So swift was Caesar that his
greatest exploits were measured by days. He had to settle accounts with
Pompey while it was still winter, and while Pompey's preparations for the
invasion of Italy were still incomplete; and he and his veterans, scarcely
allowing themselves a breathing-time, went down to Brindisi.
It was now the beginning of January by the unreformed calendar (by the
seasons the middle of October)--a year within a few days since Caesar had
crossed the Rubicon. He had nominally twelve legions under him. But long
marches had thinned the ranks of his old and best-tried troops. The change
from the dry climate of Gaul and Spain to the south of Italy in a wet
autumn had affected the health of the rest, and there were many invalids.
The force available for field service was small for the work which was
before it: in all not more than 30,000 men. Pompey's army lay immediately
opposite Brindisi, at Durazzo. It was described afterward as inharmonious
and ill-disciplined, but so far as report went at the time Caesar had
never encountered so formidable an enemy. There were nine legions of Roman
citizens with their complements full. Two more were coming up with Scipio
from Syria. Besides these there were auxiliaries from the allied princes
in the East; corps from Greece and Asia Minor, slingers and archers from
Crete and the islands.
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