to go:  himself being unable to use his hand effectually, for it was pierced by an arrow, presented his side to his shield-bearer[81] and ordered him to despatch him with his sword.  They say that Censorinus perished in the same way, and that Megabacchus killed himself, and all the rest of the most distinguished men.  The Parthians, ascending the hill, transfixed with their spears the survivors; and it is said that not more than five hundred were taken prisoners.  The Parthians, cutting off the head of Publius, immediately rode off to attack Crassus.

XXVI.  With Crassus matters were thus.  After ordering his son to make an attack on the Parthians, and receiving intelligence that they were routed to a great distance, and were hotly pursued; seeing also that the enemy in front were no longer pressing on him so much as before, for most of them had crowded to the place where young Crassus was, he recovered his courage a little, and drawing his forces together, posted them on a sloping ground, being in immediate expectation that his son would return from the pursuit.  Of those who were sent by Publius to his father, when he began to be in danger, the first fell into the hands of the enemy and were killed; and the next, after escaping with great difficulty, reported that Publius was lost, if he did not receive speedy and sufficient aid from his father.  Now, Crassus was affected by many contending feelings at once, and he no longer viewed anything with sober judgment.  Distracted by alarm for the whole army, and love of his son at the same time, he was urged by one motive to go to his aid, and by the other not to go:  but finally he began to move in advance.  In the mean time the enemy came up, making themselves more formidable by their shouts and paeans, and many of the drums again bellowed around the Romans, who were in expectation of a second attack.  The Parthians, carrying the head of Publius fixed on a spear, rode close up to the Romans, and, displaying it insultingly, asked who were his parents and family, for it was not decent to suppose that so noble and brave a youth was the son of so cowardly and mean a man as Crassus.  The sight of this broke and unstrung the spirit of the Romans more than all the rest of their dangers; and it did not fill them with a spirit for revenge, as one might have supposed, but with shuddering and trembling.  Yet they say that the courage of Crassus on that dreadful occasion shone forth more brightly than ever before; for he went along the ranks, crying out, “Mine alone, Romans, is this misfortune:  but the great fortune and glory of Rome abide in you, if your lives are saved, unbroken and unvanquishcd:  and, if you have any pity on me, who have been deprived of the noblest of sons, show this in your fury against the enemy.  Take from them their rejoicing, avenge their cruelty:  be not cast down at what has happened, for it is the law that those who aim at great things must also endure.  Neither did Lucullus vanquish Tigranes without loss of blood, nor Scipio Antiochus; and our ancestors of old lost a thousand ships on the coast of Sicily, and in Italy many Imperatores and generals, not one of whom, by being first vanquished, prevented them from vanquishing the victors; for it is not by good fortune that the Roman state has advanced to such a height of power, but by the endurance and courage of those who meet danger.”