LXI. Nor need we depend solely for our security on the special providence of the gods, as we have resources in the ordinary course of human events, and in the common influence of second causes. Cæsar is yet at a great distance, and as he will have much to settle both in Italy and Greece, in order to secure the fruits of his late victory, it will be probably some time before he will find himself at leisure to visit Egypt. During that interval, we may be employed in modeling and disciplining our troops; they are not few in number, and we may add new recruits to them; and to make the Egyptian troops equal to the best in the world, nothing more is necessary, than that they should be properly trained, and be commanded by a good general; because when we had such a one in the person of our famous Sesostris, they conquered and triumphed over the principal regions of Asia, as the ruins of the columns that prince erected, and which time has thrown down, testify. Nobody disputes Pompey’s being, if not the greatest soldier in the world, at least equal to the greatest. His victories have acquired him the epithet of great, which is a title Cæsar never attained. We have then in him, the general we want; nor ought his reputation to be lessened by the victory Cæsar lately obtained over him; for besides his commanding a motley army, collected from, and composed of various nations, he was but little or ill obeyed in that war; and this is an evil, for which we have a remedy in our own power, by committing the whole military government to the discretion and direction of Pompey. If he finds himself not in a condition or situation to attack with a prospect of victory, he will stand on the defensive, and preserve his troops, which is the conduct he wished to have pursued in Greece. We may also hope for many advantages from time; as in the interval of our recess, succours may arrive to Pompey from all the world; for the whole Roman empire, except the troops immediately in his pay, are enemies to Cæsar; and although we should not be able to assemble an army, capable of resisting Cæsar, his success will not be quite certain. The whole Roman republic which commands the world, groans with affliction, under the intolerable sensation, occasioned by the suppression of their liberty; and it would be very extraordinary, if among the millions of people of which it is composed, there should not be found some one desperate enough, to sacrifice his own life, for the sake of redeeming his country. Every man who arrives at despising, or setting no value on his own life, may have that of Cæsar in his power; for one concealed poignard, or one disguised dose of poison administered at his table, would be more dangerous and fatal to him, than fifty thousand lances in the open field. The instances of Romans, who have offered themselves voluntary victims to the idol of fame, or the good of their country, are numerous; and perhaps Cæsar at this time, has some one near his