Cæsar besieged Masilia, the gates of which had been shut against him; leaving his lieutenants-general, Caius Trebonius and Decimus Brutus, to carry on the siege, he set out for Spain, where Lucius Afranius and Caius Petreius, Pompeius’s lieutenants-general, with seven legions, surrendered to him at Ilerda: he dismissed them all in safety. He also reduced to submission Varro, another lieutenant-general of Pompeius, with the army under his command. He granted the privileges of Roman citizens to the Gaditanians. The Massilians were defeated in two engagements at sea; after having sustained a long siege, they yielded to Cæsar. Caius Antonius, a lieutenant-general of Cæsar, having made an unsuccessful attack upon Pompeius’s forces in Illyria, was taken prisoner. In the course of this war, the inhabitants of Opitergium, a district beyond the Po, in alliance with Cæsar, seeing their bridge blocked up by the enemy’s ships, rather than fall into their hands, killed one another. Caius Curio, one of Cæsar’s lieutenants-general in Africa, after a successful engagement with Varus, a general of the Pompeian party, was cut off, together with his army, by Juba, king of Mauritania. Caius Cæsar passed over into Greece.
BOOK CXI.
Marcus Cælius Rufus, the prætor, [y. r. 662. b. c. 48,] having excited a sedition in the city, by holding out hopes to the people that their debts should be annulled, his office being taken from him, was driven from the city: he joined Milo, who, being in exile, was raising an army of fugitives: they were both slain while preparing for war. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, was dethroned by her brother Ptolemy. The Cordubians in Spain, harassed by the extortion and oppression of the prætor, Quintus Cassius, desert Cæsar’s party, together with two legions. Cneius Pompeius being besieged by Cæsar at Dyrracchium, beats him out of his lines; the siege being raised, the seat of war was removed to Thessaly; Cæsar conquered Pompeius in a battle at Pharsalia. Cicero remained in the camp, as he was a man better calculated for any thing than war. Cæsar granted a free pardon to all who submitted themselves to his power.
BOOK CXII.
The consternation and flight of the vanquished parties in various quarters of the world are recorded. Cneius Pompeius, when he had gone to Egypt, before he could land, was slain in his boat by Achilles, who had been sent for that purpose, according to the command of Ptolemy, the young king, who was instigated by Pothinus and Theodotus, his tutor, who had great influence over the king. Cornelia, his wife, and Sextus, his son, fled to Cyprus. Cæsar followed him three days after; and when Theodotus presented to him the head and ring of Pompeius, he was grievously offended, and wept over them. [y. r. 705. b. c. 47.] Cæsar entered Alexandria in safety, though it was in a state of tumult. Cæsar being created dictator, restored Cleopatra to her throne; and defeated with great slaughter Ptolemy, who had made war upon him by the advice of those who had caused him to put Pompeius to death. Ptolemy, in his flight, sunk with his vessel in the Nile. This book contains also an account of the fatiguing march of Marcus Cato, with his legions, through the deserts of Africa; and of the unsuccessful war of Cneius Domitius against Pharnaces.
BOOK CXIII.
The Pompeian party having collected their forces in Africa, the supreme command was given to Publius Scipio,—Marcus Cato, who had been joined with him in the command, giving it up. When it was deliberated, in council, whether the city of Utica should not be demolished, on account of its attachment to Cæsar, Cato opposed that measure, which was strongly recommended by Juba: Cato’s opinion prevailing, he was appointed governor of the city. Cneius Pompeius, the son of Pompeius the Great, having collected some forces in Spain, which neither Afranius nor Petreius would take the command of, renews the war against Cæsar. Pharnaces, king of Pontus, son of Mithridates, after supporting the war but a very short time, was subdued. When seditions were excited in Rome by Publius Dolabella, a plebeian tribune, who moved for a law to abolish the debts of the people, and on that account a tumult arose among the people, Marcus Antonius, master of the horse, brought troops into the town, and killed eight hundred of the people. Cæsar discharged the veteran soldiers, who were grown mutinous, crossed over into Africa, and engaged the forces of king Juba in a very hazardous combat.