But the tardy proceedings of his antagonist made his caution superfluous.

The first campaign was over, and there had scarcely been a collision between the troops of the two nations.

Parthia had been insulted by a wanton attack, and had lost some disaffected cities; but no attempt had been made to fulfil the grand boasts with which the war had been undertaken.
It may be suspected that the Parthian monarch began now to despise his enemy.

He would compare him with Lucullus and Pompey, and understand that a Roman army, like any other, was formidable, or the reverse, according as it was ably or feebly commanded.

He would know that Crassus was a sexagenarian, and may have heard that he had never yet shown himself a captain or even a soldier.