XV. As soon as Crassus and Pompeius[49] returned to Rome, suspicion was excited, and there was much talk through the whole city that their meeting had been held for no good. In the Senate Marcellinus and Domitius asked Pompeius if he intended to be a candidate for the consulship, to which Pompeius replied that perhaps he should, and perhaps he should not; being asked again, he said that he was a candidate for the votes of the good citizens, but not a candidate for the votes of the bad. It was considered that Pompeius had made a haughty and arrogant answer; but Crassus said, in a more modest tone, that he would be a candidate, if it was for the interest of the State; if it was not, he would decline. This encouraged certain persons to become candidates, among whom was Domitius. However, when Pompeius and Crassus had openly declared themselves candidates, the rest were afraid and withdrew; but Domitius was encouraged by Cato, who was his kinsman and friend, and stimulated and urged him to stick to his hopes, with the view of defending the common liberties; he said "it was not the consulship that Pompeius and Crassus wanted, but a tyranny; that their conduct showed they were not asking for the consulship, but aiming to seize on the provinces and the armies." By such arguments, which were also his real opinions, Cato, all but by force, brought Domitius to the Forum, and many sided with them. And those who were surprised at the canvassing of Pompeius and Crassus were no small number. "Why then do they want a second consulship? And why do they wish to be colleagues again? And why will they not have the consulship with other colleagues? There are many men among us who are surely not unworthy to be colleagues with Crassus and Pompeius." This alarmed the partizans of Pompeius, who now abstained from no proceeding, however disorderly and violent; but, in addition to all the rest, they placed a body of men to lie in wait and attack Domitius as he was going down to the Forum, while it was still dark, with his partizans, and they killed the man that held the light, and wounded many, among whom was Cato. After putting the party of Domitius to flight, and driving them back to the house,[50] Pompeius and Crassus were proclaimed consuls. Shortly after, they again surrounded the Senate-house with armed men, and, after driving Cato out of the Forum, and killing some persons who opposed them, they procured another five years[51] of administration to be added to Cæsar's term, and the two provinces of Syria and Iberia to be given to them. When the lots were cast, Crassus got Syria, and Pompeius had Iberia.

XVI. The result of the lot was not universally disliked; for the majority wished Pompeius not to be far from the city, and Pompeius, who was much attached to his wife,[52] intended to spend his time chiefly in Rome. Crassus showed by his joy, immediately on the falling out of the lot, that he considered no greater good fortune had ever befallen him, and he could scarcely keep quiet before strangers and in public; to his friends he uttered many foolish and puerile expressions quite inconsistent with his years and temper, for he had never before shown himself in the least degree a braggart or arrogant. But now, being mightily elated, and his head completely turned, he was not for making Syria or Palestine the limit of his victories; but, designing to make the exploits of Lucullus against Tigranes, and those of Pompeius against Mithridates appear mere child's play, he extended his hopes as far as to the Bactrians, and the Indians, and the external sea. And yet there was no mention of a Parthian war in the law[53] that was drawn up on this occasion. But everybody knew that Crassus was passionately bent on a Parthian war, and Cæsar wrote to him from Gaul, approving of his design, and urging him to it. When it was known that Ateius,[54] the tribune, intended to offer some opposition to his leaving the city, and many persons joined him who complained that Crassus was going to make war upon a people who were doing the Romans no wrong, and had a treaty with them, Crassus in alarm prayed Pompeius to accompany him, and escort him out of the city. Now, the reputation of Pompeius with the multitude was great, and, by showing himself in front of Crassus, with cheerful looks and countenance, he tranquillized a numerous body of people who were prepared to obstruct Crassus, and to raise a shout against him, so that they made way and let him pass through them quietly. But Ateius met Crassus, and, first of all, endeavoured to stop him by words, and he protested against his marching out: in the next place, he ordered his attendant to lay hold of Crassus, and to detain him; but, as the rest of the tribunes would not allow this, the attendant quitted his hold of Crassus, and Ateius running to the gate, placed there a burning brazier, and, as soon as Crassus arrived, he threw incense and poured libations upon it, and, at the same time, he denounced against Crassus curses, in themselves dreadful and terrific, and, in addition thereto, he uttered the names of certain awful and inauspicious deities. The Romans say that these mysterious and ancient curses have great efficacy, that no man can escape upon whom they are laid, and that he who utters them also has an unlucky end, and, accordingly, they are not denounced either on ordinary occasions, or by many persons. Ateius was blamed for letting loose such imprecations and religious fears upon a State, on behalf of which he was hostile to Crassus.

