elements were in existence,(24) did not break out in Italy during Caesar’s absence, the reason, according to the assurance of discerning opponents of Caesar, lay chiefly in the general dread of the unbridled fury of the republican ultras after the restoration should have taken place.  The better men in the Pompeian camp were in despair over this frantic behaviour.  Pompeius, himself a brave soldier, spared the prisoners as far as he might and could; but he was too pusillanimous and in too awkward a position to prevent or even to punish all atrocities of this sort, as it became him as commander-in-chief to do.  Marcus Cato, the only man who at least carried moral consistency into the struggle, attempted with more energy to check such proceedings; he induced the emigrant senate to prohibit by a special decree the pillage of subject towns and the putting to death of a burgess otherwise than in battle.  The able Marcus Marcellus had similar views.  No one, indeed, knew better than Cato and Marcellus that the extreme party would carry out their saving deeds, if necessary, in defiance of all decrees of the senate.  But if even now, when they had still to regard considerations of prudence, the rage of the ultras could not be tamed, people might prepare themselves after the victory for a reign of terror from which Marius and Sulla themselves would have turned away with horror; and we can understand why Cato, according to his own confession, was more afraid of the victory than of the defeat of his own party.

The Preparations for War

The management of the military preparations in the Macedonian camp was in the hands of Pompeius the commander-in-chief.  His position, always troublesome and galling, had become still worse through the unfortunate events of 705.  In the eyes of his partisans he was mainly to blame for this result.  This judgment was in various respects not just.  A considerable part of the misfortunes endured was to be laid to the account of the perversity and insubordination of the lieutenant-generals, especially of the consul Lentulus and Lucius Domitius; from the moment when Pompeius took the head of the army, he had led it with skill and courage, and had saved at least very considerable forces from the shipwreck; that he was not a match for Caesar’s altogether superior genius, which was now recognized by all, could not be fairly made matter of reproach to him.  But the result alone decided men’s judgment.  Trusting to the general Pompeius, the constitutional party had broken with Caesar; the pernicious consequences of this breach recoiled upon the general Pompeius; and, though owing to the notorious military incapacity of all the other chiefs no attempt was made to change the supreme command yet confidence at any rate in the commander-in-chief was paralyzed.  To these painful consequences of the defeats endured were added the injurious influences of the emigration.  Among the refugees who arrived there were certainly a number