Plutarch's Lives, Volume 3 · Plutarch
LIFE OF C. CÆSAR.
When the tribune Metellus[528] attempted to prevent him from taking money from the reserved treasure[529] and alleged certain laws, Cæsar replied, "That the same circumstances did not suit arms and laws: but do you, if you don't like what is doing, get out of the way, for war needs not bold words; when we have laid down our arms after coming to terms, then you may come forward and make your speeches to the people." "And in saying this," he continued, "I waive part of my rights, for you are mine, and all are mine, who have combined against me, now that I have caught them." Having thus spoken to Metellus he walked to the doors of the treasury; but as the keys were not found, he sent for smiths and ordered them to break the locks. Metellus again opposed him, and some commended him for it, but Cæsar, raising his voice, threatened to kill him, if he did not stop his opposition, "And this," said he, "young man, you well know, is more painful for me to have said than to do." These words alarmed Metellus and made him retire, and also caused everything else to be supplied to Cæsar for the war without further trouble, and with speed. XXXVI. He marched against Iberia,[530] having first determined to drive out Afranius and Varro, the legati of Pompeius, and having got into his power the forces and the provinces in those parts, then to advance against Pompeius without leaving any enemy in his rear. After having often been exposed to risk in his own person from ambuscades, and with his army chiefly from want of provisions, he never gave up pursuing, challenging to battle and hemming in the enemy with his lines, till he had made himself master of their camps and forces. The generals escaped to Pompeius.
XXXVII. On his return to Rome, Piso, the father-in-law of Cæsar, advised that they should send commissioners to Pompeius to treat of terms, but Isauricus opposed the measure to please Cæsar. Being chosen Dictator by the Senate, he restored the exiles, and the children of those who had suffered in the times of Sulla,[531] he reinstated in their civil rights, and he relieved the debtors by a certain abatement of the interest, and took in hand other measures of the like kind, not many in number; but in eleven days, he abdicated the monarchy, and declaring himself and Servilius Isauricus consuls[532] set out on his expedition. The rest of his forces he passed by on his hurried march, and with six hundred picked horsemen and five legions, the time being the winter solstice and the commencement of January (and this pretty nearly corresponds to the Poseideon of the Athenians), he put to sea, and crossing the Ionian gulf he took Oricum and Apollonia; but he sent back his ships to Brundisium for the soldiers whom he had left behind on his march.
But while the men were still on the road, as they were already passed the vigour of their age and worn out by the number of their campaigns, they murmured against Cæsar, "Whither now will he lead us and where will this man at last carry us to, hurrying us about and treating us as if we could never be worn out and as if we were inanimate things? even the sword is at last exhausted by blows, and shield and breastplate need to be spared a little after so long use. Even our wounds do not make Cæsar consider that he commands perishable bodies, and that we are but mortal towards endurance and pain; and the winter season and the storms of the sea even a god cannot command; but this man runs all risks, as if he were not pursuing his enemies, but flying from them." With such words as these they marched slowly towards Brundisium. But when they found that Cæsar had embarked, then quickly changing their temper, they reproached themselves as traitors to their Imperator; and they abused their officers also for not hastening the march. Sitting on the heights, they looked towards the sea and towards Epirus for the ships which were to carry them over to their commander.
XXXVIII. At Apollonia, as Cæsar had not a force sufficient to oppose the enemy, and the delay of the troops from Italy put him in perplexity and much uneasiness, he formed a desperate design, without communicating it to any one, to embark in a twelve-oared boat and go over to Brundisium, though the sea was commanded by so many ships of the enemy.[533] Accordingly, disguising himself in a slave's dress, he went on board by night, and throwing himself down as a person of no importance, he lay quiet. While the river Anius[534] was carrying down the boat towards the sea, the morning breeze, which at that time generally made the water smooth at the outlet of the river by driving the waves before it, was beaten down by a strong wind which blew all night over the sea; and the river, chafing at the swell of the sea and the opposition of the waves, was becoming rough, being driven back by the huge blows and violent eddies, so that it was impossible for the master of the boat to make head against it; on which he ordered the men to change about, intending to turn the boat round. Cæsar perceiving this, discovered himself, and taking the master by the hand, who was alarmed at the sight of him, said, "Come, my good man, have courage and fear nothing; you carry Cæsar and the fortune of Cæsar in your boat." The sailors now forgot the storm, and sticking to their oars, worked with all their force to get out of the river. But as it was impossible to get on, after taking in much water and running great risk at the mouth of the river, Cæsar very unwillingly consented that the master should put back. On his return, the soldiers met him in crowds, and blamed him much and complained that he did not feel confident of victory even with them alone, but was vexed and exposed himself to risk on account of the absent, as if he distrusted those who were present.
