Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
right wing, and instructed them what they should do, when the
enemy's horse came to charge. On the other side, Pompey
commanded the right wing, Domitius the left, and Scipio,
Pompey's father-in-law, the center. The whole weight of the
cavalry was collected on the left wing, with the intent that
they should outflank the right wing of the enemy, and rout that
part where the general himself commanded. For they thought no
phalanx of infantry could be solid enough to sustain such a
shock, but that they must necessarily be broken and shattered
all to pieces upon the onset of so immense a force of cavalry.
When they were ready on both sides to give the signal for
battle, Pompey commended his foot who were in the front to stand
their ground, and without breaking their order, receive quietly
the enemy's first attack, till they came within javelin's cast.
Caesar, in this respect, also, blames Pompey's generalship, as
if he had not been aware how the first encounter, when made with
an impetus and upon the run, gives weight and force to the
strokes, and fires the men's spirits into a flame, which the
general concurrence fans to full heat. He himself was just
putting the troops into motion and advancing to the action, when
he found one of his captains, a trusty and experienced soldier,
encouraging his men to exert their utmost. Caesar called him by
his name, and said, "What hopes, Caius Crassinius, and what
grounds for encouragement?" Crassinius stretched out his hand,
and cried in a loud voice, "We shall conquer nobly, Caesar; and
I this day will deserve your praises, either alive or dead." So
he said, and was the first man to run in upon the enemy,
followed by the hundred and twenty soldiers about him, and
breaking through the first rank, still pressed on forwards with
much slaughter of the enemy, till at last he was struck back by
the wound of a sword, which went in at his mouth with such force
that it came out at his neck behind.
Whilst the foot was thus sharply engaged in the main battle, on
the flank Pompey's horse rode up confidently, and opened their
ranks very wide, that they might surround the Fight wing of
Caesar. But before they engaged, Caesar's cohorts rushed out
and attacked them, and did not dart their javelins at a
distance, nor strike at the thighs and legs, as they usually did
in close battle, but aimed at their faces. For thus Caesar had
instructed them, in hopes that young gentlemen, who had not
known much of battles and wounds, but came wearing their hair
long, in the flower of their age and height of their beauty,
would be more apprehensive of such blows, and not care for
hazarding both a danger at present and a blemish for the future.
And so it proved, for they were so far from bearing the stroke
of the javelins, that they could not stand the sight of them,
but turned about, and covered their faces to secure them. Once
in disorder, presently they turned about to fly; and so most
shamefully ruined all. For those who had beat them back, at
once outflanked the infantry, and falling on their rear, cut
them to pieces. Pompey, who commanded the other wing of the
army, when he saw his cavalry thus broken and flying, was no
longer himself, nor did he now remember that he was Pompey the
Great, but like one whom some god had deprived of his senses,
retired to his tent without speaking; a word, and there sat to
expect the event, till the whole army was routed, and the enemy
appeared upon the works which were thrown up before the camp,
where they closely engaged with his men, who were posted there
to defend it. Then first he seemed to have recovered his
senses, and uttering, it is said, only these words, "What, into
the camp too?" he laid aside his general's habit, and putting on
such clothes as might best favor his flight, stole off. What
fortune he met with afterwards, how he took shelter in Egypt,
and was murdered there, we tell you in his Life.
Caesar, when he came to view Pompey's camp, and saw some of his
opponents dead upon the ground, others dying, said, with a
groan, "This they would have; they brought me to this necessity.
I, Caius Caesar, after succeeding in so many wars, had been
condemned, had I dismissed my army." These words, Pollio says,
Caesar spoke in Latin at that time, and that he himself wrote
them in Greek; adding, that those who were killed at the taking
of the camp, were most of them servants; and that not above six
thousand soldiers fell. Caesar incorporated most of the foot
whom he took prisoners, with his own legions, and gave a free
pardon to many of the distinguished persons, and amongst the
rest, to Brutus, who afterwards killed him. He did not
immediately appear after the battle was over, which put Caesar,
it is said, into great anxiety for him; nor was his pleasure
less when he saw him present himself alive.
There were many prodigies that foreshowed this victory, but the
most remarkable that we are told of, was that at Tralles. In
the temple of Victory stood Caesar's statue. The ground on
which it stood was naturally hard and solid, and the stone with
which it was paved still harder; yet it is said that a palm-tree
shot itself up near the pedestal of this statue. In the city of
Padua, one Caius Cornelius, who had the character of a good
augur, the fellow-citizen and acquaintance of Livy, the
historian, happened to be making some augural observations that
very day when the battle was fought. And first, as Livy tells
us, he pointed out the time of the fight, and said to those who
were by him, that just then the battle was begun, and the men
engaged. When he looked a second time, and observed the omens,
he leaped up as if he had been inspired, and cried out, "Caesar,
you are victorious." This much surprised the standers by, but
he took the garland which he had on from his head, and swore he
would never wear it again till the event should give authority
to his art. This Livy positively states for a truth.
