Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

38o HISTORY OF PERSIA chap, xxx
for so many centuries ; for it restored to the East its
lowered prestige and weakened that of the great representative
European power. But in many ways its results
were hardly as serious as might have been anticipated,
partly because the Parthian army was not formidable except
in the level open steppe, and partly owing to the execution
of its capable Commander-in-Chief. Cassius commanded
but the remnants of the army of Crassus, and Syria was
ripe for revolt, but Parthia gave the Roman authorities
two years
in which to recover, merely sending out a few
bands of marauders to raid. On the other hand, as the
civil war was imminent in Rome, no reinforcements were
sent to the Roman Governor, whose defence deserves the
highest credit.
In 51 B.C. the dreaded invasion occurred, and under
the leadership of Pacorus swarms of light horsemen over-
ran Syria ; but they were unable either to gain over or
to capture the stronger cities. Cassius, though compelled
to throw himself into Antioch, did not wholly abandon
the offensive, but
" "
played Parthian tactics on his enemy
by feigning a retreat and luring them into an ambush,
where the Roman legionaries had their revenge.
In spite
of this reverse, Pacorus did not recross the Euphrates, but
prepared to renew the campaign in the following spring.
He changed his
plans, however, and instead of again overrunning
Syria was induced to plot against
his father. But
before the conspiracy had ripened Orodes heard of it and
summoned his treacherous son to Court.
The Parthian army recrossed the Euphrates in the
summer of 50 B.C. Thus concluded the first trial of
strength with the great Western State, which had been
deeply humiliated and had been unable to take any steps
to restore her damaged prestige. Parthia, on the other
hand, had reaped immense advantages, both moral and
material, and, had her monarch been a man of first-rate
capacity, Rome's eastern empire would have been in
jeopardy.