XXXIX. Shortly after Antonius arrived from Brundisium with the troops; and Cæsar, being now confident, offered battle to Pompeius, who was well posted and had sufficient supplies both from land and sea, while Cæsar at first had no abundance, and afterwards was hard pressed for want of provisions: but the soldiers cut up a certain root[535] and mixing it with milk, ate it. And once, having made loaves of it, they ran up to the enemies' outposts, threw the bread into the camp, and pitched it about, adding, that so long as the earth produces such roots, they will never stop besieging Pompeius. Pompeius, however, would not let either the matter of the loaves or these words be made known to the mass of the army; for his soldiers were dispirited and dreaded the savage temper and endurance of the enemy as if they were wild beasts. There were continually skirmishes about the fortifications of Pompeius, and Cæsar had the advantage in all except one, in which there was a great rout of his troops and he was in danger of losing his camp. For when Pompeius made an onset, no one stood the attack, but the trenches were filled with the dying, and Cæsar's men were falling about their own ramparts and bulwarks, being driven in disorderly flight.
Though Cæsar met the fugitives and endeavoured to turn them, he had no success, and when he laid hold of the colours, those who were carrying them threw them down, so that the enemy took two and thirty, and Cæsar himself had a narrow escape with his life. A tall, strong man was running away past by Cæsar, who putting his hand upon him, ordered him to stand and face the enemy; but the man, who was completely confounded by the danger, raised his sword to strike him, on which Cæsar's shield-bearer struck the man first and cut off his shoulder. Cæsar had so completely given up his cause as lost, that when Pompeius either through caution or from some accident did not put the finishing stroke to his great success, but retreated after shutting up the fugitives within their ramparts, Cæsar said to his friends as he was retiring, To-day the victory would be with the enemy, if they had a commander who knew how to conquer.
Going into his tent and lying down, Cæsar spent that night of all nights in the greatest agony and perplexity, considering that his generalship had been bad, in that while a fertile country lay near him and the rich cities of Macedonia and Thessaly, he had neglected to carry the war thither, and was now stationed on the sea which the enemy commanded with his ships, and that he was rather held in siege by want of supplies than holding the enemy in siege by his arms. Accordingly, after passing a restless night, full of uneasiness at the difficulty and danger of his present position, he broke up his camp with the determination of leading his troops into Macedonia to oppose Scipio, for he concluded that either he should draw Pompeius after him to a country where he would fight without the advantage of having the same supplies from the sea, or that he would defeat Scipio if he were left to himself.
XL. This encouraged the army of Pompeius and the officers about him to stick close to Cæsar, whom they considered to have been defeated and to be making his escape; though Pompeius himself was cautious about hazarding a battle for so great a stake, and, as he was excellently furnished with everything for prolonging the war, he thought it best to wear out and weaken the vigour of the enemy, which could not be long sustained. For the best fighting men in Cæsar's army possessed experience and irresistible courage in battle; but in marchings and making encampments and assaulting fortifications and watching by night, they gave way by reason of their age, and their bodies were unwieldy for labour, and owing to weakness, had lost their alacrity. It was also reported that a pestilential disease was prevalent in Cæsar's army, which had originated in the want of proper food; and, what was chief of all, as Cæsar was neither well supplied with money nor provisions, it might be expected that in a short time his army would be broken up of itself.
XLI. For these reasons Pompeius did not wish to fight, and Cato alone commended his design, because he wished to spare the citizens; for after seeing those who had fallen in the battle to the number of a thousand, he wrapped up his face and went away with tears in his eyes. But all the rest abused Pompeius for avoiding a battle, and tried to urge him on by calling him Agamemnon and King of Kings, by which they implied that he was unwilling to lay down the sole command, and was proud at having so many officers under his orders and coming to his tent, Favonius, who aped Cato's freedom of speech, raved because they should not be able even that year to enjoy the figs of Tusculum owing to Pompeius being so fond of command; and Afranius (for he had just arrived from Iberia, where he had shown himself a bad general), being charged with betraying his army for a bribe, asked why they did not fight with the merchant who had bought the provinces of him. Pressed by all this importunity, Pompeius pursued Cæsar with the intention of fighting, though contrary to his wish. Cæsar accomplished his march with difficulty, as no one would supply him with provisions and he was universally despised on account of his recent defeat; however, after taking Gomphi,[536] a Thessalian city, he had not only provisions for his army, but his men were unexpectedly relieved from their disease. For they fell in with abundance of wine, of which they drank plentifully, and revelling and rioting on their march, by means of their drunkenness, they threw off and got rid of their complaint in consequence of their bodies being brought into a different habit.
