XLIX.  Kleopatra,[550] taking Apollodorus the Sicilian alone of all her friends with her, and getting into a small boat, approached the palace as it was growing dark; and as it was impossible for her to escape notice in any other way, she got into a bed sack and laid herself out at full length, and Apollodorus, tying the sack together with a cord, carried her through the doors to Caesar.  Caesar is said to have been first captivated by this device of Kleopatra, which showed a daring temper, and being completely enslaved by his intercourse with her and her attractions, he brought about an accommodation between Kleopatra and her brother on the terms of her being associated with him in the kingdom.  A feast was held to celebrate the reconciliation, during which a slave of Caesar, his barber, owing to his timidity in which he had no equal, leaving nothing unscrutinized, and listening and making himself very busy, found out that a plot against Caesar was forming by Achillas the general and Potheinus the eunuch.  Caesar being made acquainted with their design, placed a guard around the apartment, and put Potheinus to death.  Achillas escaped to the camp, and raised about Caesar a dangerous and difficult war for one who with so few troops had to resist so large a city and force.  In this contest the first danger that he had to encounter was being excluded from water, for the canals[551] were dammed up by the enemy; and, in the second place, an attempt being made to cut off his fleet, he was compelled to repel the danger with fire, which spreading from the arsenals to the large library[552] destroyed it; and, in the third place, in the battle near the Pharos[553] he leaped down from the mound into a small boat and went to aid the combatants; but as the Egyptians were coming against him from all quarters, he threw himself into the sea and swam away with great difficulty.  On this occasion it is said that he had many papers in his hands, and that he did not let them go, though the enemy were throwing missiles at him and he had to dive under the water, but holding the papers above the water with one hand, he swam with the other; but the boat was sunk immediately.  At last, when the King had gone over to the enemy, Caesar attacked and defeated them in a battle in which many fell and the King[554] himself disappeared.  Leaving Kleopatra[555] Queen of Egypt, who shortly after gave birth to a child that she had by Caesar, which the Alexandrines named Caesarion, he marched to Syria.

L. From Syria continuing his march through Asia he heard that Domitius had been defeated by Pharnakes[556] son of Mithridates, and had fled from Pontus with a few men; and that Pharnakes, who used his victory without any moderation, and was in possession of Bithynia and Cappadocia, also coveted Armenia, called the Little, and was stirring up all the kings and tetrarchs in this part.  Accordingly Caesar forthwith advanced against the man with three legions and fighting a great battle near Zela drove Pharnakes in flight from Pontus, and completely destroyed his army.  In reporting to one of his friends at Rome, Amantius,[557] the celerity and rapidity of this battle, he wrote only three words:  “I came, I saw, I conquered.”  In the Roman language the three words ending in the like form of verb, have a brevity which is not without its effect.