XVII. When Crassus arrived at Brundisium, though the sea was still rough owing to the wintry weather, he would not wait, but he set sail, and so lost many of his vessels. After getting together the remnant of his forces, he marched through Galatia.[55] Finding King Deiotarus, who was now a very old man, founding a new city, Crassus said sarcastically, "King, you are beginning to build at the twelfth hour." The Galatian, with a smile, replied, "You, too, Imperator, I observe, are not very early with your Parthian expedition." Now Crassus was past sixty, and he looked older than he was. On his arrival, matters at first turned out fully equal to his expectation; for he easily threw a bridge over the Euphrates, and got his army across safely, and he also obtained possession of many cities in Mesopotamia which surrendered. Before one of them, of which Apollonius was tyrant, he lost a hundred men, upon which he brought his force against the place, and, having got possession of it, he made plunder of all the property, and sold the people: the Greeks called the city Zenodotia.[56] On the capture of the city, Crassus allowed his soldiers to proclaim him Imperator, wherein he greatly disgraced himself, and showed the meanness of his spirit, and that he had no good hopes of greater things, as he was content with so slight a success. Having put garrisons in the cities that had surrendered, to the amount of seven thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry, he retired to winter in Syria, and there to await his son,[57] who was coming from Cæsar in Gaul, with the decorations that he had gained by his valour, and with a thousand picked horsemen. This seemed to be the first blunder of Crassus, or at least, it was the greatest blunder that he committed next to the expedition itself; for he ought to have advanced and to have secured Babylon and Seleukeia,[58] two cities which were always hostile to the Parthians; instead of which, he gave his enemies time to make preparation. The next thing the people blamed was his waste of time in Syria, which was employed more for purposes of money profit than for military purposes; for he did not occupy himself in reviewing the numbers of his troops, nor establishing games to keep the soldiers in exercise, but he busied himself about estimating the revenues of cities, and he was for many days with weights and scales in his hands among the treasures of the goddess in Hierapolis,[59] and, after requiring from the towns and princes contingents of men, he would remit his requisitions for a sum of money; by all which he lost his reputation, and fell into contempt. The first sign that happened to him proceeded from this goddess herself, whom some consider to be Aphrodite (Venus); and others Hera (Juno); others again believe her to be the cause that has supplied from moisture the seeds for all things, and nature, and the power that has pointed out the source of all good things for men; for, as they were going out of the temple, young Crassus first stumbled at the gate, and then his father fell upon him.

XVIII. While Crassus was getting together his forces out of the winter quarter, there came ambassadors from Arsakes[60] with a short message. They said, if the army was sent by the Romans, there was nothing but war without truce, and without any terms; but if Crassus, contrary to the wish of his country, as they heard, had brought arms against the Parthians and occupied territory for his private profit, Arsakes would act with moderation, and would take pity on the old age of Crassus, and give up to the Romans the men whom he had in his power, and who were rather under guard themselves than keeping guard over others. Crassus haughtily replied, that he would give an answer in Seleukeia; on which Vagises, the oldest of the ambassadors, smiled, and, showing the palm of his hand, said, "From here, Crassus, hair will grow before you see Seleukeia." The ambassadors now returned to Hyrodes, to inform him that he must be ready for war. From the cities of Mesopotamia, in which there were Roman garrisons, some soldiers, who made their escape at great hazard, brought reports that caused much anxiety, having been eye-witnesses of the numbers of the enemy, and of their mode of attacking the cities; and, as is usual, they magnified everything which they reported. "When the enemy pursued," they said, "no man could escape from them, and when they fled, they could not be overtaken; that strange missiles preceded the appearance of the enemy, and before one could see who sent them, they pierced through everything that they struck; and as to the arms of the mailed[61] soldiers, some were made to push through every obstacle, and others to give way to nothing." When the soldiers heard this their courage sank; for they had been led to believe that the Parthians did not differ at all from the Armenians and Cappadocians, whom Lucullus plundered and robbed till he was weary, and they thought that the hardest part of the war would be a long march, and the pursuit of men who would not come to close quarters; but now, contrary to their hopes, they were in expectation of a contest and great danger, so that some of the officers thought that Crassus ought to stop, and again submit to their deliberation the general state of affairs. Among these was Cassius[62] the quæstor. The seers, also, in gentle terms showed that bad and unfavourable signs were always prognosticated to Crassus by the victims. But Crassus paid no attention to them, nor to those who advised anything else except to move on.

XIX. But Crassus was in no small degree encouraged by Artabazes[63] the king of the Armenians, who came to the camp with six thousand horsemen. These were said to be the guards and attendants of the king; and he promised ten thousand men clothed in mail and thirty thousand infantry, who were to be maintained at his own cost. He attempted to persuade Crassus to invade Parthia through Armenia; for, he said, the army would not only have abundance of provision in its march through the country by reason of him supplying them, but would also advance safely, having in their front many mountains and continuous hills, and ground unfavourable for cavalry, in which alone lay the strength of the Parthians. Crassus was well enough satisfied with the zeal of the king and the splendour of the proffered aid; but he said he would march through Mesopotamia, where he had left many brave Romans; upon this the Armenian went away. As Crassus was taking his army over at the Zeugma,[64] many extraordinary claps of thunder broke around, and many flashes of lightning came right in front of the army; and a wind, mingled with cloud and hurricane,[65] falling on the raft, broke up and crushed to pieces a large part of it. The spot also, on which Crassus intended to encamp, was struck with two thunderbolts.[66] A horse, belonging to the general, which was caparisoned in splendid style, violently dragged along the man who held the reins, and plunging into the stream, disappeared. It is said also, that the first eagle which was raised, turned round spontaneously. Added to this, it happened that, as they were giving out the rations to the soldiers after crossing the river, lentils and salt were given first, which the Romans consider to be symbols of lamentation, and are accustomed to place before the dead; and, as Crassus was haranguing the soldiers, an expression escaped him which greatly alarmed the army. He said he would destroy the raft over the river, that no one among them might return; and though he ought, upon seeing the imprudence of his words, to have recalled what he had said and explained it to the soldiers, he neglected to do so, through his arrogant temper. Finally, when he was offering the usual expiatory sacrifice, and the priest had put the viscera into his hands, he threw them away, on which, observing that the standers-by were greatly disturbed, he said with a smile, "Such is old age; but no arms at least shall drop from its hands."

