Rome in Crisis by Plutarch

Author:Plutarch
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141959733
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2010-08-06T16:00:00+00:00

45. On the next day the Romans covered their advance more effectively, and when the Parthians attacked they met with a severe shock. They rode up expecting to have nothing to do but pillage and plunder their enemies, but when they were greeted with a hail of missiles and saw that the Romans were fresh, resolute and eager for battle, they once more grew tired of the struggle. However, when the Romans were obliged to descend a steep slope, the Parthians made another attack and poured their arrows into the column as it wound slowly downhill. At this the infantry, who carried heavy shields, wheeled so as to enclose the light-armed troops within their ranks. Then the legionaries in front dropped on to one knee and held their shields in front of them. Those in the second rank held their shields out over the heads of the first and those behind them took up the same position towards the second rank.232 This formation, which looks like the tiled roof of a house, makes a dramatic spectacle and provides the most effective defence against arrows, which merely glance off it. The Parthians, however, when they saw the Romans dropping on to one knee, imagined that they were exhausted, and so they put down their bows, gripped their spears by the middle and advanced to close quarters. Then the Romans suddenly leaped to their feet and, joining all together in one great battle-cry, lunged forward with their javelins, speared the front ranks of the Parthians and put the rest to flight. The days that followed saw a series of similar engagements, so that the retreat could proceed only in short stages.

The army was also beginning to suffer severely from hunger, since it could only find small quantities of grain even by fighting, and it was not well supplied with implements for grinding it. Most of these they had been obliged to abandon, since some of the pack animals had died, while many others were needed to carry the sick and wounded. It is said that at this time an Attic choenix233 of wheat cost 50 drachmas, while loaves of barley were sold for their weight in silver. The Romans had no choice but to fall back on vegetables and roots, but since they could find very few to which they were accustomed they were obliged to try some they had never tasted before, and it was in this way that they came to eat a herb which first drove men mad and then killed them. Those who ate of it lost their memory and became obsessed with the task of moving and turning over every stone they could see, as if they were accomplishing something of immense importance. All over the plain men could be seen stooping to the ground, digging around stones and removing them, and finally they would vomit bile and die, since they had no stores of wine, which is the only remedy against this sickness.234 The Romans lost many men in this way, and all the while the Parthians kept up their attacks.

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