The Civil War by Julius Caesar

Author:Julius Caesar
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141910635
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

4. The last stages

26. Meanwhile, Mithridates of Pergamum, a man of high standing at home, skilled and courageous in war, and a loyal and esteemed friend of Caesar’s, had been sent to Syria and Cilicia at the start of the Alexandrian war to fetch reinforcements. At about this time he arrived at Pelusium, by the overland route between Egypt and Syria, with the large forces which he had been able to collect quickly thanks both to his own conscientious efforts and to the extreme good-will of the states.

Pelusium had been given a strong garrison by Achillas because of its strategic position – for the whole of Egypt is thought to be protected as it were by barriers, on the seaward approach by Pharos and on the landward by Pelusium. Mithridates suddenly surrounded it with large forces. The substantial garrison put up a stubborn resistance; but thanks to the large numbers of fresh troops which he kept sending in to relieve the wounded or tired, and thanks to his persistence and determination in attack, he reduced the town on the same day as he first attacked it, and installed a garrison of his own. After this success he pressed on towards Caesar in Alexandria, peacefully subduing and bringing over to Caesar’s side all the regions which lay on his line of march, thanks to the prestige which normally attends a victor.

27. There is a place not very far from Alexandria which is perhaps the best known in those parts. It is called Delta, a name derived from its resemblance to the letter. A certain part of the river Nile is split and follows two paths which gradually diverge and are widely separated at the coast, where the river flows into the sea. When the king learned that Mithridates was approaching this place, knowing that he would have to cross the river, he sent against him a large force which he thought could certainly overpower and annihilate Mithridates, or at the least hold him back. While he hoped that Mithridates would be defeated, he would be satisfied to hold him back and cut him off from Caesar. Those troops who managed to cross the river from the Delta and meet Mithridates first engaged battle, in their hurry to steal a march on those following and get the sole credit for the victory. Mithridates met their onset with great prudence, setting up a fortified camp according to our custom; but when he saw the enemy rashly and boldly coming right up to the defence-works, he made a sally all around the camp, and killed a large number of them. If the rest had not taken advantage of their knowledge of the district to find cover, and, some of them, withdrawn to the ships in which they had crossed the river, they would have been utterly destroyed. When they had recovered a little from their fright they joined up with those who were following and began to attack Mithridates again.

28. Mithridates sent a messenger to inform Caesar of these events, while the king was informed of them by his own men.

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