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Rh an already too small force. From Actium on June 14, 51, he wrote to Atticus that he hoped the Parthians would remain quiet. At Athens Cicero still had no news of their movements, but at Tralleis he heard that they were inactive. On July 31 the new governor reached Laodicea within his own territory. His earlier ideas with regard to the peacefulness of the "Persians" (Parthians) were soon to undergo rapid changes. He had scarcely begun his work when on August 9 reports reached him that some Roman cavalry had been cut up by the Parthians. His two legions were scattered and practically mutinous when he arrived at camp in Iconium. The troops were reunited, and Cicero was proceeding to whip them into shape, when on August 30 he received a dispatch from Antiochus I, king of Comma-