Crassus

Plutarch · a new plain-English translation from the original language

Marcus Crassus's father had held the censorship and celebrated a triumph, yet Crassus himself was raised in a small house together with two brothers. His brothers had wives while their parents were still living, and everyone went to the same common table, which seems to be no small part of why he grew up self-controlled and moderate in his way of living. After one of his brothers died, he took the widow to live with him and had children by her, in this too proving as disciplined as any Roman,

though as he grew older he fell under suspicion of intimacy with a Vestal virgin named Licinia, and she was subsequently brought to trial with a certain Plotius acting as prosecutor. She owned a fine property in the suburbs which Crassus wanted to acquire at a low price, and it was his constant attendance on the woman and his courting of her that gave rise to that suspicion; and having in a sense cleared himself of the charge of seduction by pleading love of money instead, the judges let him go free — yet he refused to release his hold on Licinia until he had secured the property.

The Romans, then, say that though Crassus had many virtues, a single vice overshadowed them all — his love of money; and it does seem that this one vice, being stronger than all the rest that were in him, dimmed the others. The greatest proofs they offer of his love of money are the manner in which he acquired his fortune and the sheer size of it,

for having possessed no more than three hundred talents at the outset, and then, during his consulship, after sacrificing a tenth of it to Heracles and feasting the people, and providing every Roman with a three months' grain allowance out of his own funds, he nevertheless, before his campaign against the Parthians, drew up an account of his property for himself and found it worth eleven thousand talents.

Most of this, if the truth must be told even at the cost of speaking ill of him, he amassed out of fire and war, converting the city's shared calamities into the largest single source of his income. For once Sulla had seized control of the city and was selling off the estates of those he had put to death, considering and calling them spoils of war, and wishing to smear as many of the most prominent men as possible with the pollution of it, Crassus refused neither to accept nor to buy such property.

Furthermore, seeing that fires and building-collapses, caused by the weight and density of the structures, were plagues native and endemic to Rome, he bought up slaves who were architects and builders, and once he had more than five hundred of these, he made a practice of buying up the buildings that were on fire and those neighboring the ones on fire, which their owners let go for a small price out of fear and uncertainty, so that in time the greater part of Rome came into his possession.

Yet although he possessed so many craftsmen, he built nothing himself except his own house; rather, he used to say that men fond of building undo themselves without need of any rival. And though he had a great many silver mines, and land of great value, and the men who worked it, still one would judge all this to amount to nothing compared to the value he set on his household servants,

so many and of such quality did he possess — readers, secretaries, silver-assayers, stewards, table-waiters — he himself superintending them as they learned, giving them his attention, teaching them, and holding altogether that it was above all the master's business to care for his household servants, as the living instruments of household management.

And in this Crassus was correct, if indeed it is true that he habitually maintained the view that all other matters ought to be handled through one's servants, while the servants themselves ought to be governed directly by the master — for we see that household management, when it concerns inanimate things, is a mere matter of acquiring wealth, but when it concerns human beings, becomes a form of statesmanship. But in this he was not right: that he considered — and used to say — that no one should be called rich who could not maintain an army out of his own property. For war does not feed on a fixed ration,

as Archidamus put it, so that, measured against the needs of war, wealth admits no fixed limit — an outlook standing at a considerable distance from that held by Marius. For Marius, upon distributing fourteen plethra of land to each man and then learning that they wanted still more, declared, "May no Roman ever regard as insufficient whatever amount suffices to feed him."

Nevertheless Crassus was also generous in his treatment of strangers, for he kept his doors open to everyone, and he would lend his friends money free of interest, though once the agreed term had run out he demanded repayment without mercy, so that his gratuitous loan became more burdensome to many than interest would have been. At his dinners the guest-list was for the most part popular and drawn from the common people, and the plainness of the fare, together with its cleanliness and the warmth of his hospitality, made it more pleasant than extravagance would have been.

As for the education that concerns speech, he trained himself above all in rhetoric and in what was useful for practical affairs before large audiences, and having become one of the most formidable speakers, he surpassed the most naturally gifted of the Romans through sheer diligence and effort. For they say that no case was ever so small or so contemptible that he came to it unprepared, but that often, when Pompey and Caesar and Cicero hesitated to rise, he would step in and complete the advocacy. And for this reason he was liked all the more, as a man attentive and ready to help,

and people liked, too, the friendliness and popular manner of his handshakes and greetings. For there was no Roman so obscure or so lowly whom Crassus met without returning his greeting by name. He is also said to have become widely learned in history, and to have taken up something of philosophy as well, attaching himself to the doctrines of Aristotle, under a teacher named Alexander, a man who gave proof of his own good nature and gentleness through his intimacy with Crassus,

for it was not easy to say whether he had come to Crassus poorer than he became, or had become poor after coming to him. At any rate he alone, of all his friends, always received traveling money whenever he accompanied Crassus abroad, and this same sum was demanded back of him upon their return. But these things belong to a later time.

When Cinna and Marius, having gained the upper hand, at once made it plain, as they came down upon the city, that their aim was not the good of their country but rather the outright destruction and ruin of the best men, some who were caught were put to death — among them Crassus's father and his brother — while Crassus himself, being still quite young, escaped the immediate danger; but realizing he was surrounded on every side and pursued by the ruling faction, he set out accompanied by three friends and ten slaves, and fled to Spain with remarkable speed, where he had lived long before, when his father held command there, and had made friends.

Finding everyone there terrified, shuddering at Marius's cruelty as if it hung directly over their heads, he did not venture to reveal himself openly to anyone, but throwing himself into some coastal fields belonging to Vibius Paciacus, which contained a spacious cave, he hid himself there, sending a single slave to Vibius to test the ground, since his provisions were already running out.

Vibius, on hearing of it, was delighted that he was safe, and having learned the number of those with him and the place, did not come to see him himself, but brought near the overseer of the estate and ordered him to bring a prepared dinner every day and set it down by the rock and go away in silence, without prying or asking questions — warning him that inquisitiveness meant death, but faithful cooperation, freedom.

The cave lies at no great distance from the sea; cliffs meeting around it form a narrow, dim passage leading inward, but once one has passed through, a wondrous height opens up above, and in breadth it has chambers opening into one another in great curving spaces.

It lacks neither water nor light, but a spring of very sweet water flows beneath along the cliff face, and openings splitting the stone naturally, exactly where the outside light falls most directly, gather and let it in, so that the place is lit up by day, while the air within is free of dripping moisture and clean, the density of the rock forcing out whatever is damp and would otherwise drip, and sending it into the spring.

While Crassus was staying there, the man came each day bringing what was needed, himself neither seeing those within nor knowing them, though he was seen by them, who knew when he was coming and watched for the time. And the food provided for the meal was abundant, made not merely for necessity but for pleasure too.

For Vibius had resolved to attend to Crassus with every kindness, and it occurred to him to take his youth into account as well — that he was after all a young man, and that something should be granted to the pleasures suited to his age, since to see only to his necessities would be to serve him out of obligation rather than eagerness. So taking two comely serving-girls, he walked to the sea, and when he reached the place, he pointed out the way up and told them to go in and have no fear.

Crassus and his companions, seeing them approaching, feared that the place might have become known and exposed, and so questioned the girls as to what they wanted and who they were. When they answered, as they had been instructed, that they were seeking a master hidden there, Crassus, understanding Vibius's jest and kindness toward him, took the girls in;

and they stayed with him for the rest of the time, telling and reporting to Vibius whatever he needed. Phenestella says he himself saw one of these women, by then an old woman, and often heard her recall and recount these things eagerly.

Crassus, having thus spent eight months in hiding, came out into the open as soon as he learned of Cinna's death, and as no small number of men flocked to him, he selected two thousand five hundred of them and went about the cities; and one of them, Malaca, he sacked, as many have written, though they say he himself denied it and disputed vigorously with those who said so,

after which, having gathered ships and crossed over to Africa, he came to Metellus Pius, a man of distinction who had collected a force not to be despised. He did not remain there long, however, but having quarreled with Metellus, he set off to join Sulla, with whom he was among the most honored companions. When Sulla crossed over into Italy and wished to keep all the young men with him actively employed, assigning each to a different task, Crassus, being sent to the Marsi to raise troops, asked for an escort, since the route lay through enemy territory.

