[Much of my site will be useless to you if you've got the images turned off!]
mail:
Bill Thayer

[Clicca hic ad Latinam paginam legendam.]
Latine

[Cliccare qui per una pagina di aiuto in Italiano.]
Italiano

[Link to a series of help pages]
Help
[Link to the next level up]
Up
[Link to my homepage]
Home
previous:

[Link to previous section]
II: Part 4

This webpage reproduces part of
The Epitome of Roman History

by
Florus

published in the Loeb Classical Library,
1929

The text is in the public domain.

This page has been carefully proofread
and I believe it to be free of errors.
If you find a mistake though,
please let me know!

next:

[Link to next section]
II: Part 6

Lucius Annaeus Florus

The two books of the Epitome,
extracted from Titus Livius,
of all the wars of seven hundred years

Book II (continued)

 p265  [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] XIII. The Civil War between Caesar and Pompeius

IIII, 2 Almost the whole world having been now subjugated, the Roman Empire was too strong to be overcome by any foreign power. Fortune, therefore, envying a people that was sovereign of the world, armed it to its own destruction. 2 The fury of  p267 Marius and Cinna had, indeed, formed a prelude, and as it were a preliminary trial, within the city; the thunder of the storm raised by Sulla had rolled over a wider area, but within the confines of Italy. 3 The rage of Caesar and Pompeius, like a flood or a fire, involved the city and Italy, and then tribes and nations, and finally the whole extent of the empire. 4 It cannot, therefore, justly be called merely a civil war, nor a war between allies, nor yet a foreign war, but was rather a war with all these characteristics and something worse than a war.​1 5 If one looks at the leaders, the whole senate was ranged on one side or the other; if one considers the forces engaged, on one side were eleven legions, on the other eighteen, all the flower and strength of Italy's manhood; if one looks at the aid given by the allies, one finds on one side the levies of Gaul and Germany, on the other side Deiotarus, Ariobarzanes, Tarcondimotus, Cotys and Rhascypolis,​2 all the strength of Thrace, Cappadocia, Macedonia, Cilicia, Greece and the whole East. 6 If one considers the duration of the war, it lasted for four years, a short period in view of the destruction which it wrought. If one looks at the ground and space which it covered, it began in Italy, it next directed its course into Gaul and Spain, and then, returning from the West, settled in full force upon Epirus and Thessaly; thence it suddenly leaped across into Egypt, whence it cast a backward glance upon Asia, brooded over Africa, and finally wheeled back into Spain, where at last it died out. 7 But the close of the war did not see the end of party hatred, which  p269 did not subside until the rancour of those who had been defeated sated itself with the murder of the victor in the city itself, in the midst of the senate.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 The cause of this great calamity was the same which caused all our calamities, namely, excessive good fortune. In the consul­ship of Quintus Metellus and Lucius Afranius,​3 when the majesty of Rome held sway throughout the world and Rome was celebrating in the theatres of Pompeius her recent victories and her triumphs over the peoples of Pontus and Armenia, the excessive power enjoyed by Pompeius excited, as often happens, a feeling of envy among the ease-loving citizens. 9 Metellus, because his triumph over Crete was shorn of its splendour,​4 and Cato, who always looked askance upon those in power, began to decry Pompeius and clamour against his measures. Annoyance at this drove Pompeius into opposition and induced him to seek support for his position. 10 Crassus happened at this time to be at the height of a reputation due to his birth, wealth and the high offices which he had held, and yet he wished to increase his riches; Gaius Caesar's fame for eloquence and courage was now enhanced by his tenure of the consul­ship;​5 but Pompeius occupied a higher position than either of them. 11 Caesar, therefore, being desirous of winning, Crassus of increasing, and Pompeius of retaining his position, and all alike being eager for power, readily came to an agreement to seize the government. 12 So, each striving with the support of the others to win glory for himself, Caesar entered upon the government of Gaul, Crassus upon that of Asia, and Pompeius upon that of Spain. They possessed three great armies, and the rule of the whole world was vested in these by association  p271 of the three leaders. 13 This domination lasted for ten years in accordance with their compact, because they were restrained by fear of one another. But when Crassus had fallen fighting against the Parthians, and Julia, who, as Caesar's daughter and the wife of Pompeius, by this bond of marriage maintained friendly relations between father-in‑law and son-in‑law, had died, rivalry immediately broke out. 14 Caesar's power now inspired the envy of Pompeius, while Pompeius' eminence was offensive to Caesar; Pompeius could not brook an equal or Caesar a superior. Oh, the wickedness of it! They strove for the first place, as though the fortunes of a great empire could not find room for both of them. 15 And so, in the consul­ship of Lentulus and Marcellus,​6 the bond of agreement was first broken. The senate — in other words, Pompeius — began to agitate for the appointment of a successor to Caesar, and he was not inclined to object provided that his name should be considered at the coming elections. 16 The granting of the consul­ship to him in his absence, which the tribunes of the people had recently decreed with the support of Pompeius, was now refused through secret machinations on the part of Pompeius, and it was urged that he should come and stand as a candidate in accordance with ancient precedent. 17 Caesar, on the other hand, demanded that the decree should be put into execution, and refused to disband his army unless the compact held good. A decree was, therefore, passed declaring him a public enemy. Caesar, exasperated at this, determined to defend by arms the prizes which he had won by arms.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 18 The first arena of the civil war was Italy, the strongholds of which Pompeius had occupied with  p273 light garrisons; but Caesar's sudden attack carried all before it. 19 The first trumpet-call was sounded at Ariminum; Libo was driven out of Etruria, Thermus from Umbria, Domitius from Corfinium. The war would have terminated without bloodshed if Caesar could have surprised Pompeius at Brundisium; 20 and he would have captured him, if he had not escaped by night through the entrance of the beleaguered harbour. A shameful tale, he who was but lately head of the senate and arbiter of peace and war fleeing, in a storm-beaten and almost dismantled vessel, over the sea which had been the scene of his triumphs. 