26 Crastina . . . diurna = to-morrow’s night of horror haunted by the sad image of the day’s events.—H.
29 sic, i.e. in dreams.
The Dream of Pompeius. Macaulay says ‘I hardly know an instance of so great an effect produced by means so simple.’
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (8)
Pompeius ill-advised at Pharsalus, 48 B.C.
Inter duas acies tantum erat relictum spatii, ut satis esset ad concursum utriusque exercitus. Sed Pompeius suis praedixerat, ut Caesaris impetum exciperent neve se loco moverent aciemque eius distrahi paterentur; idque admonitu C. Triarii 5 fecisse dicebatur, ut primus excursus visque militum infringeretur aciesque distenderetur atque in suis ordinibus dispositi dispersos adorirentur; leviusque casura pila sperabat in loco retentis militibus, quam si ipsi immissis telis occucurrissent, simul fore, ut 10 duplicato cursu Caesaris milites exanimarentur et lassitudine conficerentur. Quod nobis quidem nulla ratione factum a Pompeio videtur, propterea quod est quaedam animi incitatio atque alacritas naturaliter innata omnibus, quae studio pugnae incenditur. 15 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. 20
Caesar, de Bello Civili, iii. 92.
Context. Caesar made for Apollonia, where he left his wounded, and then marched S.E. into Thessaly, where he joined Domitius Calvinus. (He had been sent with two legions E. into Macedonia, to stop reinforcements for Pompeius under Scipio, Pompeius’ father-in-law.) Pompeius followed Caesar, and encamped on the slope of a hill facing Caesar’s position near Pharsalus. Here he offered battle, his better judgment overruled by the clamorous Senators in his camp.
4-5 aciem . . . paterentur = so as to allow their (advancing) line to become disorganised (distrahi), by the force of its onset.