There must have been those in Rome who, knowing the situation, felt confident that Caesar would never dare to move—at least until he had been reinforced from Gaul, by which time Pompey would have more than adequate forces to deal with him. But Pompey had seen no active service since 62; he was now in his fifties; his life since 60 had been lived in Rome, and he had recently been seriously ill. Most important of all, although he boasted that he could call on ten legions, except for the two Caesar had sent him from Gaul, the only troops available in Italy were unseasoned recruits, and his own veterans from the Eastern wars retired to their farms and small holdings. After crossing into Italy Caesar’s legion, divided into two columns of five cohorts each, struck southeast toward Ariminum (Rimini) on the Adriatic coast and due south at Arretium (Arezzo) the heart of Etruria, the first column under Caesar and the second under Antony. There was no opposition to Caesar when he arrived at Ariminum, where he addressed the troops and explained the circumstances under which he had been compelled to invade the homeland.
