had been spread abroad in which the truth was greatly exaggerated, that Caesar was defeated with the loss of nearly all his army and was a fugitive. In consequence of this rumour Caesar found enemies on his march; some states which had been friendly fell off from him, and the messengers from Caesar to Domitius and from Domitius to Caesar were unable to accomplish their mission. Domitius was saved by his own enemies. Some Allobroges, the friends of Raucillus and Egus, who had deserted to Pompeius, spied as they were on the march a reconnoitering party of Domitius, and either moved by the remembrance that they had been comrades in the Gallic wars, or by their boastful temper, told them all that had happened before Dyrrhachium, and that Caesar had marched away and Pompeius was close at hand. As soon as Domitius was informed of his danger, for he was only four hours' march from Pompeius, he turned due south and at Aeginium met Caesar as he was on the road into Thessaly.

The course of Domitius in a direct line fron Lyncestis to Aeginium was between eighty and ninety English miles, and it is not said that he was molested on the march. Caesar and Domitius united their forces at Aeginium, which was at the entrance of the great basin of Thessaly. This town, which had been plundered in the Macedonian war by L. Aemilius Paulus, was perhaps a deserted place, for Caesar names Gomphi, to which he marched from Aeginium, the first town of Thessaly as you come from Epirus. Gomphi is placed by Leake at the site of Episcopí on the left bank of a tributary of the Peneius, the Bliuri, probably the ancient Pamisus, and near the great mountain range of Pindus. A few months before the people of Gomphi had sent commissioners to Caesar to place all their resources at his disposal and to ask for a garrison. But the report of Caesar's loss at Dyrrhachium had reached Gomphi in a greatly exaggerated form; and Androsthenes, praetor of Thessaly, as Caesar names him, preferring to join Pompeius in his victory to being on the side of Caesar in his bad luck, brought all the slaves and freemen from the country into the town, closed the gates and sent messengers to Scipio and Pompeius to ask for help: he had confidence in the defences of the town, if relief came quick, but he could not sustain a long VOL. V.

siege. When Scipio heard of the two armies quitting Dyrrhachium, he led his troops across the Cambunian mountains to Larisa in Thessaly on the lower course of the Peneius, and Pompeius was not yet near Thessaly. Scipio would cross the mountains by the pass which Livy (44. c. 2) names Volustana, and descend into the valley of the Eurotas, the Titaresius of Homer, which flowing from the north joins the Peneius below Larisa.

Caesar having made his camp ordered scaling-ladders, "musculi" (mantelets) and fascines to be prepared for an immediate assault. When all was ready, he pointed out to his men the advantage of getting possession of a well-stored and rich town, which would supply all their wants, and the capture would also strike terror into the other towns of Thessaly; but the work must be done quick before any help could come to the town. The soldiers, who were tempted by so many good things, responded with ardour to the general, who made the attack in the afternoon of the same day, and though the walls were very high, Caesar stormed the town before sunset and let his men plunder it. He immediately left Gomphi and marched to another town named Metropolis before the inhabitants heard of the capture of Gomphi. Caesar's expression "immediately" (statim), as Goeler remarks, must not perhaps be taken literally. His men would require a few hours to sack Gomphi to their heart's content and after the labour of the assault and the debauch which followed, they would hardly be got together before the next morning.

Caesar never troubles himself about reporting excesses committed at the sack of a town. But others did and they have recorded some things which Plutarch and Appian have copied. Caesar's men had long been on short allowance, and they found little to eat on the road to Thessaly, for the people through whose territory they marched refused to supply Caesar with food. But the capture of Gomphi satisfied all their wants, and those who were in an unhealthy state in consequence of privation were cured by the abundance of wine which they found in the town (Plutarch, Caesar, c. 41). If the wine was

5 As Caesar could have carried little heavy baggage, he must have made all this siege material on the spot in a short time.

good, a drunken debauch would probably put them all in sound condition. Appian (B. C. ii. 64) says that the soldiers who were very hungry filled themselves full in Gomphi, and got beastly drunk, and that Caesar's Germans were worst of all and made themselves most ridiculous. The historian thinks . that if Pompeius had come upon Caesar's men in this condition he might have had a splendid success, which is very probable; but he adds that Pompeius despised his enemy and for that reason did not pursue him. Appian evidently had not the least idea of the position of Pompeius. There were probably many stories of the sack of Gomphi. Appian has reported one. There were found in a doctor's shop the bodies of twenty old men of the first rank lying on the floor, without any wound, and with cups by them as if they had sat down to a wine entertainment; and there was one seated in a chair, who might be a doctor or acting as such, who had furnished the poison to the rest.

