ion between the Euphrates and the Belik. The country
was defended by the Parthian satrap with a small force; but this was
easily defeated, the satrap himself receiving a wound. One Greek city
only, Zenodotium, offered resistance to the invader; its inhabitants,
having requested and received a Roman garrison of one hundred men,
rose upon them and put them barbarously to the sword; whereupon Crassus
besieged and took the place, gave it up to his army to plunder, and
sold the entire population for slaves. He then, as winter drew near,
determined to withdraw into Syria, leaving garrisons in the various
towns. The entire force left behind is estimated at eight thousand men.

It is probable that Orodes had expected a more determined attack, and
had retained his army near his capital until it should become evident
by which route the enemy would advance against him. Acting on an inner
circle, he could readily have interposed his forces, on whichever
line the assailants threw themselves. But the tardy proceedings of his
antagonist made his caution superfluous. The first campaign was over,
and there had scarcely been a collision between the troops of the two
nations. Parthia had been insulted by a wanton attack, and had lost some
disaffected cities; but no attempt had been made to fulfil the grand
boasts with which the war had been undertaken.

It may be suspected that the Parthian monarch began now to despise his
enemy. He would compare him with Lucullus and Pompey, and understand
that a Roman army, like any other, was formidable, or the reverse,
according as it was ably or feebly commanded. He would know that Crassus
was a sexagenarian, and may have heard that he had never yet shown
himself a captain or even a soldier. Perhaps he almost doubted whether
the proconsul had any real intention of pressing the contest to a
decision, and might not rather be expected, when he had enriched himself
and his troops with Mesopotamian plunder, to withdraw his garrisons
across the Euphrates. Crassus was at this time showing the worst side
of his character in Syria, despoiling temples of their treasures, and
accepting money in lieu of contingents of troops from the dynasts of
Syria and Palestine. Orodes, under these circumstances, sent an embassy
to him, which was well calculated to stir to action the most sluggish
and poor-spirited of commanders. "If the war," said his envoys, "was
really waged by Rome, it must be fought out to the bitter end