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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient
+Eastern World, Vol 6. (of 7): Parthia, by George Rawlinson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6. (of 7): Parthia
+       The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea,
+       Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian
+       or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.
+
+Author: George Rawlinson
+
+Illustrator: George Rawlinson
+
+Release Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16166]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES
+
+OF THE
+
+ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD;
+
+
+OR,
+
+
+THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDAEA, ASSYRIA
+
+BABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, PARTHIA, AND SASSANIAN,
+
+OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE.
+
+
+BY
+
+GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.,
+
+CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
+
+
+
+IN THREE VOLUMES.
+
+
+
+VOLUME III.
+
+
+
+WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MAP of PARTHIA PROPER]
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF PARTHIA]
+
+
+
+
+A HISTORY OF PARTHIA.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+_Geography of Parthia Proper, Character of the Region, Climate,
+Character of the Surrounding Countries._
+
+
+The broad tract of desert which, eastward of the Caspian Sea, extends
+from the Mougbojar hills to the Indian Ocean, a distance of above 1500
+miles, is interrupted about midway by a strip of territory possessing
+features of much beauty and attraction. This strip, narrow compared to
+the desert on either side of it, is yet, looked at by itself, a region
+of no inconsiderable dimensions, extending, as it does from east to
+west, a distance of 320, and from north to south of nearly 200 miles.
+The mountain chain, which running southward of the Caspian, skirts the
+great plateau of Iran, or Persia, on the north, broadens out, after
+it passes the south-eastern corner of the sea, into a valuable and
+productive mountain-region. Four or five distinct ranges here run
+parallel to one another, having between them latitudinal valleys, with
+glens transverse to their courses. The sides of the valleys are often
+well wooded; the flat ground at the foot of the hills is fertile; water
+abounds; and the streams gradually collect into rivers of a considerable
+size.
+
+The fertile territory in this quarter is further increased by the
+extension of cultivation to a considerable distance from the base of
+the most southern of the ranges, in the direction of the Great Iranic
+desert. The mountains send down a number of small streams towards
+the south; and the water of these, judiciously husbanded by means of
+reservoirs and _kanats_, is capable of spreading fertility over a broad
+belt at the foot of the hills; which, left to nature, would be almost as
+barren as the desert itself, into which it would, in fact, be absorbed.
+
+It was undoubtedly in the region which has been thus briefly described
+that the ancient home of the Parthians lay. In this neighborhood alone
+are found the geographic names which the most ancient writers who
+mention the Parthians connect with them. Here evidently the Parthians
+were settled at the time when Alexander the Great overran the East, and
+first made the Greeks thoroughly familiar with the Parthian name and
+territory. Here, lastly, in the time of the highest Parthian splendor
+and prosperity, did a province of the Empire retain the name of
+Parthyene, or Parthia Proper; and here, also, in their palmiest days,
+did the Parthian kings continue to have a capital and a residence.
+
+Parthia Proper, however, was at no time coextensive with the region
+described. A portion of that region formed the district called Hyrcania;
+and it is not altogether easy to determine what were the limits between
+the two. The evidence goes, on the whole, to show that, while Hyrcania
+lay towards the west and north, the Parthian country was that towards
+the south and east, the valleys of the Ettrek and Gurghan constituting
+the main portions of the former, while the tracts east and south of
+those valleys, as far as the sixty-first degree of E. longitude,
+constituted the latter.
+
+If the limits of Parthia Proper be thus defined, it will have nearly
+corresponded to the modern Persian province of Khorasan. It will have
+extended from about Damaghan (long. 54 deg. 10') upon the west, to the
+Heri-rud upon the east, and have comprised the modern districts of
+Damaghan, Shah-rud, Sebzawar, Nishapur, Meshed, Shebri-No, and Tersheez.
+Its length from east to west will have been about 300 miles, and its
+average width about 100 or 120. It will have contained an area of about
+33,000 square miles, being thus about equal in size to Ireland, Bavaria,
+or St. Domingo.
+
+The character of the district has been already stated in general terms;
+but some further particulars may now be added. It consists, in the
+first place, of a mountain and a plain region--the mountain region lying
+towards the north and the plain region towards the south. The mountain
+region is composed of three main ranges, the Daman-i-Koh, or Hills of
+the Kurds, upon the north, skirting the great desert of Rharaem, the
+Alatagh and Meerabee mountains in the centre; and the Jaghetai or
+Djuvein range, upon the south, which may be regarded as continued in the
+hills above Tersheez and Khaff. The three ranges are parallel, running
+east and west, but with an inclination, more or less strong, to the
+north of west and the south of east. The northern and central ranges are
+connected by a water-shed, which runs nearly east and west, a little to
+the south of Kooshan, and separates the head streams of the Ettrek from
+those of the Meshed river. The central and southern ranges are connected
+by a more decided, mountain line, a transverse ridge which runs nearly
+north and south, dividing between the waters that flow westward into the
+Gurghan, and those which form the river of Nishapur. This conformation
+of the mountains leaves between the ranges three principal valleys, the
+valley of Meshed towards the south-east, between the Kurdish range and
+the Alatagh and Meerabee; that of Miyanabad towards the west, between
+the Alatagh and the Jaghetai; and that of Nishapur towards the south,
+between the eastern end of the Jaghetai and the western flank of the
+Meerabee. As the valleys are three in number, so likewise are the
+rivers, which are known respectively as the Tejend, or river of Meshed,
+the river of Nishapur, and the river of Miyanabad.
+
+The Tejend, which is the principal stream of the three, rises from
+several sources in the hills south of Kooshan, and flows with a
+south-easterly course down the valley of Meshed, receiving numerous
+tributaries from both sides, until it reaches that city, when it bends
+eastward, and, finding a way through the Kurdish range, joins the course
+of the Heri-rud, about long. 01 deg. 10'. Here its direction is completely
+changed. Turning at an angle, which is slightly acute, it proceeds to
+flow to the west of north, along the northern base of the Kurdish range,
+from which it receives numerous small streams, till it ends finally in a
+large swamp or marsh, in lat. 39 deg., long. 57 deg., nearly. The entire length
+of the stream, including only main windings, is about 475 miles. In its
+later course, however, it is often almost dry, the greater portion of
+the water being consumed in irrigation in the neighborhood of Meshed.
+
+The river of Nishapur is formed by numerous small streams, which descend
+from the mountains that on three sides inclose that city. Its water
+is at times wholly consumed in the cultivation of the plain; but the
+natural course may be traced, running in a southerly and south-westerly
+direction, until it debouches from the hills in the vicinity of
+Tersheez. The Miyanabad stream is believed to be a tributary of the
+Gurghan. It rises from several sources in the transverse range joining
+the Alatagh to the Jaghetai, the streams from which all flow westward
+in narrow valleys, uniting about long. 57 deg. 35'. The course of the river
+from this point to Piperne has not been traced, but it is believed
+to run in a general westerly direction along the southern base of the
+Alatagh, and to form a junction with the Gurghan a little below the
+ruins of the same name. Its length to this point is probably about 200
+miles.
+
+The elevation of the mountain chains is not great. No very remarkable
+peaks occur in them; and it may be doubted whether they anywhere attain
+a height of above 6000 feet. They are for the most part barren and
+rugged, very scantily supplied with timber, and only in places capable
+of furnishing a tolerable pasturage to flocks and herds. The valleys,
+on the other hand, are rich and fertile in the extreme; that of Meshed,
+which extends a distance of above a hundred miles from north-west
+to south-east, and is from twenty to thirty miles broad, has almost
+everywhere a good and deep soil, is abundantly supplied with water,
+and yields a plentiful return even to the simplest and most primitive
+cultivation. The plain about Nishapur, which is in length from eighty to
+ninety miles, and in width from forty to sixty, boasts a still greater
+fertility.
+
+The flat country along the southern base of the mountains, which ancient
+writers regard as Parthia, par excellence, is A strip of territory about
+300 miles long, varying in width ac cording to the labor and the skill
+applied by its inhabitants to the perfecting of a system of irrigation.
+At present the _kanats_, or underground water-courses, are seldom
+carried to a distance of more than a mile or two from the foot of the
+hills; but it is thought that anciently the cultivation was extended
+considerably further. Ruined cities dispersed throughout the tract
+sufficiently indicate its capabilities, and in a few places where much
+attention is paid to agriculture the results are such as to imply that
+the soil is more than ordinarily productive. The salt desert lies,
+however, in most places within ten or fifteen miles of the hills; and
+beyond this distance it is obviously impossible that the "Atak" or
+"Skirt" should at any time have been inhabited.
+
+It is evident that the entire tract above described must have been at
+all times a valuable and much coveted region. Compared with the arid and
+inhospitable deserts which adjoin it upon the north and south, Khorasan,
+the ancient Parthia and Hyrcania, is a terrestrial Paradise. Parthia,
+though scantily wooded, still produces in places the pine, the walnut,
+the sycamore, the ash, the poplar, the willow, the vine, the mulberry,
+the apricot, and numerous other fruit trees. Saffron, asafoetida, and
+the gum ammoniac plant, are indigenous in parts of it. Much of the soil
+is suited for the cultivation of wheat, barley, and cotton. The ordinary
+return upon wheat and barley is reckoned at ten for one. Game abounds
+in the mountains, and fish in the underground water-courses. Among the
+mineral treasures of the region may be enumerated copper, lead, iron,
+salt, and one of the most exquisite of gems, the turquoise. This gem
+does not appear to be mentioned by ancient writers; but it is so easily
+obtainable that we can scarcely suppose it was not known from very
+ancient times.
+
+The severity of the climate of Parthia is strongly stated by Justin.
+According to modern travellers, the winters, though protracted, are
+not very inclement, the thermometer rarely sinking below ten or eleven
+degrees of Fahrenheit during the nights, and during the daytime rising,
+even in December and January, to 40 deg. or 50 deg.. The cold weather, however,
+which commences about October, continues till nearly the end of March,
+when storms of sleet and hail are common. Much snow falls in the earlier
+portion of the winter, and the valleys are scarcely clear of it till
+March. On the mountains it remains much longer, and forms the chief
+source of supply to the rivers during the spring and the early summer
+time. In summer the heat is considerable, more especially in the region
+known as the "Atak;" and here, too, the unwholesome wind, which blows
+from the southern desert, is felt from, time to time as a terrible
+scourge. But in the upland country the heat is at no time very intense,
+and the natives boast that they are not compelled by it to sleep on
+their house-tops during more than one month in the year.
+
+The countries by which Parthia Proper was bounded were the following:
+Chorasmia, Margiana, Aria, Sarangia, Sagartia, and Hyrcania.
+
+Chorasmia lay upon the north, consisting of the low tract between the
+most northerly of the Parthian mountain chains and the old course of the
+Oxus. This region, which is for the most part an arid and inhospitable
+desert, can at no time have maintained more than a sparse and scanty
+population. The Turkoman tribes which at the present day roam over the
+waste, feeding their flocks and herds alternately on the banks of the
+Oxus and the Tejend, or finding a bare subsistence for them about the
+ponds and pools left by the winter rains, represent, it is probable,
+with sufficient faithfulness, the ancient inhabitants, who, whatever
+their race, must always have been nomads, and can never have exceeded
+a few hundred thousands. On this side Parthia must always have been
+tolerably safe from attacks, unless the Cis-Oxianian tribes were
+reinforced, as they sometimes were, by hordes from beyond the river.
+
+On the north-east was Margiana, sometimes regarded as a country by
+itself, sometimes reckoned a mere district of Bactria. This was the
+tract of fertile land upon the Murg-ab, or ancient Margus river, which
+is known among moderns as the district of Merv. The Murg-ab is a stream
+flowing from the range of the Paropamisus, in a direction which is a
+little east of north; it debouches from the mountains in about lat.
+36 deg. 25', and thence makes its way through the desert. Before it reaches
+Merv, it is eighty yards wide and five feet deep, thus carrying a vast
+body of water. By a judicious use of dykes and canals, this fertilizing
+fluid was in ancient times carried to a distance of more than
+twenty-five miles from the natural course of the river; and by these
+means an oasis was created with a circumference of above 170, and
+consequently a diameter of above fifty miles. This tract, inclosed on
+every side by deserts, was among the most fertile of all known regions;
+it was especially famous for its vines, which grew to such a size that
+a single man could not encircle their stems with his two arms, and
+bore clusters that were a yard long. Margiana possessed, however, as a
+separate country, little military strength, and it was only as a
+portion of some larger and more populous territory that it could become
+formidable to the Parthians.
+
+South of Margiana, and adjoining upon Parthia toward the east, was Aria,
+the tract which lies about the modern Herat. This was for the most
+part a mountain region, very similar in its general character to the
+mountainous portion of Parthia, but of much smaller dimensions. Its
+people were fairly warlike; but the Parthian population was probably
+double or triple their number, and Parthia consequently had but little
+to fear in this quarter.
+
+Upon the south-east Parthia was bordered by Sarangia, the country of the
+Sarangae, or Drangae. This appears to have been the district south
+of the Herat valley, reaching thence as far as the Hamoon, or Sea of
+Seistan. It is a country of hills and downs, watered by a number of
+somewhat scanty streams, which flow south-westward from the Paropamisus
+to the Hamoon. Its population can never have been great, and they were
+at no time aggressive or enterprising, so that on this side also the
+Parthians were secure, and had to deal with no formidable neighbor.
+
+Sagartia succeeded to Sarangia towards the west, and bordered Parthia
+along almost the whole of its southern frontier. Excepting in the
+vicinity of Tebbes and Toun (lat. 34 deg., long. 56 deg. to 58 deg.), this
+district is an absolute desert, the haunt of the gazelle and the wild
+ass, dry, saline, and totally devoid of vegetation. The wild nomads, who
+wandered over its wastes, obtaining a scanty subsistence by means of
+the lasso, were few in number, scattered, and probably divided by feuds.
+Southern Parthia might occasionally suffer from their raids; but
+they were far too weak to constitute a serious danger to the mountain
+country.
+
+Lastly, towards the west and the north-west, Parthia was bordered by
+Hyrcania, a region geographically in the closest connection with it,
+very similar in general character, but richer, warmer, and altogether
+more desirable. Hyrcania was, as already observed, the western and
+north-western portion of that broad mountain region which has been
+described as intervening between the eastern shores of the Caspian
+and the river Arius, or Heri-rud. It consisted mainly of the two rich
+valleys of the Gurghan and Ettrek, with the mountain chains inclosing or
+dividing them. Here on the slopes of the hills grow the oak, the beech,
+the elm, the alder, the wild cherry; here luxuriant vines spring from
+the soil on every side, raising themselves aloft by the aid of their
+stronger sisters, and hanging in wild festoons from tree to tree;
+beneath their shade the ground is covered with flowers-of various kinds,
+primroses, violets, lilies, hyacinths, and others of unknown species;
+while in the flat land at the bottom of the valleys are meadows of the
+softest and the tenderest grass, capable of affording to numerous
+flocks and herds an excellent and unfailing pasture. Abundant game finds
+shelter in the forests, while towards the mouths of the rivers, where
+the ground is for the most part marshy, large herds of wild boars
+are frequent; a single herd sometimes containing hundreds. Altogether
+Hyrcania was a most productive and desirable country, capable of
+sustaining a dense population, and well deserving Strabo's description
+of it as "highly favored of Heaven." The area of the country was,
+however, small, probably not much exceeding one half that of Parthia
+Proper; and thus the people were not sufficiently numerous to cause the
+Parthians much apprehension.
+
+The situation and character of Parthia thus, on the whole, favored her
+becoming an imperial power. She had abundant resources within herself;
+she had a territory apt for the production of a hardy race of men; and
+she had no neighbors of sufficient strength to keep her down, when
+she once developed the desire to become dominant. Surprise has been
+expressed at her rise. But it is perhaps more astonishing that she
+passed so many centuries in obscurity before she became an important
+state, than that she raised herself at last to the first position among
+the Oriental nations. Her ambition and her material strength were plants
+of slow growth; it took several hundreds of years for them to attain
+maturity: when, however, this point was reached, the circumstances
+of her geographical position stood her in good stead, and enabled her
+rapidly to extend her way over the greater portion of Western Asia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+_Early notices of the Parthians. Their Ethnic character and connections.
+Their position under the Persian Monarchs, from Cyrus the Great to
+Darius III. (Codomannus.)_
+
+
+The Parthians do not appear in history until a comparatively recent
+period. Their name occurs nowhere in the Old Testament Scriptures.
+They obtain no mention in the Zendavesta. The Assyrian Inscriptions
+are wholly silent concerning them. It is not until the time of Darius
+Hystaspis that we have trustworthy evidence of their existence as a
+distinct people. In the inscriptions of this king we find their country
+included under the name of Parthva or Parthwa among the provinces of
+the Persian Empire, joined in two places with Sarangia, Aria, Chorasmia,
+Bactria, and Sogdiana, and in a third with these same countries and
+Sagartia. We find, moreover, an account of a rebellion in which the
+Parthians took part. In the troubles which broke out upon the death of
+the Pseudo-Smerdis, B.C. 521, Parthia revolted, in conjunction (as it
+would seem) with Hyrcania, espousing the cause of that Median pretender,
+who, declaring himself a descendant of the old Median monarchs, set
+himself up as a rival to Darius. Hytaspes, the father of Darius, held at
+this time the Parthian satrapy. In two battles within the limits of his
+province he defeated the rebels, who must have brought into the field
+a considerable force, since in one of the two engagements they lost in
+killed and prisoners between 10,000 and 11,000 men. After their second
+defeat the Parthians made their submission, and once more acknowledged
+Darius for their sovereign.
+
+With these earliest Oriental notices of the Parthians agree entirely
+such passages as contain any mention of them in the more ancient
+literature of the Greeks. Hecatseus of Miletus, who was contemporary
+with Darius Hystaspis, made the Parthians adjoin upon the Chorasmians in
+the account which he gave of the geography of Asia. Herodotus spoke of
+them as a people subject to the Persians in the reign of Darius, and
+assigned them to the sixteenth satrapy, which comprised also the Arians,
+the Sogdians, and the Chorasmians. He said that they took part in the
+expedition of Xerxes against Greece (B.C. 480), serving in the army on
+foot under the same commander as the Chorasmians, and equipped like them
+with bows and arrows, and with spears of no great length. In another
+passage he mentioned their being compelled to pay the Persian water tax,
+and spoke of the great need which they had of water for the irrigation
+of their millet and sesame crops.
+
+It is evident that these notices agree with the Persian accounts,
+both as to the locality of the Parthians and as to the fact of their
+subjection to the Persian government. They further agree in assigning
+to the Parthians a respectable military character, yet one of no very
+special eminency. On the ethnology of the nation, and the circumstances
+under which the country became an integral part of the Persian
+dominions, they throw no light. We have still to seek an answer to the
+questions, "Who were the Parthians?" and "How did they become Persian
+subjects?"
+
+Who were the Parthians? It is not until the Parthians have emerged
+from obscurity and become a great people that ancient authors trouble
+themselves with inquiries as to their ethnic character and remote
+antecedents. Of the first writers who take the subject into their
+consideration, some are content to say that the Parthians were a race of
+Scyths, who at a remote date had separated from the rest of the nation,
+and had occupied the southern portion of the Chorasmian desert, whence
+they had gradually made themselves masters of the mountain region
+adjoining it. Others added to this that the Scythic tribe to which they
+belonged was called the Dahse; that their own proper name was Parni, or
+Aparni; and that they had migrated originally from the country to the
+north of the Palus Maeotis, where they had left the great mass of their
+fellow tribesmen. Subsequently, in the time of the Antonines, the theory
+was started that the Parthians were Scyths, whom Sesostris, on his
+return from his Scythian expedition, brought into Asia and settled in
+the mountain-tract lying east of the Caspian.
+
+It can scarcely be thought that these notices have very much historical
+value. Moderns are generally agreed that the Scythian conquests of
+Sesostris are an invention of the Egyptian priests, which they palmed
+on Herodotus and Diodorus. Could they be regarded as having really taken
+place, still the march back from Scythia to Egypt round the north and
+east of the Caspian Sea would be in the highest degree improbable. The
+settlement of the Parthians in Parthia by the returning conqueror is, in
+fact, a mere duplicate of the tale commonly told of his having settled
+the Colchians in Colchis, and is equally worthless. The earlier authors,
+moreover, know nothing of the story, which first appears in the second
+century after our era, and as time goes on becomes more circumstantial.
+
+Even the special connection of the Parthians with the Dahse, and their
+migration from the shores of the Palus Mteotis, may be doubted. Strabo
+admits it to be uncertain whether there were any Dahse at all about the
+Mseotis; and, if there were, it would be open to question whether they
+were of the same race with the Dahse of the Caspian. As the settlement
+of the Parthians in the country called after their name dated from a
+time anterior to Darius Hystaspis, and the Greeks certainly did not
+set on foot any inquiries into their origin till at least two centuries
+later, it would be unlikely that the Parthians could give them a true
+account. The real groundwork of the stories told seems to have been
+twofold. First, there was a strong conviction on the part of those who
+came in contact with the Parthians that they were Scyths; and secondly,
+it was believed that their name meant "exile." Hence it was necessary to
+suppose that they had migrated into their country from some portion of
+the tract known as Scythia to the Greeks, and it was natural to invent
+stories as to the particular circumstances of the migration.
+
+The residuum of the truth, or at any rate the important conviction of
+the ancient writers, which remains after their stories are sifted, is
+the Scythic character of the Parthian people. On this point, Strabo,
+Justin, and Arrian are agreed. The manners of the Parthians had, they
+tell us, much that was Scythic in them. Their language was half Scythic,
+half Median. They armed themselves in the Scythic fashion. They were, in
+fact, Scyths in descent, in habits, in character.
+
+But what are we to understand by this? May we assume at once that
+they were a Turanian people, in race, habits, and language akin to the
+various tribes of Turkomans who are at present dominant over the entire
+region between the Oxus and the Parthian mountain-tract, and within
+that tract have many settlements? May we assume that they stood in an
+attitude of natural hostility to the Arian nations by which they were
+surrounded, and that their revolt was the assertion of independence by
+a down-trodden people after centuries of subjection to the yoke of a
+stranger? Did Turan, in their persons, rise against Iean after perhaps a
+thousand years of oppression, and renew the struggle for predominance
+in regions where the war had been waged before, and where it still
+continues to be waged at the present day?
+
+Such conclusions cannot safely be drawn from the mere fact that the
+Scythic character of the Parthians is asserted in the strongest terms
+by the ancient writers. The term "Scythic" is not, strictly speaking,
+ethnical. It designates a life rather a descent, habits rather than
+blood. It is applied by the Greeks and Romans to Indo-European and
+Turanian races indifferently, provided that they are nomads, dwelling
+in tents or carts, living on the produce of their flocks and herds,
+uncivilized, and, perhaps it may be added, accustomed to pass their
+lives on horseback. We cannot, therefore, assume that a nation is
+Turanian simply because it is pronounced "Scythic." Still, as in fact
+the bulk of those races which have remained content with the nomadic
+condition, and which from the earliest times to the present day have led
+the life above described in the broad steppes of Europe and Asia, appear
+to have been of the Turian type, a presumption is raised in favor of a
+people being Turanian by decided and concordant statements that it is
+Scythic. The presumption may of course be removed by evidence to the
+contrary; but, until such evidence is produced it has weight, and
+constitutes an argument, the force of which is considerable.
+
+In the present instance the presumption raised is met by no argument
+of any great weight; while on the other hand it receives important
+confirmation from several different quarters. It is said, indeed, that
+as all, or almost all, the other nations of these parts were confessedly
+Arians (e.g. the Bactrians, the Sogdians, the Chorasmians, the
+Margians, the Arians of Herat, the Sagartians, the Sarangians, and the
+Hyrcanians), it would be strange if the Parthians belonged to a wholly
+different ethnic family. But, in the first place, the existence of
+isolated nationalities, detached fragments of some greater ethnic mass,
+embodied amid alien material, is a fact familiar to ethnologists; and,
+further, it is not at all certain that there were not other Turanian
+races in these parts, as, for instance, the Thamanasans. Again, it is
+said that the Parthians show their Arian extraction by their names; but
+this argument may be turned against those who adduce it. It is true that
+among the Parthian names a considerable number are not only Arian, but
+distinctly Persian--e.g., Mith-ridates, Tiridates, Artabanus, Orobazus,
+Rhodaspes--but the bulk of the names have an entirely different
+character. There is nothing Arian in such appellations as Amminapes,
+Bacasis, Pacorus, Vonones, Sinnaces, Abdus, Abdageses, Gotarzes,
+Vologeses, Mnasciras, Sanatroeces; nor anything markedly Arian in
+Priapatius, Himerus, Orodes, Apreetseus, Ornos-pades, Parrhaces,
+Vasaces, Monesis, Exedares. If the Parthians were Arians, what account
+is to be given of these words? That they employed a certain number of
+Persian names is sufficiently explained by their subjection during more
+than two centuries to the Persian rule. We are also distinctly told that
+they affected Persian habits, and desired to be looked upon as Persians.
+The Arian names borne by Parthians no more show them to be Arians in
+race than the Norman names adopted so widely by the Welsh show them to
+be Northmen. On the other hand, the non-Arian names in the former case
+are like the non-Norman names in the latter, and equally indicate a
+second source of nomenclature, in which should be contained the key to
+the true ethnology of the people.
+
+The non-Arian character of the Parthians is signified, if not proved, by
+the absence of their name from the Zendavesta. The Zendavesta enumerates
+among Arian nations the Bactrians, the Sogdians, the Margians, the
+Hyrcanians, the Arians of Herat, and the Chorasmians, or all the
+important nations of these parts except the Parthians. The Parthian
+country it mentions under the name of Nisaya or Nisaea, implying
+apparently that the Parthians were not yet settled in it. The only ready
+way of reconciling the geography of the Zendavesta with that of later
+ages is to suppose the Parthians a non-Arian nation who intruded
+themselves among the early Arian settlements, coming probably from the
+north, the great home of the Turanians.
+
+Some positive arguments in favor of the Turanian origin of the Parthians
+may be based upon their names. The Parthians affect, in their names,
+the termination -ac or -ah, as, for instance, in Arsac-es, Sinnac-es,
+Parrhaces, Vesaces, Sana-trseces, Phraataces, etc.--a termination which
+characterizes the primitive Babylonian, the Basque, and most of the
+Turanian tongues. The termination -geses, found in such names as
+Volo-geses, Abda-geses, and the like, may be compared with the -ghiz
+of Tenghiz. The Turanian root annap, "God," is perhaps traceable in
+Amm-inap-es. If the Parthian "Chos-roes" represents the Persian "Kurush"
+or Cyrus, the corruption which the word has undergone is such as to
+suggest a Tatar articulation.
+
+The remains of the Parthian language, which we possess, beyond their
+names, are too scanty and too little to be depended on to afford us
+any real assistance in settling the question of their ethnic character.
+Besides the words surena, "Commander-in-chief," and Jcarta or Jcerta,
+"city," "fort," there is scarcely one of which we can be assured that it
+was really understood by the Parthians in the sense assigned to it. Of
+these two, the latter, which is undoubtedly Arian, may have been adopted
+from the Persians: the former is non-Arian, but has no known Turanian
+congeners.
+
+If, however, the consideration of the Parthian language does not help
+us to determine their race, a consideration of their manners and customs
+strengthens much the presumption that they were Turanians. Like the
+Turkoman and Tatar tribes generally, they passed almost their whole
+lives on horseback, conversing, transacting business, buying and
+selling, even eating on their horses. They practised polygamy, secluded
+their women from the sight of men, punished unfaithfulness with extreme
+severity, delighted in hunting, and rarely ate any flesh but that which
+they obtained in this way, were moderate eaters but great drinkers, did
+not speak much, but yet were very unquiet, being constantly engaged in
+stirring up trouble either at home or abroad. A small portion of the
+nation alone was free; the remainder were the slaves of the privileged
+few. Nomadic habits continued to prevail among a portion of those who
+remained in their primitive seats, even in the time of their greatest
+national prosperity; and a coarse, rude, and semi-barbarous character
+attached always even to the most advanced part of the nation, to the
+king, the court, and the nobles generally, a character which, despite a
+certain varnish of civilization, was constantly showing itself in
+their dealings with each other and with foreign nations. "The Parthian
+monarchs," as Gibbon justly observes, "like the Mogul (Mongol)
+sovereigns of Hindostan, delighted in the pastoral life of their
+Scythian ancestors, and the imperial camp was frequently pitched in the
+plain of Ctesiphon, on the eastern bank of the Tigris." Niebuhr
+seems even to doubt whether the Parthians dwelt in cities at all. He
+represents them as maintaining from first to last their nomadic habits,
+and regards the insurrection by which their empire was brought to an
+end as a rising of the inhabitants of towns--the Tadjiks of those
+times--against the Ilyats or wanderers, who had oppressed them for
+centuries. This is, no doubt, an over statement; but it has a foundation
+in fact, since wandering habits and even tent-life were affected by the
+Parthians during the most flourishing period of their empire.
+
+On the whole, the Turanian character of the Parthians, though not
+absolutely proved, appears to be in the highest degree probable. If it
+be accepted, we must regard them as in race closely allied to the vast
+hordes which from a remote antiquity have roamed over the steppe region
+of upper Asia, from time to time bursting upon the south, and harassing
+or subjugating the comparatively unwarlike inhabitants of the warmer
+countries. We must view them as the congeners of the Huns, Bulgarians,
+and Comans of the ancient world; of the Kalmucks, Ouigurs, Usbegs,
+Eleuts, etc., of the present day. Perhaps their nearest representatives
+will be, if we look to their primitive condition at the founding
+of their empire, the modern Turkomans, who occupy nearly the same
+districts; if we regard them in the period of their great prosperity,
+the Osmanli Turks. Like the Turks, they combined great military prowess
+and vigor with a capacity for organization and government not very usual
+among Asiatics. Like them, they remained at heart barbarians, though
+they put on an external appearance of civilization and refinement. Like
+them, they never to any extent amalgamated with the conquered races,
+but continued for centuries an exclusive dominant race, encamped in the
+countries which they had overrun.
+
+The circumstances under which the Parthians became subjects of the
+Persian empire may readily be conjectured, but cannot be laid down
+positively. According to Diodorus, who probably followed Ctesias, they
+passed from the dominion of the Assyrians to that of the Medes, and from
+dependence upon the Medes to a similar position under the Persians. But
+the balance of evidence is against these views. It is, on the whole,
+most probable that neither the Assyrian nor the Median empire extended
+so far eastward as the country of the Parthians. The Parthians probably
+maintained their independence from the time of their settlement in
+the district called after their name until the sudden arrival in their
+country of the great Persian conqueror, Cyrus. This prince, as Herodotus
+tells us, subdued the whole of Western Asia, proceeding from nation
+to nation, and subjugating one people after another. The order of his
+conquests is not traceable; but it is clear that after his conquest
+of the Lydian empire (about B.C. 554) he proceeded eastward, with the
+special object of subduing Bactria.43 To reach Bactria, he would have
+to pass through, or close by, Parthia. Since, as Herodotus says, "he
+conquered the whole way, as he went," we may fairly conclude that on
+his road to Bactria he subjugated the Parthians. It was thus, almost
+certainly, that they lost their independence and became Persian
+subjects. Competent enough to maintain themselves against the
+comparatively small tribes in their near neighborhood, the Chorasmians,
+Hyrcanians, Arians of Herat, Bactrians, and Sagartians, it was not
+possible for them to make an effectual resistance to a monarch who
+brought against them the entire force of a mighty empire. Cyrus had,
+it is probable, little difficulty in obtaining their submission. It is
+possible that they resisted; but perhaps it is more probable that their
+course on this occasion was similar to that which they pursued when the
+Macedonian conqueror swept across these same regions. The Parthians at
+that period submitted without striking a blow. There is no reason to
+believe that they caused any greater trouble to Cyrus.
+
+When the Persian empire was organized by Darius Hystaspis into
+satrapies, Parthia was at first united in the same government with
+Chorasmia, Sogdiana, and Aria. Subsequently, however, when satrapies
+were made more numerous, it was detached from these extensive countries
+and made to form a distinct government, with the mere addition of the
+comparatively small district of Hyrcania.40 It formed, apparently, one
+of the most tractable and submissive of the Persian provinces. Except on
+the single occasion already noticed, when it took part in a revolt that
+extended to nearly one-half the empire, it gave its rulers no trouble;
+no second attempt was made to shake off the alien yoke, which may indeed
+have galled, but which was felt to be inevitable. In the final struggle
+of Persia against Alexander, the Parthians were faithful to their
+masters. They fought on the Persian side at Arbela; and though they
+submitted to Alexander somewhat tamely when he invaded their country,
+yet, as Darius was then dead, and no successor had declared himself,
+they cannot be taxed with desertion. Probably they felt little interest
+in the event of the struggle. Habit and circumstance caused them to send
+their contingent to Arbela at the call of the Great King; but when the
+Persian cause was evidently lost, they felt it needless to make further
+sacrifices. Having no hope of establishing their independence, they
+thought it unnecessary to prolong the contest. They might not gain, but
+they could scarcely lose, by a change of masters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+_Condition of Western Asia under the earlier Seleucidce. Revolts of
+Bactria and Parthia. Conflicting accounts of the establishment of the
+Parthian Kingdom. First War with Syria._
+
+
+The attempt of Alexander the Great to unite the whole civilized world in
+a single vast empire might perhaps have been a success if the mind which
+conceived the end, and which had to a considerable extent elaborated the
+means, had been spared to watch over its own work, and conduct it
+past the perilous period of infancy and adolescence. But the premature
+decease of the great Macedonian in the thirty-third year of his age,
+when his plans of fusion and amalgamation were only just beginning to
+develop themselves, and the unfortunate fact that among his "Successors"
+there was not one who inherited either his grandeur of conception or
+his powers of execution, caused his scheme at once to collapse; and the
+effort to unite and consolidate led only to division and disintegration.
+In lieu of Europe being fused with Asia, Asia itself was split up. For
+nearly a thousand years, from the formation of the great Assyrian empire
+to the death of Darius Codomannus, Western Asia, from the Mediterranean
+to Affghanistan, or even to India, had been united tinder one head, had
+acknowledged one sovereign. Assyria, Media, Persia, had successively
+held the position of dominant power; and the last of the three had
+given union, and consequently peace, to a wider stretch of country and
+a vaster diversity of peoples than either of her predecessors. Under
+the mild yoke of the Achaemenian princes had been held together for two
+centuries, not only all the nations of Western Asia, from the Indian and
+Thibetan deserts to the AEgean and the Mediterranean, but a great part
+of Africa also, that is to say, Egypt, north-eastern Libya, and the
+Greek settlements of Cyrene and Barca. The practical effect of the
+conquests of Alexander was to break up this unity, to introduce in
+the place of a single consolidated empire a multitude of separate and
+contending kingdoms. The result was thus the direct opposite of the
+great conqueror's design, and forms a remarkable instance of the
+contradiction which so often subsists between the propositions of man
+and the dispositions of an overruling Providence.
+
+The struggle for power which broke out almost immediately after his
+death among the successors of Alexander may be regarded as having been
+brought to a close by the battle of Ipsus. The period of fermentation
+was then concluded, and something like a settled condition of things
+brought about. A quadripartite division of Alexander's dominions was
+recognized, Macedonia, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria (or south-western
+Asia) becoming thenceforth distinct political entities. Asia Minor, the
+kingdom of Lysimachus, had indeed less of unity than the other three
+states. It was already disintegrated, the kingdoms of Bithynia, Pontus,
+and Cappadocia, subsisting side by side with that of Lysimachus, which
+was thus limited to western and south-western Asia Minor. After
+the death of Lysimachus, further changes occurred; but the state of
+Pergamus, which sprang up this time, may be regarded as the continuation
+of Lysimachus's kingdom, and as constituting from the time of Eumenes
+I. (B.C. 263) a fourth power in the various political movements and
+combinations of the Graeco-Oriental world.
+
+Of the four powers thus established, the most important, and that with
+which we are here especially concerned, was the kingdom of Syria (as
+it was called), or that ruled for 247 years by the Seleucidae. Seleucus
+Nicator, the founder of this kingdom, was one of Alexander's officers,
+but served without much distinction through the various compaigns by
+which the conquest of the East was effected. At the first distribution
+of provinces (B.C. 323) among Alexander's generals after his death, he
+received no share; and it was not until B.C. 320, when upon the death of
+Perdiccas a fresh distribution was made at Triparadisus, that his
+merits were recognized, and he was given the satrapy of Babylon. In this
+position he acquired a character for mildness and liberality, and made
+himself generally beloved, both by his soldiers and by those who were
+under his government. In the struggle between Antigonus and Eumenes
+(B.C. 317-316), he embraced the side of the former, and did him some
+good service; but this, instead of evoking gratitude, appears to have
+only roused in Antigonus a spirit of jealousy. The ambitious aspirant
+after universal dominion, seeing in the popular satrap a possible, and
+far from a contemptible, rival, thought it politic to sweep him out of
+his way; and the career of Seleucus would have been cut short had he
+not perceived his peril in time, and by a precipitate flight secured his
+safety. Accompanied by a body of no more than fifty horsemen, he took
+the road for Egypt, escaped the pursuit of a detachment sent to overtake
+him, and threw himself on the protection of Ptolemy.
+
+This event, untoward in appearance, proved the turning-point in
+Seleucus's fortunes. It threw him into irreconcilable hostility with
+Antigonus, while it brought him forward before the eyes of men as
+one whom Antigonus feared. It gave him an opportunity of showing his
+military talents in the West, and of obtaining favor with Ptolemy, and
+with all those by whom Antigonus was dreaded. When the great struggle
+came between the confederate monarchs and the aspirant after universal
+dominion, it placed him on the side of the allies. Having recovered
+Babylon (B.C. 312), Seleucus led the flower of the eastern provinces to
+the field of Ipsus (B.C. 301), and contributed largely to the victory,
+thus winning himself a position among the foremost potentates of the
+day. By the terms of the agreement made after Ipsus, Seleucus was
+recognized as monarch of all the Greek conquests in Asia, with the sole
+exceptions of Lower Syria and Asia Minor.
