CHAP. III.] 



ROMAN CAVALRY. 



87 



was 

 lining 

 upon 

 lould 

 as he 

 lerally 

 bring 



)nity.' 

 ighth 

 3 In 



aconite, 



the centre Cnseus Domitius commanded the cohorts, 

 while on the right, Caesar's favourite coi-ps, the tenth 

 legion, was drawn up under the command of P. Sylla. 

 These corps were formed in three lines, forty cohorts 

 being in the first, twenty-four in the second, and only 

 sixteen in the third. Each legion formed part of all 

 three lines. The cavalry, only 1,000 strong, were placed 

 on the right in line with the front rank at a short dis- 

 tance from it, facing over 6,000 of Pompey's cavalry 

 which we have seen were massed there. 



Caesar, knowing from the disposition of the hostile 

 army that Pompey designed to envelop his right with 

 his cavalry, moved six of his best cohorts from his third 

 line and placed them in rear of his right wing.^ He ex- 

 plained to "-yhem that they were not to stir until the attack 

 commenced, so that their presence should not be discovered. 



When the attack opened, Caesar's cavalry did not 

 make any resistance, but at once fell back into a position 

 at right angles to the front of battle, and to the right of 

 the six cohorts containing 3,000 infantry, who had at 

 once changed front to the right to face the advancing 

 cavalry. 2 These brave infantry seem to have charged the 

 horsemen with great courage, not throwing their javelins 

 but using them as spears according to Plutarch, and 

 thrusting them at the faces of the horsemen as Caesar 

 had commanded them. The cavalry, strange to say, were 

 defeated at once by these cohorts, and fled in disorder, 

 abandoning a large number of slingers and archers who 

 fought with them and who were at once put to the sword. 

 Caesar's cavalry, which had held back on the right of the 

 cohorts until their onset had checked and confused the 

 hostile horse, immediately charged boldly upon them, com- 

 pleted the rout and continued the pursuit when they fled. 



The victorious infantry wheeled to the left, advanced 

 upon the uncovered flank of Pompey's infantry, and 

 wheeling again to the left, overlapped it, and charged them 

 in flank and rear at the same instant that the tenth 

 legion pressed upon them in front. The result was not 

 long doubtful. Pompey saw at once that the day was 

 ^ Liskenne, ii. 301. ^ Plutarch, Csesar and Pompey. 



