HKB
never the courage equal to his ambition, and “although he affected in his speeches,” says Plutarch, “to refuse absolute power, all his actions showed a desire to arrive at it.”[721]
The comitia opened in the month of Sextilis of the year 701; the consuls named were Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala. The first had been placed under accusation, as we have seen above; but the pre-occupations of the moment had caused his trial to drag out in length; and it is unknown whether he was acquitted, or whether all judicial action had been paralysed on account of the absence of magistrates during the first months of the year 701. Moreover, Calvinus was protected by Pompey, and his colleague, Messala, was favoured by Cæsar, at the recommendation of Cicero.
[Sidenote: Expedition of Crassus against the Parthians, and his Death.]
IV. Crassus had left for Syria about eighteen months before, full of ambitious hopes, and flattering himself with the prospect of immense conquests. He intended not only to subjugate the Parthians, but even to renew the campaigns of Alexander, penetrate into Bactriana, and reach India; unfortunately, he was not equal to such a task. Forgetting the first rules of a general-in-chief, which consist in never despising his enemies, and in placing on his side all the chances of success, he had no care for the army he was going to combat, had made no inquiries either as to the roads, or as to the countries he had to cross, and neglected the alliances and succours which the peoples who were neighbours and enemies to the Parthians might have offered him.
He had started from Brundusium in spite of the bad season, had landed at Dyrrachium, not without the loss of several vessels; thence, following the direct military road which led from the coasts of the Adriatic to the Bosphorus,[722] he had proceeded by land into Galatia, and had entered into Mesopotamia, after crossing the Euphrates.[723]
The Parthians, taken by surprise, offered no resistance, and the rich and flourishing Greek colonies on the Euphrates and Tigris, who detested the Parthian yoke, received Crassus as a liberator. The town of Nicephorium (Rakkah), situated near Ichnæ, on the Balissus, opened its gates to him; Zenodotium alone stood a siege. Instead of taking advantage of the concurrence of circumstances, and advancing promptly upon the Tigris, carrying the considerable town of Seleucia, Ctesiphon,[724] the ordinary residence of the King of the Parthians, and even Babylon, he confined himself to plundering the province. Having left 7,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry in garrison in a few fortresses, he returned to Syria to take his winter quarters. There, without occupying himself with the next campaign, he only thought of committing exactions and of pillaging the temples of Hierapolis and Jerusalem.
At the commencement of 701, Crassus took the field again with seven legions, nearly 4,000 cavalry, and the same number of light-armed infantry,[725] and re-entered Mesopotamia. He had for lieutenants his son Publius, celebrated for his courage, his elevated sentiments, and his conduct in Gaul; the brave Octavius, who afterwards perished rather than abandon his general; Vargunteius, Censorinus, and Petronius: for quæstor, C. Cassius Longinus, esteemed for his valour and prudence, and who was, ten years afterwards, one of the murderers of Cæsar. An Arab had become his auxiliary; it was the chief of the Osroenes, Bedouins of the desert, who had formerly served Pompey in his campaign against Mithridates; he was named Abgaros, or Abgar,[726] and had been bribed by the King of the Parthians to betray Crassus.