant, ipsi iter secundum eas terras direxerant, sed quo essent eae delatae, primis diebus ignorabant.
The matter known, both take opposite plans: Caesar, to join himself with Antonius as soon as possible; Pompey, to set himself in the way of the coming forces on the march, and, if he could, to attack them unawares from ambush;
cognitaque re diversa sibi ambo consilia capiunt: Caesar, ut quam primum se cum Antonio coniungeret, Pompeius, ut venientibus in itinere se opponeret, et si imprudentes ex insidiis adoriri posset;
and on the same day each of them leads his army out of his standing camp by the river Apsus, Pompey secretly and by night, Caesar openly and by day.
eodemque die uterque eorum ex castris stativis a flumine Apso exercitum educunt, Pompeius clam et noctu, Caesar palam atque interdiu.
But for Caesar the way was longer, by a greater circuit, up the river, that he might cross by a ford. Pompey, because he did not have to cross the river, with an unencumbered route hastened by great marches to Antonius, and,
sed Caesari circuitu maiore iter erat longius, adverso flumine, ut vado transire posset. Pompeius, quia expedito itinere flumen ei transeundum non erat, magnis itineribus ad Antonium contendit atque,
when he learned that he was approaching, having found a suitable place, posted his forces there, kept all his men in camp, and forbade fires to be made, that his arrival might be the more hidden.
ubi eum adpropinquare cognovit, idoneum locum nactus ibi copias collocavit, suosque omnes castris continuit, ignesque fieri prohibuit, quo occultior esset eius adventus.
These things are reported to Antonius at once through the Greeks. He, messengers sent to Caesar, kept himself in camp one day; on the second day Caesar reached him.
haec ad Antonium statim per Graecos deferuntur. ille missis ad Caesarem nuntiis unum diem sese castris tenuit, altero die ad eum pervenit Caesar.
His arrival known, Pompey, lest he be hemmed in by two armies, withdrew from that place and came with all his forces to Asparagium of the people of Dyrrachium, and there pitches camp in a suitable place.
cuius adventu cognito Pompeius, ne duobus circumcluderetur exercitibus, ex eo loco discedit omnibusque copiis ad Asparagium Dyrrachinorum pervenit atque ibi idoneo loco castra ponit.
At this time Scipio, having suffered certain losses around Mount Amanus, had hailed himself imperator.
His temporibus Scipio detrimentis quibusdam circa montem Amanum acceptis imperatorem se appellaverat.
This done, he had requisitioned great sums from the states and tyrants, likewise had exacted from the tax-farmers of his province the money owed for two years, and had taken in advance from the same a loan for the following year, and had requisitioned cavalry from the whole province.
quo facto civitatibus tyrannisque magnas imperaverat pecunias, item a publicanis suae provinciae debitam biennii pecuniam exegerat et ab isdem insequentis anni mutuam praeceperat equitesque toti provinciae imperaverat.
These gathered, the Parthians, neighboring enemies, left behind him—who a little before had killed the imperator Marcus Crassus and had held Marcus Bibulus under siege—he led the legions and cavalry down out of Syria.
quibus coactis, finitimis hostibus Parthis post se relictis, qui paulo ante M. Crassum imperatorem interfecerant et M. Bibulum in obsidione habuerant, legiones equitesque ex Syria deduxerat.
And when the province had come into the utmost anxiety and fear of a Parthian war, and certain voices of the soldiers were heard that they would go, if they were led against an enemy, but would not bear arms against a citizen and a consul, he led the legions to Pergamum and into the wealthiest cities for winter quarters, made very great largesses, and, to confirm the soldiers, gave the states to them to be plundered.
summamque in sollicitudinem ac timorem Parthici belli provincia cum venisset, ac nonnullae militum voces cum audirentur sese, contra hostem si ducerentur, ituros, contra civem et consulem arma non laturos, deductis Pergamum atque in locupletissimas urbes in hiberna legionibus maximas largitiones fecit et confirmandorum militum causa diripiendas his civitates dedit.
Meanwhile the requisitioned sums were most harshly exacted throughout the whole province. Many things besides were devised, of every kind, to serve avarice.
Interim acerbissime imperatae pecuniae tota provincia exigebantur. multa praeterea generatim ad avaritiam excogitabantur.
On each single head of slaves and free a tribute was imposed; column-taxes and door-taxes, grain, soldiers, arms, rowers, engines, transport were requisitioned; whatever thing’s name could be found, this seemed enough for raising money.
in capita singula servorum ac liberorum tributum imponebatur; columnaria ostiaria frumentum milites arma remiges tormenta vecturae imperabantur; cuius modo rei nomen reperiri poterat, hoc satis esse ad cogendas pecunias videbatur.
Not only over cities, but almost over villages and forts, individual men were set with command. Whoever of these had done any of this most harshly and cruelly was held the best man and citizen.
non solum urbibus, sed paene vicis castellisque singuli cum imperio praeficiebantur. qui horum quid acerbissime crudelissimeque fecerat, is et vir et civis optimus habebatur.
The province was full of lictors and commands, crammed with prefects and collectors, who, besides the requisitioned sums, served their own private profit as well; for they kept saying that, driven from home and country, they lacked all necessities, that they might cover a most base thing with an honorable pretext.
erat plena lictorum et imperiorum provincia, differta praefectis atque exactoribus, qui praeter imperatas pecunias suo etiam privato conpendio serviebant; dictitabant enim se domo patriaque expulsos omnibus necessariis egere rebus, ut honesta praescriptione rem turpissimam tegerent.
To these were added the heaviest rates of interest, as is wont generally to happen in war when sums are requisitioned of all; in which matters they called a deferment of the day a gift. And so the debt of the province was multiplied in that two years.
accedebant ad haec gravissimae usurae, quod in bello plerumque accidere consuevit universis imperatis pecuniis; quibus in rebus prolationem diei donationem esse dicebant. itaque aes alienum provinciae eo biennio multiplicatum est.
Nor any less for that cause were fixed sums requisitioned of the Roman citizens of that province, but on the several assize-districts and the several states, and they kept claiming that these were exacted as a loan by decree of the Senate; from the tax-farmers, as they had reckoned their principal, the revenue of the following year was taken in advance as a loan.
neque minus ob eam causam civibus Romanis eius provinciae, sed in singulos conventus singulasque civitates certae pecuniae imperabantur, mutuasque illas ex senatus consulto exigi dictitabant; publicanis, ut ii sortem fecerant, insequentis anni vectigal promutuum.
Besides this, Scipio ordered the money deposited of old at Ephesus in the temple of Diana to be carried off. A fixed day for the thing appointed, when he had come into the temple, several of senatorial rank present whom Scipio had called in, a letter is delivered to him from Pompey: that Caesar had crossed the sea with his legions; let him hasten to come to him with his army, and put everything else after that.
Praeterea Ephesi a fano Dianae depositas antiquitus pecunias Scipio tolli iubebat. certaque eius rei die constituta cum in fanum ventum esset adhibitis compluribus ordinis senatorii, quos advocaverat Scipio, litterae ei redduntur a Pompeio, mare transisse cum legionibus Caesarem; properaret ad se cum exercitu venire omniaque post ea quae haberet.
This letter received, he dismisses those he had called in; he himself begins to prepare his march into Macedonia, and a few days later set out. This thing brought safety to the money of Ephesus.
his litteris acceptis, quos advocaverat, dimittit; ipse iter in Macedoniam parare incipit paucisque post diebus est profectus. haec res Ephesiae pecuniae salutem adtulit.
Caesar, Antonius’s army joined, the legion withdrawn from Oricum which he had posted to guard the sea-coast, thought he must sound the provinces and advance farther, and,
Caesar Antoni exercitu coniuncto deducta Orico legione, quam tuendae orae maritimae causa posuerat, temptandas sibi provincias longiusque procedendum existimabat et,
when envoys had come to him from Thessaly and Aetolia to promise that, a garrison sent, the states of those peoples would do what was commanded, he sent Lucius Cassius Longinus with a legion of recruits, which was called the Twenty-seventh, and two hundred cavalry into Thessaly, likewise Gaius Calvisius Sabinus with five cohorts and a few cavalry into Aetolia; he especially exhorted them, because the regions were near, to provide for the grain supply.
cum ad eum ex Thessalia Aetoliaque legati venissent, qui praesidio misso pollicerentur earum gentium civitates imperata facturas, L. Cassium Longinum cum legione tironum, quae appellabatur xxvii, atque equitibus cc in Thessaliam, item C. Calvisium Sabinum cum cohortibus v paucisque equitibus in Aetoliam misit; maxime eos, quod erant propinquae regiones, de re frumentaria ut providerent, hortatus est.
Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus he ordered to set out into Macedonia with two legions, the Eleventh and the Twelfth, and five hundred cavalry;
Cn. Domitium Calvinum cum legionibus duabus, xi et xii, et equitibus d in Macedoniam proficisci iussit;
from that part of which province that was called free, Menedemus, a chief man of those regions, sent as an envoy, professed the outstanding zeal of all his people.
cuius provinciae ab ea parte, quae libera appellabatur, Menedemus, princeps earum regionum, missus legatus omnium suorum excellens studium profitebatur.
Cassius reached Thessaly with his legion. Here, since there were two factions, he met with varying goodwill from the states: Hegesaretus, a man of old power, favored the Pompeian cause; Petraeus, a young man of the highest nobility, was zealously aiding Caesar with his own resources and his people’s.
Cassius in Thessaliam cum legione pervenit. hic cum essent factiones duae, varia voluntate civitatium utebatur: Hegesaretos, veteris homo potentiae, Pompeianis rebus studebat; Petraeus, summae nobilitatis adulescens, suis ac suorum opibus Caesarem enixe iuvabat.
At the same time Domitius came into Macedonia; and when frequent embassies of the states had begun to assemble to him, it was reported that Scipio was at hand with his legions, with great talk and report of all;
Eodemque tempore Domitius in Macedoniam venit; et cum ad eum frequentes civitatium legationes convenire coepissent, nuntiatum est adesse Scipionem cum legionibus, magna opinione et fama omnium;
for generally in a fresh event rumor runs ahead. He, halting in no place of Macedonia, made with great force for Domitius, and, when he was twenty miles from him, suddenly turned toward Cassius Longinus in Thessaly.
nam plerumque in novitate fama antecedit. hic nullo in loco Macedoniae moratus magno impetu tetendit ad Domitium, et cum ab eo milia passuum xx afuisset, subito se ad Cassium Longinum in Thessaliam convertit.
This he did so quickly that he was reported to be at hand and to be coming at the same time, and, that he might make his march the more unencumbered, he left Marcus Favonius at the river Haliacmon, which divides Macedonia from Thessaly, with eight cohorts to guard the legions’ baggage, and ordered a fort to be fortified there.
hoc adeo celeriter fecit ut simul adesse et venire nuntiaretur, et quo iter expeditius faceret, M. Favonium ad flumen Haliacmonem, quod Macedoniam a Thessalia dividit, cum cohortibus viii praesidio impedimentis legionum reliquit castellumque ibi muniri iussit.
At the same time the cavalry of King Cotys, which was wont to be about Thessaly, flew up to Cassius’s camp.
eodem tempore equitatus regis Coti ad castra Cassi advolavit, qui circum Thessaliam esse consueverat.
Then Cassius, terrified by fear, learning of Scipio’s arrival and seeing the cavalry, which he thought were Scipio’s, turned toward the mountains that gird Thessaly, and from these places began to march toward Ambracia.
tum timore perterritus Cassius cognito Scipionis adventu visisque equitibus, quos Scipionis esse arbitrabatur, ad montes se convertit, qui Thessaliam cingunt, atque ex his locis Ambraciam versus iter facere coepit.
But Scipio, hastening to follow, was overtaken by a letter from Marcus Favonius: that Domitius was at hand with his legions, and that he could not hold the garrison where he had been posted without Scipio’s aid.
at Scipionem properantem sequi litterae sunt consecutae a M. Favonio, Domitium cum legionibus adesse, neque se praesidium, ubi constitutus esset, sine auxilio Scipionis tenere posse.
This letter received, Scipio changes his plan and his march; he ceases to follow Cassius and hastens to bring aid to Favonius.
quibus litteris acceptis consilium Scipio iterque commutat; Cassium sequi desistit, Favonio auxilium ferre contendit.
And so, his march continued day and night, he reached him at so opportune a time that at once the dust of Domitius’s army was seen and the foremost advance guard of Scipio appeared. So Domitius’s diligence brought safety to Cassius, Scipio’s speed to Favonius.
itaque die ac nocte continuato itinere ad eum pervenit, tam opportuno tempore, ut simul Domitiani exercitus pulvis cerneretur et primi antecursores Scipionis viderentur. ita Cassio industria Domiti, Favonio Scipionis celeritas salutem adtulit.
Scipio, having lingered two days in his standing camp by the river that flowed between him and Domitius’s camp, the Haliacmon, on the third day at first light leads his army across by a ford, and, camp pitched, on the next day in the morning draws up his forces before the front of his camp.
Scipio biduum castris stativis moratus ad flumen, quod inter eum et Domiti castra fluebat, Haliacmonem, tertio die prima luce exercitum vado traducit et castris positis postero die mane copias ante frontem castrorum struit.
Domitius then too thought he must not hesitate to lead out his legions and fight it out. But, since there was a plain of about three miles between the two camps, Domitius set his line under Scipio’s camp; he persisted in not leaving his rampart.
Domitius tum quoque sibi dubitandum non putavit quin productis legionibus proelio decertaret. sed cum esset inter bina castra campus circiter milium passuum iii, Domitius castris Scipionis aciem suam subiecit, ille a vallo non discedere perseveravit.
And yet it was only with difficulty, Domitius’s soldiers held back, that it came about that there was no fighting, and chiefly because a stream with difficult banks, lying below Scipio’s camp, hindered our men’s advance.
ac tamen aegre retentis Domitianis militibus est factum, ne proelio contenderetur, et maxime quod rivus difficilibus ripis subiectus castris Scipionis progressus nostrorum impediebat.
When Scipio had learned their zeal and eagerness for fighting, suspecting that the next day he would either be forced to fight against his will or hold himself in camp with great disgrace—he who had come with great expectation, having rashly advanced, had a base outcome and by night, the baggage-call not even raised, crosses the river and returns to the same side from which he had come, and there pitched camp near the river on naturally high ground.
quorum studium alacritatemque pugnandi cum cognovisset Scipio, suspicatus fore ut postero die aut invitus dimicare cogeretur, aut magna cum infamia castris se contineret, qui magna exspectatione venisset, temere progressus turpem habuit exitum et noctu ne conclamatis quidem vasis flumen transit atque in eandem partem, ex qua venerat, redit, ibique prope flumen edito natura loco castra posuit.
A few days interposed, by night he placed an ambush of cavalry in the place where on the previous days our men had generally been wont to forage; and when, by his daily custom, Quintus Varus, Domitius’s prefect of cavalry, had come, they suddenly rose up from the ambush.
paucis diebus interpositis noctu insidias equitum collocavit, quo in loco superioribus fere diebus nostri pabulari consueverant; et cum cotidiana consuetudine Q. Varus, praefectus equitum Domiti, venisset, subito illi ex insidiis consurrexerunt.
But our men bravely bore their onset, and each quickly returned to his own ranks, and of their own accord all together charged the enemy.
sed nostri fortiter impetum eorum tulerunt, celeriterque ad suos quisque ordines redit, atque ultro universi in hostes impetum fecerunt.
About eighty of these killed, the rest thrown into flight, they withdrew into camp, having lost two.
ex his circiter lxxx interfectis, reliquis in fugam coniectis, duobus amissis in castra se receperunt.
These things done, Domitius, hoping Scipio could be drawn out to battle, pretended that, driven by the straits of the grain supply, he was breaking camp, and, the baggage-call raised in military fashion, having advanced three miles, posted his whole army and cavalry in a suitable and hidden place. Scipio, ready to follow, sent a great part of his cavalry ahead to explore and learn Domitius’s march.
His rebus gestis Domitius sperans Scipionem ad pugnam elici posse simulavit sese angustiis rei frumentariae adductum castra movere vasisque militari more conclamatis progressus milia passuum iii loco idoneo et occulto omnem exercitum equitatumque collocavit. Scipio ad sequendum paratus equitatus magnam partem ad explorandum iter Domiti et cognoscendum praemisit.
When these had advanced and the foremost squadrons had entered the ambush, suspicion roused by the neighing of the horses, they began to withdraw to their own, and those who were following them, seeing their quick retreat, halted.
qui cum essent progressi primaeque turmae insidias intravissent, ex fremitu equorum inlata suspicione ad suos se recipere coeperunt, quique hos sequebantur, celerem eorum receptum conspicati restiterunt.
Our men, the enemy’s ambush detected, lest they should wait in vain for the rest, caught two squadrons and cut them off. Among these was Marcus Opimius, prefect of cavalry. All the rest of those squadrons they either killed or, taken captive, brought to Domitius.
nostri cognitis hostium insidiis, ne frustra reliquos expectarent, duas nacti turmas exceperunt. in his fuit M. Opimius praefectus equitum. reliquos omnes earum turmarum aut interfecerunt aut captos ad Domitium deduxerunt.
The garrisons of the sea-coast withdrawn, as has been shown above, Caesar left three cohorts to guard the town of Oricum, and to them handed over the care of the warships which he had brought over from Italy. Over this duty and the town the legate Manius Acilius was set.
Deductis orae maritimae Caesar praesidiis, ut supra demonstratum est, iii cohortes Orici oppidi tuendi causa reliquit isdemque custodiam navium longarum tradidit, quas ex Italia traduxerat. huic officio oppidoque M’. Acilius legatus praeerat.
He drew our ships back into the inner harbor behind the town and moored them to the land, and at the mouth of the harbor set a sunken transport ship as a barrier and joined another to it; upon which, a tower built, he set it against the very entrance of the harbor, filled it with soldiers, and handed it over to be guarded against all sudden chances.
is naves nostras interiorem in portum post oppidum reduxit et ad terram deligavit faucibusque portus navem onerariam submersam obiecit et huic alteram coniunxit; super quam turrim effectam ad ipsum introitum portus opposuit et militibus conplevit tuendamque ad omnis repentinos casus tradidit.
These things learned, Gnaeus Pompey the son, who commanded the Egyptian fleet, came to Oricum, and, the sunken ship drawn off by a tow-line and with much straining of cables, and attacking with several ships the other ship that had been set by Acilius for the guard—on which he had made towers level with it, so as to fight from a higher place and, always sending up fresh men to the weary, and at the same time trying the town’s walls in the other parts with ladders from the land and with the fleet, that he might draw apart the adversaries’ force—by labor and the multitude of missiles overcame our men, and, the defenders dislodged, who all, taken up in skiffs, fled, he stormed that ship.
Quibus cognitis rebus Cn. Pompeius filius, qui classi Aegyptiae praeerat, ad Oricum venit submersamque navem remulco multisque contendens funibus abduxit atque alteram navem, quae erat ad custodiam ab Acilio posita, pluribus adgressus navibus, in quibus ad libram fecerat turres, ut ex superiori pugnans loco integrosque semper defatigatis submittens et reliquis partibus simul ex terra scalis et classe moenia oppidi temptans, uti adversariorum manus diduceret, labore et multitudine telorum nostros vicit deiectisque defensoribus, qui omnes scaphis excepti refugerunt, eam navem expugnavit.
And at the same time, on the other side, he held the natural mole set as a barrier, which had almost made the town an island, and four biremes, rollers placed beneath and driven forward by levers, he brought across into the inner harbor.
eodemque tempore ex altera parte molem tenuit naturalem obiectam, quae paene insulam oppidum effecerat, iiii biremes subiectis scutulis inpulsas vectibus in interiorem portum transduxit.
So, having attacked the warships from both sides, which were moored to the land and empty, he carried off four of them and burned the rest.
ita ex utraque parte naves longas adgressus, quae erant deligatae ad terram atque inanes, iiii ex his abduxit, reliquas incendit.
