JULIUS OESAR. 173 



After quelling by his single presence and speech a mutiny 

 of some of his legions at Placentia, he reappeared at Eome ; 

 confirmed his authority there by wise and salutary acts ; and 

 then, with such part of his army as he could collect in time, 

 threw himself suddenly upon the coast of Epirus, there to 

 confront for the first time his great adversary. A protracted 

 contest followed near Dyrrachium, of refined strategy and 

 alternate blockade by sea and land. The inferiority of Caesar's 

 force, even after being joined by fresh legions, exposed him 

 to a severe check, which had the effect of suddenly transfer- 

 ring the war across the mountain barrier of Pindus to the 

 plains of Thessaly. Here the momentous battle of Pharsalia 

 closed the struggle, and decided the fortunes of Caesar. His 

 hardy legions, like the iron regiments of Cromwell, confident 

 in their commander, won complete victory over the numerous 

 but more courtly and effeminate army opposed to them. 

 The field is to this day unchanged in its main features. The 

 stream of the Enipeus is still seen winding across it ; a village 

 occupies the site, and yet bears the name of Pharsalus. We 

 ourselves have twice trodden over this ground, and been able 

 to note, without any great ambiguity, the main localities of 

 a conflict thus famous in history.* 



Caesar permitted no pause in the pursuit of his rival, or 

 in the interest of his own career. With a hardihood which 

 might be censured as rashness, were it not so constantly 

 justified by success, he was still ever in advance of his army. 



* Mr. Merivale's account of the battle is somewhat obscure in its topography. 

 His supposition of change in the course of the Enipeus is not necessary to re- 

 concile Caesar's narrative with the actual localities. The vestiges of the ancient 

 walls of Pharsalus around the modern village, the position of the several hills 

 bordering the Enipeus to the south, and the interval between these hills and the 

 stream, all accord with the events as described to us by Csesar. On this sub- 

 ject we may best refer to the authority of Colonel Leake. In a memoir pub- 

 lished by the Koyal Society of Literature, this most learned and accurate scholar 

 satisfactorily illustrates the whole campaign, and very especially the battle of 

 Pharsalia, upon his personal knowledge of the ground. 



