Helps to Latin Translation at Sight
Chapter 57 : Dum Gallos per Caesarem in septentrione debellat, ipse interim ad orientem grave volnus

Dum Gallos per Caesarem in septentrione debellat, ipse interim ad orientem grave volnus a Parthis populus Roma.n.u.s accepit. Nec de fortuna queri possumus; caret solacio clades. Adversis et dis et hominibus cupiditas consulis Cra.s.si, dum Parthico {5} inhiat auro, undecim strage legionum et ipsius capite multata est. Primum enim, qui solus et subvehere commeatus et munire poterat a tergo, relictus Euphrates, dum simulato transfugae cuidam Mazzarae Syro creditur. Tum in mediam camporum {10} vast.i.tatem eodem duce ductus exercitus, ut undique hosti exponeretur. Itaque vixdum venerat Carrhas c.u.m undique praefecti regis Silaces et Surenas ostendere signa auro sericisque vexillis vibrantia.

Tunc sine mora circ.u.mfusi undique equitatus in {15} modum grandinis atque nimborum densa pariter tela fuderunt. Sic miserabili strage deletus exercitus. Ipse in colloquium sollicitatus signo dato vivus in hostium ma.n.u.s incidisset, nisi tribunis reluctantibus fugam ducis barbari ferro occupa.s.sent. Filium {20} ducis paene in conspectu patris eisdem telis operuerunt. Reliquiae infelicis exercitus, quo quemque rapuit fuga, in Armeniam Ciliciam Syriamque distractae vix nuntium cladis rettulerunt.

FLORUS, III. xi. 1-10 (sel.)

+Context.+ By the conference of the Triumvirs at Luca, it was arranged to secure the succession of Cra.s.sus to the government of Syria, in order to make war on the growing strength of the Parthian Empire beyond the Euphrates. Consul with Pompeius in 55 B.C. he set out for his province even before the expiration of his consuls.h.i.+p 'eager to gather in the treasures of the East in addition to those of the West.'

[Linenotes: 7-14. +Primum enim ... vibrantia.+ The Arab prince Abgarus induced Cra.s.sus to leave the Euphrates, and cross the great Mesopotamian desert to the Tigris. When at length the enemy offered battle some 30 miles to the S. of Carrhae (Harran, not far from Edessa), by the side of the Parthian vizier stood prince Abgarus with his Bedouins.

15-17. +Tunc sine mora ... exercitus.+ The Roman weapons of close combat, and the Roman system of concentration yielded for the first time to cavalry and distant warfare (the bow).

20-21. +Filium ducis:+ his young and brave son Publius, who had served with the greatest distinction under Caesar in Gaul.

22. +Reliquiae:+ out of 40,000 Roman legionaries, who had crossed the Euphrates, not a fourth part returned: 20,000 fell, and 10,000 were taken prisoners.]

+Carrhae.+ 'The day of Carrhae takes its place side by side with the days of the Allia, and of Cannae.' --M.

B48

CARRHAE, 53 B.C. (2)

_After the Battle._

A.

Temporis angusti mansit concordia discors, Paxque fuit non sponte duc.u.m; nam sola futuri Cra.s.sus erat belli medius mora. Qualiter undas 100 Qui secat et geminum gracilis mare separat Isthmos Nec pat.i.tur conferre fretum: si terra recedat, Ionium Aegaeo frangat mare: sic, ubi saeva Arma duc.u.m dirimens miserando funere Cra.s.sus a.s.syrias Latio maculavit sanguine Carrhas, 105 Parthica Romanos solverunt d.a.m.na furores.

Plus illa vobis acie quam creditis actum est, Arsacidae: bellum victis civile dedistis.

LUCAN, _Pharsalia_, i. 98-108.

[Linenotes: 98. +Temporis ... discors+ = _the short-lived concord endured, but it was a jarring_ (+discors+) _concord_. --Haskins.

101. +Isthmos+, sc. _of Corinth_: Caesar planned to cut it, and thus to secure a direct route by sea, connecting Italy and the East.

102. +Nec pat.i.tur ... fretum+ = _and suffers it_ (+mare+, l. 101) _not to join its waters_, i.e. the Corinthian and Saronic gulfs.]

B.

Milesne Cra.s.si coniuge barbara Turpis maritus vixit, et hostium (Pro curia inversique mores!) Consenuit socerorum in armis 8 Sub rege Medo Marsus et Apulus, Anciliorum et nominis et togae Oblitus aeternaeque Vestae, Incolumi Iove et urbe Roma? 12

HORACE, _Odes_ III. v. 5-12.

Nearly 10,000 Roman prisoners were settled by the victors in the oasis of Merv, as bondsmen compelled after the Parthian fas.h.i.+on to render military service (+in armis+, l. 8).

[Linenotes: 8. +Consenuit:+ Carrhae (53 B.C.) was fought 26 years before this Ode was written (27 B.C.).

10-11. +Anciliorum, aeternae Vestae+, pledges of the immortality of Rome.

10. +togae+, i.e. the Roman people, the _gens togata_.

12. +Iove+, Jove's temple on the Capitol.]

C.

Cra.s.sus ad Euphraten aquilas natumque suosque Perdidit, et leto est ultimus ipse datus.

"Parthe, quid exsultas?" dixit dea, "signa remittes, Quique necem Cra.s.si vindicet, ultor erit." 468

OVID, _Fasti_, vi. 465-468. [[Hallam VI. 397-400]]

[Linenote: 3-4. During the last few months of his life, Caesar was occupied with the preparations for his expedition against the Parthians. In 36 B.C. Antonius carried on a disastrous campaign against Phraates, King of Parthia, but in 20 B.C. Augustus received from the King the Eagles (+signa+, l. 467) and prisoners captured at Carrhae.]

