and forcible effect from bows which were strong and large, and, owing to their great degree of bending, discharged the missiles with violence.  Now the condition of the Romans was pitiable from the beginning:  for, if they kept their position, they were exposed to be wounded, and if they attempted to close with the enemy, they were just as far from doing the enemy any harm, and they suffered just as much; for the Parthians while retreating[74] still discharged their arrows, and they do this most effectually next to the Scythians:  and it is a most subtle device to make their escape from danger while they are still fighting, and to take away the disgrace of flight.

XXV.[75] The Romans endured so long as they had hopes that the Parthians would withdraw from the contest when they had discharged their arrows, or would come to close quarters; but when they perceived that there were many camels standing there, loaded with arrows, and that the Parthians who had first shot all their arrows, turned round to the camels for a fresh supply, Crassus, seeing no end to this, began to lose heart, and he sent messengers to his son with orders to force the enemy to engage before he was surrounded, for the Parthians were mainly attacking and surrounding with their cavalry the wing commanded by young Crassus, with the view of getting in his rear.  Accordingly, the young man taking thirteen hundred horsemen,—­a thousand of whom he had brought from Caesar,—­and five hundred archers, and eight cohorts of the legionary soldiers, who were nearest to him, wheeled about to attack the Parthians.  But the Parthians, who were manoeuvring about Crassus, either because they fell in with some marshes,[76] as some say, or because it was their design to attack Crassus when they had drawn him as far as they could from his father, turned round and fled.  On this Crassus, calling out that the Parthians did not stand their ground, advanced with Censorinus and Megabacchus,[77] of whom Megabacchus was distinguished for courage and strength, and Censorinus[78] was a senator and a powerful speaker, both of them companions of Crassus, and about the same age.  The cavalry pursued the enemy, nor did the infantry allow themselves to be left behind, being full of alacrity and hope of victory; for they thought that they were victorious and in pursuit:  but they had not gone far before they perceived the stratagem; for the Parthians, who were supposed to be flying, began to face about, and others, in greater numbers, joined them.  Upon this the Romans halted, thinking that the enemy would come to close quarters with them, as they were only few in number.  But the Parthians placing their mailed horsemen in the front, to oppose the Romans, rode about them with the rest of the cavalry dispersed, and, by trampling the ground, they raised from the bottom heaps of sand, which threw up such an immense cloud of dust that the Romans could neither see clearly nor speak; and, being driven into a narrow