6.22

Caesar Defeats Ptolemy, 47 BCE

(1) Alexandrīam vēnit: Caesar arrived at Alexandria three days after Pompey's death with a small force of less than 4,000 men. He attempted to settle the conflict between Ptolemy XIII and his sister, Cleopatra, and collect the money which Ptolemy had agreed to pay the triumvirs for their recognition of him. Ptolemy's minsters were offended by his autocratic behavior and incited the royal guards and city mob to attack him. Throughout the winter of 48/47 BCE Caesar was besieged in the palace quarters with Cleopatra who had been smuggled in. Reinforcements from Syria and Judaea under Mithridates of Pergamum arrived in early spring and enabled Caesar to defeat Ptolemy's army in the Nile Delta and the king died. The crown was awarded to Ptolemy XIV, a younger brother, but Cleopatra in effect ruled Egypt as co-regent (Bird).

Ipsī: Caesarī, dative object of compound verb inlātum est (LS infero I.β)

Victus in Nīlō: Caesar conquered the royal forces on the banks of the Nile (Hazzard)

eius: refers to Ptolemy

(2) Alexandrīā potītus: deponent verb potior takes an ablative object (LS potior I.γ). When Caesar set fire to the royal fleet, the flames consumed the great library of Alexandria, containing 400,000 volumes. In this fire some of the greatest literary treasures of antiquity perished (Hazzard).

Cleopatrae: Cleopatra was the famous pharaoh who later aligned with Antony, cf. Brev. 7.6 and 7.7.

cum quā consuetudinem stupri habuerat: "with whom he had had a shameful relationship" (Bird). consuetudō is a sexual relationship (= amor, concubitus), and stuprum suggests it was immoral.

Pharnacēn: marching into Asia Minor via Syria Caesar swiftly defeated Pharnaces II of Bosporus on August 1, 47 BCE at Zela in southern Pontus, where Pharnaces’ father, Mithridates, had defeated C. Triarius in 67 BCE (Bird).

Pompēiō in auxilium: Eutropius seldom uses the double dative (AG 382 n.1).

vīcit aciē: It was after this battle that Caesar sent to the senate the famous message vēnī, vīdī, vīcī, "I came, I saw, I conquered" (Hazzard).