IX.

From U.C. 695 to 710, A.C. 59 to 44.

CHAP. formed an army superior to that of the enemy in the quality of its infantry, and in the numbers of its cavalry; and Cæsar therefore, as in his former campaigns, was anxious to bring on a general action; and in order to accomplish this, whilst he was advancing his own cause at the same time in other respects, he employed himself in laying siege to some of the towns that were garrisoned by his opponents. In this manner he besieged and took Alegua, and one or two other places 66; till Cn. Pompeius, unwilling to discourage his partisans by appearing unable to offer any resistance to his enemy's enterprises, and having persuaded himself that the soldiers in Cæsar's present army were no longer the same veterans who had conquered at Pharsalia or at Thapsus, was induced to offer battle in the neighbourhood of Munda. He disposed his army, however, upon ground so defensible by nature 67, and his soldiers conducted themselves so bravely, that the first attack of the enemy was vigorously repelled; and it is said that Cæsar dismounted from his horse, and by offering to expose his life as a common soldier in the front of the line, at last with difficulty rallied his men, and retrieved the fortune of the day 68. The victory, though hardly won, was complete and decisive. Labienus and Atius Varus were killed in the field, and Cn. Pompeius was wounded, but effected his escape in a litter to Carteia. From

Battle of
Munda.

66 Auctor de Bell. Hispan. 6, et seq. et seq.

67 Auctor de Bell. Hispan. 29,

68 Velleius Paterculus, II. 55.

From

IX.

to 710,

A.C. 59

to 44.

thence, mistrusting the fidelity of the inhabitants, CHAP. he endeavoured to withdraw by sea to a safer refuge 69, but being pursued by a squadron of Cæsar's, U.C. 695 and being surprised at the very moment when his ships had put in to shore to obtain fresh supplies of water, his vessels were all taken or burnt, and he was obliged once more to pursue his flight by land. He at first attempted to defend himself with the aid of the few followers who still remained with him, on one of the strong positions which the country afforded; but when his pursuers began to construct regular works, under cover of which they might gain a footing on the high ground occupied by his party, he was forced to fly, and his men began to disperse on every side. His wound disabled him from escaping on foot, and the country was impracticable for a carriage, or even for a horse; so that concealment was his only remaining chance of safety, and he took shelter in a cavern, in one of the wild and lonely glens among the mountains, such as have afforded a sure protection to the fugitives of a vanquished or oppressed party in various periods of Spanish history. But he was discovered by the information of some prisoners whom the enemy had taken, and was slaughtered in his place of refuge. His head was Death of cut off and presented to Cæsar, who at that very peius. moment was entering Hispalis in triumph; and this bloody trophy being instantly by his orders exhibited to the multitude, informed them that the

69 Auctor de Bell. Hispan. 37, 38, 39. Velleius Paterculus, ubi

supra.

Cn. Pom

IX.

From U.C. 695 to 710, A.C. 59 to 44.

44

SPAIN IS REDUCED TO SUBMISSION.

71

CHAP. ruin of Pompey's cause was complete. Scapula had put an end to his own life a short time before at Corduba 70, and Sex. Pompeius, the younger son of Pompey the Great, having fled from the same place on the news of the battle of Munda, sought a refuge amongst the Iaccetani or Lacetani ", one of the tribes of Hither Spain, who lived between the Pyrenees and the Ebro, in what is now a part of Navarre and Arragon. More fortunate than his brother, Sex. Pompeius was enabled, by the attachment of the natives, to baffle the vigilance of his pursuers, and soon to commence a predatory warfare, which became more serious after Cæsar's departure from Spain, and gradually assumed the shape of an organized hostility. But for the present he was reduced to the condition of a fugitive; and Cæsar pursued a course of executions and confiscations for some months 72, till he had destroyed every appearance of and Caesar' regular opposition, and had enriched himself and Rome. largely rewarded those towns or tribes which had

The whole

of Spain is

reduced to

submission,

returns to

Disturbances in Syria ex

cited by Q. Cæcilius Bassus.

taken part with him in the late contest. The arrangements necessary to be made of one kind or another, detained him in Spain till the autumn, so that, as we have already observed, he did not return to Rome till the month of October.

There was one other part of the empire in which Cæsar's authority was still disputed, nor was tranquillity ever fully established in it during his life

70 Auctor de Bell. Hispan. 33. 71 Strabo, III. 170, edit. Xyland. Dion Cassius, XLV. 275. Appian,

de Bello Civili, IV. 83. Cicero, ad Atticum, XII. epist. XXXVII. 72 Dion Cassius, XLIII. 233.

74

IX.

to 710,

to 44.

time. On his hasty progress from Egypt towards CHAP. Pontus, when he was preparing to attack Pharnaces, From he had conferred the command of the province of U.C. 695 Syria upon Sex. Cæsar 73, a friend and connexion of A.C. 59 his own. At this time there was a Roman knight residing at Tyre, of the name of Q. Cæcilius Bassus who had served in Pompey's army during the late campaign, and after the battle of Pharsalia had taken refuge in Syria. As belonging to the equestrian order, he was likely to have been engaged in commerce, and he probably had some friends or connexions in the great trading town of Tyre, which led him to fix on that place as his asylum. He was an active and enterprising man, and when reports began to be circulated that Cæsar was in a state of great danger and difficulty in Africa 75, Bassus thought that he saw a favourable opportunity for reviving the cause of Pompey in the east. His command of money enabled him easily to raise soldiers in these times of general disorder, and also to corrupt those of Sex. Cæsar, as different detachments were successively placed in garrison at Tyre; we are told also, that when his military preparations became so notorious as to excite alarm, he satisfied Sex. Cæsar by assuring him that they were intended only to assist Mithridates of Pergamus in taking possession of his kingdom of the Bosphorus, which Cæsar had bestowed on him as a reward for the services he had

66.

73 Auctor de Bello Alexandrino,

74 Dion Cassius, XLVII. 342.

Livy, Epitome, CXIV.

75 Cicero, pro Deiotaro, 9. Dion Cassius, ubi supra.

IX.

From U.C. 695 to 710, A.C. 59 to 44.

CHAP. rendered him in his Egyptian campaign76. Suspicion being thus lulled asleep for the present, Bassus soon afterwards pretended to have received letters from Scipio, announcing the defeat and death of Cæsar in Africa, and bestowing on himself the government of Syria. Accordingly, by virtue of this imaginary commission, he took possession of Tyre; and in a very short time won over to his side the whole army of Sex. Cæsar, whose soldiers, corrupted by the money of his antagonist, murdered him, and then deserted to Bassus. In this manner a private individual, with no other means than the money and influence which he had acquired by his commercial dealings, became master of an army, and of the province of Syria. He fixed his head-quarters at Apamea ", a town of remarkable strength, situated on a hill rising out of a level country, and protected partly by the river Orontes, which flows almost round it, and partly by a large tract of marsh or stagnant water, which obstructs the approach of an enemy. It commanded, besides, the resources of a most abundant district, which had long been famous for its wealth and fertility; and there were several other strong fortresses in its neighbourhood, the petty chiefs of which were induced by the money, or by the credit of Bassus, to support him in his enterprise. We are told, too 78, that the chief of one of the wandering Arab tribes, inhabiting the

77

76 Auctor de Bell. Alexand. 78. 77 Strabo, XVI. 871. Dion Cassius, LXVII. 342.

78 Dion Cassius and Strabo, locis citatis.