CHAPTER XXX.

SPAIN.

B.C. 46-45.

CAESAR had unfortunately in B.C. 49 appointed Q. Cassius governor of Spain (p. 79); and at the end of B.C. 47 Cassius was succeeded by C. Trebonius (p. 288). There was a strong Pompeian party in Spain; and it is stated by Dion (43. c. 29) that the malcontents sent to Scipio, who was then in Africa, for aid, and that he despatched Cn. Pompeius to support them: the author of the African War states that Pompeius went at the suggestion of M. Cato and during the African War (p. 325). But according to Dion (42. c. 56) Cn. Pompeius was sent to Spain in B.C. 47, in the hope that the son of Pompeius Magnus would be well received by the Spaniards, and after settling the affairs of that country would go to Rome, while Scipio and his friends would sail to Italy. Livy (Epitome 113) also places in B.C. 47 the mission of Cn. Pompeius to Spain.

Pompeius, according to Dion, took the Balearic islands, Majorca and Minorca without resistance; but he had some difficulty in getting possession of Ebusus (Yvica). He then fell sick, and stayed some time in the islands with his men. In the mean time C. Trebonius was compelled to retire from Spain, and the Spanish insurgents placed themselves under T. Quintius Scapula and Q. Aponius, who roused all Baetica or Southern Spain to arms. Pompeius now landed on the east coast of Spain, where he received the submission of several places; but New Carthage (Carthagena) refused to join him, and Pompeius began the siege of this city. While he was thus employed, Scapula and his partisans came to him and

chose him their commander-in-chief. Pompeius had soon thirteen legions (B. H. c. 7), but many of them were a disorderly rabble. He was joined by fugitives from Africa, among whom were his brother Sextus, Attius Varus, Labienus, and Arabio, the son of Massinissa. Thus a new war began under a leader of a savage temper: the father was not a generous or merciful man, but the son was cruel, and nothing good could be expected from him. Cicero foresaw, as he says, that if Pompeius were victorious, there would be blood shed at Rome; and if Caesar were the conqueror, slavery would be the result. C. Cassius (Ad Fam. xv. 19) in a letter to Cicero, in which he inquires about the news from Spain, says, "I prefer an old and merciful master to a new and cruel one: you know what a fool Cn. Pompeius is; you know that he considers cruelty to be a virtue; you know that he thinks that we always laughed at him: I am afraid that he would repay us for our sneers with the sword in his rough fashion."

Caesar was informed of the state of affairs in Spain by his legati Q. Fabius Maximus and Q. Pedius, who were not strong enough to resist the enemy. C. Didius however defeated the fleet of Varus at a place named Crantia, which may be a corrupt name for Carteia. Varus fled to the land and stopped up the entrance to the port by chaining anchors together, on which the enemy's ships struck, and so the fleet of Varus escaped destruction. Pompeius, who was now expecting Caesar's arrival, withdrew from the east coast into Baetica, where he was received by the towns, except Ulia, of which he formed the siege. Lepidus, the colleague of Caesar, held the Comitia this year, in which Caesar was elected sole consul for the next year B.C. 45; and Appian is mistaken when he says that Caesar set out for Spain in his fourth consulship. At the end of B.C. 46 commenced Caesar's third dictatorship, if we do not include the short dictatorship of B.C. 49. His new dictatorship was for ten years. Caesar left Lepidus with eight, or as some authorities said, six Praefects to take care of the city. Caesar's election was probably after he left Rome (Dion, 43, c. 33).

It is not said when Caesar set out for Spain, but it was of course after Cicero delivered the speech for Ligarius. As

usual, he advanced with great rapidity and reached Obulco, three hundred stadia from Corduba in seven and twenty days, for which fact Strabo (p. 160) quotes "the historians;" but the author of the Spanish War is not one of them. Caesar came so quick that the legati Q. Pedius and Q. Fabius Maximus, who had been instructed to send forward cavalry to meet him, were anticipated by the Dictator's arrival. Sextus Pompeius held Corduba with a garrison, and Cnaeus was still besieging Ulia. The citizens of Ulia contrived to send a message to Caesar to ask for aid, and he despatched about midnight six cohorts and an equal number of horsemen under L. Junius Paciaecus, a man of ability who was of the province. It happened that the weather was bad and stormy, and it was so dark that a man could hardly recognize another who was near him. Under these favourable circumstances and by the help of a stratagem Paciaecus carried his men through the enemy's lines safe into Ulia (p. 286).

