who possessed the chief power, and
having lately cut off Pompeius and driven out Kleopatra, was now
secretly plotting against Caesar; and on this account they say that
Caesar from that time passed the nights in drinking in order to protect
himself. But in his public conduct Pothinus was unbearable, for he
both said and did many things to bring odium on Caesar and to insult
him. While measuring out to the soldiers the worst and oldest corn he
told them they must be satisfied with it and be thankful, as they were
eating what belonged to others; and at the meals he used only wooden
and earthen vessels, alleging that Caesar had got all the gold and
silver vessels in payment for a debt.[549] For the father of the then
King owed Caesar one thousand seven hundred and fifty times ten
thousand, of which Caesar had remitted the seven hundred and fifty to
the King's sons before, but he now claimed the one thousand to
maintain his army with. Upon Pothinus now bidding him take his
departure and attend to his important affairs and that he should
afterwards receive his money back with thanks, Caesar said, that least
of all people did he want the Egyptians as advisers, and he secretly
sent for Kleopatra from the country.

XLIX. Kleopatra,[550] taking Apollodorus the Sicilian alone of all her
friends with her, and getting into a small boat, approached the
palace as it was growing dark; and as it was impossible for her to
escape notice in any other way, she got into a bed sack and laid
herself out at full length, and Apollodorus, tying the sack together
with a cord, carried her through the doors to Caesar. Caesar is said to
have been first captivated by this device of Kleopatra, which showed a
daring temper, and being completely enslaved by his intercourse with
her and her attractions, he brought about an accommodation between
Kleopatra and her brother on the terms of her being associated with
him in the kingdom. A feast was held to celebrate the reconciliation,
during which a slave of Caesar, his barber, owing to his timidity in
which he had no equal, leaving nothing unscrutinized, and listening
and making himself very busy, found out that a plot against Caesar was
forming by Achillas the general and Potheinus the eunuch. Caesar being
made acquainted with their design, placed a guard around the
apartment, and put Potheinus to death. Achillas escaped to the camp,
and raised about Caesar a dangerous and difficult war for one who with
so