against the army which was being organized in Greece under Pompeius’ own command, or against that which was ready for battle under his lieutenants in Spain.  He had decided in favour of the latter course, and, as soon as the Italian campaign ended, had taken measures to collect on the lower Rhone nine of his best legions, as also 6000 cavalry—­ partly men individually picked out by Caesar in the Celtic cantons, partly German mercenaries—­and a number of Iberian and Ligurian archers.

Massilia against Caesar

But at this point his opponents also had been active.  Lucius Domitius, who was nominated by the senate in Caesar’s stead as governor of Transalpine Gaul, had proceeded from Corfinium—­as soon as Caesar had released him—­along with his attendants and with Pompeius’ confidant Lucius Vibullius Rufus to Massilia, and actually induced that city to declare for Pompeius and even to refuse a passage to Caesar’s troops.  Of the Spanish troops the two least trustworthy legions were left behind under the command of Varro in the Further province; while the five best, reinforced by 40,000 Spanish infantry—­ partly Celtiberian infantry of the line, partly Lusitanian and other light troops—­and by 5000 Spanish cavalry, under Afranius and Petreius, had, in accordance with the orders of Pompeius transmitted by Vibullius, set out to close the Pyrenees against the enemy.

Caesar Occupies the Pyrenees Position at Ilerda

Meanwhile Caesar himself arrived in Gaul and, as the commencement of the siege of Massilia still detained him in person, he immediately despatched the greater part of his troops assembled on the Rhone—­six legions and the cavalry—­along the great road leading by way of Narbo (Narbonne) to Rhode (Rosas) with the view of anticipating the enemy at the Pyrenees.  The movement was successful; when Afranius and Petreius arrived at the passes, they found them already occupied by the Caesarians and the line of the Pyrenees lost.  They then took up a position at Ilerda (Lerida) between the Pyrenees and the Ebro.  This town lies twenty miles to the north of the Ebro on the right bank of one of its tributaries, the Sicoris (Segre), which was crossed by only a single solid bridge immediately at Ilerda.  To the south of Ilerda the mountains which adjoin the left bank of the Ebro approach pretty close to the town; to the northward there stretches on both sides of the Sicoris a level country which is commanded by the hill on which the town is built.  For an army, which had to submit to a siege, it was an excellent position; but the defence of Spain, after the occupation of the line of the Pyrenees had been neglected, could only be undertaken in earnest behind the Ebro, and, as no secure communication was established between Ilerda and the Ebro, and no bridge existed over the latter stream, the retreat from the temporary to the true defensive position was not sufficiently