+
+The monarchy thus established extended from the Holy Land and
+the Mediterranean on the west, to the Indus valley and the Bolor
+mountain-chain upon the east, and from the Caspian and Jaxartes towards
+the north, to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean towards the south. It
+comprised Upper Syria, Mesopotamia, parts of Cappadocia and Phrygia,
+Armenia, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Susiana, Persia, Carmania, Sagartia,
+Hyrcania, Parthia, Bactria, Sogdiana, Aria, Zarangia, Arachosia,
+Sacastana, Gedrosia, and probably some part of India. Its entire area
+could not have been much less than 1,200,000 square miles. Of these,
+some 300,000 or 400,000 may have been desert; but the remainder was
+generally fertile, and comprised within its limits some of the very most
+productive regions in the whole world. The Mesopotamian lowland, the
+Orontes valley, the tract between the Caspian and the mountains, the
+regions about Merv and Balkh, were among the richest in Asia, and
+produced grain and fruits in incredible abundance. The rich pastures
+of Media and Armenia furnished excellent horses. Bactria gave an
+inexhaustible supply of camels. Elephants in large numbers were readily
+procurable from India. Gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, were
+furnished by several of the provinces, and precious stones of various
+kinds abounded. Moreover, for above ten centuries, the precious metals
+and the most valuable kinds of merchandise had flowed from every quarter
+into the region; and though the Macedonians may have carried off, or
+wasted, a considerable quantity of both, yet the accumulations of ages
+withstood the drain, and the hoarded wealth which had come down from
+Assyrian, Babylonian, and Median times was to be found in the days of
+Seleucus chiefly within the limits of his Empire.
+
+The situation which nature pointed out as most suitable for the capital
+of a kingdom having the extension that has been here indicated was
+some portion of the Mesopotamian valley, which was at once central and
+fertile. The empire of Seleucus might have been conveniently ruled
+from the site of the ancient Nineveh, or from either of the two still
+existing and still flourishing cities of Susa and Babylon. The impetus
+given to commerce by the circumstances of the time rendered a site near
+the sea preferable to one so remote as that of Nineveh, and the
+same consideration made a position on the Tigris or Euphrates more
+advantageous than one upon a smaller river. So far, all pointed to
+Babylon as the natural and best metropolis; and it was further in favor
+of that place that its merits had struck the Great Conqueror, who
+had designed to make it the capital of his own still vaster Empire.
+Accordingly Babylon was Seleucus's first choice; and there his Court
+was held for some years previously to his march against Antigonus.
+But either certain disadvantages were found to attach to Babylon as
+a residence, or the mere love of variety and change caused him very
+shortly to repent of his selection, and to transfer his capital to
+another site. He founded, and built with great rapidity, the city of
+Seleucia upon the Tigris, at the distance of about forty miles from
+Babylon, and had transferred thither the seat of government even before
+B.C. 301. Thus far, however, no fault had been committed. The second
+capital was at least as conveniently placed as the first, and would have
+served equally well as a centre from which to govern the Empire. But
+after Ipsus a further change was made--a change that was injudicious in
+the extreme. Either setting undue store by his newly-acquired western
+provinces, or over-anxious to keep close watch on his powerful neighbors
+in those parts, Lysimachus and Ptolemy, Seleucus once more transferred
+the seat of empire, exchanging this time the valley of the Tigris for
+that of the Orontes, and the central position of Lower Mesopotamia for
+almost the extreme western point of his vast territories. Antioch arose
+in extraordinary beauty and magnificence during the first few years
+that succeeded Ipsus, and Seleucus in a short time made it his ordinary
+residence. The change weakened the ties which bound the Empire together,
+offended the bulk of the Asiatics, who saw their monarch withdraw from
+them into a remote region, and particularly loosened the grasp of the
+government on those more eastern districts which were at once furthest
+from the new metropolis and least assimilated to the Hellenic character.
+Among the causes which led to the disintegration of the Seleucid
+kingdom, there is none that deserves so well to be considered the
+main cause as this. It was calculated at once to produce the desire to
+revolt, and to render the reduction of revolted provinces difficult,
+if not impossible. The evil day, however, might have been indefinitely
+delayed had the Seleucid princes either established and maintained
+through their Empire a vigorous and effective administration, or
+abstained from entangling themselves in wars with their neighbors in the
+West, the Ptolemies and the princes of Asia Minor.
+
+But the organization of the Empire was unsatisfactory. Instead of
+pursuing the system inaugurated by Alexander and seeking to weld
+the heterogeneous elements of which his kingdom was composed into a
+homogeneous whole, instead of at once conciliating and elevating
+the Asiatics by uniting them with the Macedonians and the Greeks, by
+promoting intermarriage and social intercourse between the two classes
+of his subjects, educating the Asiatics in Greek ideas and Greek
+schools, opening his court to them, promoting them to high employments,
+making them feel that they were as much valued and as well cared for as
+the people of the conquering race, the first Seleucus, and after him
+his successors, fell back upon the old simpler, ruder system, the system
+pursued before Alexander's time by the Persians, and before them perhaps
+by the Medes--the system most congenial to human laziness and human
+pride--that of governing a nation of slaves by means of a class
+of victorious aliens. Seleucus divided his empire into satrapies,
+seventy-two in number. He bestowed the office of satrap on none but
+Macedonians and Greeks. The standing army, by which he maintained his
+authority, was indeed composed in the main of Asiatics, disciplined
+after the Greek model; but it was officered entirely by men of Greek or
+Macedonian parentage. Nothing was done to keep up the self-respect of
+Asiatics, or to soften the unpleasantness that must always attach to
+being governed by foreigners. Even the superintendence over the satraps
+seems to have been insufficient. According to some writers, it was a
+gross outrage offered by a satrap to an Asiatic subject that stirred
+up the Parthians to their revolt. The story may not be true; but its
+currency shows of what conduct towards those under their government the
+satraps of the Seleucidae were thought, by such as lived near the time,
+to have been capable.
+
+It would, perhaps, have been difficult for the Seleucid princes, even
+had they desired it, to pursue a policy of absolute abstention in
+the wars of their western neighbors. So long as they were resolute to
+maintain their footing on the right bank of the Euphrates, in Phrygia,
+Cappadocia, and upper Syria, they were of necessity mixed up with the
+quarrels of the west. Could they have been content to withdraw within
+the Euphrates, they might have remained for the most part clear of such
+entanglements; but even then there would have been occasions when they
+must have taken the field in self-defence. As it was, however, the idea
+of abstention seems never to have occurred to them. It was the fond
+dream of each "Successor" of Alexander that in his person might,
+perhaps, be one day united all the territories of the great Conqueror.
+Seleucus would have felt that he sacrificed his most cherished hopes
+if he had allowed the west to go its own way, and had contented himself
+with consolidating a great power in the regions east of the Euphrates.
+
+And the policy of the founder of the house was followed by his
+successors. The three Seleucid sovereigns who reigned prior to
+the Parthian revolt were, one and all, engaged in frequent, if not
+continual, wars with the monarchs of Egypt and Asia Minor. The first
+Seleucus, by his claim to the sovereignty of Lower Syria, established a
+ground of constant contention with the Ptolemies; and though he did not
+prosecute the claim to the extent of actual hostility, yet in the reign
+of his son, Antiochus I., called Soter, the smothered quarrel broke out.
+Soter fomented the discontent of Cyrene with its subjection to Egypt,
+and made at least one expedition against Ptolemy Philadelphus in person
+(B.C. 264). His efforts did not meet with much success; but they were
+renewed by his son, Antiochus II., surnamed "the God", who warred with
+Philadelphus from B.C. 260 to B.C. 250, contending with him chiefly in
+Asia Minor. These wars were complicated with others. The first Antiochus
+aimed at adding the kingdom of Bithynia to his dominions, and attacked
+successively the Bythynian monarchs, Zipcetas and Nicomedes I. (B.C.
+280-278). This aggression brought him into collision with the Gauls,
+whom Nicomedes called to his aid, and with whom Antiochus had several
+struggles, some successful and some disastrous. He also attacked Eumenes
+of Pergamus (B.C. 263), but was defeated in a pitched battle near
+Sardis. The second Antiochus was not engaged in so great a multiplicity
+of contests; but we hear of his taking a part in the internal affairs of
+Miletus, and expelling a certain Timachus, who had made himself tyrant
+of that city. There is also some ground for thinking that he had a
+standing quarrel with the king of Media Atropatene. Altogether it
+is evident that from B.C. 280 to B.C. 250 the Seleucid princes were
+incessantly occupied with wars in the west, in Asia Minor and in Syria
+Proper, wars which so constantly engaged them that they had neither time
+nor attention to spare for the affairs of the far east. So long as the
+Bactrian and Parthian satraps paid their tributes, and supplied the
+requisite quotas of troops for service in the western wars, the Antiochi
+were content. The satraps were left to manage affairs at their own
+discretion; and it is not surprising that the absence of a controlling
+hand led to various complications and disorders.
+
+Moreover, the personal character of the second Antiochus must be taken
+into account. The vanity and impiety, which could accept the name of
+"Theus" for a service that fifty other Greeks had rendered to oppressed
+towns without regarding themselves as having done anything very
+remarkable, would alone indicate a weak and contemptible morale, and
+might justify us, did we know no more, in regarding the calamities of
+his reign as the fruit of his own unfitness to rule an empire. But
+there is sufficient evidence that he had other, and worse, vices. He
+was noted, even among Asiatic sovereigns, for luxury and debauchery; he
+neglected all state affairs in the pursuit of pleasure; his wives and
+male favorites were allowed to rule his kingdom at their will; and
+their most flagrant crimes were neither restrained nor punished. Such a
+character could have inspired neither respect nor fear. The satraps, to
+whom the conduct of their sovereign could not but become known, would
+be partly encouraged to follow the bad example, partly provoked by it to
+shake themselves free of so hateful and yet contemptible a master.
+
+It was, probably, about the year B.C. 256, the fifth of the second
+Antiochus, when that prince, hard pressed by Philadelphus in the west,
+was also, perhaps, engaged in a war with the king of Atropatene in the
+north, that the standard of revolt was first actually raised in the
+eastern provinces, and a Syrian satrap ventured to declare himself an
+independent sovereign. This was Diodotus, satrap of Bactria a Greek, as
+his name shows. Suddenly assuming the state and style of king he
+issued coins stamped with his own name, and established himself without
+difficulty as sovereign over the large and flourishing province of
+Bactria, or the tract of fertile land about the upper and middle
+Oxus. This district had from a remote antiquity been one with special
+pretensions. The country was fertile, and much of it strong; the people
+were hardy and valiant; they were generally treated with exceptional
+favor by the Persian monarchs; and they seem to have had traditions
+which assigned them a pre-eminence among the Arian tribes at some
+indefinitely distant period. We may presume that they would gladly
+support the bold enterprise of their new monarch; they would feel their
+vanity flattered by the establishment of an independent Bactria, even
+though it were under Greek kings; and they would energetically second
+him in an enterprise which gratified their pride, while it held out to
+them hopes of a career of conquest, with its concomitants of plunder and
+glory. The settled quiet which they had enjoyed under the Achaemenide
+and the Seleucidae was probably not much to their taste; and they
+would gladly exchange so tame and dull a life for the pleasures of
+independence and the chances of empire.
+
+It would seem that Antiochus, sunk in luxury at his capital, could not
+bring himself to make even an effort to check the spirit of rebellion,
+and recover his revolted subjects. Bactria was allowed to establish
+itself as an independent monarchy, without having to undergo the ordeal
+of a bloody struggle. Antiochus neither marched against Diodotus
+in person, nor sent a general to contend with him. The authority of
+Diodotus was confirmed and riveted on his subjects by an undisturbed
+reign of eighteen years before a Syrian army even showed itself in his
+neighborhood.
+
+The precedent of successful revolt thus set could not well be barren
+of consequences. If one province might throw off the yoke of its feudal
+lord with impunity, why might not others? Accordingly, within a few
+years the example set by Bactria was followed in the neighboring country
+of Parthia, but with certain very important differences. In Bactria the
+Greek satrap took the lead, and the Bactrian kingdom was, at any rate at
+its commencement, as thoroughly Greek as that of the Seleucidae. But in
+Parthia Greek rule was from the first cast aside. The natives rebelled
+against their masters. An Asiatic race of a rude and uncivilized type,
+coarse and savage, but brave and freedom-loving, rose up against the
+polished but effeminate Greeks who held them in subjection, and claimed
+and established their independence. The Parthian kingdom was thoroughly
+anti-Hellenic. It appealed to patriotic feelings, and to the hate
+universally felt towards the stranger. It set itself to undo the work
+of Alexander, to cast out the Europeans, to recover to the Asiatics the
+possession of Asia. It was naturally almost as hostile to Bactria as to
+Syria, although danger from a common enemy might cause it sometimes
+to make a temporary alliance with that kingdom. It had, no doubt, the
+general sympathy of the populations in the adjacent countries, and
+represented to them the cause of freedom and autonomy.
+
+The exact circumstances under which the Parthian revolt took place are
+involved in much obscurity. According to one account the leader of the
+revolt, Arsaces, was a Bactrian, to whom the success of Diodotus was
+disagreeable, and who therefore quitted the newly-founded kingdom, and
+betook himself to Parthia, where he induced the natives to revolt and to
+accept him for their monarch. Another account, which is attractive from
+the minute details into which it enters, is the following:--"Arsaces and
+Tiridates were brothers, descendants of Phriapites, the son of Arsaces.
+Pherecles, who had been made satrap of their country by Antiochus Theus,
+offered a gross insult to one of them, whereupon, as they could not
+brook the indignity, they took five men into counsel, and with their aid
+slew the insolent one. They then induced their nation to revolt from
+the Macedonians, and set up a government of their own, which attained to
+great power." A third version says that the Arsaces, whom all represent
+as the first king, was in reality a Scythian, who at the head of a body
+of Parnian Dahce, nomads inhabiting the valley of the Attrek (Ochus),
+invaded Parthia, soon after the establishment of Bactrian independence,
+and succeeded in making himself master of it. With this account, which
+Strabo seems to prefer, agrees tolerably well that of Justin, who
+says that "Arsaces, having been long accustomed to live by robbery
+and rapine, attacked the Parthians with a predatory band, killed their
+satrap, Andragoras, and seized the supreme authority." As there was
+in all probability a close ethnic connection between the Dahae and the
+Parthians, it would be likely enough that the latter might accept for
+a king a chieftain of the former who had boldly entered their country,
+challenged the Greek satrap to an encounter, and by defeating and
+killing him freed them--at any rate for the time--from the Greek yoke.
+An oppressed people gladly adopts as chief the head of an allied tribe
+if he has shown skill and daring, and offers to protect them from their
+oppressors.
+
+The revolt of Arsaces has been placed by some as early as the year B.C.
+256. The Bactrian revolt is assigned by most historians to that
+year; and the Parthian, according to some, was contemporary. The
+best authorities, however, give a short interval between the two
+insurrections; and, on the whole, there is perhaps reason to regard the
+Parthian independence as dating from about B.C. 250. This year was the
+eleventh of Antiochus Theus, and fell into the time when he was still
+engaged in his war with Ptolemy Philadelphus. It might have been
+expected that when he concluded a peace with the Egyptian monarch in
+B.C. 249, he would have turned his arms at once towards the east, and
+have attempted at any rate the recovery of his lost dominions. But, as
+already stated, his personal character was weak, and he preferred the
+pleasures of repose at Antioch to the hardships of a campaign in the
+Caspian region. So far as we hear, he took no steps to re-establish
+his authority; and Arsaces, like Diodotus, was left undisturbed to
+consolidate his power at his leisure.
+
+Arsaces lived, however, but a short time after obtaining the crown. His
+authority was disputed within the limits of Parthia itself; and he had
+to engage in hostilities with a portion of his own subjects. We may
+suspect that the malcontents were chiefly, if not solely, those of Greek
+race, who may have been tolerably numerous, and whose strength would
+lie in the towns. Hecatompylos, the chief city of Parthia, was among the
+colonies founded by Alexander; and its inhabitants would naturally be
+disinclined to acquiesce in the rule of a "barbarian." Within little
+more than two years of his coronation, Arsaces, who had never been able
+to give his kingdom peace, was killed in battle by a spear-thrust in the
+side; and was succeeded (B.C. 247) by his brother, having left, it is
+probable, no sons, or none of mature age.
+
+Tiridates, the successor of Arsaces, took upon his accession his
+brother's name, and is known in history as Arsaces II. The practice
+thus begun passed into a custom, each Parthian monarch from henceforth
+bearing as king the name of Arsaces in addition to his own real
+appellation, whatever that might be. In the native remains the assumed
+name almost supersedes the other; but, fortunately, the Greek and Roman
+writers who treat of Parthian affairs, have preserved the distinctive
+appellations, and thus saved the Parthian history from inextricable
+confusion. It is not easy to see from what quarter this practice was
+adopted; perhaps we should regard it as one previously existing among
+the Dahan Scyths.
+
+If the Parthian monarchy owed its origin to Arsaces I., it owed its
+consolidation, and settled establishment to Arsaces II., or Tiridates.
+This prince, who had the good fortune to reign for above thirty years,
+and who is confused by many writers with the actual founder of the
+monarchy, having received Parthia from his brother, in the weak and
+unsettled condition above described, left it a united and powerful
+kingdom, enlarged in its boundaries, strengthened in its defences, in
+alliance with its nearest and most formidable neighbor, and triumphant
+over the great power of Syria, which had hoped to bring it once more
+into subjection. He ascended the throne, it is probable, early in B.C.
+247, and had scarcely been monarch a couple of years when he witnessed
+one of those vast but transient revolutions to which Asia is subject,
+but which are of rare occurrence in Europe. Ptolemy Euergetes, the son
+of Philadelphus, having succeeded to his father's kingdom in the same
+year with Tiridates, marched (in B.C. 245) a huge expedition into Asia,
+defeated Seleucus II. (Callinicus) in Syria, took Antioch, and then,
+having crossed the Euphrates, proceeded to bring the greater part of
+Western Asia under his sway. Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylonia, Susiana,
+Persia, Media, submitted to him. He went in person as far as Babylon,
+and, according to his own account, was acknowledged as master by all
+the Eastern provinces to the very borders of Bactria. The Parthian
+and Bactrian kingdoms cannot but have trembled for their newly won
+independence. Here was a young warrior who, in a single campaign, had
+marched the distance of a thousand miles, from the banks of the Nile to
+those of the Lower Euphrates, without so much as receiving a check, and
+who was threatening to repeat the career of Alexander. What resistance
+could the little Parthian state hope to offer to such an enemy? It
+must have rejoiced Tiridates to hear that while the new conqueror was
+gathering somewhat too hastily the fruits of victory, collecting and
+despatching to Egypt the most valuable works of art that he could find
+in the cities which he had taken, and levying heavy contributions on the
+submitted countries, a revolt had broken out in his own land, to quell
+which he was compelled to retire suddenly and to relinquish the greater
+part of his acquisitions. Thus the threatened conquest proved a mere
+inroad, and instead of a power of greater strength replacing Syria in
+these regions, Syria practically retained her hold of them, but with
+enfeebled grasp, her strength crippled, her prestige lost, and her honor
+tarnished. Ptolemy had, it is probable, not retired very long, when,
+encouraged by what he had seen of Syria's weakness, Tiridates took the
+aggressive, and invading the neighboring district of Hyrcania, succeeded
+in detaching it from the Syrian state, and adding it to his own
+territory. This was throwing out a challenge which the Syrian monarch,
+Callinicus, could scarcely decline to meet, unless he was prepared to
+lose, one by one, all the outlying provinces of his empire.
+
+Accordingly in B.C. 237, having patched up a peace with his brother,
+Antiochus Hierax, the Syrian monarch made an expedition against Parthia.
+Not feeling, however, altogether confident of success if he trusted
+wholly to his own unaided efforts, he prudently entered into an alliance
+with Diodotus the Bactrian king, and the two agreed to combine their
+forces against Tiridates. Hereupon that monarch, impressed with a
+deep sense of the impending danger, quitted Parthia, and, proceeding
+northwards, took refuge with the Aspasiacae, a Scythian tribe which
+dwelt between the Oxus and the Jaxartes. The Aspasiacae probably lent
+him troops; at any rate, he did not remain long in retirement, but,
+hearing that the Bactrian king, whom he especially feared, was dead, he
+contrived to detach his son and successor from the Syrian alliance, and
+to draw him over to his own side. Having made this important stroke, he
+met Callinicus in battle, and completely defeated his army.
+
+This victory was with reason regarded by the Parthians as a sort of
+second beginning of their independence. Hitherto their kingdom had
+existed precariously, and as it were by sufferance. It could not but
+be that the power from which they had revolted would one day seek to
+reclaim its lost territory; and, until the new monarchy had measured
+its strength against that of its former mistress, none could feel secure
+that it would be able to maintain its existence. The victory gained by
+Tiridates over Callinicus put an end to these doubts. It proved to the
+world at large, and also to the Parthians themselves, that they had
+nothing to fear--that they were strong enough to preserve their freedom.
+Considering the enormous disproportion between the military strength
+and resources of the narrow Parthian State and the vast Syrian
+Empire--considering that the one comprised about fifty thousand and the
+other above a million of square miles; that the one had inherited the
+wealth of ages and the other was probably as poor as any province in
+Asia; that the one possessed the Macedonian arms, training, and tactics,
+while the other knew only the rude warfare of the Steppes--the result
+of the struggle cannot but be regarded as surprising. Still it was
+not without precedent, and it has not been without repetition. It adds
+another to the many instances where a small but brave people, bent on
+resisting foreign domination, have, when standing on their defence, in
+their own territory, proved more than a match for the utmost force that
+a foe of overwhelming strength could bring against them. It reminds us
+of Marathon, of Bannock-burn, of Morgarten. We may not sympathize wholly
+with the victors, for Greek civilization, even of the type introduced by
+Alexander into Asia, was ill replaced by Tatar coarseness and barbarism;
+but we cannot refuse our admiration to the spectacle of a handful of
+gallant men determinedly resisting in the fastness of their native land
+a host of aliens, and triumphing over their would-be oppressors.
+
+The Parthians themselves, deeply impressed with the importance of
+the contest, preserved the memory of it by a solemn festival on the
+anniversary of their victory, which they still celebrated in the time of
+Trogus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+_Consolidation of the Parthian Kingdom. Death of Tiridates and accession
+of Arsaces III. Attack on Media. War of Artabanus (Arsaces III.) with
+Antiochus the Great. Period of inaction. Great development of Bactrian
+power. Reigns of Priapatius (Arsaces IV.) and Phraates I. (Arsaces V.)_
+
+
+Selbucus might perhaps not have accepted his defeat as final had he been
+altogether free to choose whether he would continue the Parthian war
+or no. The resources of his Empire were so vast, his command of men
+and money so unbounded, that he could easily have replaced one army by
+another, and so have prolonged the struggle. But renewed troubles had
+broken out in the western portion of his dominions, where his brother,
+Antiochus Hierax, was still in arms against his authority. Seleucus
+felt it necessary to turn his attention to this quarter, and having
+once retired from the Parthian contest, he never afterwards renewed it.
+Tiridates was left unmolested, to act as he thought fit, and either to
+attempt further conquests, or to devote himself to securing those which
+he had effected. He chose the latter course, and during the remainder of
+his reign--a space of above twenty years--he employed himself wholly in
+strengthening and adorning his small kingdom. Having built a number
+of forts in various strong positions, and placed garrisons in them, he
+carefully selected a site for a new city, which he probably intended to
+make his capital. The spot chosen combined the advantages of being
+at once delightful and easily defensible. It was surrounded with
+precipitous rocks, which enclosed a plain of extraordinary fertility.
+Abundant wood and copious streams of water were in the neighborhood. The
+soil was so rich that it scarcely required cultivation, and the woods
+were so full of game as to afford endless amusement to hunters. To the
+town which he built in this locality Tiridates gave the name of Dara, a
+word which the Greeks and Romans elongated into Dareium. Unfortunately,
+modern travellers have not yet succeeded in identifying the site,
+which should, however, lie towards the East, perhaps in the vicinity of
+Meshed.
+
+We may presume that Tiridates, when he built this remarkable city,
+intended to make it the seat of government. Hecatompylos, as a Greek
+town, had the same disadvantages, which were considered in later times
+to render Seleucia unfit for the residence of the Parthian Court and
+monarch. Dara, like Ctesiphon, was to be wholly Parthian. Its strong
+situation would render it easy of defence; its vicinity to forests
+abounding in game would give it special charms in the eyes of persons
+so much devoted, as the Parthian princes were, to the chase. But the
+intention of Tiridates, if we have truly defined it, failed of taking
+permanent effect. He may himself have fixed his abode at Dara, but his
+successors did not inherit his predilections; and Hecatompylos remained,
+after his reign, as before it, the head-quarters of the government, and
+the recognized metropolis of Parthia Proper.
+
+After passing in peace and prosperity the last twenty years of his
+reign, Tiridates died in a good old age, leaving his crown to a son,
+whose special name is a little uncertain, but who is called by most
+moderns Artabanus I.
+
+Artabanus, having ascended the Parthian throne about B.C. 214, and being
+anxious to distinguish himself, took advantage of the war raging between
+Antiochus III., the second son of Seleucus Callinicus, and Achseus, one
+of his rebel satraps, to advance into Media, and to add to his dominions
+the entire tract between Hyrcania and the Zagros mountains. Of the
+manner in which he effected his conquests we have no account; but they
+seem to have been the fruit of a single campaign, which must have
+been conducted with great vigor and military skill. The Parthian prince
+appears to have occupied Ecbatana, the ancient capital of the Median
+Empire, and to have thence threatened the Mesopotamian countries. Upon
+receiving intelligence of his invasion, Antiochus levied a vast army,
+and set out towards the East, with a determination to subjugate all
+the revolted provinces, and to recover the limits of the old Empire
+of Nicator. Passing the Zagros chain, probably by way of Behistun and
+Kermanshaw, he easily retook Ecbatana, which was an open town, and
+undefended by the Parthians, and proceeded to prepare for a further
+advance eastward. The route from Ecbatana to the Caspian Gates crosses,
+of necessity, unless a considerable circuit be taken, some large tracts
+of barren ground, inlets or bays of the Great Salt Desert of Iran.
+Artabanus cherished the hope that here the difficulties of the way would
+effectually bar his enemy's progress, more especially as his troops were
+so numerous, and as water was scanty throughout the whole region. The
+streams which flow from Zagros towards the East are few and scanty; they
+mostly fail in summer, which, even in Asia, is the campaigning season;
+and those who cross the desert at this time must depend on the wells
+wherewith the more western part of the region is supplied by means of
+_kanats_ or underground conduits, which are sometimes carried many miles
+from the foot of the mountains. The position of the wells, which were
+few in number, was known only to the natives; and Artabanus hoped that
+the Syrian monarch would be afraid to place the lives of his soldiers in
+such doubtful keeping. When, however, he found that Antiochus was not
+to be deterred by any fears of this kind, but was bent on crossing the
+desert, he had recourse to the barbaric expedients of filling in, or
+poisoning, the wells along the line of route-which the Syrian prince
+was likely to follow. But these steps seem to have been taken too late.
+Antiochus, advancing suddenly, caught some of the Parthian troops at
+their barbarous work, and dispersed them without difficulty. He then
+rapidly effected the transit, and, pressing forward, was soon in the
+enemy's country, where he occupied the chief city, Hecatompylos. Up
+to this point the Parthian monarch had declined an engagement. No
+information has come down to us as to his motives; but they may
+be readily enough conjectured. To draw an enemy far away from his
+resources, while retiring upon one's own; to entangle a numerous host
+among narrow passes and denies; to decline battle when he offers it,
+and then to set upon him unawares, has always been the practice of weak
+mountain races when attacked by a more numerous foe. It is often good
+policy in such a case even to yield the capital without a blow, and
+to retreat into a more difficult situation. The assailant must follow
+whithersoever his foe retires, or quit the country, leaving him
+unsubdued. Antiochus, aware of this necessity, and rendered confident of
+success by the evacuation of a situation so strong, and so suitable for
+the Parthian tactics as Hecatompylos, after giving his army a short
+rest at the captured capital, set out in pursuit of Artabanus, who
+had withdrawn his forces towards Hyrcania. To reach the rich Hyrcanian
+valleys, he was forced to cross the main chain of the Elburz, which here
+attains an elevation of 7000 or 8000 feet. The route which his army had
+to follow was the channel of a winter-torrent, obstructed with stones
+and trunks of trees, partly by nature, partly by the efforts of the
+inhabitants. The long and difficult ascent was disputed by the enemy the
+whole way, and something like a pitched battle was fought at the top;
+but Antiochus persevered, and, though his army must have suffered
+severely, descended into Hyrcanian and captured several of the towns.
+Here our main authority, Polybius, suddenly deserts us, and we can give
+no further account of the war beyond its general result--Artabanus and
+the Parthians remained unsubdued after a struggle which seems to have
+lasted some years; Artabanus himself displayed great valor; and at
+length the Syrian monarch thought it best to conclude a peace with him,
+in which he acknowledged the Parthian independence. It is probable that
+he exacted in return a pledge that the Parthian monarch should lend him
+his assistance in the expedition which he was bent on conducting against
+Bactria; but there is no actual proof that the conditions of peace
+contained this clause. We are left in doubt whether Artabanus stood
+aloof in the war which Antiochus waged with Euthydemus of Bactria
+immediately after the close of his Parthian campaigns, or whether he
+lent his aid to the attempt made to crush his neighbor. Perhaps, on the
+whole, it is most probable that, nominally, he was Antiochus's ally in
+the war, but that, practically, he gave him little help, having no wish
+to see Syria aggrandized.
+
+At any rate, whether Euthydemus had to meet the attack of Syria only, or
+of Syria and Parthia in combination, the result was, that Bactria,
+like Parthia, proved strong enough to maintain her ground, and that the
+Syrian King, after a while, grew tired of the struggle, and consented to
+terms of accommodation. The Bactrian monarchy, like the Parthian, came
+out of the contest unscathed--indeed we may go further, and say that the
+position of the two kingdoms was improved by the attacks made upon them.
+If a prince possessing the personal qualities that distinguished the
+third Antiochus, and justified the title of "Great" which he derived
+from his oriental expedition--if such a prince, enjoying profound peace
+at home, and directing the whole force of his empire against them, could
+not succeed in reducing to subjection the revolted provinces of the
+northeast, but, whatever military advantages he might gain, found
+conquest impossible, and returned home, having acknowledged as
+independent kings those whom he went out to chastise as rebellious
+satraps, it was evident that the kingdoms might look upon themselves
+as firmly established, or, at least, as secure from the danger of
+re-absorption into the Syrian State. The repulse of Callinicus was a
+probable indication of the fate of all future efforts on the part of
+Syria to reduce Parthia; the conditions of peace granted by Antiochus to
+both countries, after a series of military successes, constituted almost
+a proof that the yoke of Syria would never be re-imposed on either the
+Parthian or the Bactrian nation.
+
+With the departure of Antiochus from the East, about B.C. 206, we enter
+upon a period when Parthian history is, for a quarter of a century,
+almost a blank. Nothing more is known of Arsaces III. after Antiochus
+retired; and nothing at all is known of his successor, Priapatius,
+beyond his name and the length of his reign, which lasted for fifteen
+years (from about B.C. 196 to 181). The reigns of these princes coincide
+with those of Euthydemus and his son, Demetrius, in Bactria; and perhaps
+the most probable solution of the problem of Parthian inactivity at this
+time is to be found in the great development of Bactrian power which
+now took place, and the influence which the two neighboring kingdoms
+naturally exercised upon each other. When Parthia was strong and
+aggressive, Bactria was, for the most part, quiet; and when Bactria
+shows signs of vigorous and active life, Parthia languishes and retires
+into the shade.
+
+The Bactrian Kingdom, founded (as we have seen) a little before the
+Parthian, sought from the first its aggrandizement in the East rather
+than in the West. The Empire of Alexander had included all the countries
+between the Caspian Sea and the Sutlej; and these tracts, which
+constitute the modern Khorasan, Afghanistan, and Punjaub, had all been
+to a certain extent Hellenized by means of Greek settlements and Greek
+government. But Alexander was no sooner dead than a tendency displayed
+itself in these regions, and particularly in the more eastern ones,
+towards a relapse into barbarism, or, if this expression be too strong,
+at any rate towards a rejection of Hellenism. During the early wars
+of the "Successors" the natives of the Punjaub generally seized the
+opportunity to revolt; the governors placed over the various districts
+by Alexander were murdered; and the tribes everywhere declared
+themselves free. Among the leaders of the revolt was a certain
+Chandragupta (or Sandracottus), who contrived to turn the circumstances
+of the time to his own special advantage, and built up a considerable
+kingdom in the far East out of the fragments which had detached
+themselves from what was still called the Macedonian Empire. When
+Seleucus Nicator, about B.C. 305, conducted an expedition across the
+Indus, he found this monarch established in the tract between the Indus
+and the Ganges, ruling over extensive dominions and at the head of
+a vast force. It is uncertain whether the two rivals engaged in
+hostilities or no. At any rate, a peace was soon made; and Seleucus, in
+return for five hundred elephants, ceded to Sandracottus certain lands
+on the west bank of the Indus, which had hitherto been regarded as
+Macedonian. These probably consisted of the low grounds between the
+Indus and the foot of the mountains--the districts of Peshawur, Bunnoo,
+Murwut, Shikarpoor, and Kurrachee--which are now in British occupation.
+Thus Hellenism in these parts receded more and more, the Sanskritic
+Indians recovering by degrees the power and independence of which they
+had been deprived by Alexander.
+
+This state of things could not have been pleasing to the Greek princes
+of Bactria, who must have felt that the reaction towards barbarism in
+these parts tended to isolate them, and that there was a danger of their
+being crushed between the Parthians on the one hand and the perpetually
+advancing Indians on the other. When Antiochus the Great, after
+concluding his treaty with Euthydemus, marched eastward, the Bactrian
+monarch probably indulged in hopes that the Indians would receive a
+check, and that the Greek frontier would be again carried to the Indus,
+if not to the Sutlej. But, if so, he was disappointed. Antiochus,
+instead of making war upon the Indians, contented himself with renewing
+the old alliance of the Seleucidae with the Maurja princes, and
+obtaining a number of elephants from Sophagesenus, the grandson of
+Sandracottus. It is even possible that he went further, and made
+cessions of territory in return for this last gift, which brought the
+Indian frontier still nearer than before to that of Bactria, At any
+rate, the result of the Indian expedition of Antiochus seems to have
+been unsatisfactory to Euthydemus, who shortly afterwards commenced what
+are called "Indian Wars" on his south-eastern frontier, employing in
+them chiefly the arms of his son, Demetrius. During the latter years
+of Euthydemus and the earlier ones of Demetrius, the Bactrian rule was
+rapidly extended over the greater portion of the modern Afghanistan; nor
+did it even stop there. The arms of Demetrius were carried across the
+Indus into the Punjaub region; and the city of Euthymedeia upon the
+Hydaspes remained to later times an evidence of the extent of his
+conquests. From B.C. 206 to about B.C. 185 was the most flourishing
+period of the Bactrian monarchy, which expanded during that space from a
+small kingdom into a considerable empire.
+
+The power and successes of the Bactrian princes at this time account
+sufficiently for the fact that the contemporary Parthian monarchs stood
+upon their guard, and undertook no great expeditions. Arsaces III., who
+continued on the throne for about ten or twelve years after his peace
+with Antiochus, and Priapatius, or Arsaces IV., his son, who succeeded
+him, and had a reign of fifteen years, were content, as already
+observed, to watch over their own State, husbanding its resources, and
+living at peace with all their neighbors. It was not till Phraates I.
+(Arsaces V.), the son of Priapatius, had mounted the throne, B.C. 181,
+that this policy was departed from, and Parthia, which had remained
+tranquil for a quarter of a century, once more aroused herself, and
+assumed an attitude of aggression.
+
+The quarter to which Phraates I. directed his arms was the country of
+the Mardians, a poor but warlike people, who appear to have occupied
+a portion of the Elburz range, probably that immediately south of
+Mazanderan and Asterabad. The reduction of these fierce mountaineers
+is likely to have occupied him for some years, since their country was
+exceedingly strong and difficult. Though the Mardi were (nominally, at
+any rate) subjects of the Seleucidae, we do not hear of any assistance
+being rendered them, or, indeed, of any remonstrance being made against
+the unprovoked aggression of the Parthian monarch. The reign of Phraates
+I. in Parthia coincides with that of Seleucus IV. (Philopator) in Syria;
+and we may account for the inactivity of this prince, in part by
+his personal character, which was weak and pacific, in part by the
+exhaustion of Syria at the time, in consequence of his father's great
+war with Rome (B.C. 197-190), and of the heavy contribution which
+was imposed upon him at the close of it. Syria may scarcely have yet
+recovered sufficient strength to enter upon a new struggle, especially
+one with a distant and powerful enemy. The material interests of the
+Empire may also have seemed to be but little touched by the war, since
+the Mardi were too poor to furnish much tribute; and it is possible, if
+not even probable, that their subjection to Syria had long been rather
+formal than real. Seleucus therefore allowed the Mardians to be reduced,
+conceiving, probably, that their transfer to the dominion of the
+Arsacidse neither increased the Parthian power nor diminished his own.
