And since to thee I consecrate my toil,
Oh! favour thou my cause, and on thy soldier smile.--_Lucan._

1. Caesar, however, seemed no way disturbed at these violent
proceedings; the night before his intended expedition into Italy, he
sat down to table cheerfully, conversing with his friends on subjects
of literature and philosophy; and apparently disengaged from every
ambitious concern. After some time, rising up, he desired the
company to make themselves joyous in his absence, and that he would be
with them in a moment: in the mean time, having ordered his chariot to
be prepared, he immediately set out, attended by a few friends, for
Arim'inum, a city upon the confines of Italy, whither he had
despatched a part of his army the morning before. 2. This journey by
night, which was very fatiguing, he performed with great diligence,
sometimes walking, and sometimes on horseback; till at the break of
day, he came up with his army, which consisted of about five thousand
men, near the Ru'bicon, a little river which separates Italy from
Gaul, and which marked the limits of his command. 3. The Romans had
ever been taught to consider this river as the sacred boundary of
their domestic empire. 4. Caesar, therefore, when he advanced at the
head of his army to the side of it, stopped short upon the bank, as if
impressed with terror at the greatness of his enterprise. He could not
pass it without transgressing the laws; he therefore pondered for some
time in fixed melancholy, looking and debating with himself whether he
should venture in. "If I pass this river," said he to one of his
generals, "what miseries shall I bring upon my country! and if I now
stop short I am undone." 5. After a pause he exclaimed, "Let us go
where the gods and the injustice of our enemies call us." Thus saying,
and renewing all his former alacrity, he plunged in, crying out, "The
die is cast." His soldiers followed him with equal promptitude, and
having passed the Ru'bicon, quickly arrived at Arim'inum, and made
themselves masters of the place without any resistance.

6. This unexpected enterprise excited the utmost terror in Rome; every
one imagining that Caesar was leading his army to lay the city in
ruins. At the same time were to be seen the citizens flying into the
country for safety, and the inhabitants of the country coming to seek
shelter in the city. 7. In this universal confusion, Pompey felt all
that repentance and self-condemnation, which mu