But when Sulla answered him with anger and great sharpness, "I give you as escort your father, your brother, your friends, your kinsmen — men unlawfully and unjustly slain, whose murderers I am now pursuing," Crassus, stung and goaded by this remark, departed without delay, and cutting his way energetically through hostile territory, assembled a considerable force and showed himself eager on Sulla's behalf in the battles that followed.

It is said that it was from these exploits that his rivalry and ambition for glory against Pompey first arose. For Pompey, though younger than Crassus and born to a father who had stood in disgrace at Rome, loathed by the citizens with the deepest hatred, nonetheless shone forth and proved himself great in the course of these events, so that Sulla — a thing he very rarely granted to men older and equal in rank — would rise from his seat as Pompey approached, uncover his head, and address him as Imperator.

This inflamed and provoked Crassus, and not without reason, since he found himself outdone. For he was lacking in experience, and the grace of his own achievements was taken away by the vices that clung to him, greed and pettiness of spirit. Indeed, when he took the Umbrian city of Tudertia, he was thought to have appropriated the greater part of the money for himself, and was denounced to Sulla for it.

But in the battle around Rome, the greatest and last of them all, while Sulla was defeated, his own forces routed and shattered, Crassus, holding the right wing, was victorious, and having pursued the enemy until nightfall, sent to Sulla asking for dinner for his soldiers and reporting his success. Yet in the matter of the proscriptions and confiscations he again fell into ill repute, buying up great properties for a trifling price and asking for gifts,

and in Bruttium he is said even to have proscribed a certain man not on Sulla's orders but for the sake of profit, for which Sulla, condemning him, ceased using him for any public business thereafter. And yet Crassus was most formidable at working upon all men through flattery, while he himself was in turn easily taken in by flattery from anyone. This too is said to be peculiar to him: that being the most avaricious of men, he most hated and reviled those who resembled him in it.

What troubled him was Pompey's success in commands, and his celebrating a triumph even before he had joined the Senate, and being hailed Magnus — that is, "the Great" — by the citizens; and once, when someone remarked that Pompey Magnus was approaching, Crassus laughed and asked how big he was.

Despairing of matching him in military matters, he took up the life of politics, and by his eager efforts, his advocacy in the courts, his loans of money, and his readiness to canvass alongside and to stand by the side of those in need of anything from the people, he built up a power and reputation to rival what Pompey possessed from his many great campaigns.

And a strange thing happened to them both: Pompey's name and power in the city were greater when he was absent, because of his campaigns, but when present he was often outdone by Crassus, since, on account of his self-importance and his concern for the dignity of his manner of life, he shrank from the crowds and withdrew from the forum, and helped few of those in need, and that not very eagerly, so as to keep his influence fresher by using it on his own behalf.

Crassus, having a usefulness that was constant, and being neither hard to find nor difficult of access, but always moving about in the very midst of people's business, prevailed over the other man's [Pompey's] solemn dignity by his commonness and his kindness to all. Yet they say that a certain dignity of person, a persuasiveness of speech, and a graciousness of countenance attended upon both men alike, drawing people to them.

This rivalry, however, did not carry Crassus into any hatred or ill will; rather, though he was vexed that Pompey and Caesar were honored above himself, he did not attach to this ambition of his any malice or ill nature. And yet Caesar, at the time when pirates seized him off the coast of Asia and held him under guard, cried out, "How great a joy, Crassus, you will enjoy when you learn of my capture!"

But later they treated one another as friends; and once, when Caesar was about to go out to Iberia as praetor and had no money, since his creditors fell upon him and were seizing his equipment, Crassus did not overlook him, but freed him by pledging himself as surety for eight hundred and thirty talents.

In general, the city was split among three factions of power: one belonging to Pompey, one to Caesar, and one to Crassus (Cato, for his part, was admired more than he was powerful, his reputation outrunning his real strength)—and the prudent, settled citizens gave their support to Pompey, while the more excitable element, easily swayed, chased after Caesar's promises,

and Crassus, standing in the middle, made use of both, and by undergoing very many changes in his political course was neither a steady friend nor an implacable enemy, but readily fell away from both favor and anger under the influence of expediency, so that often, in a short space, he was found advocate and adversary of the same men, and of the same laws.

He had strength both through goodwill and through fear, and not less through fear. At any rate, Sicinius, the man who caused the most trouble to the magistrates and demagogues of his day, when someone asked him why in the world he did not tear into Crassus as he did the others, but let him alone, said that he had "hay on his horn"—for the Romans were accustomed to wrap hay around the horn of a butting ox, so that those who met it might be on their guard.

The uprising of the gladiators and their ravaging of Italy, which most people call the Spartacus War, took its beginning from the following cause. A certain Lentulus Batiatus kept a gladiatorial school at Capua, and the men he trained there — Gauls and Thracians for the most part — had been penned up to fight there not through any crime of their own but simply through the injustice of the one who purchased them, forced by necessity into the gladiator's trade; two hundred of them planned to run away,

but when an informer had betrayed the plan, those who perceived it in time and got ahead of the rest, seventy-eight in number, snatched up cleavers and spits from some kitchen and burst out; and meeting on the road wagons carrying gladiators' weapons to another town, they seized these and armed themselves. And having taken possession of a strong position, they chose three leaders, of whom the first was Spartacus, a Thracian man of the Nomadic stock, who had not only great spirit and bodily strength, but was also, in intelligence and gentleness, superior to his fortune and more Greek than his race would suggest,

and they say of this man that, on the occasion of his first being brought to Rome to be sold, a snake was seen lying coiled around his face while he slept; and his wife — a woman of that same Thracian tribe, gifted with prophecy and given over to the ecstatic worship of Dionysus — read this as a sign that a great and terrible power would attend him, one fated to end fortunately; she was living with him at the time, and she fled together with him.

And first, having beaten back the men who came from Capua and having gotten hold of many weapons of war, they gladly exchanged their own for these, casting away as dishonorable and barbarous the gear of the gladiators. Then, when Clodius the praetor was sent from Rome with three thousand men and besieged them on a mountain that had one difficult

and narrow ascent, which Clodius kept under guard, while the rest was sheer cliffs and smooth rock, but with much wild vine growing thick upon the surface, they cut what was useful of the tendrils, and weaving from them strong and long ladders, so that let down from above they reached, along the cliff-face, down to the level ground, they climbed down safely by means of them, all but one man. This man remained behind for the sake of the weapons, and once the others had climbed down, he threw the weapons down after them, and having thrown them all down he himself came off safely last of all,

of all this the Romans were unaware; and so, having gone around them, the gladiators struck them with terror by their suddenness, and when a rout occurred, took their camp. And many of the herdsmen and shepherds of that region joined them, vigorous and swift-footed men, some of whom they armed, while they employed others as scouts and light-armed troops.

A second general is sent out against them, Publius Varinus, whose subordinate officer, a certain Furius, having two thousand soldiers, they routed when he engaged them; then Spartacus, watching for his moment, very nearly seized Cossinius, who had been sent as adviser and co-commander to Varinus with a large force, while he was bathing near Salinae.

Cossinius, having escaped with difficulty and only barely, Spartacus at once got control of his baggage train, and pressing hard upon his heels and pursuing with great slaughter took his camp. Cossinius himself also fell. Then, having defeated the general [Varinus] himself in many other battles, and finally capturing his lictors and his own horse, Spartacus was now great and formidable, yet he kept a fitting sense of proportion, and, having no expectation of overpowering Rome, directed his army toward the Alps, judging that once they were across, each man should make his way home, some to Thrace, others to Gaul.

But his men, being strong in numbers and thinking highly of themselves, would not obey, but went about ravaging Italy as they advanced. No longer, then, did the disgrace and shame of the revolt trouble the Senate, but rather fear and danger, as toward one of the most difficult and greatest of wars, and they sent out both consuls,

of whom Gellius fell suddenly upon the German contingent, which had broken off from the men of Spartacus out of arrogance and overconfidence, and destroyed it entirely, while Lentulus, having surrounded Spartacus with large armies, found him charging to close quarters and joining battle: Spartacus defeated the legates and took all their baggage; and as he was pushed on toward the Alps, Cassius, the praetor of the Gaul about the Po, with ten thousand men, met him; and a battle occurring, Cassius was defeated, lost many men, and barely escaped himself.