+
+But the nation which submits to be robbed of a province, however
+unproductive and valueless, must look to having the process repeated
+at intervals, until it bestirs itself and offers resistance. There is
+reason to believe that Phraates had no sooner conquered the Mardians
+than he cast his eyes on an adjacent district, and resolved to add it to
+his territories. This was the tract lying immediately to the West of the
+Caspian Gates, which was always reckoned to Media, forming, however,
+a distinct district, know as Media Rhagiana. It was a region of much
+natural fertility, being watered by numerous streams from the Elburz
+range, and possessing a soil of remarkable productiveness. Its breadth
+was not great, since it consisted of a mere strip between the mountains
+and the Salt Desert which occupies the whole centre of the Iranic
+tableland; but it extended in length at least a hundred and fifty miles,
+from the Caspian Gates to the vicinity of Kasvin. Its capital city, from
+a remote antiquity, was Rbages, situated near the eastern extremity
+of the strip, probably at the spot now called Kaleh Erij, about
+twenty-three miles from the "Gates." On this region it is clear that
+Phraates cast a covetous eye. How much of it he actually occupied is
+doubtful; but it is at least certain that he effected a lodgment in its
+eastern extremity, which must have put the whole region in jeopardy.
+Nature has set a remarkable barrier between the more eastern and the
+more western portions of Occidental Asia, about midway in the tract
+which lies due south of the Caspian Sea. The Elburz range in this part
+is one of so tremendous a character, and northward abuts so closely
+on the Caspian, that all communication between the east and the west
+necessarily passes to the south of it. In this quarter the Great Desert
+offering an insuperable obstacle to transit, the line of communication
+has to cling to the flanks of the mountain chain, the narrow strip
+between the mountains and the desert--rarely ten miles in width--being
+alone traversable. But about long. 52 deg. 20' this strip itself fails. A
+rocky spur runs due south from the Elburz into the desert for a distance
+of some twenty or thirty miles, breaking the line of communication, and
+seeming at first sight to obstruct it completely. This, however, is not
+the case absolutely. The spur itself is penetrable by two passes, one
+where it joins the Elburz, which is the more difficult of the two, and
+another, further to the south, which is easier. The latter now known
+as the Girduni Sudurrah pass, constitutes the famous "Pylae Caspiae."
+Through this pass alone can armies proceed from Armenia, Media, and
+Persia eastward, or from Turkestan, Khorasan, and Afghanistan into the
+more western parts of Asia. The position is therefore one of primary
+importance. It was to guard it that Rhages was built so near the eastern
+end of its territory. So long as it remained in the possession of Syria,
+Parthian aggression was checked. Rhagiana, the rest of Media, and the
+other provinces were safe, or nearly so. On the other hand, the loss of
+it to Parthia laid the eastern provinces open to her, and was at once
+almost equivalent to the loss of all Rhagiana, which had no other
+natural protection. Now we find that Phraates surmounted the "Gates,"
+and effected a lodgment in the plain country beyond them. He removed a
+portion of the conquered Mardians from their mountain homes to the city
+of Charax, which was on the western side of the Gates, probably on the
+site now occupied by the ruins known as Uewanikif. Their location in
+this strong post was a menace to the neighboring town of Rhages, which
+can scarcely have maintained itself long against an enemy encamped at
+its doors. We are not informed, however, of any results which followed
+on the occupation of Charax during the lifetime of Phraates. His reign
+lasted only seven years--from B.C. 181 to B.C. 174--and it is thus
+probable that he died before there was time for his second important
+conquest to have any further consequences.
+
+Phraates had sufficient warning of his coming decease to make
+preparations with respect to a successor. Though he had several sons,
+some of whom were (we must suppose) of sufficient age to have ascended
+the throne, he left his crown to his brother, Mithridates. He felt,
+probably, that the State required the direction of a firm hand, that war
+might at any time break out with either Syria or Bactria; while, if
+the career of conquest on which he had made Parthia enter were to be
+pursued, he could trust his brother better than any of his sons to
+conduct aggressive expeditions with combined vigor and prudence. We
+shall see, as the history proceeds, how Mithridates justified his
+choice. Phraates would also appear to have borne his brother especial
+affection, since he takes the name of "Philadelphus" (brother-loving)
+upon his coins. It must have been a satisfaction to him that he was able
+by his last act at once to consult for the good of his country, and to
+gratify a sentiment on which it is evident that he prided himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+_Reign of Mithridates I. Position of Bactria and Syria at his accession.
+His first war with Bactria. His great Expedition against the Eastern
+Syrian provinces, and its results. His second war with Bactria,
+terminating in its conquest. Extent of his Empire. Attempt of Demetrius
+Nicator to recover the lost Provinces fails. Captivity of Demetrius.
+Death of Mithridates._
+
+
+The reign of Mithridates I. is the most important in the Parthian
+history. [PLATE 1. Fig. 3.] Receiving from his brother Phraates a
+kingdom of but narrow dimensions, confined (as it would seem) between
+the city of Charax on the one side, and the river Arius, or Hori-rud,
+on the other, he transformed it, within the space of thirty-seven years
+(which was the time that his reign lasted), into a great and nourishing
+Empire. It is not too much to say that, but for him, Parthia might have
+remained a more petty State on the outskirts of the Syrian kingdom,
+and, instead of becoming a rival to Rome, might have sunk shortly into
+obscurity and insignificance.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 1.]
+
+
+As commonly happens in the grand changes which constitute the
+turning-points of history, the way for Mithridates's vast successes was
+prepared by a long train of antecedent circumstances. To show how the
+rise of the Parthians to greatness in the middle of the second century
+before our era was rendered possible, we must turn aside once more
+from our proper subject and cast a glance at the condition of the two
+kingdoms between which Parthia stood, at the time when Mithridates
+ascended the throne.
+
+The Bactrian monarchs in their ambitious struggles to possess themselves
+of the tracts south of the Paropamisus, and extending from the Heri-rud
+to the Sutlej and the mouths of the Indus, overstrained the strength
+of their State, and by shifting the centre of its power injured
+irretrievably its principle of cohesion. As early as the reign of
+Demetrius a tendency to disruption showed itself, Eucratidas having
+held the supreme power for many years in Bactria itself, while Demetrius
+exercised authority on the southern side of the mountains. It is true
+that at the death of Demetrius this tendency was to a certain extent
+checked, since Eucratidas was then able to extend his sway over almost
+the whole of the Bactrian territory. But the old evil recurred shortly,
+though in a less pronounced form. Eucratidas, without being actually
+supplanted in the north by a rival, found that he could devote to that
+portion of the Empire but a small part of his attention. The southern
+countries and the prospect of southern and eastern conquests engrossed
+him. While he carried on successful wars with the Arachotians, the
+Drangians, and the Indians of the Punjaub region, his hold on the more
+northern countries was relaxed, and they began to slip from his grasp.
+Incursions of the nomad Scyths from the Steppes carried fire and
+sword over portions of these provinces, some of which were Even, it is
+probable, seized and occupied by the invaders.
+
+Such was, it would seem, the condition of Bactria under Eucratidas, the
+contemporary of Mithridates. In Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes had succeeded
+his brother Seleucus IV. (Philopator) about a year before Mithridates
+ascended the Parthian throne. He was a prince of courage and energy;
+but his hands were fully occupied with wars in Egypt, Palestine, and
+Armenia, and the distant East could attract but a small share of his
+thought or attention. The claim put forward by Egypt to the possession
+of Coele-Syria and Palestine, promised to Ptolemy V. (it was affirmed)
+as a dowry with Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus the Great, led to
+hostilities in the south-west which lasted continuously for four years
+(B.C. 171 to B.C. 168), and were complicated during two of them with
+troubles in Judaea, rashly provoked by the Syrian monarch, who, unaware
+of the stubborn temper of the Jews, goaded them into insurrection.
+The war with Egypt came to an end in B.C. 168; it brought Syria no
+advantage, since Rome interposed, and required the restitution of
+all conquests. The war with the Jews had no such rapid termination.
+Antiochus, having not only plundered and desecrated the Temple, but
+having set himself to eradicate utterly the Jewish religion, and
+completely Hellenize the people, was met with the most determined
+resistance on the part of a moiety of the nation. A patriotic party
+rose up under devoted leaders, who asserted, and in the end secured, the
+independence of their country. Not alone during the remaining years
+of Epiphanes, but for half a century after his death, throughout seven
+reigns, the struggle continued; Judaea taking advantage of every trouble
+and difficulty in Syria to detach herself more and more completely from
+her oppressor; being a continual thorn in her side, a constant source of
+weakness, preventing more than anything else the recovery of her power.
+The triumph which Epiphanes obtained in the distant Armenia (B.C.
+166-5), where he defeated and captured the king, Artaxias, was a poor
+set-off against the foe which he had created to himself at his doors
+through his cruelty and intolerance.
+
+In another quarter, too, the Syrian power received a severe shake
+through the injudicious violence of Epiphanes. The Oriental temples
+had, in some instances, escaped the rapacity of Alexander's generals and
+"Successors;" their treasuries remained unviolated, and contained large
+hoards of the precious metals. Epiphanes, having exhausted his own
+exchequer by his wars and his lavish gifts, saw in these un-plundered
+stores a means of replenishing it, and made a journey into his
+south-eastern provinces for the purpose. The natives of Elymais,
+however, resisted his attempt, and proved strong enough to defeat it;
+the baffled monarch retired to Tabae, where he shortly afterward fell
+sick and died. In the popular belief his death was a judgment upon him
+for his attempted sacrilege; and in the exultation caused by the event
+the bands which joined these provinces to the Empire must undoubtedly
+have been loosened.
+
+Nor did the removal of Epiphanes (B.C. 164) improve the condition of
+affairs in Syria. The throne fell to his son, Antiochus Eupator, a boy
+of nine, according to Appian, or, according to another authority, of
+twelve years of age. The regent, Lysias, exercised the chief power, and
+was soon engaged in a war with the Jews, whom the death of Epiphanes
+had encouraged to fresh efforts. The authority of Lysias was further
+disputed by a certain Philip, whom Epiphanes, shortly before his death,
+had made tutor to the young king. The claims of this tutor to the
+regent's office being supported by a considerable portion of the army, a
+civil war arose between him and Lysias, which raged for the greater
+part of two years (B.C. 163-2), terminating in the defeat and death
+of Philip. But Syrian affairs did not even then settle down into
+tranquillity. A prince of the Seleucid house, Demetrius by name, the son
+of Seleucus IV., and consequently the first cousin of Eupator, was at
+this time detained in Rome as a hostage, having been sent there during
+his father's lifetime as a security for his fidelity. Demetrius, with
+some reason, regarded his claim to the Syrian throne as better than that
+of his cousin, the son of the younger brother, and being in the full
+vigor of early youth, he determined to assert his pretensions in Syria,
+and to make a bold stroke for the crown. Having failed to obtain the
+Senate's consent to his quitting Italy, he took his departure secretly,
+crossed the Mediterranean in a Carthaginian vessel, and, landing in
+Asia, succeeded within a few months in establishing himself as Syrian
+monarch.
+
+From this review it sufficiently appears that the condition of things,
+both in Syria and Bactria, was favorable to any aspirations which
+the power that lay between them might entertain after dominion and
+self-aggrandizement. The Syrian and Bactrian kings, at the time of
+Mithridates's accession, were, both of them, men of talent and energy;
+but the Syrian monarch was soon involved in difficulties at home, while
+the Bactrian had his attention attracted to prospects of advantage in a
+remote quarter, Mithridates might, perhaps, have attacked the territory
+of either with an equal chance of victory; and as his predecessor had
+set him the example of successful warfare on his western frontier, we
+might have expected his first efforts to have been in this direction,
+against the dependencies of Syria. But circumstances which we cannot
+exactly trace determined his choice differently. While Eucratidas was
+entangled in his Indian wars, Mithridates invaded the Bactrian territory
+where it adjoined Parthia, and added to his Empire, after a short
+struggle, two provinces, called respectively Turiua and that of
+Aspionus. It is conjectured that these provinces lay towards the north
+and the north-west, the one being that of the Turanians proper, and the
+other that of the Aspasiacae, who dwelt between the Jaxartes and
+the Oxus. But there is scarcely sufficient ground for forming even a
+conjecture on the subject, since speculation has nothing but the names
+themselves to rest upon.
+
+Successful in this quarter, Mithridates, a few years later, having
+waited until the Syrian throne was occupied by the boy Eupator, and the
+two claimants of the regency, Lysias and Philip, were contending in arms
+for the supreme power, made suddenly an expedition towards the west,
+falling upon Media, which, though claimed by the Syrian kings as a
+province of their Empire, was perhaps at this time almost, if not quite,
+independent. The Medes offered a vigorous resistance to his attack;
+and, in the war which followed, each side had in turn the advantage;
+but eventually the Parthian prince proved victorious, and the great
+and valuable province of Media Magna was added to the dominons of the
+Arsacidae. A certain Bacasis was appointed to govern it, whether as
+satrap or as tributary monarch is not apparent; while the Parthian king,
+recalled towards home by a revolt, proceeded to crush rebellion before
+resuming his career of conquest.
+
+The revolt which now occupied for a time the attention of Mithridates
+was that of Hyrcania. The Hyrcanians were Arians in race; they were
+brave and high-spirited, and under the Persian monarchs had enjoyed some
+exceptional privileges which placed them above the great mass of the
+conquered nations. It was natural that they should dislike the yoke of a
+Turanian people; and it was wise of them to make their effort to obtain
+their freedom before Parthia grew into a power against which revolt
+would be utterly hopeless. Hyrcania might now expect to be joined by the
+Medes, and even the Mardi, who were Arians like themselves, and could
+not yet have forgotten the pleasures of independence. But though the
+effort does not seem to have been ill-timed, it was unsuccessful. No aid
+was given to the rebels, so far as we hear, by any of their neighbors.
+Mithridates's prompt return nipped the insurrection in the bud; Hyrcania
+at once submitted, and became for centuries the obedient vassal of her
+powerful neighbor.
+
+The conquest of Media had brought the Parthians into contact with
+the rich country of Susiana or Elymais; and it was not long before
+Mithridates, having crushed the Hyrcanian revolt, again advanced
+westward, and invaded this important province. Elymais appears to have
+a had a king of its own, who must either have been a vassal of the
+Seleucidse, or have acquired an independent position by revolt after the
+death of Epiphanes. In the war which followed between this monarch and
+Mithridates, the Elymseans proved wholly unsuccessful, and Mithridates
+rapidly overran the country and added it to his dominions. After this he
+appears to have received the submission of the Persians on the one hand
+and the Babylonians on the other, and to have rested on his laurels for
+some years, having extended the Parthian sway from the Hindoo Koosh to
+the Euphrates.
+
+The chronological data which have come down to us for this period
+are too scanty to allow of any exact statement of the number of years
+occupied by Mithridates in effecting these conquests. All that can be
+said is that he appears to have commenced them about B.C. 163 and to
+have concluded them some time before B.C. 140, when he was in his turn
+attacked by the Syrians. Probably they had been all effected by the
+year B.C. 150; since there is reason to believe that about that time
+Mithridates found his power sufficiently established in the west to
+allow of his once more turning his attention eastward, and renewing his
+aggressions upon the Bactrian kingdom, which had passed from the rule of
+Eucratidas under that of his son and successor, Heliocles.
+
+Heliocles, who was allowed by his father a quasi-royal position,
+obtained the full possession of the Bactrian throne by the crime of
+parricide. It is conjectured that he regarded with disapproval his
+father's tame submission to Parthian ascendency, and desired the
+recovery of the provinces which Eucratidas had been content to cede for
+the sake of peace. We are told that he justified his crime on the ground
+that his father was a public enemy; which is best explained by supposing
+that he considered him the friend of Bactria's great enemy, Parthia.
+If this be the true account of the circumstances under which he became
+king, his accession would have been a species of challenge to
+the Parthian monarch, whose ally he had assassinated. Mithridates
+accordingly marched against him with all speed, and, easily defeating
+his troops, took possession of the greater part of his dominion. Elated
+by this success, he is said to have pressed eastward, to have invaded
+India, and overrun the country as far as the river Hydaspes, but, if
+it be true that his arms penetrated so far, it is, at any rate, certain
+that he did not here effect any conquest. Greek monarchs of the Bactrian
+series continued masters of Oabul and Western India till about B.C. 126;
+no Parthian coins are found in this region; nor do the best authorities
+claim for Mithridates any dominion beyond the mountains which enclose on
+the west the valley of the Indus.
+
+By his war with Heliocles the empire of Mithridates reached its greatest
+extension. It comprised now, besides Parthia Proper, Bactria, Aria,
+Drangiana, Arachosia, Margiana, Hyrcania, the country of the Mardi,
+Media Magna, Susiana, Persia and Babylonia. Very probably its limits
+were still wider. The power which possessed Parthia, Hyrcania, and
+Bactria, would rule almost of necessity over the whole tract between the
+Elburz range and the Oxus, if not even over the region between the Oxus
+and the Jaxartes; that which held the Caspian mountains and eastern
+Media could not fail to have influence over the tribes of the Iranic
+desert; while Assyria Proper would naturally follow the fortunes of
+Babylonia and Susiana. Still the extent of territory thus indicated
+rests only on conjecture. If we confine ourselves to what is known by
+positive evidence, we can only say that the Parthian Kingdom of this
+period contained, at least, twelve provinces above enumerated. It thus
+stretched from east to west a distance of fifteen hundred miles between
+the Suleiman mountains and the Euphrates, varying in width from three or
+four hundred miles--or even more--towards the west and east, to a
+narrow strip of less than a hundred miles toward the centre. It probably
+comprised an area of about 450,000 square miles; which is somewhat less
+than that of the modern Persia.
+
+Unlike the modern Persia, however, the territory consisted almost
+entirely of productive regions. The excellent quality of the soil
+in Parthia Proper, Hyrcania, and Margiana, has been already noticed.
+Bactria, the next province to Margiana towards the east, was less
+uniformly fertile; but still it contained a considerable proportion of
+good land along the course of the Oxus and its tributaries, which was
+cultivated in vineyards and cornfields, or else pastured large herds of
+cattle. The Mardian mountain territory was well wooded; and the plain
+between the mountains and the Caspian was rich in the extreme. Media,
+where it adjoined on the desert, was comparatively sterile; but still
+even here an elaborate system of artificial irrigation brought a belt of
+land under culture. Further west, in the Zagros chain, Media comprised
+some excellent pasture lands, together with numerous valleys as
+productive as any in Asia. Elymais was, in part, of the same character
+with the mountainous portion of Media, while beyond the mountain it
+sank down into a rich alluvium, not much inferior to the Babylonian.
+Babylonia itself was confessedly the most fertile country in Asia. It
+produced wheat, barley, millet, sesame, vetches, dates, and fruits
+of all kinds. The return of the wheat crop was from fifty to a
+hundred-and-fifty-fold; while that of the barley crop was three
+hundred-fold. The dates were of unusual size and superior flavor;
+and the palm, which abounded throughout the region, furnished an
+inexhaustible supply both of fruit and timber.
+
+The great increase of power which Mithridates had obtained by his
+conquests could not be a matter of indifference to the Syrian monarchs.
+Their domestic troubles--the contentions between Philip and Lysias,
+between Lysias and Demetrius Soter, Soter and Alexander Balas, Balas and
+Demetrius II., Demetrius II. and Tryphon, had so engrossed them for the
+space of twenty years (from B.C. 162 to B.C. 142) that they had felt it
+impossible, or hopeless, to attempt any expedition towards the East,
+for the protection or recovery of their provinces. Mithridates had
+been allowed to pursue his career of conquest unopposed, so far as the
+Syrians were concerned, and to establish his sway from the Hindoo Koosh
+to the Euphrates. But a time at last came when home dangers were less
+pressing, and a prospect of engaging the terrible Parthians with success
+seemed to present itself. The second Demetrius had not, indeed, wholly
+overcome his domestic enemy, Tryphon; but he had so far brought him into
+difficulties as to believe that he might safely be left to be dealt
+with by his wife, Cleopatra, and by his captains. At the same time the
+condition of affairs in the East seemed to invite his interference,
+Mithridates ruled his new conquests with some strictness, suspecting,
+probably, their fidelity, and determined that he would not by any
+remissness allow them to escape from his grasp. The native inhabitants
+could scarcely be much attached to the Syro-Macedonians, who had
+certainly not treated them very tenderly; but a possession of 170 years'
+duration confers prestige in the East, and a strange yoke may have
+galled more than one to whose pressure they had become accustomed.
+Moreover, all the provinces which Parthia took from Syria contained
+Greek towns, and their inhabitants might at all times be depended on
+to side with their countrymen against the Asiatics. At the present
+conjuncture, too, the number of the malcontents was swelled by the
+addition of the recently subdued Bactrians, who hated the Parthian yoke,
+and longed earnestly for a chance of recovering their freedom. Thus when
+Demetrius II., anxious to escape the reproach of inertness, determined
+to make an expedition against the great Parthian monarch, he found
+himself welcomed as a deliverer by a considerable number of his enemy's
+subjects, whom the harshness, or the novelty, of the Parthian rule
+had offended. The malcontents joined his standard as he advanced;
+and supported, as he thus was, by Persian, Elymsen, and Bactrian
+contingents, he engaged and defeated the Parthians in several battles.
+Upon this, Mithridates, finding himself inferior in strength, had
+recourse to stratagem, and having put Demetrius off his guard by
+proposals of peace, attacked him, defeated him, and took him prisoner.
+The invading army appears to have been destroyed. The captive monarch
+was, in the first instance, conveyed about to the several nations which
+had revolted, and paraded before each in turn, as a proof to them of
+their folly in lending him aid, but afterwards he was treated in a
+manner befitting his rank and the high character of his captor. Assigned
+a residence in Hyrcania, he was maintained in princely state, and was
+even promised by Mithridates the hand of his daughter, Ehodo-guns. The
+Parthian monarch, it is probable, had the design of conquering Syria,
+and thought it possible that he might find it of advantage to have
+a Syrian prince in his camp, well disposed towards him, connected by
+marriage, and thus fitted for the position of tributary monarch. But the
+schemes of Mithridates proved abortive. His career had now reached its
+close. Attacked by illness not very long after his capture of Demetrius,
+his strength proved insufficient to bear up against the malady, and he
+died after a glorious reign of about thirty-eight years, B.C. 136.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+_System of government established by Mithridates I. Constitution of the
+Parthians. Government of the Provinces. Laws and Institutions. Character
+of Mithridates I._
+
+
+The Parthian institutions possessed great simplicity; and it is probable
+that they took a shape in the reign of Arsaces I., or, at any rate, of
+Tiridates, which was not greatly altered afterwards. Permanency is the
+law of Oriental governments; and in a monarchy which lasted less than
+five hundred years, it is not likely that many changes occurred. The
+Parthian institutions are referred to Mithridates I., rather than to
+Tiridates, because in the reign of Mithridates Parthia entered upon a
+new phase of her existence--became an empire instead of a mere
+monarchy; and the sovereign of the time could not but have reviewed
+the circumstances of his State, and have determined either to adopt the
+previous institutions of his country, or to reject them. Mithridates
+I. had attained a position which entitled and enabled him to settle
+the Parthian constitution as he thought best; and, if he maintained an
+earlier arrangement, which is uncertain, he must have done so of his
+own free will, simply because he preferred the existing Parthian
+institutions to any other. Thus the institutions may be regarded as
+starting from him, since he approved them, and made them those of the
+Parthian EMPIRE.
+
+Like most sovereignties which have arisen out of an association of
+chiefs banding themselves together for warlike purposes under a single
+head, the Parthian monarchy was limited. The king was permanently
+advised by two councils, consisting of persons not of his own
+nomination, whom rights, conferred by birth or office, entitled to their
+seats. One of these was a family conclave (concilium domesticum), or
+assembly of the full-grown males of the Royal House; the other was a
+Senate comprising both the spiritual and the temporal chiefs of the
+nation, the Sophi, or "Wise Men," and the Magi, or "Priests." Together
+these two bodies constituted the Megistanes, the "Nobles" or "Great
+Men"--the privileged class which to a considerable extent checked and
+controlled the monarch. The monarchy was elective, but only in the house
+of the Arsacidae; and the concurrent vote of both councils was necessary
+in the appointment of a new king. Practically, the ordinary law of
+hereditary descent appears to have been followed, unless in the case
+where a king left no son of sufficient age to exercise the royal office.
+Under such circumstances, the Megistanes usually nominated the late
+king's next brother to succeed him, or, if he had left behind him no
+brother, went back to an uncle. When the line of succession had once
+been changed, the right of the elder branch was lost, and did not revive
+unless the branch preferred died out or possessed no member qualified to
+rule. When a king had been duly nominated by the two councils, the
+right of placing the diadem upon his head belonged to the Surena, the
+"Field-Marshal," or "Commander in Chief of the Parthian armies." The
+Megistanes further claimed and sometimes exercised the right of deposing
+a monarch whose conduct displeased them; but an attempt to exercise this
+privilege was sure to be followed by a civil war, no monarch accepting
+his deposition without a struggle; and force, not right, practically
+determining whether he should remain king or no.
+
+After a king was once elected and firmly fixed upon the throne, his
+power appears to have been nearly despotic. At any rate he could put to
+death without trial whomsoever he chose; and adult members of the Royal
+House, who provoked the reigning monarch's jealousy, were constantly so
+treated. Probably it would have been more dangerous to arouse the fears
+of the "Sophi" and "Magi." The latter especially were a powerful body,
+consisting of an organized hierarchy, which had come down from ancient
+times, and was feared and venerated by all classes of the people. Their
+numbers at the close of the Empire, counting adult males only, are
+reckoned at eighty thousand;' they possessed considerable tracts of
+fertile land, and were the sole inhabitants of many large towns or
+villages, which they were permitted to govern as they pleased. The
+arbitrary power of the monarchs must, in practice, have been largely
+checked by the privileges of this numerous priestly caste, of which it
+would seem that in later times they became jealous, thereby preparing
+the way for their own downfall.
+
+The dominion of the Parthians over the conquered provinces was
+maintained by reverting to the system which had prevailed generally
+through the East before the accession of the Persians to power, and
+establishing in the various countries either viceroys, holding office
+for life, or sometimes dependent dynasties of kings. In either case, the
+rulers, so long as they paid tribute regularly to the Parthian monarchs
+and aided them in their wars, were allowed to govern the people beneath
+their sway at their pleasure. Among monarchs, in the higher sense of
+the term, may be enumerated the kings of Persia, Elymaiis, Adiabene,
+Osrhoene, and of Armenia and Media Atropatene, when they formed, as
+they sometimes did, portions of the Parthian Empire. The viceroys,
+who governed the other provinces, bore the title of Vitaxae, and were
+fourteen or fifteen in number. The remark has been made by the historian
+Gibbon that the system thus established "exhibited under other names a
+lively image of the feudal system which has since prevailed in Europe."
+The comparison is of some value, but, like most historical parallels, it
+is inexact, the points of difference between the Parthian and the feudal
+system being probably more numerous than those of resemblance, but the
+points of resemblance being very main points, not fewer in number, and
+striking.
+
+It was with special reference to the system thus established that the
+Parthian monarchs took the title of "King of Kings", so frequent upon
+their coins, which seems sometimes to have been exchanged for what was
+regarded as an equivalent phrase, "Satrap of Satraps". This title seems
+to appear first on the coins of Mithridates I.
+
+In the Parthian system there was one anomaly of a very curious
+character. The Greek towns, which were scattered in large numbers
+throughout the Empire, enjoyed a municipal government of their own, and
+in some cases were almost independent communities, the Parthian kings
+exercising over them little or no control. The great city of Seleucia
+on the Tigris was the most important of all these: its population was
+estimated in the first century after Christ at six hundred thousand
+souls; it had strong walls, and was surrounded by a most fertile
+territory. It had its own senate, or municipal council, of three hundred
+members, elected by the people to rule them from among the wealthiest
+and best educated of the citizens. Under ordinary circumstances it
+enjoyed the blessing of complete self-government, and was entirely free
+from Parthian interference, paying no doubt its tribute, but otherwise
+holding the position of a "free city." It was only in the case of
+internal dissensions that these advantages were lost, and the Parthian
+soldiery, invited within the walls, arranged the quarrels of parties,
+and settled the constitution of the State at its pleasure. Privileges
+of a similar character, though, probably, less extensive, belonged
+(it would seem) to most of the other Greek cities of the Empire. The
+Parthian monarchs thought it polite to favor them; and their practice
+justified the title of "Phil-Hellene," which they were fond of assuming
+upon their coins. On the whole, the policy may have been wise, but it
+diminished the unity of the Empire; and there were times when serious
+danger arose from it. The Syro-Macedonian monarchs could always count
+with certainty on having powerful friends in Parthia, whatever portion
+of it they invaded; and even the Romans, though their ethnic connection
+with the cities was not so close, were sometimes indebted to them for
+very important assistance.
+
+We are told that Mithridates I., after effecting his conquests, made a
+collection of the best laws which he found to prevail among the various
+subject peoples, and imposed them upon the Parthian nation. This
+statement is, no doubt, an exaggeration; but we may attribute, with
+some reason, to Mithridates the introduction at this time of various
+practices and usages, whereby the Parthian Court was assimilated to
+those of the earlier Great Monarchies of Asia, and became in the eyes
+of foreigners the successor and representative of the old Assyrian and
+Persian Kingdoms. The assumption of new titles and of a new state--the
+organization of the Court on a new plan--the bestowal of a new character
+on the subordinate officers of the Empire, were suitable to the new
+phase of its life on which the monarchy had now entered, and may with
+the highest probability, if not with absolute certainty, be assigned to
+this period.
+
+It has been already noticed that Mithridates appears to have been the
+first Parthian sovereign who took the title of "King of Kings."
+The title had been a favorite one with the old Assyrian and Persian
+monarchs, but was not adopted either by the Seleucidae or by the Greek
+kings of Bactria. Its revival implied a distinct pretension to that
+mastery of Western Asia which had belonged of old to the Assyrians and
+Persians, and which was, in later times, formally claimed by Artaxerxes,
+the son of Sassan, the founder of the New Persian Kingdom. Previous
+Parthian monarchs had been content to call themselves "the King," or
+"the Great King"--Mithridates is "the King of Kings, the great and
+illustrious Arsaces."
+
+At the same time Mithridates appears to have assumed the tiara, or tall
+stiff crown, which, with certain modifications in its shape, had
+been the mark of sovereignty, both under the Assyrians and under the
+Persians. Previously the royal headdress had been either a mere cap of
+a Scythic type, but lower than the Scyths commonly wore it; or the
+ordinary diadem, which was a band round the head terminating in two long
+ribbons or ends, that hung down behind the head on the back. According
+to Herodian, the diadem, in the later times, was double; but the coins
+of Parthia do not exhibit this peculiarity. [PLATE 1, Fig. 4.]
+
+Ammianus says that among the titles assumed by the Parthian monarchs was
+that of "Brother of the Sun and Moon." It appears that something of a
+divine character was regarded as attaching to the race. In the civil
+contentions, which occur so frequently throughout the later history,
+combatants abstained from lifting their hands knowingly against an
+Arsacid, to kill or wound one being looked upon as sacrilege. The
+name of _Deos_ was occasionally assumed, as it was in Syria; and more
+frequently kings took the epithet of [Greek], which implied the divinity
+of their father. After his death a monarch seems generally to have been
+the object of a qualified worship; statues were erected to him in the
+temples, where (apparently) they were associated with the images of the
+great luminaries.
+
+Of the Parthian Court and its customs we have no account that is either
+complete or trustworthy. Some particulars, however, may be gathered of
+it on which we may place reliance. The best authorities are agreed that
+it was not stationary, but migrated at different times of the year to
+different cities of the Empire, in this resembling the Court of the
+Achaemenians. It is not quite clear, however, which were the cities thus
+honored. Ctesiphon was undoubtedly one of them. All writers agree
+that it was the chief city of the Empire, and the ordinary seat of
+the government. Here, according to Strabo, the kings passed the winter
+months, delighting in the excellence of the air. The town was situated
+on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite to Seleucia, twelve or thirteen
+miles below the modern Baghdad. Pliny says that it was built by the
+Parthians in order to reduce Seleucia to insignificance, and that when
+it failed of its purpose they built another city.
+
+Vologesocerta, in the same neighborhood with the same object; but the
+account of Strabo is more probable--viz., that it grew up gradually out
+of the wish of the Parthian kings to spare Seleucia the unpleasantness
+of having the rude soldiery, which followed the Court from place to
+place, quartered upon them The remainder of the year, Strabo tells us,
+was spent by the Parthian kings either at the Median city of Ecbatana,
+which is the modern Hamadan, or in the province of Hyrca--In Hyrcania,
+the palace, according to him, was at Tape and between this place and
+Ecbatana he no doubt regarded the monarchs as spending the time which
+was not passed at Ctesiphon. Athenaeus, however, declares that Rhages
+was the spring residence of the Parthian kings; and it seems not
+unlikely that this famous city, which Isidore, writing in Parthian
+times, calls "the greatest in Media," was among the occasional
+residences of the Court. Parthia itself was, it would seem, deserted;
+but still a city of that region preserved in one respect a royal
+character, being the place where all the earlier kings were interred.
+
+The pomp and grandeur of the Parthian monarchs are described only in the
+vaguest terms by the classical writers. No author of repute appears
+to have visited the Parthian Court. We may perhaps best obtain a true
+notion of the splendor of the sovereign from the accounts which have
+reached us of his relations and officers, who can have reflected only
+faintly the magnificence of the sovereign. Plutarch tells us that the
+general whom Orodes deputed to conduct the war against Crassus came into
+the field accompanied by two hundred litters wherein were contained
+his concubines, and by a thousand camels which carried his baggage. His
+dress was fashioned after that of the Medes; he wore his hair parted
+in the middle and had his face painted with cosmetics. A body of ten
+thousand horse, composed entirely, of his clients and slaves, followed
+him in battle. We may conclude from this picture, and from the
+general tenor of the classical notices, that the Arsacidae revived
+and maintained very much such a Court as that of the old Achaemenian
+princes, falling probably somewhat below their model in politeness and
+refinement, but equalling it in luxury, in extravagant expenditure, and
+in display.
+
+Such seems to have been the general character of those practices and
+institutions which distinguish the Parthians from the foundation of
+their Empire by Mithridates, Some of them, it is probable, he rather
+adopted than invented; but there is no good reason for doubting that of
+many he was the originator. He appears to have been one of those rare
+individuals to whom it has been given to unite the powers which form
+the conqueror with those which constitute the successful organizer of a
+State. Brave and enterprising in war, prompt to seize an occasion and to
+turn it to the best advantage, not even averse to severities where they
+seemed to be required, he yet felt no acrimony towards those who had
+resisted his arms, but was ready to befriend them so soon as their
+resistance ceased. Mild, clement, philanthropic, he conciliated those
+whom he subdued almost more easily than he subdued them, and by the
+efforts of a few years succeeded in welding together a dominion which
+lasted without suffering serious mutilation for nearly four centuries.
+Though not dignified with the epithet of "Great," he was beyond all
+question the greatest of the Parthian monarchs. Later times did him more
+justice than his contemporaries, and, when the names of almost all the
+other kings had sunk into oblivion, retained his in honor, and placed it
+on a par with that of the original founder of Parthian independence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+_Reign of Phraates II. Expedition of Antiochus Sidetes against Parthia.
+Release of Demetrius. Defeat and Death of Sidetes. War of Phraates with
+the Northern Nomads. His death and character._
+
+
+Mithridates was succeeded by his son, Phraates, the second monarch of
+the name, and the seventh Arsaces. This prince, entertaining, like his
+father, the design of invading Syria, and expecting to find some
+advantage from having in his camp the rightful occupant of the Syrian
+throne, treated the captive Demetrius with even greater kindness than
+his father had done, not only maintaining him handsomely, but even
+giving him his sister Ehodogune, in marriage. Demetrius, however, was
+not to be reconciled to his captivity by any such blandishments, and
+employed his thoughts chiefly in devising plans by which he might
+escape. By the help of a friend he twice managed to evade the vigilance
+of his guards, and to make his way from Hyrcania towards the frontiers
+of his own kingdom; but each time he was pursued and caught without
+effecting his purpose. The Parthian monarch was no doubt vexed at his
+pertinacity, and on the second occasion thought it prudent to feign, if
+he did not even really feel, offence: he banished his ungrateful
+brother-in-law from his presence, but otherwise visited his crime with
+no severer penalty than ridicule. Choosing to see in his attempts to
+change the place of his abode no serious design, but only the wayward
+conduct of a child, he sent him a present of some golden dice, implying
+thereby that it was only for lack of amusement he had grown discontented
+with his Hyrcanian residence.
+
+Antiochus Sidetes, the brother of Demetrius, had been generally accepted
+by the Syrians as their monarch, at the time when the news reached them
+of that prince's defeat and capture by Mithridates. He was an active and
+enterprising sovereign, though fond of luxury and display. For some
+years (B.C. 140-137) the pretensions of Tryphon to the throne gave him
+full occupation; but, having finally established his authority after a
+short war, and punished the pretender with death, he found himself, in
+B.C. 137, at liberty to turn his arms against foreign enemies. He would
+probably have at once attacked Parthia, but for the attitude of a nearer
+neighbor, which he regarded as menacing, and as requiring his immediate
+attention. Demetrius, before his departure for the East, had rewarded
+the Jews for services rendered him in his war with Tryphon by an open,
+acknowledgment of their independence. Sidetes, though indebted to the
+Jewish High Priest, Simon, for offers of aid against the same adversary,
+could not bring himself to pay the price for it which Demetrius had
+thought reasonable--an independent Palestine appeared to him a danger
+close to his doors, and one that imperilled the very existence of the
+Syrian State. Accordingly, he had no sooner put down Tryphon than he
+resolved to pick a quarrel with the Jews, and to force them to resume
+their old position of vassalage to Syria. His general, Cendebseus,
+invaded their country, but was defeated near Azotus. Antiochus had to
+take the field in person. During two years, John Hyrcanus, who had
+succeeded his father, Simon (B.C. 135), baffled all his efforts; but at
+last, in B.C. 133, he was forced to submit, to acknowledge the authority
+of Syria, to dismantle Jerusalem, and to resume the payment of tribute.
+Sidetes then considered the time come for a Parthian expedition, and,
+having made great preparations, he set out for the East in the spring
+of B.C. 129.