XLII. When the two armies had entered the plain of Pharsalus and pitched their camps, Pompeius again fell back into his former opinion, and there were also unlucky appearances and a vision in his sleep.[537] He dreamed that he saw himself in the theatre, applauded by the Romans. But those about him were so confident, and so fully anticipated a victory, that Domitius and Scipio and Spinther were disputing and bestirring themselves against one another about the priesthood of Cæsar, and many persons sent to Rome to hire and get possession of houses that were suitable for consuls and prætors, expecting to be elected to magistracies immediately after the war. But the cavalry showed most impatience for the battle, being sumptuously equipped with splendid armour, and priding themselves on their well-fed horses and fine persons, and on their numbers also, for they were seven thousand against Cæsar's thousand. The number of the infantry also was unequal, there being forty-five thousand matched against twenty-two thousand.
XLIII. Cæsar, calling his soldiers together and telling them that Corfinius[538] was close at hand with two legions, and that other cohorts to the number of fifteen under Calenus were encamped near Megara and Athens, asked if they would wait for them or hazard a battle by themselves. The soldiers cried out aloud that they did not wish him to wait, but rather to contrive and so manage his operations that they might soonest come to a battle with their enemies. While he was performing a lustration of the army, as soon as he had sacrificed the first victim, the soothsayer said that within three days there would be a decisive battle with the enemy. Upon Cæsar asking him, if he saw any favourable sign in the victims as to the result of the battle also, he replied, "You can answer this better for yourself: the gods indicate a great change and revolution of the actual state of things to a contrary state, so that if you think yourself prosperous in your present condition, expect the worst fortune; but if you do not, expect the better." As Cæsar was taking his round to inspect the watches the night before the battle about midnight, there was seen in the heavens a fiery torch, which seemed to pass over Cæsar's camp and assuming a bright and flame-like appearance to fall down upon the camp of Pompeius. In the morning watch they perceived that there was also a panic confusion among the enemy. However, as Cæsar did not expect that the enemy would fight on that day, he began to break up his camp with the intention of marching to Scotussa.
XLIV. The tents were already taken down when the scouts rode up to him with intelligence that the enemy were coming down to battle, whereupon Cæsar was overjoyed, and after praying to the gods he arranged his battle in three divisions. He placed Domitius Calvinus in command of the centre, Antonius had the left wing, and he commanded the right, intending to fight in the tenth legion. Observing that the cavalry of the enemy were posting themselves opposite to this wing and fearing their splendid appearance and their numbers, he ordered six cohorts to come round to him from the last line without being observed and he placed them in the rear of the right wing with orders what to do when the enemy's cavalry made their attack. Pompeius commanded his own right, and Domitius the left, and the centre was under Scipio, his father-in-law. But all the cavalry crowded to the left, intending to surround the right wing of the enemy and to make a complete rout of the men who were stationed about the general; for they believed that no legionary phalanx, however deep, could resist, but that their opponents would be completely crushed and broken to pieces by an attack of so many cavalry at once.
When the signal for attack was going to be given on both sides, Pompeius ordered the legionary soldiers to stand with their spears presented and in close order to wait the attack of the enemy till they were within a spear's throw. But Cæsar says that here also Pompeius made a mistake, not knowing that the first onset, accompanied with running and impetuosity, gives force to the blows, and at the same time fires the courage, which is thus fanned in every way. As Cæsar was about to move his phalanx and was going into action, the first centurion that he spied was a man who was faithful to him and experienced in war, and was encouraging those under his command and urging them to vigorous exertion. Cæsar addressing him by name said, "What hopes have we Caius Crassinius,[539] and how are our men as to courage?" Crassinius stretching out his right hand and calling out aloud, said, "We shall have a splendid victory, Cæsar; and you shall praise me whether I survive the day or die." Saying this, he was the first to fall on the enemy at his full speed and carrying with him the hundred and twenty soldiers who were under his command. Having cut through the first rank, he was advancing with great slaughter of the enemy and was driving them from their ground, when he was stopped by a blow from a sword through the mouth, and the point came out at the back of his neck.
XLV. The infantry having thus rushed together in the centre and being engaged in the struggle, the cavalry of Pompeius proudly advanced from the wing, extending their companies to enclose Cæsar's right; but before they fell upon the enemy, the cohorts sprang forward from among Cæsar's troops, not, according to the usual fashion of war, throwing their spears nor yet holding them in their hands and aiming at the thighs and legs of the enemy, but pushing them against their eyes and wounding them in the face; and they had been instructed to do this by Cæsar, who was confident that men who had no great familiarity with battles or wounds, and were young and very proud of their beauty and youth, would dread such wounds and would not keep their ground both through fear of the present danger and the future disfigurement. And it turned out so; for they could not stand the spears being pushed up at them nor did they venture to look at the iron that was presented against their eyes, but they turned away and covered their faces to save them; and at last, having thus thrown themselves into confusion, they turned to flight most disgracefully and ruined the whole cause.