When the Senate learned of these things, in anger it ordered the consuls to remain quiet, and chose Crassus general of the war; and many of the notable men joined the campaign with him on account of his reputation and friendship. He himself, then, waited before Picenum, expecting to receive Spartacus as he moved that way, and he sent Mummius, a legate leading two legions, around by a circuit, ordering him to follow the enemy but not to engage or skirmish.

But Mummius, the moment he saw any chance of success, engaged the enemy and suffered defeat; many of his men were killed, while many others threw down their weapons and got away alive. Crassus received Mummius himself harshly, and, arming the soldiers again, demanded pledges for their weapons, that they would keep them; and of the first five hundred, and especially those who had fled, dividing them into fifty groups of ten, he put to death one man from each group chosen by lot, inflicting on the soldiers this ancient punishment, revived after a long time.

For there is attached to this manner of death a special disgrace, and many things horrible and grim are done in the punishment, with all the men looking on. Having thus turned his men around, he led them against the enemy. Spartacus withdrew through Lucania toward the sea, and, falling in at the strait with Cilician pirate ships, set out to make for Sicily, and by putting two thousand men ashore on the island intended to rekindle the slave war there, a fire only recently put out and lacking merely a bit of tinder to flare up again.

But the Cilicians, though they had struck a bargain with him and accepted gifts, betrayed him and sailed off. So Spartacus, marching back again from the coast, settled his army on the peninsula near Rhegium. Crassus arrived, and, recognizing what the terrain itself recommended as a course of action, undertook to wall off the isthmus, thereby denying his own soldiers idleness and the enemy easy provisioning,

the work was great and difficult indeed, yet he achieved and completed it, beyond expectation, in a short time, carrying a ditch from sea to sea across the neck of land, three hundred stadia long, with a width and depth each of fifteen feet; and above the ditch he raised a wall of wondrous height and strength.

Of these works Spartacus at first took no notice and made light of them; but when his plunder began to run short and, wishing to advance, he perceived the wall shutting him in and that nothing could be got from the peninsula, watching for a snowy night and a wintry wind, he filled in a small part of the ditch with earth, timber, and the branches of trees, so that a third of his army was able to cross.

Crassus, then, feared that some impulse might seize Spartacus to drive on Rome itself, but he took courage when many of Spartacus's men, breaking off from him over some quarrel, encamped by themselves near a Lucanian lake, which they say changes over time, becoming sweet and then again briny and undrinkable. Crassus attacked these men and drove them from the lake, yet Spartacus arrived on the scene quickly and cut short their flight, denying Crassus the chance to finish them off in slaughter and pursuit.

Though he had earlier written to the Senate saying that Lucullus should be called from Thrace and Pompey from Iberia, he now changed his mind, and, before those men could arrive, hastened to finish the war, knowing that once help arrived and had joined him, the success would be thought not his own but the newcomer's. First, then, resolving to attack those who had broken away and were campaigning on their own, whose leaders were Gaius Cannicius and Castus, he sent six thousand men ahead to seize a certain hill, ordering them to try to escape notice.

These men tried to conceal themselves by covering their helmets, but, being seen by two women who were sacrificing before the enemy's camp, they came into danger, had not Crassus, appearing swiftly, joined the most fiercely fought battle of them all, in which, striking down twelve thousand three hundred men, he found only two wounded in the back, all the rest having stood their ground in rank and died fighting the Romans.

After this defeat, as Spartacus was withdrawing toward the mountains of Petelia, Quintus — an officer under Crassus's command — together with the quaestor Scrofa, stayed close on his heels and followed. But when he turned about, a great rout of the Romans occurred, and they barely managed to snatch up the wounded quaestor and get him to safety. This success ruined Spartacus, for it brought overconfidence upon the runaway slaves.

For they no longer thought it right to avoid battle, nor did they obey their commanders, but, as these were already on the march under arms, the men surrounded them and forced them to lead the way back again through Lucania against the Romans, hastening to the same goal as Crassus. For Pompey was already reported to be approaching, and indeed not a few were canvassing openly for the war's victory to be credited to him, on the ground that as soon as he arrived he would fight and end the war. Crassus, therefore, being eager to bring the fight to a decision, and having camped alongside the enemy, was digging a ditch, against which the slaves, sallying out, fought with the men at work.

As ever more men rushed to help from either side, Spartacus, seeing the necessity upon him, drew up his whole army in battle order. And first, when his horse was led out to him, he drew his sword and declared that, should he win, he would have plenty of fine enemy horses for the taking, but should he lose, he would have no need of this one — and with that he cut the animal down; he then fought his way toward Crassus himself through a mass of weapons and wounds, and though he never reached him, he did strike down two centurions who crossed his path.

At last, when those around him had scattered in flight, he alone held his position, and, though ringed by a great number of foes, fell fighting to the last in his own defense. Though Crassus had used his fortune and generalship in the best way, and had exposed his own person to danger, still the credit for this success did not escape being claimed for Pompey's glory. For those who had fled the battle fell in with Pompey and were destroyed, so that he even wrote to the Senate that Crassus had indeed conquered the runaway slaves in open battle, but that he himself had torn out the root of the war.

Pompey, then, celebrated a splendid triumph for his victories over Sertorius and in Iberia, but Crassus himself did not even attempt to ask for the great triumph, and it was thought base and unworthy of him to celebrate even the lesser one, the so-called ovation, on account of a war against slaves. What the difference is between the two, and about the manner of proclaiming them, has been written in the Life of Marcellus.

After this, when Pompey was at once being summoned to the consulship, Crassus, though he had hopes of holding office together with him, did not shrink from asking Pompey's help. Pompey, receiving the request gladly—for he always desired somehow to have Crassus in his debt for some favor—pursued the matter eagerly, and at last said in a public assembly that he would feel no less gratitude toward Pompey for his colleague than for the office itself,

yet they did not remain in this friendly spirit once they had entered upon office; rather, disagreeing about nearly everything and being difficult with one another and quarreling over everything, they made their consulship unproductive for politics and without accomplishment, except that Crassus, after making a great sacrifice to Heracles, gave a public banquet spread over ten thousand tables and handed out enough grain to supply every household for three months.

Now when their term of office was already coming to an end, it happened that they were holding an assembly, and a certain man, not of the notable class, a Roman knight, rustic in his way of life and a private citizen, Onatius Aurelius, went up onto the platform, came forward, and described a dream-vision he had experienced while asleep. "For Zeus," he said, "appearing to me, ordered me to declare publicly that you should not allow the consuls to lay down their office before they have become friends."

While the man was saying this and the crowd was calling on them to be reconciled, Pompey stood there quietly, but Crassus, thrusting out his right hand first, said, "Fellow citizens, I hold that there is nothing base or unbecoming in my being the one to make the first move toward goodwill and friendship with Pompey — a man you hailed as 'the Great' while his chin was still bare of a beard, and to whom you granted a triumph before he had so much as taken a seat in the Senate."

Such, then, were the memorable events of Crassus's consulship. His censorship, however, passed entirely without effect and without accomplishment, for he carried out neither a review of the Senate, nor an inspection of the knights, nor an assessment of the citizens' property, even though he had as his colleague in office the gentlest of the Romans, Lutatius Catulus. But they say that when Crassus set out upon a harsh and violent measure, to make Egypt tributary to the Romans, Catulus vigorously opposed him, and from the quarrel that arose the two of them voluntarily laid down their office.

In the affair concerning Catiline, which was serious business and came close to overturning Rome, some suspicion touched Crassus, and a man came forward naming him as part of the conspiracy, but no one believed it.

All the same, Cicero, in one speech, was plainly casting the blame onto Crassus and Caesar. But this speech was published only after both men had died, whereas his treatise On His Consulship claims that a nighttime visit was paid to him by Crassus, who brought along a letter setting out the details of the Catiline affair as though the plot were already established fact.

Crassus, for his part, always hated Cicero on this account, though his son kept him from doing him open harm. For Publius, being fond of literature and learning, was so attached to Cicero that when Cicero stood trial he put on mourning dress alongside him, and induced the rest of the younger men present to follow suit. In the end he persuaded his father to become Cicero's friend.

