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54The quiet of his winter quarters, however, was not unbroken. Oroeses, king of the Albanians dwelling beyond the Cyrnus, made an expedition against them just at the time of the Saturnalia. He was impelled partly by the desire to do a favour to Tigranes the younger, who was a friend of his, but chiefly by the fear that the Romans would invade Albania; and he cherished the idea that if he should fall upon them in the winter, when they were not expecting hostilities and were not encamped in one body, he would surely achieve some success. 2Oroeses himself marched against Metellus Celer, in whose charge Tigranes was, and sent some against Pompey and others against Lucius Flaccus, the commander of a third of the army, in order that all might be thrown into confusion at once, and so might not assist one another. 3And yet, in spite of all, he accomplished nothing at any point. Celer vigorously repulsed Oroeses. Flaccus, being unable to save the whole circuit of his entrenchments by reason of their size, constructed another line inside. This fixed in his opponents’ minds the impression that he was afraid, and so he was able to entice them inside of the outer trench, 4where by making an unexpected charge upon them he slaughtered many in the conflict and many in flight. Meanwhile Pompey, having already learned of the attempt which the barbarians had made on the others, came, much to their surprise, to meet the detachment that was proceeding against him, conquered it, and at once hurried on just as he was against Oroeses. He did not overtake him, however, since Oroeses had fled after being repulsed by Celer and learning of the failures of the others; 5but he seized and destroyed many of the Albanians near the crossing of the Cyrnus. He then made a truce at their request; for although on other accounts he was extremely anxious to invade their country out of revenge, he was glad to postpone the war because of the winter.
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