This business finished, he left Decimus Laelius, drawn off from the Asiatic fleet, to keep supplies from being brought into the town from Byllis and Amantia.
hoc confecto negotio D. Laelium ab Asiatica classe abductum reliquit, qui commeatus Byllide atque Amantia inportari in oppidum prohiberet.
He himself, having set out for Lissus, attacked the thirty transport ships left by Marcus Antonius within the harbor and burned them all; trying to storm Lissus, the Roman citizens of that assize defending it, and the soldiers whom Caesar had sent as a garrison, after lingering three days and losing a few in the assault, he withdrew thence, his object unachieved.
ipse Lissum profectus naves onerarias xxx a M. Antonio relictas intra portum adgressus omnes incendit; Lissum expugnare conatus, defendentibus civibus Romanis, qui eius conventus erant, militibusque, quos praesidii causa miserat Caesar, triduum moratus paucis in oppugnatione amissis re infecta inde discessit.
Caesar, after he learned that Pompey was at Asparagium, having set out for the same place with his army, a town of the Parthini stormed on the march in which Pompey had a garrison, on the third day reached Pompey in Macedonia, pitched camp beside him, and the next day, all his forces led out and his line drawn up, offered Pompey the chance of deciding the issue.
Caesar postquam Pompeium ad Asparagium esse cognovit, eodem cum exercitu profectus expugnato in itinere oppido Parthinorum, in quo Pompeius praesidium habebat, tertio die Macedoniam ad Pompeium pervenit iuxtaque eum castra posuit et postridie eductis omnibus copiis acie instructa decernendi potestatem Pompeio fecit.
When he perceived that Pompey kept to his own ground, his army led back into camp, he thought he must take another plan.
ubi illum suis locis se tenere animum advertit, reducto in castra exercitu aliud sibi consilium capiendum existimavit.
And so the next day, with all his forces, by a great circuit and a difficult and narrow route, he set out for Dyrrachium, hoping that Pompey could either be driven into Dyrrachium or cut off from it, because he had carried there all his supplies and the apparatus of the whole war: as happened.
itaque postero die omnibus copiis magno circuitu difficili angustoque itinere Dyrrachium profectus est sperans Pompeium aut Dyrrachium compelli aut ab eo intercludi posse, quod omnem commeatum totiusque belli adparatum eo contulisset: ut accidit.
For Pompey at first, not knowing his plan, because he saw him set out by a route away from that region, thought he had withdrawn, driven by the straits of the grain supply; afterward, informed by scouts, the next day he broke camp, hoping he could meet him by a shorter route.
Pompeius enim primo ignorans eius consilium, quod diverso ab ea regione itinere profectum videbat, angustiis rei frumentariae compulsum discessisse existimabat; postea per exploratores certior factus postero die castra movit breviore itinere se occurrere ei posse sperans.
Suspecting this would happen, Caesar, having exhorted his soldiers to bear the labor with even minds, the march broken for a small part of the night, came in the morning to Dyrrachium, just as the head of Pompey’s column was seen in the distance, and there pitched camp.
quod fore suspicatus Caesar militesque adhortatus, ut aequo animo laborem ferrent, parva parte noctis itinere intermisso mane Dyrrachium venit, cum primum agmen Pompei procul cerneretur, atque ibi castra posuit.
Pompey, cut off from Dyrrachium, when he could not hold to his purpose, using his second plan, fortifies a camp on a high place called Petra, which has a moderate approach for ships and protects them from certain winds.
Pompeius interclusus Dyrrachio, ubi propositum tenere non potuit, secundo usus consilio edito loco, qui appellatur Petra aditumque habet navibus mediocrem atque eas a quibusdam protegit ventis, castra communit.
There he orders part of the warships to assemble and grain and supplies to be brought from Asia and all the regions he held.
eo partem navium longarum convenire, frumentum commeatumque ab Asia atque omnibus regionibus, quas tenebat, conportari imperat.
Caesar, thinking the war would be drawn out longer and despairing of Italian supplies, because with such diligence all the shores were held by the Pompeians, and his own fleets, which he had made in the winter in Sicily, Gaul, and Italy, were delayed, sent the legates Quintus Tillius and Lucius Canuleius into Epirus for the grain supply, and, because these regions were farther off, set up granaries in fixed places and apportioned the carriage of grain among the neighboring states.
Caesar longius bellum ductum iri existimans et de Italicis commeatibus desperans, quod tanta diligentia omnia litora a Pompeianis tenebantur classesque ipsius, quas hieme in Sicilia Gallia Italia fecerat, morabantur, in Epirum rei frumentariae causa Q. Tillium et L. Canuleium legatos misit, quodque hae regiones aberant longius, locis certis horrea constituit vecturasque frumenti finitimis civitatibus discripsit.
Likewise at Lissus, among the Parthini, and in all the forts, he ordered whatever grain there was to be sought out.
item Lisso Parthinisque et omnibus castellis, quod esset frumenti, conquiri iussit.
This was very scant, both from the nature of the country itself—for the places are harsh and mountainous and they generally use imported grain—and because Pompey had foreseen this and in the previous days had treated the Parthini as plunder, and, all the grain sought out, their houses despoiled and dug up, had carried it by cavalry into Petra.
id erat perexiguum cum ipsius agri natura, quod sunt loca aspera ac montuosa ac plerumque frumento utuntur inportato, tum quod Pompeius haec providerat et superioribus diebus praedae loco Parthinos habuerat frumentumque omne conquisitum spoliatis effossisque eorum domibus per equites in Petram comportarat.
These things learned, Caesar takes his plan from the nature of the ground. For around Pompey’s camp were very many high and rough hills. These he first held with garrisons and fortified forts there.
Quibus rebus cognitis Caesar consilium capit ex loci natura. erant enim circum castra Pompei permulti editi atque asperi colles. hos primum praesidiis tenuit castellaque ibi communiit.
Then, as the nature of each place bore, a fortification carried from fort to fort, he set about walling Pompey round. This he aimed at,
inde, ut loci cuiusque natura ferebat, ex castello in castellum perducta munitione circumvallare Pompeium instituit. haec spectans,
because he had a scant store of grain, and because Pompey was strong in a multitude of cavalry, so that he might with less danger bring grain and supplies to his army from every side; at the same time to keep Pompey from foraging and make his cavalry useless for action; thirdly, to lessen the prestige on which Pompey seemed most to rely among foreign nations, when the report had spread through the world that he was being besieged by Caesar and did not dare to fight a battle.
quod angusta re frumentaria utebatur, quodque Pompeius multitudine equitum valebat, quo minore periculo undique frumentum commeatumque exercitui supportare posset, simul uti pabulatione Pompeium prohiberet equitatumque eius ad rem gerendam inutilem efficeret, tertio ut auctoritatem, qua ille maxime apud exteras nationes niti videbatur, minueret, cum fama per orbem terrarum percrebruisset illum a Caesare obsideri neque audere proelio dimicare.
Pompey was unwilling to leave the sea and Dyrrachium, because he had placed there all the apparatus of war—missiles, arms, engines—and was bringing grain to his army by ship; nor could he hinder Caesar’s fortifications unless he chose to fight it out in battle, which at that time he had decided ought not to be done.
Pompeius neque a mari Dyrrachioque discedere volebat, quod omnem adparatum belli, tela arma tormenta ibi collocaverat frumentumque exercitui navibus subportabat, neque munitiones Caesaris prohibere poterat, nisi proelio decertare vellet; quod eo tempore statuerat faciendum non esse.
It remained that, following the last resort of war, he should seize as many hills as possible, hold the widest regions with garrisons, and keep Caesar’s forces as much divided as he could; and this happened.
relinquebatur, ut extremam rationem belli sequens quam plurimos colles occuparet et quam latissimas regiones praesidiis teneret Caesarisque copias quam maxime posset distineret; idque accidit.
For, twenty-four forts made, embracing a circuit of fifteen miles, he foraged within this space; and there were many sown crops within that area, on which meanwhile he fed his beasts.
castellis enim xxiv effectis xv milia passuum circuitu amplexus hoc spatio pabulabatur; multaque erant intra eum locum manu sata, quibus interim iumenta pasceret.
And as our men saw continuous fortifications carried from fort to the nearest forts, and feared lest the Pompeians should break out at some point and attack our men in the rear, so the enemy made continuous fortifications in the inner space, lest our men should enter at any point and surround them from behind.
atque ut nostri perpetuas munitiones videbant perductas ex castellis in proxima castella, nequo loco erumperent Pompeiani ac nostros post tergum adorirentur timebant, ita illi interiore spatio perpetuas munitiones efficiebant, nequem locum nostri intrare atque ipsos a tergo circumvenire possent.
But the enemy won in the works, because they both excelled in number of soldiers and, in the inner space, had a smaller circuit.
sed illi operibus vincebant, quod et numero militum praestabant et interiore spatio minorem circuitum habebant.
When Caesar had to seize any of these places, although Pompey had decided not to hinder it with all his forces and fight, he nonetheless sent archers and slingers to their positions, of whom he had a great number, and many of our men were wounded, and a great fear of the arrows had arisen, and almost all the soldiers had made tunics or coverings out of felt or quilting or hides, to ward off the missiles.
quae cum erant loca Caesari capienda, etsi prohibere Pompeius totis copiis et dimicare non constituerat, tamen suis locis sagittarios funditoresque mittebat, quorum magnum habebat numerum, multique ex nostris vulnerabantur, magnusque incesserat timor sagittarum, atque omnes fere milites aut ex coactis aut ex centonibus aut ex coriis tunicas aut tegimenta fecerant, quibus tela vitarent.
In seizing positions each strove with great force: Caesar, to confine Pompey as narrowly as possible; Pompey, to seize as many hills as possible over the greatest circuit; and for this cause frequent battles took place.
In occupandis praesidiis magna vi uterque nitebatur: Caesar, ut quam angustissime Pompeium contineret, Pompeius, ut quam plurimos colles quam maximo circuitu occuparet; crebraque ob eam causam proelia fiebant.
In these, when Caesar’s Ninth Legion had seized a certain position and begun to fortify it, Pompey seized a hill near and opposite to this place and began to keep our men from the work,
in his cum legio Caesaris nona praesidium quoddam occupavisset et munire coepisset, huic loco propinquum et contrarium collem Pompeius occupavit nostrosque opere prohibere coepit,
and, since on one side it had an almost level approach, first archers and slingers thrown round it, afterward a great multitude of light-armed sent and engines brought up, he hindered the fortifications. Nor was it easy for our men at one time to fight and to fortify.
et cum una ex parte prope aequum aditum haberet, primum sagittariis funditoribusque circumiectis, postea levis armaturae magna multitudine missa tormentisque prolatis munitiones impediebat. neque erat facile nostris uno tempore propugnare et munire.
When Caesar saw his men being wounded on every side, he ordered them to withdraw and leave the position.
Caesar cum suos ex omnibus partibus vulnerari videret, recipere se iussit et loco excedere.
The retreat was down a slope. But the enemy pressed the more keenly and did not allow our men to fall back, because, driven by fear, they seemed to be leaving the position.
erat per declive receptus. illi autem hoc acrius instabant neque regredi nostros patiebantur, quod timore adducti locum relinquere videbantur.
It is said that Pompey at that time boasted among his men that he did not object to being thought a general of no use, if Caesar’s legions had withdrawn without the greatest loss from the place to which they had rashly advanced.
dicitur eo tempore glorians apud suos Pompeius dixisse, non recusare se, quin nullius usus imperator existimaretur, si sine maximo detrimento legiones Caesaris sese recepissent inde, quo temere essent progressae.
Caesar, fearing for the retreat of his men, ordered wicker screens to be carried forward to the end of the knoll, facing the enemy, and set across, and within these, the soldiers under cover, a ditch of moderate width to be drawn, and the place to be made as difficult as possible in all directions.
Caesar receptui suorum timens crates ad extremum tumulum contra hostem proferri et adversas locari, intra has mediocri latitudine fossam tectis militibus obduci iussit, locumque in omnis partes quam maxime impediri.
He himself stationed slingers in suitable places, to be a protection to our men as they withdrew.
ipse idoneis locis funditores instruxit, ut praesidio nostris se recipientibus essent.
These things completed, he ordered the legion to be led back. The Pompeians began to press and bear down on our men the more insolently and boldly, and pushed forward the wicker screens set as a fortification, that they might cross the ditches.
his rebus conpletis legionem reduci iussit. Pompeiani hoc insolentius atque audacius nostros premere et instare coeperunt, cratesque pro munitione obiectas propulerunt, ut fossas transcenderent.
When Caesar had noticed this, fearing that his men might seem not led back but thrown back, and that a greater loss might be suffered, from about the middle of the space, his men exhorted through Antonius, who commanded that legion, he ordered the trumpet signal to be given and a charge to be made on the enemy.
quod cum animadvertisset Caesar, veritus, ne non reducti, sed deiecti viderentur maiusque detrimentum caperetur, a medio fere spatio suos per Antonium, qui ei legioni praeerat, cohortatus tuba signum dari atque in hostes impetum fieri iussit.
The soldiers of the Ninth Legion, suddenly of one mind, hurled their javelins and, from the lower ground up the slope, at a quickened run drove the Pompeians headlong and forced them to turn their backs; for their retreat the wicker screens set in line, the poles thrown across, and the ditches laid out were a great hindrance.
milites legiones viiii subito conspirati pila coniecerunt et ex inferiore loco adversus clivum incitati cursu praecipites Pompeianos egerunt et terga vertere coegerunt; quibus ad recipiendum crates derectae longuriique obiecti et institutae fossae magno impedimento fuerunt.
But our men, who were content to withdraw without loss, several of the enemy killed and only five of their own lost, withdrew most quietly, and, a little this side of that place, other hills seized, completed their fortifications.
nostri vero, qui satis habebant sine detrimento discedere, compluribus interfectis, v omnino suorum amissis quietissime receperunt, pauloque citra eum locum aliis comprehensis collibus munitiones perfecerunt.
It was a new and unusual method of war, both in the number of so many forts and the great space and the great fortifications and the whole kind of siege, and also in the rest of the circumstances.
Erat nova et inusitata belli ratio cum tot castellorum numero tantoque spatio et tantis munitionibus et toto obsidionis genere, tum etiam reliquis rebus.
For whoever have attempted to besiege another have attacked a stricken and weakened enemy, overcome in battle or shaken by some reverse, and have hemmed them in, while they themselves excelled in number of horse and foot; and the cause of a siege has generally been this, to keep the enemy from grain.
nam quicumque alterum obsidere conati sunt, perculsos atque infirmos hostes adorti aut proelio superatos aut aliqua offensione permotos continuerunt, cum ipsi numero equitum militumque praestarent; causa autem obsidionis haec fere esse consuevit, ut frumento hostes prohiberent.
But then Caesar, with a smaller number of soldiers, was hemming in forces fresh and unharmed, while the enemy abounded in plenty of everything; for daily a great number of ships assembled from every quarter to bring supplies, nor could any wind blow but that they had a favorable course on some side.
at tum integras atque incolumes copias Caesar inferiore militum numero continebat, cum illi omnium rerum copia abundarent; cotidie enim magnus undique navium numerus conveniebat, quae commeatum supportarent, neque ullus flare ventus poterat quin aliqua ex parte secundum cursum haberent.
He himself, however, all the grain far and wide consumed, was in the greatest straits.
ipse autem consumptis omnibus longe lateque frumentis summis erat in angustiis.
Yet the soldiers bore these things with singular endurance. For they remembered that they had endured the same the year before in Spain, and by labor and endurance had finished a very great war; they remembered that at Alesia they had endured great want, much greater still at Avaricum, and had come off conquerors of the greatest peoples.
sed tamen haec singulari patientia milites ferebant. recordabantur enim eadem se superiore anno in Hispania perpessos labore et patientia maximum bellum confecisse; meminerant ad Alesiam magnam se inopiam perpessos, multo etiam maiorem ad Avaricum, maximarum se gentium victores discessisse.
They did not refuse barley when it was given them, nor pulse; and cattle, of which there was the greatest plenty from Epirus, they held in great esteem.
non illis hordeum cum daretur, non legumina recusabant; pecus vero, cuius rei summa erat ex Epiro copia, magno in honore habebant.
There was even a kind of root found by the men, called chara, which, mixed with milk, much relieved the want. They made it into the likeness of bread.
Est etiam genus radicis inventum ab iis qui fuerant ab alebribus, quod appellatur chara, quod admixtum lacte multum inopiam levabat. id ad similitudinem panis efficiebant.
Of this there was a great supply. From it loaves were made. When in the conferences the Pompeians taunted our men with hunger, they commonly threw these among them, to lessen their hope.
eius erat magna copia. ex hoc effectos panes. cum in colloquiis Pompeiani famem nostris obiectarent, vulgo in eos iaciebant, ut spem eorum minuerent.
And now the grain was beginning to ripen, and hope itself sustained the want, because they were confident they would soon have plenty. And frequent voices of the soldiers were heard on the watches and in conversations, that they would live on bark from the trees sooner than let Pompey slip from their hands.
Iamque frumenta maturescere incipiebant atque ipsa spes inopiam sustentabat, quod celeriter se habituros copiam confidebant. crebraeque voces militum in vigiliis colloquiisque audiebantur prius se cortice ex arboribus victuros, quam Pompeium e manibus dimissuros.
They gladly learned, too, from deserters that the enemy’s horses were barely kept alive, and that the rest of their beasts had perished; and that the men themselves were in poor health from the narrowness of the ground, the foul stench from the multitude of corpses, and the daily labors, being unused to works, and besides afflicted by the utmost want of water.
libenter etiam ex perfugis cognoscebant equos eorum tolerari, reliqua vero iumenta interisse; uti autem ipsos valetudine non bona cum angustiis loci et odore taetro ex multitudine cadaverum et cotidianis laboribus, insuetos operum, tum aquae summa inopia adfectos.
For all the rivers and all the streams that ran to the sea Caesar had either diverted or blocked with great works, and, as the places were mountainous and the valleys narrowed to ravines, he had fenced these off with piles driven into the ground and heaped earth to hold back the water.
omnia enim flumina atque omnes rivos, qui ad mare pertinebant, Caesar aut averterat aut magnis operibus obstruxerat, atque ut erant loca montuosa et ad specus angustiae vallium, has sublicis in terram demissis praesepserat terramque adgesserat, ut aquam continerent.
So the enemy were forced of necessity to seek low and marshy places and to dig wells, and added this labor to their daily works; yet these springs were some distance from certain posts and quickly dried up in the heat.
ita illi necessario loca sequi demissa ac palustria et puteos fodere cogebantur atque hunc laborem ad cotidiana opera addebant; qui tamen fontes a quibusdam praesidiis aberant longius et celeriter aestibus exarescebant.
But Caesar’s army enjoyed the best health and the greatest supply of water, and besides abounded in supplies of every kind except grain; and they saw the time being better worn away each day and greater hope set before them by the ripening of the grain.
at Caesaris exercitus optima valetudine summaque aquae copia utebatur, tum commeatus omni genere praeter frumentum abundabat; quibus cotidie melius subterere tempus maioremque spem maturitate frumentorum proponi videbant.
In this new kind of war new methods of fighting were devised on both sides. The enemy, when they had noticed from the fires that our cohorts kept watch by night at the fortifications, having approached in silence, hurled all their arrows together into the crowd and at once withdrew to their own.
In novo genere belli novae ab utrisque bellandi rationes reperiebantur. illi cum animum advertissent ex ignibus nocte cohortes nostras ad munitiones excubare, silentio adgressi universas inter multitudinem sagittas coiciebant et se confestim ad suos recipiebant.
Taught by experience of these things, our men found this remedy, to make their fires in one place and keep watch in another.
quibus rebus nostri usu docti haec reperiebant remedia, ut alio loco ignes facerent.
Meanwhile Publius Sulla, whom Caesar at his departure had set over the camp, informed of the matter, came to the cohort’s aid with two legions; at his arrival the Pompeians were easily driven back.