When Caesar returned from his province, preparing to seek the consulship, and saw that Crassus and Pompey were again at odds with one another, he did not want, by asking a favor of one, to make an enemy of the other, nor did he expect to succeed if neither cooperated with him.

He therefore set about bringing them to reconciliation, pressing the matter and pointing out that by pulling each other down they were only building up men like Cicero and Catulus and Cato, men of no account at all, if only they would combine their friendships and their factions into one and lead the state by a single power and a single purpose. Having persuaded them and reconciled them, he brought the three of them together and formed out of them an irresistible strength, by which they dissolved the authority of the Roman Senate and people — not making those two greater through each other, but rather, through them, making himself the greatest of all.

For at once, lifted up by both of them, he was brilliantly declared consul. And while he was consul, they voted him command of armies and put Gaul into his hands, establishing him there as though in a citadel, thinking that meanwhile they would quietly divide up the rest between themselves, once they had secured for him the office that had fallen to his lot.

Pompey, then, acted as he did out of an unbounded love of power; but in Crassus's case, the old disease of love of wealth, taking on a new passion and a jealous rivalry over Caesar's feats of trophies and triumphs — in which alone, though he surpassed Caesar in everything else, he found himself falling short — this did not release him or let him rest until it brought him to an inglorious ruin and to public disasters.

For when Caesar came down from Gaul to the city of Luca, many other Romans went there too, and Pompey and Crassus, meeting with him privately, decided to take firmer hold of affairs and bring the whole government under themselves, with Caesar remaining under arms while Pompey and Crassus took other provinces and armies.

There was one road to this: a bid for a second consulship, and in seeking it they would need Caesar's cooperation — he would have to write letters on their behalf to his friends, and dispatch a large contingent of his soldiers to take part in the elections.

On these terms Crassus and his associates, once back in Rome, were at once objects of suspicion, and a great rumor spread through everyone that their meeting had not been for any good purpose. And in the Senate, when Marcellinus and Domitius put to Pompey the question of whether he meant to seek the consulship, his reply was that he might seek it, or he might not; pressed further, he said he would seek it for the sake of citizens who were just, but not for unjust ones.

Since this seemed to be an arrogant and puffed-up answer, Crassus spoke more moderately, saying that he would stand for office if it benefited the state, but if not, he would not. For this reason some men found the courage to seek the consulship as well, among them Domitius. But once it became clear what Pompey and Crassus intended in their campaigns, the others took fright and withdrew, while Cato, who was Domitius's kinsman and friend, encouraged him and urged him on, spurring him to hold on to his hope as one fighting on behalf of the common freedom; for it was not a consulship that Pompey and Crassus wanted, he said, but tyranny, and what was being carried out was not a bid for office but the seizing of provinces and armies.

Speaking and thinking in just this way, Cato all but forced Domitius bodily forward into the Forum, and many rallied to their side, and there was no small wonder at it: "Why is it that these two want a second consulship? Why again together with each other? Why not with others? Surely there are many men among us not unworthy to hold office alongside Crassus and Pompey."

Frightened by this, Pompey's men held back from none of the most disorderly and violent acts; besides everything else, they set an ambush for Domitius, who was still coming down in the dark with his companions, and they killed the man carrying the torch in front of him and wounded many others, among them Cato. Having routed them and shut them up in the house, they were proclaimed consuls;

and not long afterward, again surrounding the speaker's platform with armed men, they drove Cato out of the Forum, and killing some who resisted, they granted Caesar another five-year term of command, and voted for themselves as provinces Syria and both the Spains together. When lots were drawn, Crassus obtained Syria, and Pompey the Spanish provinces.

The lot was not against anyone's wishes. For most people wanted Pompey to remain not far from the city, and Pompey, devoted as he was to his wife, meant to pass the greater part of his time in her company there; while Crassus, the moment the lot fell out, was so plainly overjoyed that he thought no piece of good fortune more brilliant had ever come to him than this present one, so that he could scarcely keep quiet even among strangers and in large gatherings, and among his familiars he spoke a great deal of empty, boyish talk quite out of keeping with his age and character — a man who in his life had least been given to bragging or bluster.

But now, entirely puffed up and out of his senses, he set no bound to his prospects at Syria or even at the Parthians, but, as though meaning to make Lucullus's campaign against Tigranes and Pompey's against Mithridates look like child's play, he carried his hopes forward in imagination as far as the Bactrians and the Indians and the outer sea.

And yet the law that had been drafted concerning this had made no mention of a Parthian war. But everyone knew that this was what Crassus's heart was set on; and Caesar wrote to him from Gaul praising his impulse and urging him on to the war. When the tribune Ateius was about to oppose his departure, and many gathered angrily, protesting that it was wrong for anyone to march off to make war on people who had done no wrong but were bound by treaty, Crassus grew afraid and asked Pompey to be present and to escort him out;

for Pompey's standing with the crowd was great, and on that occasion, when many had been prepared to stand in the way and cry out against Crassus, it was the sight of Pompey going before him with a bright look and a cheerful face that calmed them, so that they yielded and let the two pass through in silence. But Ateius, meeting them, first tried by word to stop him and protested against his going, then ordered his attendant to lay hold of Crassus's person and detain him.

When the other tribunes would not allow this, the attendant let Crassus go, but Ateius, running ahead to the gate, set down a burning brazier, and when Crassus came level with it, he burned incense over it and poured libations, uttering curses that were terrible and dreadful, and calling upon certain terrible and strange gods as he did so.

The Romans say that these curses, invoked with such naming of gods, are ancient and hidden ones, of such power that no one caught in their grip can ever escape, and that even the one who employs them fares badly himself, which is why they are not pronounced on ordinary occasions nor by many people. And so at that time people blamed Ateius, saying that if he was angry with Crassus, it was upon the city, for whose sake he was angry, that he had let loose curses and such great superstitious dread.

Crassus came to Brundisium. Though the sea was still unsettled with storms, he did not wait, but put out to sea, and lost a good many of his ships; taking the rest of his force he pressed on by land through Galatia, and finding King Deiotarus, who was already quite an old man, founding a new city, he mocked him, saying, "Well, king, you are laying foundations at the day's twelfth hour." The Galatian laughed and said:

"But you yourself, general, as I see it, are not exactly setting out early against the Parthians either." Crassus was then past sixty years of age, and looked older still than his years. On his arrival, things at first met his hopes as he deserved: he crossed the Euphrates easily and led his army across safely, and he took possession of many cities in Mesopotamia that came over to him willingly.

In one of these towns, ruled by the tyrant Apollonius, a hundred of Crassus's men lost their lives; he marched his force against the place, and having overpowered them, he plundered their goods and sold the people into slavery. The Greeks called this city Zenodotia. When it had been taken, he accepted being proclaimed imperator by the army, and this brought him great disgrace, and he appeared small-minded and lacking in hope for greater things, so pleased was he with so small a gain.

After placing garrisons in the cities that had come over to him — numbering seven thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry — he himself withdrew to winter in Syria, meaning to await there the arrival of his son from Gaul, whom Caesar was sending, honored with military distinctions and now in command of a thousand chosen horsemen. Here, it was judged, lay Crassus's first blunder, and it proved the worst of everything that came after in the campaign: rather than pushing on at once to seize Babylon and Seleucia — cities that had never been friendly to the Parthians — he left his enemy time to prepare,

and further, people blamed his stay in Syria as being more suited to money-making than to generalship; for he was not reviewing the number of his arms or holding contests of exercise, but reckoning up the revenues of cities, and for many days handling with scales and balances the treasure of the goddess at Hierapolis, and imposing levies of soldiers on peoples and princes only to release them again on payment of money — for this he lost repute and was held in contempt.

The first sign that came to him was from this very goddess, whom some consider to be Aphrodite, others Hera, others still the power and nature that has furnished all things their origins and seeds out of moisture, and that has shown to mankind the beginning of all good things. For as they were coming out of the temple, the young Crassus stumbled first at the gate, and then the elder Crassus fell over him.

Already, as he was gathering his forces together from their winter quarters, envoys arrived from Arsaces with a short and pointed statement: if the Roman people themselves had authorized this army, they announced, the war that followed would allow no truce and no reconciliation; but if, as they understood the matter, Crassus had taken up arms against the Parthians and seized their land for his own private gain, against his country's own wishes, then Arsaces would show restraint, taking pity on Crassus's old age, and would send back to the Romans the soldiers he currently held captive — men who were guarded rather than guarding.