XX. After this he advanced along the river, with seven legions and nearly four thousand horsemen, and almost as many light-armed troops as horsemen. Some of the scouts now returned from their exploration and reported that the country was clear of men, and that they had fallen in with the tracks of many horses, which indicated that they had turned about and were retreating. This gave Crassus still better hopes, and made the soldiers completely despise the Parthians, who, as they supposed, would not come to close quarters. However, Cassius again had some conversation with Crassus, and advised him at least to give his troops rest in some of the garrisoned cities, till he should get some certain information about the enemy; but if he would not do this, to advance towards Seleukeia along the river. He urged that the boats which carried the provisions would furnish them with supplies by stopping at the places of encampment, and that, by having the river as a protection against being hemmed in by the enemy, they would always be able to fight them on fair terms.

XXI. While Crassus was considering and reflecting on these matters, there comes an Arab chieftain, Ariamnes[67] by name, a cunning and faithless man, and of all the misfortunes that were by chance combined to ruin the Romans the chief and crowning mischief. Some of them who had served with Pompeius knew him as one who had received favours from Pompeius, and was supposed to be a friend to the Romans; but he now came to Crassus with a treacherous intent, and with the privity of the royal generals, to try if he could draw him far away from the river and the foot of the hills, into a boundless plain, where he might be surrounded by the enemy; for nothing was further from the intentions of the Parthians than to attack the Romans right in front. Accordingly, the barbarian coming to Crassus (and he was a plausible talker), spake in high terms of Pompeius as his benefactor, and praised the force of Crassus; but he blamed him for his tardiness, inasmuch as he was delaying and making preparation, as if he would have occasion to employ arms instead of hands and the most active feet, against an enemy who had long been trying to get together, as quick as they could, their most valuable property and their best slaves, and to move off to the Scythians or Hyrkanians. "And yet," he said, "if you intend to fight, you ought to press on before the king recovers his courage and all his forces are concentrated; for now Surena and Sillakes have been thrown in your way to stand the attack, and the king is no where to be seen." But all this was false. For Hyrodes had at first divided his forces into two parts, and he was himself ravaging Armenia to take vengeance on Artavasdes; but he sent Surena against the Romans, not because he despised them, as some say, for it was not consistent for him to disdain Crassus as an antagonist, the first of the Romans, and to war against Artavasdes and take the villages of Armenia; but it seems that he really feared the danger, and that he was on the watch to await the result, and that he put Surena in the front to try the fortune of a battle, and so to divert the enemy. For Surena was no person of mean estate: in wealth, birth, and consideration, he was next to the king; but, in courage and ability, the first of the Parthians of his time; and, besides all this, in stature and beauty of person he had no equal. He used always to travel, when he was on his own business, with a thousand camels to carry his baggage, and he had following him two hundred carriages for concubines; and a thousand mailed horsemen, with a larger number of light cavalry, escorted him; and he had in all, horsemen, clients,[68] and slaves, no less than ten thousand. Now by hereditary right he had the privilege of first placing the diadem on the head of him who became king of the Parthians;[69] and this very Hyrodes, who had been driven out, he restored to the Parthian empire, and took for him Seleukeia the Great, being the first to mount the wall and to put to flight with his own hand those who opposed him. Though he was not yet thirty years of age at that time, he had the first reputation for prudent counsel and judgment, by which qualities particularly he caused the ruin of Crassus, who through his confidence and pride in the first place, and next through his fears and his misfortunes, became a most easy victim to fraud.

XXII. The barbarian, after persuading Crassus, drew him away from the river, and led him through the plains by a track at first convenient and easy, but which soon became toilsome; for it was succeeded by deep sand, and plains treeless and waterless, not bounded in any direction by any object that the eye could reach, so that, not only through thirst and the difficulty of the march, was the army exhausted, but even the aspect of all around caused the soldiers to despond past all comfort, seeing neither plant, nor stream, nor top of sloping hill, nor blade of grass sprouting or rising through the earth, but a bare sea-like wave of desert heaps of sand environing the army. Now this of itself made the Romans suspect treachery. Messengers also came from Artavasdes the Armenian, with a message that he was engaged in a heavy struggle since Hyrodes had fallen upon him, and that he could not send Crassus aid; but he advised Crassus above all things to change his route immediately, and, by joining the Armenians, to bring the contest with Hyrodes to a close: but, if he would not do this, he recommended him to advance, and always to avoid encamping in such places as were adapted for the movements of cavalry, and to keep close to the mountainous parts: to all which Crassus sent no written answer, but, under the influence of passion and perverse disposition, he answered, that he had no leisure at present to deal with the Armenians, but he would come at another time to punish Artavasdes for his treachery. Cassius was again much dissatisfied: but he gave over advising Crassus, who was out of humour with him, though Cassius himself abused the barbarian. "What evil dæmon," he said, "vilest of men, brought you to us, and by what drugs and witchcraft have you persuaded Crassus to plunge his army into a boundless wilderness and an abyss, and to pursue a path more fit for a nomadic chief of robbers than for a Roman Imperator?" But the barbarian, who was a cunning follow, with abject servility, prayed him to endure a little longer; and, while running along with the soldiers and giving them his help, he would jeer at them in a laughing mood, and say, "I suppose you think that you are marching through Campania, and you long for the fountains, and streams, and shades, and baths, and taverns? Have you forgotten that you are crossing the confines of the Arabs and Assyrians?" Thus the barbarian amused the Romans, and before his treachery was discovered he rode off, not, however, without the knowledge of Crassus, after making him believe that he would serve the Roman army, and put the affairs of the enemy in confusion.