21 The flight of the senate from the city was as discreditable as that of Pompeius from Italy. Caesar on his entrance into Rome found it almost deserted owing to the fear which he inspired, and made himself consul.​7 When the tribunes showed themselves slow in unlocking the sacred treasury, he ordered it to be broken open, thus taking possession of the revenue and inheritance of the Roman people before he assumed the government.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 22 Pompeius being routed and in flight, Caesar preferred to set the provinces in order before he pursued him. Sicily and Sardinia, which insure our cornº supply, he secured by his lieutenant-generals. 23 There was no hostility in Gaul, where he himself had established peace. Marseilles, however, as he was passing through on his way to attack Pompeius' armies in Spain, dared to close its gates to him; the luckless city, desirous of peace, became involved in war through its dread of war. But since it was protected by walls, he gave orders that it should be reduced for him in his absence. 24 This, though only  p275 a Greek city, failing to justify its reputation for effeminacy, had the courage to break through the enemy's circumvallations and to burn their engines of war and even to engage them at sea. 25 But Brutus, to whom the operations had been entrusted, defeated and overcame them by land and sea. They quickly surrendered and were deprived of everything which they possessed except the most valued of all their possessions, their liberty.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 26 In Spain an indecisive war with varying success, but without heavy bloodshed, was fought against Petreius and Afranius, the lieutenant-generals of Gnaeus Pompeius, whom, while they were encamped at Ilerda on the river Sicoris, Caesar attempted to besiege and cut off from the town. 27 Meanwhile the flooding of the river in the spring prevented him from obtaining supplies; thus his camp was threatened with starvation, and the besieger was himself as it were besieged. 28 When, however, the river resumed its tranquil course and opened the country to ravaging and fighting, he again fiercely attacked the enemy and, when they retreated into Celtiberia, followed them up and reduced them to surrender by ditch and rampart and consequent lack of water. 29 Thus Hither Spain was recovered, nor did Further Spain delay Caesar long; for what could one legion do after five had been defeated? After the voluntary surrender of Varro, Gades, the Straits and the Ocean all obeyed Caesar's lucky star.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 30 Fortune, however, ventured some opposition to the absent leader, namely, in Illyricum and Africa, as though on purpose to make his successes more glorious in contrast with failure elsewhere. 31 For when Dolabella and Antonius, who had been ordered  p277 to hold the entrance to the Adriatic, had encamped, the former on the Illyrian coast and the latter on the shore near Curicta, at a time when Pompeius enjoyed a wide command of the sea, the latter's lieutenant-general Octavius Libo suddenly surrounded both of them with large forces from the fleet. 32 Famine compelled Antonius to surrender. Some rafts sent to his assistance by Basilus — as good a substitute as he could make for the lack of ships — were captured, as in a net, by means of ropes drawn along under the water, a new device on the part of some Cilicians in Pompeius' service. 33 The tide, however, floated two of them off; but one of them, which carried troops from Opitergium, went aground on the shallows and provided an incident worthy of record in history. A band of barely 1,000 men withstood for a whole day the weapons of an army which had completely surrounded them, and when their valour procured no way of escape, at last, at the exhortation of the tribune Vulteius, in order that they might not be forced to surrender, they fell upon one another and died by the blows of their fellows. 34 In Africa too Curio showed like bravery and met with a like disaster. Sent to recover that province and elated at having routed Varus and put him to flight, he was unable to resist a sudden attack of King Juba and the Moorish cavalry. A way of flight was open to the defeated general, but shame induced him to share the fate of an army which had been lost through his rashness.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 35 But, Fortune now demanding that the destined pair of combatants should meet, Pompeius had chosen Epirus as the scene of operations, and Caesar was not slow to face him. 36 Having set all things in  p279 order in his rear, although mid-winter impeded his passage with a storm, he sailed to war, 37 and having pitched his camp at Oricum and finding that the absence of part of his army, which had been left behind at Brundisiumº with Antonius owing to lack of ships, was delaying operations, he was so impatient that, though a gale was raging at sea, he attempted to cross in the depth of the night alone in a light reconnoitring boat to keep them off. His remark to the master of the vessel, who was alarmed at the greatness of the risk, has come down to us: "Why are you afraid? You have Caesar on board." 38 All their forces having been collected together from every side and their camps pitched close to one another, the plans of the two generals were very different. Caesar, naturally aggressive and eager to obtain a decision, displayed his troops in line of battle and provoked and challenged the enemy. 39 At one time he blockaded Pompeius' camp, which he had surrounded with a rampart sixteen miles in circumference; but what harm could a siege do to an army which, from its command of the sea, could obtain supplies of every kind in abundance? 40 At another time he made an attack on Dyrrhachium, but in vain, since its very site alone rendered it impregnable; and, further, he constantly encountered with the enemy whenever they made a sally — when extraordinary bravery was displayed by the centurion Scaevola, in whose shield a hundred and twenty weapons were lodged — 41 and, finally, plundered the cities which had allied themselves with Pompeius, laying waste Oricum, Gomphi and other fortresses of Thessaly. 42 Against these movements Pompeius contrived delays and subterfuges, and tried to wear down the enemy,  p281 who were hemmed in on all sides, by depriving them of their supplies, and waited for the moment when the zeal of the impetuous general should die down. 43 But Pompeius' salutary plan did not avail him very long; the soldiers complained of his inactivity, the allies of the length of the war, the nobles of the ambition of their leader. The fates thus forcing on an issue, Thessaly was chosen as the scene of the battle, and the destiny of the city, the empire and the human race was entrusted for decision to the plains of Philippi.