Interim certior factus P. Sulla, quem discedens castris praefecerat Caesar, auxilio cohorti venit cum legionibus duabus; cuius adventu facile sunt repulsi Pompeiani.
Nor indeed did they bear the sight or the charge of our men, and, the foremost thrown down, the rest turned and gave ground.
neque vero conspectum aut impetum nostrorum tulerunt, primisque deiectis reliqui se verterunt et loco cesserunt.
But Sulla recalled our men as they pursued, lest they should follow too far. Yet most think that, had he chosen to pursue more keenly, the war could have been finished that day. His judgment does not seem to deserve blame.
sed insequentis nostros, ne longius prosequerentur, Sulla revocavit. at plerique existimant, si acrius insequi voluisset, bellum eo die potuisse finiri. cuius consilium reprehendendum non videtur.
For the part of a legate is one thing, of a general another; the one ought to do everything by prescription, the other to consult freely for the whole situation.
aliae enim sunt legati partes atque imperatoris; alter omnia agere ad praescriptum, alter libere ad summam rerum consulere debet.
Sulla, left in the camp by Caesar, his men freed, was content with this and did not wish to fight it out in battle—a thing which nonetheless might perhaps have admitted some chance of mischance—lest he should seem to have taken upon himself the general’s part.
Sulla a Caesare castris relictus liberatis suis hoc fuit contentus neque proelio decertare voluit, quae res tamen fortasse aliquem reciperet casum, ne imperatorias sibi partes sumpsisse videretur.
For the Pompeians the matter brought great difficulty for their retreat. For, having advanced from unfavorable ground, they had halted on the height; if they withdrew down the slope, they feared our men pursuing from the higher ground; nor was much time left before sunset; for, in hope of finishing the business, they had drawn the matter almost into night.
Pompeianis magnam res ad receptum difficultatem adferebat. nam ex iniquo progressi loco in summo constiterant; si per declive sese reciperent, nostros ex superiore insequentes loco verebantur; neque multum ad solis occasum temporis supererat; spe enim conficiendi negotii prope in noctem rem deduxerant.
So of necessity, a plan taken on the spur of the moment, Pompey seized a certain knoll, which was so far from our fort that a missile thrown by an engine could not reach it. On this place he settled and fortified it and kept all his forces there.
ita necessario atque ex tempore capto consilio Pompeius tumulum quendam occupavit, qui tantum aberat a nostro castello, ut telum tormento missum adigi non posset. hoc consedit loco atque eum communivit omnesque ibi copias continuit.
At the same time there was fighting besides in two other places; for Pompey had attempted several forts at once, to divide our force, lest aid could be sent from the nearest posts.
Eodem tempore duobus praeterea locis pugnatum est; nam plura castella Pompeius pariter distinendae manus causa temptaverat, ne ex proximis praesidiis succurri posset.
In one place Volcacius Tullus withstood the charge of a legion with three cohorts and drove it from the position; in another the Germans, having gone out from our fortifications, several killed, withdrew unharmed to their own.
uno loco Volcacius Tullus impetum legionis sustinuit cohortibus tribus atque eam loco depulit; altero Germani munitiones nostras egressi compluribus interfectis sese ad suos incolumes receperunt.
So, six battles fought in one day, three at Dyrrachium, three at the fortifications, when account was taken of all of these, we found that about two thousand of the Pompeians had fallen, recalled veterans and several centurions; in that number was Valerius Flaccus, son of the Lucius who as praetor had held Asia; and six military standards were brought in.
Ita uno die sex proeliis factis, tribus ad Dyrrachium, tribus ad munitiones, cum horum omnium ratio haberetur, ad duo milia numero ex Pompeianis cecidisse reperiebamus, evocatos centurionesque complures; in eo fuit numero Valerius Flaccus L. filius eius, qui praetor Asiam obtinuerat; signaque sunt militaria sex relata.
Of our men no more than twenty were lost in all the battles.
nostri non amplius xx omnibus sunt proeliis desiderati.
But in the fort there was no soldier at all who was not wounded, and four centurions out of one cohort lost their eyes.
sed in castello nemo fuit omnino militum quin vulneraretur, quattuorque ex una cohorte centuriones oculos amiserunt.
And when they wished to bring proof of their toil and danger, they counted out to Caesar about thirty thousand arrows shot into the fort, and, the shield of the centurion Scaeva brought to him, a hundred and twenty holes were found in it.
et cum laboris sui periculique testimonium adferre vellent, milia sagittarum circiter xxx in castellum coniecta Caesari renumeraverunt, scutoque ad eum relato Scaevae centurionis inventa sunt in eo foramina cxx.
Caesar, as Scaeva had deserved of him and of the commonwealth, declared him rewarded with two hundred thousand and promoted from the eighth ranks to the chief centurionate—for it was agreed that the fort had been preserved in great part by his help—and afterward rewarded the cohort most amply with double pay, grain, clothing, rations, and military gifts.
quem Caesar, ut erat de se meritus et de re publica, donatum milibus cc atque ab octavis ordinibus ad primum pilum se traducere pronuntiavit — eius enim ope castellum magna ex parte conservatum esse constabat — cohortemque postea duplici stipendio, frumento, veste, cibariis militaribusque donis amplissime donavit.
Pompey by night, great fortifications added, in the following days built towers, and, the works carried to a height of fifteen feet, covered that part of his camp with mantlets,
Pompeius noctu magnis additis munitionibus reliquis diebus turres extruxit et in altitudinem pedum xv effectis operibus vineis eam partem castrorum obtexit,
and, five days interposed, having got another somewhat cloudy night, all the gates of his camp blocked and barred to hinder pursuit, at the beginning of the third watch led out his army in silence and withdrew to his old fortifications.
et quinque intermissis diebus alteram noctem subnubilam nactus obstructis omnibus castrorum portis et ad impediendum obiectis tertia inita vigilia silentio exercitum eduxit et se in antiquas munitiones recepit.
On all the days thereafter Caesar led his army out into line on level ground, in case Pompey should wish to fight it out in battle, so that he set his legions almost beneath Pompey’s camp; and the first line was so far from his rampart that a missile could not be reached by an engine.
Omnibus deinceps diebus Caesar exercitum in aciem aequum in locum produxit, si Pompeius proelio decertare vellet, ut paene castris Pompei legiones subiceret; tantumque a vallo eius prima acies aberat, uti ne telum tormento adigi posset.
But Pompey, to keep up the report and men’s opinion, so drew up his army before the camp that the third line touched the rampart, and indeed his whole drawn-up army could be protected by missiles cast down from the rampart.
Pompeius autem, ut famam opinionemque hominum teneret, sic pro castris exercitum constituebat, ut tertia acies vallum contingeret, omnis quidem instructus exercitus telis ex vallo abiectis protegi posset.
Aetolia, Acarnania, and the Amphilochians recovered through Cassius Longinus and Calvisius Sabinus, as we have shown, Caesar thought he must sound Achaia and advance a little farther.
Aetolia, Acarnania, Amphilochis per Cassium Longinum et Calvisium Sabinum, ut demonstravimus, receptis temptandam sibi Achaiam ac paulo longius progrediendum existimabat Caesar.
And so he sent Quintus Calenus there and joined to him Sabinus and Cassius with their cohorts.
itaque eo Q. Calenum misit eique Sabinum et Cassium cum cohortibus adiungit.
Their arrival learned, Rutilius Lupus, who held Achaia, sent by Pompey, set about fortifying the Isthmus, to keep Fufius from Achaia.
quorum cognito adventu Rutilius Lupus, qui Achaiam missus a Pompeio obtinebat, Isthmum praemunire instituit, ut Achaia Fufium prohiberet.
Calenus recovered Delphi, Thebes, and Orchomenus by the goodwill of those states, stormed some cities by force, and strove to win the rest of the states to Caesar’s friendship by sending round embassies. In these matters Fufius was generally occupied.
Calenus Delphos, Thebas et Orchomenum voluntate ipsarum civitatium recepit, nonnullas urbes per vim expugnavit, reliquas civitates circummissis legationibus amicitiae Caesaris conciliare studebat. in his rebus fere erat Fufius occupatus.
While these things were being done in Achaia and at Dyrrachium, and it was agreed that Scipio had come into Macedonia, Caesar, not forgetting his former practice, sent to him Clodius, an intimate of his own and of Scipio’s, whom, handed over and commended by Scipio at the outset, he had begun to hold among the number of his close connections.
Haec cum in Achaia atque apud Dyrrachium gererentur Scipionemque in Macedoniam venisse constaret, non oblitus pristini instituti Caesar mittit ad eum Clodium, suum atque illius familiarem, quem ab illo traditum initio et commendatum in suorum necessariorum numero habere instituerat.
To him he gives a letter and charges for Scipio, the substance of which was this: that he had tried everything for peace; that he thought nothing had so far been done amiss through the fault of those whom he had wished to be authors of the matter, because they feared to carry his charges to Pompey at an unsuitable time.
huic dat litteras mandataque ad eum, quorum haec erat summa: sese omnia de pace expertum; nihil adhuc arbitrari vitio factum eorum quos esse auctores eius rei voluisset, quod sua mandata perferre non opportuno tempore ad Pompeium vererentur.
Scipio was of such authority that he could not only set forth freely what he approved, but even in great part call to account and guide one who erred; moreover he commanded an army in his own name, so that, besides authority, he had the strength to coerce.
Scipionem ea esse auctoritate, ut non solum libere, quae probasset, exponere, sed etiam ex magna parte compellare atque errantem regere posset; praeesse autem suo nomine exercitui, ut praeter auctoritatem vires quoque ad coercendum haberet.
If he did this, all would credit to him alone the quiet of Italy, the peace of the provinces, the safety of the empire.
quod si fecisset, quietem Italiae, pacem provinciarum, salutem imperii uni omnes acceptam relaturos.
These charges Clodius carries to him, and in the first days, as it seemed, was gladly heard; in the rest he is not admitted to a conference, Scipio having been rebuked by Favonius, as we afterward found when the war was over, and, his object unachieved, withdrew to Caesar.
haec ad eum mandata Clodius refert ac primis diebus, ut videbatur, libenter auditus, reliquis ad colloquium non admittitur castigato Scipione a Favonio, ut postea confecto bello reperiebamus, infectaque re sese ad Caesarem recepit.
Caesar, the more easily to confine Pompey’s cavalry at Dyrrachium and keep it from foraging, fortified with great works the two approaches that we have shown to be narrow, and set forts in these places.
Caesar quo facilius equitatum Pompeianum ad Dyrrachium contineret et pabulatione prohiberet, aditus duos, quos esse angustos demonstravimus, magnis operibus praemunivit castellaque his locis posuit.
Pompey, when he learned that nothing was gained by his cavalry, after a few days received it back to himself by ship within the fortifications.
Pompeius ubi nihil profici equitatu cognovit, paucis intermissis diebus rursus eum navibus ad se intra munitiones recepit.
There was the utmost want of fodder, so that they fed the horses on leaves stripped from the trees and the tender roots of reeds pounded up; for the grain that had been sown within the fortifications they had consumed.
erat summa inopia pabuli, adeo ut foliis ex arboribus strictis et teneris harundinum radicibus contusis equos alerent; frumenta enim, quae fuerant intra munitiones sata, consumpserant.
And they were forced to bring fodder from Corcyra and Acarnania over a long stretch of voyage, and, because there was a smaller supply of it, to eke it out with barley and so to keep the cavalry alive.
et cogebantur Corcyra atque Acarnania longo interiecto navigationis spatio pabulum subportare, quodque erat eius rei minor copia, hordeo adaugere atque his rationibus equitatum tolerare.
But after not only the barley and fodder in all places and the grass were cut, but even the foliage from the trees was failing, the horses wasted and ruined, Pompey thought he must attempt something by way of a breakout.
sed postquam non modo hordeum pabulumque omnibus locis herbaeque desectae, sed etiam frons ex arboribus deficiebat, corruptis equis macie conandum sibi aliquid Pompeius de eruptione existimavit.
There were with Caesar, in the number of his cavalry, two Allobrogian brothers, Roucillus and Aecus, sons of Adbucillus, who for many years had held the chief place in his state—men of singular valor, whose service Caesar had used to the best and bravest effect in all the Gallic wars.
Erant apud Caesarem in equitum numero Allobroges ii fratres, Roucillus et Aecus, Adbucilli filii, qui principatum in civitate multis annis obtinuerat, singulari virtute homines, quorum opera Caesar omnibus Gallicis bellis optima fortissimaque erat usus.
To these, at home, for these reasons, he had given the highest magistracies and had seen to their being chosen into the senate out of the regular order, and had granted them lands in Gaul taken from the enemy and great rewards of money, and had made them rich out of needy.
his domi ob has causas amplissimos magistratus mandaverat atque eos extra ordinem in senatum legendos curaverat, agrosque in Gallia ex hostibus captos praemiaque rei pecuniariae magna tribuerat locupletesque ex egentibus fecerat.
These, on account of their valor, were not only in honor with Caesar but were held dear by the army as well; but, relying on Caesar’s friendship and lifted up by a foolish and barbarous arrogance, they despised their own people, defrauded the cavalry of their pay, and turned all the plunder home to themselves.
hi propter virtutem non solum apud Caesarem in honore erant, sed etiam apud exercitum cari habebantur; sed freti amicitia Caesaris et stulta ac barbara adrogantia elati despiciebant suos stipendiumque equitum fraudabant et praedam omnem domum avertebant.
Moved by these things, the cavalry all went to Caesar and openly complained of their wrongs, and added to the rest that a false number of cavalry was reported by them, whose pay they were diverting.
quibus illi rebus permoti universi Caesarem adierunt palamque de eorum iniuriis sunt questi et ad cetera addiderunt falsum ab iis equitum numerum deferri, quorum stipendium averterent.
Caesar, thinking that was not the time for punishment, and conceding much to their valor, put off the whole matter; them he rebuked in private, because they made profit of the cavalry, and warned them to expect everything from his friendship and to hope for the rest from his past services.
Caesar neque tempus illud animadversionis esse existimans et multa virtuti eorum concedens rem totam dispulit; illos secreto castigavit, quod quaestui equites haberent, monuitque ut ex sua amicitia omnia expectarent et ex praeteritis suis officiis reliqua sperarent.
Yet this thing brought them great offense and contempt with all, and they understood that it was so, both from the reproaches of others and from their own private judgment and the consciousness of their minds.
magnam tamen haec res illis offensionem et contemptionem ad omnes adtulit, idque ita esse cum ex aliorum obiectationibus tum etiam ex domestico iudicio atque animi conscientia intellegebant.
Drawn by this shame, and thinking perhaps that they were not being acquitted but reserved for another time, they resolved to leave us and try a new fortune and new friendships.
quo pudore adducti et fortasse non se liberari, sed in aliud tempus reservari arbitrati discedere ab nobis et novam temptare fortunam novasque amicitias experiri constituerunt.
And, having conferred with a few of their clients to whom they dared entrust so great a crime, they first tried to kill Gaius Volusenus, prefect of cavalry, as was learned afterward when the war was over, that they might seem to have fled to Pompey with some service rendered;
et cum paucis collocuti clientibus suis, quibus tantum facinus committere audebant, primum conati sunt praefectum equitum C. Volusenum interficere, ut postea bello confecto cognitum est, ut cum munere aliquo perfugisse ad Pompeium viderentur;
after this seemed too difficult and no chance of accomplishing it was given, having borrowed the largest sums they could, as though they wished to satisfy their own and restore what they had defrauded, many horses bought up, they went over to Pompey with those whom they had as partners in their plan.
postquam id difficilius visum est neque facultas perficiendi dabatur, quam maximas potuerunt pecunias mutuati, proinde ac suis satisfacere et fraudata restituere vellent, multis coemptis equis ad Pompeium transierunt cum iis quos sui consilii participes habebant.
These Pompey—because they were born in an honorable station and had come finely equipped, with a great retinue and many beasts, and were held brave men and had been in honor with Caesar, and because it was a new thing and beyond custom—led round and showed off to all his garrisons.
Quos Pompeius, quod erant honesto loco nati et instructi liberaliter magnoque comitatu et multis iumentis venerant virique fortes habebantur et in honore apud Caesarem fuerant, quodque novum et praeter consuetudinem acciderat, omnia sua praesidia circumduxit atque ostentavit.
For before that time no one, soldier or horseman, had gone over from Caesar to Pompey, though almost daily men deserted from Pompey to Caesar, and commonly all together—the soldiers enrolled in Epirus and Aetolia and all those regions which were held by Caesar.
nam ante id tempus nemo aut miles aut eques a Caesare ad Pompeium transierat, cum paene cotidie a Pompeio ad Caesarem perfugerent, vulgo vero universi in Epiro atque Aetolia conscripti milites earumque regionum omnium quae a Caesare tenebantur.
But these, having learned everything—whatever in the fortifications was unfinished, or whatever seemed wanting to those more skilled in war, and having noticed the times of operations and the spans of the places and the varying diligence of the watches, as the nature or zeal of each who was in charge of affairs bore—reported all these things to Pompey.
sed hi cognitis omnibus rebus, seuquid in munitionibus perfectum non erat, seuquid a peritioribus rei militaris desiderari videbatur, temporibusque rerum et spatiis locorum et custodiarum varia diligentia animadversa, prout cuiusque eorum, qui negotiis praeerant, aut natura aut studium ferebat, haec ad Pompeium omnia detulerunt.
These things learned, and the plan of a breakout already taken before, as has been shown, Pompey orders the soldiers to make coverings of wicker for their helmets and to bring together material for an earthwork.
Quibus ille cognitis eruptionisque iam ante capto consilio, ut demonstratum est, tegimenta galeis milites ex viminibus facere atque aggerem iubet conportare.
These things prepared, he puts aboard skiffs and swift craft by night a great number of light-armed and archers and all the earthwork-material, and at midnight leads sixty cohorts, drawn from the largest camp and the garrisons, to that part of the fortifications which reached to the sea and was farthest from Caesar’s largest camp.
his paratis rebus magnum numerum levis armaturae et sagittariorum aggeremque omnem noctu in scaphas et naves actuarias inponit et de media nocte cohortes lx ex maximis castris praesidiisque deductas ad eam partem munitionum ducit, quae pertinebat ad mare longissimeque a maximis castris Caesaris aberat.
To the same place he sends the ships we have shown, filled with earthwork-material and light-armed soldiers, and what warships he had at Dyrrachium, and prescribes what he wishes each to do.
eodem naves quas demonstravimus aggere et levis armaturae militibus completas, quasque ad Dyrrachium naves longas habebat, mittit et quid a quoque fieri velit praecipit.
At those fortifications Caesar had the quaestor Lentulus Marcellinus posted with the Ninth Legion. To him, because he was in poor health, he had sent Fulvius Postumus as a helper.
ad eas munitiones Caesar Lentulum Marcellinum quaestorem cum legione viiii positum habebat. huic, quod valetudine minus commoda utebatur, Fulvium Postumum adiutorem submiserat.
There was in that place a ditch fifteen feet deep and a rampart against the enemy ten feet high, and the earthwork of that rampart extended as much in breadth. From it, at an interval of six hundred feet, was another rampart, facing the opposite direction, with a somewhat lower fortification.
Erat eo loco fossa pedum xv et vallum contra hostem in altitudinem pedum x, tantundemque eius valli agger in latitudinem patebat. ab eo intermisso spatio pedum dc alter conversus in contrariam partem erat vallus humiliore paulo munitione.
For Caesar, fearing in the previous days that our men might be surrounded by ships, had made a double rampart in that place, so that, if the fight should be on two fronts, resistance could be made.
hoc enim superioribus diebus timens Caesar, ne navibus nostri circumvenirentur, duplicem eo loco fecerat vallum, ut si ancipiti proelio dimicaretur, posset resisti.
But the magnitude of the works and the continuous labor of all the days—because he had embraced seventeen miles in circuit with fortification—did not give space for finishing them.
sed operum magnitudo et continens omnium dierum labor, quod milia passuum in circuitu xvii munitione erat conplexus, perficiendi spatium non dabat.
