Artemis Persia, a deity whom the barbarians on the
farther side of the Euphrates venerate above all others; they use the
cows only for sacrifice, which at other times ramble at liberty about
the country, with a brand upon them, in the form of the torch of the
goddess, and it is not very easy, nor without much trouble, that they
can catch the cows when they want them. After the army had crossed the
Euphrates one of these cows came to a rock, which is considered sacred
to the goddess, and stood upon it, and there laying down its head,
just as a cow does when it is held down tight by a rope, it offered
itself to Lucullus to be sacrificed. Lucullus also sacrificed a bull
to the Euphrates, as an acknowledgment for his passage over the river.
He encamped there for that day, and on the next and the following days
he advanced through Sophene[395] without doing any harm to the people,
who joined him and gladly received the soldiers; and when the soldiers
were expressing a wish to take possession of a fortress, which was
supposed to contain much wealth, "That is the fortress," said
Lucullus, "which we must take first," pointing to the Taurus[396] in
the distance; "but this is reserved for the victors." He now continued
his route by hard marches, and, crossing the Tigris, entered Armenia.

XXV. Now, as the first person who reported to Tigranes that Lucullus
was in the country got nothing for his pains, but had his head cut
off, nobody else would tell him, and Tigranes was sitting in ignorance
while the fires of war were burning round him, and listening to
flattering words, That Lucullus would be a great general if he should
venture to stand against Tigranes at Ephesus, and should not flee
forthwith from Asia, at the sight of so many tens of thousands. So
true it is, that it is not every man who can bear much wine, nor is it
any ordinary understanding that in great prosperity does not lose all
sound judgment. The first of his friends who ventured to tell him the
truth was Mithrobarzanes; and he, too, got no reward for his boldness
in speaking; for he was sent forthwith against Lucullus, with three
thousand horsemen and a very large body of infantry, with orders to
bring the general alive, and to trample down his men. Now, part of the
army of Lucullus was preparing to halt, and the rest was still
advancing. When the scouts reported that the barbarian was coming upon
them, Lucullus was afraid that the enemy would fall upon his troops