Pompey

He himself, after barricading the gates and manning the walls with his lightest-armed soldiers, ordered the Brundisians to remain quietly in their houses, and then dug up all the ground inside the city into trenches, and filled the streets with sunken stakes[*](Ditches were dug across the streets, sharpened stakes placed in the ditches, and the whole work lightly covered so as to look undisturbed. Cf. Caesar, Bell. Civ. I. xxvii. ) all except two, by which he himself finally went down to the sea.

Then on the third day, when he had already embarked the rest of his host at his leisure, he suddenly raised a signal for those who were still guarding the walls to run swiftly down to the sea, took them on board, and set them across to Dyrrachium. Caesar, however, when he saw the walls deserted, perceived that Pompey had fled, and in his pursuit of him came near getting entangled in the ditches and stakes; but since the Brundisians told him about them, he avoided the city,[*](He had besieged it for nine days, and had also begun to close up the harbour (Caesar, Bell. Civ. I. xxv.-xxvii.).) and making a circuit round it, found that all the transports had put out to sea except two, which had only a few soldiers aboard.

Other people, now, count this sailing away of Pompey among his best stratagems, but Caesar himself was astonished that when he was in possession of a strong city and expected his forces from Spain and was master of the sea, he gave up and abandoned Italy. Cicero also blames him[*](Epist. ad Att. vii. 11.) for imitating the generalship of Themistocles rather than that of Pericles, although he was situated like Pericles, and not like Themistocles.

Moreover, Caesar had shown by what he did that he greatly feared a protraction of the war. For after capturing Numerius, a friend of Pompey, he sent him to Brundisium with a request for a reconciliation on equal terms. But Numerius sailed away with Pompey. Then Caesar, who in sixty days had become master of all Italy without bloodshed, wished to pursue Pompey at once, but since he had no transports, he turned back and marched into Spain, desiring to win over to himself the forces there.