And so the cross rampart facing the sea, which should join these two fortifications, he had not yet finished.
itaque contra mare transversum vallum, qui has duas munitiones contingeret, nondum perfecerat.
This thing was known to Pompey, reported by the Allobrogian deserters, and had brought great trouble on our men.
quae res nota erat Pompeio, delata per Allobroges perfugas, magnumque nostris attulerat incommodum.
For, as our cohorts of the Ninth Legion were on watch by the sea, suddenly at first light the Pompeian army’s arrival appeared; at the same time the soldiers carried round by ship hurled missiles at the outer rampart, the ditches were filled with earthwork, and the legionaries terrified the defenders of the inner fortification with ladders brought up, with engines of every kind, and with missiles, and a great multitude of archers swarmed round on both sides.
nam ut ad mare nostrae cohortes nonae legionis excubuerant, accessere subito prima luce Pompeiani exercitus adventus exstitit; simul navibus circumvecti milites in exteriorem vallum tela iaciebant, fossaeque aggere complebantur, et legionarii interioris munitionis defensores scalis admotis tormentis cuiusque generis telisque terrebant, magnaque multitudo sagittariorum ab utraque parte circumfundebatur.
And the wicker coverings set on their helmets defended much against the stroke of stones, which was the one missile our men had.
multum autem ab ictu lapidum, quod unum nostris erat telum, viminea tegimenta galeis inposita defendebant.
And so, when our men were pressed in every way and resisted with difficulty, the fault of the fortification was noticed, which has been shown above, and, between the two ramparts, where the work was unfinished, men landed from the ships across the sea made a charge on our men from the rear and forced them, dislodged from both fortifications, to turn their backs.
itaque cum omnibus rebus nostri premerentur atque aegre resisterent, animadversum est vitium munitionis, quod supra demonstratum est, atque inter duos vallos, qua perfectum opus non erat, per mare navibus expositi in aversos nostros impetum fecerunt atque ex utraque munitione deiectos terga vertere coegerunt.
This tumult reported, Marcellinus sends up cohorts from the camp to support our struggling men. These, catching sight of the fleeing, could neither steady them by their arrival nor themselves bear the enemy’s charge.
Hoc tumultu nuntiato Marcellinus cohortes subsidio nostris laborantibus submittit ex castris. quae fugientes conspicatae neque illos suo adventu confirmare potuerunt neque ipsae hostium impetum tulerunt.
And so whatever was added in support, that, ruined by the fear of the fleeing, increased the terror and the danger; for the retreat was hindered by the multitude of men.
itaque quodcumque addebatur subsidio, id corruptum timore fugientium terrorem et periculum augebat; hominum enim multitudine receptus impediebatur.
In that battle, when the eagle-bearer had been afflicted with a grave wound and was failing in strength, catching sight of our cavalry he said: "This eagle I, alive, defended for many years with great diligence, and now, dying, with the same faith I restore to Caesar. Do not, I beg, allow what has not happened before in Caesar’s army—that a disgrace of war be admitted—and carry it safe to him."
in eo proelio cum gravi vulnere esset adfectus aquilifer et a viribus deficeretur, conspicatus equites nostros hanc ego, inquit et vivus multos per annos magna diligentia defendi et nunc moriens eadem fide Caesari restituo. nolite, obsecro, committere, quod ante in exercitu Caesaris non accidit, ut rei militaris dedecus admittatur, incolumemque ad eum deferte.
By this chance the eagle is preserved, all the centurions of the first cohort killed except the senior of the first rank.
hoc casu aquila conservatur omnibus primae cohortis centurionibus interfectis praeter principem priorem.
And now the Pompeians, with great slaughter of our men, were approaching Marcellinus’s camp, no slight terror brought on the rest of the cohorts, and Marcus Antonius, who held the nearest post of the garrisons, the matter reported, was seen coming down from the higher ground with twelve cohorts.
Iamque Pompeiani magna caede nostrorum castris Marcellini adpropinquabant non mediocri terrore inlato reliquis cohortibus, et M. Antonius qui proximum locum praesidiorum tenebat, ea re nuntiata cum cohortibus xii descendens ex loco superiore cernebatur.
His arrival checked the Pompeians and steadied our men, so that they recovered themselves from their greatest fear.
cuius adventus Pompeianos compressit nostrosque firmavit, ut se ex maximo timore colligerent.
And not long after, Caesar, a signal given by smoke through the forts, as was the practice of the earlier time, certain cohorts drawn from the garrisons, came to the same place. When he had learned of the loss, and noticed that Pompey had gone out beyond the fortifications and pitched camp along the sea, so that he might forage freely and no less have access for ships, the plan of the war changed, since he had not held to his purpose, he ordered fortification beside Pompey.
neque multo post Caesar significatione per castella fumo facta, ut erat superioris temporis consuetudo, deductis quibusdam cohortibus ex praesidiis eodem venit. qui cognito detrimento cum animadvertisset Pompeium extra munitiones egressum castra secundum mare ut libere pabulari posset nec minus aditum navibus haberet, commutata ratione belli, quoniam propositum non tenuerat, iuxta Pompeium muniri iussit.
This fortification finished, it was noticed by Caesar’s scouts that certain cohorts, which seemed the equivalent of a legion, were behind a wood and being led into an old camp.
Qua perfecta munitione animadversum est ab speculatoribus Caesaris, cohortes quasdam, quod instar legionis videretur, esse post silvam et in vetera castra duci.
The situation of this camp was this: in the previous days, when Caesar’s Ninth Legion had set itself against the Pompeian forces and was walling them round by works, as we have shown, it pitched camp in that place.
castrorum hic situs erat: superioribus diebus nona Caesaris legio cum se obiecisset Pompeianis copiis atque opere, ut demonstravimus, circummuniret, castra eo loco posuit.
This adjoined a certain wood and was no more than three hundred paces from the sea.
haec silvam quandam contingebant neque longius a mari passibus ccc aberant.
Afterward, his plan changed for certain reasons, Caesar moved the camp a little beyond that place, and, a few days interposed, Pompey had occupied this same camp, and, because he was going to have several legions in that place, leaving the inner rampart, had added a larger fortification.
post mutato consilio quibusdam de causis Caesar paulo ultra eum locum castra transtulit, paucisque intermissis diebus eadem haec Pompeius occupaverat, et, quod eo loco plures erat legiones habiturus, relicto interiore vallo maiorem adiecerat munitionem.
So the smaller camp, enclosed within the larger, held the place of a redoubt and citadel.
ita minora castra inclusa maioribus castelli atque arcis locum obtinebant.
Likewise from the left angle of the camp he had carried a fortification to the river, about four hundred paces, so that the soldiers might fetch water more freely and without danger.
item ab angulo castrorum sinistro munitionem ad flumen perduxerat circiter passus cccc, quo liberius ac sine periculo milites aquarentur.
But he too, his plan changed for certain reasons which need not be recounted, had left that place. So the camp had stood empty for several days; all its fortifications, indeed, were intact.
sed is quoque mutato consilio quibusdam de causis, quas commemorari necesse non est, eo loco excesserat. ita conplures dies manserant castra; munitiones quidem omnes integrae erant.
Caesar’s scouts reported to him that the standards of a legion had been carried there. The same thing seen from certain higher forts confirmed it. This place was about five hundred paces from Pompey’s new camp.
Eo signa legionis lata speculatores Caesari renuntiarunt. hoc idem visum ex superioribus quibusdam castellis confirmaverunt. is locus aberat novis Pompei castris circiter passus quingentos.
Hoping he could crush this legion, and eager to make good the loss of that day, Caesar left two cohorts at the work, to give the appearance of fortifying;
hanc legionem sperans Caesar se opprimere posse et cupiens eius diei detrimentum sarcire reliquit in opere cohortes duas, quae speciem munitionis praeberent;
he himself, by another route, as secretly as he could, led the remaining cohorts, thirty-three in number—among them the Ninth Legion, with many centurions lost and the number of its soldiers diminished—against Pompey’s legion and the smaller camp, in a double line.
ipse diverso itinere, quam potuit occultissime, reliquas cohortes, numero xxxiii, in quibus erat legio nona multis amissis centurionibus deminutoque militum numero, ad legionem Pompei castraque minora duplici acie eduxit.
Nor did his first expectation fail him. For he both arrived before Pompey could perceive it, and, although the camp’s fortifications were great, nonetheless on the left wing, where he was himself, having quickly attacked, he dislodged the Pompeians from the rampart.
neque eum prima opinio fefellit. nam et pervenit, priusquam Pompeius sentire posset, et tametsi erant munitiones castrorum magnae, tamen sinistro cornu, ubi erat ipse, celeriter adgressus Pompeianos ex vallo deturbavit.
A chevaux-de-frise was set across the gates. Here for a little while there was fighting, as our men tried to burst in and the enemy defended the camp, Titus Puleio—by whose agency, as we have shown, the army of Gaius Antonius was betrayed—fighting most bravely in that place.
erat obiectus portis ericius. hic paulisper est pugnatum, cum inrumpere nostri conarentur, illi castra defenderent, fortissimeque Tito Puleione, cuius opera proditum exercitum C. Antonii demonstravimus, eo loco propugnante.
But nonetheless our men won by valor, and, the chevaux-de-frise cut through, burst first into the larger camp, then even into the redoubt that was enclosed within the larger camp, to which the routed legion had withdrawn; some resisting there they killed.
sed tamen nostri virtute vicerunt excisoque ericio primo in maiora castra, post etiam in castellum, quod erat inclusum maioribus castris, inruperunt, quod eo pulsa legio sese receperat; nonnullos ibi repugnantes interfecerunt.
But fortune, which has the greatest power both in other matters and especially in war, by small moments brings about great changes of circumstance; as then happened.
Sed fortuna, quae plurimum potest cum in reliquis rebus tum praecipue in bello, parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit; ut tum accidit.
The cohorts of Caesar’s right wing, in ignorance of the ground, followed the fortification which, as we have shown above, ran from the camp to the river, while they sought a gate and thought it was a fortification of the camp.
munitionem, quam pertinere a castris ad flumen supra demonstravimus, dextri Caesaris cornus cohortes ignorantia loci sunt secutae, cum portam quaererent castrorumque eam munitionem esse arbitrarentur.
When it was noticed that it was joined to the river, the fortifications torn down, with no one defending, they crossed over, and all our cavalry followed those cohorts.
quod cum esset animadversum coniunctam esse flumini, prorutis munitionibus defendente nullo transcenderunt, omnisque noster equitatus eas cohortes est secutus.
Meanwhile Pompey, this fairly long delay interposed and the matter reported, led five legions, drawn from the work, to the aid of his men. And at the same time his cavalry was approaching our cavalry, and a line drawn up was seen by our men who had occupied the camp, and everything was suddenly changed.
Interim Pompeius hac satis longa interiecta mora et re nuntiata v legiones ab opere deductas subsidio suis duxit. eodemque tempore equitatus eius nostris equitibus adpropinquabat, et acies instructa a nostris, qui castra occupaverant, cernebatur, omniaque sunt subito mutata.
The Pompeian legion, encouraged by the quick hope of relief, tried to resist at the decuman gate and even of its own accord charged our men. Caesar’s cavalry, because it was climbing up by a narrow route over the earthworks, fearing for its own retreat, began the flight.
Pompeiana legio celeris spe subsidii confirmata ab decumana porta resistere conabatur atque ultro in nostros impetum faciebat. equitatus Caesaris, quod angusto itinere per aggeres ascendebat, receptui suo timens initium fugae faciebat.
The right wing, which was cut off from the left, the terror of the cavalry noticed, lest it be crushed within the fortification, was withdrawing by that part which it had torn down, and most of these, lest they should fall into the narrows, threw themselves down from the ten-foot fortification into the ditches, and, the foremost crushed, the rest won safety and a way out for themselves over the bodies of these.
dextrum cornu, quod erat a sinistro seclusum, terrore equitum animadverso, ne intra munitionem opprimeretur, ea parte, quam proruerat, sese recipiebat, ac plerique ex his, ne in angustias inciderent, x pedum munitione se in fossas praecipitabant, primisque oppressis reliqui per horum corpora salutem sibi atque exitum pariebant.
On the left wing the soldiers, when from the rampart they saw Pompey at hand and their own men fleeing, fearing lest they be cut off in the narrows, having the enemy both without and within, took thought for themselves by the same way by which they had come, and everything was full of tumult, fear, and flight, so that, when Caesar laid hold of the standards of the fleeing with his hand and ordered them to halt, some, their horses given rein, fled in the same course, others out of fear even threw away the standards, and no one at all halted.
sinistro cornu milites cum ex vallo Pompeium adesse et suos fugere cernerent, veriti ne angustiis intercluderentur, cum extra et intus hostem haberent, eodem quo venerant receptu sibi consulebant, omniaque erant tumultus timoris fugae plena, adeo ut, cum Caesar signa fugientium manu prenderet et consistere iuberet, alii dimissis equis eundem cursum confugerent, alii ex metu etiam signa dimitterent, neque quisquam omnino consisteret.
These so great evils were relieved by these supports, that prevented the whole army from being destroyed: that Pompey, fearing an ambush—because, I suppose, these things had happened beyond his hope, who a little before had seen his own men fleeing from the camp—did not dare for some while to approach the fortifications, and his cavalry was slowed for pursuit by the narrows, and these occupied by Caesar’s soldiers. So small things had great weight on either side. For the fortifications carried from the camp to the river interrupted Caesar’s now almost ready victory, when Pompey’s camp had already been stormed; the same thing, the pursuers’ speed slowed, brought safety to our men.
His tantis malis haec subsidia succurrebant, quominus omnis deleretur exercitus, quod Pompeius insidias timens, credo quod haec praeter spem acciderant eius qui paulo ante ex castris fugientis suos conspexerat, munitionibus adpropinquare aliquamdiu non audebat, equitesque eius angustiis atque his a Caesaris militibus occupatis, ad insequendum tardabantur. ita parvae res magnum in utramque partem momentum habuerunt. munitiones enim a castris ad flumen perductae expugnatis iam castris Pompei prope iam expeditam Caesaris victoriam interpellaverunt, eadem res celeritate insequentium tardata nostris salutem attulit.
In these two battles of one day Caesar lost nine hundred and sixty soldiers and, of known Roman knights, Tuticanus Gallus, a senator’s son, Gaius Felginas of Placentia, Aulus Granius of Puteoli, Marcus Sacrativir of Capua, five military tribunes and thirty-two centurions.
Duobus his unius diei proeliis Caesar desideravit milites dcccclx et notos equites Romanos Tuticanum Gallum, senatoris filium, C. Felginatem Placentia, A. Granium Puteolis, M. Sacrativirum Capua, tribunos militum quinque et centuriones xxxii.
But a great part of all these perished without any wound, crushed in the ditches, the fortifications, and the river-banks, in the terror and flight of their own; and thirty-two military standards were lost.
sed horum omnium pars magna in fossis munitionibusque et fluminis ripis oppressa suorum in terrore ac fuga sine ullo vulnere interiit; signaque sunt militaria amissa xxxii.
Pompey by that battle was hailed imperator. He kept this name and afterward allowed himself to be so saluted, but neither was he wont to write it in his letters nor to display the insignia of the laurel on his rods of office.
Pompeius eo proelio imperator est appellatus. hoc nomen obtinuit atque ita se postea salutari passus, sed neque in litteris adscribere est solitus, neque in fascibus insignia laureae praetulit.
But Labienus, when he had obtained from Pompey that the captives be handed over to him, brought them all out, as it seemed for show, that greater confidence might be had in a deserter, and, calling them comrades and asking with great insult of words whether veteran soldiers were wont to flee, killed them in the sight of all.
at Labienus cum ab eo impetravisset, ut sibi captivos tradi iuberet, omnis productos ostentationis, ut videbatur, causa, quo maior perfugae fides haberetur, commilitones appellans et magna verborum contumelia interrogans, solerentne veterani milites fugere, in omnium conspectu interfecit.
By these things so much confidence and spirit came to the Pompeians that they did not think about the plan of the war, but seemed to themselves to have already conquered.
His rebus tantum fiduciae ac spiritus Pompeianis accessit, ut non de ratione belli cogitarent, sed vicisse iam sibi viderentur.
They did not consider that the fewness of our soldiers, the unfavorableness of the ground and the narrows, the camp seized beforehand, the twofold terror within and without the fortifications, the army cut into two parts, the one unable to bring aid to the other, had been the cause.
non illi paucitatem nostrorum militum, non iniquitatem loci atque angustias praeoccupatis castris et ancipitem terrorem intra extraque munitiones, non abscisum in duas partes exercitum, cum altera alteri auxilium ferre non posset, causae fuisse cogitabant.
They did not add to this that there had been no fight from a fierce encounter, no battle, and that they themselves, by their multitude and the narrows, had brought greater loss on themselves than they had received from the enemy.
non ad haec addebant non ex concursu acri facto, non proelio dimicatum, sibique ipsos multitudine atque angustiis maius attulisse detrimentum quam ab hoste accepissent.
They did not, in short, recall the common chances of war—how often very small causes, whether of false suspicion or of sudden terror or of religious scruple thrown in the way, had brought great losses, whenever a reverse had befallen an army either by a leader’s fault or a tribune’s blame. But just as if they had conquered by valor and no change of circumstances could happen, they celebrated the victory of that day through the world by report and letters.
non denique communis belli casus recordabantur, quam parvulae saepe causae vel falsae suspicionis vel terroris repentini vel obiectae religionis magna detrimenta intulissent, quotiens vel ducis vitio vel culpa tribuni in exercitu esset offensum. sed proinde ac si virtute vicissent neque ulla commutatio rerum posset accidere, per orbem terrarum fama ac litteris victoriam eius diei concelebrabant.
Caesar, driven from his earlier plans, thought he must change the whole method of the war.
Caesar ab superioribus consiliis depulsus omnem sibi commutandam belli rationem existimavit.
And so at one time all his garrisons drawn off and the siege given up, his army gathered into one place, he held an assembly of the soldiers and exhorted them not to take grievously what had happened, nor to be terrified by these things, and to set against many successful battles one reverse, and that a slight one.
itaque uno tempore praesidiis omnibus deductis et oppugnatione dimissa coactoque in unum locum exercitu contionem apud milites habuit hortatusque est, ne ea quae accidissent graviter ferrent, neve his rebus terrerentur, multisque secundis proeliis unum adversum et id mediocre opponerent.
They ought to give thanks to fortune, that they had taken Italy without any wound, that they had pacified the two Spains, of most warlike men with most skilled and practiced leaders, that they had reduced the neighboring grain-provinces into their power. Finally they ought to remember with what good luck, amid the enemy’s fleets, the harbors and even the shores filled, all had been carried across unharmed.
habendam fortunae gratiam, quod Italiam sine aliquo vulnere cepissent, quod duas Hispanias bellicosissimorum hominum peritissimis atque exercitatissimis ducibus pacavissent, quod finitimas frumentariasque provincias in potestatem redegissent. denique recordari debere, qua felicitate inter medias hostium classes oppletis non solum portibus, sed etiam litoribus omnes incolumes essent transportati.
If not everything fell out favorably, fortune must be helped by industry. The loss that had been suffered ought to be ascribed to anyone’s fault rather than his own.
si non omnia caderent secunda, fortunam esse industria sublevandam. quod esset acceptum detrimenti, cuiusvis potius quam suae culpae debere tribui.
He had given a fair place for fighting, he had gained the enemy’s camp, he had driven out and overcome them as they fought. But whether their own confusion or some error or even fortune had interrupted the victory already won and at hand, all must take pains that the trouble suffered be made good by valor.
locum se aecum ad dimicandum dedisse, potitum se esse hostium castris, expulisse ac superasse pugnantes. sed sive ipsorum perturbatio sive error aliquis sive etiam fortuna partam iam praesentemque victoriam interpellavisset, dandam omnibus operam, ut acceptum incommodum virtute sarciretur.