+
+It is impossible to accept without considerable reserve the accounts
+that have come down to us of the force which Antiochus collected.
+According to Justin, it consisted of no more than 80,000 fighting men,
+to which was attached the incredible number of 300,000 camp-followers,
+the majority being composed of cooks, bakers, and actors. As in other
+extreme cases the camp-followers do but equal or a little exceed the
+number of men fit for service, this estimate, which makes them nearly
+four times as numerous, is entitled to but little credit. The late
+writer, Orosius, corrects the error here indicated; but his account
+seems to err in rating the supernumeraries too low. According to him,
+the armed force amounted to 300,000, while the camp-followers, including
+grooms, sutlers, courtesans, and actors, were no more than a third
+of the number. From the two accounts, taken together, we are perhaps
+entitled to conclude that the entire host did not fall much short of
+400,000 men. This estimate receives confirmation from an independent
+statement made by Diodorus, with respect to the number who fell in the
+campaign--a statement of which we shall have to speak later.
+
+The army of Phraates, according to two accounts of it (which, however,
+seem to represent a single original authority), numbered no more than
+120,000. An attempt which he made to enlist in his service a body of
+Scythian mercenaries failed, the Scyths being willing to lend their aid,
+but arriving too late to be of any use. At the same time a defection of
+the subject princes deprived the Parthian monarch of contingents which
+usually swelled his numbers, and threw him upon the support of his own
+countrymen, chiefly or solely. Under these circumstances it is more
+surprising that he was able to collect 120,000 men than that he did not
+bring into the field a larger number.
+
+The Syrian troops, magnificently appointed and supported by a body of
+Jews under John Hyrcanus, advanced upon Babylon, receiving on their
+way the adhesion of many of the Parthian tributaries, who professed
+themselves disgusted by the arrogance and pride of their masters.
+Phraates, on his part, advanced to meet his enemies, and in person or
+by his generals engaged Antiochus in three battles, but without success.
+Antiochus was three times a conqueror. In a battle fought upon the
+river Lycus (Zab) in further Assyria he defeated the Parthian general,
+Indates, and raised a trophy in honor of his victory. The exact scene
+of the other combats is unknown, but they were probably in the same
+neighborhood. The result of them was the conquest of Babylonia, and the
+general revolt of the remaining Parthian provinces, which followed the
+common practice of deserting a falling house, and drew off or declared
+for the enemy.
+
+Under these circumstances Phraates, considering that the time was come
+when it was necessary for him to submit or to create a diversion by
+raising troubles in the enemy's territory, released Demetrius from his
+confinement, and sent him, supported by a body of Parthian troops, to
+reclaim his kingdom. He thought it probable that Antiochus, when the
+intelligence reached him, would retrace his steps, and return from
+Babylon to his own capital. At any rate his efforts would be distracted;
+he would be able to draw fewer reinforcements from home; and he would be
+less inclined to proceed to any great distance from his own country.
+
+Antiochus, however, was either uninformed of the impending danger or did
+not regard it as very pressing. The winter was approaching; and, instead
+of withdrawing his troops from the occupied provinces and marching
+them back into Syria, he resolved to keep them where they were, merely
+dividing them, on account of their numbers, among the various cities
+which he had taken, and making them go into winter quarters. It was,
+no doubt, his intention to remain quiet during the two or three winter
+months, after which he would have resumed the war, and have endeavored
+to penetrate through Media into Parthia Proper, where he might expect
+his adversary to make his last stand.
+
+But Phraates saw that the position of affairs was favorable for striking
+a blow before the spring came. The dispersion of his enemy's troops
+deprived him of all advantage from the superiority of their numbers.
+The circumstance of their being quartered in towns newly reduced,
+and unaccustomed to the rudeness and rapacity of soldiers and
+camp-followers, made it almost certain that complications would arise,
+and that it would not be long before in some places the Parthians,
+so lately declared to be oppressors, would be hailed as liberators.
+Moreover, the Parthians were, probably, better able than their
+adversaries to endure the hardships and severities of a campaign in the
+cold season. Parthia is a cold country, and the winters, both of the
+great plateau of Iran and of all the mountain tracts adjoining it, are
+severe. The climate of Syria is far milder. Moreover, the troops
+of Antiochus had, we are informed, been enervated by an excessive
+indulgence on the part of their leader during the marches and halts of
+the preceding summer. Their appetites had been pampered; their habits
+had become unmanly; their general tone was relaxed; and they were likely
+to deteriorate still more in the wealthy and luxurious cities where they
+were bidden to pass the winter.
+
+These various circumstances raised the spirits of Phraates, and made him
+hold himself in readiness to resume hostilities at a moment's notice.
+Nor was it long before the complications which he had foreseen began to
+occur. The insolence of the soldiers quartered upon them exasperated the
+inhabitants of the Mesopotamian towns, and caused them to look back with
+regret to the time when they were Parthian subjects. The requisitions
+made on them for stores of all kinds was a further grievance. After a
+while they opened communications with Phraates, and offered to return
+to their allegiance if he would assist them against their oppressors.
+Phraates gladly listened to these overtures. At his instigation a plot
+was formed like that which has given so terrible a significance to the
+phrase "Sicilian vespers." It was agreed that on an appointed day all
+the cities should break out in revolt: the natives should take arms,
+rise against the soldiers quartered upon them, and kill all, or as many
+as possible. Phraates promised to be at hand with his army, to prevent,
+the scattered detachments from giving help to each other. It was
+calculated that in this way the invaders might be cut off almost to a
+man without the trouble of even fighting a battle.
+
+But, before he proceeded to extremities, the Parthian prince determined
+to give his adversary a chance of escaping the fate prepared for him by
+timely concessions. The winter was not over; but the snow was beginning
+to melt through the increasing warmth of the sun's rays, and the day
+appointed for the general rising was probably drawing near. Phraates
+felt that no time was to be lost. Accordingly, he sent ambassadors to
+Antiochus to propose peace, and to inquire on what conditions it would
+be granted him. The reply of Antiochus, according to Diodotus, was
+as follows: "If Phraates would release his prisoner, Demetrius, from
+captivity, and deliver him up without ransom, at the same time restoring
+all the provinces which had been taken from Syria, and consenting to pay
+a tribute for Parthia itself, peace might be had; but not otherwise."
+To such terms it was, of course, impossible that Phraates should listen;
+and his ambassadors, therefore, returned without further parley.
+
+Soon afterwards the day appointed for the outbreak arrived. Apparently,
+no suspicion had been excited. The Syrian troops were everywhere quietly
+enjoying themselves in their winter quarters, when, suddenly and
+without warning, they found themselves attacked by the natives. Taken
+at disadvantage, it was impossible for them to make a successful
+resistance; and it would seem that the great bulk of them were massacred
+in their quarters. Antiochus, and the detachment stationed with him,
+alone, so far as we hear, escaped into an open field and contended for
+their lives in just warfare. It had been the intention of the Syrian
+monarch, when he took the field, to hasten to the protection of the
+troops quartered nearest to him; but he no sooner commenced his march
+than he found himself confronted by Phraates, who was at the head of
+his entire army, having, no doubt, anticipated Antiochus's design and
+resolved to frustrate it. The Parthian prince was anxious to engage at
+once, as his force far outnumbered that commanded by his adversary;
+but the latter might have declined the battle, if he had so willed, and
+have, at any rate, greatly protracted the struggle. He had a mountain
+region--Mount Zagros, probably--within a short distance of him, and
+might have fallen back upon it, so placing the Parthian horse at great
+disadvantage; but he was still at an age when caution is apt to be
+considered cowardice, and temerity to pass for true courage. Despite the
+advice of one of his captains, he determined to accept the battle which
+the enemy offered, and not to fly before a foe whom he had three times
+defeated. But the determination of the commander was ill seconded by his
+army. Though Antiochus fought strenuously, he was defeated, since his
+troops were without heart and offered but a poor resistance. Antiochus
+himself perished, either slain by the enemy or by his own hand. His son,
+Seleucus, a boy of tender age, and his niece, a daughter of Demetrius,
+who had accompanied him in his expedition, were captured. His troops
+were either cut to pieces or made prisoners. The entire number of those
+slain in the battle, and in the previous massacre, was reckoned at
+300,000.
+
+Such was the issue of this great expedition. It was the last which any
+Seleucid monarch conducted into these countries--the final attempt made
+by Syria to repossess herself of her lost Eastern provinces. Henceforth
+Parthia was no further troubled by the power that had hitherto been her
+most dangerous enemy, but was allowed to enjoy without molestation from
+Syria the conquests which she had effected. Syria, in fact, had from
+this time a difficulty in preserving her own existence. The immediate
+result of the destruction of Antiochus and his host was the revolt of
+Judaea, which henceforth maintained its independence uninterruptedly.
+The dominions of the Seleucidae were reduced to Cilicia and Syria
+Proper, or the tract west of the Euphrates, between Amanus and
+Palestine. Internally, the state was agitated by constant commotions
+from the claims of various pretenders to the sovereignty: externally,
+it was kept in continual alarm by the Egyptians, Arabians, or Romans.
+During the sixty years which elapsed between the return of Demetrius
+to his kingdom and the conversion of Syria into a Roman province, she
+ceased wholly to be formidable to her neighbors. Her flourishing
+period was gone by, and a rapid decline set in, from which there was no
+recovery. It is surprising that the Romans did not step in earlier and
+terminate a rule which was but a little removed from anarchy. Rome,
+however, had other work on her hands; and the Syrian kingdom continued
+to exist till B.C. 65, though in a feeble and moribund condition.
+
+But Phraates could not, without prophetic foresight, have counted on
+such utter prostration following as the result of a single--albeit a
+terrible--blow. Accordingly, we find him still exhibiting a dread of the
+Seleucid power even after his great victory. He had released Demetrius
+too late to obtain any benefit from the hostile feeling which that
+prince probably entertained towards his brother. Had he not released him
+too soon for his own safety? Was it not to be feared that the Syrians
+might rally under one who was their natural leader, might rapidly
+recover their strength, and renew the struggle for the mastery of
+Western Asia? The first thought of the dissatisfied monarch was to
+hinder the execution of his own project. Demetrius was on his way to
+Syria, but had not yet arrived there, or, at any rate, his arrival had
+not been as yet reported. Was it not possible to intercept him? The
+Parthian king hastily sent out a body of horse, with orders to pursue
+the Syrian prince at their best speed, and endeavor to capture him
+before he passed the frontier. If they succeeded, they were to bring
+him hack to their master, who would probably have then committed his
+prisoner to close custody. The pursuit, however, failed. Demetrius
+had anticipated, or at least feared, a change of purpose, and, having
+prosecuted his journey with the greatest diligence, had reached his own
+territory before the emissaries of Phraates could overtake him.
+
+It is uncertain whether policy or inclination dictated the step which
+Phraates soon afterwards took of allaying himself by marriage with the
+Seleucidae. He had formally given his sister, Ehodogune, as a wife to
+Demetrius, and the marriage had been fruitful, Rhodogune having borne
+Demetrius several children. The two houses of the Seleucidae and
+Arsacidae were thus already allied to some extent. Phraates resolved
+to strengthen the bond. The unmarried daughter of Demetrius whom he
+had captured after his victory over Antiochus took his fancy; and he
+determined to make her his wife. At the same time he adopted other
+measures calculated to conciliate the Seleucid prince. He treated his
+captive, Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, with the greatest respect. To
+the corpse of Antiochus he paid royal honors; and, having placed it in a
+silver coffin, he transmitted it to the Syrians for sepulture.
+
+Still, if we may believe Justin, he entertained the design of carrying
+his arms across the Euphrates and invading Syria, in order to avenge
+the attack of Antiochus upon his territories. But events occurred which
+forced him to relinquish this enterprise. The Scythians, whom he had
+called to his aid under the pressure of the Syrian invasion, and who had
+arrived too late to take part in the war, demanded the pay which they
+had been promised, and suggested that their arms should be employed
+against some other enemy. Phraates was unwilling either to requite
+services not rendered, or to rush needlessly into a fresh war merely
+to gratify the avarice of his auxiliaries. He therefore peremptorily
+refused to comply with either suggestion. Upon this, the Scythians
+determined to take their payment into their own hands, and began to
+ravage Parthia and to carry off a rich booty. Phraates, who had removed
+the headquarters of his government to Babylonia, felt it necessary to
+entrust affairs there to an officer, and to take the field in person
+against this new enemy, which was certainly not less formidable than
+the Syrians. He selected for his representative at the seat of Empire
+a certain Himerus (or Evemerus), a youth with whom he had a disgraceful
+connection, and having established him as a sort of viceroy, marched
+away to the northeast, and proceeded to encounter the Scythians in that
+remote region. Besides his native troops, he took with him a number
+of Greeks, whom he had made prisoners in his war with Antiochus. Their
+fidelity could not but be doubtful; probably, however, he thought that
+at a distance from Syria they would not dare to fail him, and that with
+an enemy so barbarous as the Scythians they would have no temptation to
+fraternize. But the event proved him mistaken. The Greeks were sullen at
+their captivity, and exasperated by some cruel treatment which they
+had received when first captured. They bided their time; and when, in a
+battle with the Scythians, they saw the Parthian soldiery hard pressed
+and in danger of defeat, they decided matters by going over in a body
+to the enemy. The Parthian army was completely routed and destroyed, and
+Phraates himself was among the slain. We are not told what became of the
+victorious Greeks; but it is to be presumed that, like the Ten Thousand,
+they fought their way across Asia, and rejoined their own countrymen.
+
+Thus died Phraates I., after a reign of about eight or nine years.
+Though not possessing the talents of his father, he was a brave and
+warlike prince, active, enterprising, fertile in resources, and bent
+on maintaining against all assailants the honor and integrity of the
+Empire. In natural temperament he was probably at once soft and cruel.
+But, when policy required it, he could throw his softness aside and show
+himself a hardy and intrepid warrior. Similarly, he could control his
+natural harshness, and act upon occasion with clemency and leniency. He
+was not, perhaps, without a grim humor, which led him to threaten more
+than he intended, in order to see how men would comport themselves when
+greatly alarmed. There is some evidence that he aimed at saying good
+things; though it must be confessed that the wit is not of a high order.
+Altogether he has more character than most Oriental monarchs; and
+the monotony of Arsacid biography is agreeably interrupted by the
+idiosyncrasy which his words and conduct indicate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+_Accession of Artabanus II. Position of Parthia. Growing pressure upon
+her, and general advance towards the south, of the Saka or Scyths.
+Causes and extent of the movement. Character and principal tribes of the
+Saka. Scythic war of Artabanus. His death._
+
+
+The successor of Phraates was his uncle, Artabanus, a son of Priapatius.
+It is probable that the late king had either left no son, or none
+of sufficient age to be a fit occupant of the throne at a season of
+difficulty. The "Megistanes," therefore, elected Artabanus in his
+nephew's place, a man of mature age, and, probably, of some experience
+in war. The situation of Parthia, despite her recent triumph over the
+Syro-Macedonians, was critical; and it was of the greatest importance
+that the sceptre should be committed to one who would bring to the
+discharge of his office those qualities of wisdom, promptness, and
+vigor, which a crisis demands.
+
+The difficulty of the situation was two-fold. In the first place,
+there was an immediate danger to be escaped. The combined Greeks and
+Scythians, who had defeated the Parthian army and slain the monarch,
+might have been expected to push their advantage to the utmost, and
+seek to establish themselves as conquerors in the country which lay
+apparently at their mercy. At any rate, the siege and sack of some of
+the chief towns was a probable contingency, if permanent occupation
+of the territory did not suit the views of the confederates. The
+new monarch had to rid Parthia of her invaders at as little cost as
+possible, before he could allow himself to turn his attention to any
+other matter whatsoever. Nor did this, under the circumstances, appear
+to be an easy task. The flower of the Parthian troops had been destroyed
+in the late battle, and it was not easy to replace them by another
+native army. The subject-nations were at no time to be depended upon
+when Parthia was reduced to straits, and at the present conjecture some
+of the most important were in a condition bordering upon rebellion.
+Himerus, the viceroy left by Phraates in Babylonia, had first driven
+the Babylonians and Seleucians to desperation by his tyranny, and then
+plunged into a war with the people of Mesene, which must have made it
+difficult for him to send Artabanus any contingent. Fortunately for the
+Parthians, the folly or moderation of their enemies rendered any great
+effort on their part unnecessary. The Greeks, content with having
+revenged themselves, gave the new monarch no trouble at all: the
+Scythians were satisfied with plundering and wasting the open country,
+after which they returned quietly to their homes. Artabanus found
+himself quit of the immediate danger which had threatened him almost
+without exertion of his own, and could now bend his thoughts to the
+position of his country generally, and the proper policy to pursue under
+the circumstances.
+
+For there was a second and more formidable danger impending over the
+State--a danger not casual and temporary like the one just escaped, but
+arising out of a condition of things in neighboring regions which had
+come about slowly, and which promised to be permanent. To give the
+reader the means of estimating this danger aright, it will be necessary
+to take a somewhat wide view of the state of affairs on the northern
+and north-eastern frontiers of Parthia for some time previously to the
+accession of Artabanus, to trace out the causes which were at work,
+producing important changes in these regions, and to indicate the
+results which threatened, and those which were accomplished. The
+opportunity will also serve for giving such an account of the chief
+races which here bordered the empire as will show the nature of the
+peril to which Parthia was exposed at this period.
+
+In the wide plains of Northern Asia, extending from the Arctic Ocean to
+the Thian Chan mountains and the Jaxartes, there had been nurtured from
+a remote antiquity a nomadic population, at no time very numerous in
+proportion to the area over which it was spread, but liable on occasions
+to accumulate, owing to a combination of circumstances, in this or that
+portion of the region occupied, and at such times causing trouble to its
+neighbors. From about the close of the third century B.C. symptoms
+of such an accumulation had begun to display themselves in the tract
+immediately north of the Jaxartes, and the inhabitants of the countries
+south of that river had suffered from a succession of raids and inroads,
+which were not regarded as dangerous, but which gave constant annoyance.
+Crossing the great desert of Kharesm by forced marches, some of the
+hordes invaded the green valleys of Hyrcania and Parthia, and carried
+desolation over those fair and flourishing districts. About the same
+time other tribes entered the Bactrian territory and caused alarm to the
+Greek kingdom recently established in that province. It appears that
+the Parthian monarchs, unable to save their country from incursions,
+consented to pay a sort of black-mail to their invaders, by allowing
+them the use of their pasture grounds at certain fixed times--probably
+during some months of each year. The Bactrian princes had to pay a
+heavier penalty. Province after province of their kingdom was swallowed
+up by the northern hordes, who gradually occupied Sogdiana, or the tract
+between the lower Jaxartes and the lower Oxus, whence they proceeded to
+make inroads into Bactria itself. The rich land on the Polytimetus, or
+Ak Su, the river of Samarkand, and even the highlands between the upper
+Jaxartes and upper Oxus, were permanently occupied by the invaders;
+and if the Bactrians had not compensated themselves for their losses by
+acquisitions of territory in Afghanistan and India, they would soon
+have had no kingdom left. The hordes were always increasing in strength
+through the influx of fresh immigrants, and in lieu of Bactria a power
+now stood arrayed on the north-eastern frontier of the Parthians, which
+was reasonably regarded with the most serious alarm and suspicion.
+
+The origin of the state of things here described is to be sought,
+according to the best authorities, in certain movements which took
+place about B.C. 200, in a remote region of inner Asia. At that time a
+Turanian people called the Yue-chi were expelled from their territory on
+the west of Chen-si by the Hiong-nu, whom some identified with the Huns.
+The Yue-chi separated into two bands; the smaller descended southwards
+into Thibet; the larger passed westwards, and after a hard struggle
+dispossessed a people called 'Su' of the plains west of the river of Hi.
+These latter advanced to Ferghana and the Jaxartes; and the Yue-chi not
+long afterwards retreating from the Usiun, another nomadic race, passed
+the 'Su' on the north and occupied the tracts between the Oxus and the
+Caspian. The Su were thus in the vicinity of the Bactrian Greeks; the
+Yue-chi in the neighborhood of the Parthians. On the particulars of
+this account, which come from the Chinese historians, we cannot perhaps
+altogether depend; but there is no reason to doubt the main fact,
+attested by a writer who visited the Yue-chi in B.C. 139, that they had
+migrated about the period mentioned from the interior of Asia, and had
+established themselves sixty years later in the Caspian region. Such a
+movement would necessarily have thrown the entire previous population
+of those parts into commotion, and would probably have precipitated them
+upon their neighbors. It accounts satisfactorily for the pressure of the
+northern hordes at this period on the Parthians, Bactrians, and even
+the Indians; and it completely explains the crisis in Parthian history,
+which we have now reached, and the necessity which lay upon the nation
+of meeting and, if possible, overcoming, an entirely new danger.
+
+In fact, one of those occasions of peril had arisen, to which in ancient
+times the civilized world was always liable from an outburst of northern
+barbarism. Whether the peril has altogether passed away or not we need
+not here inquire; but certainly in the old world there was always a
+chance that civilization, art, refinement, luxury, might suddenly and
+almost without warning be swept away by an overwhelming influx of savage
+hordes from the unpolished North. From the reign of Oyaxares, when
+the evil first showed itself, the danger was patent to all wise and
+far-seeing governors both in Europe and Asia, and was from time to time
+guarded against. The expeditions of Cyrus against the Massagetse, of
+Darius Hystaspis against the European Scyths, of Alexander against the
+Getee, of Trajan and Probus across the Danube, were designed to check
+and intimidate the northern nations, to break their power, and diminish
+the likelihood of their taking the offensive. It was now more than four
+centuries since in this part of Asia any such effort had been made; and
+the northern barbarians might naturally have ceased to fear the arms and
+discipline of the South. Moreover the circumstances of the time
+scarcely left them a choice. Pressed on continually more and more by the
+newly-arrived Su and Yue-chi, the old inhabitants of the Transoxianian
+regions were under the necessity of seeking new settlements, and could
+only attempt to find them in the quarter towards which they were driven
+by the new-comers. Strengthened, probably, by daring spirits from among
+their conquerors themselves they crossed the rivers and the deserts
+by which they had been hitherto confined, and advancing against the
+Parthians, Bactrians, and Arians, threatened to carry all before them.
+We have seen how successful they were against the Bactrians. In Ariana,
+they passed the mountains, and, proceeding southwards, occupied the
+tract below the great lake wherein the Helmend terminates, which took
+from them the name of Saeastane ("land of the Saka," or Scyths)--a name
+still to be traced in the modern "Seistan." Further to the east they
+effected a lodgment in Kabul, and another in the the southern portion of
+the Indus valley, which for a time bore the name of Indo-Scythia. They
+even crossed the Indus and attempted to penetrate into the interior of
+India, but here they were met and repulsed by a native monarch, about
+the year B.C. 56.
+
+The people engaged in this great movement are called, in a general way,
+by the classical writers, Sacse, or Scythse--i.e. Scyths. They consisted
+of a number of tribes, similar for the most part in language, habits,
+and mode of life, and allied more or less closely to the other nomadic
+races of Central and Northern Asia. Of these tribes the principal were
+the Massagetse ("great Jits, or Jats"), who occupied the country on
+both sides of the lower course of the Oxus; the Dahse, who bordered the
+Caspian above Hyrcania, and extended thence to the latitude of Herat;
+the Tochari, who settled in the mountains between the upper Jaxartes and
+the upper Oxus, where they gave name to the tract known as Tokhar-estan;
+the Asii, or Asiani, who were closely connected with the Tochari,
+and the Sakarauli (Saracucse?), who are found connected with both the
+Tochari and the Asiani. Some of these tribes contained within them
+further sub-divisions; e.g. the Dahse, who comprised the Parni (or
+Apariii), the Pissuri, and the Xanthii; and the Massagetse, who included
+among them Chorasmii, Attasii, and others.
+
+The general character of the barbarism in which these various races were
+involved may be best learnt from the description given of one of them,
+the Massagetae, with but few differences, by Herodotus and Strabo.
+According to this description, the Massagetse were nomads, who moved
+about in wagons or carts, accompanied by their flocks and herds, on
+whose milk they chiefly sustained themselves. Each man had only one
+wife, but all the wives were held in common. They were good riders and
+excellent archers, but fought both on horseback and on foot, and used,
+besides their bows and arrows, lances, knives, and battle-axes. They had
+little or no iron, but made their spear and arrow-heads, and their other
+weapons, of bronze. They had also bronze breast-plates; but otherwise
+the metal with which they adorned and protected their own persons,
+and the heads of their horses, was gold. To a certain extent they were
+cannibals. It was their custom not to let the aged among them die a
+natural death, but, when life seemed approaching its natural term, to
+offer them up in sacrifice,--and then boil the flesh and feast on it.
+This mode of ending life was regarded as the best and most honorable;
+such as died of disease were not eaten but buried, and their friends
+bewailed their misfortune.
+
+It may be added to this that we have sufficient reason to believe that
+the Massagetse and the other nomads of these parts regarded the use
+of poisoned arrows as legitimate in warfare, and employed the venom of
+serpents, and the corrupted blood of man, to make the wounds which they
+inflicted more deadly.
+
+Thus, what was threatened was not merely the conquest of one race by
+another cognate to it, like that of the Medes by the Persians, or of
+the Greeks by Rome, but the obliteration of such art, civilization,
+and refinement as Western Asia had attained to in course of ages by
+the successive efforts of Babylonians, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, and
+Greeks--the spread over some of the fairest regions of the earth of a
+low type of savagery--a type which in religion went no further than the
+worship of the sun; in art knew but the easier forms of metallurgy and
+the construction of carts; in manners and customs, included cannibalism,
+the use of poisoned weapons, and a relation between the sexes
+destructive alike of all delicacy and of all family affection. The
+Parthians were, no doubt, rude and coarse in their character as compared
+with the Persians; but they had been civilized to a certain extent by
+three centuries of subjection to the Persians and the Greco-Macedonians
+before they rose to power; they affected Persian manners; they
+patronized Greek art, they appreciated the advantages of having in their
+midst a number of Greek states. Had the Massagetse and their kindred
+tribes of Sakas, Tochari, Dahse, Yue-chi, and Su, which now menaced the
+Parthian power, succeeded in sweeping it away, the general declension of
+all which is lovely or excellent in human life would have been marked.
+Scythicism would have overspread Western Asia. No doubt the conquerors
+would have learned something from those whom they subjected; but it
+cannot be supposed that they would have learned much. The change would
+have been like that which passed over the Empire of the West, when
+Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, Alans, Heruli, depopulated its fairest
+provinces and laid its civilization in the dust. The East would have
+been barbarized; the gains of centuries would have been lost; the work
+of Cyrus, Darius, Alexander, and other great benefactors of Asiatic
+humanity, have been undone; Western Asia would have sunk back into a
+condition not very much above that from which it was raised two thousand
+years earlier by the primitive Chaldaeans and the Assyrians.
+
+Artabanus II., the Parthian monarch who succeeded Phraates II., appears
+to have appreciated aright the perils of his position. He was not
+content, when the particular body of barbarians which had defeated and
+slain his predecessor, having ravaged Parthia Proper, returned home,
+to fold his arms and wait until he was again attacked. According to the
+brief, but expressive words of Justin, he assumed the aggressive, and
+invaded the country of the Tochari, one of the most powerful of the
+Scythic tribes, which was now settled in a portion of the region that
+had, till lately, belonged to the Bactrian kingdom. Artabanus evidently
+felt that what was needed was to roll back the flood of invasion
+which had advanced so near to the sacred home of his nation; that the
+barbarians required to be taught a lesson; that they must at least be
+made to understand that Parthia was to be respected; or that, if this
+could not be done, the fate of the Empire was sealed. He therefore, with
+a gallantry and boldness that we cannot sufficiently admire--a boldness
+that seemed like rashness, but was in reality prudence--without
+calculating too closely the immediate chances of battle, led his troops
+against one of the most forward of the advancing tribes. But fortune,
+unhappily, was adverse. How the battle was progressing we are not told;
+but it appears that in the thick of an engagement Artabanus received
+a wound in the forearm, from the effects of which he died almost
+immediately. The death of the leader decides in the East, almost to a
+certainty, the issue of a contest. We cannot doubt that the Parthians,
+having lost their monarch, were repulsed; that the expedition failed;
+and that the situation of affairs became once more at least as
+threatening as it had been before Artabanus made his attempt. Two
+Parthian monarchs had now fallen within the space of a few years in
+combat with the aggressive Scyths--two Parthian armies had suffered
+defeat. Was this to be always so? If it was, then Parthia had only to
+make up her mind to fall, and, like the great Roman, to let it be her
+care that she should fall grandly and with dignity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+_Accession of Mithridates II. Termination of the Scythic Wars.
+Commencement of the struggle with Armenia. Previous history of Armenia.
+Result of the first Armenian War. First contact of Rome with Parthia.
+Attitude of Rome towards the East at this time. Second Armenian War.
+Death of Mithridates._
+
+
+On the death of Artabanus II., about B.C. 124, his son, Mithridates II.,
+was proclaimed king. Of this monarch, whose achievements (according to
+Justin) procured him the epithet of "the Great," the accounts which have
+come down to us are extremely scanty and unsatisfactory. Justin, who is
+our principal informant on the subject of the early Parthian history,
+has unfortunately confounded him with the third monarch of the name, who
+ascended the throne more than sixty years later, and has left us
+only the slightest and most meagre outline of his actions. The other
+classical writers, only to a very small extent, supplement Justin's
+narrative; and the result is that of a reign which was one of the most
+important in the early Parthian series, the historical inquirer at the
+present day can form but a most incomplete conception.
+
+It appears, however, from the account of Justin, and from such other
+notices as have reached us of the condition of things at this time in
+the regions lying east of the Caspian, that Mithridates was entirely
+successful where his father and his cousin had signally failed. He
+gained a number of victories over the Scythic hordes; and effectually
+checked their direct progress towards the south, throwing them thereby
+upon the east and the south-east. Danger to Parthia from the Scyths
+seems after his reign to have passed away. They found a vent for their
+superabundant population in Seistan, Afghanistan, and India, and ceased
+to have any hopes of making an impression on the Arsacid kingdom.
+Mithridates, it is probable, even took territory from them. The
+acquisition of parts of Bactria by the Parthians from the Scyths, which
+is attested by Strabo, belongs, in all likelihood, to his reign; and
+the extension of the Parthian dominion to Seistan may well date from the
+same period. Justin tells us that he added many nations to the Parthian
+Empire. The statements made of the extent of Parthia on the side of
+Syria in the time of Mithridates the First render it impossible for us
+to discover these nations in the west: we are, therefore, compelled to
+regard them as consisting of races on the eastern frontier, who could at
+this period only be outlying tribes of the recent Scythic immigration.
+
+The victories of Mithridates in the East encouraged him to turn his
+arms in the opposite direction, and to make an attack on the important
+country of Armenia, which bordered his north-western frontier. Armenia
+was at the time under the government of a certain Ortoadistus, who seems
+to have been the predecessor, and was perhaps the father, of the great
+Tigranes. Ortoadistus ruled the tract called by the Romans "Armenia
+Magna," which extended from the Euphrates on the west to the mouth of
+the Araxes on the east, and from the valley of the Kur northwards to
+Mount Niphates and the head streams of the Tigris towards the south. The
+people over which he ruled was one of the oldest in Asia and had on many
+occasions shown itself impatient of a conqueror. Justin, on reaching
+this point in his work, observes that he could not feel himself
+justified if, when his subject brought before him so mighty a kingdom,
+he did not enter at some length on its previous history. The modern
+historian would be even less excusable than Justin if he omitted such
+a review, since, while he has less right to assume a knowledge of early
+Armenian history on the part of his readers, he has greater means of
+gratifying their curiosity, owing to the recent discovery of sources of
+information unknown to the ancients.
+
+Armenia first comes before us in Genesis, where it is mentioned as the
+country on whose mountains the ark rested. A recollection of it was
+thenceforth retained in the semi-mythic traditions of the Babylonians.
+According to some, the Egyptian monarchs of the eighteenth and
+nineteenth dynasties carried their arms into its remote valleys, and
+exacted tribute from the petty chiefs who then ruled there. At any rate,
+it is certain that from about the ninth century B.C. it was well known
+to the Assyrians, who were engaged from that time till about B.C. 640
+in almost constant wars with its inhabitants. At this period three
+principal races inhabited the country--the Nairi, who were spread from
+the mountains west of Lake Van along both sides of the Tigris to Bir
+on the Euphrates, and even further; the Urarda (Alarodii, or people of
+Ararat), who dwelt north and east of the Nairi, on the upper Euphrates,
+about the lake of Van, and probably on the Araxes; and the Minni, whose
+country lay south-east of the Urarda, in the Urumiyeh basin and the
+adjoining parts of Zagros. Of these three races, the Urarda were the
+most powerful, and it was with them that the Assyrians waged their most
+bloody wars. The capital city of the Urarda was Van, on the eastern
+shores of the lake; and here it was that their kings set up the most
+remarkable of their inscriptions. Six monarchs, who apparently all
+belong to one dynasty, left inscriptions in this locality commemorative
+of their military expeditions or of their offerings to the gods. The
+later names of the series can be identified with those of kings who
+contended with Assyrian monarchs belonging to the last, or Sargonid
+dynasty; and hence we are entitled approximately to fix the series to
+the seventh and eighth centuries before our era. The Urarda must at this
+time have exercised a dominion over almost the whole of the region
+to which the name of Armenia commonly attaches. They were worthy
+antagonists of the Assyrians, and, though occasionally worsted in
+fight, maintained their independence, at any rate, till the time of
+Asshur-bani-pal (about B.C. 640), when the last king of the Van series,
+whose name is read as Bilat-duri, succumbed to the Assyrian power, and
+consented to pay a tribute for his dominions.
+
+There is reason to believe that between the time when we obtain this
+view of the primitive Armenian peoples and that at which we next have
+any exact knowledge of the condition of the country--the time of the
+Persian monarchy--a great revolution had taken place in the region.
+The Nairi, Urarda, and Minni were Turanian, or, at any rate, non-Arian,
+races. Their congeners in Western Asia were the early Babylonians and
+the Susianians, not the Medes, the Persians, or the Phrygians. But by
+the time of Herodotus the Arian character of the Armenians had become
+established. Their close connection with the Phrygians was recognized.
+They had changed their national appellation; for while in the Assyrian
+period the terms Nairi and Urarda had preponderated, under the Persians
+they had come to be called Armenians and their country Armenia. The
+personal names of individuals in the country, both men and women, had
+acquired a decidedly Arian cast. Everything seems to indicate that a
+strange people had immigrated into the land, bringing with them a new
+language, new manners and customs, and a new religious system. From what
+quarter they had come, whether from Phrygia as Herodotus and Stephen
+believed, or, as we should gather from their language and religion, from
+Media, is perhaps doubtful; but it seems certain that from one quarter
+or another Armenia had been Arianized; the old Turanian character had
+passed away from it; immigrants had nocked in, and a new people had
+been formed--the real Armenian of later times, and indeed of the present
+day--by the admixture of ruling Arian tribes with a primitive Turanian
+population, the descendants of the old inhabitants.
+
+The new race, thus formed, though perhaps not less brave and warlike
+than the old, was less bent on maintaining its independence. Moses of
+Chorene, the Armenian historian, admits that from the time of the Median
+preponderance in Western Asia the Armenians held under them a subject
+position. That such was their position under the Persians is abundantly
+evident;25 and, so far as appears, there was only one occasion during
+the entire Achaemenian period (B.C. 559 to B.C. 331) when they exhibited
+any impatience of the Persian yoke, or made any attempt to free
+themselves from it. In the early portion of the reign of Darius
+Hystaspis they took part in a revolt raised by a Mede called Phraortes,
+and were not reduced to obedience without some difficulty. But from
+henceforth their fidelity to the Achaemenian Kings was unbroken; they
+paid their tribute (apparently) without reluctance, and furnished
+contingents of troops to the Persian armies when called upon. After
+Arbela they submitted without a struggle to Alexander; and when in the
+division of his dominions, which followed upon the battle of Ipsus, they
+fell naturally to Seleucus, they acquiesced in the arrangement. It was
+not until Antiochus the Great suffered his great defeat at the hands of
+the Romans (B.C. 190) that Armenia bestirred itself, and, after probably
+four and a half centuries of subjection, became once more an independent
+power. Even then the movement seems to have originated rather in the
+ambition of a chief than in a desire for liberty on the part of
+the people. Artaxias had been governor of the Greater Armenia under
+Antiochus, and seized the opportunity afforded by the battle of Magnesia
+to change his title of satrap into that of sovereign. No war followed.
+Antiochus was too much weakened by his reverses to make any attempt to
+reduce Artaxias or recover Armenia; and the nation obtained autonomy
+without having to undergo the usual ordeal of a bloody struggle. When at
+the expiration of five-and-twenty years Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus
+the Great, determined on an effort to reconquer the lost province, no
+very stubborn resistance was offered to him. Artaxias was defeated and
+made prisoner in the very first year of the war (B.C. 165), and Armenia
+seems to have passed again under the sway of the Seleucidae.
+
+It would seem that matters remained in this state for the space of about
+fifteen or sixteen years. When, however, Mithridates I. (Arsaces VI.),
+about B.C. 150, had overrun the eastern provinces of Syria, and made
+himself master in succession of Media, Elymais, and Babylonia, the
+revolutionary movement excited by his successes reached Armenia, and the
+standard of independence was once more raised in that country. According
+to the Armenian historians, an Arsacid prince, Wagharshag or Valarsaces,
+was established as sovereign by the influence of the Parthian monarch,
+but was allowed to rule independently. A reign of twenty-two years is
+assigned to this prince, whose kingdom is declared to have reached from
+the Caucasus to Nisibis, and from the Caspian to the Mediterranean. He
+was succeeded by his son, Arshag (Arsaces), who reigned thirteen years,
+and was, like his father, active and warlike, contending chiefly with
+the people of Pontus. At his death the crown descended to his son,
+Ardashes, who is probably the Ortoadistus of Justin.