XXIII. It is said that on that day Crassus did not appear, as is the custom of Roman generals, in a purple dress, but in black, which he immediately changed on observing what he had done: and it is also said that the men who carried the standards had much difficulty in raising some of them up, for they stuck in the ground as if they were firmly rooted there. Crassus ridiculed all these omens, and quickened his march, urging the infantry to follow after the cavalry, till at last a few of those who had been sent forward as scouts came up, and reported that the rest of them had been cut off by the enemy, and they had escaped with difficulty, and that the Parthians were advancing with a large force, and full of confidence. This threw all the army into confusion, and Crassus was completely confounded, and began to put his men in order hastily, and with no great presence of mind: at first, as Cassius recommended, he extended the line of the legionary soldiers as far as possible in the plain, and making it of small depth, in order to prevent the enemy from attacking them on the flank, he distributed the cavalry on the wings; but he changed his plan and, drawing his men together, formed them into a deep square of four fronts, with twelve cohorts on each side. By the side of each cohort he placed a body of horse, in order that no part of the army might be without the aid of the cavalry, but might make the attack equally protected on all sides. He gave one of the wings to Cassius, and the other to young Crassus; he himself took his station in the centre. Thus advancing, they came to a stream called Balissus,[70] which was neither large nor copious; but it was a joyful sight to the soldiers in the midst of the drought and heat, and by comparison with the rest of their laborious march through a country without water. Now most of the commanders thought that they ought to encamp and spend the night there, and learn what was the number of the enemy, and the nature and disposition of their force, and so advance against them at daybreak; but Crassus, being prevailed upon by the importunity of his son, and the cavalry with him, to advance immediately, and engage with the enemy, gave orders for the men who required it to eat and drink in their ranks. And before this could be well accomplished all through the ranks, he led on his men, not slowly, nor halting at intervals, as is usual when men are marching to battle, but he kept them up to a quick, unbroken pace, until the enemy were in sight, who, contrary to expectation, did not appear to the Romans to be either numerous or formidable; for Surena disguised his numbers by placing the mass of his force behind the front ranks, and he prevented their bright armour from being seen by ordering his men to cover themselves with cloaks and skins. But when they were near the Romans, and the standard was raised by the general, first of all they filled the plain with a deep sound and a terrific noise; for the Parthians do not excite themselves to battle with horns or trumpets, but they have hollow instruments,[71] made of skin, and furnished with brass bells, on which they strike at the same time in various parts; and these instruments produce a kind of deep and dismal sound, compounded of the roaring of wild beasts and the harsh crash of thunder; for the Parthians rightly judge that of all the senses the hearing is that which causes the greatest alarm in the mind, and that, when this sense is affected, there is the speediest and greatest disturbance in the judgment.

XXIV. The Romans were startled at the noise, when all of a sudden throwing off the covering of their armour the Parthians appeared, with their helmets and breastplates flashing like flame, the Margian steel[72] glittering sharp and bright, and the horses equipped in mail of brass and iron; but Surena was most conspicuous of all, being the tallest and handsomest man among them, though his personal appearance, owing to his feminine beauty, did not correspond to his reputation for courage, for he was dressed more in the Median fashion, with his face painted[73] and his hair parted, while the rest of the Parthians, still keeping to the Scythian fashion, wore their hair long and bushy to make themselves more formidable. At first the Parthians intended to fall upon them with their long spears, and to drive the front ranks from their ground; but when they saw the depth of their close-locked ranks, and the firmness and stability of the men, they drew back; and while they seemed to be at the same time dispersing themselves and breaking their ranks, they threw themselves around the square before the Romans were aware of it. Crassus ordered the light-armed troops to spring forward; but they had not advanced far before they were met by a shower of arrows, which galled them, and they ran back for shelter among the legionary soldiers, and caused the beginning of disorder and alarm among the Romans, who saw the vigour with which the arrows were discharged and their strength, for they tore the armour and made their way through everything alike, whether hard or soft defence. The Parthians, dispersing themselves at considerable distances from one another, began to discharge their arrows from all points at once, not taking any very exact aim (for the close and compact ranks of the Romans did not give a man the opportunity of missing if he wished it), but sending their arrows with vigorous and forcible effect from bows which were strong and large, and, owing to their great degree of bending, discharged the missiles with violence. Now the condition of the Romans was pitiable from the beginning: for, if they kept their position, they were exposed to be wounded, and if they attempted to close with the enemy, they were just as far from doing the enemy any harm, and they suffered just as much; for the Parthians while retreating[74] still discharged their arrows, and they do this most effectually next to the Scythians: and it is a most subtle device to make their escape from danger while they are still fighting, and to take away the disgrace of flight.

