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40As time went on a dispute arose among the followers of Arsinoë, and Ganymedes prevailed upon her to put Achillas to death, on the ground that he was going to betray the fleet. When this had been done, he assumed command of the soldiers and gathered all the boats that were in the river and the lake, besides constructing others; 2and he conveyed them all through the canals to the sea, where he attacked the Romans while off their guard, burned some of their freight ships to the water’s edge and towed others away. Then he cleared out the entrance to the harbour and by lying in wait for vessels there he caused the Romans great annoyance. 3So Caesar, having waited for a time when they were acting carelessly by reason of their success, suddenly sailed into the harbour, burned a large number of vessels, and disembarking on Pharos, slew the inhabitants of the island. When the Egyptians on the mainland saw this, they rushed over the bridges to the aid of their friends, and after killing many of the Romans in turn drove the remainder back to the ships. 4While the fugitives were forcing their way into these in crowds anywhere they could, Caesar and many others fell into the sea. He would have perished miserably, being weighted down by his robes and pelted by the Egyptians (for his garments, being of purple, offered a good mark), had he not thrown off his clothing and then succeeded in swimming out to where a skiff lay, which he boarded. 5In this way he was saved, and that, too, without wetting one of the documents of which he held up a large number in his left hand as he swam. The Egyptians took his clothing and hung it upon the trophy which they set up to commemorate this rout, just as if they had captured him himself. They also kept a close watch upon the landings, since the legions which had been sent for from Syria were already drawing near, and were doing the Romans much injury. 6For while Caesar could defend in a fashion those of them who came ashore on the Libyan side, yet near the mouth of the Nile the Egyptians deceived many of his men by means of signal fires, as if they too were Romans, and thus captured them, so that the rest no longer ventured to come to land, until Tiberius Claudius Nero at this time sailed up the river itself, conquered the foe in battle, and made it safer for his followers to come to land.
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