​8 44 Never did Fortune see so much of the might and dignity of the Roman people collected in one place; more than 300,000 men were assembled in the two armies as well as auxiliary troops, kings and senate. 45 Never were the portents of impending disaster more clearly manifest, victims escaping from slaughter, bees swarming upon the standards, and darkness coming on in the daytime. Pompeius himself dreamed that he was surrounded in his own theatre by a clapping of hands which resembled the beating of breasts, and in the morning appeared at his headquarters clad in a dark cloak — an omen of misfortune. 46 Caesar's army was never more eager and alert, and it was from his side that the first trumpet-call was sounded and the first weapons were discharged. The javelin of Crastinus was noted as that of the man who started the battle, and the strangeness of the wound which he received — he was found among the dead with a sword thrust into his mouth — showed the zeal and rage with which he had fought. 47 Nor was the issue of the campaign less wondrous; for although Pompeius had such a superiority in cavalry that he thought he could easily surround Caesar,  p283 he was himself surrounded. 48 For when the fight had continued for a long time without advantage to either side and, by Pompeius' order, his cavalry had poured forth in an onslaught from the wing, suddenly at a given signal the German cohorts made so violent an attack from that quarter on the cavalry as they rushed out that the latter seemed but infantry, while their assailants seemed to be mounted on horseback. 49 The slaughter of the retreating cavalry was accompanied by the destruction of the light infantry; then the panic extended further and, one body of troops spreading confusion to another, the slaughter of the rest was accomplished as though by one sweep of the hand, and the very size of the army contributed more than anything to its destruction. 50 Caesar was everywhere in the battle and combined the functions of a general and of a common soldier. Some of his remarks too, made as he rode about, are preserved. One of them, "Soldiers, strike the foe in the face," was cruel but judicious and conducive to success. Another, "Spare your fellow-citizens," 51 uttered when he was himself pursuing Pompeius (who would have been lucky in his misfortunes if the same fate which overtook his army had fallen upon himself), was intended merely as a boast. As it was, Pompeius survived his honours, only to suffer the still greater disgrace of escaping on horseback through the Thessalian Tempe; of reaching Lesbos with one small vessel; of meditating at Syedra, on a lonely rock in Cilicia, an escape to Parthia, Africa or Egypt; 52 and finally of dying by murder in the sight of his wife and children on the shores of Pelusium, by order of the most contemptible of kings and by the advice of eunuchs, and, to complete the tale of his  p285 misfortunes, by the sword of Septimius, a deserter from his own army.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 53 With the death of Pompeius, who could but suppose that the war was over? Yet the embers of the conflagration in Thessaly burst forth again in flames with far greater fury and violence. 54 In Egypt, indeed, a war broke out against Caesar which had no connection with the party faction. 55 Since Ptolemaeus, king of Alexandria, had perpetrated the crowning atrocity of the civil war and had sealed a treaty of friendship with Caesar by means of Pompeius' murder, fate called for vengeance for the shade of so illustrious a victim; and an occasion soon presented itself. 56 Cleopatra, the king's sister, threw herself at Caesar's feet and asked for the restoration of part of the kingdom. He was moved by the beauty of the damsel, which was enhanced by the fact that, being so fair, she seemed to have been wronged, and by hatred for the king himself, 57 who had sacrificed Pompeius to the fortunes of a faction and not out of any consideration for Caesar, against whom he would certainly have made the same attempt if occasion had arisen. 58 When Caesar ordered that Cleopatra should be restored to the throne, he was immediately surrounded in the palace by those who had assassinated Pompeius, but, though he had only a small body of troops, he resisted with wonderful bravery the pressure of a vast army. 59 First of all, by setting fire to the neighbouring buildings and docks he kept the missiles of his assailants at a distance; then he made a sudden sally and occupied the peninsula of Pharos. Driven thence into the sea he succeeded, with wonderful good fortune, in swimming to the nearer vessels of the fleet, leaving  p287 his cloak behind him in the water, either through luck or by design, that it might be a target for the shower of missiles and stones thrown by the enemy. 60 Having been taken on board by the sailors of the fleet, he attacked his foes on all sides at once and exacted vengeance for the shade of his son-in‑law from that cowardly and treacherous people. Theodotus, the director and instigator of the whole war, and Pothinus and Ganymedes, monsters who were not even men, met their deaths after fleeing in different directions over sea and land. The body of the king was found buried in mud, distinguishable by his golden coat of mail.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 61 In Asia too a fresh disturbance arose from Pontus, fortune as it were designedly seeking thus to make an end of the kingdom of Mithridates, in order that his son might be conquered by Caesar just as the father had been defeated by Pompeius. 62 King Pharnaces, relying rather upon our internal feuds than upon his own valour, invaded Cappadocia with a hostile force. 63 Caesar attacked him, and in a single battle — or, if I may use the expression, in part of a battle — crushed him like a thunderbolt which in one and the same moment has come, has struck and has departed. Caesar's boast was no vain one when he said that the enemy was defeated before he was seen.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 64 So much for foreign enemies; in Africa Caesar had a much more bitter struggle against his fellow-countrymen than at Pharsalia. It was on the coast of Africa that the tide of flight had cast ashore the remnants of the shipwrecked faction — remnants, indeed, one can hardly call them, but rather material for a fresh war. 65 Their forces had been scattered  p289 rather than defeated, and the fate of their leader had in itself confirmed the obligation of their oath,​9 and they were no degenerate leaders who succeeded him; for the names of Cato and Scipio had a sufficiently imposing sound to take place of that of Pompeius. Juba, king of Mauretania, also joined their forces, apparently in order that Caesar might spread his conquest still more widely. 66 There was no difference between Pharsalia and Thapsus, except that the latter was on a larger scale; also the attack of Caesar's troops was all the more vigorous because they were indignant that the war had assumed greater dimensions since Pompeius' death. Furthermore, the trumpeters gave the signal for the attack of their own accord before receiving the general's order — a thing which happened on no other occasion. 