When Crassus boasted in reply that his answer would be delivered in Seleucia, Vagises, the eldest of the envoys, laughed and, showing the palm of his upturned hand, said, "Hair will grow here, Crassus, before you see Seleucia." So these men rode off to tell King Hyrodes that war was at hand, while from the cities of Mesopotamia that the Romans were garrisoning, some men who had broken through at great risk brought news worth serious concern,

having themselves been eyewitnesses of the multitude of the enemy and of the fighting they had gone through in the assaults on the cities, and reporting everything, as is natural, in a more frightening light — how the men were inescapable when pursuing and uncatchable when fleeing, how they had strange missiles that outran the sight, moving through whatever stood in the way before the one who shot them could even be seen, and how the weapons of their armored horsemen were made so that some could pierce anything, and others would give way to nothing,

hearing this, the soldiers' courage sank. For, having been convinced that the Parthians were no different from the Armenians or Cappadocians, whom Lucullus had led about and worn down until he gave up on them, and supposing that the toughest portion of this campaign would simply be a lengthy march combined with chasing an enemy who would never risk close combat, they now found themselves, contrary to their expectations, facing a great struggle and danger, so much so that even a number of the officers felt Crassus should pause and think the whole matter through once more. Among these was Cassius the quaestor.

The seers, too, quietly hinted that the omens revealed to Crassus through the sacrifices were always unfavorable and hard to expiate, but he paid no attention either to them or to anyone else who advised anything but haste.

Not least of all, Artabazes the king of the Armenians strengthened his resolve; for he came to the camp with six thousand horsemen. These, it was said, were a bodyguard and escort for the king, and he promised ten thousand more mailed cavalry besides, and thirty thousand infantry maintained at their own expense.

He attempted to convince Crassus that the invasion of Parthia should proceed by way of Armenia, arguing that his army would find abundant provisions along that route, and that Crassus would travel safely, shielded by many mountains and rugged unbroken hills, country ill-suited to cavalry, the sole strength of the Parthians. Crassus offered moderate thanks for his eagerness and for the splendid aid he proposed, but declared that he would instead march his forces through Mesopotamia, since he had left behind many good Roman soldiers there.

So the Armenian rode off on these terms. But as Crassus was leading his army across at Zeugma, many extraordinary claps of thunder broke out, and much lightning flashed against the army, and a wind mingled with cloud and whirlwind bore down upon his pontoon-bridge, tearing much of it apart and shattering it.

The very place where he intended to encamp was struck by two thunderbolts. And a horse belonging to one of the officers, splendidly adorned, dragged its driver by force into the current and vanished beneath the water. It is also said that the first eagle-standard, when it was raised, turned about of its own accord.

In addition to these things, it happened that after the crossing, when provisions were being measured out to the soldiers, the very first things given to all were lentils and salt, which the Romans consider signs of mourning and set out before the dead; and while Crassus himself was addressing the army, a word escaped him that terribly confounded the troops. For he said that he was breaking up the bridge over the river so that none of them might return. And though, when he perceived the strangeness of the remark, he ought to have taken it back and explained it to the men who were becoming afraid, he neglected to do so out of stubbornness.

Finally he performed the customary purification sacrifice, and when the seer handed him the entrails, he dropped them from his hands; and seeing how greatly distressed those present were at this, he broke into a smile and remarked, "This is what old age brings; yet no weapon, at least, could ever escape these hands."

After this he marched along the river, having seven legions of heavy infantry and cavalry falling only a little short of four thousand, and light-armed troops about equal in number to the cavalry. Some of the scouts, returning from a lookout, reported that the land was empty of people, though they had encountered the hoofprints of numerous horses, as if of men who had turned about and were being pursued back the way they came. From this Crassus himself grew even more hopeful, and the soldiers were led entirely to despise the Parthians, believing they would not come to close quarters,

Nevertheless Cassius and his companions again spoke with Crassus, and urged him above all to let the army rest within a city held by a garrison until he learned something certain about the enemy, or else, failing that, to advance toward Seleucia along the river; for the grain-transports would provide abundant supplies as they sailed down together with the army toward the camp, and having the river as a guard against encirclement, they would always be fighting the enemy on equal terms, face to face.

While Crassus was still weighing these things and deliberating, there arrived an Arab chieftain named Ariamnes, a treacherous and shifting man, who of all the evils that fortune brought together for their destruction proved the greatest and most complete.

Some of those who had served under Pompey knew this man, having enjoyed some measure of Pompey's kindness, and had thought him well-disposed to Rome; but now he had submitted himself to Crassus at the instigation of the king's generals, in the hope that he might turn him far away from the river and the foothills and drive him out into an immense open plain where he could be encircled. For they intended anything rather than to engage the Romans face to face.

So the barbarian came to Crassus—he was in fact a persuasive speaker—and praised Pompey as a benefactor, but reproached Crassus, even while congratulating him on the size of his force, for delaying and making preparations, as though he would need weapons rather than the swiftest hands and feet against men who for a long time now have been seeking to seize their most precious goods and persons and fly off to the Scythians or Hyrcanians.

"And yet," he said, "if you mean to fight, you ought to hurry, before the king recovers his courage and brings his whole force together in one place; for as it is, only Surenas and Sillaces have been set before you, having taken upon themselves the pursuit against you, while the king himself is nowhere to be seen."

All this was false; for Hyrodes had at once divided his forces in two, and he himself was ravaging Armenia, taking vengeance on Artavasdes, while he sent Surenas against the Romans—not out of arrogance, as some say; for it was not consistent for the same man to think Crassus, the foremost man of the Romans, unworthy of his own opposition, while he made war on Artavasdes and fell upon the villages of Armenia to destroy them; rather, it seems that he greatly feared the danger, and so held himself in reserve, waiting to see what would happen, while he set Surenas forward to test the battle and to draw the enemy about.

For Surenas was no ordinary man, but second to the king in wealth, birth, and reputation, and first among the Parthians of his time in courage and skill, and moreover in stature and beauty of body unmatched by any other. He always rode out attended by a thousand camels carrying his baggage, and brought along two hundred wagons of concubines; a thousand mail-clad horsemen and still more light cavalry escorted him; and altogether his mounted followers, clients and slaves together, numbered no fewer than ten thousand.

By hereditary right from the beginning, his family possessed the privilege of being first to set the diadem upon a newly made king of the Parthians; and it was he who restored this very Hyrodes, when he had been driven out, to the Parthians, and he was the first to take great Seleucia for him, mounting the wall and routing with his own hand those who resisted. Though not yet thirty years of age at that time, he had the highest reputation for good judgment and intelligence, by which qualities, not least of all, he brought down Crassus—first through overconfidence and pride, and then, once fear and misfortune had taken hold, through being easily overcome by his deceptions.

So then the barbarian, having persuaded him, pulled him away from the riverbank and guided him straight across the open plains, along a road that was smooth and easy at first, but afterward harsh, receiving them into deep sand and plains without trees or water, stretching on with no end perceptible to the senses anywhere, with the result that thirst, together with the hardship of the march, was not alone in driving them to despair,

but the very sight of the land gave rise to inconsolable despondency: they saw no plant, no stream, no jutting shoulder of a mountain, no sprouting blade of grass, but simply an endless sea-like expanse of desert sand surrounding the army on every side. Even from this alone the treachery was suspected; but then messengers also arrived from Artavasdes the Armenian, saying that he was hard pressed by a great war, since Hyrodes had fallen upon him, and that he was unable to send him aid,

but advised Crassus above all to turn there and, joining forces with the Armenians, to fight it out together against Hyrodes; or, failing that, to march and encamp always avoiding ground suited to cavalry and keeping close to the hill country. Crassus, without writing any reply, answered out of anger and stubbornness that he had no time now for the Armenians, but would come again to exact punishment from Artavasdes for his betrayal.

Cassius and his companions were again indignant, and having ceased trying to admonish Crassus, who was annoyed with them, they reviled the barbarian privately: "What evil spirit, you vilest of men, brought you to us? By what drugs and sorceries did you persuade Crassus to pour out his army into a vast and bottomless wilderness and to travel a road fit for a nomad brigand chief rather than for a Roman commander?"