Caesar, as a memorial of his victory, gave the Thessalians
their freedom, and then went in pursuit of Pompey. When he was
come into Asia, to gratify Theopompus, the author of the
collection of fables, he enfranchised the Cnidians, and remitted
one third of their tribute to all the people of the province of
Asia. When he came to Alexandria, where Pompey was already
murdered, he would not look upon Theodotus, who presented him
with his head, but taking only his signet, shed tears. Those of
Pompey's friends who had been arrested by the king of Egypt, as
they were wandering in those parts, he relieved, and offered
them his own friendship. In his letter to his friends at Rome,
he told them that the greatest and most signal pleasure his
victory had given him, was to be able continually to save the
lives of fellow-citizens who had fought against him. As to the
war in Egypt, some say it was at once dangerous and
dishonorable, and noways necessary, but occasioned only by his
passion for Cleopatra. Others blame the ministers of the king,
and especially the eunuch Pothinus, who was the chief favorite,
and had lately killed Pompey, who had banished Cleopatra, and
was now secretly plotting Caesar's destruction, (to prevent
which, Caesar from that time began to sit up whole nights, under
pretense of drinking, for the security of his person,) while
openly he was intolerable in his affronts to Caesar, both by his
words and actions. For when Caesar's soldiers had musty and
unwholesome corn measured out to them, Pothinus told them they
must be content with it, since they were fed at another's cost.
He ordered that his table should be served with wooden and
earthen dishes, and said Caesar had carried off all the gold and
silver plate, under pretense of arrears of debt. For the
present king's father owed Caesar one thousand seven hundred and
fifty myriads of money; Caesar had formerly remitted to his
children the rest, but thought fit to demand the thousand
myriads at that time, to maintain his army. Pothinus told him
that he had better go now and attend to his other affairs of
greater consequence, and that he should receive his money at
another time with thanks. Caesar replied that he did not want
Egyptians to be his counselors, and soon after, privately sent
for Cleopatra from her retirement.
She took a small boat, and one only of her confidents,
Apollodorus, the Sicilian, along with her, and in the dusk of
the evening landed near the palace. She was at a loss how to
get in undiscovered, till she thought of putting herself into
the coverlet of a bed and lying at length, whilst Apollodorus
tied up the bedding and carried it on his back through the gates
to Caesar's apartment. Caesar was first captivated by this
proof of Cleopatra's bold wit, and was afterwards so overcome by
the charm of her society, that he made a reconciliation between
her and her brother, on condition that she should rule as his
colleague in the kingdom. A festival was kept to celebrate this
reconciliation, where Caesar's barber, a busy, listening fellow,
whose excessive timidity made him inquisitive into everything,
discovered that there was a plot carrying on against Caesar by
Achillas, general of the king's forces, and Pothinus, the
eunuch. Caesar, upon the first intelligence of it, set a guard
upon the hall where the feast was kept, and killed Pothinus.
Achillas escaped to the army, and raised a troublesome and
embarrassing war against Caesar, which it was not easy for him
to manage with his few soldiers against so powerful a city and
so large an army. The first difficulty he met with was want of
water, for the enemies had turned the canals. Another was, when
the enemy endeavored to cut off his communication by sea, he was
forced to divert that danger by setting fire to his own ships,
which, after burning the docks, thence spread on and destroyed
the great library. A third was, when in an engagement near
Pharos, he leaped from the mole into a small boat, to assist his
soldiers who were in danger, and when the Egyptians pressed him
on every side, he threw himself into the sea, and with much
difficulty swam off. This was the time when, according to the
story, he had a number of manuscripts in his hand, which, though
he was continually darted at, and forced to keep his head often
under water, yet he did not let go, but held them up safe from
wetting in one hand, whilst he swam with the other. His boat,
in the meantime, was quickly sunk. At last, the king having
gone off to Achillas and his party, Caesar engaged and conquered
them. Many fell in that battle, and the king himself was never
seen after. Upon this, he left Cleopatra queen of Egypt, who
soon after had a son by him, whom the Alexandrians called
Caesarion, and then departed for Syria.
Thence he passed to Asia, where he heard that Domitius was
beaten by Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, and had fled out of
Pontus with a handful of men; and that Pharnaces pursued the
victory so eagerly, that though he was already master of
Bithynia and Cappadocia, he had a further design of attempting
the Lesser Armenia, and was inviting all the kings and tetrarchs
there to rise. Caesar immediately marched against him with
three legions, fought him near Zela, drove him out of Pontus,
and totally defeated his army. When he gave Amantius, a friend
of his at Rome, an account of this action, to express the
promptness and rapidity of it, he used three words, I came, saw,
and conquered, which in Latin having all the same cadence,
carry with them a very suitable air of brevity.
Hence he crossed into Italy, and came to Rome at the end of that
year, for which he had been a second time chosen dictator,
though that office had never before lasted a whole year, and was