If this were done, it would come about that the loss turned to good, as had happened at Gergovia, and those who before had feared to fight would of their own accord offer themselves to battle.
quod si esset factum, futurum ut detrimentum in bonum verteret, uti ad Gergoviam accidisset, atque ei, qui ante dimicare timuissent, ultro se proelio offerrent.
This assembly held, he marked some standard-bearers with disgrace and reduced them in rank.
Hac habita contione nonnullos signiferos ignominia notavit ac loco movit.
Indeed so great a grief from the reverse came over the whole army, and so great a zeal to make good the disgrace, that no one wanted the command of a tribune or centurion, and each laid heavier labors on himself even by way of punishment, and at the same time all burned with desire of fighting, while even some of the higher rank, moved by reason, thought they must stay in that place and commit the matter to battle.
exercitui quidem omni tantus incessit ex incommodo dolor tantumque studium infamiae sarciendae, ut nemo aut tribuni aut centurionis imperium desideraret et sibi quisque etiam poenae loco graviores inponeret labores simulque omnes arderent cupiditate pugnandi, cum superioris etiam ordinis nonnulli ratione permoti manendum eo loco et rem proelio committendam existimarent.
Against this Caesar neither trusted enough in soldiers so terrified, and thought a space must be interposed to restore their spirits, and, the fortifications abandoned, feared greatly for the grain supply.
contra ea Caesar neque satis militibus perterritis confidebat spatiumque interponendum ad recreandos animos putabat, relictisque munitionibus magnopere rei frumentariae timebat.
And so, no delay interposed, account taken only of the wounded and sick, he sent all the baggage ahead in silence at nightfall out of the camp to Apollonia, and forbade it to rest before the march was finished. With these one legion was sent as a guard.
Itaque nulla interposita mora sauciorum modo et aegrorum habita ratione impedimenta omnia silentio prima nocte ex castris Apolloniam praemisit ac conquiescere ante iter confectum vetuit. his una legio missa praesidio est.
These matters arranged, he kept two legions in the camp, the rest, led out at the fourth watch by several gates, he sent ahead by the same route, and, a small interval interposed, that both the military custom might be kept and his departure be learned as late as possible, he ordered the call to be raised, and at once, having gone out and overtaken the rearmost column, quickly withdrew out of sight of the camp.
his explicitis rebus duas in castris legiones retinuit, reliquas de quarta vigilia compluribus portis eductas eodem itinere praemisit parvoque spatio intermisso, ut et militare institutum servaretur et quam serissime eius profectio cognosceretur, conclamari iussit, statimque egressus et novissimum agmen consecutus celeriter ex conspectu castrorum discessit.
Nor indeed did Pompey, his plan learned, bring any delay to the pursuit, but, aiming at the same thing—if he could catch them terrified on the encumbered march—led his army out of camp and sent his cavalry ahead to delay the rearmost column; nor could he overtake them, because Caesar had got far ahead by his unencumbered march.
neque vero Pompeius cognito consilio eius moram ullam ad insequendum intulit, sed eadem spectans, si itinere impedito perterritos deprehendere posset, exercitum e castris eduxit equitatumque praemisit ad novissimum agmen demorandum, neque consequi potuit, quod multum expedito itinere antecesserat Caesar.
But when it had come to the river Genusus, which had difficult banks, the cavalry, having overtaken the rearmost, held them in battle.
sed cum ventum esset ad flumen Genusum, quod ripis erat inpeditis, consecutus equitatus novissimos proelio detinebat.
Against these Caesar set his own cavalry and mingled with them four hundred light-armed front-rank men, who profited so much that, a cavalry battle joined, they drove all the enemy off, killed several, and themselves withdrew unharmed to the column.
huic suos Caesar equites opposuit expeditosque antesignanos admiscuit cccc, qui tantum profecerunt, ut equestri proelio commisso pellerent omnes compluresque interficerent ipsique incolumes se ad agmen reciperent.
The full march of that day which Caesar had proposed finished, and his army led across the river Genusus, he settled in his old camp opposite Asparagium and kept all his soldiers within the rampart of the camp, and ordered the cavalry, sent out under the pretext of foraging, to withdraw at once into the camp by the decuman gate.
Confecto iusto itinere eius diei quod proposuerat Caesar, traductoque exercitu flumen Genusum veteribus suis castris contra Asparagium consedit militesque omnes intra vallum castrorum continuit equitatumque per causam pabulandi emissum confestim decumana porta in castra se recipere iussit.
In like manner Pompey, the march of that day finished, settled in his own old camp at Asparagium.
simili ratione Pompeius confecto eius diei itinere in suis veteribus castris ad Asparagium consedit.
His soldiers, because they were free of work, the fortifications being intact, some went farther out to gather wood and fodder, others, because they had suddenly taken the plan of departure, a great part of the baggage and packs left behind, invited to fetch these by the nearness of the former camp, their arms laid aside in the tents, left the rampart.
eius milites, quod ab opere integris munitionibus vacabant, alii lignandi pabulandique causa longius progrediebantur, alii, quod subito consilium profectionis ceperant magna parte impedimentorum et sarcinarum relicta ad haec repetenda invitati propinquitate superiorum castrorum depositis in contubernio armis vallum relinquebant.
These being thus hindered from pursuit, Caesar—as he had foreseen would happen—about midday gave the signal of departure, led out his army, and, the march of that day doubled, advanced eight miles from that place. This Pompey could not do, the soldiers being away.
quibus ad sequendum impeditis, Caesar quod fore providerat, meridiano fere tempore signo profectionis dato exercitum educit duplicatoque eius diei itinere viii milia passuum ex eo loco procedit. quod facere Pompeius discessu militum non potuit.
The next day Caesar, the baggage likewise sent ahead at nightfall, himself goes out at the fourth watch, so that, if any necessity of fighting were imposed, he might meet the sudden chance with an unencumbered army. The same he did on the remaining days.
Postero die Caesar similiter praemissis prima nocte impedimentis de quarta vigilia ipse egreditur, ut siqua esset imposita dimicandi necessitas, subitum casum expedito exercitu subiret. hoc idem reliquis fecit diebus.
By these means it was brought about that, with the deepest rivers and most difficult routes, he suffered no trouble.
quibus rebus perfectum est, ut altissimis fluminibus atque impeditissimis itineribus nullum acciperet incommodum.
For Pompey, the first day’s delay brought on him and the labor of the remaining days taken up in vain, although he strained himself by great marches and wished to overtake those who had gone ahead, on the fourth day made an end of following and thought he must take another plan.
Pompeius enim primi diei mora inlata et reliquorum dierum frustra labore suscepto cum se magnis itineribus extenderet et praegressos consequi cuperet, quarta die finem sequendi fecit atque aliud sibi consilium capiendum existimavit.
For Caesar it was necessary to go to Apollonia, to set down his wounded, give pay to the army, steady his allies, and leave garrisons in the cities.
Caesari ad saucios deponendos, stipendium exercitui dandum, socios confirmandos, praesidium urbibus relinquendum necesse erat adire Apolloniam.
But to these matters he gave only as much time as was necessary for one in haste. Fearing for Domitius, lest he be forestalled by Pompey’s arrival, he was carried toward him with all speed and zeal.
sed his rebus tantum temporis tribuit, quantum erat properanti necesse. timens Domitio, ne adventu Pompei praeoccuparetur, ad eum omni celeritate et studio incitatus ferebatur.
The plan of the whole matter he worked out on these reckonings: that if Pompey made for the same place, he, drawn away from the sea and from the forces he had got ready at Dyrrachium, cut off from grain and supplies, would be forced to fight it out with him on equal terms of war; if he crossed into Italy, Caesar, his army joined with Domitius’s, would set out through Illyricum to the aid of Italy; if he tried to assault Apollonia and Oricum and shut him out from the whole sea-coast, then, Scipio besieged, he would force Pompey of necessity to bring aid to his men.
totius autem rei consilium his rationibus explicabat, ut si Pompeius eodem contenderet, abductum illum a mari atque ab iis copiis quas Dyrrachii comparaverat, frumento ac commeatu abstractum pari condicione belli secum decertare cogeret; si in Italiam transiret, coniuncto exercitu cum Domitio per Illyricum Italiae subsidio proficisceretur; si Apolloniam Oricumque obpugnare et se omni maritima ora excludere conaretur, obsesso Scipione necessario illum suis auxilium ferre cogeret.
And so, messengers sent ahead to Gnaeus Domitius, Caesar wrote and showed what he wished to be done, and, four cohorts left to guard Apollonia, one at Lissus, three at Oricum, and those sick from wounds set down, he began to march through Epirus and Athamania.
itaque praemissis nuntiis ad Cn. Domitium Caesar scripsit et quid fieri vellet ostendit praesidioque Apolloniae cohortibus iiii, Lissi una, iii Orici relictis quique erant ex vulneribus aegri depositis per Epirum atque Athamaniam iter facere coepit.
Pompey too, judging by conjecture of Caesar’s plan, thought he must hasten to Scipio: if Caesar made his march that way, to bring aid to Scipio; if he were unwilling to leave the sea-coast and Oricum, because he was awaiting legions and cavalry from Italy, that he himself should attack Domitius with all his forces.
Pompeius quoque de Caesaris consilio coniectura iudicans ad Scipionem properandum sibi existimabat, si Caesar iter illo haberet, ut subsidium Scipioni ferret, si ab ora maritima Oricoque discedere nollet, quod legiones equitatumque ex Italia expectaret, ipse ut omnibus copiis Domitium adgrederetur.
For these reasons each of them strove for speed, both to be a help to his own and not to fail the occasion of the moment for crushing his adversaries.
His de causis uterque eorum celeritati studebat, et suis ut esset auxilio, et ad opprimendos adversarios ne occasioni temporis deesset.
But Apollonia had turned Caesar aside from the direct route; Pompey had an unencumbered march into Macedonia through Candavia.
sed Caesarem Apollonia a derecto itinere averterat; Pompeius per Candaviam iter in Macedoniam expeditum habebat.
There was added also unexpectedly another trouble, that Domitius, when for several days he had had his camp pitched over against Scipio’s, had withdrawn from him for the grain supply and had marched to Heraclea Sentica, which lies below Candavia, so that fortune itself seemed to throw him in Pompey’s way. These things up to that time Caesar did not know.
accessit etiam ex improviso aliud incommodum, quod Domitius cum dies complures castris Scipionis castra collata habuisset, rei frumentariae causa ab eo discesserat et Heracliam Senticam quae est subiecta Candaviae, iter fecerat, ut ipsa fortuna illum obicere Pompeio videretur. haec ad id tempus Caesar ignorabat.
At the same time, a letter sent by Pompey through all the provinces and states about the battle fought at Dyrrachium, the report had spread, far more loftily and inflated than the matter had been done, that Caesar was beaten and fleeing with almost all his forces lost. This had made the routes dangerous, this was turning some states from his friendship.
simul a Pompeio litteris per omnes provincias civitatesque dimissis de proelio ad Dyrrachium facto elatius inflatiusque multo, quam res erat gesta, fama percrebruerat pulsum fugere Caesarem paene omnibus copiis amissis. haec itinera infesta reddiderat, haec civitates nonnullas ab eius amicitia avertebat.
By which things it happened that the men sent by several routes from Caesar to Domitius and from Domitius to Caesar could by no means complete the journey.
quibus accidit rebus, ut pluribus dimissi itineribus a Caesare ad Domitium et a Domitio ad Caesarem nulla ratione iter conficere possent.
But the Allobroges, intimates of Roucillus and Aecus, who, as we have shown, had deserted to Pompey, catching sight on the march of Domitius’s scouts, whether by their old habit, because they had waged wars together in Gaul, or lifted up by vanity, set forth everything as it had been done, and told of Caesar’s departure and Pompey’s coming.
sed Allobroges, Roucilli atque Aeci familiares, quos perfugisse ad Pompeium demonstravimus, conspicati in itinere exploratores Domiti, seu pristina sua consuetudine, quod una in Gallia bella gesserant, seu gloria elati, cuncta, ut erant acta, exposuerunt et Caesaris profectionem, adventum Pompei docuerunt.
Informed by these, Domitius, going ahead by barely a four hours’ space, avoided the danger by the enemy’s kindness and met Caesar coming, at Aeginium, which lies over against and opposite Thessaly.
a quibus Domitius certior factus vix iiii horarum spatio antecedens hostium beneficio periculum vitavit et ad Aeginium, quod est obiectum oppositumque Thessaliae, Caesari venienti occurrit.
His army joined, Caesar reached Gomphi, which is the first town of Thessaly for those coming from Epirus. This people, a few months before, had of its own accord sent envoys to Caesar, that he might use all their resources, and had sought a garrison of soldiers from him.
Coniuncto exercitu Caesar Gomphos pervenit, quod est oppidum primum Thessaliae venientibus ab Epiro. quae gens paucis ante mensibus ultro ad Caesarem legatos miserat, ut suis omnibus facultatibus uteretur, praesidiumque ab eo militum petierat.
But there the report we mentioned above, of the battle at Dyrrachium, had already run ahead, which it had magnified in many points.
sed eo fama iam praecurrerat, quam supra docuimus, de proelio Dyrrachino, quod multis auxerat partibus.
And so Androsthenes, praetor of Thessaly, since he preferred to be a companion of Pompey’s victory rather than Caesar’s ally in adversity, herds the whole multitude of slaves and free from the fields into the town, shuts the gates, and sends messengers to Scipio and Pompey to come to his aid: he trusted in the town’s fortifications, if relief came quickly; he could not withstand a long assault.
itaque Androsthenes, praetor Thessaliae, cum se victoriae Pompei comitem esse mallet quam socium Caesaris in rebus adversis, omnem ex agris multitudinem servorum ac liberorum in oppidum cogit portasque praecludit et ad Scipionem Pompeiumque nuntios mittit, ut sibi subsidio veniant: se confidere munitionibus oppidi, si celeriter succurratur; longinquam oppugnationem sustinere non posse.
Scipio, the withdrawal of the armies from Dyrrachium learned, had led his legions to Larisa; Pompey was not yet approaching Thessaly.
Scipio discessu exercituum ab Dyrrachio cognito Larisam legiones adduxerat; Pompeius nondum Thessaliae adpropinquabat.
Caesar, his camp fortified, ordered ladders and galleries to be made for a sudden assault and wicker screens to be prepared.
Caesar castris munitis scalas musculosque ad repentinam oppugnationem fieri et crates parari iussit.
These things finished, having exhorted his soldiers, he showed how much use it would have toward relieving the want of everything to gain a full and wealthy town, and at the same time to strike terror into the rest of the states by this city’s example, and that this should be done quickly, before reinforcements could come up.
quibus rebus effectis cohortatus milites docuit, quantum usum haberet ad sublevandam omnium rerum inopiam potiri oppido pleno atque opulento, simul reliquis civitatibus huius urbis exemplo inferre terrorem et id fieri celeriter, priusquam auxilia concurrerent.
And so, using the singular zeal of the soldiers, on the same day on which he had come, after the ninth hour, having set about assaulting the town with its very high walls, he stormed it before sunset, granted it to the soldiers to plunder, and at once broke camp from the town and came to Metropolis, so as to outstrip the messengers of the stormed town and the report.
itaque usus singulari militum studio eodem quo venerat die post horam nonam oppidum altissimis moenibus oppugnare adgressus ante solis occasum expugnavit et ad diripiendum militibus concessit statimque ab oppido castra movit et Metropolim venit, sic ut nuntios expugnati oppidi famamque antecederet.
The people of Metropolis at first, following the same plan, moved by the same rumors, shut their gates and filled the walls with armed men, but afterward, the fate of the state of Gomphi learned from the captives whom Caesar had had brought before the wall, opened the gates.
Metropolitae primum eodem usi consilio, isdem permoti rumoribus portas clauserunt murosque armatis compleverunt, sed postea casu civitatis Gomphensis cognito ex captivis, quos Caesar ad murum producendos curaverat, portas aperuerunt.
These most carefully preserved, the fortune of Metropolis being set against the fate of Gomphi, there was no state of Thessaly except the people of Larisa, who were held by Scipio’s great armies, that did not obey Caesar and do what was commanded.
quibus diligentissime conservatis, collata fortuna Metropolitum cum casu Gomphensium nulla Thessaliae fuit civitas praeter Larisaeos, qui magnis exercitibus Scipionis tenebantur, quin Caesari parerent atque imperata facerent.
He, having found a suitable place in the fields, where the crops were now nearly ripe, resolved there to await Pompey’s arrival and to bring the whole plan of the war to that point.
ille idoneum locum in agris nactus, quae prope iam matura erant, ibi adventum expectare Pompei eoque omnem belli rationem conferre constituit.
Pompey a few days later reached Thessaly, and, having harangued his whole army, gives thanks to his own men and exhorts Scipio’s soldiers that, the victory now won, they should consent to be sharers of the plunder and the rewards; and, all the legions received into one camp, he shares his own honor with Scipio, orders the trumpet-call to be sounded at his quarters too and a second headquarters-tent to be pitched for him.
Pompeius paucis post diebus in Thessaliam pervenit contionatusque apud cunctum exercitum suis agit gratias, Scipionis milites cohortatur, ut parta iam victoria praedae ac praemiorum velint esse participes, receptisque omnibus in una castra legionibus suum cum Scipione honorem partitur classicumque apud eum cani et alterum illi iubet praetorium tendi.
Pompey’s forces increased and two great armies joined, the former opinion of all is confirmed and the hope of victory grows, so much so that whatever time passed seemed to delay the return to Italy, and if ever Pompey did anything too slowly or too cautiously, they said it was the business of a single day, but that he delighted in command and held men of consular and praetorian rank in the number of slaves.
auctis copiis Pompei duobusque magnis exercitibus coniunctis pristina omnium confirmatur opinio et spes victoriae augetur, adeo ut, quidquid intercederet temporis, id morari reditum in Italiam videretur, et siquando quid Pompeius tardius aut consideratius faceret, unius esse negotium diei, sed illum delectari imperio et consulares praetoriosque servorum habere numero dicerent.
And now they openly contended among themselves over commands and priesthoods and fixed the consulship by years; others sought the houses and goods of those who were in Caesar’s camp;
iamque inter se palam de imperiis ac de sacerdotiis contendebant in annosque consulatum definiebant, alii domos bonaque eorum, ui in castris erant Caesaris, petebant;
and there was a great dispute among them in council whether, at the next praetorian elections, account ought to be taken of Lucilius Hirrus in his absence, because he had been sent by Pompey to the Parthians, his connections imploring Pompey’s good faith, that he make good what he had undertaken at his departure, lest he seem deceived through his authority, while the rest, in equal labor and danger, refused that one man should go before all.
qmagnaque inter eos in consilio fuit controversia, oporteretne Lucili Hirri, quod is a Pompeio ad Parthos missus esset, proximis comitiis praetoriis absentis rationem haberi, cum eius necessarii fidem implorarent Pompei, praestaret, quod proficiscenti recepisset, ne per eius auctoritatem deceptus videretur, reliqui, in labore pari ac periculo ne unus omnes antecederet, recusarent.
Now over Caesar’s priesthood Domitius, Scipio, and Lentulus Spinther in daily contentions descended openly to the gravest insults of words, Lentulus parading the honor of his age, Domitius vaunting his favor and standing in the city, Scipio trusting in his kinship with Pompey.
Iam de sacerdotio Caesaris Domitius, Scipio Spintherque Lentulus cotidianis contentionibus ad gravissimas verborum contumelias palam descenderunt, cum Lentulus aetatis honorem ostentaret, Domitius urbanam gratiam dignitatemque iactaret, Scipio adfinitate Pompei confideret.
Acutius Rufus even arraigned Lucius Afranius for the betrayal of the army before Pompey, alleging what had been done in Spain.
postulavit etiam L. Afranium proditionis exercitus Acutius Rufus apud Pompeium, quod gestum in Hispania diceret.