67 The defeat began with Juba, whose elephants, unaccustomed to war and only recently brought from the woods, panic-stricken at the sudden noise of the trumpets, wheeled round and charged their own side. The army immediately turned to flight, nor were the generals too brave to flee; the deaths, however, of all of them were remarkable. 68 Scipio was escaping on a ship, but, when the enemy came up with him, he thrust a sword right through his vitals; and when someone inquired where he was, he replied, "All is well with the general." 69 Juba, having reached his palace, held a sumptuous banquet the following day with Petreius, the companion of his flight, and at the table, in the midst of his cups, offered himself to die at his hands. Petreius had courage enough for the king and himself, and the half-consumed meats, their funeral feast, on the table before them, were drenched with the blood of  p291 the king and the Roman. 70 Cato was not present at the fighting; having pitched his camp on the Bagradas, he was holding Utica as a second line for the defence of Africa. 71 When, however, he received the news of the defeat of his party, he did not hesitate but cheerfully, as became a philosopher, called death to his aid. Having embraced and dismissed his son and the members of his staff, and having read far into the night by the light of a lamp the book of Plato which treats of the immortality of the soul,​10 he slept for a while 72 and then, about the first watch, drew his sword and once and again struck his bared breast. After this the doctors with their fomentations must needs lay their vulgar hands upon this hero: he endured it until they departed, and then tore the wounds open and, a rush of blood ensuing, left his dying hands in the wound which he had twice dealt himself.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 73 Just as though there had been no fighting hitherto, warfare and party spirit broke out afresh, and Spain outdid Africa, just as Africa surpassed Thessaly. 74 The Pompeian party gained greatly in popularity from the fact that its leaders were brothers, and that two Pompeii took the place of one. 75 Nowhere, therefore, were the encounters more bitter or the results so doubtful. First Varus and Didius, the lieutenant-generals, fought at the very mouth of the Ocean. But the ships had a harder struggle against the sea than against one another; for the Ocean, as though it were punishing the madness of civil war, destroyed both fleets by shipwreck. 76 What a dread conflict was that in which waves, storms, men, ships and arms all strove together at the same time! Mark too the terrible nature of the battle-field  p293 — the shores of Spain closing in on one side and those of Mauretania on the other, an outer and an inner sea, and the Watch-towers of Hercules overhanging them, while all around was the rage of battle and of storm. 77 Soon after this both sides scattered in different directions to besiege the unhappy cities, which, between the leaders on one side and the other, paid a heavy price for their alliance with Rome. The final struggle took place at Munda. 78 On this occasion Caesar's usual good fortune was lacking, and the struggle was for a long time doubtful and anxious; so much so that Fortune seemed clearly to be deliberating some strange issue. 79 Caesar himself too before the battle was unusually depressed, either from a consideration of human weakness, or because he felt doubtful whether his good luck, having lasted so long, would continue, or else because, having started on the same career as Pompeius, he feared that the same fate might befall him. In the battle itself too an incident occurred which was unparalleled in men's memory; 80 when the two armies, being evenly matched, had long been simply cutting one another down, suddenly, at the height of the battle, silence fell upon both hosts, as though by mutual agreement 81 and as if everyone was asking himself "What was to be the end of it all?" Finally, an unaccustomed disgrace presented itself to Caesar's eyes: his tried band of veterans, after fourteen years of service, gave ground, and though they had not gone so far as to flee, yet it was obvious that shame rather than valour made them resist. 82 Sending away his horse, Caesar rushed forward like a madman to the forefront of the battle, where he seized hold of those who were fleeing, heartened the standard-bearers, uttered  p295 prayers, exhortations and rebukes, and, in a word, dashed this way and that through the ranks with glances, gestures and shouts. 83 In the turmoil he is even said to have meditated making an end of himself and to have shown clearly by his expression that he wished to take his own life; only, at that moment, five cohorts of the enemy, which had been sent by Labienus to protect the camp, which was in danger, crossed the battle-field and suggested an appearance of flight. 84 Caesar either actually believed that the enemy was fleeing or else craftily made use of the incident and gave them heart against an enemy, who they thought was fleeing and already conquered, while he discouraged the foe. His men, thinking that they were winning the day, followed more boldly, while the Pompeians, thinking that their own side was in flight, began to flee. 85 How great was the rage and fury of the victors in the slaughter of the enemy can be gathered from the fact that, when the fugitives had retreated to Munda, and Caesar immediately ordered that his conquered foes should be besieged, a rampart was constructed of corpses piled up and held together by the javelins and missiles which were thrust through them — an expedient which would have been horrible even if it had been used against barbarians. 86 Pompeius' sons clearly had no longer any hope of victory; Gnaeus Pompeius, a fugitive from the battle-field and wounded in the leg, was overtaken, as he was seeking some solitary and inaccessible place of refuge, by Caesonius near the town of Lauro, and was killed, still showing enough spirit to resist; 87 Fortune allowed Sextus Pompeius to remain hidden  p297 for the moment in Celtiberia and preserved him to fight again after Caesar's time.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 88 Caesar returned home victorious and celebrated a triumph first over Gaul, in which figured the Rhine and the Rhone and the captive Ocean represented in gold. A second triumph was celebrated for the conquest of Egypt; on this occasion the Nile, Arsinoe,​11 and the Pharos lighted with a semblance of flames was displayed on moving platforms. 89 A third procession celebrated the victory over Pharnaces of Pontus; a fourth set forth the defeat of Juba and Mauretania and the two conquests of Spain. Pharsalia, Thapsus and Munda made no appearance; yet how much greater were the victories for which he had no triumph!