+
+Such were the antecedents of Armenia when Mithridates II., having
+given an effectual check to the progress of the Scythians in the east,
+determined to direct his arms towards the west, and to attack the
+dominions of his relative, the third of the Armenian Arsacidse. Of
+the circumstances of this war, and its results, we have scarcely
+any knowledge. Justin, who alone distinctly mentions it, gives us no
+details. A notice, however, in Strabo, which must refer to about this
+time, is thought to indicate with sufficient clearness the result of the
+struggle, which seems to have been unfavorable to the Armenians. Strabo
+says that Tigranes, before his accession to the throne, was for a time
+a hostage among the Parthians. As hostages are only given by the
+vanquished party, we may assume that Ortoadistus (Ardashes) found
+himself unable to offer an effectual resistance to the Parthian
+king, and consented after a while to a disadvantageous peace, for his
+observance of which hostages were required by the victor.
+
+It cannot have been more than a few years after the termination of this
+war, which must have taken place towards the close of the second, or
+soon after the beginning of the first century, that Parthia was for the
+first time brought into contact with Rome.
+
+The Great Republic, which after her complete victory over Antiochus
+III., B.C. 190, had declined to take possession of a single foot of
+ground in Asia, regarding the general state of affairs as not then ripe
+for an advance of Terminus in that quarter, had now for some time seen
+reason to alter its policy, and to aim at adding to its European an
+extensive Asiatic dominion. Macedonia and Greece having been absorbed,
+and Carthage destroyed (B.C. 148-146), the conditions of the political
+problem seemed to be so far changed as to render a further advance
+towards the east a safe measure; and accordingly, when it was seen that
+the line of the kings of Pergamus was coming to an end, the Senate set
+on foot intrigues which had for their object the devolution upon Rome
+of the sovereignty belonging to those monarchs. By clever management the
+third Attalus was induced, in repayment of his father's obligations
+to the Romans, to bequeath his entire dominions as a legacy to the
+Republic. In vain did his illegitimate half-brother, Aristonicus,
+dispute the validity of so extraordinary a testament; the Romans, aided
+by Mithridates IV., then monarch of Pontus, easily triumphed over such
+resistance as this unfortunate prince could offer, and having ceded to
+their ally the portion of Phrygia which had belonged to the Pergamene
+kingdom, entered on the possession of the remainder. Having thus
+become an Asiatic power, the Great Republic was of necessity mixed
+up henceforth with the various movements and struggles which agitated
+Western Asia, and was naturally led to strengthen its position among the
+Asiatic kingdoms by such alliances as seemed at each conjuncture best
+fitted for its interests.
+
+Hitherto no occasion had arisen for any direct dealings between Rome
+and Parthia. Their respective territories were still separated by
+considerable tracts, which were in the occupation of the Syrians, the
+Cappadocians, and the Armenians. Their interests had neither clashed,
+nor as yet sufficiently united them to give rise to any diplomatic
+intercourse. But the progress of the two Empires in opposite directions
+was continually bringing them nearer to each other; and events had now
+reached a point at which the Empires began to have (or seem to have)
+such a community of interests as led naturally to an exchange of
+communications. A great power had been recently developed in these
+parts. In the rapid way so common in the East. Mithridates V., of
+Pontus, the son and successor of Rome's ally, had, between B.C. 112 and
+B.C. 93, built up an Empire of vast extent, numerous population, and
+almost inexhaustible resources. He had established his authority over
+Armenia Minor, Colchis, the entire east coast of the Black Sea, the
+Chersonesus Taurica, or kingdom of the Bosporus, and even over the whole
+tract lying west of the Chersonese as far as the mouth of the Tyras,
+or Dniester. Nor had these gains contented him. He had obtained half of
+Paphlagonia by an iniquitous compact with Nicomedes, King of Bithynia;
+he had occupied Galatia; and he was engaged in attempts to bring
+Cappadocia under his influence. In this last-named project he was
+assisted by the Armenians, with whose king, Tigranes, he had (about B.C.
+96) formed a close alliance, at the same time giving him his daughter,
+Cleopatra, in marriage. Rome, though she had not yet determined on war
+with Mithridates, was resolved to thwart his Cappadocian projects, and
+in B.C. 92 sent Sulla into Asia with orders to put down the puppet whom
+Mithridates and Tigranes were establishing, and to replace upon the
+Cappadocian throne a certain Ariobarzanes, whom they had driven from
+his kingdom. In the execution of this commission, Sulla was brought
+into hostile collision with the Armenians, whom he defeated with great
+slaughter, and drove from Cappadocia together with their puppet king.
+Thus, not only did the growing power of Mithridates of Pontus, by
+inspiring Rome and Parthia with a common fear, tend to draw them
+together, but the course of events had actually given them a common
+enemy in Tigranes of Armenia, who was equally obnoxious to both.
+
+For Tigranes, who, during the time that he was a hostage in Parthia,
+had contracted engagements towards the Parthian monarch which involved
+a cession of territory, and who in consequence of his promises had been
+aided by the Parthians in seating himself on his father's throne though
+he made the cession required of him in the first instance had soon
+afterwards repented of his good faith, had gone to war with his
+benefactors, recovered the ceded territory, and laid waste a
+considerable tract of country lying within the admitted limits of
+the Parthian kingdom. These proceedings had, of course, alienated
+Mithridates II.; and we may with much probability ascribe to them the
+step, which he now took, of sending an ambassador to Sulla. Orobazus,
+the individual selected, was charged to propose an alliance offensive
+and defensive between the two countries. Sulla received the overture
+favorably, but probably considered that it transcended his powers to
+conclude a treaty; and thus nothing more was effected by the embassy
+than the establishment of a good understanding between the two States.
+
+Soon after this Tigranes appears to have renewed his attacks upon
+Parthia, which in the interval between B.C. 92 and B.C. 83 he greatly
+humbled, depriving it of the whole of Upper Mesopotamia, at this time
+called Gordyene, and under rule of one of the Parthian tributary kings.
+Of the details of this war we have no account; and it is even uncertain
+whether it fell within the reign of Mithridates II. or no. The
+unfortunate mistake of Justin, whereby he confounded this monarch with
+Mithridates III., has thrown this portion of the Parthian history into
+confusion, and has made even the successor of Mithridates II. uncertain.
+
+Mithridates II. probably died about B.C. 89, after a reign which
+must have exceeded thirty-five years. His great successes against
+the Scythians in the earlier portion of his reign were to some extent
+counterbalanced by his losses to Tigranes in his old age; but on the
+whole he must be regarded as one of the more vigorous and successful of
+the Parthian monarchs, and as combining courage with prudence. It is to
+his credit that he saw the advantage of establishing friendly relations
+with Rome at a time when an ordinary Oriental monarch might have
+despised the distant Republic, and have thought it beneath his dignity
+to make overtures to so strange and anomalous a power. Whether he
+definitely foresaw the part which Rome was about to play in the East,
+we may doubt; but at any rate he must have had a prevision that the
+part would not be trifling or insignificant. Of the private character of
+Mithridates we have no sufficient materials to judge. If it be true that
+he put his envoy, Orobazus, to death on account of his having allowed
+Sulla to assume a position at their conference derogatory to the dignity
+of the Parthian State, we must pronounce him a harsh master; but the
+tale, which rests wholly on the weak authority of the gossip-loving
+Plutarch, is perhaps scarcely to be accepted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+_Dark period of Parthian History. Doubtful succession of the Monarchs.
+Accession of Sanatrceces, ab. B.C. 76. Position of Parthia during the
+Mithridatic Wars. Accession of Phraates III. His relations with Pompey.
+His death. Civil War between his two sons, Mithridates and Orodes. Death
+of Mithridates._
+
+
+The successor of Mithridates II. is unknown. It has been argued, indeed,
+that the reigns of the known monarchs of this period would not be unduly
+long if we regarded them as strictly consecutive, and placed no blank
+between the death of Mithridates II. and the accession of the next
+Arsaces whose name has come down to us. Sanatrodoeces, it has been said,
+may have been, and may, therefore, well be regarded as, the successor
+of Mithridates. But the words of the epitomizer of Trogus, placed at
+the head of this chapter, forbid the acceptance of this theory. The
+epitomizer would not have spoken of "many kings" as intervening between
+Mithridates II. and Orodes, if the number had been only three. The
+expression implies, at least, four or five monarchs; and thus we have
+no choice but to suppose that the succession of the kings is here
+imperfect, and that at least one or two reigns were interposed between
+those of the second Mithridates and of the monarch known as Sanatroeces,
+Sinatroces, or Sintricus.
+
+A casual notice of a Parthian monarch in a late writer may supply the
+gap, either wholly or in part. Lucian speaks of a certain Mnasciras as
+a Parthian king, who died at the advanced age of ninety-six. As there
+is no other place in the Parthian history at which the succession is
+doubtful, and as no such name as Mnascris occurs elsewhere in the list,
+it seems necessary, unless we reject Lucian's authority altogether, to
+insert this monarch here. We cannot say, however, how long he reigned,
+or ascribe to him any particular actions; nor can we say definitely
+what king he either succeeded or preceded. It is possible that his reign
+covered the entire interval between Mithridates II. and Sanatroeces; it
+is possible, on the other hand, that he had successors and predecessors,
+whose names have altogether perished.
+
+The expression used by the epitomizer of Trogus, and a few words
+dropped by Plutarch, render it probable that about this time there were
+contentions between various members of the Arsacid family which issued
+in actual civil war. Such contentions are a marked feature of the later
+history; and, according to Plutarch, they commenced at this period. We
+may suspect, from the great age of two of the monarchs chosen, that
+the Arsacid stock was now very limited in number, that it offered no
+candidates for the throne whose claims were indisputable, and that
+consequently at each vacancy there was a division of opinion among the
+"Megistanes," which led to the claimants making appeal, if the election
+went against them, to the arbitrament of arms.
+
+The dark time of Parthian history is terminated by the
+accession--probably in B.C. 76--of the king above mentioned as known
+by the three names of Sanatroeces, Sinatroces, and Sintricus. The form,
+Sanatroeces, which appears upon the Paithian coins, is on that account
+to be preferred. The king so called had reached when elected the
+advanced age of eighty. It may be suspected that he was a son of the
+sixth Arsaces (Mithridates I.), and consequently a brother of Phraates
+II. He had, perhaps, been made prisoner by that Scythians in the course
+of the disastrous war waged by that monarch, and had been retained in
+captivity for above fifty years. At any rate, he appears to have
+been indebted to the Scythians in some measure for the crown which he
+acquired so tardily, his enjoyment of it having been secured by the help
+of a contingent of troops furnished to him by the Scythian tribe of the
+Sacauracae.
+
+The position of the Empire at the time of his accession was one of
+considerable difficulty. Parthia, during the period of her civil
+contentions, had lost much ground in the west, having been deprived by
+Tigranes of at least two important provinces. At the same time she had
+been witness of the tremendous struggle between Rome and Pontus which
+commenced in B.C. 88, was still continuing, and still far from decided,
+when Sanatroeces came to the throne. An octogenarian monarch was unfit
+to engage in strife, and if Sanatroeces, notwithstanding this drawback,
+had been ambitious of military distinction, it would have been difficult
+for him to determine into which scale the interests of his country
+required that he should cast the weight of his sword. On the one hand,
+Parthia had evidently much to fear from the military force and the
+covetous disposition of Tigranes, king of Armenia, the son-in-law of
+Mithridates, and at this time his chosen alley. Tigranes had hitherto
+been continually increasing in strength. By the defeat of Artanes, king
+of Sophene, or Armenia Minor, he had made himself master of Armenia
+in its widest extent; by his wars with Parthia herself he had acquired
+Gordyene, or Northern Mesopotamia, and Adiabene, or the entire rich
+tract east of the middle Tigris (including Assyria Proper and Arbelitis),
+as far, at any rate, as the course of the lower Zab; by means which are
+not stated he had brought under subjection the king of the important
+country of Media Artropatene, independent since the time of Alexander.
+Invited into Syria, about B.C. 83, by the wretched inhabitants, wearied
+with the perpetual civil wars between the princes of the house of the
+Seleucidae, he had found no difficulty in establishing himself as
+king over Cilicia, Syria, and most of Phoenicia. About B.C. 80 he
+had determined on building himself a new capital in the province of
+Gordyene, a capital of a vast size, provided with all the luxuries
+required by an Oriental court, and fortified with walls which recalled
+the glories of the ancient cities of the Assyrians. The position of this
+huge town on the very borders of the Parthian kingdom, in a province
+which had till very recently been Parthian, could be no otherwise
+understood that as a standing menace to Parthia itself, the proclamation
+of an intention to extend the Armenian dominion southwards, and to
+absorb at any rate all the rich and fertile country between Gordyene
+and the sea. Thus threatened by Armenia, it was impossible for
+Sanatroeces cordially to embrace the side of Mithridates, with which
+Armenia and its king were so closely allied; it was impossible for him
+even to wish that the two allies should be free to work their will on
+the Asiatic continent unchecked by the power which alone had for the
+last twelve years obstructed their ambitious projects.
+
+On the other hand, there was already among the Asiatic princes generally
+a deep distrust of Rome--a fear that in the new people, which had
+crept so quietly into Asia, was to be found a power more permanently
+formidable than the Macedonians, a power which would make up for want
+of brilliancy and dash by a dogged perseverance in its aims, and a
+stealthy, crafty policy, sure in the end to achieve great and striking
+results. The acceptance of the kingdom of Attalus had not, perhaps,
+alarmed any one; but the seizure of Phrygia during the minority of
+Mithridates, without so much as a pretext, and the practice, soon
+afterwards established, of setting up puppet kings, bound to do the
+bidding of their Roman allies, had raised suspicions; the ease with
+which Mithridates notwithstanding his great power and long preparation,
+had been vanquished in the first war (B.C. 88-84) had aroused fears; and
+Sanatroeces could not but misdoubt the advisability of lending aid to
+the Romans, and so helping them to obtain a still firmer hold on Western
+Asia. Accordingly we find that when the final war broke out, in B.C. 74,
+his inclination was, in the first instance, to stand wholly aloof, and
+when that became impossible, then to temporize. To the application
+for assistance made by Mithridates in B.C. 72 a direct negative was
+returned; and it was not until, in B.C. 69, the war had approached his
+own frontier, and both parties made the most earnest appeals to him for
+aid, that he departed from the line of pure abstention, and had recourse
+to the expedient of amusing, both sides with promises, while he
+helped neither. According to Plutarch, this line of procedure offended
+Lucullus, and had nearly induced him to defer the final struggle with
+Mithridates and Tigranes, and turn his arms against Parthia. But the
+prolonged resistance of Nisibis, and the successes of Mithridates in
+Pontus, diverted the danger; and the war rolling northwards, Parthia was
+not yet driven to take a side, but was enabled to maintain her neutral
+position for some years longer.
+
+Meanwhile the aged Sanatroeces died, and was succeeded by his son,
+Phraates III. This prince followed at first his father's example, and
+abstained from mixing himself up in the Mithridatic war; but in B.C.
+66, being courted by both sides, and promised the restoration of the
+provinces lost to Tigranes, he made alliance with Pompey, and undertook,
+while the latter pressed the war against Mithridates, to find occupation
+for the Armenian monarch in his own land. This engagement he executed
+with fidelity. It had happened that the eldest living son of Tigranes, a
+prince bearing the same name as his father, having raised a rebellion
+in Armenia and been defeated, had taken refuge in Parthia with Phraates.
+Phraates determined to take advantage of this circumstance. The young
+Tigranes was supported by a party among his countrymen who wished to see
+a youthful monarch upon the throne; and Phraates therefore considered
+that he would best discharge his obligations to the Romans by fomenting
+this family quarrel, and lending a moderate support to the younger
+Tigranes against his father. He marched an army into Armenia in the
+interest of the young prince, overran the open country, and advanced
+on Artaxata, the capital. Tigranes, the king, fled at his approach, and
+betook himself to the neighboring mountains. Artaxata was invested;
+but as the siege promised to be long, the Parthian monarch after a
+time withdrew, leaving the pretender with as many troops as he thought
+necessary to press the siege to a successful issue. The result, however,
+disappointed his expectations. Scarcely was Phraates gone, when the old
+king fell upon his son, defeated him, and drove him beyond his borders.
+He was forced, however, soon afterwards, to submit to Pompey, who, while
+the civil war was raging in Armenia, had defeated Mithridates and driven
+him to take refuge in the Tauric Chersonese.
+
+Phraates, now, naturally expected the due reward of his services,
+according to the stipulations of his agreement with Pompey. But that
+general was either dissatisfied with the mode in which the Parthian had
+discharged his obligations, or disinclined to strengthen the power which
+he saw to be the only one in these parts capable of disputing with Rome
+the headship of Asia. He could scarcely prevent, and he does not seem
+to have tried to prevent, the recovery of Adiabene by the Parthians;
+but the nearer province of Gordyene to which they had an equal claim,
+he would by no means consent to their occupying. At first he destined it
+for the younger Tigranes. When the prince offended him, he made it over
+to Ariobarzanes, the Cappadocian monarch. That arrangement not taking
+effect, and the tract being disputed between Phraates and the elder
+Tigranes, he sent his legate, Afranius, to drive the Parthians out of
+the country, and delivered it over into the hands of the Armenians.
+At the same time he insulted the Parthian monarch by refusing him
+his generally recognized title of "King of Kings." He thus entirely
+alienated his late ally, who remonstrated against the injustice with
+which he was treated, and was only deterred from declaring war by the
+wholesome fear which he entertained of the Roman arms.
+
+Pompey, on his side, no doubt took the question into consideration
+whether or no he should declare the Parthian prince a Roman enemy, and
+proceed to direct against him the available forces of the Empire. He had
+purposely made him hostile, and compelled him to take steps which might
+have furnished a plausible _casus belli_. But, on the whole, he found
+that he was not prepared to venture on the encounter. The war had not
+been formally committed to him; and if he did not prosper in it, he
+dreaded the accusations of his enemies at Rome. He had seen, moreover,
+with his own eyes; that the Parthians were an enemy far from despicable,
+and his knowledge of campaigning told him that success against them was
+not certain. He feared to risk the loss of all the glory which he had
+obtained by grasping greedily at more, and preferred enjoying the fruits
+of the good luck which had hitherto attended him to tempting fortune on
+a new field. He therefore determined that he would not allow himself to
+be provoked into hostilities by the reproaches, the dictatorial words,
+or even the daring acts of the Parthian King. When Phraates demanded his
+lost provinces he replied, that the question of borders was one which
+lay, not between Parthia and Rome, but between Parthia and Armenia. When
+he laid it down that the Euphrates properly bounded the Roman territory,
+and charged Pompey not to cross it, the latter said he would keep to
+the just bounds, whatever they were. When Tigranes complained that after
+having been received into the Roman alliance he was still attacked by
+the Parthian armies, the reply of Pompey was that he was willing to
+appoint arbitrators who should decide all the disputes between the two
+nations. The moderation and caution of these answers proved contagious.
+The monarchs addressed resolved to compose their differences, or at any
+rate to defer the settlement of them to a more convenient time. They
+accepted Pompey's proposal of an arbitration; and in a short time an
+arrangement was effected by which relations of amity were re-established
+between the two countries.
+
+It would seem that not very long after the conclusion of this peace and
+the retirement of Pompey from Asia (B.C. 62), Phraates lost his life. He
+was assassinated by his two sons, Mithridates and Orodes; for what cause
+we are not told. Mithridates, the elder of the two, succeeded him
+(about B.C. 60); and, as all fear of the Romans had now passed away
+in consequence of their apparently peaceful attitude, he returned soon
+after his accession to the policy of his namesake, Mithridates II., and
+resumed the struggle with Armenia from which his father had desisted.
+The object of the war was probably the recovery of the lost province of
+Gordyene, which, having been delivered to the elder Tigranes by Pompey,
+had remained in the occupation of the Armenians. Mithridates seems to
+have succeeded in his enterprise. When we next obtain a distinct view of
+the boundary line which divides Parthia from her neighbors towards the
+north and the north-west, which is within five years of the probable
+date of Mithridates's accession, we find Gordyene once more a Parthian
+province. As the later years of this intermediate lustre are a time
+of civil strife, during which territorial gains can scarcely have been
+made, we are compelled to refer the conquest to about B.C. 39-57. But
+in this case it must have been due to Mithridates III., whose reign is
+fixed with much probability to the years B.C. 60-56.
+
+The credit which Mithridates had acquired by his conduct of the Armenian
+war he lost soon afterwards by the severity of his home administration.
+There is reason to believe that he drove his brother, Orodes, into
+banishment. At any rate, he ruled so harshly and cruelly that within
+a few years of his accession the Parthian nobles deposed him, and,
+recalling Orodes from his place of exile, set him up as king in his
+brother's room. Mithridates was, it would seem, at first allowed to
+govern Media as a subject monarch; but after a while his brother grew
+jealous of him, and deprived him of this dignity. Unwilling to acquiesce
+in his disgrace, Mithridates fled to the Romans, and being favorably
+received by Gabinius, then proconsul of Syria, endeavored to obtain
+his aid against his countrymen. Gabinius, who was at once weak and
+ambitious, lent a ready ear to his entreaties, and was upon the point
+of conducting an expedition into Parthia, when he received a still more
+tempting invitation from another quarter. Ptolemy Auletes, expelled
+from Egypt by his rebellious subjects, asked his aid, and having
+recommendations from Pompey, and a fair sum of ready money to disburse,
+found little difficulty in persuading the Syrian proconsul to relinquish
+his Parthian plans and march the force at his disposal into Egypt.
+Mithridates, upon this, withdrew from Syria, and re-entering the
+Parthian territory, commenced a civil war against his brother, finding
+numerous partisans, especially in the region about Babylon. It may be
+suspected that Seleucia, the second city in the Empire, embraced his
+cause. Babylon, into which he had thrown himself, sustained a long siege
+on his behalf, and only yielded when compelled by famine. Mithridates
+might again have become a fugitive; but he was weary of the
+disappointments and hardships which are the ordinary lot of a pretender,
+and preferred to cast himself on the mercy and affection of his brother.
+Accordingly he surrendered himself unconditionally to Orodes; but this
+prince, professing to place the claims of patriotism above those of
+relationship, caused the traitor who had sought aid from Rome to be
+instantly executed. Thus perished Mithridates III. after a reign which
+cannot have exceeded five years, in the winter of B.C. 56, or the early
+spring of B.C. 55. Orodes, on his death, was accepted as king by the
+whole nation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+_Accession of Orodes I. Expedition of Crassus. His fate. Retaliatory
+inroad of the Parthians into Syria under Pacorus, the son of Orodes.
+Defeat of Pacorus by Cassius. His recall. End of the first War with
+Rome._
+
+
+The complete triumph of Orodes over Mithridates, and his full
+establishment in his kingdom, cannot be placed earlier than B.C. 56, and
+most probably fell in B.C. 55. In this latter year Crassus obtained the
+consulship at Rome, and, being appointed at the same time to the command
+of the East, made no secret of his intention to march the Roman legions
+across the Euphrates, and engage in hostilities with the great Parthian
+kingdom. According to some writers, his views extended even further. He
+spoke of the wars which Lucullus had waged against Tigranes and Pompey
+against Mithridates of Pontus as mere child's play, and announced his
+intention of carrying the Roman arms to Bactria, India, and the Eastern
+Ocean. The Parthian king was thus warned betimes of the impending
+danger, and enabled to make all such preparations against it as he
+deemed necessary. More than a year elapsed between the assignment to
+Crassus of Syria as his province, and his first overt act of hostility
+against Orodes.
+
+It cannot be doubted that this breathing-time was well spent by the
+Parthian monarch. Besides forming his general plan of campaign at his
+leisure, and collecting, arming, and exercising his native forces,
+he was enabled to gain over certain chiefs upon his borders, who had
+hitherto held a semi-dependent position, and might have been expected
+to welcome the Romans. One of these, Abgarus, prince of Osrhoene, or the
+tract east of the Euphrates about the city of Edessa, had been received
+into the Roman alliance by Pompey, but, with the fickleness common among
+Orientals, he now readily changed sides, and undertook to play a double
+part for the advantage of the Parthians. Another, Alchaudonius, an Arab
+sheikh of these parts, had made his submission to Rome even earlier; but
+having become convinced that Parthia was the stronger power of the two,
+he also went over to Orodes. The importance of these adhesions would
+depend greatly on the line of march which Crassus might determine to
+follow in making his attack. Three plans were open to him. He might
+either throw himself on the support of Artavasdes, the Armenian monarch,
+who had recently succeeded his father Tigranes, and entering Armenia,
+take the safe but circuitous route through the mountains into Adiabene,
+and so by the left bank of the Tigris to Ctesiphon; or he might, like
+the younger Cyrus, follow the course of the Euphrates to the latitude of
+Seleucia, and then cross the narrow tract of plain which there separates
+the two rivers; or, finally, he might attempt the shortest but most
+dangerous line across the Belik and Khabour, and directly through the
+Mesopotamian desert. If the Armenian route were preferred, neither
+Abgarus nor Alchaudonius would be able to do the Parthians much service;
+but if Crassus resolved on following either of the others, their
+alliance could not but be most valuable.
+
+Crassus, however, on reaching his province, seemed in in haste to make
+a decision. He must have arrived in Syria tolerably early in the spring
+but his operations during the first year of his proconsulship were
+unimportant. He seems at once to have made up his mind to attempt
+nothing more than a reconnaissance. Crossing the Euphrates at Zeugma,
+the modern Bir or Bireh-jik, he proceeded to ravage the open country,
+and to receive the submission of the Greek cities, which were numerous
+throughout the region between the Euphrates and the Belik. The country
+was defended by the Parthian satrap with a small force; but this was
+easily defeated, the satrap himself receiving a wound. One Greek city
+only, Zenodotium, offered resistance to the invader; its inhabitants,
+having requested and received a Roman garrison of one hundred men,
+rose upon them and put them barbarously to the sword; whereupon Crassus
+besieged and took the place, gave it up to his army to plunder, and
+sold the entire population for slaves. He then, as winter drew near,
+determined to withdraw into Syria, leaving garrisons in the various
+towns. The entire force left behind is estimated at eight thousand men.
+
+It is probable that Orodes had expected a more determined attack, and
+had retained his army near his capital until it should become evident
+by which route the enemy would advance against him. Acting on an inner
+circle, he could readily have interposed his forces, on whichever
+line the assailants threw themselves. 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. Perhaps he almost doubted whether
+the proconsul had any real intention of pressing the contest to a
+decision, and might not rather be expected, when he had enriched himself
+and his troops with Mesopotamian plunder, to withdraw his garrisons
+across the Euphrates. Crassus was at this time showing the worst side
+of his character in Syria, despoiling temples of their treasures, and
+accepting money in lieu of contingents of troops from the dynasts of
+Syria and Palestine. Orodes, under these circumstances, sent an embassy
+to him, which was well calculated to stir to action the most sluggish
+and poor-spirited of commanders. "If the war," said his envoys, "was
+really waged by Rome, it must be fought out to the bitter end. But if,
+as they had good reason to believe, Crassus, against the wish of his
+country, had attacked Parthia and seized her territory for his own
+private gain, Arsaces would be moderate. He would have pity on the
+advanced years of the proconsul, and would give the Romans back those
+men of theirs, who were not so much keeping watch in Mesopotamia as
+having watch kept on them." Crassus, stung with the taunt, exclaimed,
+"He would return the ambassadors an answer at Seleucia." Wagises, the
+chief ambassador, prepared for some such exhibition of feeling, and,
+glad to heap taunt on taunt, replied, striking the palm of one hand with
+the fingers' of the other: "Hairs will grow here, Crassus, before you
+see Seleucia."
+
+Still further to quicken the action of the Romans, before the winter
+was well over, the offensive was taken against their adherents in
+Mesopotamia. The towns which held Roman garrisons were attacked by the
+Parthians in force; and, though we do not hear of any being captured,
+all of them were menaced, and all suffered considerably.
+
+If Crassus needed to be stimulated, these stimulants were effective; and
+he entered on his second campaign with a full determination to compel
+the Parthian monarch to an engagement, and, if possible, to dictate
+peace to him at his capital. He had not, however, in his second
+campaign, the same freedom with regard to his movements that he had
+enjoyed the year previous. The occupation of Western Mesopotamia cramped
+his choice. It had, in fact, compelled him before quitting Syria to
+decline, definitely and decidedly, the overtures of Artavasdes, who
+strongly urged on him to advance by way of Armenia, and promised him
+in that case an important addition to his forces. Crassus felt himself
+compelled to support his garrisons, and therefore to make Mesopotamia,
+and not Armenia, the basis of his operations, He crossed the Euphrates a
+second time at the same point as before, with an army composed of 35,000
+heavy infantry, 4,000 light infantry, and 4,000 horse. There was still
+open to him a certain choice of routes. The one preferred by his chief
+officers was the line of the Euphrates, known as that which the Ten
+Thousand had pursued in an expedition that would have been successful
+but for the death of its commander. Along this line water would be
+plentiful; forage and other supplies might be counted on to a certain
+extent; and the advancing army, resting on the river, could not be
+surrounded. Another, but one that does not appear to have been suggested
+till too late, was that which Alexander had taken against Darius; the
+line along the foot of the Mons Masius, by Edessa, and Nisibis,
+to Nineveh. Here too waters and supplies would have been readily
+procurable, and by clinging to the skirts of the hills the Roman
+infantry would have set the Parthian cavalry at defiance. Between these
+two extreme courses to the right and to the left were numerous slightly
+divergent lines across the Mesopotamian plain, all shorter than either
+of the two above-mentioned, and none offering any great advantage over
+the remainder.
+
+It is uncertain what choice the proconsul would have made, had the
+decision been left simply to his own judgment. Probably the Romans had a
+most dim and indistinct conception of the geographical character of the
+Mesopotamian region, and were ignorant of its great difficulties.
+They remained also, it must be remembered, up to this time, absolutely
+unacquainted with the Parthian tactics and accustomed as they were to
+triumph over every enemy against whom they fought, it would scarcely
+occur to them that in an open field they could suffer defeat. They were
+ready, like Alexander, to encounter any number of Asiatics, and only
+asked to be led against the foe as quickly as possible. When, therefore,
+Abgarus, the Osrhoene prince, soon after Crassus had crossed the
+Euphrates, rode into his camp, and declared that the Parthians did not
+intend to make a stand, but were quitting Mesopotamia and flying with
+their treasure to the remote regions of Hyrcania and Scythia, leaving
+only a rear guard under a couple of generals to cover the retreat, it is
+not surprising that the resolution was taken to give up the circuitous
+route of the Euphrates, and to march directly across Mesopotamia in the
+hope of crushing the covering detachment, and coming upon the flying
+multitude encumbered with baggage, which would furnish a rich spoil to
+the victors. In after times it was said that C. Cassius Longinus and
+some other officers were opposed to this movement, add foresaw its
+danger; but it must be questioned whether the whole army did not readily
+obey its leader's order, and commence without any forebodings its march
+through Upper Mesopotamia. That region has not really the character
+which the apologists for Roman disaster in later times gave to it. It
+is a region of swelling hills, and somewhat dry gravelly plains. It
+possesses several streams and rivers, besides numerous springs. At
+intervals of a few miles it was studded with cities and villages; nor
+did the desert really begin until the Khabour was crossed. The army of
+Crassus had traversed it throughout its whole extent during the summer
+of the preceding year, and must have been well acquainted with both its
+advantages and drawbacks. But it is time that we should consider what
+preparations the Parthian monarch had made against the threatened
+attack. He had, as already stated, come to terms with his outlying
+vassals, the prince of Osrhoene, and the sheikh of the Scenite Arabs,
+and had engaged especially the services of the former against his
+assailant. He had further, on considering the various possibilities of
+the campaign, come to the conclusion that it would be best to divide
+his forces, and, while himself attacking Artavasdes in the mountain
+fastnesses of his own country, to commit the task of meeting and coping
+with the Romans to a general of approved talents. It was of the greatest
+importance to prevent the Armenians from effecting a junction with the
+Romans, and strengthening them in that arm in which they were especially
+deficient, the cavalry. Perhaps nothing short of an invasion of his
+country by the Parthian king in person would have prevented Artavasdes
+from detaching a portion of his troops to act in Mesopotamia. And no
+doubt it is also true that Orodes had great confidence in his general,
+whom he may even have felt to be a better commander than himself.
+Surenas, as we must call him, since his name has not been preserved to
+us, was in all respects a person of the highest consideration. He was
+the second man in the kingdom for birth, wealth, and reputation. In
+courage and ability he excelled all his countrymen; and he had the
+physical advantages of commanding height and great personal beauty. When
+he went to battle, he was accompanied by a train of a thousand camels,
+which carried his baggage; and the concubines in attendance on him
+required for their conveyance two hundred chariots. A thousand horseman
+clad in mail, and a still greater number of light-armed, formed
+his bodyguard. At the coronation of a Parthian monarch, it was his
+hereditary right to place the diadem on the brow of the new sovereign.
+When Orodes was driven into banishment it was he who brought him back to
+Parthia in triumph. When Seleucia revolted, it was he who at the assault
+first mounted the breach and, striking terror into the defenders, took
+the city. Though less than thirty years of age at the time when he was
+appointed commander, he was believed to possess, besides these various
+qualifications, consummate prudence and sagacity.
+
+The force which Orodes committed to his brave and skillful lieutenant
+consisted entirely of horse. This was not the ordinary character of a
+Parthian army, which often comprised four or five times as many infantry
+as cavalry. It was, perhaps, rather fortunate accident than profound
+calculation that caused the sole employment against the Romans of this
+arm. The foot soldiers were needed for the rough warfare of the Armenian
+mountains; the horse would, it was known, act with fair effect in the
+comparatively open and level Mesopotamia. As the king wanted the footmen
+he took them, and left to his general the troops which were not required
+for his own operations.
+
+The Parthian horse, like the Persian, was of two kinds, standing in
+strong contrast the one to the other. The bulk of their cavalry was of
+the lightest and most agile description. Fleet and active coursers, with
+scarcely any caparison but a headstall and a single rein, were mounted
+by riders clad only in a tunic and trousers, and armed with nothing
+but a strong bow and a quiver full of arrows. A training begun in early
+boyhood made the rider almost one with his steed; and he could use his
+weapons with equal ease and effect whether his horse was stationary
+or at full gallop, and whether he was advancing towards or hurriedly
+retreating from his enemy. His supply of missiles was almost
+inexhaustible, for when he found his quiver empty, he had only to retire
+a short distance and replenish his stock from magazines, borne on
+the backs of camels, in the rear. It was his ordinary plan to keep
+constantly in motion when in the presence of an enemy, to gallop
+backwards and forwards, or round and round his square or column, never
+charging it, but at a moderate interval plying it with his keen and
+barbed shafts which were driven by a practised hand from a bow of
+unusual strength. Clouds of this light cavalry enveloped the advancing
+or the retreating foe, and inflicted grievous damage without, for the
+most part, suffering anything in return.
+
+But this was not the whole. In addition to these light troops, a
+Parthian army comprised always a body of heavy cavalry, armed on an
+entirely different system. The strong horses selected for this service
+were clad almost wholly in mail. Their head, neck, chest, even their
+sides and flanks, were protected by scale-armor of brass or iron, sewn,
+probably, upon leather. Their riders had cuirasses and cuisses of the
+same materials, and helmets of burnished iron. For an offensive weapon
+they carried a long and strong spear or pike. They formed a serried
+line in battle, bearing down with great weight on the enemy whom they
+charged, and standing firm as an iron wall against the charges that were
+made upon them. A cavalry answering to this in some respects had been
+employed by the later Persian monarchs, and was in use also among the
+Armenians at this period; but the Parthian pike was apparently more
+formidable than the corresponding weapons of those nations, and the
+light spear carried at this time by the cavalry of a Roman army was no
+match for it.
+
+The force entrusted to Surenas comprised troops of both these
+classes. No estimate is given us of their number, but it was probably
+considerable. At any rate it was sufficient to induce him to make a
+movement in advance--to cross the Sinjar range and the river Khabour,
+and take up his position in the country between that stream and the
+Belik--instead of merely seeking to cover the capital. The presence
+of the traitor Abgarus in the camp of Crassus was now of the utmost
+importance to the Parthian commander. Abgarus, fully trusted, and at the
+head of a body of light horse, admirably adapted for outpost service,
+was allowed, upon his own request, to scour the country in front of the
+advancing Romans, and had thus the means of communicating freely with
+the Parthian chief. He kept Surenas informed of all the movements and
+intentions of Crassus, while at the same time he suggested to Crassus
+such a line of route as suited the views and designs of his adversary.
+Our chief authority for the details of the expedition tells us that he
+led the Roman troops through an arid and trackless desert, across plains
+without tree, or shrub, or even grass, where the soil was composed of a
+light shifting sand, which the wind raised into a succession of hillocks
+that resembled the waves of an interminable sea. The soldiers, he says,
+fainted with the heat and with the drought, while the audacious Osrhoene
+scoffed at their complaints and reproaches, asking them whether they
+expected to find the border-tract between Arabia and Assyria a country
+of cool streams and shady groves, of baths, and hostelries, like their
+own delicious Campania. But our knowledge of the geographical character
+of the region through which the march lay makes it impossible for us to
+accept this account as true. The country between the Euphrates and the
+Belik, as already observed, is one of alternate hill and plain, neither
+destitute of trees nor ill-provided with water. The march through it
+could have presented no great difficulties. All that Abgarus could do to
+serve the Parthian cause was, first, to induce Crassus to trust himself
+to the open country, without clinging either to a river or to the
+mountains, and, secondly, to bring him, after a hasty march, and in the
+full heat of the day, into the presence of the enemy. Both these things
+he contrived to effect, and Surenas was, no doubt, so far beholden to
+him. But the notion that he enticed the Roman army into a trackless
+desert, and gave it over, when it was perishing through weariness,
+hunger, and thirst, into the hands of its enraged enemy, is in
+contradiction with the topographical facts, and is not even maintained
+consistently by the classical writers.