XXV.[75] The Romans endured so long as they had hopes that the Parthians would withdraw from the contest when they had discharged their arrows, or would come to close quarters; but when they perceived that there were many camels standing there, loaded with arrows, and that the Parthians who had first shot all their arrows, turned round to the camels for a fresh supply, Crassus, seeing no end to this, began to lose heart, and he sent messengers to his son with orders to force the enemy to engage before he was surrounded, for the Parthians were mainly attacking and surrounding with their cavalry the wing commanded by young Crassus, with the view of getting in his rear. Accordingly, the young man taking thirteen hundred horsemen,—a thousand of whom he had brought from Cæsar,—and five hundred archers, and eight cohorts of the legionary soldiers, who were nearest to him, wheeled about to attack the Parthians. But the Parthians, who were manœuvring about Crassus, either because they fell in with some marshes,[76] as some say, or because it was their design to attack Crassus when they had drawn him as far as they could from his father, turned round and fled. On this Crassus, calling out that the Parthians did not stand their ground, advanced with Censorinus and Megabacchus,[77] of whom Megabacchus was distinguished for courage and strength, and Censorinus[78] was a senator and a powerful speaker, both of them companions of Crassus, and about the same age. The cavalry pursued the enemy, nor did the infantry allow themselves to be left behind, being full of alacrity and hope of victory; for they thought that they were victorious and in pursuit: but they had not gone far before they perceived the stratagem; for the Parthians, who were supposed to be flying, began to face about, and others, in greater numbers, joined them. Upon this the Romans halted, thinking that the enemy would come to close quarters with them, as they were only few in number. But the Parthians placing their mailed horsemen in the front, to oppose the Romans, rode about them with the rest of the cavalry dispersed, and, by trampling the ground, they raised from the bottom heaps of sand, which threw up such an immense cloud of dust that the Romans could neither see clearly nor speak; and, being driven into a narrow compass, and falling one on another, they were wounded and died no easy nor yet a speedy death, for tortured with violent convulsions and pain, and writhing with the arrows in them, they broke them in the wounds, and, by trying to pull out by force the barbed points, which had pierced through their veins and nerves, they increased the evil by breaking the arrows, and thus injured themselves. Many thus fell, and the survivors also were unable to fight; for, when Publius encouraged them to attack the mailed horsemen, they showed him that their hands were nailed to their shields, and their feet fastened right through to the ground, so that they were unable either to fly or to defend themselves. However, Publius cheering the cavalry, made a vigorous attack with them, and closed with the enemy; but the Romans were under a disadvantage, both as to attack and defence, striking with small and feeble spears against breastplates of raw hide and iron, and receiving the blows of long spears on the lightly-equipped and bare bodies of the Gauls, for Crassus trusted most to them, and with them indeed he did wonderful feats; for the Gauls, laying hold of the long spears, and closing with the Parthians, pushed them from their horses, the men, owing to the weight of their armour, being unable to stir themselves; and many of the Gauls, quitting their own horses, and slipping under those of the enemy, wounded them in the belly, and the horses springing up through pain, and, at the same time, trampling on their riders and the enemy, fell dead. The Gauls were most oppressed by the heat and thirst, being unaccustomed to both, and they had lost most of their horses by driving them against the long spears. They were, therefore, compelled to retreat to the legionary soldiers, taking with them Publius, who was badly wounded. Seeing a sandy eminence near, they retreated to it, and fastened their horses in the middle, and closing in their front by close-locking their shields, they thought they could thus more easily repel the enemy: but it turned out just the other way; for, while they were on the level ground, the front ranks did, in some sort, give relief to those who were behind; but on this spot, which raised the men one above another, by reason of the inequality of the ground, and placed every one who was in the rear above the man in front of him, there was no one who could escape, and they were all alike exposed to the missiles, lamenting their inglorious and unresisting death. There were with Publius two Greeks, who belonged to the dwellers in those parts in Carrhæ,[79] Hieronymus and Nikomachus, both of whom attempted to persuade Publius to retire with them, and to make his escape to Ichnæ[80] a city which had taken the side of the Romans, and was not far off. But he replied that no death was so dreadful as to make Publius, through fear of it, desert those who were losing their lives for his sake, and bade them save themselves, and taking leave of them, he allowed them to go: himself being unable to use his hand effectually, for it was pierced by an arrow, presented his side to his shield-bearer[81] and ordered him to despatch him with his sword. They say that Censorinus perished in the same way, and that Megabacchus killed himself, and all the rest of the most distinguished men. The Parthians, ascending the hill, transfixed with their spears the survivors; and it is said that not more than five hundred were taken prisoners. The Parthians, cutting off the head of Publius, immediately rode off to attack Crassus.

