Finding that all the rest could be depended on, he sent back over the Alps
for two more legions to follow him. He crossed the little river Rubicon,
which bounded his province, and advanced to Rimini, where he met the
tribunes, Antony, Cassius Longinus, and Curio, who were coming to him from
Rome.[1] At Rimini the troops were again assembled. Curio told
them what had passed. Caesar added a few more words. The legionaries,
officers and privates, were perfectly satisfied; and Caesar, who, a
resolution once taken, struck as swiftly as his own eagles, was preparing
to go forward. He had but 5,000 men with him, but he understood the state
of Italy, and knew that he had nothing to fear. At this moment Lucius
Caesar, a distant kinsman, and the praetor Roscius arrived, as they said,
with a private message from Pompey. The message was nothing. The object
was no more than to gain time. But Caesar had no wish for war, and would
not throw away a chance of avoiding it. He bade his kinsman tell Pompey
that it was for him to compose the difficulties which had arisen without a
collision. He had been himself misrepresented to his countrymen. He had
been recalled from his command before his time; the promise given to him
about his consulship had been broken. He had endured these injuries. He
had proposed to the Senate that the forces on both sides should be
disbanded.
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