In order to draw Cnaeus from the siege of Ulia, Caesar advanced towards Corduba, and on the road he sent forward a body of stout men in mailed armour with some cavalry. As soon as the force came in sight of Corduba, the men in mail were taken up behind the horsemen, but the townsmen could not see that the horses carried double. A great number came out of Corduba to attack the cavalry, when the men in mail got down from the horses and made such slaughter of the enemy that few escaped to the town. Cnaeus Pompeius now left the siege of Ulia and came at his brother's request to Corduba (B. H. c. 4).

When Caesar arrived at the Baetis (Guadalquivir), he found the river too deep to ford, and he made the foundations of a temporary bridge by letting down into the stream baskets full of stones. After crossing the river Caesar formed his camp opposite the town; and Cnaeus on his arrival made his camp over against Caesar, who, in order to exclude him from the town and from supplies, began to form an entrenchment to the town bridge.' There was now a struggle for the possession

1 Clarke has correctly explained that the bridge here mentioned (B. H. c. 5) is not Caesar's bridge, but the bridge of Corduba. See also B. H. c. 33. The narrative proves that Ulia was east of the Baetis.

of this bridge and daily skirmishes. On one occasion there was a hard fight in which the men were crowded together near the bridge and the banks of the river, and many of the combatants were forced into the stream. It was Caesar's wish to draw the enemy upon fair ground and at once to decide the issue of the campaign. Seeing that the enemy would not give him this opportunity, Caesar recrossed the river by night after ordering large fires to be made, and turned towards Ategua, the strongest place in the possession of Cnaeus, which, as he was informed, contained a great store of provisions. Caesar's march was south to Ategua, supposed to be Teba between Osuña and Antequera (formerly Antiquaria), and about two miles from the river Salsus, a branch of the Singulis (Xenil), which flows into the Guadalquivir between Corduba and Sevilla. As soon as Pompeius heard that Caesar had begun the siege of Ategua, he left Corduba for Ategua, either accompanied by Labienus, or he was afterwards joined by Labienus. Caesar had made several forts, in some of which cavalry and in others infantry were stationed to keep a look out for the enemy and to protect his camp. It happened that Pompeius reached Caesar's outposts in the morning and taking advantage of a thick fog, he surrounded with some cohorts and cavalry a division of the cavalry of Caesar and destroyed most of them. By a bold stratagem L. Munatius Flaccus introduced a force into Ategua, a fact recorded by Dion and Frontinus (iii. 14. 1), but omitted by the author of the Spanish War. On the following night Pompeius burnt his camp, crossed the Salsus, and made a new camp on a hill between Ategua and Ucubis. Caesar in the mean time was employed on his works, bringing up the vineae and making an embankment (agger) before the town. The campaign was now in the winter season and in the hill country on the north side of the Sierras which separate the streams which belong to the basin of the Guadalquivir from those which flow south into the Mediterranean. Pompeius was in sight of both towns with his thirteen legions, but he did not attempt to relieve Ategua. He relied most on the two legions which had deserted from Trebonius, on one raised in the colonies of Baetica, and a fourth legion, once belonging to Afranius, which Pompeius, as the

author of the Spanish War says, had brought with him from Africa (c. 7).

Caesar had occupied as a fort an old camp, Castra Postumiana, beyond the Salsus, and Pompeius hoped to be able to surprise it by an attack just before daybreak, but the men in the fort made a bold resistance, and Caesar arriving with three legions dispersed the assailants. Here the author remarks that he had forgotten to mention in the proper place that Asprenas (B. Afr. c. 80) had joined Caesar with some cavalry from Italy.

In the following night Pompeius burnt his camp and marched in the direction of Corduba. On the next day Caesar's cavalry, who followed some distance on the road to Corduba, met those who were bringing supplies to Pompeius from that town, and took some prisoners and the beasts of burden. Ategua still resisted bravely and the people attempted to burn Caesar's works. The passions of Caesar's soldiers were now excited to a savage temper. Two prisoners of a native legion, who were taken by them, pretended to be slaves, but they were recognized as deserters from Trebonius and put to death. Some messengers from Corduba to Pompeius were also taken and turned loose with their hands cut off. The townsmen again during the night attempted to burn Caesar's works and wounded many of his men with missiles. This night attack was followed by a sally on the quarters of the sixth legion, but the assailants were driven back into the town.

A

Pompeius, who appears to have now formed another camp, began to make an entrenchment up to the Salsus, apparently with the view of cutting off Caesar from the water." leaden bullet at this time was thrown into Caesar's camp with an inscription which fixed a day on which the besiegers should attempt to surprise the town: the signal would be the raising of a shield. Some of Caesar's soldiers expecting that they could get into the place without danger, began to work close up to the town and a large part of the old wall was undermined and fell. Some of the men were taken prisoners by the townsmen, but their lives were spared. It seems

The interpretation of c. 13 is partly conjectural.