When he came to the place, he pointed
to the road that led up to it, and told them to go in boldly. Crassus,
seeing them approach, was afraid that the spot was known, and had been
discovered; and, accordingly, he asked them what they wanted, and who
they were. The women replied, as they had been instructed, that they
were looking for their master, who was concealed there; on which
Crassus perceived the joke which Vibius was playing off upon him, and
his kind attentions, and received the women; and they stayed with him
for the rest of the time, telling and reporting to Vibius what he
requested them. Fenestella[18] says, that he saw one of these slaves
when she was an old woman, and that he had often heard her mention
this, and tell the story with pleasure.
VI. In this way Crassus spent eight months in concealment; but as
soon as he heard of Cinna's end, he showed himself, and out of the
numbers that flocked to him he selected two thousand five hundred,
with whom he went round to the cities; and one city, Malaca,[19] he
plundered, according to the testimony of many authors, though they say
that he denied the fact, and contradicted those who affirmed it. After
this he got together some vessels, and crossed over to Libya, to
Metellus Pius,[20] a man of reputation who had collected a force by no
means contemptible. But he stayed no long time there; for he
quarrelled with Metellus, and then set out to join Sulla, by whom he
was treated with particular respect.
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