+
+It was probably on the third or fourth day after he had quitted the
+Euphrates that Crassus found himself approaching his enemy. After a
+hasty and hot march he had approached the banks of the Belik, when his
+scouts brought him word that they had fallen in with the Parthian army,
+which was advancing in force and seemingly full of confidence. Abgarus
+had recently quitted him on the plea of doing him some undefined
+service, but really to range himself on the side of his real friends,
+the Parthians. His officers now advised Crassus to encamp upon the
+river, and defer an engagement till the morrow; but he had no fears; his
+son, Publius, who had lately joined him with a body of Gallic horse sent
+by Julius Caesar, was anxious for the fray; and accordingly the Roman
+commander gave the order to his troops to take some refreshment as they
+stood, and then to push forward rapidly. Surenas, on his side, had taken
+up a position on wooded and hilly ground, which concealed his numbers,
+and had even, we are told, made his troops cover their arms with cloths
+and skins, that the glitter might not betray them. But, as the Romans
+drew near, all concealment was cast aside; the signal for battle was
+given; the clang of the kettledrums arose on every side; the squadrons
+came forward in their brilliant array; and it seemed at first as if the
+heavy cavalry was about to charge the Roman host, which was formed in a
+hollow square with the light-armed in the middle, and with supporters
+of horse along the whole line, as well as upon the flanks. But, if this
+intention was ever entertained, it was altered almost as soon as formed,
+and the better plan was adopted of halting at a convenient distance and
+assailing the legionaries with flight after flight of arrows, delivered
+without a pause and with extraordinary force. The Roman endeavored to
+meet this attack by throwing forward his own skirmishers; but they were
+quite unable to cope with the numbers and the superior weapons of the
+enemy, who forced them almost immediately to retreat, and take refuge
+behind the line of the heavy-armed. These were then once more exposed to
+the deadly missiles, which pierced alike through shield and breast-plate
+and greaves, and inflicted the most fearful wounds. More than once the
+legionaries dashed forward, and sought to close with their assailants,
+but in vain. The Parthian squadrons retired as the Roman infantry
+advanced, maintaining the distance which they thought best between
+themselves and their foe, whom they plied with their shafts as
+incessantly while they fell back as when they rode forward. For a while
+the Romans entertained the hope that the missiles would at last be all
+spent; but when they found that each archer constantly obtained a fresh
+supply from the rear, this expectation deserted them. It became evident
+to Crassus that some new movement must be attempted; and, as a last
+resource, he commanded his son, Publius, whom the Parthians were
+threatening to outflank, to take such troops as he thought proper,
+and charge. The gallant youth was only too glad to receive the order.
+Selecting his Gallic cavalry, who numbered 1000, and adding to them 500
+other horsemen, 500 archers, and about 4000 legionaries, he advanced
+at speed against the nearest squadrons of the enemy. The Parthians
+pretended to be afraid, and beat a hasty retreat. Publius followed
+with all the impetuosity of youth, and was soon out of the sight of his
+friends, pressing the flying foe, whom he believed to be panic-stricken.
+But when they had drawn him on sufficiently, they suddenly made a
+stand, brought their heavy cavalry up against his line, and completely
+enveloped him and his detachment with their light-armed. Publius made
+a desperate resistance. His Gauls seized the Parthian pikes with their
+hands and dragged the encumbered horsemen to the ground; or dismounting,
+slipped beneath the horses of their opponents, and stabbing them in the
+belly, brought steed and rider down upon themselves. His legionaries
+occupied a slight hillock, and endeavored to make a wall of their
+shields, but the Parthian archers closed around them, and slew them
+almost to a man. Of the whole detachment, nearly six thousand strong, no
+more than 500 were taken prisoners, and scarcely one escaped. The young
+Crassus might, possibly, had he chosen to make the attempt, have forced
+his way through the enemy to Ichnee, a Greek town not far distant; but
+he preferred to share the fate of his men. Rather than fall into the
+hands of the enemy, he caused his shield-bearer to dispatch him; and his
+example was followed by his principal officers. The victors struck off
+his head, and elevating it on a pike, returned to resume their attack on
+the main body of the Roman army.
+
+The main body, much relieved by the diminution of the pressure upon
+them, had waited patiently for Publius to return in triumph, regarding
+the battle as well-nigh over and success as certain. After a time the
+prolonged absence of the young captain aroused suspicions, which grew
+into alarms when messengers arrived telling of his extreme danger.
+Crassus, almost beside himself with anxiety, had given the word to
+advance, and the army had moved forward a short distance, when
+the shouts of the returning enemy were heard, and the head of the
+unfortunate officer was seen displayed aloft, while the Parthian
+squadrons, closing in once more, renewed the assault on their remaining
+foes with increased vigor. The mailed horsemen approached close to
+the legionaries and thrust at them with the long pikes while the
+light-armed, galloping across the Roman front, discharged their unerring
+arrows over the heads of their own men. The Romans could neither
+successfully defend themselves nor effectively retaliate. Still
+time brought some relief. Bowstrings broke, spears were blunted or
+splintered, arrows began to fail, thews and sinews to relax; and when
+night closed in both parties were almost equally glad of the cessation
+of arms which the darkness rendered compulsory.
+
+It was the custom of the Parthians, as of the Persians, to bivouac at a
+considerable distance from an enemy. Accordingly, at nightfall they
+drew off, having first shouted to the Romans that they would grant the
+general one night in which to bewail his son; on the morrow they would
+come and take him prisoner, unless he preferred the better course of
+surrendering himself to the mercy of Arsaces. A short breathing-space
+was thus allowed the Romans, who took advantage of it to retire towards
+Carrhae, leaving behind them the greater part of their wounded, to the
+number of 4,000. A small body of horse reached Carrhae about midnight,
+and gave the commandant such information as led him to put his men under
+arms and issue forth to the succor of the proconsul. The Parthians,
+though the cries of the wounded made them well aware of the Roman
+retreat, adhered to their system of avoiding night combats, and
+attempted no pursuit till morning. Even then they allowed themselves to
+be delayed by comparatively trivial matters--the capture of the Roman
+camp, the massacre of the wounded, and the slaughter of the numerous
+stragglers scattered along the line of march--and made no haste to
+overtake the retreating army. The bulk of the troops were thus enabled
+to effect their retreat in safety to Carrhae, where, having the
+protection of walls, they were, at any rate for a time secure.
+
+It might have been expected that the Romans would here have made a
+stand. The siege of a fortified place by cavalry is ridiculous, if we
+understand by siege anything more than a very incomplete blockade. And
+the Parthians were notoriously inefficient against walls. There was a
+chance, moreover, that Artavasdes might have been more successful than
+his ally, and, having repulsed the Parthian monarch, might march his
+troops to the relief of the Romans. But the soldiers were thoroughly
+dispirited, and would not listen to these suggestions. Provisions no
+doubt ran short, since, as there had been no expectation of a
+disaster, no preparations had been made for standing a siege. The Greek
+inhabitants of the place could not be trusted to exhibit fidelity to a
+falling cause. Moreover, Armenia was near; and the Parthian system
+of abstaining from action during the night seemed to render escape
+tolerably easy. It was resolved, therefore, instead of clinging to the
+protection of the walls, to issue forth once more, and to endeavor by a
+rapid night march to reach the Armenian hills. The various officers seem
+to have been allowed to arrange matters for themselves. Cassius took
+his way towards the Euphrates, and succeeded in escaping with 500 horse.
+Octavius, with a division which is estimated at 5,000 men, reached the
+outskirts of the the hills at a place called Sinnaca, and found himself
+in comparative security. Crassus, misled by his guides, made but poor
+progress during the night; he had, however, arrived within little
+more than a mile of Octavius before the enemy, who would not stir till
+daybreak, overtook him. Pressed upon by their advancing squandrons, he,
+with his small band of 2,000 legionaries and a few horsemen, occupied a
+low hillock connected by a ridge of rising ground with the position of
+Sinnaca. Here the Parthian host beset him; and he would infallibly have
+been slain or captured at once, had not Octavius, deserting his place
+of safety, descended to the aid of his commander. The united 7,000 held
+their own against the enemy, having the advantage of the ground, and
+having perhaps by the experience of some days learnt the weak points of
+Parthian warfare.
+
+Surenas was anxious, above all things, to secure the person of the Roman
+commander. In the East an excessive importance is attached to this
+proof of success; and there were reasons which made Crassus particularly
+obnoxious to his antagonists. He was believed to have originated, and
+not merely conducted, the war, incited thereto by simple greed of gold.
+He had refused with the utmost haughtiness all discussion of terms, and
+had insulted the majesty of the Parthians by the declaration that he
+would treat nowhere but at their capital. If he escaped, he would
+be bound at some future time to repeat his attempt; if he were made
+prisoner, his fate would be a terrible warning to others. But now, as
+evening approached, it seemed to the Parthian that the prize which he
+so much desired was about to elude his grasp. The highlands of Armenia
+would be gained by the fugitives during the night, and further pursuit
+of them would be hopeless. It remained that he should effect by craft
+what he could no longer hope to gain by the employment of force; and to
+this point all his efforts were now directed. He drew off his troops
+and left the Romans without further molestation. He allowed some of his
+prisoners to escape and rejoin their friends, having first contrived
+that they should overhear a conversation among his men, of which the
+theme was the Parthian clemency, and the wish of Orodes to come to terms
+with the Romans. He then, having allowed time for the report of his
+pacific intentions to spread, rode with a few chiefs towards the Roman
+camp, carrying his bow unstrung and his right hand stretched out in
+token of amity. "Let the Roman General," he said, "come forward with an
+equal number of attendants, and confer with me in the open space between
+the armies on terms of peace." The aged proconsul was disinclined to
+trust these overtures; but his men clamored and threatened, upon which
+he yielded, and went down into the plain, accompanied by Octavius and
+a few others. Here he was received with apparent honor, and terms were
+arranged; but Surenas required that they should at once be reduced to
+writing, "since," he said, with pointed allusion to the bad faith of
+Pompey, "you Romans are not very apt to remember your engagements." A
+movement being requisite for the drawing up of the formal instruments,
+Crassus and his officers were induced to mount upon horses furnished by
+the Parthians, who had no sooner seated the proconsul on his steed,
+than he proceeded to hurry him forward, with the evident intention of
+carrying him off to their camp. The Roman officers took the alarm and
+resisted. Octavius snatched a sword from a Parthian and killed one of
+the grooms who was hurrying Crassus away. A blow from behind stretched
+him on the ground lifeless. A general melee followed, and in the
+confusion Crassus was killed, whether by one of his own side and with
+his own consent, or by the hand of a Parthian is uncertain. The
+army, learning the fate of their general, with but few exceptions,
+surrendered. Such as sought to escape under cover of the approaching
+night were hunted down by the Bedouins who served under the Parthian
+standard, and killed almost to a man. Of the entire army which had
+crossed the Euphrates, consisting of above 40,000 men, not more than one
+fourth returned. One half of the whole number perished. Nearly 10,000
+prisoners were settled by the victors in the fertile oasis of Margiana,
+near the northern frontier of the empire, where they intermarried with
+native wives, and became submissive Parthian subjects.
+
+Such was the result of this great expedition, the first attempt of the
+grasping and ambitious Romans, not so much to conquer Parthia, as to
+strike terror into the heart of her people, and to degrade them to
+the condition of obsequious dependants on the will and pleasure of the
+"world's lords." The expedition failed so utterly, not from any want
+of bravery on the part of the soldiers employed in it, nor from any
+absolute superiority of the Parthian over the Roman tactics, but partly
+from the incompetence of the commander, partly from the inexperience of
+the Romans, up to this date, in the nature of the Parthian warfare and
+in the best manner of meeting it. To attack an enemy whose main arm is
+the cavalry with a body of foot-soldiers, supported by an insignificant
+number of horse, must be at all times rash and dangerous. To direct
+such an attack on the more open part of the country, where cavalry could
+operate freely, was wantonly to aggravate the peril. After the first
+disaster, to quit the protection of walls, when it had been obtained,
+was a piece of reckless folly. Had Crassus taken care to obtain the
+support of some of the desert tribes, if Armenia could not help him,
+and had he then advanced either by the way of the Mons Masius and the
+Tigris, or along the line of the Euphrates, the issue of his attack
+might have been different. He might have fought his way to Seleucia and
+Ctesiphon, as did Trajan, Avidius Cassius, and Septimius Severas, and
+might have taken and plundered those cities. He would no doubt have
+experienced difficulties in his retreat; but he might have come off no
+worse than Trajan, whose Parthian expedition has been generally regarded
+as rather augmenting than detracting from his reputation. But an
+ignorant and inexperienced commander, venturing on a trial of arms
+with an enemy of whom he knew little or nothing, in their own country,
+without support or allies, and then neglecting every precaution
+suggested by his officers, allowing himself to be deceived by a
+pretended friend, and marching straight into a net prepared for him,
+naturally suffered defeat. The credit of the Roman arms does not greatly
+suffer by the disaster, nor is that of the Parthians greatly enhanced.
+The latter showed, as they had shown in their wars against the
+Syro-Macedonians, that there somewhat loose and irregular array was
+capable of acting with effect against the solid masses and well-ordered
+movements of disciplined troops. They acquired by their use of the bow a
+fame like that which the English archers obtained for the employment of
+the same weapon at Crecy and Agincourt. They forced the arrogant Romans
+to respect them, and to allow that there was at least one nation in the
+world which could meet them on equal terms and not be worsted in the
+encounter. They henceforth obtained recognition from Graeco-Roman
+writers--albeit a grudging and covert recognition--as the second Power
+in the world, the admitted rival of Rome, the only real counterpoise
+upon the earth to the power which ruled from the Euphrates to the
+Atlantic Ocean.
+
+While the general of King Orodes was thus successful against the Romans
+in Mesopotamia, the king himself had in Armenia obtained advantages of
+almost equal value, though of a different kind. Instead of contending
+with Artavasdes, he had come to terms with him, and had concluded a
+close alliance, which he had sought to confirm and secure by uniting
+his son, Pacorus, in marriage with a sister of the Armenian monarch. A
+series of festivities was being held to celebrate this auspicious
+event, when news came of Surenas's triumph, and of the fate of Crassus.
+According to the barbarous customs of the East, the head and hand of the
+slain proconsul accompanied the intelligence. We are told that at
+the moment of the messenger's arrival the two sovereigns, with their
+attendants, were amusing themselves with a dramatic entertainment. Both
+monarchs had a good knowledge of the Greek literature and language, in
+which Artavasdes had himself composed historical works and tragedies.
+The actors were representing the famous scene in the "Bacchae" of
+Euripides, where Agave and the Bacchanals come upon the stage with the
+mutilated remains of the murdered Pentheus, when the head of Crassus was
+thrown in among them. Instantly the player who personated Agave seized
+the bloody trophy, and placing it on his thyrsus instead of the one
+he was carrying, paraded it before the delighted spectators, while he
+chanted the well-known lines:
+
+     From the mountain to the hall
+     New-cut tendril, see, we bring--
+     Blessed prey!
+
+The horrible spectacle was one well suited to please an Eastern
+audience: it was followed by a proceeding of equal barbarity and still
+more thoroughly Oriental. The Parthians, in derision of the motive which
+was supposed to have led Crassus to make his attack, had a quantity of
+gold melted and poured it into his mouth.
+
+Meanwhile Surenas was amusing his victorious troops, and seeking to
+annoy the disaffected Seleucians, by the performance of a farcical
+ceremony. He spread the report that Crassus was not killed but captured;
+and, selecting from among the prisoners the Roman most like him in
+appearance, he dressed the man in woman's clothes, mounted him upon
+a horse, and requiring him to answer to the names of "Crassus" and
+"Imperator," conducted him in triumph to the Grecian city. Before him
+went, mounted on camels, a band, arrayed as trumpeters and lictors, the
+lictors' rods having purses suspended to them, and the axes in their
+midst being crowned with the bleeding heads of Romans. In the rear
+followed a train of Seloucian music-girls, who sang songs derisive of
+the effeminacy and cowardice of the proconsul. After this pretended
+parade of his prisoner through the streets of the town, Surenas called
+a meeting of the Seleucian senate, and indignantly denounced to them the
+indecency of the literature which he had found in the Roman tents.
+The charge, it is said, was true; but the Seleucians were not greatly
+impressed by the moral lesson read to them, when they remarked the train
+of concubines that had accompanied Surenas himself in the field, and
+thought of the loose crowd of dancers, singers, and prostitutes, that
+was commonly to be seen in the rear of a Parthian army.
+
+The political consequences of the great triumph which the Parthians had
+achieved were less than might have been anticipated. Mesopotamia was,
+of course, recovered to its extremest limit, the Euphrates; Armenia
+was lost to the Roman alliance, and thrown for the time into complete
+dependence upon Parthia. The whole East was, to some extent, excited;
+and the Jews, always impatient of a foreign yoke, and recently aggrieved
+by the unprovoked spoliation of their Temple by Crassus, flew to arms.
+But no general movement of the Oriental races took place. It might have
+been expected that the Syrians, Phoenicians, Cilicians, Oappadocians,
+Phrygians, and other Asiatic peoples whose proclivities were altogether
+Oriental, would have seized the opportunity of rising against their
+Western lords and driving the Romans back upon Europe. It might have
+been thought that Parthia at least would have assumed the offensive in
+force, and have made a determined effort to rid herself of neighbors who
+had proved so troublesome. But though the conjuncture of circumstances
+was most favorable, the man was wanting. Had Mithridates or Tigranes
+been living, or had Surenas been king of Parthia, instead of a mere
+general, advantage would probably have been taken of the occasion,
+and Rome might have suffered seriously. But Orodes seems to have been
+neither ambitious as a prince nor skilful as a commander; he lacked
+at any rate the keen and all-embracing glance which could sweep
+the political horizon and, comprehending the exact character of the
+situation, see at the same time how to make the most of it. He allowed
+the opportunity to slip by without putting forth his strength or making
+any considerable effort; and the occasion once lost never returned.
+
+In Parthia itself one immediate result of the expedition seems to have
+been the ruin of Surenas. His services to his sovereign had exceeded
+the measure which it is safe in the East for a subject to render to the
+crown. The jealousy of his royal master was aroused, and he had to pay
+the penalty of over-much success with his life. Parthia was thus left
+without a general of approved merit, for Sillaces, the second in command
+during the war with Crassus, had in no way distinguished himself through
+the campaign. This condition of things may account for the feebleness of
+the efforts made in B.C. 52 to retaliate on the Romans the damage done
+by their invasion. A few weak bands only passed the Euphrates, and began
+the work of plunder and ravage, in which they were speedily disturbed
+by Cassius, who easily drove them back over the river. The next year,
+however, a more determined attempt was made. Orodes sent his son,
+Pacorus, the young bridegroom, to win his spurs in Syria, at the head of
+a considerable force, and supported by the experience and authority of
+an officer of ripe age, named Osaces. The army crossed the Euphrates
+unresisted, for Cassius, the governor, had with him only the broken
+remains of Crassus's army, consisting of about two legions, and, deeming
+himself too weak to meet the enemy in the open field, was content to
+defend the towns. The open country was consequently overrun; and a
+thrill of mingled alarm and excitement passed through all the Roman
+provinces in Asia. The provinces were at the time most inadequately
+supplied with Roman troops, through the desire of Csesar and Pompey to
+maintain large armies about their own persons. The natives were for the
+most part disaffected and inclined to hail the Parthians as brethren
+and deliverers. Excepting Deiotarus of Galatia, and Ariobarzanes of
+Cappadocia, Rome had, as Cicero (then proconsul of Cilicia) plaintively
+declared, "not a friend on the Asiatic continent. And Cappadocia was
+miserably weak," and open to attack on the side of Armenia. Had Orodes
+and Artavasdes acted in concert, and had the latter, while Orodes sent
+his armies into Syria, poured the Armenian forces into Cappadocia and
+then into Cilicia (as it was expected that he would do), there would
+have been the greatest danger to the Roman possessions. As it was, the
+excitement in Asia Minor was extreme. Cicero marched into Cappadocia
+with the bulk of the Roman troops, and summoned to his aid Deiotarus
+with his Galatians, at the same time writing to the Roman Senate to
+implore reinforcements. Cassius shut himself up in Antioch, and allowed
+the Parthian cavalry to pass him by, and even to proceed beyond the
+bounds of Syria into Cilicia. But the Parthians seem scarcely to have
+understood the situation of their adversaries, or to have been aware of
+their own advantages. Instead of spreading themselves wide, raising the
+natives, and leaving them to blockade the towns, while with their as
+yet unconquered squandrons they defied the enemy in the open country, we
+find them engaging in the siege and blockade of cities, for which they
+were wholly unfit, and confining themselves almost entirely to the
+narrow valley of the Orontes. Under these circumstances we are not
+surprised to learn that Cassius, having first beat them back from
+Antioch, contrived to lead them into an ambush on the banks of the
+river, and severely handled their troops, even killing the general
+Osaces. The Parthians withdrew from the neighborhood of the Syrian
+capital after this defeat, which must have taken place about the end of
+September, and soon afterwards went into winter quarters in Oyrrhestica,
+or the part of Syria immediately east of Amanus. Here they remained
+during the winter months under Pacorus, and it was expected that the war
+would break out again with fresh fury in the spring; but Bibulus,
+the new proconsul of Syria, conscious of his military deficiencies,
+contrived to sow dissensions among the Parthians themselves, and to
+turn the thoughts of Pacorus in another direction. He suggested to
+Ornodapantes, a Parthian noble, with whom he had managed to open a
+correspondence, that Pacorus would be a more worthy occupant of the
+Parthian throne than his father, and that he would consult well for his
+own interests if he were to proclaim the young prince, and lead the army
+of Syria against Orodes. These intrigues seem, to have first caused the
+war to languish, and then produced the recall of the expedition. Orodes
+summoned Pacorus to return to Parthia before the plot contrived between
+him and the Romans was ripe for execution; and Pacorus felt that no
+course was open to him but to obey. The Parthian legions recrossed the
+Euphrates in July, B.C. 50; and the First Roman War, which had lasted a
+little more than four years, terminated without any real recovery by the
+Romans of the laurels that they had lost at Carrhae.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+_Relations of Orodes with Pompey, and with Brutus and Cassius. Second
+War with Rome. Great Parthian Expedition against Syria, Palestine,
+and Asia Minor. Defeat of Saxa. Occupation of Antioch and Jerusalem.
+Parthians driven out of Syria by Ventidius. Death of Pacorus. Death of
+Orodes._
+
+
+The civil troubles that had seemed to threaten Parthia from the ambition
+of the youthful Pacorus passed away without any explosion. The son
+showed his obedience by returning home submissively when he might
+have flown to arms; and the father accepted the act of obedience as a
+sufficient indication that no rebellion had been seriously meant. We
+find Pacorus not only allowed to live, but again entrusted a few years
+later with high office by the Parthian monarch; and on this occasion we
+find him showing no signs of disaffection or discontent.
+
+Nine years, however, elapsed between the recall of the young prince
+and his reappointment to the supreme command against the Romans. Of the
+internal condition of Parthia during this interval we have no account.
+Apparently, Orodes ruled quietly and peaceably, contenting himself
+with the glory which he had gained, and not anxious to tempt fortune by
+engaging in any fresh enterprise. It was no doubt a satisfaction to
+him to see the arms of the Romans, instead of being directed upon Asia,
+employed in intestine strife; and we can well understand that he might
+even deem it for his interest to foment and encourage the quarrels
+which, at any rate for the time, secured his own empire from attack. It
+appears that communications took place in the year B.C. 49 or 48 between
+him and Pompey, a request for alliance being made by the latter, and an
+answer being sent by Orodes, containing the terms upon which he would
+consent to give Pompey effective aid in the war. If the Roman leader
+would deliver into his hands the province of Syria and make it wholly
+over to the Parthians, Orodes would conclude an alliance with him and
+send help; but not otherwise. It is to the credit of Pompey that he
+rejected these terms, and declined to secure his own private gain by
+depriving his country of a province. Notwithstanding the failure of
+these negotiations and the imprisonment of his envoy Hirrus, when a few
+months later, having lost the battle of Pharsalia, the unhappy Roman was
+in need of a refuge from his great enemy, he is said to have proposed
+throwing himself on the friendship, or mercy, of Orodes. He had hopes,
+perhaps, of enlisting the Parthian battalions in his cause, and of
+recovering power by means of this foreign aid. But his friends combated
+his design, and persuaded him that the risk, both to himself and to his
+wife, Cornelia, was too great to be compatible with prudence. Pompey
+yielded to their representations; and Orodes escaped the difficulty
+of having to elect between repulsing a suppliant, and provoking the
+hostility of the most powerful chieftain and the greatest general of the
+age.
+
+Caesar quitted the East in B.C. 47 without entering into any
+communication with Orodes. He had plenty of work upon his hands; and
+whatever designs he may have even then entertained of punishing the
+Parthian inroad into Syria, or avenging the defeat of Carrhae, he was
+wise enough to keep his projects to himself and to leave Asia without
+exasperating by threats or hostile movements the Power on which the
+peace of the East principally depended. It was not until he had brought
+the African and Spanish wars to an end that he allowed his intention of
+leading an expedition against Parthia to be openly talked about. In
+B.C. 34, four years after Pharsalia, having put down all his domestic
+enemies, and arranged matters, as he thought, satisfactorily at Rome, he
+let a decree be passed formally assigning to him "the Parthian War," and
+sent the legions across the Adriatic on their way to Asia. What plan of
+campaign he may have contemplated is uncertain; but there cannot be
+a doubt that an expedition under his auspices would have been a most
+serious danger to Parthia, and might have terminated in her subjection.
+The military talents of the Great Dictator were of the most splendid
+description; his powers of organization and consolidation enormous;
+his prudence and caution equal to his ambition and his courage. Once
+launched on a career of conquest in the East, it is impossible to say
+whither he might not have carried the Roman eagles, or what countries
+he might not have added to the Empire. But Parthia was saved from
+the imminent peril without any effort of her own. The daggers of "the
+Liberators" struck down on the 15th of March, B.C. 44, the only man whom
+she had seriously to fear; and with the removal of Julius passed
+away even from Roman thought for many a years the design which he had
+entertained, and which he alone could have accomplished.
+
+In the civil war that followed on the murder of Julius the Parthians
+are declared to have actually taken a part. It appears that--about
+B.C. 46--a small body of Parthian horse-archers had been sent to the
+assistance of a certain Bassus, a Roman who amid the troubles of the
+times was seeking to obtain for himself something like an independent
+principality in Syria. The soldiers of Bassus, after a while (B.C. 43),
+went over in a body to Cassius, who was in the East collecting troops
+for his great struggle with Antony and Octavian; and thus a handful of
+Parthians came into his power. Of this circumstance he determined to
+take advantage, in order to obtain, if possible, a considerable body of
+troops from Orodes. He presented each of the Parthian soldiers with a
+sum of money, and dismissed them all to their homes, at the same
+time seizing the opportunity to send some of his own officers, as
+ambassadors, to Orodes, with a request for substantial aid. On receiving
+this application the Parthian monarch appears to have come to the
+conclusion that it was to his interest to comply with it. Whether he
+made conditions, or no, is uncertain; but he seems to have sent a pretty
+numerous body of horse to the support of the "Liberators" against their
+antagonists. Perhaps he trusted to obtain from the gratitude of Cassius
+what he had failed to extort from the fears of Pompey. Or, perhaps, he
+was only anxious to prolong the period of civil disturbance in the Roman
+State, which secured his own territory from attack, and might ultimately
+give him an opportunity of helping himself to some portion of the Roman
+dominions in Asia.
+
+The opportunity seemed to him to have arrived in B.C. 40. Philippi
+had been fought and lost. The "Liberators" were crushed. The struggle
+between the Republicans and the Monarchists had come to an end. But,
+instead of being united, the Roman world was more than ever divided; and
+the chance of making an actual territorial gain at the expense of the
+tryant power appeared fairer than it had ever been before. Three rivals
+now held divided sway in the Roman State; each of them jealous of
+the other two, and anxious for his own aggrandizement. The two chief
+pretenders to the first place were bitterly hostile; and while the one
+was detained in Italy by insurrection against his authority, the other
+was plunged in luxury and dissipation, enjoying the first delights of a
+lawless passion, at the Egyptian capital. The nations of the East were,
+moreover, alienated by the recent exactions of the profligate Triumvir,
+who, to reward his parasites and favorites, had laid upon them a burden
+that they were scarcely able to bear. Further, the Parthians enjoyed at
+this time the advantage of having a Roman officer of good position in
+their service, whose knowledge of the Roman tactics, and influence in
+Roman provinces, might be expected to turn to their advantage. Under
+these circumstances, when the spring of the year arrived, Antony being
+still in Egypt, and Octavian (as far as was known) occupied in the siege
+of Perusia, the Parthian hordes, under Labienus and Pacorus, burst upon
+Syria in greater force than on any previous occasion. Overrunning with
+their numerous cavalry the country between the Euphrates and Antioch,
+and thence the valley of the Orontes, they had (as usual) some
+difficulty with the towns. From Apamaea, placed (like Durham) on a rocky
+peninsula almost surrounded by the river, they were at first repulsed;
+but, having shortly afterwards defeated Decidius Saxa, the governor of
+Syria, in the open field, they received the submission of Apamaea and
+Antioch, which latter city Saxa abandoned at their approach, flying
+precipitately into Cilicia. Encouraged by these successes, Labienus and
+Pacorus agreed to divide their troops, and to engage simultaneously in
+two great expeditions. Pacorus undertook to carry the Parthian standard
+throughout the entire extent of Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, while
+Labienus determined to invade Asia Minor, and to see if he could not
+wrest some of its more fertile regions from the Romans. Both expeditions
+were crowned with success. Pacorus reduced all Syria, and all Phoenicia,
+except the single city of Tyre, which he was unable to capture for want
+of a naval force. He then advanced into Palestine, which he found in
+its normal condition of intestine commotion. Hyrcanus and Antigonus, two
+princes of the Asmonsean house, were rivals for the Jewish crown; and
+the latter, whom Hyrcanus had expelled, was content to make common
+cause with the invader, and to be indebted to a rude foreigner for
+the possession of the kingdom whereto he aspired. He offered Pacorus a
+thousand talents, and five hundred Jewish women, if he would espouse
+his cause and seat him upon his uncle's throne. The offer was readily
+embraced, and by the irresistible help of the Parthians a revolution
+was effected at Jerusalem. Hyrcanus was deposed and mutilated. A new
+priest-king was set up in the person of Antigonus, the last Asmonsean
+prince, who held the capital for three years--B.C. 40-37--as a Parthian
+satrap, the creature and dependant of the great monarchy on the further
+side of the Euphrates. Meanwhile in Asia Minor Labienus carried all
+before him. Decidius Saxa, having once more (in Cilicia) ventured upon
+a battle, was not only defeated, but slain. Pamphylia, Lycia, and Caria
+were overrun. Stratonicea was besieged; Mylasa and Alabanda were taken.
+According to some writers the Parthians even pillaged Lydia and Ionia,
+and were in possession of Asia to the shores of the Hellespont. It may
+be said that for a full year Western Asia changed masters; the rule and
+authority of Rome disappeared; and the Parthians were recognized as the
+dominant power. But the fortune of war now began to turn. In the autumn
+of B.C. 39 Antony, having set out from Italy to resume his command in
+the East, despatched his lieutenant, Publius Ventidius, into Asia, with
+orders to act against Labienus and the triumphant Parthians. Ventidius
+landed unexpectedly on the coast of Asia Minor, and so alarmed Labienus,
+who had no Parthian troops with him, that the latter fell back hurriedly
+towards Cilicia, evacuating all the more western provinces, and at the
+same time sending urgent messages to Pacorus to implore succor. Pacorus
+sent a body of horse to his aid; but these troops, instead of putting
+themselves under his command, acted independently, and, in a rash
+attempt to surprise the Roman camp, were defeated by Ventidius,
+whereupon they fled hastily into Cilicia, leaving Labienus to his fate.
+The self-styled "Imperator," upon this, deserted his men, and sought
+safety in flight; but his retreat was soon discovered, and he was
+pursued, captured, and put to death.
+
+The Parthians, meanwhile, alarmed at the turn which affairs had
+taken, left Antigonus to maintain their interests in Palestine, and
+concentrated themselves in Northern Syria and Commagene, where
+they awaited the advance of the Romans. A strong detachment, under
+Pharnapates, was appointed to guard the Syrian Gates, or narrow pass
+over Mount Amanus, leading from Cilicia into Syria. Here Ventidius
+gained another victory. He had sent forward an officer named Pompsedius
+Silo with some cavalry to endeavor to seize this post, and Pompaedius
+had found himself compelled to an engagement with Pharnapates, in which
+he was on the point of suffering defeat, when Ventidius himself, who had
+probably feared for his subordinate's safety, appeared on the scene,
+and turned the scale in favor of the Romans. The detachment under
+Pharnapates was overpowered, and Pharnapates himself was among the
+slain. When news of this defeat reached Pacorus, he resolved to retreat,
+and withdrew his troops across the Euphrates. This movement he appears
+to have executed without being molested by Ventidius, who thus recovered
+Syria to the Romans towards the close of B.C. 39, or early in B.C. 38.
+
+But Pacorus was far from intending to relinquish the contest. He
+had made himself popular among the Syrians by his mild and just
+administration, and knew that they preferred his government to that of
+the Romans. He had many allies among the petty princes and dynasts, who
+occupied a semi-independent position on the borders of the Parthian and
+Roman empires. Antigonus, whom he had established as king of the Jews,
+still maintained himself in Judaea against the efforts of Herod, to whom
+Augustus and Antony had assigned the throne. Pacorus therefore arranged
+during the remainder of the winter for a fresh invasion of Syria in the
+spring, and, taking the field earlier than his adversary expected, made
+ready to recross the Euphrates. We are told that if he had crossed at
+the usual point, he would have found the Romans unprepared, the legions
+being still in their winter quarters, some north and some south of the
+range of Taurus. Ventidius, however, contrived by a stratagem to induce
+him to effect the passage at a different point, considerably lower
+down the stream, and in this way to waste some valuable time, which
+he himself employed in collecting his scattered forces. Thus, when the
+Parthians appeared on the right bank of the Euphrates, the Roman general
+was prepared to engage them, and was not even loath to decide the fate
+of the war by a single battle. He had taken care to provide himself with
+a strong force of slingers, and had entrenched himself in a position
+on high ground at some distance from the river. The Parthians, finding
+their passage of the Euphrates unopposed, and, when they fell in with
+the enemy, seeing him entrenched, as though resolved to act only on the
+defensive, became overbold; they thought the force opposed to them must
+be weak or cowardly, and might yield its position without a blow, if
+briskly attacked. Accordingly, as on a former occasion, they charged up
+the hill on which the Roman camp was placed, hoping to take it by sheer
+audacity. But the troops inside were held ready, and at the proper
+moment issued forth; the assailants found themselves in their turn
+assailed, and, fighting at a disadvantage on the slope, were soon driven
+down the declivity. The battle was renewed in plain below, where the
+mailed horse of the Parthians made a brave resistance; but the slingers
+galled them severely, and in the midst of the struggle it happened that
+by ill-fortune Pacorus was slain. The result followed which is almost
+invariable with an Oriental army: having lost their leader, the soldiers
+everywhere gave way; flight became universal, and the Romans gained a
+complete victory. The Parthian army fled in two directions. Part made
+for the bridge of boats by which it had crossed the Euphrates, but was
+intercepted by the Romans and destroyed. Part turned northwards into
+Commagene, and there took refuge with the king, Antiochus, who refused
+to surrender them to the demand of Ventidius, and no doubt allowed them
+to return to their own country.
+
+Thus ended the great Parthian invasion of Syria, and with it ended the
+prospect of any further spread of the Arsacid dominion towards the
+west. When the two great powers, Rome and Parthia, first came into
+collision--when the first blow struck by the latter, the destruction of
+the army of Crassus, was followed up by the advance of their clouds of
+horse into Syria, Palestine, and Asia Minor--when Apamsea, Antioch, and
+Jerusalem fell into their hands, when Decidius Saxa was defeated and
+slain, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Caria, Lydia, and Ionia occupied--it seemed
+as if Rome had found, not so much an equal as a superior; it looked as
+if the power heretofore predominant would be compelled to contract
+her frontier, and as if Parthia would advance hers to the Egean or the
+Mediterranean. The history of the contest between the East and the West,
+between Asia and Europe, is a history of reactions. At one time one of
+the continents, at another time the other, is in the ascendant. The time
+appeared to have come when the Asiatics were once more to recover their
+own, and to beat back the European aggressor to his proper shores
+and islands. The triumphs achieved by the Seljukian Turks between
+the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries would in that case have been
+anticipated by above a thousand years through the efforts of a kindred,
+and not dissimilar people. But it turned out that the effort made was
+premature. While the Parthian warfare was admirably adapted for the
+national defence on the broad plains of inner Asia, it was ill
+suited for conquest, and, comparatively speaking, ineffective in more
+contracted and difficult regions. The Parthian military system had not
+the elasticity of the Roman--it did not in the same way adapt itself to
+circumstances, or admit of the addition of new arms, or the indefinite
+expansion of an old one. However loose and seemingly flexible, it
+was rigid in its uniformity; it never altered; it remained under the
+thirtieth Arsaces such as it had been under the first, improved in
+details, perhaps, but essentially the same system. The Romans, on
+the contrary, were ever modifying their system, ever learning new
+combinations or new manoeuvres or new modes of warfare from their
+enemies. They met the Parthian tactics of loose array, continuous
+distant missiles, and almost exclusive employment of cavalry, with
+an increase in the number of their own horse, a larger employment of
+auxiliary irregulars, and a greater use of the sling. At the same time
+they learnt to take full advantage of the Parthian inefficiency against
+walls, and to practice against them the arts of pretended retreat and
+ambush. The result was, that Parthia found she could make no impression
+upon the dominions of Rome, and, having become persuaded of this by the
+experience of a decade of years, thenceforth laid aside for ever the
+idea of attempting Western conquests. She took up, in fact, from this
+time, a new attitude, Hitherto she had been consistently aggressive. She
+had labored constantly to extend herself at the expense successively of
+the Bactrians, the Scythians, the Syro-Macedonians, and the Armenians.
