will
gladly receive him." Hearing this they were overjoyed, and all alike
were anxious to join the new expedition.

[-55-]Caesar put side the turbulent spirits among them, not all, but as
many as were moderately well acquainted with farming and so could make a
living,--and the rest he used. This he did also in the case of the rest
of his soldiers. Those who were overbold and able to cause some great
evil he took away from Italy in order that they might not raise an
insurrection by being left behind there; and in Africa he was glad to
employ different men on different pretexts, for while he was making away
with his opponents through their work, he at the same time got rid of
them. Though he was the kindliest of men and most frequently did favors
of various sorts for his soldiers and others, he bitterly hated those
given to uprisings and punished them with extreme severity.

This he did in that year in which he ruled as dictator really for the
second time and the consuls were said to be Calenus and Vatinius,
appointed near the close of the season.[-56-] He next crossed over into,
although winter had set in. And he had no little success when, somewhat
later, he made an unlooked for attack on his opponents. On all occasions
he accomplished a great deal by his rapidity and the unexpectedness of
his expeditions, so that if any one should try to study out what it was
that made him so superior to his contemporaries in warfare, he would
find by careful comparison that there was nothing more striking than
these two characteristics. Africa had not been friendly to Caesar
formerly, but after Curio's death it became entirely hostile. Affairs
were in the hands of Varus and Juba, and furthermore Cato, Scipio, and
their followers had taken refuge there simultaneously, as I have stated.
After this they made common cause in the war, trained the land forces,
and making descents by sea upon Sicily and Sardinia they harassed the
cities and brought back ships from which they obtained[82] arms andiron
besides, which alone they lacked. Finally they reached such a condition
of readiness and disposition that, as no army opposed them and Caesar
delayed in Egypt and the capital, they despatched Pompey to Spain. On
learning that the peninsula was in revolt they thought that the people
would readily receive him as being the son of Pompey the Great; and
while he made preparations to occupy Spain in a short time and set out
from there to the capital,