For those who had defeated the cavalry, immediately surrounded the infantry and falling on them in the rear began to cut them down. But when Pompeius saw from the other wing the cavalry dispersed in flight, he was no longer the same, nor did he recollect that he was Pompeius Magnus, but more like a man who was deprived of his understanding by the god than anything else,[540] he retired without speaking a word to his tent, and sitting down awaited the result, until the rout becoming general the enemy were assailing the ramparts, and fighting with those who defended them. Then, as if he had recovered his senses and uttering only these words, as it is reported, "What even to the ramparts!" he put off his military and general's dress, and taking one suited for a fugitive, stole away. But what fortunes he afterwards had, and how he gave himself up to the Egyptians and was murdered, I shall tell in the Life of Pompeius.
XLVI. When Cæsar entered the camp of Pompeius and saw the bodies of those who were already killed, and the slaughter still going on among the living, he said with a groan: They would have it so; they brought me into such a critical position that I, Caius Cæsar, who have been successful in the greatest wars, should have been condemned, if I had disbanded my troops. Asinius Pollio[541] says that Cæsar uttered these words on that occasion in Latin, and that he wrote them down in Greek. He also says that the chief part of those who were killed were slaves, and they were killed when the camp was taken; and that not more than six thousand soldiers fell. Of those who were taken prisoners, Cæsar drafted most into his legions; and he pardoned many men of distinction, among whom was Brutus, who afterwards murdered him. Cæsar is said to have been very much troubled at his not being found, but when Brutus, who had escaped unhurt, presented himself to Cæsar, he was greatly pleased.
XLVII. There were many prognostics of the victory, but the most remarkable is that which is reported as having appeared at Tralles.[542] In the temple of Victory there stood a statue of Cæsar, and the ground about it was naturally firm and the surface was also paved with hard stone; from this, they say, there sprung up a palm-tree by the pedestal of the statue. In Patavium, Caius Cornelius, a man who had reputation for his skill in divination, a fellow-citizen and acquaintance of Livius the historian, happened to be sitting that day to watch the birds. And first of all, as Livius says, he discovered the time of the battle, and he said to those who were present that the affair was now deciding and the men were going into action. Looking again and observing the signs, he sprang up with enthusiasm and called out, "You conquer, Cæsar." The bystanders being surprised, he took the chaplet from his head and said with an oath, that he would not put it on again till facts had confirmed his art. Livius affirms that these things were so.
XLVIII. Cæsar after giving the Thessalians their liberty[543] in consideration of his victory, pursued Pompeius. On reaching Asia[544] he made the Cnidians free to please Theopompus,[545] the collector of mythi, and he remitted to all the inhabitants of Asia the third of their taxes. Arriving at Alexandria[546] after the death of Pompeius, he turned away from Theodotus who brought him the head of Pompeius, but he received his seal ring[547] and shed tears over it. All the companions and intimate friends of Pompeius who were rambling about the country and had been taken by the King, he treated well and gained over to himself. He wrote to his friends in Rome, that the chief and the sweetest pleasure that he derived from his victory, was to be able to pardon any of those citizens who had fought against him.
As to the war[548] there, some say that it might have been avoided and that it broke out in consequence of his passion for Kleopatra and was discreditable to him and hazardous; but others blame the King's party and chiefly the eunuch Potheinus,who possessed the chief power, and having lately cut off Pompeius and driven out Kleopatra, was now secretly plotting against Cæsar; and on this account they say that Cæsar from that time passed the nights in drinking in order to protect himself. But in his public conduct Pothinus was unbearable, for he both said and did many things to bring odium on Cæsar and to insult him. While measuring out to the soldiers the worst and oldest corn he told them they must be satisfied with it and be thankful, as they were eating what belonged to others; and at the meals he used only wooden and earthen vessels, alleging that Cæsar had got all the gold and silver vessels in payment for a debt.[549] For the father of the then King owed Cæsar one thousand seven hundred and fifty times ten thousand, of which Cæsar had remitted the seven hundred and fifty to the King's sons before, but he now claimed the one thousand to maintain his army with. Upon Pothinus now bidding him take his departure and attend to his important affairs and that he should afterwards receive his money back with thanks, Cæsar said, that least of all people did he want the Egyptians as advisers, and he secretly sent for Kleopatra from the country.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.