ABSTRACT
—Shortly after the termination of the first struggle between Parthia and Rome, the great civil war between Caesar and Pompey broke out, the effects of which, needless to say, reacted on distant Parthia. Pompey, whose power was based chiefly on the East, opened negotiations with Orodes in 49 B.c. or the following year, and, curious as it may appear, they were not discouraged by the Parthian monarch, who must, it would be thought, have hated Pompey from the bottom of his heart. The Roman envoy inquired on what terms Orodes would send an army to aid Pompey in the impending civil war. The answer was that Syria was the price that must be paid, but Pompey to his credit rejected the terms, whereupon Orodes threw his envoy, Hirrus, into prison.
