which of the two was to stand in this attitude. Victory would legitimize
and confirm the authority of one, and make it supreme over the whole
civilized world. Defeat was to annihilate the power of the other, and
make him a fugitive and a vagabond, without friends, without home,
without country. It was a desperate stake; and it is not at all
surprising that both parties lingered and hesitated, and postponed the
throwing of the die.

[Sidenote: The armies enter Thessaly.]

At length Pompey, rendered desperate by the urgency of the destitution
and distress into which Caesar had shut him, made a series of rigorous
and successful attacks upon Caesar's lines, by which he broke away in
his turn from his enemy's grasp, and the two armies moved slowly back
into the interior of the country, hovering in the vicinity of each
other, like birds of prey contending in the air, each continually
striking at the other, and moving onward at the same time to gain some
position of advantage, or to circumvent the other in such a design. They
passed on in this manner over plains, and across rivers, and through
mountain passes, until at length they reached the heart of Thessaly.
Here at last the armies came to a stand and fought the final battle.

[Illustration: ROMAN STANDARD BEARERS.]

[Sidenote: The plain of Pharsalia.]
[Sidenote: Roman standard bearers.]
[Sidenote: Pompey draws up his army.]
[Sidenote: Forces on both sides.]

The place was known then as the plain of Pharsalia, and the greatness of