Crassus

When the soldiers heard this, their courage ebbed away. For they had been fully persuaded that the Parthians were not different at all from the Armenians or even the Cappadocians, whom Lucullus had robbed and plundered till he was weary of it, and they had thought that the most difficult part of the war would be the long journey and the pursuit of men who would not come to close quarters; but now, contrary to their hopes, they were led to expect a struggle and great peril. Therefore some of the officers thought that Crassus ought to call a halt and reconsider the whole undertaking. Among these was Cassius,[*](Caius Cassus Longinus, afterwards one of the assassins of Caesar.) the quaestor.

The seers, also, quietly let it become known that the omens for Crassus which came from their sacrifices were always bad and inauspicious. But Crassus paid no heed to them, nor to those who advised anything else except to press forward.

And most of all, Artabazes the king of Armenia gave him courage, for he came to his camp with six thousand horsemen. These were said to be the king’s guards and couriers; but he promised ten thousand mail-clad horsemen besides, and thirty thousand footmen, to be maintained at his own cost.

And he tried to persuade Crassus to invade Parthia by way of Armenia, for thus he would not only lead his forces along in the midst of plenty, which the king himself would provide, but would also proceed with safety, confronting the cavalry of the Parthians, in which lay their sole strength, with many mountains, and continuous crests, and regions where the horse could not well serve. Crassus was tolerably well pleased with the king’s zeal and with the splendid reinforcements which he offered, but said he should march through Mesopotamia, where he had left many brave Romans.

Upon this, the Armenian rode away. Now, as Crassus was taking his army across the Euphrates at Zeugma,[*](A town in Syria, on the right bank of the Euphrates, deriving its name from a bridge of boats there made across the river.) many extraordinary peals of thunder crashed about them, and many flashes of lightning also darted in their faces, and a wind, half mist and half hurricane, fell upon their raft, breaking it up and shattering it in many places.

The place where he was intending to encamp was also smitten by two thunderbolts. And one of the general’s horses, richly caparisoned, violently dragged its groom along with it into the river and disappeared beneath the waves. It is said also that the first eagle which was raised aloft, faced about of its own accord.[*](Cf. Dio Cassius, xl. 18. )

Besides all this, it happened that when their rations were distributed to the soldiers after the crossing of the river, lentils and salt came first, which are held by the Romans to be tokens of mourning, and are set out as offerings to the dead. Moreover, Crassus himself, while haranguing his men, let fall a phrase which terribly confounded them. He said, namely, that he should destroy the bridge over the river, that not one of them might return. And although he ought, as soon as he perceived the strangeness of his expression, to have recalled it and made his meaning clear to his timorous hearers, he was too obstinate to do so.

And finally, when he was making the customary sacrifice of purification for the army, and the seer placed the viscera in his hands, he let them fall to the ground; then, seeing that the bystanders were beyond measure distressed at the occurrence, he smiled and said: Such is old age; but no weapon, you may be sure, shall fall from its hands.

After this, he marched along the river with seven legions of men-at-arms, nearly four thousand horsemen, and about as many light-armed troops. Some of his scouts now came back from their explorations, and reported that the country was destitute of men, but that they had come upon the tracks of many horses which had apparently wheeled about and fled from pursuit. Wherefore Crassus himself was all the more confident, and his soldiers went so far as to despise the Parthians utterly, believing that they would not come to close quarters.

But, nevertheless, Cassius once more had a conference with Crassus, and advised him above all things to recuperate his forces in one of the garrisoned cities, until he should get some sure information about the enemy; but if not this, then to advance against Seleucia along the river. For in this way the transports would keep them abundantly supplied with provisions by putting in at their successive encampments, and, by having the river to prevent their being surrounded, they would always fight their enemies on even terms and face to face.

While Crassus was still investigating and considering these matters, there came an Arab chieftan, Ariamnes by name, a crafty and treacherous man, and one who proved to be, of all the mischiefs which fortune combined for the destruction of the Romans, the greatest and most consummate.

Some of the soldiers who had served under Pompey in these parts knew that the fellow had profited by the kindness of that commander and was thought to be a friend of Rome; but now, with the knowledge of the royal generals, he tried to work his way into the confidence of Crassus, to see if he could turn him aside as far as possible from the river and the foot-hills, and bring him down into a boundless plain where he could be surrounded. For nothing was farther from the thoughts of the Parthians than to attack the Romans in front.