jueves, 14 de marzo de 2019

At last, after they had struggled

At last, after they had struggled evenly for a very long space of time and many on both sides alike had fallen or been wounded, Pompey, since the larger part of his army was Asiatic and untrained, was defeated, even as had been made clear to him before the action. Thunderbolts had fallen into his camp, a fire had appeared in the air over Caesar's ditch and then fell up his own, bees had swarmed upon his military standards, and many of the victims after being led up close the very altar had run away. And so far did the effects of that contest extend to the rest of mankind that on the very day of the battle collisions of armies and the clash of arms occurred in many places: in Pergamum a kind of noise of drums and cymbals rose from the temple of Dionysus and spread throughout the city; in Tralles a palm tree grew up in the temple of Victory and the goddess herself turned about toward an image of Caesar located beside her; in Syria two young men (as they seemed) announced the result of the battle and vanished; and in Patavium, which now belongs to Italy but was then still a part of Gaul, certain birds not only brought news of it but even acted it out to some extent, for one Gaius Cornelius drew from them accurate information of all that had taken place, and narrated it to the bystanders. These things happened separately on that very same day and were naturally distrusted at the time; but when news was brought of the engagement, astonishment was felt.

Dión Casio. Historia romana, XLI, 61.

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