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56He also crossed over to Africa, although winter had set in. And he met with no little success from this very circumstance, by attacking his opponents unexpectedly. On all occasions, indeed, he accomplished a great deal by his rapidity and by the unexpectedness of his movements, so that if any one should try to find out what it was that made him so superior in the art of war to his contemporaries, he would find by careful comparison that there was nothing more striking than this very characteristic. 2Now Africa had not been friendly to Caesar in the first place, and after Curio’s death it became thoroughly hostile. For Varus and Juba were in charge of affairs, and furthermore Cato, Scipio and their followers had all taken refuge there, as I have stated. 3After this they made common cause in the war, carried on their preparations by land, and also made descents by sea upon Sicily and Sardinia, harrying their cities and taking back their ships, from which they obtained a plentiful supply of arms and of iron in other forms, which alone they lacked. 4Finally they reached such a state of preparedness and courage that, when no army opposed them and Caesar delayed in Egypt and the capital, they sent Pompey to Spain. For on learning that that country was in revolt they thought that the people would readily receive him as the son of Pompey the Great; and while he was making preparations to occupy Spain in a short time and to set out from there to the capital, the others were getting ready to make the voyage to Italy.
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