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 90 At this point there was at last an end of fighting; the ensuing peace was free from bloodshed, and clemency made atonement for war. No one was put to death by Caesar's orders except Afranius (it was enough that Caesar had once pardoned him) and Faustus Sulla (for the example of Pompeius had taught Caesar to be afraid of sons-in‑law),​12 and Pompeius' daughter and her children by Sulla,​13 as a precaution for posterity. 91 His fellow-citizens were not ungrateful and heaped every kind of honour upon him as sole ruler. Statues of him were set up in the temples; in the theatre he wore a crown adorned with rays; he had a raised chair in the senate-house; a high gable was added to his house; a month in the calendar was named after him. In addition to this he was called Father of his Country and Perpetual Dictator. Finally — though it is doubtful whether it was by his own wish — he was offered the insignia of royalty in front of  p299 the rostra by the consul Antonius. 92 But all these things were, as it were, decorations heaped upon a victim doomed to die; for the envy which he inspired influenced men more than his clemency, and his very power to confer favours was intolerable to free citizens. 93 His rule was not long endured; Brutus and Cassius and other senators conspired together to kill their leader. 94 How powerful is fate! The plot had become widely known; on the very day fixed for its execution, written information of it had been presented to Caesar, and, though he sacrificed a hundred victims, he had been unable to obtain favourable omens. Yet he came into the senate-house thinking of his campaign against Parthia. 95 As he was seated there in his curule chair the senators attacked him, and he was borne to the ground wounded in twenty-three places. Thus he who had filled the whole world with the blood of his fellow-citizens at last filled the senate-house with his own.


