HKB
have recourse to his cavalry. The side hardest pressed by the enemy is that commanded by Publius; his father orders him to make a desperate effort to disengage the army.
This noble and intrepid young man immediately takes 1,300 cavalry, among whom were the 1,000 Gauls sent by Cæsar, 500 archers, and eight cohorts of infantry. Two young men of his own age follow him--Censorinus and Megabacchus; the first a senator and talented orator, the second equally distinguished. As soon as they are in motion, the Parthians, according to their custom, fly, shooting their arrows at the same time, in the manner of the Scythians. Publius takes this flight for a rout, and allows himself to be drawn too far away. When he has long advanced far out of sight of the body of the army, the fugitives halt, wheel round, are joined by numerous reserves, and surround the Roman troop. These defend themselves heroically, but the Gauls, unprovided with defensive armour, resist with difficulty the cavalry barbed with iron. Meanwhile the son of Crassus has been rejoined by his foot, who combat valiantly; he orders them to advance, but they show him their hands nailed to their bucklers, and their feet fixed to the ground, by the arrows. Publius then makes a last appeal to his brave Gaulish cavalry, who, in their devotedness to him, meet death far from their country, in the service of a foreign cause. They dash with impetuosity against the wall of iron which rises before them, they overthrow some of the cavalry under the weight of their own armour, snatch their lances from others, or leap to the ground to stab their horses in the belly; but valour must yield to numbers. Publius, wounded, tries to retreat, and draws up the wreck of his troops on ground the slope of which is disadvantageous to him. He attempts in vain to make a retrenchment with bucklers; his cavalry being placed in form of an amphitheatre, the last ranks are as much exposed as the first to the arrows of the Parthians. Two Greeks offer to save him by leading him to Ichnæ, a town not far off; the young hero replies that he will not abandon his soldiers; he remains to die with them. Of 6,000 men, 500 only are made prisoners, the others are killed fighting. Publius and his two friends, Censorinus and Megabacchus, slay each other.
During this time, Crassus, relieved by his son’s offensive movement, had taken position on a height, and waited in expectation of his victorious return. But soon messengers come to inform him that, without prompt succour, his son is lost. He hesitates a moment between the hope of saving him and the fear of endangering the rest of his army. At last he decides on marching. Hardly has he put the troops in motion, when he sees the Parthians approaching to meet him, uttering shouts of victory, and carrying the head of his son on the end of a pike. In this circumstance, Crassus recovers an instant that energy familiar to the Roman character, and, passing along the ranks, “Soldiers,” he exclaims, “this loss concerns me alone. As long as you live, all the fortune and all the glory of Rome endure and remain invincible. Be not discouraged by my misfortune, and let your compassion for me be changed into rage against your enemies.” These last accents of a presumptuous chief produced little effect upon an army already disheartened. It fought with resignation, no longer feeling that ardour which gives the hope of victory. Taken in flank by the numerous archers, attacked in front by the heavy cuirassed cavalry, the Romans struggled till evening, remaining always on the defensive, and seeing the circle in which they were enclosed incessantly contracting around them. Fortunately, the Parthians, incapable of holding a position during the night, never encamped on the field of battle; they withdrew.