In the city, they soon found that their lives were not safe. So they disguised themselves, dressing in old clothes that had belonged to slaves. Then hiring carts they lay in the foot of them, covered with sacking, and thus passed safely through the city gates. Still in this strange garb they at length reached Cæsar’s camp at Ravenna. It was at Ravenna, in January 49 B.C., that the great general was told of the decree of the Senate. He had only one legion with him, but leaving orders for the others to follow, he at once began to march toward the Rubicon. The Rubicon was the stream which divided his province from Italy. Should he cross the stream with his army, it would be a declaration that he had determined on war. So momentous was the decision, that as Cæsar drew near to the Rubicon he hesitated. Looking down upon the stream, he stood for a time deep in thought, while his soldiers watched him anxiously from the distance. Turning at length to his officers, he said, ‘Even now we may draw back.’ At that moment, so it is said, a shepherd on the other side of the stream, began to pipe carelessly upon his flute. Over the stream dashed some of the soldiers, perhaps to dance to the shepherd’s lilting measure. It was an omen! Cæsar at once made up his mind. ‘Let us go where the omen of the gods and the iniquity of our enemies call us,’ he cried. ‘The die is cast.’ Then at the head of his army, on the 16th January 49 B.C., Cæsar crossed the Rubicon. So important was the decision, that the words, ‘to cross the Rubicon,’ grew into a proverb. And still to-day, when one takes the first step towards a great undertaking, one is said to have ‘crossed the Rubicon.’ CHAPTER CXI CÆSAR AND THE PILOT As Cæsar marched through Italy, town after town threw open its gates to welcome the general who had at last returned from Gaul, where his victories had covered him with glory. What Pompey thought as he heard of the triumphal progress of his rival we do not know. But he could not fail to see how he had been deceived when he believed that the affection of the people had been centred on himself alone. Not a single battle did Cæsar have to fight before he reached the gates of Rome. Even here he was free to enter the city, for Pompey, although his army was as large as that of his rival, had fled. The defence of the city had been left in the hands of the Consuls. But they felt unable to face the general, who came with his army behind him, so they also escaped from the city and joined Pompey. In their fear they did not even stay to open the treasury to take from it the money that would be needed to help Pompey to carry on the war. Pompey meanwhile crossed the Adriatic Sea and reached Epirus. He knew that in the East his name was still powerful, and would draw many brave warriors to fight for him.