Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/365



CHAPTER XI.

THE CIVIL WAR.

49-47 B.C.

HE first moves in this terrible game were highly successful for Cæsar. Though he had at the moment only a small force south of the Alps, it consisted of seasoned veterans, and he pushed it forward without intermission. "We still hold Cingulum," writes Cicero on the 18th of January, "we have lost Ancona; Labienus has deserted Cæsar. Are we speaking of an officer of the Roman People, or of Hannibal? Insensate and unhappy man that he is! he has never had sight of so much as the shadow of true honour." Ariminum, Pisaurum, and Arretium also opened their gates to Cæsar. Pompey seems to have been taken by surprise. The city of Rome was manifestly untenable in any case, but it was deserted in such

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