+She had proceeded from one aggression to another, leaving only short
+intervals between her wars, and had always been looking out for some
+fresh enemy. Henceforth she became, comparatively speaking, pacific. She
+was content for the most part, to maintain her limits. She sought no
+new foe. Her contest with Rome degenerated into a struggle for influence
+over the kingdom of Armenia; and her hopes were limited to the reduction
+of that kingdom into a subject position.
+
+The death of Pacorus is said to have caused Orodes intense grief. For
+many days he would neither eat nor speak; then his sorrow took another
+turn. He imagined that his son had returned; he thought continually that
+he heard or saw him; he could do nothing but repeat his name. Every now
+and then, however, he awoke to a sense of the actual fact, and mourned
+the death of his favorite with tears. After a while this extreme grief
+wore itself out, and the aged king began to direct his attention once
+more to public affairs. He grew anxious about the succession. Of the
+thirty sons who still remained to him there was not one who had made
+himself a name, or was in any way distinguished above the remainder. In
+the absence of any personal ground of preference, Orodes--who seems
+to have regarded himself as possessing a right to nominate the son who
+should succeed him--thought the claims of primogeniture deserved to be
+considered, and selected as his successor, Phraa-tes, the eldest of the
+thirty. Not content with nominating him, or perhaps doubtful whether the
+nomination would be accepted by the Megistanes, he proceeded further to
+abdicate in his favor, whereupon Phraates became king. The transaction
+proved a most unhappy one. Phraates, jealous of some of his brothers,
+who were the sons of a princess married to Orodes, whereas his own
+mother was only a concubine, removed them by assassination, and when the
+ex-monarch ventured to express disapproval of the act added the crime
+of parricide to fratricide by putting to death his aged father. Thus
+perished Orodes, after a reign of eighteen years--the most memorable in
+the Parthian annals.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+_Reign of Phraates IV. His cruelties. Flight of Monceses to Antony.
+Antony's great Parthian Expedition, or Invasion of Media Atropatene. Its
+Complete Failure. Subsequent Alliance of the Median King with Antony.
+War between Parthia and Media. Rebellion raised against Phraates by
+Tiridates. Phraates expelled. He recovers his Throne with the help of
+the Scythians. His dealings with Augustus. His death and Character._
+
+
+The shedding of blood is like, "the letting out of water." When it once
+begins, none can say where it will stop. The absolute monarch who, for
+his own fancied security, commences a system of executions, is led on
+step by step to wholesale atrocities from which he would have shrunk
+with horror at the outset. Phraates had removed brothers whose superior
+advantages of birth made them formidable rivals. He had punished with
+death a father who ventured to blame his act, and to forget that by
+abdication he had sunk himself to the position of a subject. Could he
+have stopped here, it might have seemed that his severities proceeded
+not so much from cruelty of disposition as from political necessity;
+and historians, always tender in the judgments which they pass on kings
+under such circumstances, would probably have condoned or justified his
+conduct. But the taste for bloodshed grows with the indulgence of it.
+In a short time the young king had killed all his remaining brothers,
+although their birth was no better than his own, and there was no valid
+ground for his fearing them; and soon afterwards, not content with the
+murder of his own relations, he began to vent his fury upon the Parthian
+nobles. Many of these suffered death; and such a panic seized the order
+that numbers quitted the country, and dispersed in different directions,
+content to remain in exile until the danger which threatened them should
+have passed by. There, were others, however, who were not so patient. A
+body of chiefs had fled to Antony, among whom was a certain Monseses,
+a nobleman of the highest rank, who seems to have distinguished himself
+previously in the Syrian wars. This person represented to Antony that
+Phraates had by his tyrannical and bloody conduct made himself hateful
+to his subjects, and that a revolution could easily be effected. If the
+Romans would support him, he offered to invade Parthia; and he made
+no doubt of wresting the greater portion of it from the hands of the
+tyrant, and of being himself accepted as king. In that, case he would
+consent to hold his crown of the Romans, who might depend upon his
+fidelity and gratitude. Antony is said to have listened to these
+overtures, and to have been induced by them to turn his thoughts to
+an invasion of the Parthian kingdom. He began to collect troops and
+to obtain allies with this object. He entered into negotiations with
+Artavasdes, the Armenian king, who seems at this time to have been more
+afraid of Rome than of Parthia, and engaged him to take a part in
+his projected campaign. He spoke of employing Monseses in a separate
+expedition. Under these circumstances Phraates became alarmed. He sent a
+message to Monseses with promises of pardon and favor, which that chief
+thought worthy of acceptance. Hereupon Monseses represented to Antony
+that by a peaceful return he might perhaps do him as much service as by
+having recourse to arms; and though Antony was not persuaded, he thought
+it prudent to profess himself well satisfied, and to allow Monseses to
+quit him. His relations with Parthia, he said, might perhaps be placed
+on a proper footing without a war, and he was quite willing to try
+negotiation. His ambassadors should accompany Monasses. They would be
+instructed to demand nothing of Phraates but the restoration of the
+Roman standards taken from Crassus, and the liberation of such of the
+captive soldiers as were still living.'
+
+But Antony had really determined on war. It may be doubted whether it
+had required the overtures of Monseses to put a Parthian expedition into
+his thoughts. He must have been either more or less than a man if the
+successes of his lieutenants had not stirred in his mind some feeling of
+jealousy, and some desire to throw their victories into the shade by a
+grand and noble achievement. Especially the glory of Ventidius, who had
+been allowed the much-coveted honor of a triumph at Rome on account of
+his defeats of the Parthians in Cilicia and Syria, must have moved
+him to emulation, and have caused him to cast about for some means of
+exalting his own military reputation above that of his subordinates.
+For this purpose nothing, he must have known, would be so effectual as
+a real Parthian success, the inflicting on this hated and dreaded foe
+of an unmistakable humiliation, the dictating to them terms of peace on
+their own soil after some crushing and overwhelming disaster. And, after
+the victories of Ventidius, this did not appear to be so very difficult.
+The prestige of the Parthian name was gone. Roman soldiers could be
+trusted to meet them without alarm, and to contend with them without
+undue excitement or flurry. The weakness, as well as the strength, of
+their military system had come to be known; and expedients had been
+devised by which its strong points were met and counterbalanced. At the
+head of sixteen legions, Antony might well think that he could invade
+Parthia successfully, and not only avoid the fate of Crassus, but gather
+laurels which might serve him in good stead in his contest with his
+great political rival.
+
+Nor can the Roman general be taxed with undue precipitation or with
+attacking in insufficient force. He had begun, as already noticed, with
+securing the co-operation of the Armenian king, Artavasdes, who promised
+him a contingent of 7000 foot and 6000 horse. His Roman infantry is
+estimated at 60,000; besides which he had 10,000 Gallic and Iberian
+horse, and 30,000 light armed and cavalry of the Asiatic allies. His own
+army thus amounted to 100,000 men; and, with the Armenian contingent,
+his entire force would have been 113,000. It seems that it was his
+original intention to cross the Euphrates into Mesopotamia, and thus to
+advance almost in the footsteps of Crassus but when he reached the banks
+of the river (about midsummer B.C. 37) he found such preparations
+made to resist him that he abandoned his first design, and, turning
+northwards, entered Armenia, determined to take advantage of his
+alliance with Artavasdes, and to attack Parthia with Armenia as the
+basis of his operations. Artavasdes gladly received him, and persuaded
+him, instead of penetrating into Parthia itself, to direct his arms
+against the territory of a Parthian subject-ally, the king of Media
+Atropatene, whose territories adjoined Armenia on the southeast.
+Artavasdes pointed out that the Median monarch was absent from his own
+country, having joined his troops to those which Phraates had collected
+for the defence of Parthia. His territory therefore would be open to
+ravage, and even Praaspa, his capital, might prove an easy prey. The
+prospect excited Antony, who at once divided his troops, and having
+given orders to Oppius Statianus to follow him leisurely with the more
+unwieldy part of the army, the baggage-train, and the siege batteries,
+proceeded himself by forced marches to Praaspa with all the calvary and
+the infantry of the better class. This town was situated at the distance
+of nearly three hundred miles from the Armenian frontier; but the way
+to it lay through well-cultivated plains, where food and water were
+abundant. Antony performed the march without difficulty and at once
+invested the place. The walls were strong, and the defenders numerous,
+so that he made little impression; and when the Median king returned,
+accompanied by his Parthian suzerain, to the defence of his country, the
+capital seemed in so little danger that it was resolved to direct the
+first attack on Statianus, who had not yet joined his chief. A most
+successful onslaught was made on this officer, who was surprised,
+defeated, and slain. Ten thousand Romans fell in the battle, and all the
+baggage-wagons and engines of war were taken. A still worse result of
+the defeat was the desertion of Aitavasdes, who, regarding the case of
+the Romans as desperate, drew off his troops, and left Antony to his own
+resources.
+
+The Roman general now found himself in great difficulties. He had
+exhausted the immediate neighborhood of Praaspa, and was obliged to send
+his foraging-parties on distant expeditions, where, being beyond the
+reach of his protection, they were attacked and cut to pieces by the
+enemy. He had lost his siege-train, and found it impossible to construct
+another. Such works as he attempted suffered through the sallies of the
+besieged: and in some of these his soldiers behaved so ill that he was
+forced to punish their cowardice by decimation. His supplies failed,
+and he had to feed his troops on barley instead of wheat. Meantime the
+autumnal equinox was approaching, and the weather was becoming cold. The
+Medes and Parthians, under their respective monarchs, hung about him,
+impeded his movements, and cut off his stragglers, but carefully avoided
+engaging him in a pitched battle. If he could have forced the city to a
+surrender, he would have been in comparative safety, for he might have
+gone into winter quarters there and have renewed the war in the ensuing
+spring. But all his assaults, with whatever desperation they were made,
+failed; and it became necessary to relinquish the siege and retire into
+Armenia before the rigors of winter should set in. He could, however,
+with difficulty bring himself to make a confession of failure, and
+flattered himself for a while that the Parthians would consent to
+purchase his retirement by the surrender of the Crassian captives and
+standards. Having lost some valuable time in negotiations, at which the
+Parthians laughed, at length, when the equinox was passed, he broke up
+from before Praaspa, and commenced the work of retreat. There were two
+roads by which he might reach the Araxes at the usual point of passage,
+One lay towards the left, through a plain and open country, probably
+that through which he had come; the other, which was shorter, but more
+difficult, lay to the right, leading across a mountain-tract, but one
+fairly supplied with water, and in which there were inhabited villages.
+Antony was advised that the Parthians had occupied the easier route,
+expecting that he would follow it, and intended to overwhelm him with
+their cavalry in the plains. He therefore took the road to the
+right through a rugged and inclement country--probably that between
+Tahkt-i-Suleiman and Tabriz--and, guided by a Mardian who knew the
+region well, proceeded to make his way back to the Araxes. His decision
+took the Parthians by surprise, and for two days he was unmolested.
+But by the third day they had thrown themselves across his path; and
+thenceforward, for nineteen consecutive days, they disputed with Antony
+every inch of his retreat, and inflicted on him the most serious
+damage. The sufferings of the Roman army during this time, says a modern
+historian of Rome, were unparalleled in their military annals. The
+intense cold, the blinding snow and driving sleet, the want sometimes
+of provisions, sometimes of water, the use of poisonous herbs, and the
+harassing attacks of the enemy's cavalry and bowmen, which could only be
+repelled by maintaining the dense array of the phalanx or the tortoise,
+reduced the retreating army by one-third of its numbers. At length,
+after a march of 300 Roman, or 277 British, miles, they reached the
+river Araxes, probably at the Julfa ferry, and, crossing it, found
+themselves in Armenia. But the calamities of the return were not yet
+ended. Though it was arranged with Artavasdes that the bulk of the army
+should winter in Armenia, yet, before the various detachments could
+reach their quarters in different parts of the country, eight thousand
+more had perished through the effects of past sufferings or the severity
+of the weather. Altogether, out of the hundred thousand men whom Antony
+led into Media Atropatene, less than seventy thousand remained to
+commence the campaign which was threatened for the ensuing year. Well
+may the unfortunate commander have exclaimed as he compared his own
+heavy losses with the light ones of Xenophon and his Greeks in these
+same regions, "Oh, those Ten Thousand! those Ten Thousand!"
+
+On the withdrawal of Antony into Armenia a quarrel broke out between
+Phraates and his Median vassal. The latter regarded himself as wronged
+in the division made of the Roman spoils, and expressed himself with so
+much freedom on the subject as to offend his suzerain. He then began
+to fear that he had gone too far, and that Phraates would punish him by
+depriving him of his sovereignty. Accordingly, he was anxious to obtain
+a powerful alliance, and on turning over in his mind all feasible
+political combinations it seems to have occurred to him that his late
+enemy, Antony, might be disposed to take him under his protection. He
+doubtless knew that Artavasdes of Armenia had offended the Roman leader
+by deserting him in the hour of his greatest peril, and felt that, if
+Antony was intending to revenge himself on the traitor, he would be glad
+to have a friend on the Armenian border. He therefore sent an ambassador
+of rank to Alexandria, where Antony was passing the winter, and boldly
+proposed the alliance. Antony readily accepted it; he was intensely
+angered by the conduct of the Armenian monarch, and determined on
+punishing his defection; he viewed the Median alliance as of the utmost
+importance in connection with the design, which he still entertained,
+of invading Parthia itself; and he saw in the powerful descendant of
+Atropates a prince whom it would be well worth his while to bind to his
+cause indissolubly. He therefore embraced the overtures made to him
+with joy, and even rewarded the messenger who had brought them with a
+principality. After sundry efforts to entice Artavasdes into his power,
+which occupied him during most of B.C. 85, in the spring of B.C. 34 he
+suddenly appeared in Armenia. His army, which had remained there from
+the previous campaign, held all the more important positions, and, as he
+professed the most friendly feelings towards Artavasdes, even proposing
+an alliance between their families, that prince, after some hesitation,
+at length ventured into his presence. He was immediately seized and put
+in chains. Armenia was rapidly overrun. Artaxias, whom the Armenians
+made king in the room of his father, was defeated and forced to take
+refuge with the Parthians. Antony then arranged a marriage between the
+daughter of the Median monarch and his own son by Cleopatra, Alexander,
+and, leaving garrisons in Armenia, carried off Artavasdes and a rich
+booty into Egypt.
+
+Phraates, during these transactions, stood wholly upon the defensive. It
+may not have been unpleasing to him to see Artavasdes punished. It must
+have gratified him to observe how Antony was injuring his own cause by
+exasperating the Armenians, and teaching them to hate Rome even more
+than they hated Parthia. But while Antony's troops held both Syria and
+Armenia, and the alliance between Media Atropatene and Rome continued,
+he could not venture to take any aggressive step or do aught but protect
+his own frontier. He was obliged even to look on with patience,
+when, early in B.C. 33, Antony appeared once more in these parts, and
+advancing to the Araxes, had a conference with the Median monarch,
+whereat their alliance was confirmed, troops exchanged, part of Armenia
+made over to the Median king, and Jotapa, his daughter, given as a bride
+to the young Alexander, whom Antony designed to make satrap of the East.
+But no sooner had Antony withdrawn into Asia Minor in preparation
+for his contest with Octavian than Phraates took the offensive. In
+combination with Artaxias, the new Armenian king, he attacked Antony's
+ally; but the latter repulsed him by the help of his Roman troops. Soon
+afterwards, however, Antony recalled these troops without restoring
+to the Median king his own contingent; upon which the two confederates
+renewed their attack, and were successful. The Median prince was
+defeated and taken prisoner. Artaxias recovered Armenia and massacred
+all the Roman garrisons which he found in it. Both countries became once
+more wholly independent of Rome, and it is probable that Media returned
+to its old allegiance.
+
+But the successes of Phraates abroad produced ill consequences at
+home. Elated by his victories, and regarding his position in Parthia as
+thereby secured, he resumed the series of cruelties towards his subjects
+which the Roman war had interrupted, and pushed them so far that an
+insurrection broke out against his authority (B.C. 33), and he was
+compelled to quit the country. The revolt was headed by a certain
+Tiridates, who, upon its success, was made king by the insurgents.
+Phraates fled into Scythia, and persuaded the Scythians to embrace his
+cause. These nomads, nothing loth, took up arms, and without any great
+difficulty restored Phraates to the throne from which his people had
+expelled him. Tiridates fled at their approach, and, having contrived to
+carry off in his flight the youngest son of Phraates, presented himself
+before Octavian, who was in Syria at the time on his return from Egypt
+(B.C. 30), surrendered the young prince into his hands, and requested
+his aid against the tyrant. Octavian accepted the valuable hostage, but
+with his usual caution, declined to pledge himself to furnish any help
+to the pretender; he might remain, he said, in Syria, if he so wished,
+and while he continued under Roman protection, a suitable provision
+should be made for his support, but, he must not expect armed resistance
+against the Parthian monarch. To that monarch, when some years
+afterwards (B.C. 23) he demanded the surrender of his subject and the
+restoration of his young son, Octavian answered that he could not give
+Tiridates up to him, but he would restore him his son without a ransom.
+He should expect, however, that in return for this kindness the Parthian
+king would on his part deliver to the Romans the standards taken
+from Crassus and Antony, together with all who survived of the Roman
+captives. It does not appear that Phraates was much moved by the
+Emperor's generosity. He gladly received his son; but he took no steps
+towards the restoration of those proofs of Parthian victory which
+the Romans were so anxious to recover. It was not until B.C. 20, when
+Octavian (now become Augustus) visited the East, and war seemed the
+probable alternative if he continued obstinate, that the Parthian
+monarch brought himself to relinquish the trophies which were as much
+prized by the victors as the vanquished. In extenuation of his act we
+must remember that he was unpopular with his subjects, and that Augustus
+could at any moment have produced a pretender, who had once occupied,
+and with Roman help might easily have mounted for a second time, the
+throne of the Arsacidse.
+
+The remaining years of Phraates--and he reigned for nearly twenty years
+after restoring the standards--are almost unbroken by any event of
+importance. The result of the twenty years' struggle between Rome and
+Parthia had been to impress either nation with a wholesome dread of the
+other. Both had triumphed on their own ground; both had failed when they
+ventured on sending expeditions into the enemy's territory. Each now
+stood on its guard, watching the movements of its adversary across
+the Euphrates. Both had become pacific. It is a well-known fact that
+Augustus left it as a principle of policy to his successors that the
+Roman Empire had reached its proper limits, and could not with advantage
+be extended further. This principle, followed with the utmost strictness
+by Tiberius, was accepted as a rule by all the earlier Caesars, and
+only regarded as admitting of rare and slight exceptions. Trajan was the
+first who, a hundred and thirty years after the accession of Augustus,
+made light of it and set it at defiance. With him re-awoke the spirit of
+conquest, the aspiration after universal dominion. But in the meantime
+there was peace--peace indeed not absolutely unbroken, for border wars
+occurred, and Rome was tempted sometimes to interfere by arms in the
+internal quarrels of her neighbors--but a general state of peace and
+amity prevailed--neither state made any grand attack on the other's
+dominions--no change occurred in the frontier, no great battle tested
+the relative strength of the two peoples. Such rivalry as remained was
+exhibited less in arms than in diplomacy and showed itself mainly in
+endeavors on either side to obtain a predominant influence in Armenia.
+There alone during the century and a half that intervened between Antony
+and Trajan did the interests of Rome and Parthia come into collision,
+and in connection with this kingdom alone did any struggle between the
+two countries continue.
+
+Phraates, after yielding to Augustus in the matter of the standards and
+prisoners, appears for many years to have studiously cultivated his good
+graces. In the interval between B.C. 11 and B.C. 7, distrustful of his
+subjects, and fearful of their removing him in order to place one of his
+sons upon the Parthian throne, he resolved to send these possible rivals
+out of the country; and on this occasion he paid Augustus the compliment
+of selecting Rome for his children's residence. The youths were four in
+number, Vonones, Seraspadanes, Rhodaspes, and Phraates; two of them were
+married and had children; they resided at Rome during the remainder of
+their father's lifetime, and were treated as became their rank, being
+supported at the public charge and in a magnificent manner. The Roman
+writers speak of these as "hostages" given by Phraates to the Roman
+Emperor; but this was certainly not the intention of the Parthian
+monarch; nor could the idea well be entertained by the Romans at the
+time of their residence.
+
+These amicable relations between the two sovereigns would probably have
+continued undisturbed till the death of one or the other, had not a
+revolution occured in Armenia, which tempted the Parthian king beyond
+his powers of resistance. On the death of Artaxias (B.C. 20), Augustus,
+who was then in the East, had sent Tiberius into Armenia to arrange
+matters, and Tiberius had placed upon the throne a brother of Artaxias,
+named Tigranes. Tigranes died in B.C. 6, and the Armenians, without
+waiting to know the will of the Roman Emperor, conferred the royal title
+on his sons, for whose succession he had before his death paved the
+way by associating them with him in the government. Enraged at this
+assumption of independence, Augustus sent an expedition into Armenia
+(B.C. 5), deposed the sons of Tigranes, and established on the throne a
+certain Artavasdes, whose birth and parentage are not known to us. But
+the Armenians were not now inclined to submit to foreign dictation;
+they rose in revolt against Artavasdes (ab. B.C. 2), defeated his Roman
+supporters, and expelled him from the kingdom. Another Tigranes was made
+king; and, as it was pretty certain that the Romans would interfere
+with this new display of the spirit of independence, the Parthians were
+called in to resist the Roman oppressors. Armenia, was, in fact, too
+weak to stand alone, and was obliged to lean upon one or other of the
+two great empires upon her borders. Her people had no clear political
+foresight, and allowed themselves to veer and fluctuate between the two
+influences according as the feelings of the hour dictated. Rome had now
+angered them beyond their very limited powers of endurance, and they
+flew to Parthia for help, just as on other occasions we shall find them
+flying to Rome. Phraates could not bring himself to reject the Armenian
+overtures. Ever since the time of the second Mithridates it had been a
+settled maxim of Parthian policy to make Armenia dependent; and, even
+at the cost of a rupture with Rome, it seemed to Phraates that he must
+respond to the appeal made to him. The rupture might not come. Augustus
+was now aged, and might submit to the affront without resenting it.
+He had lately lost the services of his best general, Tiberius, who,
+indignant at slights put upon him, had gone into retirement at Rhodes.
+He had no one that he could employ but his grandsons, youths who had not
+yet fleshed their maiden swords. Phraates probably hoped that Augustus
+would draw back before the terrors of a Parthian war under such
+circumstances, and would allow without remonstrance the passing of
+Armenia into the position of a subject-ally of Parthia.
+
+But if these were his thoughts, he had miscalculated. Augustus, from the
+time that he heard of the Armenian troubles, and of the support given
+to them by Parthia, seems never to have wavered in his determination to
+vindicate the claims of Rome to paramount influence in Armenia, and to
+have only hesitated as to the person whose services he should employ
+in the business. He would have been glad to employ Tiberius; but that
+morose prince had deserted him and, declining public life, had betaken
+himself to Rhodes, where he was living in a self-chosen retirement.
+Caius, the eldest of his grandsons, was, in B.C. 2, only eighteen years
+of age; and, though the thoughts of Augustus at once turned in this
+direction, the extreme youth of the prince caused him to hesitate
+somewhat; and the consequence was that Caius did not start for the
+East till late in B.C. 1. Meanwhile a change had occured in Parthia.
+Phraates, who had filled the throne for above thirty-five years, ceased
+to exist, and was succeeded by a young son, Phraataces, who reigned in
+conjunction with the queen-mother, Thermusa, or Musa.
+
+The circumstances which brought about this change were the following.
+Phraates IV. had married, late in life, an Italian slave-girl, sent him
+as a present by Augustus; and she had borne him a son for whom she was
+naturally anxious to secure the succession. According to some, it was
+under her influence that the monarch had sent his four elder boys to
+Rome, there to receive their education. At any rate, in the absence of
+these youths, Phraataces, the child of the slave-girl, became the chief
+support of Phraates in the administration of affairs, and obtained a
+position in Parthia which led him to regard himself as entitled to the
+throne so soon as it should become vacant. Doubtful, however, of his
+father's goodwill, or fearful of the rival claims of his brothers, if
+he waited till the throne was vacated in the natural course of events,
+Phraataces resolved to anticipate the hand of time, and, in conjunction
+with his mother, administered poison to the old monarch, from the
+effects of which he died. A just Nemesis for once showed itself in that
+portion of human affairs which passes before our eyes. Phraates IV.,
+the parricide and fratricide, was, after a reign of thirty-five years,
+himself assassinated (B.C. 2) by a wife whom he loved only too fondly
+and a son whom he esteemed and trusted.
+
+Phraates cannot but be regarded as one of the ablest of the Parthian
+monarchs. His conduct of the campaign against Antony--one of the best
+soldiers that Rome ever produced--was admirable, and showed him a master
+of guerilla warfare. His success in maintaining himself upon the throne
+for five and thirty years, in spite of rivals, and notwithstanding the
+character which he obtained for cruelty, implies, in such a state as
+Parthia, considerable powers of management. His dealings with Augustus
+indicate much suppleness and dexterity. If he did not in the course of
+his long reign advance the Parthian frontier, at any rate he was not
+obliged to retract it. Apparently, he ceded nothing to the Scyths as
+the price of their assistance. He maintained the Parthian supremacy
+over Northern Media. He lost no inch of territory to the Romans. It was
+undoubtedly a prudent step on his part to soothe the irritated vanity
+of Rome by a surrender of useless trophies, and scarcely more useful
+prisoners; and, we may doubt if this concession was not as effective as
+the dread of the Parthian arms in producing that peace between the
+two countries which continued unbroken for above ninety years from the
+campaign of Antony, and without serious interruption for yet another
+half century. If Phraates felt, as he might well feel after the
+campaigns of Pacorus, that on the whole Rome was a more powerful state
+than Parthia, and that consequently Parthia had nothing to gain but much
+to lose in the contest with her western neighbor, he did well to allow
+no sentiment of foolish pride to stand in the way of a concession
+that made a prolonged peace between the two countries possible. It
+is sometimes more honorable to yield to a demand than to meet it with
+defiance; and the prince who removed a cause of war arising out of mere
+national vanity, while at the same time he maintained in all essential
+points the interests and dignity of his kingdom, deserved well of his
+subjects, and merits the approval of the historian. As a man, Phraates
+has left behind him a bad name: he was cruel, selfish, and ungrateful, a
+fratricide and a parricide; but as a king he is worthy of respect, and,
+in certain points, of admiration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+_Short reigns of Phraataces, Orodes II., and Vonones I. Accession of
+Artabanus III. His relations with Germanicus and Tiberius. His War with
+Pharasmanes of Iberia. His First Expulsion from his Kingdom, and return
+to it. His peace with Rome. Internal troubles of the Parthian Kingdom.
+Second Expulsion and return of Artabanus. His Death._
+
+
+The accession of Phraataces made no difference in the attitude of
+Parthia towards Armenia. The young prince was as anxious as his father
+had been to maintain the Parthian claims to that country, and at first
+perhaps as inclined to believe that Augustus would not dispute them.
+Immediately upon his accession he sent ambassadors to Rome announcing
+the fact, apologizing for the circumstances under which it had taken
+place, and proposing a renewal of the peace which had subsisted between
+Augustus and his father. Apparently, he said nothing about Armenia, but
+preferred a demand for the surrender of his four brothers, whom no
+doubt he designed to destroy. The answer of Augustus was severe in the
+extreme. Addressing Phraataces by his bare name, without adding the
+title of king, he required him to lay aside the royal appellation, which
+he had arrogantly and without any warrant assumed, and at the same time
+to withdraw his forces from Armenia. On the surrender of the Parthian
+princes he kept silence, ignoring a demand which he had no intention of
+according. It was clearly his design to set up one of the elder brothers
+as a rival claimant to Phraataces, or at any rate to alarm him with the
+notion that, unless he made concessions, this policy would be adopted.
+But Phraataces was not to be frightened by a mere message. He responded
+to Augustus after his own fashion, dispatching to him a letter wherein
+he took to himself the favorite Parthian title of "king of kings," and
+addressed the Roman Emperor simply as "Caesar." The attitude of defiance
+would no doubt have been maintained, had Augustus confined himself to
+menaces; when, however, it appeared that active measures would be taken,
+when Augustus, in B.C. 1, sent his grandson, Caius, to the East with
+orders to re-establish the Roman influence in Armenia even at the cost
+of a Parthian war, and that prince showed himself in Syria with all the
+magnificent surroundings of the Imperial dignity, the Parthian monarch
+became alarmed. He had an interview with Caius in the spring of A.D.
+1, upon an island in the Euphrates; where the terms of an arrangement
+between the two Empires were discussed and settled. The armies of the
+two chiefs were drawn up on the opposite banks of the river, facing one
+another; and the chiefs themselves, accompanied by an equal number
+of attendants, proceeded to deliberate in the sight of both hosts.
+Satisfactory pledges having been given by the Parthian monarch, the
+prince and king in turn entertained each other on the borders of their
+respective dominions; and Caius returned into Syria, having obtained an
+engagement from the Parthians to abstain from any further interference
+with Armenian affairs. The engagement appears to have been honorably
+kept; for when, shortly afterward, fresh complications occurred, and
+Caius in endeavoring to settle them received his death-wound before
+the walls of an Armenian tower, we do not hear of Parthia as in any way
+involved in the unfortunate occurrence. The Romans and their partisans
+in the country were left to settle the Armenian succession as they
+pleased; and Parthia kept herself wholly aloof from the matters
+transacted upon her borders.
+
+One cause--perhaps the main cause of this abstinence, and of the
+engagement to abstain entered into by Phraataces, was doubtless the
+unsettled state of things in Parthia itself. The circumstances under
+which that prince had made himself king, though not unparalleled in the
+Parthian annals, were such as naturally tended towards civil strife,
+and as were apt to produce in Parthia internal difficulties, if not
+disorders or commotions. Phraataces soon found that he would have a hard
+task to establish his rule. The nobles objected to him, not only for the
+murder of his father, but his descent from an Italian concubine, and the
+incestuous commerce which he was supposed to maintain with her. They had
+perhaps grounds for this last charge. At any rate Phraataces provoked
+suspicion by the singular favors and honors which he granted to a woman
+whose origin was mean and extraction foreign. Not content with private
+marks of esteem and love, he departed from the practice of all former
+Parthian sovereigns in placing her effigy upon his coins; and he
+accompanied this act with fulsome and absurd titles. Musa was styled,
+not merely "Queen," but "Heavenly Goddess," as if the realities of slave
+origin and concubinage could be covered by the fiction of an apotheosis.
+It is not surprising that the proud Parthian nobles were offended by
+these proceedings, and determined to rid themselves of a monarch whom
+they at once hated and despised. Within a few years of his obtaining
+the throne an insurrection broke out against his authority; and after a
+brief struggle he was deprived of his crown and put to death. The nobles
+then elected an Arsacid, named Orodes, whose residence at the time and
+relationship to the former monarchs are uncertain. It seems probable
+that, like most princes of the blood royal, he had taken refuge in a
+foreign country from the suspicions and dangers that beset all
+possible pretenders to the royal dignity in Parthia, and was living in
+retirement, unexpectant of any such offer, when a deputation of Parthian
+nobles arrived and brought him the intelligence of his election.
+It might have been expected that, obtaining the crown under these
+circumstances, he would have ruled well; but, according to Josephus (who
+is here, unfortunately, our sole authority), he very soon displayed so
+much violence and cruelty of disposition that his rule was felt to be
+intolerable; and the Parthians, again breaking into insurrection, rid
+themselves of him, killing him either at a banquet or on a hunting
+excursion. This done, they sent to Rome, and requested Augustus to allow
+Vonones, the eldest son of Phraates IV., to return to Parthia in order
+that he might receive his father's kingdom. The Emperor complied
+readily enough, since he regarded his own dignity as advanced by the
+transaction; and the Parthians at first welcomed the object of their
+choice with rejoicings. But after a little time their sentiments
+altered. The young prince, bred up in Rome, and accustomed to the
+refinements of Western civilization, neglected the occupations which
+seemed to his subjects alone worthy of a monarch's regard, absented
+himself from the hunting-field, took small pleasure in riding, when he
+passed through the streets indulged in the foreign luxury of a litter,
+shrank with disgust from the rude and coarse feastings which formed a
+portion of the national manners. He had, moreover, brought with him from
+the place of his exile a number of Greek companions, whom the Parthians
+despised and ridiculed; and the favors bestowed on these foreign
+interlopers were seen with jealousy and rage. It was in vain that he
+endeavored to conciliate his offended subjects by the openness of his
+manners and the facility with which he allowed access to his person. In
+their prejudiced eyes virtues and graces unknown to the nation hitherto
+were not merits but defects, and rather increased, than diminished their
+aversion. Having conceived a dislike for the monarch personally, they
+began to look back with dissatisfaction on their own act in sending for
+him. "Parthia," they said, "had indeed degenerated from her former self
+to have requested a king to be sent her who belonged to another world
+and had had a hostile civilization ingrained into him." All the glory
+gained by destroying Crassus and repulsing Antony was utterly lost and
+gone, if the country was to be ruled by Caesar's bond-slave, and the
+throne of the Arsacidse to be treated like a Roman province. It would
+have been bad enough to have had a prince imposed on them by the will
+of a superior, if they had been conquered; it was worse, in all respects
+worse, to suffer such an insult, when they had not even had war made
+on them. Under the influence of such feelings as these, the Parthians,
+after tolerating Vonones for a few years, rose against him (ab. A.D.
+16), and summoned Artabanus, an Arsacid who had grown to manhood among
+the Dahee of the Caspian region, but was at this time king of Media
+Atropatene, to rule over them.
+
+It was seldom that a crown was declined in the ancient world; and
+Artabanus, on receiving the overture, at once expressed his willingness
+to accept the proffered dignity. He invaded Parthia at the head of an
+army consisting of his own subjects, and engaged Vonones, to whom in his
+difficulties the bulk of the Parthian people had rallied. The engagement
+resulted in the defeat of the Median monarch, who returned to his own
+country, and, having collected a larger army, made a second invasion.
+This time he was successful. Vonones fled on horseback to Seleucia with
+a small body of followers; while his defeated army, following in his
+track, was pressed upon by the victorious Mede, and suffered great
+losses. Artabanus, having entered Ctesiphon in triumph, was immediately
+proclaimed king. Vonones, escaping from Seleucia, took refuge among
+the Armenians; and, as it happened that just at this time the Armenian
+throne was vacant, not only was an asylum granted him, but he was made
+king of the country. It was impossible that Artabanus should tamely
+submit to an arrangement which would have placed his deadly enemy in
+a position to cause him constant annoyance. He, therefore, at once
+remonstrated, both in Armenia and at Rome. As Rome now claimed the
+investiture of the Armenian monarchs, he sent an embassy to Tiberius,
+and threatened war if Vonones were acknowledged; while at the same time
+he applied to Armenia and required the surrender of the refugee. An
+important section of the Armenian nation was inclined to grant his
+demand; Tiberius, who would willingly have supported Vonones, drew back
+before the Parthian threats; Vonones found himself in imminent danger,
+and, under the circumstances, determined on quitting Armenia and
+betaking himself to the protection of the Roman governor of Syria. This
+was Creticus Silanus, who received him gladly, gave him a guard, and
+allowed him the state and title of king. Meanwhile Artabanus laid claim
+to Armenia, and suggested as a candidate for the throne one of his own
+sons, Orodes.
+
+Under these circumstances, the Roman Emperor, Tiberius, who had recently
+succeeded Augustus, resolved to despatch to the East a personage of
+importance, who should command the respect and attention of the Oriental
+powers by his dignity, and impose upon them by the pomp and splendor
+with which he was surrounded. He selected for this office Germanicus,
+his nephew, the eldest son of his deceased brother, Drusus, a prince of
+much promise, amiable in his disposition, courteous and affable in his
+manners, a good soldier, and a man generally popular. The more to
+strike the minds of the Orientals, he gave Germanicus no usual title or
+province, but invested him with an extraordinary command over all the
+Roman dominions to the east of the Hellespont, thus rendering him a sort
+of monarch of Roman Asia. Full powers were granted him for making peace
+or war, for levying troops, annexing provinces, appointing subject
+kings, and performing other sovereign acts, without referring back to
+Rome for instructions. A train of unusual magnificence accompanied him
+to his charge, calculated to impress the Orientals with the conviction
+that this was no common negotiator. Germanicus arrived in Asia early in
+A.D. 18, and applied himself at once to his task. Entering Armenia at
+the head of his troops, he proceeded to the capital, Artaxata, and,
+having ascertained the wishes of the Armenians themselves, determined
+on his course of conduct. To have insisted on the restoration of Vonones
+would have been grievously to offend the Armenians who had expelled
+him, and at the same time to provoke the Parthians, who could not have
+tolerated a pretender in a position of power upon their borders; to
+have allowed the pretensions of the Parthian monarch, and accepted the
+candidature of his son, Orodes, would have lowered Rome in the opinion
+of all the surrounding nations, and been equivalent to an abdication of
+all influence in the affairs of Western Asia. Germanicus avoided either
+extreme, and found happily a middle course. It happened that there was
+a foreign prince settled in Armenia, who having grown up there had
+assimilated himself in all respects to the Armenian ideas and habits,
+and had thereby won golden opinions from both the nobles and the people.
