Of money, of stores of all kinds, there was
abundance, for the Eastern revenue had been all paid for the last year to
Pompey, and he had levied impositions at his pleasure.
Such was the Senate's land army, and before Caesar could cross swords with
it a worse danger lay in his path. It was not for nothing that Cicero said
that Pompey had been careful of his fleet. A hundred and thirty ships, the
best which were to be had, were disposed in squadrons along the east shore
of the Adriatic; the head-quarters were at Corfu; and the one purpose was
to watch the passage and prevent Caesar from crossing over.
[Sidenote: January, B.C. 48.]
Transports run down by vessels of war were inevitably sunk. Twelve
fighting triremes, the remains of his attempted Adriatic fleet, were all
that Caesar could collect for a convoy. The weather was wild. Even of
transports he had but enough to carry half his army in a single trip. With
such a prospect and with the knowledge that if he reached Greece at all he
would have to land in the immediate neighborhood of Pompey's enormous
host, surprise has been expressed that Caesar did not prefer to go round
through Illyria, keeping his legions together. But Caesar had won many
victories by appearing where he was least expected. He liked well to
descend like a bolt out of the blue sky; and, for the very reason that no
ordinary person would under such circumstances have thought of attempting
the passage, he determined to try it.
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