Book 2
10.65
After Caesar had withdrawn Pompey called a council of war, at which Afranius advised that they should make use of their naval force in which they were much superior, and being masters of the sea should harass Caesar, who was now wandering and destitute, and that Pompey himself should conduct his infantry with all haste to Italy, which was well disposed toward him and was now free from a hostile army. Having mastered it, together with Gaul and Spain, they could attack Caesar again from their own home, the seat of imperial power. Although this was the best possible advice Pompey disregarded it and allowed himself to be persuaded by those who said that Caesar’s army would presently desert to him on account of hunger, and that there was not much left of it anyway after the victory of Dyrrachium. They said it would be disgraceful to abandon the pursuit of Caesar when he was in flight, and for the victor to flee as though vanquished.Both Plutarch and Caesar give entertaining accounts of what took place in Pompey’s camp after Caesar’s retreat. They cried out, says the former, that Caesar had fled. Some wanted to pursue him, others to cross over to Italy. Others despatched their friends and servants to Rome to hire houses in advance near the forum, as though they were about to run for office. (Life of Pompey, 66.) Caesar’s narrative says: They contended with each other openly about rewards and priesthoods and disposed of the consulship for years to come. Some demanded the houses and goods of men in Caesar’s camp, and there was a great controversy over the question whether Lucius Hirrus, who had been sent by Pompey on a mission to the Parthians, should have the right to stand for the next praetorship while absent. . . . Domitius, Scipio, and Lentulus Spinther had daily disputes over the succession to Caesar’s priesthood and descended to the vilest language, Lentulus claiming it on the score of age, Domitius boasting of his influence in the city and his dignity, while Scipio trusted to his relationship with Pompey. Acutius Rufus even accused Afranius, in Pompey’s presence, of betrayal of his army, which he said had been done in Spain. (iii. 82-83.) Pompey sided with these advisers partly out of regard for the opinions of the eastern nations that were looking on, partly to prevent any harm befalling Lucius Scipio, who was still in Macedonia, but most of all because he thought that he ought to fight while his army was in high spirits. Accordingly he advanced and pitched his camp opposite to Caesar’s near Pharsalus, so that they were separated from each other by a distance of thirty stades.
