hers, who had covered the attack of the cavalry,
defeated them, and fell upon the rear of Pompey's left. Caesar then brought
up his third line, and decided the battle. Pompey had fled when he saw the
defeat of his cavalry. His camp was taken and sacked, and his troops, so
confident of victory, were scattered, surrounded, and taken prisoners.
Caesar, with his usual clemency, spared their lives, nor had he any object
to destroy them. Among those who surrendered after this decisive battle
was Junius Brutus, who was not only pardoned, but admitted to the closest
friendship.

(M1016) Pompey, on his defeat, fled to Larissa, embarked with his
generals, and sailed to Mitylene. As he had still the province of Africa
and a large fleet, it was his policy to go there; but he had a silly
notion that his true field of glory was the East, and he saw no place of
refuge but Egypt. That kingdom was then governed by the children of
Ptolemy Auletes, Cleopatra and Ptolemy, neither of whom were adults, and
who, moreover, were quarreling with each other for the undivided
sovereignty of Egypt. At this juncture, Pompey appeared on the coast, on
which Ptolemy was encamped. He sent a messenger to the king, with the
request that he might be sheltered in Alexandria. To grant it would
compromise Ptolemy with Caesar; to refuse it would send Pompey to the camp
of Cleopatra in Syria. He was invited to a conference, and his minister
Achillus was sent out in a boat to bring him on shore. Pompey, infatuated,
imprudently trusted himself in the boat, in which he recognized an old
comrade, Septimius, who, however, did not return his salutation. On
landing, he was stabbed by Septimius, who had persuaded Ptolemy to take
his life, in order to propitiate Caesar and gain the Egyptian crown. Thus
ingloriously fell the conqueror of Asia, and the second man in the empire,
by treachery.

(M1017) On the flight of Pompey from the fatal battle-field, Caesar pressed
in pursuit, with only one legion and a troop of cavalry. Fearing a new war
in Asia, Caesar waited to collect his forces, and then embarked for Egypt.
He arrived at Alexandria only a few days after the murder of his rival,
and was met by an officer bearing his head. He ordered it to be burned
with costly spices, and placed the ashes in a shrine, dedicated to
Nemesis. He then demanded ten million drachmas, promised by the late king,
and summoned the contending sovereigns to his camp. Cleopatra captivated
him,