Pharsalus: The Tenth Legion

August 9, 48 BC: the battle of Pharsalus: Pompey’s cavalry against Caesar’s hidden fourth line.

Transcript

Pharsalus. Forty-eight BC, the morning of battle.

Pompey has twice as much infantry. He places all his cavalry on one wing to outflank Caesar.

Caesar lacks cavalry, but behind the Tenth Legion waits a hidden fourth line.

The cavalry charges. The fourth line bursts out. Plutarch says it aims at the horsemen’s faces.

The charge breaks at once. The horsemen flee.

The Tenth Legion and six cohorts strike the infantry from the flank.

Pompey sits in his tent and says nothing. He reportedly asks: what, even into my camp?

He sheds his robes and flees.