to them upon consideration to be no province to which they could safely fly; and as to the kingdoms, Pompeius gave it as his opinion that the Parthian[386] at the present was the best able to receive and protect them in their present weakness, and to strengthen them again and to send them forth with the largest force; of the rest, some turned their thoughts towards Libya and Juba,[387] but Theophanes of Lesbos pronounced it madness to leave Egypt, which was only three days’ sail distant, and Ptolemaeus,[388] who was still a youth, and indebted to Pompeius for the friendship and favour which his father had received from him, and to put himself in the hands of the Parthians, a most treacherous nation; and to be the first of all persons who did not choose to submit to a Roman who had been connected with him by marriage, nor to make trial of his moderation, and to put himself in the power of Arsakes,[389] who was not able to take even Crassus so long as he was alive; and to carry a young wife of the family of Scipio among barbarians, who measured their power by their insolence and unbridled temper; and if no harm should befall Cornelia, and it should only be apprehended that she might suffer injury, it would be a sad thing for her to be in the power of those who were able to do it.  This alone, it is said diverted Pompeius from proceeding to the Euphrates; if indeed any reflection still guided Pompeius, and he was not rather directed by a daemon to the way that he took.

LXXVII.  Accordingly when the proposal to fly to Egypt prevailed, Pompeius setting sail from Cyprus in a galley of Seleukeia[390] with his wife (and of the rest some accompanied him also in ships of war, and others in merchant vessels), crossed the sea safely; and hearing that Ptolemaeus[391] was seated before Pelusium with his army, being engaged in war against his sister, he came to that part of the coast and sent forward a person to announce his arrival to the king and to pray for his protection.  Now Ptolemaeus was very young, and Potheinus who managed everything, summoned a council of the chief persons; and the chief persons were those whom he chose to make so, and he bade each man give his opinion.  It was indeed a sad thing that such men should deliberate about Pompeius Magnus, as Potheinus the eunuch and Theodotus of Chios who was hired as a teacher of rhetoric and the Egyptian Achillas:  for these were the chief advisers of the king among the eunuchs and others who had the care of his person; and such was the court whose decision Pompeius was waiting for at anchor some distance from the shore and tossed by the waves, he who thought it beneath him to be indebted to Caesar for his life.  Now opinions among the rest were so far divided that some advised they should drive away Pompeius, and others, that they should invite and receive him:  but Theodotus displaying his power in speech and his rhetorical art proved that neither of these courses was safe, but that if they received Pompeius, they would have Caesar for an enemy and Pompeius for their master, and if they drove him away, they would incur the displeasure of Pompeius for ejecting him and of Caesar for the trouble of the pursuit; it was therefore best to send for the man and kill him, for thus they would please Caesar and have nothing to fear from Pompeius.  And he concluded with a smile, as it is said, A dead man does not bite.