The day before the attack on the RubiconOn 9 January, Caesar secretly sent some cohorts forward to the agreed meeting point for that night, so they could prepare the field and reinforce the bridge over the Rubicon.
Then he spent the day near a gladiator arena he had just opened after the New Year's celebrations.
The arena was within an arc of the walls and he spent the afternoon watching training and hand-to-hand combat between his soldiers as if nothing was happening.
Then evening came and he prepared for a public dinner, while the Gallic legions in Cesena began to attack the Rubicon.
Caesar knew that news of the attack would not reach Ravenna for several hours, while it would reach the rear lines of Pompey on the Rubicon, and that they would send reinforcements leaving it unguarded i
