The arrival of these re-enforcements greatly improved Caesar’s condition, and the circumstance of their coming forced upon the mind of Ganymede a sense of the absolute necessity that he should gain possession of the harbor if he intended to keep Caesar in check.  He accordingly determined to take immediate measures for forming a naval force.  He sent along the coast, and ordered every ship and galley that could be found in all the ports to be sent immediately to Alexandria.  He employed as many men as possible in and around the city in building more.  He unroofed some of the most magnificent edifices to procure timber as a material for making benches and oars.  When all was ready, he made a grand attack upon Caesar in the port, and a terrible contest ensued for the possession of the harbor, the mole, the island, and the citadels and fortresses commanding the entrances from the sea.  Caesar well knew this contest would be a decisive one in respect to the final result of the war, and he accordingly went forth himself to take an active and personal part in the conflict.  He felt doubtless, too, a strong emotion of pride and pleasure in exhibiting his prowess in the sight of Cleopatra, who could watch the progress of the battle from the palace windows, full of excitement at the dangers which he incurred, and of admiration at the feats of strength and valor which he performed.  During this battle the life of the great conqueror was several times in the most imminent danger.  He wore a habit or mantle of the imperial purple, which made him a conspicuous mark for his enemies; and, of course, wherever he went, in that place was the hottest of the fight.  Once, in the midst of a scene of most dreadful confusion and din, he leaped from an overloaded boat into the water and swam for his life, holding his cloak between his teeth and drawing it through the water after him, that it might not fall into the hands of his enemies.  He carried, at the same time, as he swam, certain valuable papers which he wished to save, holding them above his head with one hand, while he propelled himself through the water with the other.

The result of this contest was another decisive victory for Caesar.  Not only were the ships which the Egyptians had collected defeated and destroyed, but the mole, with the fortresses at each extremity of it, and the island, with the light house and the town of Pharos, all fell into Caesar’s hands.

The Egyptians now began to be discouraged.  The army and the people, judging, as mankind always do, of the virtue of their military commanders solely by the criterion of success, began to be tired of the rule of Ganymede and Arsinoe.  They sent secret messengers to Caesar avowing their discontent, and saying that, if he would liberate Ptolemy—­who, it will be recollected, had been all this time held as a sort of prisoner of state in Caesar’s palaces—­they thought that the people generally would receive him as their sovereign, and that then an arrangement might easily be made for an amicable adjustment of the whole controversy.  Caesar was strongly inclined to accede to this proposal.