Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Plutarch

Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).

At Pharsalus [*](In 48 B.C.) Pompey gave the word for his regiments after they had formed for battle to stand in their tracks and meet the onset of the enemy. In this Caesar said that he made a mistake, inasmuch as he lost the effect on his soldiers of the intensity and excitement which comes from rushing to the onset with enthusiasm. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Caesar, chap. xliv. (729 B); Life of Pompey, chap. lxix. (656 C); Caesar, Civil War, iii. 92. Appian (The Civil Wars, ii. 79) says that this statement was found in Caesar’s letters.)