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1Such was the general character of the battle. As a result of it Pompey straightway despaired of all his projects and no longer took any account of his own valour or of the multitude of troops remaining to him or of the fact that Fortune often restores the fallen in a moment of time; yet previously he had always possessed the greatest cheerfulness and the greatest hopefulness on all occasions of failure. 2The reason for this was that on those occasions he had usually been evenly matched with his foe and hence had not taken his victory for granted; but by reflecting beforehand on the two possible issues of events while he was still cool-headed and was not yet involved in any alarm he had not neglected to prepare for the worst. In this way he had not been compelled to yield to disasters and had always been able easily to renew the conflict; but this time, as he had expected to prove greatly superior to Caesar, he had taken no precautions. 3For instance, he had not placed his camp in a suitable position, nor had he provided a refuge for himself in case of defeat. And whereas he might have delayed action and so have prevailed without a battle,—since his army kept increasing every day and he had abundant provisions, being in a country for the most part friendly and being also master of the sea,—nevertheless, whether of his own accord, because he expected to conquer in any event, or because his hand was forced by his associates, he joined issue. 4Consequently, as soon as he was defeated, he became greatly terrified and had no opportune plan or sure hope to enable him to face the danger anew. Thus it is that whenever an event befalls a man unexpectedly and contrary to all calculation, it humbles his spirit and strikes his reason with panic, so that he becomes the poorest and weakest judge of what must be done. 5For reason cannot dwell with fear; if it occupies the ground first, it boldly thrusts the other out, but if it be last on the field, it gets the worst of the encounter.
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