LXIII. At daybreak the advance of the enemy's fleet alarmed Antonius, lest they should seize the ships which were without crews, and accordingly he armed the rowers and placed them on the decks to make a show, and raising the ships' oars and making them ready for plying, he kept his ships on each side in the channel near Actium, prow to prow, as if they were fit to be put in motion and prepared to fight. Cæsar, being frustrated by this manoeuvre, retired. Antonius also by some well contrived works shut in the water and deprived his enemies of it; and the surrounding spots had only little water, and that was bad. He behaved with magnanimity to Domitius also, and contrary to the judgment of Cleopatra. Domitius, who was already suffering from fever, got into a small boat and went over to Cæsar, on which Antonius, though much annoyed, sent him all his baggage together with his friends and slaves. Domitius indeed, as if he were repenting after the discovery of his faithlessness and treachery, died immediately. There were also defections among the kings, for Amyntas and Deiotarus went over to Cæsar. Now as the navy was in all things unlucky and always too late to give any help, Antonius was again compelled to turn his thoughts to his land forces. Canidius also, who commanded the land forces, changed his opinion at the sight of the danger, and he advised Antonius to send Cleopatra away, and to retreat to Thrace or Macedonia, and then to decide the matter by a battle. For Dicomes, the king of the Getæ, promised to help him with a large force; and Canidius urged that there would be no disgrace, if they should give up the sea to Cæsar, who had been disciplined in the Sicilian war, but it would be a strange thing if Antonius, who was excellently versed in military operations, should not avail himself of his strength and his resources of so many heavy-armed soldiers, and should instead thereof distribute his troops among vessels and fritter them away. Notwithstanding this the advice of Cleopatra prevailed that the war should be decided by a naval battle, though she was already contemplating flight and making arrangements for her own position, not with a view to contribute to the victory, but to have the best place to retreat from if their cause should be ruined. Now there were long lines which extended from the camp to the naval station, and Antonius was accustomed to pass without suspecting any danger; and as a slave of Cæsar told him that it would be possible to seize Antonius as he went down through the lines, Cæsar sent men to lie in ambush for him. They came so near accomplishing their purpose as this, that by rising up too soon they seized the man who was advancing in front of Antonius; and Antonius escaped with difficulty by running.