[-54-] The quiet of his winter quarters, however, was not unbroken.  Oroeses, king of the Albanians dwelling beyond the Cyrnus, made an expedition against them just at the time of the Saturnalia.  He was impelled partly by a wish to do a favor to Tigranes the younger, who was a friend of his, but mostly by the fear that the Romans would invade Albania, and he cherished the idea that if he should fall upon them in the winter, when they were not expecting hostilities and were not encamped in one body, he would surely achieve some success.  Oroeses himself descended upon Metellus Celer, in whose charge Tigranes was, and sent others against Pompey and against Lucius Flaccus, the commander of the third division, in order that all might be thrown into confusion at once, and so not assist one another.

In spite of all, he accomplished nothing at any point.  Celer vigorously repulsed Grosses.  Flaccus, being unable to preserve the whole circuit of the ditch intact by reason of its size, constructed another within it.  This fixed in his opponents’ minds the impression that he was afraid, and so he enticed them within an outer ditch, where by a charge upon them when they were not looking for it he slaughtered many in close conflict and many in flight.  Meanwhile Pompey, having received advance information of the attempt which the barbarians had made on the rest, to their surprise encountered beforehand the detachment that was proceeding against him, conquered it, and at once hurried on just as he was against Oroeses.  The latter, indeed, he did not overtake; for Oroeses, after the repulse by Celer, had fled on being informed of the failures of the rest; many of the Albanians, however, he overwhelmed near the crossing of the Cyrnus and killed.  After this he made a truce at their request.  For although on general principles he was extremely anxious to make a return invasion of their country, he was glad to postpone the war because of the winter.

DIO’S ROMAN HISTORY

37

The following is contained in the Thirty-seventh of Dio’s Rome:  I

How Pompey fought against the Asiatic Iberians (chapters 1-7).

How Pompey annexed Pontus to Bithynia:  how Pompey brought Syria and Phoenicia under his sway (chapters 8, 9).

How Mithridates died (chapters 10-14).

About the Jews (chapters 15-19).

How Pompey after settling affairs in Asia returned to Rome (chapters 20-23).

About Cicero and Catiline and their transactions (chapters 24-42).

About Caesar and Pompey and Crassus and their sworn fellowship (chapters 43-58).

Duration of time, six years, in which there were the following magistrates, here enumerated: 

L. Aurelius M.F.  Cotta, L. Manlius L.F. (B.C. 65 == a.u. 689.)

L. Caesar, C. Marcius C.F.  Figulus. (B.C. 64 == a.u. 690.)

M. Tullius M.F.  Cicero, C. Antonius M.F. (B.C. 63 == a.u. 691.)