The Historians' History of the World 05

He rode a very remarkable horse, with feet almost like those of a man, his hoofs being divided in such a manner as to have some resemblance to toes. This horse he had bred himself, and took particular care of, because the soothsayers interpreted those circumstances into an omen that the possessor of him would be master of the world. He backed him too himself, for the horse would suffer no other rider; and he afterwards erected a statue of him before the temple of Venus Genitrix.

He often alone, by his courage and activity, restored the fortune of a battle; opposing and stopping such of his troops as fled, and turning them by the jaws upon the enemy; though many of them were so terrified that a standard bearer, upon his stopping him, made a pass at him; and another, upon a similar occasion, left his standard in his hand.

The following instances of his resolution are equally, and even more remarkable. After the battle of Pharsalia, having sent his troops before him into Asia, as he was passing the Hellespont in a ferry boat, he met with L. Cassius, one of the opposite party, with ten ships of war; whom he was so far from avoiding, that he advanced close up to him; when, advising him to surrender, and the other complying, he took him into the boat.

At Alexandria, in the attack of a bridge, being forced by a sudden sally of the enemy into a boat, and several hurrying in with him, he leaped into the sea, and saved himself by swimming to the next ship, which lay at the distance of two hundred paces; holding up his left hand out of the water, for fear of wetting some papers which he held in it; and pulling his general’s cloak after him with his teeth, lest it should fall into the hands of the enemy.

He never estimated a soldier by his manners or fortune, but by his strength alone; and treated them with equal severity and indulgence; for he did not always keep a strict hand over them, except when an enemy was near. Then indeed he was so rigorous an exactor of discipline, that he would give no notice of march or battle until the moment he was to enter upon them; that the troops might hold themselves in readiness for any sudden movement; and he would frequently draw them out of the camp, without any necessity for it, especially in rainy weather, and upon holy days. Sometimes, giving them warning to watch him, he would suddenly withdraw himself by day or night, and would oblige them to long marches, on purpose to tire them, if they were tardy.

When at any time his soldiers were discouraged by reports of the great force of the enemy, he recovered them, not by denying the truth of what was said, or by diminishing the fact, but on the contrary by exaggerating every particular. Accordingly, when his troops were under great apprehensions of the arrival of King Juba, he called them together, and said, “I have to inform you that in a very few days the king will be here, with ten legions, thirty thousand horse, a hundred thousand light-armed foot, and three hundred elephants. Let none therefore presume to make any further inquiry, or to give their opinion upon the subject, but take my word for what I tell you, which I have from undoubted intelligence; otherwise I shall put them aboard a crazy old vessel, and leave them exposed to the mercy of the winds.”

He neither took notice of all their faults, nor proportioned his punishments to the nature of them. But after deserters and mutineers he made the most diligent inquiry, and punished them severely; other delinquencies he would connive at. Sometimes, after a successful battle, he would grant them a relaxation from all kinds of duty, and leave them to revel at pleasure; being used to boast that his soldiers fought nothing the worse for being perfumed. In his speeches, he never addressed them by the title of “soldiers,” but by the softer appellation of “fellow-soldiers”; and kept them in such fine condition that their arms were ornamented with silver and gold, not only for the purpose of making the better appearance, but to render the soldiers more tenacious of them in battle, from their value. He loved his troops to such a degree that, when he heard of the disaster of those under Titurius, he neither cut his hair nor shaved his beard until he had revenged it upon the enemy; by which means he engaged extremely their affection, and rendered them to the last degree brave.