B49

CICERO, GOVERNOR OF CILICIA, 51-50 B.C.

_His humane Administration._

Ipse in Asiam profectus sum Tarso Nonis Ianuariis, non mehercule dici potest, qua admiratione Ciliciae civitatum maximeque Ta.r.s.ensium; postea vero quam Taurum transgressus sum, mirifica exspectatio Asiae nostrarum dioecesium, quae s.e.x {5} mensibus imperii mei nullas meas acceperat litteras, numquam hospitem viderat. Illud autem tempus quotannis ante me fuerat in hoc quaestu; civitates locupletes, ne in hiberna milites reciperent, magnas pecunias dabant, Cyprii talenta Attica CC, qua ex {10} insula--non ?pe???????, sed verissime loquor--nummus nullus me obtinente erogabatur. Ob haec beneficia, quibus illi obstupesc.u.n.t, nullos honores mihi nisi verborum decerni sino; statuas, fana, t????ppa prohibeo, nec sum in ulla re alia molestus {15} civitatibus, sed forta.s.se tibi, qui haec praedicem de me. Perifer, si me amas; tu enim me haec facere voluisti. Iter igitur ita per Asiam feci, ut etiam fames, qua nihil miserius est, quae tum erat in hac mea Asia--messis enim nulla fuerat--, mihi optanda {20} fuerit: quac.u.mque iter feci, nulla vi, nullo iudicio, nulla contumelia auctoritate et cohortatione perfeci, ut et Graeci et cives Romani, qui frumentum compresserant, magnum numerum populis pollicerentur.

CICERO, _Ep. ad Attic.u.m_, v. 21.

[Linenotes: 1. +in Asiam+, i.e. to the districts N. of the Taurus range, which belonged geographically to Asia in the Roman sense, but were politically attached to Cilicia. --Watson.

+Tarso+ = on the R. Cydnus, about twelve miles above its mouth.

Pompeius made Tarsus the capital of the new province of Cilicia, 66 B.C.

6-7. +nullas meas ... viderat+ = _had never received demands_ (+litteras+) _from me, never seen a man billeted on them_. The +hospites+ = _soldiers or public officials_.

8. +fuerat in hoc quaestu+ = _had been devoted to gain in the following fas.h.i.+on_. --Tyrrell.

9. +ne in hiberna milites reciperent:+ Mommsen says 'A town suffered nearly to the same extent when a Roman army took up winter quarters in it as when an enemy took it by storm.'

15. t????ppa = _statues in chariots drawn by four horses_.

20-21. +mihi optanda fuerit:+ i.e. because it gave him the opportunity of showing the effect of his personal influence. --T.

23. +compresserant+ = _had stowed away_; lit. _kept back_, rare.]

+Cicero as Governor.+ His administration seems to have been just, considerate and popular.

For +Cicero's Ideal of a Roman Governor+, see _Ep. ad Q. F._ i. 1 (Q. Cicero governed Asia as Propraetor 62-58 B.C.)

CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR.

_Nec quemquam iam ferre potest Caesarve priorem Pompeiusve parem._ --LUCAN.

+56 B.C. By the Conference at Luca+ it was arranged:--

(i) to give Caesar a new term of five years' government in which to complete his work in Gaul (until March 1, 49);

(ii) to give Pompeius the government of the two Spains, and Cra.s.sus that of Syria, for five years also.

It was further agreed that Pompeius and Cra.s.sus should have the consuls.h.i.+p for 55 B.C.

+52 B.C. Pompeius Sole Consul.+ So things continued until 52 B.C., when the constant rioting (Clodius v. Milo), and utter lawlessness prevailing in Rome +gave Pompeius his opportunity+. The Senate in their distress caused Pompeius to be nominated sole Consul, with supreme power to meet the crisis. The death of Julia in 54 and of Cra.s.sus in 53 had removed the two strongest influences for peace, and from 52 onwards the breach between Pompeius and Caesar began to widen.

During Caesar's long absence from Rome his opponents, with Cato at their head, were waiting their chance to impeach him for numerous acts in his province, as soon as he appeared in Rome for the consular elections. He would then be merely a private citizen, and as such amenable to prosecution. Now Caesar's proconsuls.h.i.+p of Gaul was to terminate on March 1, 49, and the consular elections would take place at the earliest in the following summer. +There would therefore be an interval between the two offices+, and Caesar would be exposed to the utmost peril, if he gave up province and army on March 1, 49. Caesar had long foreseen this.

When the law was pa.s.sed in 55, which added a fresh term of five years to his government, +Pompeius seems to have inserted in it+ (doubtless in accordance with a previous promise to Caesar) +a clause prohibiting the discussion of a successor before March 1, 50+. Caesar therefore could not be superseded except by the consuls of 49, and these would not be able to succeed him (as proconsuls) till Jan. 1, 48. He would thus be able to retain his army and government throughout the year 49.

+Caesar's canva.s.s for the Consuls.h.i.+p.+ As the law stood, he would have to come in person to Rome. But early in 52 +a decree was promulgated, with the support of Pompeius, which relieved him from the necessity of canva.s.sing in person+. Caesar might now feel himself safe: he would retain both army and provinces throughout 49, and would not be forced to return to Rome until he was safe from prosecution as Consul.