o marched into Cappadocia
with the bulk of the Roman troops, and summoned to his aid Deiotarus
with his Galatians, at the same time writing to the Roman Senate to
implore reinforcements. Cassius shut himself up in Antioch, and allowed
the Parthian cavalry to pass him by, and even to proceed beyond the
bounds of Syria into Cilicia. But the Parthians seem scarcely to have
understood the situation of their adversaries, or to have been aware of
their own advantages. Instead of spreading themselves wide, raising the
natives, and leaving them to blockade the towns, while with their as
yet unconquered squandrons they defied the enemy in the open country, we
find them engaging in the siege and blockade of cities, for which they
were wholly unfit, and confining themselves almost entirely to the
narrow valley of the Orontes. Under these circumstances we are not
surprised to learn that Cassius, having first beat them back from
Antioch, contrived to lead them into an ambush on the banks of the
river, and severely handled their troops, even killing the general
Osaces. The Parthians withdrew from the neighborhood of the Syrian
capital after this defeat, which must have taken place about the end of
September, and soon afterwards went into winter quarters in Oyrrhestica,
or the part of Syria immediately east of Amanus. Here they remained
during the winter months under Pacorus, and it was expected that the war
would break out again with fresh fury in the spring; but Bibulus,
the new proconsul of Syria, conscious of his military deficiencies,
contrived to sow dissensions among the Parthians themselves, and to
turn the thoughts of Pacorus in another direction. He suggested to
Ornodapantes, a Parthian noble, with whom he had managed to open a
correspondence, that Pacorus would be a more worthy occupant of the
Parthian throne than his father, and that he would consult well for his
own interests if he were to proclaim the young prince, and lead the army
of Syria against Orodes. These intrigues seem, to have first caused the
war to languish, and then produced the recall of the expedition. Orodes
summoned Pacorus to return to Parthia before the plot contrived between
him and the Romans was ripe for execution; and Pacorus felt that no
course was open to him but to obey. The Parthian legions recrossed the
Euphrates in July, B.C. 50; and the First Roman War, which had lasted a
little more than four years, terminated without any real recovery by the