LXI.  Cato advised that Pompeius should be appointed general Imperator, adding, that it was the business of those who caused great mischief to put an end to it.  Cato immediately left the city for Sicily, for he had obtained that island as his province; and of the rest each went to the province which had been assigned to him by lot.  But as nearly all Italy was in commotion, the events that happened caused much perplexity; for those who were out of Rome hurried from all parts and crowded into the city, and the inhabitants of Rome hastened to leave the city, which in such tempest and confusion was weak in available means, but strong in insubordination and the difficulty that it caused to the magistrates.  For it was not possible to allay the fear, nor did any one allow Pompeius to follow his own judgment, but in whatever way a man was affected, whether by fear, grief or perplexity, he carried it to Pompeius and filled him with it; and opposite measures prevailed in the same day, and it was impossible for Pompeius to get any true intelligence about the enemy, because there were many who reported anything that they chanced to hear, and were vexed if he did not believe them.  Under these circumstances after declaring by an edict that he saw nothing but confusion, and bidding all the senators follow him, and giving notice that he should consider all who stayed behind as partisans of Caesar, he left the city late in the evening; and the consuls fled without even making the sacrifices which were usual before wars.  But even in the midst of danger Pompeius was fortunate in the general affection of the people, for though many blamed the generalship, there was not one who hated the general, but one might have found that those who were not willing to leave Pompeius were more numerous than those who left the city for the cause of liberty.

LXII.  A few davs after, Caesar entered and took possession of Rome.[344] He behaved with moderation to all and pacified everybody, except Metellus[345] one of the tribunes who attempted to hinder him from taking money out of the treasury, on which Caesar threatened him with death and added to his threat still harsher words, for he said, That to say this was harder for him than to do it.  Having thus put Metellus to flight and taken what he wanted, Caesar pursued Pompeius, being anxious to drive him out of Italy before his troops from Iberia arrived.  Pompeius who had got possession of Brundisium and had plenty of ships, immediately put on board the consuls and with them thirty cohorts and sent them over before him to Dyrrachium:  Scipio his father-in-law and his own son Cneius he sent to Syria to get a fleet ready.  After barricading the gates and placing on the walls the soldiers who were most lightly armed, he ordered the people of Brundisium[346] to keep quiet in their houses, and he then broke up all the ground in the city and intersected it with ditches, and filled up all the streets with stakes except two through which he went down to the