And Lucius Domitius said in council that it pleased him that, the war finished, three tablets be given for judging to those who were of senatorial rank and had taken part in the war together with them, and that they should give their verdicts on each man, those who had remained at Rome and those who had been within Pompey’s lines but had given no service in the war: one tablet would be for those who voted to acquit them of all danger, the second for those who condemned them to death, the third for those who fined them in money.
et L. Domitius in consilio dixit placere sibi bello confecto ternas tabellas dari ad iudicandum iis qui ordinis essent senatorii belloque una cum ipsis interfuissent, sententiasque de singulis ferrent, qui Romae remansissent quique intra praesidia Pompei fuissent neque operam in re militari praestitissent: unam fore tabellam, qui liberandos omni periculo censerent, alteram, qui capitis damnarent, tertiam, qui pecunia multarent.
In short, all were occupied either with their own honors, or with rewards of money, or with the pursuit of their enmities, and thought not by what means they might win, but how they ought to use the victory.
postremo omnes aut de honoribus suis aut de praemiis pecuniae aut de persequendis inimicitiis agebant, neque, quibus rationibus superare possent, sed quemadmodum uti victoria deberent, cogitabant.
The grain supply prepared and the soldiers steadied, and a long enough space of time interposed from the battles at Dyrrachium, by which he seemed to have a sufficient view of the soldiers’ spirit, Caesar thought he must test what purpose or will Pompey had for fighting.
Re frumentaria praeparata confirmatisque militibus et satis longo spatio temporis a Dyrrachinis proeliis intermisso, quo satis perspectum habere militum animum videretur, temptandum existimavit, quidnam Pompeius propositi aut voluntatis ad dimicandum haberet.
And so he led his army out of camp and drew up his line, first on his own ground and a little farther from Pompey’s camp, but on the following days so as to advance from his own camp and set his line under the Pompeian hills. This thing made his army more confident day by day.
itaque exercitum ex castris eduxit aciemque instruxit, primum suis locis pauloque a castris Pompei longius, continentibus vero diebus, ut progrederetur a castris suis collibusque Pompeianis aciem subiceret. quae res in dies confirmatiorem eius exercitum efficiebat.
Yet he kept the former practice with the cavalry, which we have shown: that, since he was many times inferior in number, he ordered young and active soldiers, picked from the front-rank men for their swiftness, with light arms, to fight among the cavalry, who by daily practice gained experience also of that kind of fighting.
superius tamen institutum in equitibus, quod demonstravimus, servabat, ut quoniam numero multis partibus esset inferior, adulescentes atque expeditos ex antesignanis electis milites ad pernicitatem armis inter equites proeliari iuberet, qui cotidiana consuetudine usum quoque eius generis proeliorum perciperent.
By these means it was brought about that a thousand of his cavalry dared, even in more open places, to withstand the charge of seven thousand Pompeians, when there was need, and were not greatly terrified by their multitude.
his erat rebus effectum, ut equitum mille etiam apertioribus locis vii milium Pompeianorum inpetum, cum adesset usus, sustinere auderent, neque magnopere eorum multitudine terrerentur.
For indeed even during those days he fought a successful cavalry battle and killed one of the two Allobroges, who, as we showed above, had deserted to Pompey, along with some others.
namque etiam per eos dies proelium secundum equestre fecit atque unum Allobrogem ex duobus, quos perfugisse ad Pompeium supra docuimus, cum quibusdam interfecit.
Pompey, who had his camp on a hill, drew up his line at the lowest roots of the mountain, always, as it seemed, waiting in case Caesar should set himself on unfavorable ground.
Pompeius, qui castra in colle habebat, ad infimas radices montis aciem instruebat, semper, ut videbatur, expectans, si iniquis locis Caesar se subiceret.
Caesar, thinking that by no means could Pompey be drawn out to battle, judged this the most convenient method of war for him: to move his camp from that place and be always on the march, aiming at this—that by moving camp and approaching several places he might use the grain supply more conveniently, and at the same time on the march might find some occasion of fighting, and wear out Pompey’s army, unused to labor, by daily marches.
Caesar nulla ratione ad pugnam elici posse Pompeium existimans hanc sibi commodissimam belli rationem iudicavit, uti castra ex eo loco moveret semperque esset in itineribus, haec spectans, ut movendis castris pluribusque adeundis locis commodiore re frumentaria uteretur, simulque in itinere ut aliquam occasionem dimicandi nancisceretur et insolitum ad laborem Pompei exercitum cotidianis itineribus defatigaret.
These things settled, the signal of departure already given and the tents struck, it was noticed that a little before, beyond his daily custom, Pompey’s line had advanced farther from the rampart, so that it seemed possible to fight on no unfavorable ground.
his constitutis rebus, signo iam profectionis dato tabernaculisque detensis animum adversum est paulo ante extra cotidianam consuetudinem longius a vallo esse aciem Pompei progressam, ut non iniquo loco posse dimicari videretur.
Then Caesar, the column now being in the gates, said to his men: "Our march must be put off for the present, and we must think of battle, as we have always demanded. Let us be ready in spirit for fighting; we shall not easily find the occasion afterward." And at once he leads out his forces in light order.
tum Caesar apud suos, cum iam esset agmen in portis, differendum est, inquit iter in praesentia nobis et de proelio cogitandum, sicut semper depoposcimus. animo simus ad dimicandum parati; non facile occasionem postea reperiemus. confestimque expeditas copias educit.
Pompey too, as was afterward learned, had resolved, at the urging of all his men, to fight it out in battle. For even in council on the previous days he had said that, before the lines clashed, Caesar’s army would be routed.
Pompeius quoque, ut postea cognitum est, suorum omnium hortatu statuerat proelio decertare. namque etiam in consilio superioribus diebus dixerat, priusquam concurrerent acies, fore uti exercitus Caesaris pelleretur.
When most had wondered at this, he said: "I know I am promising an almost incredible thing; but hear the reasoning of my plan, that you may go into battle with the firmer spirit.
id cum essent plerique admirati, scio me, inquit paene incredibilem rem polliceri; sed rationem consilii mei accipite, quo firmiore animo in proelium prodeatis.
I have persuaded our cavalry, and they have assured me they will do it, that when the approach is closer, they attack Caesar’s right wing on its open flank, and, the line surrounded from behind, rout the army thrown into confusion before a missile is hurled by us at the enemy.
persuasi equitibus nostris, idque mihi facturos confirmaverunt, ut cum propius sit accessum, dextrum Caesaris cornu ab latere aperto adgrederentur et circumventa a tergo acie prius perturbatum exercitum pellerent, quam a nobis telum in hostem iaceretur.
So without danger to the legions and almost without a wound we shall finish the war. And this is not difficult, since we are so strong in cavalry."
ita sine periculo legionum et paene sine vulnere bellum conficiemus. id autem difficile non est, cum tantum equitatu valeamus.
At the same time he gave notice that they should be ready in spirit for the morrow, and, since the chance of fighting was being given, as they had often asked, that they should not fail his expectation or the rest’s.
simul denuntiavit, ut essent animo parati in posterum, et quoniam fieret dimicandi potestas, ut saepe rogitavissent, ne suam neu reliquorum opinionem fallerent.
Labienus took up the word after him, so that, while he despised Caesar’s forces, he extolled Pompey’s plan with the highest praises. "Do not think, Pompey," he said, "that this is the army that conquered Gaul and Germany.
Hunc Labienus excepit, ut, cum Caesaris copias despiceret, Pompei consilium summis laudibus efferret, noli, inquit existimare, Pompei, hunc esse exercitum, qui Galliam Germaniamque devicerit.
I was present at all the battles, and I do not rashly pronounce on a matter I do not know. A very small part of that army survives; a great part has perished, as was bound to happen in so many battles, the autumn pestilence in Italy carried off many, many went home, many were left behind on the mainland.
omnibus interfui proeliis neque temere incognitam rem pronuntio. perexigua pars illius exercitus superest; magna pars deperiit, quod accidere tot proeliis fuit necesse, multos autumni pestilentia in Italia consumpsit, multi domum discesserunt, multi sunt relicti in continenti.
Or have you not heard that the cohorts were made up at Brundisium out of those who remained behind on the plea of ill health?
an non exaudistis ex iis qui per causam valetudinis remanserunt, cohortes esse Brundisii factas?
These forces that you see have been recruited from the levies of these years in Nearer Gaul, and most are from the colonies across the Po. And yet what there was of strength perished in the two battles at Dyrrachium."
hae copiae quas videtis, ex dilectibus horum annorum in citeriore Gallia sunt refectae, et plerique sunt ex coloniis Transpadanis. ac tamen, quod fuit roboris, duobus proeliis Dyrrachinis interiit.
When he had said this, he swore that he would not return to camp except as a victor, and exhorted the rest to do the same.
haec cum dixisset, iuravit se nisi victorem in castra non reversurum, reliquosque ut idem facerent hortatus est.
Pompey, praising this, swore the same; nor indeed was there any of the rest who hesitated to swear.
hoc laudans Pompeius idem iuravit; nec vero ex reliquis fuit quisquam qui iurare dubitaret.
When these things had been done in the council, they parted in great hope and joy of all; and now in spirit they anticipated the victory, because on so great a matter, and from so experienced a general, nothing seemed to be affirmed in vain.
haec cum facta sunt in consilio, magna spe et laetitia omnium discessum est; ac iam animo victoriam praecipiebant, quod de re tanta et a tam perito imperatore nihil frustra confirmari videbatur.
Caesar, when he had drawn near Pompey’s camp, noticed that his line was drawn up in this fashion.
Caesar cum Pompei castris adpropinquasset, ad hunc modum aciem eius instructam animum advertit.
On the left wing were the two legions handed over by Caesar at the outset of the strife by decree of the Senate; of which one was called the First, the other the Third. In that place was Pompey himself.
erant in sinistro cornu legiones duae traditae a Caesare initio dissensionis ex senatus consulto; quarum una prima, altera tertia appellabatur. in eo loco ipse erat Pompeius.
The center Scipio held with the Syrian legions. The Cilician legion, joined with the Spanish cohorts which, as we showed, had been brought over by Afranius, was posted on the right wing.
mediam aciem Scipio cum legionibus Syriacis tenebat. Ciliciensis legio coniuncta cum cohortibus Hispanis, quas traductas ab Afranio docuimus, in dextro cornu erant collocatae.
These Pompey reckoned the steadiest he had. The rest he had set between the center and the wings, and had filled up the number to a hundred and ten cohorts.
has firmissimas se habere Pompeius existimabat. reliquas inter aciem mediam cornuaque interiecerat numeroque cohortes cx expleverat.
These were forty-five thousand, and about two thousand recalled veterans, who had come to him from the beneficiaries of the earlier armies; these he had scattered through the whole line. The remaining seven cohorts he had disposed to guard the camp and the nearby forts.
haec erant milia xlv, evocatorum circiter duo, quae ex beneficiariis superiorum exercituum ad eum convenerant; quae tota acie disperserat. reliquas cohortis vii castris propinquisque castellis praesidio disposuerat.
His right wing a certain stream with difficult banks protected; for which cause he had set all his cavalry, the archers, and all the slingers on the left wing.
dextrum cornu eius rivus quidam impeditis ripis muniebat; quam ob causam cunctum equitatum, sagittarios funditoresque omnes sinistro cornu obiecerat.
Caesar, keeping his former practice, had posted the Tenth Legion on the right wing, the Ninth on the left, although it had been severely thinned in the battles at Dyrrachium, and to this he so joined the Eighth that he almost made one out of the two, and had ordered the one to be a support to the other.
Caesar superius institutum servans x legionem in dextro cornu, nonam in sinistro collocaverat, tametsi erat Dyrrachinis proeliis vehementer adtenuata, et huic sic adiunxit octavam, ut paene unam ex duabus efficeret, atque alteram alteri praesidio esse iusserat.
He had eighty cohorts stationed in the line, which was a total of twenty-two thousand; seven cohorts he had left to guard the camp.
cohortes in acie lxxx constitutas habebat, quae summa erat milium xxii; cohortes vii castris praesidio reliquerat.
Over the left wing he had set Antonius, over the right Publius Sulla, over the center Gnaeus Domitius. He himself took his stand opposite Pompey.
sinistro cornu Antonium, dextro P. Sullam, mediae acie Cn. Domitium praeposuerat. ipse contra Pompeium constitit.
At the same time, having noticed the things we have shown, fearing lest his right wing be surrounded by the multitude of cavalry, he quickly drew single cohorts out of the third line and from these formed a fourth and set it against the cavalry, and showed what he wished to be done, and warned them that the victory of that day rested on the valor of those cohorts.
simul iis rebus animadversis, quas demonstravimus, timens ne a multitudine equitum dextrum cornu circumveniretur, celeriter ex tertia acie singulas cohortes detraxit atque ex his quartam instituit equitatuique opposuit, et quid fieri vellet ostendit, monuitque eius diei victoriam in earum cohortium virtute constare.
At the same time he ordered the third line and the whole army not to charge without his command; when he wished it to be done, he would give the signal with a banner.
simul tertiae aciei totique exercitui imperavit, ne iniussu suo concurrerent; se cum id fieri vellet, vexillo signum daturum.
When he was exhorting the army to battle in military fashion and proclaiming his services to it through all time, he especially recalled that he could use the soldiers as witnesses with what zeal he had sought peace—what he had done through Vatinius in the conferences, what through Aulus Clodius with Scipio, by what means at Oricum he had striven with Libo over the sending of envoys.
Exercitum cum militari more ad pugnam cohortaretur suaque in eum perpetui temporis officia praedicaret, in primis commemoravit testibus se militibus uti posse, quanto studio pacem petisset, quae per Vatinium in colloquiis, quae per Aulum Clodium cum Scipione egisset, quibus modis ad Oricum cum Libone de mittendis legatis contendisset.
He had never wished to squander the soldiers’ blood, nor to deprive the commonwealth of either army.
neque se umquam abuti militum sanguine neque rem publicam alterutro exercitu privare voluisse.
This speech made, the soldiers demanding it and burning with zeal for battle, he gave the signal with the trumpet.
hac habita oratione exposcentibus militibus et studio pugnae ardentibus tuba signum dedit.
There was in Caesar’s army Crastinus, a recalled veteran, who the year before had held the chief centurionate under him in the Tenth Legion, a man of singular valor.
Erat Crastinus evocatus in exercitu Caesaris, qui superiore anno apud eum primum pilum in legione x duxerat, vir singulari virtute.
At the signal given he said: "Follow me, you who were my fellow soldiers, and give your general the service you have resolved on. This one battle remains; when it is finished, he will recover his standing and we our freedom."
hic signo dato sequimini me, inquit manipulares mei qui fuistis, et vestro imperatori, quam constituistis, operam date. unum hoc proelium superest; quo confecto et ille suam dignitatem et nos nostram libertatem recuperabimus.
At the same time, looking back at Caesar, he said: "I will so act today, general, that you will give me thanks whether I live or die."
simul respiciens Caesarem faciam, inquit hodie, imperator, ut aut vivo mihi aut mortuo gratias agas.
When he had said this, he ran forward first from the right wing, and about a hundred and twenty picked volunteers of the same century followed him.
haec cum dixisset, primus ex dextro cornu procucurrit atque eum electi milites circiter cxx voluntarii eiusdem centuriae sunt prosecuti.
Between the two lines only so much space was left as was enough for the charge of either army.
Inter duas acies tantum erat relictum spatii, ut satis esset ad concursum utriusque exercitus.
But Pompey had told his men beforehand to receive Caesar’s charge and not to move from their place and to let his line be pulled apart; and he was said to have done this on the advice of Gaius Triarius, that the first rush and force of the soldiers might be broken and the line stretched out, and that his men, disposed in their ranks, might attack the scattered enemy;
sed Pompeius suis praedixerat, ut Caesaris impetum exciperent neve se loco moverent aciemque eius distrahi paterentur; idque admonitu C. Triari fecisse dicebatur, ut primus excursus visque militum infringeretur aciesque distenderetur, atque in suis ordinibus dispositi dispersos adorirentur;
and he hoped the javelins would fall with less force, the soldiers held in place, than if they themselves had met them with hurled weapons; at the same time it would come about that Caesar’s soldiers, the course doubled, would be left breathless and worn out with weariness.
leviusque casura pila sperabat in loco retentis militibus, quam si ipsi immissis telis occurrissent, simul fore ut duplicato cursu Caesaris milites exanimarentur et lassitudine conficerentur.
This seems to us, indeed, to have been done by Pompey with no reason, because there is a certain rousing and eagerness of spirit naturally born in all men, which is kindled by zeal for battle.
quod nobis quidem nulla ratione factum a Pompeio videtur, propterea quod est quaedam animi incitatio atque alacritas naturaliter innata omnibus, quae studio pugnae incenditur.
This generals ought not to repress, but to increase; nor was it established of old in vain that the standards should sound together from every side and that all should raise a shout; by which things they thought both that the enemy was terrified and that their own were roused.
hanc non reprimere, sed augere imperatores debent; neque frustra antiquitus institutum est, ut signa undique concinerent clamoremque universi tollerent; quibus rebus et hostes terreri et suos incitari existimaverunt.
But our soldiers, the signal given, when they had run forward with leveled javelins and had noticed that the Pompeians did not charge, skilled by experience and trained in earlier fights, of their own accord checked their course and halted about midway, lest they should approach with their strength spent, and, a small space of time interposed, the course again renewed, they hurled their javelins and quickly, as Caesar had directed, drew their swords.
Sed nostri milites dato signo cum infestis pilis procucurrissent atque animum advertissent non concurri a Pompeianis, usu periti ac superioribus pugnis exercitati sua sponte cursum represserunt et ad medium fere spatium constiterunt, ne consumptis viribus adpropinquarent, parvoque intermisso temporis spatio ac rursus renovato cursu pila miserunt, celeriterque, ut erat praeceptum a Caesare, gladios strinxerunt.
Nor indeed did the Pompeians fail in this. For they both received the missiles hurled and bore the charge of the legions and kept their ranks, and, their javelins hurled, fell to their swords.
neque vero Pompeiani huic rei defuerunt. nam et tela missa exceperunt et impetum legionum tulerunt et ordines conservaverunt pilisque missis ad gladios redierunt.
At the same time the cavalry from Pompey’s left wing, as had been ordered, all charged forward, and the whole multitude of archers poured itself out.
eodem tempore equites ab sinistro Pompei cornu, ut erat imperatum, universi procucurrerunt, omnisque multitudo sagittariorum se profudit.
Our cavalry did not bear their charge, but, moved a little from its place, gave ground, and Pompey’s cavalry pressed the more keenly and began to deploy by squadrons and to surround our line on its open flank.
quorum impetum noster equitatus non tulit, sed paulum loco motus cessit, equitesque Pompei hoc acrius instare et se turmatim explicare aciemque nostram a latere aperto circumire coeperunt.
When Caesar noticed this, he gave the signal to the fourth line, which he had formed of six cohorts.
quod ubi Caesar animum advertit, quartae aciei, quam instituerat sex cohortium numero, dedit signum.
They quickly ran forward and, with leveled standards, charged Pompey’s cavalry with such force that none of them stood their ground, and all, turning, not only left the place but, driven on in headlong flight, made for the highest mountains.
illae celeriter procucurrerunt infestisque signis tanta vi in Pompei equites impetum fecerunt, ut eorum nemo consisteret, omnesque conversi non solum loco excederent, sed protinus incitati fuga montes altissimos peterent.
These cleared away, all the archers and slingers, left bereft, unarmed and without protection, were killed.
quibus submotis omnes sagittarii funditoresque destituti inermes sine praesidio interfecti sunt.
With the same rush the cohorts surrounded the left wing—the Pompeians still fighting and resisting in the line—and attacked them from behind.
eodem impetu cohortes sinistrum cornu pugnantibus etiamtum ac resistentibus in acie Pompeianis circumierunt eosque a tergo sunt adorti.
At the same time Caesar ordered the third line, which had been quiet and had kept its place up to that time, to run forward.
Eodem tempore tertiam aciem Caesar quae quieta fuerat et se ad id tempus loco tenuerat, procurrere iussit.
