Arthoces again sent a herald to Pompey for peace, and forwarded gifts.  These the other accepted, in order that the king in his hope to secure a truce might not proceed farther in any direction; but he did not agree to grant peace till the petitioner should first convey to him his children as hostages.  Thus Pompey waited for a time until in the course of the summer the Pelorus became fordable in places, and then the Romans crossed over; their passage was especially easy as they met no one to hinder them.  Then Arthoces sent his children to him and finally concluded a treaty.

[-3-] Pompey, learning directly that the Phasis was not distant, decided to descend along its course to Colchis and thence to march to the Bosphorus against Mithridates.  He advanced as planned, traversing the territory of the Colchians and their neighbors, using persuasion in some quarters and inspiring fear in others.  There perceiving that his route on land led through many unknown and hostile tribes, and that the sea journey was rather difficult on account of the country’s having no harbors and on account of the people inhabiting the region, he ordered the fleet to blockade Mithridates so as to watch that the latter did not set sail in any direction and to cut off his importation of provisions, while he himself turned his steps against the Albanians.  He took what was not the shortest path, but went inland to Armenia in order that such action, coupled with the truce, might enable him to find them not expecting him.  And the Cyrnus, too, he crossed at a point where it had become passable because of summer, ordering the cavalry to cross down stream with the baggage animals next, and the infantry afterward.  The object was that the horses should break the violence of the current with their bodies, and if even so any one of the pack animals should be swept off its feet it might collide with the men going alongside and not be carried further down.  From there he marched to Cambyse without suffering any injury at the hands of the enemy, but through the influence of the scorching heat and consequent thirst he in common with, the whole army experienced hardship in his progress even at night over the greater part of the road.  Their guides, being some of the captives, did not lead them by the most suitable route, and the river was of no advantage to them; for the water, of which they drank great quantities, was very cold and made a number sick.

When no resistance to them developed at this place either, they marched on to the Abas, carrying supplies of water only; everything else they received by the free gift of the natives, and for this reason they committed no depredations.