placed there a burning brazier, and, as soon as Crassus arrived, he threw incense and poured libations upon it, and, at the same time, he denounced against Crassus curses, in themselves dreadful and terrific, and, in addition thereto, he uttered the names of certain awful and inauspicious deities.  The Romans say that these mysterious and ancient curses have great efficacy, that no man can escape upon whom they are laid, and that he who utters them also has an unlucky end, and, accordingly, they are not denounced either on ordinary occasions, or by many persons.  Ateius was blamed for letting loose such imprecations and religious fears upon a State, on behalf of which he was hostile to Crassus.

XVII.  When Crassus arrived at Brundisium, though the sea was still rough owing to the wintry weather, he would not wait, but he set sail, and so lost many of his vessels.  After getting together the remnant of his forces, he marched through Galatia.[55] Finding King Deiotarus, who was now a very old man, founding a new city, Crassus said sarcastically, “King, you are beginning to build at the twelfth hour.”  The Galatian, with a smile, replied, “You, too, Imperator, I observe, are not very early with your Parthian expedition.”  Now Crassus was past sixty, and he looked older than he was.  On his arrival, matters at first turned out fully equal to his expectation; for he easily threw a bridge over the Euphrates, and got his army across safely, and he also obtained possession of many cities in Mesopotamia which surrendered.  Before one of them, of which Apollonius was tyrant, he lost a hundred men, upon which he brought his force against the place, and, having got possession of it, he made plunder of all the property, and sold the people:  the Greeks called the city Zenodotia.[56] On the capture of the city, Crassus allowed his soldiers to proclaim him Imperator, wherein he greatly disgraced himself, and showed the meanness of his spirit, and that he had no good hopes of greater things, as he was content with so slight a success.  Having put garrisons in the cities that had surrendered, to the amount of seven thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry, he retired to winter in Syria, and there to await his son,[57] who was coming from Caesar in Gaul, with the decorations that he had gained by his valour, and with a thousand picked horsemen.  This seemed to be the first blunder of Crassus, or at least, it was the greatest blunder that he committed next to the expedition itself; for he ought to have advanced and to have secured Babylon and Seleukeia,[58] two cities which were always hostile to the Parthians; instead of which, he gave his enemies time to make preparation.  The next thing the people blamed was his waste of time in Syria, which was employed more for purposes of money profit than for military purposes; for he did not occupy himself in reviewing the numbers of his troops, nor establishing games to keep the soldiers in exercise, but he busied himself