and were forced to face the body that was wounding them at the
time, many fell upon their own swords or were killed by their comrades.
Finally they were shut up in so narrow a place, with the enemy
continually assaulting them from all sides at once, and compelled to
protect their exposed parts by the shields of those who stood beside
them, that they could no longer move. They could not even get a sure
footing by reason of the number of corpses, but kept falling over them.
The heat and thirst--it was mid-summer and this action took place at
noon--and the dust of which all the barbarians raised as much as
possible by riding around them, told fearfully upon the survivors, and
many succumbed to these influences, even though unwounded. [-24-] And
they would have perished utterly, but for the fact that some of the
pikes of the barbarians were bent and others were broken, while the
bowstrings snapped under the constant shooting, the missiles were all
discharged, every sword blunted, and, chief of all, that the men
themselves grew weary of the slaughter. Under these conditions, then,
when it grew night the assailants being obliged to ride off to a
distance retired. They never encamp near even the weakest bodies,
because they use no intrenchments and if any one comes upon them in the
darkness, they are unable to deploy their cavalry or their archery to
advantage. However, they captured no Roman alive at that time. Seeing
them standing upright in their armor and perceiving that no one threw
away any part of it or fled, they deemed that they still had some
strength, and feared to lay hold of them.

[-25-] So Crassus and the rest, as many as could, set out for Carrae,
kept faithful to them by the Romans that had stayed behind within the
walls. Many of the wounded being unable to walk and lacking vehicles or
even men to carry them (for the survivors were glad of the chance to
drag their own persons away) remained on the spot. Some of them died of
their wounds or by making away with themselves, and others were captured
the next day. Of the captives many perished on the road, as their
physical strength gave out, and many later because they were unable to
obtain proper care immediately. Crassus, in discouragement, believed he
would be unable to hold out safely even in the city any longer, but
planned flight at once. Since it was impossible for him to go out by day
without being detected, he undertook to escape by night, but failed to
s