But the barbarian, being a versatile man, humbly reassured them and urged them to endure just a little longer, while at the same time, running alongside the soldiers and lending them encouragement, he mocked them with laughter: "Do you suppose you are marching through Campania, longing, no doubt, for springs and streams and shade and baths and inns? Do you not remember that you are passing through the borderland of the Arabs and Assyrians?"

In this way the barbarian led the Romans along like children, and before his deception became apparent, he rode off—not unnoticed by Crassus, but having also persuaded him that he would work behind the scenes and throw the enemy's affairs into confusion.

It is said that Crassus, on this particular day, failed to appear as is the custom of Roman generals in a scarlet cloak, but rather in a black one, and that upon noticing this himself he switched it at once; and that some of the standards, as though they had become fixed in the ground, were raised only with great effort and difficulty by those carrying them.

Crassus, laughing at these things, hastened the march, forcing the infantry to match the cavalry's pace, until several men from those sent out on reconnaissance rode up and reported that the rest had been destroyed by the enemy, and that they themselves had barely escaped, and that the enemy were advancing to fight in great numbers and with great confidence,

All were thrown into confusion, and Crassus himself was utterly astounded, and in his haste, not being altogether composed, drew up his lines—first, as Cassius and his companions urged, extending the infantry line thinly over a great stretch of the plain to guard against encirclement, and distributing the cavalry along the wings; then he changed his mind, and drawing the men together, formed a deep, hollow square with a front on both sides, each side advancing with twelve cohorts,

and beside each cohort he stationed a squadron of cavalry, so that no part might lack the support of horsemen, but the whole might advance evenly on every side, fully guarded. Of the wings, he gave one to Cassius, the other to the younger Crassus, while he himself took his stand in the center. Advancing in this manner, they came to a stream called the Balissus—not large otherwise, nor abundant, but welcome enough at that time to the soldiers, appearing as it did amid drought and heat and after the rest of their toilsome and waterless march.

Now most of the officers thought it necessary to encamp there, and to pass the night, and to learn, so far as possible, the number and disposition of the enemy, and then at daybreak to advance against them; but Crassus, urged on by his son and the cavalry about him, who were eager to advance and engage at once, gave orders that those who needed food and drink should eat and drink standing in ranks.

And before this could be properly carried out by all, he led the army forward, not at a leisurely pace, nor resting as one would before battle, but using a swift and unrelenting march, until the enemy came into view—appearing, contrary to expectation, to the Romans neither numerous nor formidable. For Surenas had concealed the greater number behind his front ranks, and had hidden the brightness of their weapons by ordering cloaks and hides to be thrown over them. But when they drew near and a signal was raised by their general, first the plain was filled with a deep, resounding din and a terrifying roar.

For the Parthians do not rouse themselves for combat using horns or trumpets; instead they stretch hollow drums covered with hide over bronze resonators, and beat upon them all at once from many quarters; and these give forth a sound deep and terrible, mingled with the roar of wild beasts and the harshness of thunder, since they have observed, quite rightly, that of all the senses hearing most disturbs the soul, and most quickly stirs its passions and most thoroughly unsettles the reason.

While the Romans were still stunned by the din, the Parthians suddenly threw off the coverings of their weapons and were seen themselves ablaze in helmets and breastplates, the steel of Margiana gleaming sharp and brilliant, and their horses armored with plates of bronze and iron,

and Surenas himself, tallest and most handsome of all, though his reputation for courage did not match the effeminacy of his beauty—for he was adorned in more Median fashion, with cosmetics on his face and his hair parted down the middle, whereas the remaining Parthians still styled theirs in Scythian fashion, swept back to look fearsome.

And at first they intended to charge in with their lances and push and force back the front ranks; but when they saw the depth of the interlocked shields and the steadiness and firmness of the men, they drew back again, and while seeming to scatter and break up their formation, they were in fact, without being noticed, surrounding the Roman square on every side.

When Crassus ordered the light-armed troops to run out, they did not advance far, but meeting a great many arrows, quickly turned back again and slipped in among the heavy infantry, and caused the beginning of disorder and fear, as the men saw the force of the arrows and the strength with which they shattered armor and passed clean through every kind of covering alike, whether hard or soft.

The Parthians, spreading out at a distance, began shooting arrows from every side at once—not with precise aim, for the closeness and density of the Roman ranks made it impossible even for one who wished to, to miss a man—but delivering strong and forceful blows from powerful, large bows, and with the curvature of the bow's bend forcing the arrow onward with great impetus.

So the situation of the Romans was already bad from the outset: for even standing their ground they were being wounded, and when they tried to close and come to grips they were as far from doing the enemy equal harm, while suffering just as much themselves. For the Parthians would retreat even as they shot, and this they do best of all peoples after the Scythians; and it is a very clever thing, still defending oneself while escaping, and taking away from flight its disgrace.

Now as long as they hoped that the Parthians, once they had spent their arrows, would either cease fighting or close to hand-to-hand combat, they held out; but when they learned that many camels stood ready laden with arrows, from which the foremost archers, riding round, replenished their supply, Crassus, seeing no end to it, lost heart, and sent messengers to his son, ordering him to try to force an engagement with the enemy in front of him before he should be surrounded. For it was against him especially that they were pressing and riding round his wing, as if about to get behind him.

So the young man, taking thirteen hundred horsemen, of whom a thousand were from Caesar, together with five hundred bowmen and eight cohorts of shield-bearers stationed nearest him, mustered these for a charge. But the Parthians who were riding round him, either because they encountered marshy ground, as some say, or because they were maneuvering to draw Crassus as far as possible from his father, turned about and rode off.

And he, shouting that the enemy were not holding their line, gave chase, accompanied by Censorinus and Megabacchus — Megabacchus noted for his courage and bodily strength, Censorinus a man of senatorial standing and no mean orator; both were companions of Crassus's son and near him in years. And as the cavalry followed, not even the infantry was left behind, in eagerness and joy at their hope; for they thought they were winning and pursuing, until, having advanced far, they perceived the deception, when those who seemed to be fleeing turned about at the same moment, and many more others bore down upon them.

There they halted, thinking that the enemy, being few, would close with them hand-to-hand; but the Parthians, placing their mailed cavalry in front, opposite the Romans, and driving the rest of their unarmored horse disorderly around them, stirring up the plain, raised from its depths dunes of dust bearing an immense cloud, which robbed the Romans of clear sight and of the power to speak to one another,

but being crowded together in a small space and falling upon one another, they were struck and died — not easily, nor a quick death, but writhing in convulsion and pain, rolling about upon the arrows, breaking them off deeper in their wounds, and trying by force to pull out the barbed points that had lodged through veins and sinews, tearing themselves open further and destroying themselves.

So, as many were dying in this way, even those still alive were powerless for resistance; and when Publius urged them to charge into the mailed cavalry, they showed him their hands pinned fast to their shields and their feet transfixed and rooted to the earth, leaving them powerless to flee or to defend themselves.

He himself, then, urging on the cavalry, attacked vigorously and closed with the enemy, but the contest was unequal both in the blows given and in the protection received, striking as he did with weak, small spears against breastplates of rawhide and iron, while being struck with long lances against the light, bare bodies of the Gauls — for it was in these men especially that he trusted, and with them he was accomplishing marvelous feats.

For they would seize hold of the lances, and grappling with the men would push them from their horses, hindered as they were by the weight of their armor from moving easily; and many, abandoning their own horses and creeping under those of the enemy, struck upward into their bellies. The horses reared up in pain, and trampling alike their own riders and the enemy mixed together, they died.

What most oppressed the Gauls was the heat and the thirst, both being unaccustomed to them; and most of their horses had perished, driven upon the opposing lances. They were therefore forced to withdraw to the heavy infantry, carrying Publius, who was by now in a bad state from his wounds. Seeing a hillock of sand nearby, they made for it, and tying their horses in the middle, and closing themselves round on the outside with their shields, they thought they would more easily defend themselves against the barbarians.

But the opposite happened: for on level ground, those in front somehow afford the men behind some measure of relief, but there, since the uneven ground raised one man above another and always exposed the one behind still more, there was no escape for anyone, but all alike were struck, bewailing their inglorious and futile end.

