[-27-] The latter out of the way the usurper gained possession of all his army except some few.  The soldiers wintering in Apamea withdrew before he reached them toward Cilicia, and were pursued but were not won over.  Bassus returned to Syria, where he was named commander, and he conquered Apamea so as to have it as a base for warfare.  He enlisted not only the free but the slave fighting population, gathered money, and accumulated arms.  While he was thus engaged one Gaius Antistius invested the position he was holding, and the two had a nearly even struggle in which neither party succeeded in gaining any great advantage.  Thereupon they parted, without any definite truce, to await the bringing up of allies.  The troops of Antistius were increased by such persons in the vicinity as favored Caesar and soldiers that had been sent by him from Rome, those of Bassus by Alchaudonius the Arabian.  The latter was the leader who had formerly made an arrangement with Lucullus, as I mentioned,[31] and later joined with the Parthian against Crassus.  On this occasion he was summoned by both sides, but entered the space between the city and the camps and before making any answer auctioned off his services; and as Bassus offered more money he assisted him, and in the battle wrought great havoc with his arrows.  The Parthians themselves, too, came at the invitation of Bassus, but on account of the winter failed to remain with him for any considerable time, and hence did not accomplish anything of importance.  This commander, then, had his own way for a time, but was later again held in check by Marcius Crispus[32] and Lucius Staius Murcus.

[-28-] Things were in this condition among them when Cassius came on the scene and at once conciliated all the cities through the reputation of what he had done in his quaestorship and his other fame, and attached the legions of Bassus and of the rest without additional labor.  While he was encamped in one spot with all of them a great downpour from the sky suddenly occurred, during which wild swine rushed into the camp through all the gates at once, overturning and mixing up everything there.  Some, accordingly, inferred from this that his power was only temporary and that disaster was subsequently coming.  Having secured possession of Syria he set out into Judea on learning that the followers of Caesar left behind in Egypt were approaching.  Without effort he enlisted both them and the Jews in his undertaking.  Next he sent away without harming in the least Bassus and Crispus and such others as did not care to share the campaign with him; for Staius he preserved the rank with which he had come there and besides entrusted to him the fleet.