Yet Caesar was never defeated when personally present,
save once at Gergovia, and once at Durazzo; and the failure at Gergovia
was caused by the revolt of the Aedui; and the manner in which the failure
at Durazzo was retrieved showed Caesar's greatness more than the most
brilliant of his victories. He was rash, but with a calculated rashness,
which the event never failed to justify. His greatest successes were due
to the rapidity of his movements, which brought him on the enemy before
they heard of his approach. He travelled sometimes a hundred miles a day,
reading or writing in his carriage, though countries without roads, and
crossing rivers without bridges. No obstacles stopped him when he had a
definite end in view. In battle he sometimes rode; but he was more often
on foot, bareheaded, and in a conspicuous dress, that he might be seen and
recognized. Again and again by his own efforts he recovered a day that was
half lost. He once seized a panic-stricken standard-bearer, turned him
round, and told him that he had mistaken the direction of the enemy. He
never misled his army as to an enemy's strength, or if he mis-stated their
numbers it was only to exaggerate. In Africa, before Thapsus, when his
officers were nervous at the reported approach of Juba, he called them
together and said briefly, "You will understand that within a day King
Juba will be here with the legions, thirty thousand horse, a hundred
thousand skirmishers, and three hundred elephants.
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