On The Alexandrian War. Caesar Gaius Julius

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      Caesar had 9 rodie galleys (since of the 10 sent, one had been lost in the battle a few days earlier), 8 pontics, 5 lycians and 12 from Asia; only 10 of these were quinqueremi and quadriremi, while the others were of lower rank and many were without bridges, but he prepared confidently for the battle, trusting in the courage of his men.

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      So the day came to compete in naval battle; Caesar brought the fleet out of the port part under his control, circumvented the island of Faro and sided with the enemy. He placed the Rhodes on the right wing and the Pontics on the left; between the two wings in the front line it left a space of 400 steps (300 meters), sufficient for naval manoeuvres, and behind it put all the others, keeping them in reserve and giving everyone precise provisions. The Alessandrini adopted a similar line-up, with the 22 quadriremes on the front line and the others behind on the second line as a reserve; in addition to these they also deployed many small boats equipped with incendiary devices with which they hoped to cause some damage to the Romans.

      In the sea space between the two fleets there were sandy shoals such that whoever wanted to attack first, would have had to switch to through making yourself vulnerable. The Egyptians used to say that these belong only half to Alexandria and the other half to Africa. So it happened that these shallows made it take a long time for one of the two sides to make the first move, that is, to enter that narrow passage that made it difficult to move and almost impossible to escape.

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      The Rodie ships were commanded by Euphranor, whose audacity and courage were more comparable to a Latin than to a Greek; the Rodici themselves, knowing their skill and value, chose him as head of their fleet. The latter, noting Caesar's perplexity, approached him and said to him: «You seem to have no faith in me; you fear that by entering that bottleneck first, you may not be able to fight before you have deployed the entire fleet. Entrust this task to us; we will support the clash without prolonging your waiting. As long as the entire fleet has passed, we cannot shamelessly ignore our opponents' invitation to battle. " Caesar praised and encouraged him, gave his consent and ordered to give the battle signal.

      Four Rhodian ships were the first to cross the bottleneck and were immediately attacked by the Egyptian ones, but despite a bit of fear they kept the line while others followed them and, with a skilful move, they entered the deployment by widening the bow with the well-turned rostrums to the enemy; despite the narrow spaces the oars between them were not damaged, and in this way they never offered their side to the enemy. The entire fleet followed the Rhodes and since the spaces remained tight, the fleet could not be stretched and measured on the naval expertise, but the courage and the value of men had to be entrusted.

      Meanwhile, in Alexandria, everyone had abandoned their duties, even the defence of their mutual positions to go to the roofs and at the highest points to witness the clash on which the fate of many depended; each prayed to their gods, hoping for good luck.

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      It should be added that the battle was unbalanced not only for the amount of forces on the field, but also for the effects related to its outcome. In fact, for Caesar a defeat would have precluded any possibility of salvation even on the mainland, while a victory would have left the situation unchanged. Instead, for the Alessandrini a defeat would have left everything unchanged and they could even have tried again.

      In addition to this, it must be added that this naval battle was fought only by a small part of the army, even if this determined the salvation of all; so it had happened that those who could not fight for their own salvation looked at the others who would participate, wondering if they would give all of themselves in that peril. Caesar noticed this and spoke several times to the soldiers to motivate and encourage them, making them understand that everyone's fate depended on them, so as to increase their determination.

      The soldiers spoke among themselves; fellow soldiers, friends and relatives and those who remained warned the chosen ones not to disappoint the expectations placed in them. Thus, in the midst of the battle, the number, far superior, the seafaring ability, the many small vessels and the chosen troops could do nothing: the courage of the Cesarians won them all.

      They captured a quinquereme and a bireme with the crews; three went down, while none of the winners was lost. The rest of the fleet fled to Porto Eunoste.

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      Caesar understood that he had to prevent the enemies from leaving the port to bring him another attack on the sea; it had to conquer the island of Faro and the long 7-stage pier (1290 meters) that connected it to the city, also because the defences had not yet been completed. This would then give him the opportunity to attack the city too.

      He decided to do this: he put 10 cohorts of his best light infantry on boats together with a certain number of Gaul knights, in a number suitable for the purpose. He promised them a grand prize, especially to those who first occupied the island; then to deflect his intentions he attacked another part of the island with bridged galleys (ships with a walkable bridge).

      At first the enemy bravely supported the assault, both from the banks equipped with parapets, and from the roofs of the houses with an audacity similar to ours. To defend the narrow port entrance and the docks, they used ships, in particular five well-maneuvered long vessels. Ours had great difficulty approaching the shore because of the rather steep coasts, but when they found the suitable place for the landing and the signal of attack was given, they conquered the shore with vigour and the enemy who defended it turned away, also abandoned the Torre del Faro, while those who defended the port directed the ships to shore and disembarked to go and defend the houses.

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      Despite the no our enemies had taken refuge in the houses, and that their number was higher, they did not hold the position for long; and yes their houses were no different from those of the city, built very close to creating almost a wall, and ours were not equipped with stairs or other siege machines. But as often happens, fear takes away judgment and the ardour of war; seeing others run away, and after some of their companions had died, they left the line of defence - which was a solid row of houses up to 30 feet (8 meters) high - and ran towards the sea to swim across it, as the city it was only 800 steps away (580/600 meters); those who did not flee were killed or captured, so that ultimately there were more than 600 prisoners.

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      The inhabitants evacuated the island of Faro and Caesar left the soldiers free to plunder it, but immediately afterwards occupied the fortification guarding the bridge that connected the island with the long pier Eptastadio to the city, and placed a guard there. The Heptastadio, on the other side, was connected to the city by another bridge well-fortified by the Alexandrians. The next day, with a movement similar to the previous day, Caesar attacked that bridge; it intended to block the connection between the two east and west port basins, so as to completely prevent improvisation with the enemy's ships. With ships loaded with archers and war machines he drove the defenders off the bridge and defences, then landed just under three cohorts to occupy that narrow place that could not contain more. He ordered to fortify the access to the bridge and to the Heptastadium facing the city, and to those who remained on the ships, to fill the channel connecting the two ports with stones and other things; but with work just begun, a large number of Alessandrini came out of the houses and gathered in a space in front of the access to the bridge and, with many boats equipped with incendiary weapons, tried to set our ships on fire in support. Our people found themselves defending themselves on the bridge and on the pier, while the Alexandrians attacked the side of the Heptastadium with the troops in square formation in front of the bridge and with the boats.

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