d thousand men and some twelve thousand
cavalry from Italy to the opposite shore of the Adriatic. He took the
precaution of watching the outlet of the Ambracian Gulf with his swiftest
ships. The narrow entrance, while making it difficult to force a way into
the Gulf, had the disadvantage of all such positions, that a large fleet
would take a considerable time to issue from it into the open sea, and it
was therefore comparatively easy to blockade and observe it. If Antony
showed any sign of coming out, there would be time to bring up the whole
fleet of Octavian to meet him in the open.

It was thus that Octavian was able securely to embark his army in
successive divisions, and land it without interruption at the port of
Toryne on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. Having assembled there, it
marched southwards along the coast till it reached the hills on the
northern shore of the Ambracian Gulf, and the two armies and fleets were in
presence of each other.

The legions of Octavian encamped on a rising ground a few miles north of
the entrance of the Gulf, and above a narrow neck of land which divided one
of its inlets from the open sea. The coast is here hollowed into a wide
bay, in which the main body of Agrippa's fleet was anchored, while a
detached squadron observed the opening of the straits. The camp was
surrounded by entrenchments, and connected with the station of the fleet by
a road protected by lines of earthworks and palisades, for it was the
custom of the Romans to make as much use of pick and spade as of sword and
spear in their campaigns. On the site of the camp Octavian afterwards
founded Nicopolis, "the City of Victory," as the memorial of his triumph.

From the camp on the hill there was a wide view over the Ambracian Gulf, a
sheet of water some thirty miles long and ten wide, surrounded by an
amphitheatre of hills sloping to flat, and in many places marshy, shores.
On the wide waters the fleet of Antony lay moored, line behind line, a
forest of masts and yards. In the narrows of the entrance some of his
largest ships were anchored. Many of the ships of Phoenicia and Egypt
displayed an Eastern profusion of colour in their painted upper works,
their gilded bows, and their bright flags and streamers. Near the southern
shore lay the state galley of Cleopatra, a floating palace, with its silken
sails, gilded bulwarks, and oars bound and plated with silver.

A line of earthworks and forts across the neck of th