Page:Political History of Parthia.pdf/151

Rh L. Hirrus and probably others as ambassadors to Orodes. The Parthian king offered an alliance, provided he should receive the province of Syria in return. This Pompey refused, perhaps because he thought the price too high, or because Hirrus, though of senatorial rank, had been imprisoned, or because of his relationship with Crassus and Publius, for Cornelia, Pompey's wife, had formerly been the wife of Publius. Notwithstanding this, after the Battle of Pharsalia Pompey entertained the notion of throwing himself into the hands of the Parthian ruler, in the hope of returning to the contest with a force furnished by him. He was persuaded by his friends to abandon the idea, partly because they considered Ptolemy a safer refuge and partly out of consideration for Cornelia.

Q. Cornificius, a later governor of Cilicia, wrote Cicero in 46 that Caesar had given him charge of Syria for the coming year and that he was fearful of a Parthian attack. Cornificius, however, never held the Syrian command; it was taken over in 45 by