Crassus had taken the field in the East,
with a wild ambition of becoming in his turn a great conqueror. At first
all had gone well with him. He had raised a vast treasure. He had
plundered the wealthy temples in Phoenicia and Palestine to fill his
military chest. He had able officers with him; not the least among them
his son Publius Crassus, who had served with such distinction under
Caesar. He crossed the Euphrates at the head of a magnificent army,
expecting to carry all before him with the ease of an Alexander. Relying
on his own idle judgment, he was tempted in the midst of a burning summer
into the waterless plains of Mesopotamia; and on the 15th of June the
great Roman millionaire met his miserable end, the whole force, with the
exception of a few scattered cohorts, being totally annihilated.
The catastrophe in itself was terrible. The Parthians had not provoked the
war. The East was left defenceless; and the natural expectation was that,
in their just revenge, they might carry fire and sword through Asia Minor
and Syria. It is not the least remarkable sign of the times that the
danger failed to touch the patriotism of the wretched factions in Rome.
The one thought of the leaders of the Senate was to turn the opportunity
to advantage, wrest the constitution free from military dictation, shake
off the detested laws of Caesar, and revenge themselves on the author of
them.
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