he nobles,
for their part, thought they would know how to deal with Pompey if
once Caesar was out of the way. In the negotiations which preceded the
civil war, Caesar showed a moderation and fairness in striking contrast
with the unscrupulous and headstrong violence of the nobles, who had
not even formal legality on their side. But when he was finally
summoned to hand over his province and army to a nominee of the
Senate, on pain of being declared a public enemy, and when the
tribunes who had reversed the resolution of the Senate were obliged to
fly for their lives to his camp, he suddenly crossed the river
Rubicon, the boundary of his province, and marched on Rome (B.C. 49).

He had but one legion with him; the bulk of his army was far away in
its Gallic cantonments. The forces of Pompey were overwhelmingly
superior in numbers. But the rapid and daring advance of Caesar
prevented their concentration. He came, not merely the adored general
of a veteran army, but the long-tried and consistent leader of the
liberal party, who had never swerved from his principles, never
betrayed his friends, never flinched from dangers. Fascinated by his
success and encouraged by his clemency, towns everywhere opened their
gates and Pompeian levies joined him, swelling his army at every stage
as he swept down Italy.

Pompey, for his part, was not sorry to have a pretext for moving
eastward toward the scene of his early triumphs, where his military
prestige and his personal influence would cause all the client states
to rally round him, and the sulky and suspicious nobles would find
themselves overshadowed. So he crossed the Adriatic, leaving the large
veteran army in Spain, which was under his orders, to take care of
itself. Thither Caesar proceeded as soon as he had secured Italy, bent
on making sure of the West before doing anything else. When the
Spanish legions were beaten, he lost no time in following Pompey, who
had found the respite all too short for drilling his large but raw
force of Romans, and organizing the masses of Asiatics whom he had
summoned to his standard. In the campaign that ensued, the conqueror
of the East fully maintained his old military reputation; but at
length, driven by the clamor of the nobles to risk a pitched battle,
he suffered a crushing defeat on the field of Pharsalia (B.C. 48).
Flying to Egypt, still an independent kingdom, he was assassinated by
order of the government.

The beaten party rallied a