he
was he would prove a match for the troops then approaching: but when he
learned that he was actually far inferior in numbers, he halted. In
order that this action should not seem due to fear, and he not be
thought to be opening the war, he submitted some conciliatory proposals
to the opposing body and continued his abode in that place. Pompey,
knowing this, wished to try conclusions with him as soon as possible and
for this reason undertook to cross the river. But the bridge on
receiving the weight broke down and some of the advance guard being
isolated, perished. Then he desisted in dejection that he had failed in
his first recourse to hostile action. Meanwhile Antony had arrived, and
Pompey in fear retired to Dyrrachium. [-48-] While Bibulus lived,
Caesar's lieutenant had not dared even to set out from Brundusium, so
close was the guard kept over it. But when that officer, worn out by
hard work, had died and Libo succeeded him as admiral, Antony despised
him and set sail with the evident intention of forcing the passage.
Driven back to land he repelled the other's vigorous attack upon him and
later, when Libo was anxious to disembark somewhere, he allowed him to
find anchorage nowhere near that part of the mainland. The admiral being
in need of anchorage and water, since the little island in front of the
harbor, which was the only place he could approach, is destitute of
water and harbor alike, sailed off to some distant point where he was
likely to find both in abundance. In this way Antony was enabled to set
sail, and later when the foe attempted to assail them on the high seas
he suffered no damage at his hands: a violent storm came up which
prevented the attack, but caused injuries to both sides.

[-49-] When the soldiers had come safely across, Pompey, as I have said,
retired to Dyrrachium, and Caesar followed him, encouraged by the fact
that he had survived his previous experiences with the number of
followers he now had. Dyrrachium is situated in the land formerly
belonging to the tribe of Illyrians called Parthini, but now and even at
that time regarded as a part of Macedonia; and it is very favorably
placed, whether it be the Epidamnus of the Corcyraeans or some other.
Those who record this fact also refer its founding and its name to a
hero Dyrrachus. The other authorities have declared that the place was
renamed by the Romans with reference to the difficulties of the rocky
shore, because the term Epidamn