Around Publius were two Greeks, of those settled there in Carrhae, Hieronymus and Nicomachus, who urged him to steal away with them and make for Ichnae, a nearby town in Roman hands. But he answered that no manner of death held enough terror to make him, out of fear, forsake men who were dying for his sake; instead he bade them see to their own safety, and, clasping each by the hand, bade them farewell; but he himself, unable to use his hand, for it had been pierced through by an arrow, ordered his shield-bearer to strike him with the sword, offering his side.

In like manner they say Censorinus too died; and Megabacchus took his own life, as did the most eminent of the others. Those who were left the Parthians rode upon and ran through with their lances as they still fought; and they say no more than five hundred were taken alive. Cutting off the heads of Publius and those with him, they rode at once against Crassus.

His situation was as follows: when he had ordered his son to charge the Parthians, and someone brought word to him that there was a long rout and a vigorous pursuit of the enemy, and he saw that those opposite him were no longer pressing as before — for most of them had streamed off there — he took a little heart, and gathering his forces drew his army back into sloping ground, expecting his son to return at once from the pursuit.

Of the men sent by Publius to him, to say that he was in danger, the first were destroyed, falling in among the barbarians, while the later ones, escaping with difficulty, reported that Publius was lost, unless swift and great

help should come from Crassus. And many feelings at once seized Crassus: by reasoning he could no longer clearly see anything of the situation, but drawn at once by fear for the whole and by longing for his son, torn between helping and not helping, at last he set the army in motion to advance. And at that moment the enemy came on with a din and a war-cry more terrible than before, and many of their drums again bellowed round about the Romans, who expected the beginning of another battle,

but those carrying the head of Publius fixed upon a spear-point, riding up close, displayed it, mockingly demanding to know his lineage and kin — since, they jeered, it could hardly be that a son so noble and so brilliant in courage had sprung from a coward and weakling such as Crassus. This sight broke and unstrung the souls of the Romans beyond all their other terrors, not with anger toward defense, as would have been reasonable, but with a shuddering and trembling that came upon them all.

And yet they say Crassus himself appeared most brilliant of all in that suffering; for he passed among the ranks calling out: "Romans, this sorrow belongs to me alone; the vast good fortune and the renown of Rome remain whole and unvanquished in you, who yet live. And if there is any pity for me, robbed of a son who was best of all men, show it as anger against the enemy — take away their joy, punish their cruelty, do not be terrified at what has happened, if men who reach for great things must also suffer something.

Not even Lucullus brought down Tigranes without bloodshed, nor Scipio Antiochus; the men of old lost a thousand ships around Sicily, and in Italy many generals and commanders, none of whom, though defeated first, prevented their people from mastering their conquerors afterward. For it is not by good fortune that the power of Rome has come to this greatness, but by endurance and valor in facing terrors."

Speaking thus and encouraging them, Crassus saw that not many obeyed with eagerness; indeed, when he ordered them to raise the battle-cry together, he exposed the despondency of the army, so weak and small and uneven a shout did they raise, while that of the barbarians held forth bright and bold. And when they turned to action, the horsemen, riding round on the flanks, shot their arrows, while those in front, using their lances, pressed the Romans together into a small space,

except for those who, fleeing the death that came from the arrows, dared recklessly to rush upon the enemy, doing little harm but dying quickly from great and mortal wounds, as the enemy drove the thick iron point of the lance into the horses, and often it passed through even two men at once from the force of the charge. Having fought in this way, they broke off as night came on, saying that they granted Crassus one night to mourn his son, unless indeed, thinking better for himself, he should prefer to come to Arsaces rather than be carried there.

These then camped nearby in great hopes; but a harsh night overtook the Romans, who gave no thought to burying the fallen nor to caring for the wounded and the dying, each man weeping for himself. For it seemed there was no escape, whether they remained there through the day or, by night, plunged into the vast plain; and the wounded caused great difficulty — both to carry them, which would hinder the speed of the flight, and to abandon them, since their cries would announce the escape.

As for Crassus, though they considered him the cause of it all, they nonetheless longed for the sight of him and his voice. But he lay by himself, wrapped up in the darkness — an example to the many of fortune, and to those who judge well, of poor judgment and ambition, by which he was not content to be first and greatest among so many myriads of men, but, because he was judged second to only two men, considered himself to fall short of everything.

At that point, Octavius the legate together with Cassius attempted to lift his spirits and rouse him to action; but when he had utterly given up, they themselves called together the centurions and captains, and, having decided in council not to remain, roused the army without trumpet-call and in silence at first; but then, when those unable to move perceived that they were being left behind, terrible disorder and confusion, with wailing and shouting, seized the camp.

From this a panic and terror overtook them as they advanced, as though the enemy were bearing down upon them, and often they turned aside, often formed again into order, and those wounded men who kept up with them, some being taken up and some set down, caused delay — except for three hundred horsemen, whom Ignatius led and brought to Carrhae about midnight.

Calling out in Latin to the guards on the wall, when they answered, he ordered them to tell Coponius the commander that a great battle had been fought between Crassus and the Parthians; but saying nothing else, nor even who he was, he rode off toward Zeugma, and so saved those with him, though he was ill spoken of for having abandoned his general.

Nevertheless, that word thrown out to Coponius did help Crassus; for Coponius, reasoning that a man with nothing good to report would not speak so hastily and confusedly, at once gave orders for the soldiers to arm themselves. The moment word reached him that Crassus was approaching, he marched out to meet him, gathered him in, and brought the army safely within the city.

The Parthians, perceiving the escape by night, did not pursue; but at daybreak, coming upon those left behind in the camp, no fewer than four thousand, they slaughtered them, and riding over the plain they captured many who were wandering about.

Four cohorts together, which Vargunteius the legate had broken off from the column while it was still night, having strayed from the road, they surrounded on a hill and destroyed as they defended themselves, except for twenty men. These, thrusting their way through them with drawn swords, they let pass in admiration, and gave them a way to go on foot to Carrhae. But to Surenas there came a false report that Crassus had escaped with the best of his men, and that the mixed crowd that had streamed together into Carrhae was of men not worth troubling over.

Thinking, then, that he had let slip the crowning fruit of his victory, yet uncertain and eager to find out how matters truly stood — so that he might either stay and lay siege to Crassus, or abandon the men of Carrhae and give chase instead — he sends secretly one of his bilingual attendants to the walls, ordering him, speaking in the Roman tongue, to call for Crassus himself or Cassius, saying that Surenas wished to confer with them through speech.

When the bilingual man had said this, and it was reported to Crassus's men, they accepted the proposals; and not long after, some Arabs came from the barbarian side who, having spent time in the camp before the battle, recognized both Crassus and Cassius on sight. These, seeing Cassius from the wall, said that Surenas was offering a truce and granting them, as friends of the king, safety, if they would abandon Mesopotamia — for he saw this to be advantageous to both sides before the last extremity.

Cassius accepting, and asking that a place and a time be fixed at which Surenas and Crassus should meet, they said they would do so and rode off.

Surenas, then, pleased that the men were caught fast in the siege, on the next day brought up the Parthians, who heaped much insult upon them and demanded that, if the Romans wished to obtain terms, they should hand over Crassus and Cassius in chains; and they were distressed at being deceived,

They told Crassus that the Armenians' hopes were long and empty, and were themselves bent on flight. None of the men of Carrhae was supposed to learn of this before the proper time, but Andromachus—the most treacherous man of all—found it out, since Crassus had entrusted him with this too, along with the leadership of the march. So nothing escaped the Parthians, since Andromachus reported everything in detail.

Since fighting at night is neither customary for them nor easy, and Crassus was setting out by night so that they would not fall too far behind in the pursuit, Andromachus led them by one road after another, and in the end diverted the march into deep marshes and ground full of ditches, making the going hard and full of wandering for those who followed him.

For there were some who, suspecting that Andromachus's twisting and turning boded no good, did not follow him. Cassius turned back again to Carrhae, and although his Arab guides pressed him to hold off going until the Scorpion had cleared the moon, he answered, "For my own part, I dread this Archer still more," and rode off to Syria with five hundred horsemen.

