More than half
the Pompeians had reached the hills and were making for Larissa. Leaving
part of his legions in the camp to rest, Caesar took the freshest the same
evening, and by a rapid march cut off their line of retreat. The hills
were waterless, the weather suffocating. A few of the guiltiest of the
Pompeian leaders, Labienus, Lentulus, Afranius, Petreius, and Metellus
Scipio (Cicero and Cato had been left at Durazzo), contrived to escape in
the night. The rest, twenty-four thousand of them, surrendered at
daylight. They came down praying for mercy, which they had never shown,
sobbing out their entreaties on their knees that the measure which they
had dealt to others might not be meted out to them. Then and always Caesar
hated unnecessary cruelty, and never, if he could help it, allowed
executions in cold blood. He bade them rise, said a few gentle words to
relieve their fears, and sent them back to the camp. Domitius Ahenobarbus,
believing that for him at least there could be no forgiveness, tried to
escape, and was killed. The rest were pardoned.
So ended the battle of Pharsalia. A hundred and eighty standards were
taken and all the eagles of Pompey's legions. In Pompey's own tent was
found his secret correspondence, implicating persons, perhaps, whom Caesar
had never suspected, revealing the mysteries of the past three years.
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