‘Thank you, Ajax, you may go.’
Ajax bowed his head and made to depart but then stopped and turned around. ‘Some letters have just been delivered; do you wish to see them now, sir? One of them is from Gaius by the look of the seal.’
‘Yes, bring them to me.’
Crassus had always taken an interest in sponsoring promising young men, in both politics and martial affairs. Grateful protégés made useful future allies. It was a gamble, though, and often ended in failure. Crassus shook his head as he remembered Lucius Furius, a man who had cost him a great deal of money and had ended up as a corpse in Mesopotamia. Too hot-headed by far, and losing three legions and expensively assembled siege engines and engineers to work them was unforgivable. At least Furius had saved his eagles. The shame would have been unbearable had those precious objects fallen into the hands of barbarians. Well, at least Furius had had the good manners to die a hero’s death. Crassus hoped his latest protégé, a certain Gaius Julius Caesar, would do better. And so far Gaius had proved himself to be most able, though only time would tell.
Crassus fingered the letter knife on the table in front of him. There were many reasons to mount a campaign against Parthia, not least the attraction of succeeding where Pompey had failed. Sandstorm indeed! He would not have turned back just because of a strong wind. No, Pompey had obviously lost his nerve. A war against Parthia would be an opportunity to put Pompey in the shade. What’s more, the wealth that would be captured would more than pay for the expense of raising an army and maintaining it during the campaign. He had heard that Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital, was filled with gold. But he would leave nothing to chance. He would raise his army and prepare it thoroughly for a campaign in the East. And afterwards the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire would no longer be the River Euphrates, it would be the Tigris. Though what would prevent a capable commander marching his army as far as the Indus? What was certain is that the whole of the western half of the Parthian Empire would become Roman territory, its inhabitants conquered and sold into slavery, and that included the citizens of Dura Europos and its troublesome king.