Others, using trustworthy guides, took possession of hill country called Sinnaca, and were established in safety before daybreak—about five thousand of them, led by a good man, Octavius. But Crassus was overtaken by daylight while still beset by Andromachus's treachery amid the rough ground and the marsh.

He had with him four cohorts of shield-bearing infantry, very few cavalry, and five lictors, with whom he made his way onto the road only with difficulty and effort. With the enemy already pressing on him, and about twelve stadia short of joining Octavius's force, he fled instead onto another hill—not so lacking in access for cavalry, nor so well fortified, but connected to the hills at Sinnaca by a long ridge running through the middle of the plain toward them. His danger was thus in full view of Octavius's men,

and Octavius was the first to run down with a few men to help from above; then the rest, reproaching themselves, charged in as well, and falling upon the enemy and pushing them back from the hill, they surrounded Crassus in their midst and held their shields before him, boasting loudly that no Parthian missile would touch the person of the imperator until they had all died fighting for him.

Surenas, seeing that the Parthians were now growing more sluggish in the fighting, and that if night should intervene and the Romans reach the mountains they would be altogether unreachable, brought a deception to bear on Crassus. Some of the captives were released, having heard, in the barbarians' camp, men deliberately talking among themselves, saying that the king had no desire to make the war with Rome an implacable one, but rather wanted to earn back their friendship as a kindness by dealing gently with Crassus.

The barbarians held off from fighting, and Surenas rode up quietly to the hill with his best men, unstrung his bow, extended his right hand, and invited Crassus to a parley, saying that though the king had had proof of Roman courage and power against his will, he was now willingly showing them gentleness and goodwill, granting them safe passage under truce as they departed.

When Surenas said this, the rest gladly accepted and were overjoyed, but Crassus, who had suffered nothing at their hands except through deceit, and who thought the suddenness of this change made no sense, would not comply, but deliberated.

When the soldiers shouted and urged him on, and then began reviling and reproaching him for exposing them to fight men with whom he himself did not dare to go and confer unarmed, he first tried to beg them and say that if they held out for the remaining part of the day among the rough hill country, they could travel by night, and he pointed out the road, and urged them not to throw away hope when safety was near.

But once their anger rose against him, and they clashed their weapons together in threat, fear got the better of him and he went down, saying only this as he turned: "Octavius and Petronius and all you Roman officers present, you see the necessity of my going, and you know, being present, what shameful and violent treatment I suffer. Tell all the rest, if you survive, that Crassus perished deceived by the enemy, not betrayed by his countrymen."

Octavius and his men, however, did not stay behind, but went down from the hill with him; the lictors who followed, Crassus sent away. Among the barbarians, the first to reach him were a pair of half-Greeks, who sprang down from their horses and bowed low before Crassus, and addressing him in the Greek tongue, urged him to send some men ahead, to whom Surenas would show that he and those with him were approaching unarmed and without weapons.

Crassus replied that had he set even the slightest store by his own safety, he never would have placed himself in their power; all the same, he sent the two Roscius brothers ahead to learn the terms and the number who were to meet. Surenas at once laid hold of them and kept them, then rode up himself on horseback with his finest men and remarked, "How strange—the Roman commander goes on foot, while we ride?"—and had a horse fetched for him.

When Crassus said that neither he nor Surenas was at fault, since each was conducting the meeting according to his own custom, Surenas replied that, as of that moment, King Hyrodes and the Romans stood at peace and truce, though the terms would still need to be set down in writing at the river, to which they should go: "For you Romans," he said, "are not exactly mindful of your agreements," and he extended his right hand to him. When Crassus sent for a horse, Surenas said there was no need: "the king,

gives you this one," and at the same time a horse with a golden bridle stood beside Crassus, and the grooms lifted him up and set him upon it, and walked alongside, urging the horse on with blows to make it go faster. Octavius was the first to take hold of the reins, and after him one of the military tribunes, Petronius; then the rest gathered around, trying to check the horse and to pull away those who were pressing upon Crassus from either side.

A shoving match broke out, and confusion, and then blows. Octavius drew his sword and killed one of the barbarians' grooms, while another struck Octavius from behind. Petronius had no weapon to hand, but took a blow on his breastplate and sprang back without injury. It was a Parthian named Pomaxathres who struck down Crassus.

Others say this is not so, but that another man was the killer, and that this one, when Crassus lay dead, cut off his head and his right hand. But this is conjecture more than certain knowledge; for of those present, some were killed there fighting around Crassus, while others

immediately fled back up onto the hill. When the Parthians came up and said that Crassus had paid the penalty, and that Surenas bade the rest come down without fear, some surrendered themselves and came down, while others scattered in the night, and of these very few in all made their way to safety; the rest were hunted down and captured or killed by the Arabs. It is said that in all twenty thousand died, and ten thousand were taken alive.

Surenas dispatched Crassus's severed head and hand to Hyrodes in Armenia; meanwhile he had messengers announce ahead to Seleucia that he was bringing Crassus back a living captive, and he set about arranging an absurd procession, mockingly styling it a triumph.

The captive who most resembled Crassus, Gaius Paccianus, was dressed in a woman's royal robe and taught to answer to the name Crassus and to "imperator" when so addressed, and was led along mounted on a horse. Before him rode trumpeters and certain lictors mounted on camels; purses hung from the rods, and beside the axes were fresh heads of Romans, freshly cut off.

Behind followed Seleucian courtesans who were musicians, singing a great many crude, mocking songs that made sport of Crassus's softness and lack of nerve. All the people watched this spectacle. Then, having gathered together the council of the Seleucians, he brought forward the licentious books of Aristides's Milesian Tales—and in this he was not slandering the Romans falsely, for it was found among the baggage of Roscius—and it gave Surenas occasion to heap much abuse and mockery on the Romans, saying that even while making war they could not keep away from such writings and business.

The Seleucians, however, thought Aesop a wise man indeed, seeing Surenas carrying before him the pouch of Milesian licentiousness, while trailing behind him, in wagon after wagon of concubines, a Parthian version of Sybaris—in a manner rather like the creatures called vipers and scytale-serpents, presenting in front a fearsome and beastlike appearance with spears and bows and horses,

while at the tail of the column it ended in dances and castanets and songs and licentious all-night revels with women. Roscius, then, deserves blame, but shameless indeed are the Parthians to find fault with the Milesian Tales, many of whom—the Arsacids—are descended from Milesian and Ionian courtesans and have reigned as kings.

While these things were happening, Hyrodes had already been reconciled with Artavasdes the Armenian, and had agreed to give his sister as wife to his son Pacorus, and there were feasts and banquets between them, and much entertainment brought in from Greek culture was introduced.

For Hyrodes was not unacquainted with Greek speech and literature, and Artavasdes even composed tragedies and wrote speeches and histories, some of which survive. When Crassus's severed head was carried to the entrance, the tables had already been cleared away, and a tragic actor named Jason, of Tralles, was singing the part of Agave from Euripides's Bacchae. While he was winning applause, Sillaces stood at the entrance of the men's hall, made obeisance, and threw the head of Crassus into the midst,

and amid the clapping and shouting and joy of the Parthians as they took it up, the king's attendants had Sillaces recline at the table on the king's order, while Jason passed off his Pentheus costume onto one of the men in the chorus, seized the head of Crassus instead, and, whipping himself into a Bacchic fury, chanted out those lines with rapt intensity: "We bring from the mountain a fresh-cut tendril to the halls, a blessed catch." And this delighted everyone present.

But when the exchanges that followed with the chorus were sung, — Chorus: "Who killed him?" — "The prize is mine" — Pomaxathres, who happened to be dining there, leapt up and laid claim to the head, saying that this line belonged to him rather than to Jason. The king, delighted, gave him gifts according to their custom, and gave Jason a talent. In such an afterpiece, they say, did Crassus's generalship come to an end, as though it were a tragedy.

Yet a fitting penalty overtook both Hyrodes for his cruelty and Surenas for his perjury. For not long afterward Hyrodes, envious of his glory, put Surenas to death; and when Hyrodes had lost Pacorus, defeated by the Romans in battle, and had fallen sick with a disease that turned into dropsy, his son Phraates, plotting against him, gave him poison. But the disease drew the poison into itself so that it was expelled along with it, and his body was relieved; whereupon Phraates, taking the quickest way, strangled him.

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