He also went to Tarentum and inspected the naval force under Taurus. Then he proceeded to Vibo, where he encouraged his infantry and hastened the preparations of his fleet, the time for his second invasion of Sicily being near at hand.Pompeius however did not deign to seize even the fine opportunity presented to him by so many shipwrecks. He merely offered sacrifice to the sea, persuading himself that it was not without the special act of Providence that his enemies had been twice overwhelmed in this way in the summer months. It is said that he was so much puffed up by these circumstances that he exchanged the purple cloak for a dark blue one, to signify that he was the adopted son of Neptune.He hoped that
Octavian would now take himself off, but when he learned that the latter was building ships and was about to renew the expedition against him that summer, he became alarmed at finding himself at war with a man of such indomitable spirit and such formidable preparations. He sent Menodorus, with the seven ships he had brought, to reconnoitre the dockyards of Octavian and to do whatever damage he could. Menodorus had been vexed for some time past because the naval command had not been given to him, and he now perceived that he was entrusted with only the ships that he had brought, because he was under suspicion. So he plotted a new desertion.Conceiving that however matters might turn out, he should first signalize
himself by some act of valor, he distributed among his companions all the gold he had, and crossed by a three days' rowing, accomplishing a distance of 1500 stades, and fell like a thunderbolt, unperceived, on the vessels that were guarding Octavian's shipyards, and disappeared carrying off the guard-ships by twos and threes, sinking also, or capturing, or burning the merchant vessels, laden with corn, that were moored there or sailing along the coast. Everything was thrown into confusion by this raid of Menodorus, both Octavian and Agrippa being absent, for Agrippa had gone away to procure timber. In a spirit of bravado Menodorus once ran his ship upon a sand-bank, voluntarily and contemptuously,
and pretended to be stuck in the mud, until his enemies dashed down from the mountains upon him as to a certain prey, when he backed away, and left them in amazement.When he had sufficiently shown what he was capable of, as enemy or friend, he dismissed a senator whom he had taken prisoner, named Rebilus, having a view already to the future. During his former desertion he had been a friend of Mindius Marcellus, one of the companions of Octavian, and he now told his own men that Mindius had the intention of betraying his party and deserting to that of Pompeius. Then he drew near to the enemy and invited Mindius to go with him to a small island in order to have a conference.
