[Linenotes: 800. +tribunicia arce+ = _from the citadel of the tribune_, i.e. the inviolability of the office and the right of veto. As tribune Curio played an all-important part in the crisis of 50 B.C. 801. +prodita iura senatus+, i.e. of the right of the senators to appoint governors of the provinces. --Haskins. 802. +gener atque socer:+ by the early death of Julia (54 B.C.)--a beloved wife and daughter--the personal relation between Pompeius and Caesar was broken up. 812. +senium+ (_senex_) = _decay_ (of lapse of time). 813. +digna ... vitae+ = _such a panegyric_ (+praeconia+) _as thy life deserves_. --H. 815-818. As tribune Curio for a time played the part of an independent republican, till his talent induced Caesar to buy him up. 819. +momentum+ (= _movi + mentum_) +rerum+ = _that which turned the scale of history_. --H. 824. +vendidit+: perh. referred to by Verg. _Aen._ vi. 621-2: _Vendidit hic auro patriam dominumque potentem Imposuit; fixit leges pretio atque refixit._] B55 CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (6) _Dyrrachium. Caesar’s line of circumvallation, 48 B.C._ Erat nova et inusitata belli ratio cum tot castellorum numero tantoque spatio et tantis munitionibus et toto obsidionis genere, tum etiam reliquis rebus. Nam quicumque alterum obsidere conati sunt, perculsos atque infirmos hostes adorti aut proelio superatos {5} aut aliqua offensione permotos continuerunt, cum ipsi numero equitum militumque praestarent; causa autem obsidionis haec fere esse consuevit, ut frumento hostes prohiberent. At tum integras atque incolumes copias Caesar inferiore militum {10} numero continebat, cum illi omnium rerum copia abundarent; cotidie enim magnus undique navium numerus conveniebat, quae commeatum supportarent, neque ullus flare ventus poterat, quin aliqua ex parte secundum cursum haberent. Ipse autem consumptis {15} omnibus longe lateque frumentis summis erat in angustiis. Sed tamen haec singulari patientia milites ferebant. Recordabantur enim eadem se superiore anno in Hispania perpessos labore et patientia maximum bellum confecisse, meminerant ad {20} Alesiam magnam se inopiam perpessos, multo etiam maiorem ad Avaricum maximarum se gentium victores discessisse. CAESAR, _de B. C._ iii. 47. +Context.+ In Jan. (48 B.C.) Caesar set sail from Brundisium and landed safely in Epirus. After a junction with Antonius, who followed him from Brundisium with reinforcements, Caesar established himself close to Dyrrachium (Durazzo), the key of the whole military situation. Pompeius refused to fight, and encamped on a hill close to the sea at Petra, a short distance S. of Dyrrachium, where his fleets could bring him supplies. Caesar now determined to hem him in by a line of circumvallation.