Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/213

A Century of Revolution 149 236. Caesar defeats Pompey (49-48 B.C.). Pompey had the advantage in the struggle, for he controlled the resources of his conquests in the East and still had the fleet with which he had suppressed the pirates. Nevertheless Caesar managed to get his army across to Epirus (see map, p. 138) and accepted battle with Pompey on the famous field of Pharsalus in Thessaly. Here Pompey was crushingly defeated (48 B.C.), and his army sur- rendered itself to Caesar. 237. Caesar completes the Conquest of the Mediterranean World (48-45 B.C.). Pompey then escaped into Egypt, where he was basely murdered. Caesar, following Pompey to Egypt, found ruling there the beautiful Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies. The charms of this remarkable queen appear to have captivated the great Roman. We know little of the campaign by which Caesar next over- threw his opponents in Asia Minor. It was from there that he sent his famous report to the Senate: "I came, I saw, I con- quered" (Veni, vidi, vici). The only other obstacles to Caesar's complete control oj the empire of the Roman world were all disposed of by March, 45 B.C., a little over four years after he had first taken possession of Italy with his army. 238. Caesar's Reforms and Plans for the Future. Caesar was a great statesman. He used his power with moderation and humanity. From the first he had taken great pains to show that his methods were not those of the bloody Sulla. It is clear that he intended his own position to be that of a Hellenistic sovereign like Alexander the Great. Nevertheless he was too wise a states- man to abolish at once the outward forms of the Republic. He made his power seem legal by having himself made Dictator for life, and he assumed also the powers of the other leading offices of the state. Caesar undertook the task of reshaping the Roman Empire. He reformed the Senate, which had long been an evil influence in public affairs, and began far-reaching reforms in the corrupt administration of the government. He sketched vast plans for rebuilding Rome itself ; he laid out new roads to facilitate travel