[-39-] While these events were taking place one Ganymedes, a eunuch, abducted Arsinoe, as she was not very well guarded, and led her out to the people.  They declared her queen and proceeded to prosecute the war more vigorously, inasmuch as they now had a representative of the race of the Ptolemies.  Caesar, therefore, in fear that Pothemos might kidnap Ptolemy, put the former to death and guarded the latter strictly without any further dissimulation.  This contributed to incense the Egyptians still more, to whose party numbers were added daily, whereas the Roman soldiers from Syria were not yet on the scene.  Caesar was anxious to bring the people to a condition of peace, and so he had Ptolemy take his stand on a high place from which they could hear his voice and bade him say to them that he was unharmed and was averse to warfare.  He urged them to peaceful measures and promised that he would arrange the details for them.  Now if he had talked thus to them of his own accord, he could have persuaded them to become reconciled; but as it was, they suspected that it was all prearranged by Caesar, and they would not yield.

[-40-] As time went on a dispute arose among the followers of Arsinoe, and Ganymedes prevailed upon her to put Achillas to death, on the ground that he wished to betray the fleet.  When this had been done he assumed command of the soldiers and gathered all the boats that were in the river and the lake, besides constructing others.  All of them he conveyed through the canals to the sea, where he attacked the Romans while off their guard, burned some of their freight ships to the water’s edge and towed others away.  Then he cleared out the entrance to the harbor and by lying in wait for vessels there he caused the foreigners great annoyance.  One day Caesar noticed them behaving carelessly, by reason of their supremacy, and suddenly sailed into the harbor, where he burned a number of boats, and disembarking on Pharos slew the inhabitants of the island.  When the Egyptians on the mainland saw that, they came to their aid over the bridges and after killing many of the Romans in their turn they hurled the remainder back to their boats.  While these fugitives were forcing their way into them at any point and in crowds, Caesar, besides many others, fell into the sea.  And he would have perished miserably weighed down by his robes and pelted by the Egyptians—­his garments, being purple, offered a good mark—­had he not thrown off the incumbrances and then succeeded in swimming out somewhere to a skiff, which he boarded.  In this way he was saved without wetting one of the documents of which he held up a large number in his left hand as he swam.  His clothing the Egyptians took and hung upon the trophy which they set up to commemorate this rout, as if they had as good as captured the man himself.  They also kept a close watch upon the landings (for the legions which had been sent from Syria were now near at hand) and did the