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Rh pey should be sent to take command. When the latter course was decided upon, Caesar turned over to Pompey legions I and XV for the contemplated expedition. In February, 50, Deiotarus decided to join Cicero's forces with thirty cohorts of four hundred men each and two thousand cavalry. In his letter to Cicero he indicated that he would take over the campaign, and Cicero believed that Deiotarus could hold out until Pompey arrived. King Orodes himself was expected to command the Parthians. At Laodicea early in May Cicero was planning to leave on the 15th for Cilicia and was hoping that the trip would be peaceful, though he realized that a serious war was impending. At Tarsus on June 5 he heard talk of bad "robberies" in Cilicia and of Syria blazing with war. Cicero's rival, Bibulus, dared not venture out of Antioch.

Bibulus, governor of Syria, turned to diplomacy rather than arms in an attempt to stave off the invasion. After he had won the regard of Ornodapates, a satrap who was unfriendly to Orodes, Bibulus persuaded him to adopt a plan to place Pacorus upon the throne. The troops which had been used against the Romans were then to be employed against