Crassus

For there were some who conjectured that the, twisting and turning of Andromachus boded no good, and therefore did not follow him. Cassius, indeed, went back again to Carrhae, and when his guides, who were Arabs, urged him to wait there until the moon had passed the Scorpion, he said that he feared the Archer[*](Sagittarius, the sign of the zodiac following Scorpio.) even more than the Scorpion, and rode off into Syria with five hundred horsemen.

And others, too, employing trusty guides, reached a hill country called Sinnaca, and established themselves in safety before day came. These were about five thousand men, and they were led by Octavius, a brave man. But day found Crassus a prey to the wiles of Andromachus in the difficult places and the marsh.

There were with him four cohorts of men-at-arms, a few horsemen all told, and five lictors. With these he got back into the road, with great difficulty, when the enemy at once pressed upon him, and since he was about twelve furlongs short of a junction with Octavius, he took refuge on another hill, not so difficult for cavalry nor yet so strong a position, but one that lay below Sinnaca and was connected with it by a long ridge running through the midst of the plain. His danger was therefore to be seen by Octavius.

And Octavius ran first with a few men to bring him aid from the higher ground; then the rest of his men, reproaching themselves with cowardice, plunged forward, and falling upon the enemy and sweeping them from the hill, enveloped Crassus round about, and covered him with their shields, boldly declaring that no Parthian missile should smite their imperator until they had all died fighting in his defence.

And now Surena, observing that his Parthians were already less impetuous in their attacks, and that if night should come on and the Romans should reach the hills, it would be altogether impossible to capture them, brought a stratagem to bear on Crassus. Some of his Roman captives were first released, who, while in his camp, had heard the Barbarians saying to one another, as they had been ordered to do, that the king did not wish the war between him and the Romans to be waged relentlessly, but preferred to regain their friendship by doing them the favour of treating Crassus kindly.

Then the Barbarians ceased fighting, and Surena with his chief officers rode quietly up to the hill, unstrung his bow, held out his right hand, and invited Crassus to come to terms, saying: I have put your valour and power to the test against the wishes of the king, who now of his own accord shows you the mildness and friendliness of his feelings by offering to make a truce with you if you will withdraw, and by affording you the means of safety.

When Surena said this, the rest of the Romans eagerly accepted his proposal and were full of joy, but Crassus, whose every discomfiture at the hands of the Barbarians had been due to fraud, and who thought the suddenness of their change a strange thing, would not reply, but took the matter into consideration.

His soldiers, however, cried out and urged him to accept, then fell to abusing and reviling him for putting them forward to fight men with whom he himself had not the courage to confer even when they came unarmed. At first he tried entreaties and arguments. If they would hold out for what was left of the day, during the night they could reach the mountains and rough country; and he showed them the road thither, and exhorted them not to abandon hope when safety was so near.