Romans of that day that when some of the magistrates and jurymen received from him only a very little of the great bribes that he disbursed, they heeded no requirement of propriety, and furthermore instructed others to commit crimes for money, showing them that they could easily buy immunity from punishment.  At this time, consequently, Gabinius was acquitted; but he was again brought to trial on some other charge,—­chiefly that he had plundered more than a million from the province,—­and was convicted.  This was a matter of great surprise to him, seeing that by money he had freed himself from the former suit; but it was for that reason principally that he was condemned on these charges.  It was also a surprise to Pompey, because previously he had, through his friends, rescued Gabinius even at a distance, but now while in the suburbs of the city and, as you might say, in the courtroom itself, he had accomplished nothing.

[-56-] This was the way of it.  Gabinius had injured Syria in many ways, even to the point of inflicting more damage upon the people than had the pirates, who were then in their prime.  Still, he regarded all his gains from that source as mere trifles and was at one time planning and preparing to lead a campaign also against the Parthians and their wealth.  Phraates had been treacherously murdered by his children, and Orodes having taken the kingdom in turn had expelled Mithridates his brother from Media, which he was governing.  The latter took refuge with Gabinius and persuaded him to connive at his restoration.  However, when Ptolemy came with Pompey’s letter and promised that he would furnish large sums, both to him and the army, Gabinius abandoned the Parthian project and hastened to Egypt.  This he did although the law forbade governors to enter any one’s territory outside their own borders or to begin wars on their own responsibility, and although the people and the Sibyl had declared that the man should not be restored.  But the only restraint these considerations exercised was to lead him to sell them for a higher price.  He left in Syria Sisenna his son, a mere boy, and a very few soldiers with him, exposing the province to which he had been assigned more than ever to the pirates.  He himself then reached Palestine, arrested Aristobulus, who had caused some trouble at Rome and escaped, sent him to Pompey, imposed tribute upon the Jews and thereafter invaded Egypt.

[-57-] Berenice was at this time ruling the Egyptians, and though she feared the Romans she accorded him no satisfactory treatment.  Instead, she sent for one Seleucus who purported to belong to the royal race that once had flourished in Syria, acknowledged him as her husband and made him sharer of the kingdom and of the war.  When he was seen to be held in no esteem she had him killed and joined to herself on the same terms Archelaus, son of that Archelaus who had deserted to Sulla; he was an energetic man living in Syria.  Gabinius could, indeed, have