So, when fresh and unspent men had succeeded the weary, while others attacked from behind, the Pompeians could not hold out and all together turned their backs.
ita cum recentes atque integri defessis successissent, alii autem a tergo adorirentur, sustinere Pompeiani non potuerunt atque universi terga verterunt.
Nor indeed was Caesar deceived that the beginning of the victory would arise from those cohorts which had been posted against the cavalry in the fourth line, as he had himself proclaimed in exhorting the soldiers.
neque vero Caesarem fefellit quin ab iis cohortibus, quae contra equitatum in quarta acie collocatae essent, initium victoriae oriretur, ut ipse in cohortandis militibus pronuntiaverat.
For by these first the cavalry was driven back, by these the slaughter of the archers and slingers was made, by these the Pompeian line was surrounded on the left side and the beginning of the flight was made.
ab his enim primum equitatus est pulsus, ab isdem factae caedes sagittariorum ac funditorum, ab isdem acies Pompeiana a sinistra parte erat circumita atque initium fugae factum.
But Pompey, when he saw his cavalry driven back and noticed that the part in which he most trusted was terrified, distrusting the rest, left the line and at once betook himself on horseback to the camp, and to those centurions whom he had posted on guard at the headquarters gate he said clearly, so that the soldiers might hear: "Guard the camp and defend it diligently, if anything harder befalls. I am going round the other gates and steadying the camp’s garrisons."
sed Pompeius ut equitatum suum pulsum vidit atque eam partem, cui maxime confidebat, perterritam animum advertit, aliis diffisus acie excessit protinusque se in castra equo contulit, et iis centurionibus, quos in statione ad praetoriam portam posuerat, clare, ut milites exaudirent, tuemini, inquit castra et defendite diligenter, siquid durius acciderit. ego reliquas portas circumeo et castrorum praesidia confirmo.
When he had said this, he betook himself to the headquarters tent, distrusting the whole issue and yet awaiting the outcome.
haec cum dixisset, se in praetorium contulit summae rei diffidens et tamen eventum expectans.
Caesar, the Pompeians driven from flight within the rampart, thinking that no respite ought to be given them in their terror, exhorted the soldiers to use the kindness of fortune and to storm the camp.
Caesar Pompeianis ex fuga intra vallum conpulsis nullum spatium perterritis dari oportere existimans milites cohortatus est, ut beneficio fortunae uterentur castraque oppugnarent.
They, although wearied by the great heat—for the matter had been carried on toward midday—nonetheless, ready in spirit for every labor, obeyed the command.
qui etsi magno aestu fatigati — nam ad meridiem res erat perducta — tamen ad omnem laborem animo parati imperio paruerunt.
The camp was defended industriously by the cohorts that had been left there as a garrison, and much more keenly by the Thracians and the barbarian auxiliaries.
castra a cohortibus, quae ibi praesidio erant relictae, industrie defendebantur, multo etiam acrius a Thracibus barbarisque auxiliis.
For the soldiers who had fled from the line, both terrified in spirit and worn out with weariness, most of them, their arms and military standards thrown away, thought rather of further flight than of the camp’s defense.
nam qui acie refugerant milites, et animo perterriti et lassitudine confecti, missis plerique armis signisque militaribus magis de reliqua fuga quam de castrorum defensione cogitabant.
Nor indeed could those who had taken their stand on the rampart withstand the multitude of missiles any longer, but, worn out with wounds, left the place, and at once all, using their centurions and military tribunes as leaders, fled to the highest mountains that adjoined the camp.
neque vero diutius, qui in vallo constiterant, multitudinem telorum sustinere potuerunt, sed confecti vulneribus locum reliquerunt, protinusque omnes ducibus usi centurionibus tribunisque militum in altissimos montis, qui ad castra pertinebant, confugerunt.
In Pompey’s camp one might see arbors built, a great weight of silver set out, the tents strewn with fresh turf, the tents of Lucius Lentulus too and of several others roofed over with ivy, and many things besides that marked excessive luxury and confidence of victory, so that it could easily be judged that they had feared nothing of the outcome of that day, who sought out unnecessary pleasures. Yet these reproached with luxury the most wretched and most enduring army of Caesar, which had always lacked everything for necessary use.
In castris Pompei videre licuit trichilas structas, magnum argenti pondus expositum, recentibus caespitibus tabernacula constrata, Luci etiam Lentuli et nonnullorum tabernacula protecta hedera multaque praeterea, quae nimiam luxuriem et victoriae fiduciam designarent, ut facile existimari posset nihil eos de eventu eius diei timuisse, qui non necessarias conquirerent voluptates. at hi miserrimo ac patientissimo exercitu Caesaris luxuriem obiciebant, cui semper omnia ad necessarium usum defuissent.
Pompey, when our men were now within the rampart, having found a horse, his general’s insignia stripped off, threw himself out of the camp by the decuman gate and at once, his horse spurred, hastened to Larisa.
Pompeius, iam cum intra vallum nostri versarentur, equum nactus detractis insignibus imperatoriis decumana porta se ex castris eiecit protinusque equo citato Larisam contendit.
Nor did he halt there, but, with the same speed, a few of his men picked up from the flight, the night march not broken, with a retinue of thirty cavalry reached the sea and embarked on a grain ship, often, as was said, complaining that he had been so deceived in his expectation that, by the kind of men from whom he had hoped for victory, the beginning of flight made, he seemed almost to have been betrayed.
neque ibi constitit, sed eadem celeritate paucos suos ex fuga nactus nocturno itinere non intermisso comitatu equitum xxx ad mare pervenit navemque frumentariam conscendit, saepe, ut dicebatur, querens tantum se opinionem fefellisse, ut a quo genere hominum victoriam sperasset, ab eo initio fugae facto paene proditus videretur.
Caesar, master of the camp, urged the soldiers not to let slip, busied in plunder, the chance of finishing the rest of the business.
Caesar castris potitus a militibus contendit, ne in praeda occupati reliqui negotii gerendi facultatem dimitterent.
This obtained, he set about walling the mountain round with works. The Pompeians, because that mountain was without water, distrusting the place, abandoned the mountain and all began to withdraw along its ridges toward Larisa.
qua re impetrata montem opere circummunire instituit. Pompeiani, quod is mons erat sine aqua, diffisi ei loco relicto monte universi iugis eius Larisam versus recipere coeperunt.
Aware of this, Caesar divided his forces, ordered part of the legions to remain in Pompey’s camp, sent part back to his own camp, led four legions with him, and began by a more convenient route to meet the Pompeians, and, having advanced six miles, drew up his line.
qua re animadversa Caesar copias suas divisit partemque legionum in castris Pompei remanere iussit, partem in sua castra remisit, iiii secum legiones duxit commodioreque itinere Pompeianis occurrere coepit et progressus milia passuum vi aciem instruxit.
Aware of this, the Pompeians halted on a certain mountain. A river washed the foot of this mountain. Caesar, having exhorted his soldiers, although they were worn out by the continuous labor of the whole day and night was now at hand, nonetheless cut the river off from the mountain by a fortification, that the Pompeians might not be able to fetch water by night.
qua re animadversa Pompeiani in quodam monte constiterunt. hunc montem flumen subluebat. Caesar milites cohortatus, etsi totius diei continenti labore erant confecti noxque iam suberat, tamen munitione flumen a monte seclusit, ne noctu aquari Pompeiani possent.
This work finished, they began to treat of surrender, envoys sent. A few of senatorial rank, who had joined themselves with them, sought safety in flight by night.
quo perfecto opere illi de deditione missis legatis agere coeperunt. pauci ordinis senatorii, qui se cum iis coniunxerant, nocte fuga salutem petiverunt.
Caesar at first light ordered all those who had settled on the mountain to come down from the higher ground into the plain and throw down their arms.
Caesar prima luce omnes eos, qui in monte consederant, ex superioribus locis in planitiem descendere atque arma proicere iussit.
When they did this without refusal and, their palms spread out, cast down upon the ground, weeping, sought safety from him, having comforted them he ordered them to rise, and, speaking a few words to them about his clemency, that they might be in less fear, preserved them all and commended them to his soldiers, that none of them be harmed and that they should miss nothing of their own.
quod ubi sine recusatione fecerunt passisque palmis proiecti ad terram flentes ab eo salutem petiverunt, consolatus consurgere iussit et pauca apud eos de lenitate sua locutus, quo minore essent timore, omnes conservavit militibusque suis commendavit, nequi eorum violaretur, neuquid sui desiderarent.
This care taken, he ordered other legions to come to him from his camp, and those he had led with him to rest in turn and return to camp, and on the same day reached Larisa.
hac adhibita diligentia ex castris sibi legiones alias occurrere et eas quas secum duxerat, invicem requiescere atque in castra reverti iussit eodemque die Larisam pervenit.
In that battle he lost no more than two hundred soldiers, but lost about thirty centurions, brave men.
In eo proelio non amplius ducentos milites desideravit, sed centuriones fortes viros circiter xxx amisit.
There was killed, too, fighting most bravely, Crastinus, of whom we made mention above, a sword thrust full into his face.
interfectus est etiam fortissime pugnans Crastinus, cuius mentionem supra fecimus, gladio in os adversum coniecto.
Nor was that false which he had said as he set out into the fight. For so Caesar judged that in that battle Crastinus’s valor had been most outstanding, and reckoned that he had deserved excellently of him.
neque id fuit falsum, quod ille in pugnam proficiscens dixerat. sic enim Caesar existimabat eo proelio excellentissimam virtutem Crastini fuisse optimeque eum de se meritum iudicabat.
Of the Pompeian army about fifteen thousand seemed to have fallen, but more than twenty-four thousand came into surrender—for even the cohorts that had been on garrison in the forts surrendered to Sulla—many besides fled to the neighboring states, and there were brought from the battle to Caesar a hundred and eighty military standards and nine eagles.
ex Pompeiano exercitu circiter milia xv cecidisse videbantur, sed in deditionem venerunt amplius milia xxiiii — namque etiam cohortes, quae praesidio in castellis fuerant, sese Sullae dediderunt — multi praeterea in finitimas civitates refugerunt, signaque militaria ex proelio ad Caesarem sunt relata clxxx et aquilae viiii.
Lucius Domitius, fleeing from the camp into the mountain, when his strength failed him from weariness, was killed by the cavalry.
L. Domitius ex castris in montem refugiens, cum vires eum lassitudine defecissent, ab equitibus est interfectus.
At the same time Decimus Laelius came with a fleet to Brundisium and, by the same method by which we showed it done before by Libo, held the island set against the harbor of Brundisium.
Eodem tempore D. Laelius cum classe ad Brundisium venit eademque ratione, qua factum a Libone antea demonstravimus, insulam obiectam portui Brundisino tenuit.
In like manner Vatinius, who commanded at Brundisium, with covered and equipped skiffs drew out Laelius’s ships, and of these captured one quinquereme, drawn out too far, and two smaller in the narrows of the harbor, and likewise, by cavalry disposed along the shore, set about keeping the crews from water.
similiter Vatinius, qui Brundisio praeerat, tectis instructisque scaphis elicuit naves Laelianas atque ex his longius productam unam quinqueremem et minores duas in angustiis portus cepit, itemque per equites dispositos aqua prohibere classiarios instituit.
But Laelius, using a more convenient season of the year for sailing, brought water to his men by transport ships from Corcyra and Dyrrachium, and was neither deterred from his purpose nor, before the battle fought in Thessaly was known, could be driven from the harbor and the island either by the disgrace of the lost ships or by the want of necessities.
sed Laelius tempore anni commodiore usus ad navigandum onerariis navibus Corcyra Dyrrachioque aquam suis subportabat neque a proposito deterrebatur neque ante proelium in Thessalia factum cognitum aut ignominia amissarum navium aut necessariarum rerum inopia ex portu insulaque expelli potuit.
At about the same time Cassius came with a fleet of Syrians, Phoenicians, and Cilicians to Sicily, and, since Caesar’s fleet was divided into two parts—the praetor Publius Sulpicius commanding the half at Vibo by the strait, Marcus Pomponius the half at Messana—Cassius flew with his ships to Messana before Pomponius learned of his arrival,
Isdem fere temporibus Cassius cum classe Syrorum et Phoenicum et Cilicum in Siciliam venit, et cum esset Caesaris classis divisa in duas partes, dimidiae parti praeesset P. Sulpicius praetor Vibone ad fretum, dimidiae M. Pomponius ad Messanam, prius Cassius ad Messanam navibus advolavit, quam Pomponius de eius adventu cognosceret,
and, having found him in confusion, with no guards and no fixed order, with a great and favorable wind sent transport ships filled with pine, pitch, tow, and the other things that serve for fires into Pomponius’s fleet and burned all thirty-five ships, of which twenty were decked.
perturbatumque eum nactus nullis custodiis neque ordinibus certis, magno vento et secundo conpletas onerarias naves taeda et pice et stuppa reliquisque rebus, quae sunt ad incendia, in Pomponianam classem immisit atque omnes naves incendit xxxv, e quibus erant xx constratae.
And so great a fear arose from this deed that, though a legion was on garrison at Messana, the town was scarcely defended, and, had not at that very time certain messengers about Caesar’s victory been brought by relays of cavalry, most thought it would have come about that it was lost.
tantusque eo facto timor incessit, ut cum esset legio praesidio Messanae, vix oppidum defenderetur, et nisi eo ipso tempore quidam nuntii de Caesaris victoria per dispositos equites essent allati, existimabant plerique futurum fuisse, uti amitteretur.
But, the messengers brought most opportunely, the town was defended; and Cassius set out thence to Sulpicius’s fleet at Vibo, and, our men having brought their ships to land out of the same fear, acted on the same plan as before; Cassius, having caught a favorable wind, sent in about forty transport ships made ready for burning, and, the flame catching from both ends, five ships were burned up.
sed opportunissime nuntiis allatis oppidum fuit defensum; Cassiusque ad Sulpicianam inde classem profectus est Vibonem, adplicatisque nostri ad terram navibus propter eundem timorem pari atque antea ratione egerunt; Cassius secundum nanctus ventum onerarias naves circiter xl praeparatas ad incendium immisit, et flamma ab utroque cornu comprensa naves sunt conbustae quinque.
And when the fire spread more widely by the force of the wind, the soldiers who had been left to guard the ships from the old legions, out of the number of the sick, did not bear the disgrace,
cumque ignis magnitudine venti latius serperet, milites, qui ex veteribus legionibus erant relicti praesidio navibus ex numero aegrorum ignominiam non tulerunt,
but of their own accord embarked, put off from the land, and, a charge made on Cassius’s fleet, captured two quinqueremes, in one of which was Cassius; but Cassius, taken up in a skiff, fled; besides, two triremes were sunk.
sed sua sponte naves conscenderunt et a terra solverunt impetuque facto in Cassianam classem quinqueremes duas, in quarum altera erat Cassius, ceperunt, sed Cassius exceptus scapha refugit; praeterea duae sunt depressae triremes.
And not long after, the battle fought in Thessaly was learned of, so that even the Pompeians themselves believed it; for before that time they thought it was invented by Caesar’s legates and friends. These things learned, Cassius withdrew with his fleet from those places.
neque multo post de proelio facto in Thessalia cognitum est, ut ipsis Pompeianis fides fieret; nam ante id tempus fingi a legatis amicisque Caesaris arbitrabantur. quibus rebus cognitis ex his locis Cassius cum classe discessit.
Caesar, everything else left aside, thought he must pursue Pompey, into whatever parts he had withdrawn from his flight, lest he should be able to get other forces together again and renew the war, and advanced daily as far as he could accomplish with his cavalry, and ordered one legion to follow by shorter marches.
Caesar omnibus rebus relictis persequendum sibi Pompeium existimavit, quascumque in partes se ex fuga recepisset, ne rursus copias comparare alias et bellum renovare posset, et quantumcumque itineris equitatu efficere poterat, cotidie progrediebatur legionemque unam minoribus itineribus subsequi iussit.
An edict had been posted in Pompey’s name at Amphipolis, that all the younger men of that province, Greeks and Roman citizens, should assemble for the sake of taking an oath.
erat edictum Pompei nomine Amphipoli propositum, uti omnes eius provinciae iuniores, Graeci civesque Romani, iurandi causa convenirent.
But whether Pompey had posted it to avert suspicion, that he might conceal his plan of a longer flight as long as possible, or whether, by new levies, if no one pressed him, he was trying to hold Macedonia, could not be judged.
sed utrum avertendae suspicionis causa Pompeius proposuisset, ut quam diutissime longioris fugae consilium occultaret, an novis dilectibus, si nemo premeret, Macedoniam tenere conaretur, existimari non poterat.
He himself lay at anchor one night, and, his guest-friends called to him at Amphipolis and money collected for necessary expenses, learning of Caesar’s arrival, withdrew from that place and in a few days came to Mytilene.
ipse ad ancoram una nocte constitit et vocatis ad se Amphipoli hospitibus et pecunia ad necessarios sumptus conrogata cognitoque Caesaris adventu ex eo loco discessit et Mytilenas paucis diebus venit.
Detained two days by weather, and other swift craft added, he reached Cilicia and from there Cyprus.
biduum tempestate retentus navibusque aliis additis actuariis in Ciliciam atque inde Cyprum pervenit.
There he learns that by the consent of all the people of Antioch and the Roman citizens who did business there the citadel had been seized to shut him out, and messengers sent to those who were said to have withdrawn from their flight into the neighboring states, that they should not go to Antioch; if they did, it would be at great peril of their lives.
ibi cognoscit consensu omnium Antiochensium civiumque Romanorum, qui illic negotiarentur arcem captam esse excludendi sui causa nuntiosque dimissos ad eos, qui se ex fuga in finitimas civitates recepisse dicerentur, ne Antiochiam adirent; id si fecissent, magno eorum capitis periculo futurum.
This same thing had befallen Lucius Lentulus, who had been consul the year before, and Publius Lentulus, an ex-consul, and some others at Rhodes; who, when from their flight they were following Pompey and had come to the island, had not been received into the town and harbor, and, messengers sent to them to depart from those places, against their will had weighed anchor.
idem hoc L. Lentulo, qui superiore anno consul fuerat, et P. Lentulo consulari ac nonnullis aliis acciderat Rhodi; qui cum ex fuga Pompeium sequerentur atque in insulam venissent, oppido ac portu recepti non erant missisque ad eos nuntiis ut ex his locis discederent, contra voluntatem suam naves solverant.
And now the report of Caesar’s arrival was being carried to the states.
iamque de Caesaris adventu fama ad civitates perferebatur.
These things learned, Pompey, his plan of going to Syria laid aside, money taken from the tax-companies and borrowed from certain private men, and a great weight of bronze put aboard the ships for military use, and two thousand men armed—partly those he had chosen from the households of the tax-companies, partly those he had collected from the businessmen, and whomever each of his men thought fit for this purpose—reached Pelusium.
Quibus cognitis rebus Pompeius deposito adeundae Syriae consilio pecunia societatibus sublata et a quibusdam privatis sumpta et aeris magno pondere ad militarem usum in naves imposito duobusque milibus hominum armatis, partim quos ex familiis societatum delegerat, partim a negotiatoribus coegerat, quosque ex suis quisque ad hanc rem idoneos existimabat, Pelusium pervenit.
There by chance was King Ptolemy, a boy in age, waging war with great forces against his sister Cleopatra, whom a few months before, through his kinsmen and friends, he had driven from the kingdom; and Cleopatra’s camp was no great distance from his camp.
ibi casu rex erat Ptolomaeus, puer aetate, magnis copiis cum sorore Cleopatra bellum gerens, quam paucis ante mensibus per suos propinquos atque amicos regno expulerat; castraque Cleopatrae non longo spatio ab eius castris distabant.
To him Pompey sent, that, by the guest-friendship and friendship of his father, he might be received at Alexandria and sheltered by his resources in his calamity.
ad eum Pompeius misit, ut pro hospitio atque amicitia patris Alexandria reciperetur atque illius opibus in calamitate tegeretur.
