broke the spirit of the Romans,
for they were not strengthened, as they should have been, by a
resolution to defend themselves, but were seized, one and all,
with fright and panic.

Yet it is said that Crassus never showed himself so great as in
this disaster. Passing along the ranks, he shouted, 'This grief
touches me, and none besides, but by your success alone can the
honour and glory of Rome be preserved inviolate and unconquered.
If you pity me for the loss of a gallant son, prove it by your
fury against the enemy. Take from them their triumph, punish their
ferocity, do not be cast down by our loss. Great aims are never
realized without some suffering. Lucullus did not overthrow
Tigranes without bloodshed, nor Scipio Antiochus; our ancestors
lost a thousand ships off the coast of Sicily, and in Italy many
dictators and generals; but never did these defeats prevent them
from crushing the conquerors. It is not by good luck, but by
endurance and courage in the face of peril, that Rome has risen to
its height of power.'

Plutarch, xxxix. 26.

Faulty generalship had brought the Roman army into a position whence no
courage could save it. In the second day's battle a terrible defeat was
sustained: no less than thirty thousand Romans perished in the disaster
of Carrhae (53). Crassus himself was killed in a parley afterwards.

It is said that a few days after the battle, before the news of it had
reached him, the Parthian king was witnessing a performance of the
Bacchae of Euripides in which there is a scene where one of the dancers
comes in bearing a bleeding head. The actor who took this part carried
the head of Crassus, which he cast, amid shouts of joy, at the king's
feet.

Such was the tragic end of the millionaire Crassus. The news of his
death and defeat came to Rome but caused no excitement there. The city
was more interested in the street brawls of Clodius and Milo. The
politicians were watching the growing conflict between Caesar and
Pompeius. Crassus had dropped out of the Triumvirate. The stage was
cleared for the great duel.

XII

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Of none of the men of his own time do we know so much as of Marcus
Tullius Cicero. His contemporaries we know from the accounts given and
judgements passed by others: Cicero we know from his own. He was the
first speaker of his age, and his speeches deal largely with the
politics and people of his time,