XXVI. With Crassus matters were thus. After ordering his son to make an attack on the Parthians, and receiving intelligence that they were routed to a great distance, and were hotly pursued; seeing also that the enemy in front were no longer pressing on him so much as before, for most of them had crowded to the place where young Crassus was, he recovered his courage a little, and drawing his forces together, posted them on a sloping ground, being in immediate expectation that his son would return from the pursuit. Of those who were sent by Publius to his father, when he began to be in danger, the first fell into the hands of the enemy and were killed; and the next, after escaping with great difficulty, reported that Publius was lost, if he did not receive speedy and sufficient aid from his father. Now, Crassus was affected by many contending feelings at once, and he no longer viewed anything with sober judgment. Distracted by alarm for the whole army, and love of his son at the same time, he was urged by one motive to go to his aid, and by the other not to go: but finally he began to move in advance. In the mean time the enemy came up, making themselves more formidable by their shouts and pæans, and many of the drums again bellowed around the Romans, who were in expectation of a second attack. The Parthians, carrying the head of Publius fixed on a spear, rode close up to the Romans, and, displaying it insultingly, asked who were his parents and family, for it was not decent to suppose that so noble and brave a youth was the son of so cowardly and mean a man as Crassus. The sight of this broke and unstrung the spirit of the Romans more than all the rest of their dangers; and it did not fill them with a spirit for revenge, as one might have supposed, but with shuddering and trembling. Yet they say that the courage of Crassus on that dreadful occasion shone forth more brightly than ever before; for he went along the ranks, crying out, "Mine alone, Romans, is this misfortune: but the great fortune and glory of Rome abide in you, if your lives are saved, unbroken and unvanquishcd: and, if you have any pity on me, who have been deprived of the noblest of sons, show this in your fury against the enemy. Take from them their rejoicing, avenge their cruelty: be not cast down at what has happened, for it is the law that those who aim at great things must also endure. Neither did Lucullus vanquish Tigranes without loss of blood, nor Scipio Antiochus; and our ancestors of old lost a thousand ships on the coast of Sicily, and in Italy many Imperatores and generals, not one of whom, by being first vanquished, prevented them from vanquishing the victors; for it is not by good fortune that the Roman state has advanced to such a height of power, but by the endurance and courage of those who meet danger."

XXVII. Though Crassus used such words to encourage them, he did not see many eager to follow his exhortations: but, by ordering them to shout the battle cry, he discovered the dispirited condition of his men, so weak, and feeble, and irregular a shout they made; while the cries on the side of the enemy were clear and bold. When the Parthians began the attack, their slaves and clients, riding about on the flanks of the Romans, galled them with their arrows: and the horsemen in front, using their long spears, kept driving the Romans into a narrow compass, except those who, to avoid death from the arrows, made a desperate attempt to rush upon the Parthians; wherein they did the enemy little damage, but met with a speedy death by great and mortal wounds; for the Parthians drove their spears, heavy with iron, against the horsemen; and, from the force of the blow, they often went even through two men. After thus fighting, as dark came on the Parthians retired, saying, that they allowed Crassus a single night to lament his son, unless he should take better counsel for himself, and choose rather to come to King Arsakes than to be taken. The Parthians encamped near the Romans, in high hopes. A painful night followed to the Romans, who neither paid any attention to the interment of the dead, nor care to the wounded, and those who were in the agonies of death; but every man was severally lamenting his own fate; for it appeared that they could not escape, either if they waited there till daybreak, or if they plunged by night into a boundless plain. And the wounded caused a great difficulty; for they would be an obstacle to the quickness of their flight if they attempted to carry them off: and, if they should leave them, their shouts would betray the attempt to escape unobserved. Though they considered Crassus to be the cause of all their sufferings, the soldiers still wished to see him and hear his voice. But Crassus, wrapping himself up in his cloak, lay concealed in the dark, an example to the many of fortune's reverses, and to the wise of want of judgment and of ambition, which made him dissatisfied unless he was the first and greatest among so many thousands, and think that he lacked everything because he was judged to be inferior to two men only. However, Octavius the legate, and Cassius, endeavoured to rouse and comfort him; but, finding that he had entirely given himself up to despair, they called together the centurions and tribunes, and, after deliberating, they resolved not to stay on the ground, and they made an attempt at first to put the army in motion without the sound of the trumpet, and in silence. But when the soldiers who were disabled, perceived that they were going to be deserted, terrible disorder and confusion, mingled with groans and shouts, filled the camp; and this was followed by disorder and panic as they began to advance, for they thought that the enemy was coming upon them. After frequently turning from their route, and frequently putting themselves in order of battle, and taking up the wounded who followed, and then laying them down again, they lost much time on the march, with the exception of three hundred horsemen, with Ignatius[82] at their head, who reached Carrhæ about midnight. Ignatius, calling out in the Roman language to the watch upon the walls, and making them hear, told them to tell Coponius, the commander, that there had been a great battle between Crassus and the Parthians; and, without saying more or who he was, he rode off to the Zeugma, and saved all his men; but he got a bad name for deserting his general. However, the information thus conveyed to Coponius was some advantage to Crassus; for Coponius concluded that this hasty and confused message indicated that he who brought it had no good news to report: and, accordingly, he immediately ordered the soldiers to arm; and, as soon as he learned that Crassus was on his march, he went out to meet him, and, taking charge of him and his army, conducted them into the city.

