and he decided that both should share the throne, but that the
ministers of Ptolemy should be deposed, which was reducing the king to a
cipher. But the fanaticism of the Alexandrians being excited, and a
collision having taken place between them and his troops, Caesar burned the
Egyptian fleet, and fortified himself at Pharos, awaiting re-enforcements.
Ptolemy, however, turned against him, when he had obtained his release,
and perished in an action on the banks of the Nile. Cleopatra was restored
to the throne, under the protection of Rome.

(M1018) Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, rewarded by Pompey with the throne
of the Bosphorus for the desertion of his father, now made war against
Rome. Galvinus, sent against him, sustained a defeat, and Caesar rapidly
marched to Asia to restore affairs. It was then he wrote to the Senate
that brief, but vaunting letter: "_Veni, vidi, vici._" He already
meditated those conquests in the East which had inflamed the ambition of
his rival. He caught the spirit of Oriental despotism. He was not proof
against the flatteries of the Asiatics. But his love for Cleopatra worked
a still greater change in his character, even as it undermined the respect
of his countrymen. History brands with infamy that unfortunate connection,
which led to ostentation, arrogance, harshness, impatience, and contempt
of mankind--the same qualities which characterized Napoleon on his return
from Egypt.

(M1019) In September, B.C. 47, Caesar returned to Italy, having been
already named dictator by a defeated and obsequious Senate. Cicero was
among the first to meet him, and was graciously pardoned. The only severe
measure which he would allow was the confiscation of the property of
Pompey and his sons, whose statues, however, he replaced. He now ruled
absolutely, but under the old forms, and was made tribune for life. The
Senate nominated him consul for five years, and he was also named
dictator.

(M1020) The only foes who now seriously stood out against him were the
adherents of Pompey, who had time, during his absence in the East, to
reorganize their forces, and it was in Africa that the last conflict was
to be fought. The Pompeians were commanded by Scipio, who fixed his
head-quarters at Hadrumentum, with an army of ten legions, a large force
of Numidian cavalry, and one hundred and twenty elephants. But Caesar
defeated this large army with a vastly inferior force, and the rout was
complete. Scipio took ship fo