Metropolis was a town south of Gomphi and near the lofty mountains which form the western boundary of the basin of Thessaly. Leake fixes the position at the small village of Paleokastro. The people of Metropolis, who had heard the same reports as the people of Gomphi, followed their example, closed the gates and filled the walls with armed men; but when they heard of the capture of Gomphi from the prisoners whom Caesar produced before the wall, they opened the gates. Caesar protected the townsmen against all harm from his men, and the consequence of this prudent behaviour was, that the Thessalians, contrasting the good fortune of Metropolis with the sufferings of Gomphi, joined Caesar, and there was not a single city except Larisa, which was occupied by Scipio's large force, that refused to submit and obey his orders. Caesar's words cannot be accepted literally, I think. He was in the possession of the south-western angle of Thessaly, and Pompeius, or Scipio, who represented him, was at Larisa, and we may assume that each of them commanded the obedience of those towns which were nearest to each.

Caesar found a convenient position in the open country,

6 "Ille idoneum locum in agris nactus" (B. C. iii. 81). Kraner says that "ille" can only refer to Scipio, not, as it has been supposed, to Caesar, and the

abounding in corn, which was then nearly ripe, and there he determined to wait for Pompeius.

The convenient position which Caesar occupied was, as we shall afterwards see, near Pharsalus which was not far from the south-eastern branch of the Peneius. He says nothing of his march from Metropolis to Pharsalus, for it was no military movement that required notice. Appian (ii. 64), who has reported the capture of Gomphi, does not mention Metropolis, but he says that Caesar after a continuous march of seven days encamped near Pharsalus. He seems to reckon the seven days from Gomphi. This distance from Gomphi past Metropolis to Pharsalus would not be more than fifty miles; and as Caesar (c. 84) speaks of having got ready his supplies before the battle, we may perhaps conclude that he collected provisions on the march from Metropolis to Pharsalus.

A few days later Pompeius arrived in Thessaly, and made an address to the united army. He thanked his own men, and exhorted the soldiers of Scipio to be ready to take their share of the booty and rewards which would follow a victory that was already won. All the legions were placed within one camp, and Pompeius shared with his father-in-law Scipio the honours of the commandership-in-chief by allowing him to give the military signal with the trumpet and to have a praetorian tent. Thus in fact there were two independent generals in one camp each commanding his own army. It has been conjectured with great probability that Pompeius wished to quiet the jealous Roman nobles about him by the show of giving up some of that power which they had from necessity conferred upon him.

Caesar says nothing of the route which Pompeius took to reach Larisa; nor in his military history was it of the slightest importance. We know that he did arrive in Thessaly, and that is sufficient. But men will conjecture, even when conjecture is useless, and it has been supposed that Pompeius continued his march along the Via Egnatia to Pella, where he took the great road to the south, between Olympus and the sea and then went up the valley of Tempe to Larisa. We

pronoun itself proves this. Goeler contends that "ille" refers to Caesar, and gives good reasons for his opinion.

have been told that Pompeius was within four hours' march of Heraclea when Domitius left that place and turned to the south. Scipio also when he left the Haliacmon or whatever his position then was, went south by a well-known pass to the basin of the Eurotas and halted at Larisa. The reasonable conjecture is that Pompeius followed in the same direction as Scipio, instead of adding to the distance between Heracleia and Larisa by taking a circuitous route past Pella. Caesar, as I assume, and shall hereafter attempt to prove, had crossed the great branch of the Peneius, named Apidanus by Goeler, and Enipeus by other critics, and had placed himself in the plain north of this stream, which lay between him and Pharsalus.