XXVIII. Though the Parthians during the night discovered that the Romans were making their escape, they did not pursue, but at daybreak they came upon those who were left in the camp, to the number of four thousand, and massacred them; and they rode about the plain and overtook many who were there rambling about. Four complete cohorts, while it was still dark, under the command of Varguntinus the legate, got separated from the rest and lost their way, and, being surrounded by the Parthians on an eminence, they fought till they were all killed, with the exception of twenty men. The Parthians, admiring the courage of these twenty men, who were endeavouring to push through them with their bare swords, made way and allowed them a passage through their ranks, and to march slowly to Carrhæ. A false report reached Surena, that Crassus and all the men of rank had made their escape, and that those who had fled to Carrhæ were a mingled rabble not worth notice. Thinking, then, that he had lost the end of his victory, but being still doubtful and wishing to know the truth, in order that he might either stay there and besiege the town, or leave the people of Carrhæ behind and pursue Crassus, he sends one of the men with him, who could speak both languages, with instructions to approach the walls, and in the Roman language to call out for Crassus himself or Cassius, and to say that Surena wished to have a conference with them. The man did as he was ordered; and when it was reported to Crassus, he accepted the invitation, and soon after there came from the barbarians some Arabs who well knew Crassus and Cassius by sight, having been in the camp before the battle. The Arabs, observing Cassius on the wall, said that Surena proposed a truce, and offered, if they would become friends to the king, to let them go safe, if they would leave Mesopotamia; for he considered this proposal advantageous to both sides, rather than to let matters come to extremities. Cassius accepted the proposal, and asked for a place and time to be fixed where Surena and Crassus should meet: the men replied that this should be done, and rode off.

XXIX. Now Surena was delighted at the Romans being besieged, and at daybreak he led the Parthians against the city, who, with many insulting expressions, bade the Romans, if they wished to have a truce, deliver up to them Crassus and Cassius[83] in chains. The Romans were vexed at being deceived; and, telling Crassus to give up all hopes of aid from the Armenians as too remote and groundless, they prepared to make their escape by stealth; and none of the people of Carrhæ were to know this before the time came. But Andromachus, that most faithless wretch, heard of it from Crassus, who confided to him the secret, and also the guidance on the route. Accordingly, all was known to the Parthians; for Andromachus reported to them every particular. But as it is not the custom of the Parthians to fight in the dark, and indeed they cannot easily do it, and Crassus had left the city by night, Andromachus contrived that the Parthians should not be far behind in the pursuit, by leading the Romans first by one route and then by another, till at last he brought them out of their course into deep marshes and ground full of ditches, and thus made the march difficult and circuitous to all who followed him; for there were some who suspected that Andromachus had no honest object in turning and twisting about, and therefore did not follow. Cassius, indeed, returned to Carrhæ; and when the guides, who were Arabs, advised him to wait till the moon had passed the Scorpion, he replied, "I fear the Archer more than the Scorpion," and, saying this, he rode off to Syria, with five hundred horsemen. Others, who had faithful guides, got into a mountainous country, called Sinnaca,[84] and were in a safe position before daybreak: they were about five thousand in number, and were commanded by a brave man, Octavius. But daybreak found Crassus exposed to the treachery of Andromachus in the unfavourable ground and the marshes. Crassus had with him four cohorts of the legionary soldiers, and a very few horsemen, and five lictors, with whom he got upon the road with great difficulty just as the enemy was falling upon him; and now being about twelve stadia short of joining Octavius, he fled to another hill not so difficult for cavalry nor yet so strong, but one that lay below Sinnaca, and was connected with it by a long ridge, which stretched through the middle of the plain. His danger was apparent to Octavius, who ran before any one else with a few men, from the higher ground to aid Crassus, upon which the rest of the men, abusing themselves for cowards, rushed forward, and, falling on the enemy, and repulsing them from the hill, put Crassus in the midst of them, and threw their shields before him, proudly exclaiming that there was no Parthian missile which should strike the Imperator until all of them had fallen in defence of him.

XXX. Surena observing that the spirit of the Parthians was somewhat dulled towards the contest, and, if the night should come on and the Romans get among the mountains, they could not by any means be overtaken, employed the following stratagem against Crassus. Some of the captives were let loose, who, in the Parthian camp, had heard the barbarians saying to one another, in pursuance of a concerted plan, that the king did not wish the war with the Romans to be carried to extremities, but desired to have their friendship again, by doing them the favour of treating Crassus kindly. Accordingly the barbarians stopped fighting; and Surena, with his chief officers, riding gently up to the hill, unstrung his bow, and holding out his right hand, invited Crassus to come to terms, saying, that Crassus had put the king's courage and power to the test, though the king did not wish it, and yet the king of his own free will made the Romans an offer of mercy and friendship by being ready to make a truce with them if they would retire, and by giving them the opportunity of a safe retreat. Upon Surena saying this the Romans eagerly accepted his proposal, and were overjoyed; though Crassus, having been always over-reached by their fraud, and considering the suddenness of the change to be inexplicable, would not listen to them and hesitated. But the soldiers began to call out and urge him to accept the terms, and they fell to abusing and reproaching him, for wishing to expose them to the risk of fighting with those whom he did not venture to go to a conference with, even when they laid aside their arms. Crassus at first attempted to prevail on them by entreaty, and he said that, if they would hold out for the rest of the day, they would be able to march by night through the rough and mountain country, and he pointed out to them the route, and entreated them not to throw away their hopes when safety was so near; but, as the soldiers began to be exasperated and to clatter their arms and threaten him, he was alarmed, and advanced towards Surena, after first turning round and merely saying, "Octavius and Petronius, and you Roman officers who are here, you see that I go under compulsion, and you are witnesses that I am treated in a shameful way and am under constraint; but, if you get safe home, tell all the world, that Crassus lost his life through the treachery of the enemy, and was not surrendered by his fellow-citizens."