The Loeb Editor's Notes:

1 Cp. Lucan, Phars. I.1, Bella per Emathios plus quam civilia campos.

[decorative delimiter]

2 For these names see Index.

[decorative delimiter]

3 60 B.C.

[decorative delimiter]

4 The leaders of his defeated enemies had, by Pompeius' orders, not been allowed to figure in Metellus' triumph.

[decorative delimiter]

5 59 B.C.

[decorative delimiter]

6 49 B.C.

[decorative delimiter]

7 For the year 48 B.C.

[decorative delimiter]

8 Florus, like Virgil (Georg. I.490), seems to imply that the battle of Pharsalia was fought on the same ground as the battle of Philippi. The confusion is doubtless due to the fact that these two decisive battles were both fought within the space of a few years in the Roman province of Macedonia.

[decorative delimiter]

9 i.e. they had an additional obligation to avenge Pompeius' death.

[decorative delimiter]

10 The Phaedo.

[decorative delimiter]

11 Arsinoe, sister of Cleopatra, actually figured in the procession (Dio Cass. XLIII.19).

[decorative delimiter]

12 Pompeius, having married Julia, was son-in‑law of Caesar; but Faustus Sulla was no relative by marriage to Caesar, having married a daughter of Pompeius by another wife, Julia having been childless.

[decorative delimiter]

13 Hirtius, de bell. Afric., states that Caesar pardoned Pompeius' daughter and her children.


[Valid HTML 4.01.]

Page updated: 28 Aug 12

Accessibility