But those who had been sent by him, the duty of their embassy finished, began to confer too freely with the king’s soldiers and to exhort them to do their duty to Pompey and not to despise his fortune.
sed qui ab eo missi erant, confecto legationis officio liberius cum militibus regis colloqui coeperunt eosque hortari, ut suum officium Pompeio praestarent neve eius fortunam despicerent.
In this number were several of Pompey’s soldiers, whom Gabinius had taken from his army in Syria and brought over to Alexandria, and, the war finished, had left with Ptolemy, the boy’s father.
in hoc erant numero complures Pompei milites, quos ex eius exercitu acceptos in Syria Gabinius Alexandriam traduxerat belloque confecto apud Ptolomaeum, patrem pueri, reliquerat.
These things then learned, the king’s friends, who because of his age were in charge of the kingdom, whether moved by fear, as they afterward proclaimed, lest Pompey should tamper with the royal army and seize Alexandria and Egypt, or in contempt of his fortune—as generally in calamity friends turn into enemies—to those who had been sent by him answered openly and generously and bade him come to the king;
His tum cognitis rebus amici regis, qui propter aetatem eius in procuratione erant regni, sive timore adducti, ut postea praedicabant, sollicitato exercitu regio, ne Pompeius Alexandriam Aegyptumque occuparet, sive despecta eius fortuna, ut plerumque in calamitate ex amicis inimici exsistunt, iis qui erant ab eo missi, palam liberaliter responderunt eumque ad regem venire iusserunt;
but they themselves, a plan secretly formed, sent Achillas, a royal prefect, a man of singular audacity, and Lucius Septimius, a military tribune, to kill Pompey.
ipsi clam consilio inito Achillam, praefectum regium, singulari hominem audacia, et L. Septimium tribunum militum ad interficiendum Pompeium miserunt.
Addressed generously by these, and led on by some acquaintance with Septimius, because he had commanded a rank under him in the war with the pirates, he embarked on a tiny little boat with a few of his men; there he is killed by Achillas and Septimius. Likewise Lucius Lentulus is seized by the king and put to death in custody.
ab his liberaliter ipse appellatus et quadam notitia Septimi perductus, quod bello praedonum apud eum ordinem duxerat, naviculam parvulam conscendit cum paucis suis; ibi ab Achilla et Septimio interficitur. item L. Lentulus comprehenditur ab rege et in custodia necatur.
Caesar, when he had come into Asia, found that Titus Ampius had tried to carry off the moneys at Ephesus from the temple of Diana, and for that purpose had summoned all the senators from the province, to use them as witnesses for the sum of money, but, interrupted by Caesar’s arrival, had fled.
Caesar cum in Asiam venisset, reperiebat T. Ampium conatum esse pecunias tollere Epheso ex fano Dianae eiusque rei causa senatores omnes ex provincia evocavisse, ut his testibus in summam pecuniae uteretur, sed interpellatum adventu Caesaris profugisse.
So at two times Caesar brought aid to the money of Ephesus.
ita duobus temporibus Ephesiae pecuniae Caesar auxilium tulit.
Likewise it was agreed that at Elis, in the temple of Minerva, the days being reckoned back and counted up, on the day on which Caesar fought the successful battle, the image of Victory, which had been placed before Minerva herself and had before faced toward the image of Minerva, turned itself toward the doors and threshold of the temple.
And on the same day at Antioch in Syria so great a shout of an army and sound of standards was twice heard that the citizens ran in arms upon the walls.
eodemque die Antiochiae in Syria bis tantus exercitus clamor et signorum sonus exauditus est, ut in muris armata civitas discurreret.
This same thing happened at Ptolemais. And at Pergamum, in the hidden and secret parts of the temple, where it is right for none but the priests to go, which the Greeks call the inner sanctuary, drums sounded.
hoc idem Ptolomaide accidit. Pergamique in occultis ac reconditis templi, quo praeter sacerdotes adire fas non est, quae Graeci adyta appellant, tympana sonuerunt.
Likewise at Tralles, in the temple of Victory, where they had consecrated a statue of Caesar, a palm was shown to have sprung up during those days on the roof, among the joints of the stones, out of the pavement.
item Trallibus in templo Victoriae, ubi Caesaris statuam consecraverant, palma per eos dies in tecto inter coagmenta lapidum ex pavimento exstitisse ostendebatur.
Caesar, having lingered a few days in Asia, when he had heard that Pompey had been seen at Cyprus, conjecturing that he was making for Egypt because of his connections with the kingdom and the other advantages of that place, reached Alexandria with one legion, which he had ordered to follow him from Thessaly, and another, which he had summoned from Achaia from the legate Quintus Fufius, and eight hundred cavalry and ten Rhodian warships and a few Asiatic ones.
Caesar paucos dies in Asia moratus cum audisset Pompeium Cypri visum, coniectans eum Aegyptum iter habere propter necessitudines regni reliquasque eius loci opportunitates cum legione una, quam se ex Thessalia sequi iusserat, et altera, quam ex Achaia a Q. Fufio legato evocaverat, equitibusque dccc et navibus longis Rhodiis x et Asiaticis paucis Alexandriam pervenit.
In these legions were three thousand two hundred men; the rest, worn out by wounds from the battles and by toil and the length of the march, had not been able to follow.
in his erant legionariorum milia tria cc; reliqui vulneribus ex proeliis et labore ac magnitudine itineris confecti consequi non potuerant.
But Caesar, trusting in the report of his deeds, had not hesitated to set out with weak forces, thinking every place would be equally safe for him.
sed Caesar confisus fama rerum gestarum infirmis auxiliis proficisci non dubitaverat aeque omnem sibi locum tutum fore existimans.
At Alexandria he learns of Pompey’s death, and there, first stepping from the ship, he hears the shout of the soldiers whom the king had left in the town as a garrison, and sees a rush being made toward him, because the rods of office were borne before him. In this the whole multitude proclaimed that the royal majesty was being diminished.
Alexandriae de Pompei morte cognoscit atque ibi primum e navi egrediens clamorem militum audit, quos rex in oppido praesidii causa reliquerat, et concursum ad se fieri videt, quod fasces anteferrentur. in hoc omnis multitudo maiestatem regiam minui praedicabat.
This tumult quieted, on the following days frequent risings arose from the rush of the multitude, and several soldiers were killed in the streets in all parts of the city.
hoc sedato tumultu crebrae continuis diebus ex concursu multitudinis concitationes fiebant conpluresque milites in viis urbis omnibus partibus interficiebantur.
Aware of these things, he ordered other legions to be brought to him from Asia, which he had made up out of Pompeian soldiers. For he himself was of necessity held by the etesian winds, which blow most adverse to those sailing from Alexandria.
Quibus rebus animadversis legiones sibi alias ex Asia adduci iussit, quas ex Pompeianis militibus confecerat. ipse enim necessario etesiis tenebatur, qui navigantibus Alexandria flant adversissimi venti.
Meanwhile, thinking that the disputes of the kings pertained to the Roman people and to himself, because he was consul, and the more befitting his office, because in his earlier consulship an alliance had been made with the father Ptolemy by law and decree of the Senate, he showed that it was his pleasure that King Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra disband the armies they had, and settle their disputes by law before him rather than between themselves by arms.
interim controversias regum ad populum Romanum et ad se, quod esset consul, pertinere existimans, atque eo magis officio suo convenire, quod superiore consulatu cum patre Ptolomaeo ex lege et senatus consulto societas erat facta, ostendit sibi placere regem Ptolomaeum atque eius sororem Cleopatram exercitus, quos haberent, dimittere et de controversiis iure apud se potius quam inter se armis disceptare.
There was, in charge of the kingdom on account of the boy’s age, his tutor, a eunuch named Pothinus. He first began among his own to complain and be indignant that the king was summoned to plead his cause;
Erat in procuratione regni propter aetatem pueri nutricius eius, eunuchus nomine Pothinus. is primum inter suos queri atque indignari coepit regem ad causam dicendam evocari;
then, having found certain helpers of his plan among the king’s friends, he secretly summoned the army from Pelusium to Alexandria and set that same Achillas, of whom we made mention above, over all the forces.
deinde adiutores quosdam consilii sui nanctus ex regis amicis exercitum a Pelusio clam Alexandriam evocavit atque eundem Achillam, cuius supra meminimus, omnibus copiis praefecit.
Him, roused by his own and the king’s promises and puffed up, he instructed by letters and messengers what he wished to be done.
hunc incitatum suis et regis inflatum pollicitationibus, quae fieri vellet, litteris nuntiisque edocuit.
In the will of Ptolemy the father the heirs named were, of the two sons, the elder, and, of the two daughters, she who was first in age.
in testamento Ptolomaei patris heredes erant scripti ex duobus filiis maior et ex duabus filiabus ea quae aetate antecedebat.
That these things be done, by all the gods and by the treaties he had made at Rome, Ptolemy in the same will adjured the Roman people.
haec uti fierent, per omnes deos perque foedera quae Romae fecisset, eodem testamento Ptolomaeus populum Romanum obtestabatur.
One copy of the will had been brought to Rome by his envoys, to be placed in the treasury—and when, because of public preoccupations, it could not be placed there, it was deposited with Pompey—the other, left of the same text and sealed, was produced at Alexandria.
tabulae testamenti unae per legatos eius Romam erant allatae, ut in aerario ponerentur — hae cum propter publicas occupationes poni non potuissent, apud Pompeium sunt depositae —, alterae eodem exemplo relictae atque obsignatae Alexandriae proferebantur.
While these matters were being treated before Caesar, and he most wished, as a common friend and arbiter, to compose the disputes of the kings, suddenly it is reported that the royal army and all the cavalry were coming to Alexandria.
De his rebus cum ageretur apud Caesarem, isque maxime vellet pro communi amico atque arbitro controversias regum componere, subito exercitus regius equitatusque omnis venire Alexandriam nuntiatur.
Caesar’s forces were by no means so great that he could trust them if the fight had to be outside the town. It remained that he should hold himself in his own positions in the town and learn Achillas’s plan.
Caesaris copiae nequaquam erant tantae, ut eis, extra oppidum si esset dimicandum, confideret. relinquebatur, ut se suis locis oppido teneret consiliumque Achillae cognosceret.
Yet he ordered all his soldiers to be under arms and exhorted the king to send envoys, from among his connections of the greatest authority, to Achillas and to show what was his will.
milites tamen omnes in armis esse iussit regemque hortatus est, ut ex suis necessariis, quos haberet maximae auctoritatis, legatos ad Achillam mitteret et, quid esset suae voluntatis, ostenderet.
Sent by him, Dioscorides and Serapion, who had both been envoys at Rome and had had great authority with the father Ptolemy, came to Achillas.
a quo missi Dioscorides et Serapion, qui ambo legati Romae fuerant magnamque apud patrem Ptolomaeum auctoritatem habuerant, ad Achillan pervenerunt.
When they had come into his sight, before he heard or learned for what cause they had been sent, he ordered them to be seized and killed; of whom the one, a wound received, taken up by his own as dead, was carried off, the other was killed.
quos ille, cum in conspectum eius venissent, priusquam audiret aut, cuius rei causa missi essent, cognosceret, corripi atque interfici iussit; quorum alter accepto vulnere occupatus per suos pro occiso sublatus, alter interfectus est.
This done, Caesar saw to it that he held the king in his own power, thinking that the royal name had great authority with his own people, and that the war might rather seem undertaken by the private plan of a few brigands than by royal counsel.
quo facto, regem ut in sua potestate haberet, Caesar effecit, magnam regium nomen apud suos auctoritatem habere existimans, et ut potius privato paucorum et latronum quam regio consilio susceptum bellum videretur.
The forces that were with Achillas were such as to seem contemptible neither in number nor in the kind of men nor in experience of war.
Erant cum Achilla eae copiae, ut neque numero neque genere hominum neque usu rei militaris contemnendae viderentur.
For he had twenty thousand under arms. These consisted of the Gabinian soldiers, who had now come into the habit of Alexandrian life and license and had unlearned the name and discipline of the Roman people, and had taken wives, of whom most had children.
milia enim xx in armis habebat. haec constabant ex Gabinianis militibus, qui iam in consuetudinem Alexandrinae vitae ac licentiae venerant et nomen disciplinamque populi Romani dedidicerant uxoresque duxerant, ex quibus plerique liberos habebant.
To these were added men gathered from the pirates and brigands of the provinces of Syria and Cilicia and the neighboring regions. Many besides, condemned on capital charges and exiles, had assembled.
huc accedebant collecti ex praedonibus latronibusque Syriae Ciliciaeque provinciae finitimarumque regionum. multi praeterea capitis damnati exulesque convenerant.
For all our runaway slaves there was a sure refuge at Alexandria and a sure condition of life, that, their name given in, they should be in the number of the soldiers. If any of these was seized by his master, he was rescued by the agreement of the soldiers, who, because they were involved in a like fault, themselves repelled the force against their fellows as a danger to themselves.
fugitivis omnibus nostris certus erat Alexandriae receptus certaque vitae condicio, ut dato nomine militum essent numero. quorum siquis a domino prehenderetur, consensu militum eripiebatur, qui vim suorum, quod in simili culpa versabantur, ipsi pro suo periculo defendebant.
These were wont to demand the king’s friends for death, to plunder the goods of the wealthy, to besiege the king’s house to increase their pay, to drive some from the kingdom and summon others, by a certain old practice of the Alexandrian army.
hi regum amicos ad mortem deposcere, hi bona locupletum diripere, stipendii augendi causa regis domum obsidere, regno expellere alios, alios arcessere vetere quodam Alexandrini exercitus instituto consuerant.
There were besides two thousand cavalry. All these had grown old in the several wars at Alexandria, had restored the father Ptolemy to his kingdom, had killed the two sons of Bibulus, had waged wars with the Egyptians. From this they had experience of war.
erant praeterea equitum milia duo. inveteraverant hi omnes compluribus Alexandriae bellis, Ptolomaeum patrem in regnum reduxerant, Bibuli filios duos interfecerant, bella cum Aegyptiis gesserant. hinc usum rei militaris habebant.
Trusting in these forces and despising the fewness of Caesar’s soldiers, Achillas was seizing Alexandria, except that part of the town which Caesar held with his soldiers, having tried at the first onset to burst into his house. But Caesar, cohorts disposed through the streets, withstood his charge.
His copiis fidens Achillas paucitatemque militum Caesaris despiciens occupabat Alexandriam praeter eam oppidi partem, quam Caesar cum militibus tenebat, primo impetu domum eius inrumpere conatus. sed Caesar dispositis per vias cohortibus impetum eius sustinuit.
And at the same time there was fighting at the harbor, and this thing brought by far the greatest contest.
eodemque tempore pugnatum est ad portum, ac longe maximam ea res adtulit dimicationem.
For at once, the forces drawn apart, there was fighting in several streets, and with a great multitude the enemy tried to seize the warships. Of these there were fifty that had been sent to Pompey’s aid and, the battle in Thessaly fought, had returned home—all quadriremes and quinqueremes, fitted and equipped in every way for sailing—besides these twenty-two, which had been wont to be at Alexandria as a garrison, all decked;
simul enim diductis copiis pluribus viis pugnabatur, et magna multitudine navis longas occupare hostes conabantur. quarum erant l auxilio missae ad Pompeium proelioque in Thessalia facto domum redierant, quadriremes omnes et quinqueremes aptae instructaeque omnibus rebus ad navigandum, praeter has xxii, quae praesidii causa Alexandriae esse consueverant, constratae omnes;
if they should seize these, the fleet wrested from Caesar, they would have the harbor and the whole sea in their power and keep Caesar from supplies and reinforcements.
quas si occupavissent, classe Caesari erepta portum ac mare totum in sua potestate haberent, commeatu auxiliisque Caesarem prohiberent.
And so the matter was fought with as great a contention as it ought to have been, since the one side saw a quick victory in it, the other their own safety.
itaque tanta est contentione actum, quanta agi debuit, cum illi celerem in ea re victoriam, hi salutem suam consistere viderent.
But Caesar gained the day, and burned all those ships and the rest that were in the docks, because he could not guard so wide an area with a small force, and at once landed soldiers from ships at Pharos.
sed rem obtinuit Caesar omnesque eas naves et reliquas, quae erant in navalibus, incendit, quod tam late tueri parva manu non poterat, confestimque ad Pharum navibus milites exposuit.
Pharos is a tower on an island, of great height, built with marvelous works; which took its name from the island.
Pharus est in insula turris magna altitudine, mirificis operibus extructa; quae nomen ab insula cepit.
This island, set against Alexandria, makes the harbor; but by the earlier kings, moles thrown out into the sea over a length of nine hundred paces, it is joined to the town by a narrow way and a bridge.
haec insula obiecta Alexandriae portum efficit; sed a superioribus regibus in longitudinem passuum dcccc in mare iactis molibus angusto itinere et ponte cum oppido coniungitur.
On this island are dwellings of the Egyptians and a village the size of a town; and whatever ships anywhere strayed a little from their course through carelessness or storm, these they were wont to plunder after the manner of pirates.
in hac sunt insula domicilia Aegyptiorum et vicus oppidi magnitudine; quaeque ubique naves imprudentia aut tempestate paulum suo cursu decesserunt, has more praedonum diripere consuerunt.
And against the will of those who hold Pharos, there can be, because of the narrows, no entry for ships into the harbor.
iis autem invitis, a quibus Pharos tenetur, non potest esse propter angustias navibus introitus in portum.
Fearing this then, Caesar, while the enemy were occupied in the fight, his soldiers landed, seized Pharos and posted a garrison there.
hoc tum veritus Caesar hostibus in pugna occupatis militibusque expositis Pharon prehendit atque ibi praesidium posuit.
By these things it was brought about that grain and reinforcements could be safely brought to him by ship. For he sent round all the neighboring provinces and summoned reinforcements thence.
quibus est rebus effectum, ut tuto frumentum auxiliaque navibus ad eum subportari possent. dimisit enim circum omnes propinquas provincias atque inde auxilia evocavit.
In the other parts of the town it was so fought that they parted on equal terms and neither was driven back—the narrowness of the ground brought this about—and, a few killed on both sides, Caesar, having taken in the most necessary positions, fortified them by night.
reliquis oppidi partibus sic est pugnatum ut aequo proelio discederetur et neutri pellerentur — id efficiebant angustiae loci — paucisque utrimque interfectis Caesar loca maxime necessaria conplexus noctu praemuniit.
In that quarter of the town there was a small part of the palace, into which he himself had at first been brought to lodge, and a theater joined to the house, which held the place of a citadel and had approaches to the harbor and to the royal docks.
in eo tractu oppidi pars erat regiae exigua, in quam ipse habitandi causa initio erat inductus, et theatrum coniunctum domui, quod arcis tenebat locum aditusque habebat ad portum et ad regia navalia.
These fortifications he increased in the following days, that he might have them set as a wall before him and not be forced to fight against his will.
has munitiones insequentibus auxit diebus, ut pro muro obiectas haberet neu dimicare invitus cogeretur.
Meanwhile the younger daughter of King Ptolemy, hoping for the vacant possession of the kingdom, crossed over from the palace to Achillas and began to manage the war together with him.
interim filia minor Ptolomaei regis vacuam possessionem regni sperans ad Achillam sese ex regia traiecit unaque bellum administrare coepit.
But quickly a dispute arose between them over the chief command, which thing increased the largesses among the soldiers; for each of them won their spirits for himself by great expenditures.
sed celeriter est inter eos de principatu controversia orta, quae res apud milites largitiones auxit; magnis enim iacturis sibi quisque eorum animos conciliabat.
While these things are being done among the enemy, Pothinus, the boy’s tutor and steward of the kingdom, on Caesar’s side, when he was sending messengers to Achillas and exhorting him not to give up the business nor to lose heart, his go-betweens disclosed and caught, was killed by Caesar. These were the beginnings of the Alexandrian war.
haec dum apud hostes geruntur, Pothinus, nutricius pueri et procurator regni, in parte Caesaris, cum ad Achillam nuntios mitteret hortareturque, ne negotio desisteret neve animo deficeret, indicatis deprehensisque internuntiis a Caesare est interfectus. haec initia belli Alexandrini fuerunt.