XXXI. Yet Octavius and those about him did not stay behind, but descended the hill with Crassus. However, Crassus made the lictors who were following him turn back. The first who met them, on the part of the barbarians, were two Greeks of half-breed, who, leaping down from their horses, made their obeisance to Crassus, and, addressing him in the Greek language, urged him to send forward some persons, who, as they said, would see that Surena himself and those about him were advancing without armour and without their weapons. Crassus replied, that if he had the least concern about his life, he should not have put himself into their hands; however, he sent two Roscii, brothers, to inquire upon what terms they should meet, and how many of them. Surena immediately seized and detained the two brothers, and he himself advanced on horseback with the chief officers, and said, "What is this? the Roman Imperator on foot while we are riding!" and he ordered them to bring a horse to Crassus. Crassus observed that neither himself nor Surena was acting wrong in coming to the conference according to the fashion of their respective countries; on which Surena said that from that moment there was a truce and peace between king Hyrodes and the Romans; but that it was requisite to advance to the river,[85] and there have the agreement put in writing; "for you Romans," he said, "have not a very good memory about contracts;" and he held out his right hand to Crassus. When Crassus was going to send for a horse, Surena said there was no occasion; "for the king gives you this." At the same time a horse with golden bits stood close by Crassus, and the grooms raised him up and mounted him, and then followed, quickening the horse's pace with blows. Octavius first laid hold of the bridle of the horse, and, after him, Petronius, one of the tribunes, and then the rest got round the horse of Crassus, endeavouring to stop it, and dragging away those who pressed close upon Crassus on each side. This led to a struggle and tumult, and finally to blows; Octavius drew his sword and killed the groom of one of the barbarians, and another struck Octavius from behind and killed him. Petronius had no weapon, and, being struck on the breastplate, he leapt down from the horse unwounded; and a Parthian, named Pomaxathres, killed Crassus.[86] Some say that it was not Pomaxathres, but another, who killed Crassus, and that Pomaxathres cut off the head and right hand when Crassus was lying on the ground. But these are rather matters of conjecture than of certain knowledge; for of those who were present some fell there fighting about Crassus, and the rest immediately fled back to the hill. Upon this the Parthians came and said, that Crassus had been punished as he deserved, but Surena invited the rest to come down and fear nothing: whereupon, some of the Romans came down and surrendered, and the rest dispersed themselves under cover of night, of whom a very few escaped; the rest the Arabs hunted out, and put to death when they caught them. It is said that twenty thousand perished in all, and ten thousand were taken alive.

XXXII. Surena sent the head[87] and hand of Crassus to Hyrodes in Armenia; and, causing a report to be carried by messengers to Seleukeia that he was bringing Crassus alive, he got ready a kind of ridiculous procession which, in mockery, he called a triumph. One of the Roman prisoners who bore the greatest resemblance to Crassus, Caius Paccianus, putting on a barbarian female dress, and being instructed to answer as Crassus and Imperator to those who addressed him, was conducted, seated on a horse, and in front of him trumpeters, and some lictors rode upon camels; and there were purses[88] suspended from the fasces, and, by the side of the axes, heads of Romans newly cut off. Behind these followed courtesans of Seleukeia, singing girls, who chanted many obscene and ridiculous things about the effeminacy and cowardice of Crassus. All this was public. But Surena assembling the Senate of Seleukeia,[89] laid before them certain licentious books of the Milesiaca of Aristeides,[90] and, in this matter, at least, there was no invention on his part; for they were found among the baggage of Rustius,[91] and they gave Surena the opportunity of greatly insulting and ridiculing the Romans, because they could not, even when going to war, abstain from such things and such books. To the Senate of Seleukeia, however, Æsopus[92] appeared to be a wise man, when they saw Surena with the wallet of Milesian obscenities in front of him, and dragging behind him a Parthian Sybaris in so many waggons full of concubines, in a manner forming a counterpart to those vipers and skytalæ[93] so much talked of, by presenting the visible and the front parts formidable and terrific, with spears, and bows, and horses, but in the rear of the phalanx, terminating in harlots, and rattling cymbals, and lute-playing, and nocturnal revels with women. Rustius, indeed, merits blame, but the Parthians were shameless in finding fault with the Milesian stories; for many of the kings who have reigned over them, as Arsakidæ, have been the sons of Milesian and Ionian concubines.

XXXIII. While this was going on, Hyrodes happened to have been reconciled to Artavasdes the Armenian, and had agreed to receive the sister of Artavasdes as wife to his son Pacorus: and there were banquets and drinking-parties between them, and representations of many Greek plays; for Hyrodes was not a stranger either to the Greek language or the literature of the Greeks: and Artavasdes used to write tragedies, and speeches, and histories, some of which are preserved. When the head of Crassus was brought to the door, the tables were taken away, and a tragedy actor Jason,[94] by name, a native of Tralles, chanted that part of the Bacchæ[95] of Euripides which relates to Agave. While he was receiving applause. Sillakes, standing by the door of the apartment, and making a reverence, threw the head of Crassus before the company. The Parthians clapped their hands with shouts of joy and the attendants, at the command of the king, seated Sillakes, while Jason handed over to one of the members of the chorus the dress of Pentheus, and, laying hold of the head of Crassus, and, putting on the air of a bacchant, he sung these verses with great enthusiasm:—