orns, but employed instead the kettledrum,
which resounded from all parts of the field when they made their onset.
Their attack was furious. The mailed horsemen charged at speed, and
often drove their spears through the bodies of two enemies at a blow.
The light horse and the foot, when any was present, delivered their
arrows with precision and with extraordinary force. But if the
assailants were met with a stout resistance, the first vigor of the
attack was rarely long maintained. The Parthian warriors grew quickly
weary of an equal contest, and, if they could not force their enemy to
give way, soon changed their tactics. Pretending panic, dispersing, and
beating a hasty retreat, they endeavored to induce their foe to pursue
hurriedly and in disorder, being ready at any moment to turn and take
advantage of the least appearance of confusion. If these tactics failed,
as they commonly did after they came to be known, the simulated flight
was generally converted into a real one; further conflict was avoided,
or at any rate deferred to another occasion.

When the Parthians wished to parley with an enemy, they unstrung their
bows, and advancing with the right hand outstretched, asked for a
conference. They are accused by the Romans of sometimes using treachery
on such occasions, but, except in the single case of Crassus, the charge
of bad faith cannot be sustained against them. On solemn occasions, when
the intention was to discuss grounds of complaint or to bring a war
to an end by the arrangement of terms of peace, a formal meeting
was arranged between their representatives and those of their enemy,
generally on neutral ground, as on an island in the Euphrates, or on a
bridge constructed across it. Here the chiefs of the respective nations
met, accompanied by an equal number of guards, while the remainder of
their forces occupied the opposite banks of the river. Matters were
discussed in friendly fashion, the Greek language being commonly
employed as the vehicle of communication; after which festivities
usually took place, the two chiefs mutually entertaining each other,
or accepting in common the hospitalities of a third party. The terms of
peace agreed upon were reduced to writing; hands were grasped as a
sign that faith was pledged; and oaths having been interchanged,
the conference broke up, and the chiefs returned to their respective
residences.

Besides negotiating by means of conferences, the Parthian monarchs ofte