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.
This combat, fought at fifteen or twenty leagues to the south of Carrhæ, was disastrous. Nevertheless, all was not lost, if the general-in-chief preserved his energy and presence of mind; but, disheartened and plunged in deep grief, he stood immovable, aside from the rest, incapable of giving any order. Octavius and Cassius called together the tribunes and centurions, and decided on retreat; yet it was necessary to abandon 4,000 wounded, who could not be carried away, and even conceal their departure from them, lest their cries might awaken the attention of the enemy. The retreat is executed at first in complete silence; suddenly the miserable victims perceive that they are made a sacrifice, their groans give warning to the Persians, and excite a frightful tumult among the Romans: some return to load the wounded on the baggage horses, others form in battle to repulse the enemy: 300 of the cavalry escape, reach Carrhæ, and cross the Euphrates over the bridge which Crassus had built. Meanwhile the Parthians, occupied in massacring the 4,000 wounded and the stragglers, pursue only faintly the remains of the Roman army, which, protected by a sally of the garrison of Carrhæ, succeed in shutting themselves up within its walls.
Either through discouragement, or through want of provisions, the Romans made no stay in this town, but abandoned it, to seek refuge in Armenia. Crassus, followed by a small number of troops, trusting again in a native who was deceiving him, saw his flight retarded by the circuitous way he was made to take uselessly. At daybreak the Parthians appeared. Octavius had reached, with 5,000 men, one of the spurs of the mountains of Armenia, and would have been able to place himself in safety in the fortress of Sinnaka, at a distance of only a day’s march; he prefers descending into the plain to the succour of his general, whom he brings back with him to the heights. If they continue the combat till evening, all will not be lost; but Surena has again recourse to stratagem: he sends seductive offers, and proposes an interview. Crassus refuses it; he is resolved on fighting. Unfortunately, the soldiers, who hitherto had obeyed imprudent orders, this time refuse to obey the only order which could save them. Crassus is forced to agree to the interview. At the moment he is on his way to it, an accidental quarrel, or rather one raised by the treachery of the Parthians, arises between the escorts of the two nations. Octavius thrusts his sword through the body of a Parthian esquire; a battle follows, and all the Roman escort is massacred. Crassus is slain, and his head carried to Orodes. Of 40,000 legionaries, one quarter alone survived. The cavalry of C. Cassius, which had separated from the army on their departure from Carrhæ, and a few other fugitives, succeeded in reaching Syria, in covering Antioch, and even subsequently in expelling successfully the Parthians from the Roman province.
Consequences of the Death of Crassus.
V. The death of Crassus had two serious consequences: the first was to raise still higher the merit of the conqueror of Gaul, by showing what became of the most numerous and best-disciplined armies under the command of a presumptuous and unskilful chief; the second, to take away from the scene a man whose influence was a check upon the ambition of two individuals destined to become rivals. With Crassus, Pompey would not have been the instrument of a party; without Pompey, the Senate would not have dared to declare against Cæsar.
The balance thus broken, Pompey sought a new point of support. His alliance with Cæsar had alone given him the concurrence of the popular party. Now that this alliance was weakened, he would naturally seek to be reconciled to the aristocracy, flatter its passions, and serve its rancours. In the first moments, he provoked disorder rather than repressed it.
Three competitors disputed the consulship for 702, T. Annius Milo, P. Plautius Hypsæus, and Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio.[736] They rivalled each other in intrigue and corruption.[737] Pompey, especially since he had been reconciled to P. Clodius, treated Milo as an enemy, and, according to his habitual tactics, pretended to believe that he harboured designs against his life. Although he retarded the comitia, he favoured P. Hypsæus and Q. Scipio, who solicited the consulship, and Clodius, who, the same year, was a candidate for the prætorship. Milo had a great number of partisans; his largesses to the people and his spectacles seemed likely to ensure his election; and Pompey, in the way of whose views he stood, did all he could to prevent the Senate from naming an interrex to hold the comitia. He desired this important office for himself; but, obliged to give way before the resistance of Cato, he confined himself to preventing any election, and the year ended again without the nomination of consuls.
CHAPTER VII.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 702.
Murder of Clodius.