compelled to retreat from his present position, and accordingly
commenced his march for Thessaly. Pompey's policy of avoiding a general
engagement with Caesar's veterans till he could place more reliance upon
his own troops was undoubtedly a wise one, and had been hitherto crowned
with success; but he was prevented from carrying out the prudent plan
which he had formed for conducting the campaign. His camp was filled
with a multitude of Roman nobles, unacquainted with war, and anxious to
return to their estates in Italy and to the luxuries of the capital. His
unwillingness to fight was set down to love of power and anxiety to keep
the Senate in subjection. Stung with the reproaches with which he was
assailed, and elated in some degree by his victory at Dyrrhachium, he
resolved to bring the contest to an issue. Accordingly, he offered
battle to Caesar in the plain of Pharsalus, or Pharsalia, in Thessaly.
The numbers on either side were very unequal: Pompey had 45,000
foot-soldiers and 7000 horse, Caesar 22,000 foot-soldiers and 1000 horse.
The battle, which was fought on the 9th of August, B.C. 48, according
to the old calendar,[70] ended in the total defeat of Pompey's army.

The battle of Pharsalia decided the fate of Pompey and the Republic.
Pompey was at once driven to despair. He made no attempt to rally his
forces, though he might still have collected a considerable army; but,
regarding every thing as lost, he hurried to the sea-coast with a few
friends. He embarked on board a merchant-ship at the mouth of the River
Peneus, and first sailed to Lesbos, where he took on board his wife
Cornelia, and from thence made for Cyprus. He now determined to seek
refuge in Egypt, as he had been the means of restoring to his kingdom
Ptolemy Auletes, the father of the young Egyptian monarch. On his death
in B.C. 51 Ptolemy Auletes had left directions that his son should reign
jointly with his elder sister Cleopatra. But their joint reign did not
last long, for Ptolemy, or, rather, Pothinus and Achillas, his chief
advisers, expelled his sister from the throne. Cleopatra collected a
force in Syria, with which she invaded Egypt. The generals of Ptolemy
were encamped opposite her, near Alexandria, when Pompey arrived off the
coast and craved the protection of the young king. This request threw
Pothinus and Achillas into great difficulty, for there were many of
Pompey's old soldiers in the Egyptian army, and they feared he would
becom