+This was Zeno, the son of Polemo, once king of the curtailed Pontus,
+and afterwards of the Lesser Armenia, an outlying Roman dependency. The
+Armenians themselves suggested that Zeno should be their monarch; and
+Germanicus saw a way out of his difficulties in the suggestion. At the
+seat of government, Artaxata, in the presence of a vast multitude of the
+people, with the consent and approval of the principal nobles, he placed
+with his own hand the diadem on the brow of the favored prince, and
+saluted him as king under the new name of "Artaxias." He then returned
+into Syria, where he was shortly afterwards visited by ambassadors from
+the Parthian monarch. Artabanus reminded him of the peace concluded
+between Rome and Parthia in the reign of Augustus, and assumed that
+the circumstances of his own appointment to the throne had in no way
+interfered with it. He would be glad, he said, to renew with Germanicus
+the interchange of friendly assurances which had passed between his
+predecessor, Phraataces, and Caius; and to accommodate the Roman
+general, he would willingly come to meet him as far as the Euphrates;
+meanwhile, until the meeting could take place, he must request that
+Vonones should be removed to a greater distance from the Parthian
+frontier, and that he should not be allowed to continue the
+correspondence in which he was engaged with many of the Parthian nobles
+for the purpose of raising fresh troubles. Germanicus replied politely,
+but indefinitely, to the proposal of an interview, which he may have
+thought unnecessary, and open to misconstruction. To the request for the
+removal of Vonones he consented. Vonones was transferred from Syria to
+the neighboring province of Cilicia; and the city of Pompeiopolis, built
+by the great Pompey on the site of the ancient Soli, was assigned to him
+as his residence. With this arrangement the Parthian monarch appears to
+have been contented. Vonones on the other hand was so dissatisfied with
+the change that in the course of the next year (A.D. 19) he endeavored
+to make his escape; his flight was, however, discovered, and, pursuit
+being made, he was overtaken and slain on the banks of the Pyramus. Thus
+perished ingloriously one of the least blamable and most unfortunate of
+the Parthian princes.
+
+After the death of Germanicus, in A.D. 19, the details of the Parthian
+history are for some years unknown to us. It appears that during this
+interval Artabanus [PLATE II. Fig. 5.] was engaged in wars with several
+of the nations upon his borders, and met with so much success that he
+came after a while to desire, rather than fear, a rupture with Rome. He
+knew that Tiberius was now an old man, and that he was disinclined to
+engage in distant wars; he was aware that Germanicus was dead; and he
+was probably not much afraid of L. Vitellius, the governor of Syria,
+who had been recently deputed by Tiberius to administer that province.
+Accordingly in A.D. 34, the Armenian throne being once more vacant
+by the death of Artaxias (Zeno), he suddenly seized the country, and
+appointed his eldest son, whom Dio and Tacitus call simply Arsaces, to
+be king. At the same time he sent ambassadors to require the restoration
+of the treasure which Vonones had carried off from Parthia and had left
+behind him in Syria or Cilicia. To this plain and definite demand were
+added certain vague threats, or boasts, to the effect that he was
+the rightful master of all the territory that had belonged of old to
+Macedonia or Persia, and that it was his intention to resume possession
+of the provinces, whereto, as the representative of Cyrus and Alexander,
+he was entitled. He is said to have even commenced operations against
+Cappadocia, which was an actual portion of the Roman Empire, when he
+found that Tiberius, so far from resenting the seizure of Armenia,
+had sent instructions to Vitellius, that he was to cultivate peaceful
+relations with Parthia. Apparently he thought that a good opportunity
+had arisen for picking a quarrel with his Western neighbor, and was
+determined to take advantage of it. The aged despot, hidden in his
+retreat of Capreae, seemed to him a pure object of contempt; and he
+entertained the confident hope of defeating his armies and annexing
+portions of his territory.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 2.]
+
+
+But Tiberius was under no circumstances a man to be wholly despised.
+Simultaneously with the Parthian demands and threats intelligence
+reached him that the subjects of Artabanus were greatly dissatisfied
+with his rule, and that it would be easy by fomenting the discontent to
+bring about a revolution. Some of the nobles even went in person to Rome
+(A.D. 35), and suggested that if Phraates, one of the surviving sons of
+Phraates IV., were to appear under Roman protection upon the banks of
+the Euphrates, an insurrection would immediately break out. Artabanus,
+they said, among his other cruelties had put to death almost all the
+adult males of the Arsacid family; a successful revolution could not be
+hoped for without an Arsacid leader; if Tiberius, however, would
+deliver to them the prince for whom they asked, this difficulty would be
+removed, and there was then every reason to expect a happy issue to
+the rebellion. The Emperor was not hard to persuade; he no doubt argued
+that, whatever became of the attempt and those engaged in it, one result
+at least was certain--Artabanus would find plenty of work to occupy him
+at home, and would desist from his foreign aggressions. He therefore
+let Phraates take his departure and proceed to Syria, glad to meet the
+danger which had threatened him by craft and policy rather than by force
+of arms.
+
+Artabanus soon became aware of the intrigue. He found that the
+chief conspirators in Parthia were a certain Sinnaces, a nobleman
+distinguished alike for his high birth and his great riches, and
+a eunuch named Abdus, who held a position about the court, and was
+otherwise a personage of importance. It would have been easy to seize
+these two men, and execute them; but Artabanus was uncertain how far
+the conspiracy extended, and thought it most prudent to defer bringing
+matters to a crisis. He therefore dissembled, and was content to cause
+a delay, first by administering to Abdus a slow poison, and then by
+engaging Sinnaces so constantly in affairs of state that he had little
+or no time to devote to plotting. Successful thus far by his own cunning
+and dexterity, he was further helped by a stroke of good fortune, on
+which he could not have calculated. Phraates, who thought that after
+forty years of residence in Rome it was necessary to fit himself for
+the position of Parthian king by resuming the long-disused habits of his
+nation, was carried off, after a short residence in Syria, by a disease
+which he was supposed to have contracted through the change in his mode
+of life. His death must for the time have paralyzed the conspirators,
+and have greatly relieved Artabanus. It was perhaps now, under the
+stimulus of a sudden change from feelings of extreme alarm to fancied
+security, that he wrote the famous letter to Tiberius, in which he
+reproached him for his cruelty, cowardice, and luxuriousness of living,
+and recommended him to satisfy the just desires of the subjects who
+hated him by an immediate suicide.
+
+This letter, if genuine, must be pronounced under any circumstances
+a folly; and if really sent at this time, it may have had tragical
+consequences. It is remarkable that Tiberius, on learning the death of
+Phraates, instead of relaxing, intensified his efforts. Not only did he
+at once send out to Syria another pretender, Tiridates, a nephew of the
+deceased prince, in order to replace him, but he made endeavors, such as
+we do not hear of before, to engage other nations in the struggle; and
+further, he enlarged the commission of Vitellius, giving him a general
+superintendence over the affairs of the East. Thus Artabanus found
+himself in greater peril than ever, and if he had really indulged in the
+silly effusion ascribed to him was rightly punished. Pharasmanes, king
+of Iberia, a portion of the modern Georgia, incited by Tiberius,
+took the field (A.D. 35), and proclaimed his intention of placing his
+brother, Mithridates, on the Armenian throne. Having by corruption
+succeeded in bringing about the murder of Arsaces by his attendants, he
+marched into Armenia, and became master of the capital without meeting
+any resistance. Artabanus, upon this, sent his son Orodes to maintain
+the Parthian cause in the disputed province; but he proved no match for
+the Iberian, who was superior in numbers, in the variety of his troops,
+and in familiarity with the localities. Pharasmanes had obtained the
+assistance of his neighbors, the Albanians, and, opening the passes
+of the Caucasus, had admitted through them a number of the Scythic or
+Sarmatian hordes, who were always ready, when their swords were hired,
+to take a part in the quarrels of the south. Orodes was unable to
+procure either mercenaries or allies, and had to contend unassisted
+against the three enemies who had joined their forces to oppose him. For
+some time he prudently declined an engagement; but it was difficult to
+restrain the ardor of his troops, whom the enemy exasperated by their
+reproaches. After a while he was compelled to accept the battle which
+Pharasmanes incessantly offered. His force consisted entirely of
+cavalry, while Pharasmanes had besides his horse a powerful body of
+infantry. The battle was nevertheless stoutly contested; and the victory
+might have been doubtful, had it not happened that in a hand-to-hand
+combat between the two commanders Orodes was struck to the ground by his
+antagonist, and thought by most of his own men to be killed. As usual
+under such circumstances in the East, a rout followed. If we may believe
+Josephus, "many tens of thousands" were slain. Armenia was wholly lost;
+and Artabanus found himself left with diminished resources and tarnished
+fame to meet the intrigues of his domestic enemies.
+
+Still, he would not succumb without an effort. In the spring of A.D.
+36, having levied the whole force of the Empire, he took the field and
+marched northwards, determined, if possible, to revenge himself on
+the Iberians and recover his lost province. But his first efforts were
+unsuccessful; and before he could renew them Vitellius put himself at
+the head of his legions, and marching towards the Euphrates threatened
+Mesopotamia with invasion. Placed thus between two fires, the Parthian
+monarch felt that he had no choice but to withdraw from Armenia and
+return to the defence of his own proper territories, which in his
+absence must have lain temptingly open to an enemy. His return caused
+Vitellius to change his tactics. Instead of measuring his strength
+against that which still remained to Artabanus, he resumed the weapon of
+intrigue so dear to his master, and proceeded by a lavish expenditure of
+money to excite disaffection once more among the Parthian nobles. This
+time conspiracy was successful. The military disasters of the last two
+years had alienated from Artabanus the affections of those whom his
+previous cruelties had failed to disgust or alarm; and he found himself
+without any armed force whereon he could rely, beyond a small body of
+foreign guards which he maintained about his person. It seemed to him
+that his only safety was in flight; and accordingly he quitted his
+capital and removed himself hastily into Hyrcania, which was in the
+immediate vicinity of the Scythian Dahse, among whom he had been brought
+up. Here the natives were friendly to him, and he lived a retired life,"
+waiting" (as he said) "until the Parthians, who could judge an absent
+prince with equity, though they could not long continue faithful to a
+present one, should repent of their behavior to him."
+
+Upon learning the flight of Artabamis, Vitellius advanced to the banks
+of the Euphrates, and introduced Tiridates into his kingdom. Fortunate
+omens were said to have accompanied the passage of the river; and these
+were followed by adhesions of greater importance. Ornospades, satrap of
+Mesopotamia, was the first to join the standard of the pretender with
+a large body of horse. He was followed by the conspirator Sinnaces,
+his father Abdageses, the keeper of the king's treasures, and other
+personages of high position. The Greek cities in Mesopotamia readily
+opened their gates to a monarch long domiciled at Rome, from whom they
+expected a politeness and refinement that would harmonize better with
+their feelings than the manners of the late king, bred up among the
+uncivilized Scyths. Parthian towns, like Halus and Artemita, followed
+their example. Seleucia, the second city in the Empire, received the new
+monarch with an obsequiousness that bordered on adulation. Not content
+with paying him all customary royal honors, they appended to their
+acclamations disparaging remarks upon his predecessor, whom they
+affected to regard as the issue of an adulterous intrigue, and as no
+true Arsacid. Tiridates was pleased to reward the unseemly flattery
+of these degenerate Greeks by a new arrangement of their constitution.
+Hitherto they had lived under the government of a Senate of Three
+Hundred members, the wisest and wealthiest of the citizens, a certain
+control being, however, secured to the people. Artabanus had recently
+modified the constitution in an aristocratic sense; and therefore
+Tiridates pursued the contrary course, and established an unbridled
+democracy in the place of a mixed government. He then entered Ctesiphon,
+the capital, and after waiting some days for certain noblemen, who had
+expressed a wish to attend his coronation but continually put off their
+coming, he was crowned in the ordinary manner by the Surena of the time
+being, in the sight and amid the acclamations of a vast multitude.
+
+The pretender now regarded his work as completed, and forbore any
+further efforts. The example of the Western provinces would, he assumed,
+be followed by the Eastern, and the monarch approved by Mesopotamia,
+Babylonia, and the capital would carry, as a matter of course, the rest
+of the nation. Policy required that the general acquiescence should
+not have been taken for granted. Tiridates should have made a military
+progress through the East, no less than the West, and have sought out
+his rival in the distant Hyrcania, and slain him, or driven him beyond
+the borders. Instead of thus occupying himself, he was content to
+besiege a stronghold where Artabanus had left his treasure and his
+harem. This conduct was imprudent; and the imprudence cost him his
+crown. That fickle temper which Artabanus had noted in his countrymen
+began to work so soon as the new king was well installed in his office;
+the coveted post of chief vizier could but be assigned to one, and the
+selection of the fortunate individual was the disappointment of a host
+of expectants; nobles absent from the coronation, whether by choice or
+necessity, began to be afraid that their absence would cost them dear,
+when Tiridates had time to reflect upon it and to listen to their
+detractors. The thoughts of the malcontents turned towards their
+dethroned monarch; and emissaries were despatched to seek him out, and
+put before him the project of a restoration. He was found in Hyrcania,
+in a miserable dress and plight, living on the produce of his bow. At
+first he suspected the messengers, believing that their intention was to
+seize him and deliver him up to Tiridates; but it was not long ere they
+persuaded him that, whether their affection for himself were true or
+feigned, their enmity to Tiridates was real. They had indeed no worse
+charges to bring against this prince than his youth, and the softness
+of his Roman breeding; but they were evidently in earnest, and had
+committed themselves too deeply to make it possible for them to retract.
+Artabanus, therefore, accepted their offers, and having obtained the
+services of a body of Dahse and other Scyths, proceeded westward,
+retaining the miserable garb and plight in which he had been found, in
+order to draw men to his side by pity; and making all haste, in order
+that his enemies might have less opportunity to prepare obstructions and
+his friends less time to change their minds. He reached the neighborhood
+of Ctesiphon while Tiridates was still doubting what he should do,
+distracted between the counsels of some who recommended an immediate
+engagement with the rebels before they recovered from the fatigues of
+their long march or grew accustomed to act together, and of others who
+advised a retreat into Mesopotamia, reliance upon the Armenians and
+other tribes of the north, and a union with the Roman troops, which
+Vitellius, on the first news of what had happened, had thrown across
+the Euphrates. The more timid counsel had the support of Abdageses, whom
+Tiridates had made his vizier, and therefore naturally prevailed,
+the prince himself being moreover of an unwarlike temper. It had, in
+appearance, much to recommend it; and if its execution had been in the
+hands of Occidentals might have succeeded. But, in the East, the first
+movement in retreat is taken as a confession of weakness and almost as
+an act of despair: an order to "retire" is regarded as a direction to
+fly. No sooner was the Tigris crossed and the march through Mesopotamia
+began, than the host of Tiridates melted away like an iceberg in the
+Gulf Stream. The tribes of the Desert set the example of flight; and in
+a little time almost the whole army had dispersed, drawing off either to
+the camp of the enemy or to their homes. Tiridates reached the Euphrates
+with a mere handful of followers, and crossing into Syria found himself
+once more safe under the protection of the Romans.
+
+The flight of Tiridates gave Parthia back into the hands of its former
+ruler. Artabanus reoccupied the throne, apparently without having to
+fight a battle. He seems, however, not to have felt himself strong
+enough either to resume his designs upon Armenia, or to retaliate in
+any way upon the Romans for their support of Tiridates. Mithridates,
+the Iberian, was left in quiet possession of the Armenian kingdom, and
+Vitellius found himself unmolested on the Euphrates. Tiberius, however,
+was anxious that the war with Parthia should be formally terminated,
+and, having failed in his attempts to fill the Parthian throne with a
+Roman nominee, was ready to acknowledge Artabanus, and eager to enter
+into a treaty with him. He instructed Vitellius to this effect; and that
+officer (late in A.D. 36 or early in A.D. 37), having invited Artabanus
+to an interview on the Euphrates, persuaded him to terms which were
+regarded by the Romans as highly honorable to themselves, though
+Artabanus probably did not feel them to be degrading to Parthia. Peace
+and amity were re-established between the two nations. Rome, it may be
+assumed, undertook to withhold her countenance from all pretenders
+to the Parthian throne, and Parthia withdrew her claims upon Armenia.
+Artabanus was persuaded to send his son, Darius, with some other
+Parthians of rank, to Rome, and was thus regarded by the Romans as
+having given hostages for his good behavior. He was also induced to
+throw a few grains of frankincense on the sacrificial fire which burnt
+in front of the Roman standards and the Imperial images, an act which
+was accepted at Rome as one of submission and homage. The terms and
+circumstances of the peace did not become known in Italy till Tiberius
+had been succeeded by Caligula (March, A.D. 37). When known, they
+gave great satisfaction, and were regarded as glorious alike to the
+negotiator, Vitellius, and to the prince whom he represented. The false
+report was spread that the Parthian monarch had granted to the new
+Csesar what his contempt and hatred would have caused him to refuse
+to Tiberius; and the inclination of the Romans towards their young
+sovereign was intensified by the ascription to him of a diplomatic
+triumph which belonged of right to his predecessor.
+
+Contemporaneously with the troubles which have been above described,
+but reaching down, it would seem, a few years beyond them, were other
+disturbances of a peculiar character in one of the Western provinces
+of the Empire. The Jewish element in the population of Western Asia had
+been one of importance from a date anterior to the rise, not only of
+the Parthian, but even of the Persian Empire. Dispersed colonies of Jews
+were to be found in Babylonia, Armenia, Media, Susiana, Mesopotamia, and
+probably in other Parthian provinces. These colonies dated from the time
+of Nebuchadnezzar's captivity, and exhibited everywhere the remarkable
+tendency of the Jewish race to an increase disproportionate to that of
+the population among which they are settled. The Jewish element became
+perpetually larger and more important in Babylonia and Mesopotamia,
+in spite of the draughts which were made upon it by Seleucus and other
+Syrian princes. Under the Parthians, it would seem that the Mesopotamian
+Jews enjoyed generally the same sort of toleration, and the same
+permission to exercise a species of self-government, which Jews and
+Christians enjoy now in many parts of Turkey. They formed a recognized
+community, had some cities which were entirely their own, possessed
+a common treasury, and from time to time sent up to Jerusalem the
+offerings of the people under the protection of a convoy of 30,000 or
+40,000 men. The Parthian kings treated them well, and no doubt valued
+them as a counterpoise to the disaffected Greeks and Syrians of this
+part of their Empire. They had no grievance of which to complain, and it
+might have been thought very unlikely that any troubles would arise
+in connection with them; but circumstances seemingly trivial threw
+the whole community into commotion, and led on to disasters of a very
+lamentable character.
+
+Two young Jews, Asinai and Anilai, brothers, natives of Nearda, the city
+in which the treasury of the community was established, upon suffering
+some ill-treatment at the hands of the manufacturer who employed them,
+gave up their trade, and, withdrawing to a marshy district between two
+arms of the Euphrates, made up their minds to live by robbery. A band of
+needy youths soon gathered about them, and they became the terror of
+the entire neighborhood. They exacted a blackmail from the peaceable
+population of shepherds and others who lived near them, made occasional
+plundering raids to a distance, and required an acknowledgment
+(bakhshish) from travellers. Their doings having become notorious, the
+satrap of Babylonia marched against them with an army, intending to
+surprise them on the Sabbath, when it was supposed that they would not
+fight; but his approach was discovered, it was determined to disregard
+the obligation of Sabbatical rest, and the satrap was himself surprised
+and completely defeated. Artabanus, having heard of the disaster, made
+overtures to the brothers, and, after receiving a visit from them at his
+court, assigned to Asinai, the elder of the two, the entire government
+of the Babylonian satrapy. The experiment appeared at first to have
+completely succeeded. Asinai governed the province with prudence
+and zeal, and for fifteen years no complaint was made against his
+administration. But at the end of this time the lawless temper, held in
+restraint for so long, reasserted itself, not, indeed, in Asinai, but
+in his brother. Anilai fell in love with the wife of a Parthian magnate,
+commander (apparently) of the Parthian troops stationed in Babylonia,
+and, seeing no other way of obtaining his wishes, made war upon the
+chieftain and killed him. He then married the object of his affections,
+and might perhaps have been content; but the Jews under Asinai's
+government remonstrated against the idolatries which the Parthian woman
+had introduced into a Jewish household, and prevailed on Asinai to
+require that she should be divorced. His compliance with their wishes
+proved fatal to him, for the woman, fearing the consequences, contrived
+to poison Asinai; and the authority which he had wielded passed into the
+hands of Anilai, without (so far as we hear) any fresh appointment from
+the Parthian monarch. Anilai had, it appears, no instincts but those
+of a freebooter, and he was no sooner settled in the government than he
+proceeded to indulge them by attacking the territory of a neighboring
+satrap, Mithridates, who was not only a Parthian of high rank, but had
+married one of the daughters of Artabanus. Mithridates flew to arms to
+defend his province; but Anilai fell upon his encampment in the night,
+completely routed his troops, and took Mithridates himself prisoner.
+Having subjected him to a gross indignity, he was nevertheless afraid to
+put him to death, lest the Parthian king should avenge the slaughter
+of his relative on the Jews of Babylon, Mithridates was consequently
+released, and returned to his wife, who was so indignant at the insult
+whereto he had been subjected that she left him no peace till he
+collected a second army and resumed the war. Analai was no ways daunted.
+Quitting his stronghold in the marshes, he led his troops a distance
+of ten miles through a hot and dry plain to meet the enemy, thus
+unnecessarily exhausting them, and exposing them to the attack of their
+enemies under the most unfavorable circumstances. He was of course
+defeated with loss; but he himself escaped and revenged himself by
+carrying fire and sword over the lands of the Babylonians, who had
+hitherto lived peaceably under his protection. The Babylonians sent to
+Nearda and demanded his surrender; but the Jews of Nearda, even if they
+had had the will, had no power to comply. A pretence was then made of
+arranging matters by negotiation; but the Babylonians, having in this
+way obtained a knowledge of the position which Anilai and his troops
+occupied, fell upon them in the night, when they were all either drunk
+or asleep, and at one stroke exterminated the whole band.
+
+Thus far no great calamity had occurred. Two Jewish robber-chiefs had
+been elevated into the position of Parthian satraps; and the result had
+been, first, fifteen years of peace, and then a short civil war, ending
+in the destruction of the surviving chief and the annihilation of the
+band of marauders. But the lamentable consequences of the commotion were
+now to show themselves. The native Babylonians had always looked with
+dislike on the Jewish colony, and occasions of actual collision between
+the two bodies had not been wholly wanting. The circumstances of the
+existing time seemed to furnish a good excuse for an outbreak; and
+scarcely were Anilai and his followers destroyed, when the Jews of
+Babylon were set upon by their native fellow-citizens. Unable to make
+an effectual resistance, they resolved to retire from the place, and, at
+the immense loss which such a migration necessarily costs, they quitted
+Babylon and transferred themselves in great numbers to Seleucia. Here
+they lived quietly for five years (about A.D. 34-39), but in the sixth
+year (A.D. 40) fresh troubles broke out. The remnant of the Jews at
+Babylon were assailed, either by their old enemies or by a pestilence,
+and took refuge at Seleucia with their brethren. It happened that at
+Seleucia there was a feud of long standing between the Syrian population
+and the Greeks. The Jews naturally joined the Syrians, who were a
+kindred race, and the two together brought the Greeks under; whereupon
+these last contrived to come to terms with the Syrians, and persuaded
+them to join in an attack on the late allies. Against the combined
+Greeks and Syrians the Jews were powerless, and in the massacre which
+ensued they lost above 50,000 men. The remnant withdrew to Otesiphon;
+but even there the malice of their enemies pursued them, and
+the persecution was only brought to an end by their quitting the
+metropolitan cities altogether, and withdrawing to the provincial towns
+of which they were the sole occupants.
+
+The narrative of these events derives its interest, not so much from any
+sympathy that we can feel with any of the actors in it as from the
+light which it throws upon the character of the Parthian rule, and the
+condition of the countries under Parthian government. In the details
+given we seem once more to trace a near resemblance between the Parthian
+system and that of the Turks; we seem to see thrown back into the mirror
+of the past an image of those terrible conflicts and disorders which
+have passed before our own eyes in Syria and the Lebanon while under
+acknowledged Turkish sovereignty. The picture has the same features of
+antipathies of race unsoftened by time and contact, of perpetual feud
+bursting out into occasional conflict, of undying religious animosities,
+of strange combinations, of fearful massacres, and of a government
+looking tamely on, and allowing things for the most part to take their
+course. We see how utterly the Parthian system failed to blend together
+or amalgamate the conquered peoples; and not only so, but how impotent
+it was even to effect the first object of a government, the securing of
+peace and tranquillity within its borders. If indeed it were necessary
+to believe that the picture brought before us represented truthfully the
+normal condition of the people and countries with which it is concerned,
+we should be forced to conclude that Parthian government was merely
+another name for anarchy, and that it was only good fortune that
+preserved the empire from falling to pieces at this early date, within
+two centuries of its establishment But there is reason to believe
+that the reign of Artabanus III. represents, not the normal, but an
+exceptional state of things--a state of things which could only arise
+in Parthia when the powers of government were relaxed in consequence of
+rebellion and civil war. We must remember that Artabanus was actually
+twice driven from his kingdom, and that during the greater part of his
+reign he lived in perpetual fear of revolt and insurrection. It is
+not improbable that the culminating atrocities of the struggle above
+described synchronized with the second expulsion of the Parthian
+monarch, and are thus not so much a sign of the ordinary weakness of the
+Parthian rule as of the terrible strength of the forces which that rule
+for the most part kept under control.
+
+The causes which led to the second expulsion of Artabanus are not
+distinctly stated, but they were probably not very different from those
+that brought about the first. Artabanus was undoubtedly a harsh
+ruler; and those who fell under his displeasure, naturally fearing his
+severity, and seeing no way of meeting it but by a revolution, were
+driven to adopt extreme measures. Something like a general combination
+of the nobles against him seems to have taken place about the year A.D.
+40; and it appears that he, on becoming aware of it, determined to quit
+the capital and throw himself on the protection of one of the tributary
+monarchs. This was Izates, the sovereign of Adiabene, or the tract
+between the Zab rivers, who is said to have been a convert to Judaism.
+On the flight of Artabanus to Izates it would seem that the Megistanes
+formally deposed him, and elected in his place a certain Kinnam, or
+Kinnamus, an Arsacid who had been brought up by the king. Izates, when
+he interfered on behalf of the deposed monarch, was met by the objection
+that the newly-elected prince had rights which could not be set
+aside. The difficulty appeared insuperable; but it was overcome by the
+voluntary act of Kinnamus, who wrote to Artabanus and offered to retire
+in his favor. Hereupon Artabanus returned and remounted his throne,
+Kinnamus carrying his magnanimity so far as to strip the diadem from his
+own brow and replace it on the head of the old monarch. A condition of
+the restoration was a complete amnesty for all political offences, which
+was not only promised by Artabanus, but likewise guaranteed by Izates.
+
+It was very shortly after his second restoration to the throne that
+Artabanus died. One further calamity must, however, be noticed as having
+fallen within the limits of his reign. The great city of Seleucia, the
+second in the Empire, shortly after it had experienced the troubles
+above narrated, revolted absolutely from the Parthian power, and
+declared itself independent. No account has reached us of the
+circumstances which caused this revolt; but it was indicative of
+a feeling that Parthia was beginning to decline, and that the
+disintegration of the Empire was a thing that might be expected. The
+Seleucians had at no time been contented with their position as Parthian
+subjects. Whether they supposed that they could stand alone, or whether
+they looked to enjoying under Roman protection a greater degree of
+independence than had been allowed them by the Parthians, is uncertain.
+They revolted however, in A. D. 40, and declared themselves a
+self-governing community. It does not appear that the Romans lent them
+any assistance, or broke for their sake the peace established with
+Parthia in A.D. 37. The Seleucians had to depend upon themselves alone,
+and to maintain their rebellion by means of their own resources. No
+doubt Artabanus proceeded at once to attack them, but his arms made no
+impression. They were successful in defending their independence during
+his reign, and for some time afterwards, although compelled in the
+end to succumb and resume a subject position under their own masters.
+Artabanus seems to have died in August or September A.D. 42, the year
+after the death of Caligula. His checkered reign had covered a space
+which cannot have fallen much short of thirty years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+_Doubts as to the successor of Artabanus III. First short reign of
+Gotarzes. He is expelled and Vardanes made king. Reign of Vardanes. His
+ivar with Izates. His Death. Second reign of Gotarzes. His Contest with
+his Nephew, Meherdates. His Death. Short and inglorious reign of Vonones
+II._
+
+
+There is considerable doubt as to the immediate successor of Artabanus.
+According to Josephus he left his kingdom to his son, Bardanes or
+Vardanes, and this prince entered without difficulty and at once upon
+the enjoyment of his sovereignty. According to Tacitus, the person who
+obtained the throne directly upon the death of Artabanus was his son,
+Gotarzes, who was generally accepted for king, and might have reigned
+without having his title disputed, had he not given indications of a
+harsh and cruel temper. Among other atrocities whereof he was guilty
+was the murder of his brother, Artabanus, whom he put to death, together
+with his wife and son, apparently upon mere suspicion. This bloody
+initiation of his reign spread alarm among the nobles, who thereupon
+determined to exert their constitutional privilege of deposing an
+obnoxious monarch and supplying his place with a new one. Their choice
+fell upon Vardanes, brother of Gotarzes, who was residing in a distant
+province, 350 miles from the Court. [PLATE II. Fig. 8.] Having entered
+into communications with this prince, they easily induced him to quit
+his retirement, and to take up arms against the tyrant. Vardanes was
+ambitious, bold and prompt: he had no sooner received the invitation of
+the Megistanes than he set out, and, having accomplished his journey to
+the Court in the space of two days, found Gotarzes wholly unprepared to
+offer resistance. Thus Vardanes became king without fighting a battle.
+Gotarzes fled, and escaped into the country of the Dahse, which lay east
+of the Caspian Sea, and north of the Parthian province of Hyrcania. Here
+he was allowed to reign for some time unmolested by his brother, and to
+form plans and make preparations for the recovery of his lost power.
+
+The statements of Tacitus are so circumstantial, and his authority as
+an historian is so great, that we can scarcely hesitate to accept the
+history as he delivers it, rather than as it is related by the Jewish
+writer. It is, however, remarkable that the series of Parthian coins
+presents an appearance of accordance rather with the latter than
+the former, since it affords no trace of the supposed first reign of
+Gotarzes in A.D. 42, while it shows Vardanes to have held the throne
+from Sept. A.D. 43 to at least A.D. 46. Still this does not absolutely
+contradict Tacitus. It only proves that the first reign of Gotarzes was
+comprised within a few weeks, and that before two months had passed
+from the death of Artabanus, the kingdom was established in the hands of
+Vardanes. That prince, after the flight of his brother, applied himself
+for some time to the reduction of the Seleucians, whose continued
+independence in the midst of a Parthian province he regarded as a
+disgrace to the Empire. His efforts to take the town failed, however,
+of success. Being abundantly provisioned and strongly fortified, it was
+well able to stand a siege; and the high spirit of its inhabitants made
+them determined to resist to the uttermost. While they still held
+out, Vardanes was called away to the East, where his brother had been
+gathering strength, and was once more advancing his pretensions. The
+Hyrcanians, as well as the Dahse, had embraced his cause, and Parthia
+was threatened with dismemberment. Vardanes, having collected his
+troops, occupied a position in the plain region of Bactria, and there
+prepared to give battle to his brother, who was likewise at the head of
+a considerable army. Before, however, an engagement took place, Gotarzes
+discovered that there was a design among the nobles on either side to
+rid themselves of both the brothers, and to set up a wholly new king.
+Apprehensive of the consequences, he communicated his discovery to
+Vardanes; and the result was that the two brothers made up their
+differences and agreed upon terms of peace. Gotarzes yielded his claim
+to the crown, and was assigned a residence in Hyrcania, which was,
+probably, made over to his government. Vardanes then returned to the
+west, and, resuming the siege of Seleucia, compelled the rebel city to a
+surrender in the seventh year after it had revolted (A.D. 46.)
+
+Successful thus far, and regarding his quarrel with his brother
+as finally arranged, Vardanes proceeded to contemplate a military
+expedition of the highest importance. The time, he thought, was
+favorable for reviving the Parthian claim to Armenia, and disputing
+once more with Rome the possession of a paramount influence over
+that country. The Roman government of the dependency, since
+Artabanus formally relinquished it to them, had been far from proving
+satisfactory. Mithridates, their protege, had displeased them, and had
+been summoned to Rome by Caligula, who kept him there a prisoner until
+his death. Armenia, left without a king, had asserted her independence;
+and when, after an absence of several years, Mithridates was authorized
+by Claudius to return to his kingdom, the natives resisted him in arms,
+and were only brought under his rule by the combined help of the Romans
+and the Iberians. Forced upon a reluctant people by foreign arms,
+Mithridates felt himself insecure, and this feeling made him rule his
+subjects with imprudent severity. Under these circumstances it seemed
+to Vardanes that it would not be very difficult to recover Armenia, and
+thus gain a signal triumph over the Romans.
+
+But to engage in so great a matter with a good prospect of success it
+was necessary that the war should be approved, not only by himself,
+but by his principal feudatories. The most important of these was now
+Izates, king of Adiabene and Gordyene who in the last reign had restored
+Artabanus to his lost throne. Vardanes, before committing himself by any
+overt act, appears to have taken this prince into his counsels, and to
+have requested his opinion on affronting the Romans by an interference
+with Armenian affairs. Izates strenuously opposed the project. He had a
+personal interest in the matter, since he had sent five of his boys to
+Rome, to receive there a polite education, and he had also a profound
+respect for the Roman power and military system. He endeavored, both by
+persuasion and reasoning, to induce Vardanes to abandon his design. His
+arguments may have been cogent, but they were not thought by Vardanes
+to have much force, and the result of the conference was that the Great
+King declared war against his feudatory.
+
+The war had, apparently, but just begun, when fresh troubles broke out
+in the north-east. Gotarzes had never ceased to regret his renunciation
+of his claims, and was now, on the invitation of the Parthian nobility,
+prepared to came forward again and contest the kingdom with his brother.
+Vardanes had to relinquish his attempt to coerce Izates, and to hasten
+to Hyrcania in order to engage the troops which Gotarzes had collected
+in that distant region. These he met and defeated more than once in the
+country between the Caspian and Herat; but the success of his military
+operations failed to strengthen his hold upon the affections of his
+subjects. Like the generality of the Parthian princes, he showed himself
+harsh and cruel in the hour of victory, and in conquering an opposition
+roused an opposition that was fiercer and more formidable. A conspiracy
+was formed against him shortly after his return from Hyrcania, and he
+was assassinated while indulging in the national amusement of the chase.
+
+The murder of Vardanes was immediately followed by the restoration of
+Gotarzes to the throne. There may have been some who doubted his fitness
+for the regal office, and inclined to keep the throne vacant till they
+could send to Rome and obtain from thence one of the younger and more
+civilized Parthian princes. But we may be sure that the general desire
+was not for a Romanized sovereign, but for a truly national king, one
+born and bred in the country. Gotarzes was proclaimed by common consent,
+and without any interval, after the death of Vardanes, and ascended the
+Parthian throne before the end of the year A.D. 46. It is not likely
+that his rule would have been resisted had he conducted himself well;
+but the cruelty of his temper, which had already once cost him his
+crown, again displayed itself after his restoration, and to this defect
+was added a slothful indulgence yet more distasteful to his subjects.
+Some military expeditions which he undertook, moreover, failed of
+success, and the crime of defeat caused the cup of his offences to brim
+over. The discontented portion of his people, who were a strong party,
+sent envoys to the Roman Emperor, Claudius (A.D. 49), and begged that he
+would surrender to them Meherdates, the grandson of Phraates IV. and son
+of Vonones, who still remained at Rome in a position between that of a
+guest and a hostage. "They were not ignorant," they said, "of the treaty
+which bound the Romans to Parthia, nor did they ask Claudius to infringe
+it." Their desire was not to throw off the authority of the Arsacidse,
+but only to exchange one Arsacid for another. The rule of Gotarzes had
+became intolerable, alike to the nobility and the common people. He had
+murdered all his male relatives, or at least all that were within his
+reach--first his brothers, then his near kinsmen, finally even those
+whose relationship was remote; nor had he stopped there; he had
+proceeded to put to death their young children and their pregnant wives.
+He was sluggish in his habits, unfortunate in his wars, and had betaken
+himself to cruelty, that men might not despise him for his want of
+manliness. The friendship between Rome and Parthia was a public matter;
+it bound the Romans to help the nation allied to them--a nation which,
+though equal to them in strength, was content on account of its respect
+for Rome to yield her precedence. Parthian princes were allowed to be
+hostages in foreign lands for the very reason that then it was always
+possible, if their own monarch displeased them, for the people to obtain
+a king from abroad, brought up under milder influences.
+
+This harangue was made before the Emperor Claudius and the assembled
+Senate, Meherdates himself being also present. Claudius responded to it
+favorably. He would follow the example of the Divine Augustus, and allow
+the Parthians to take from Rome the monarch whom they requested.
+That prince, bred up in the city, had always been remarkable for his
+moderation. He would (it was to be hoped) regard himself in his new
+position, not as a master of slaves, but as a ruler of citizens. He
+would find that clemency and justice were the more appreciated by a
+barbarous nation, the less they had had experience of them Meherdates
+might accompany the Parthian envoys; and a Roman of rank, Caius Cassius,
+the prefect of Syria, should be instructed to receive them on their
+arrival in Asia, and to see them safely across the Euphrates.
+
+The young prince accordingly set out, and reached the city of Zeugma in
+safety. Here he was joined, not only by a number of the Parthian nobles,
+but also by the reigning king of Osrhoene, who bore the usual name of
+Abgarus. The Parthians were anxious that he should advance at his best
+speed and by the shortest route on Ctesiphon, and the Roman governor,
+Cassius, strongly advised the same course; but Meherdates fell under
+the influence of the Osrhoene monarch, who is thought by Tacitus to have
+been a false friend, and to have determined from the first to do his
+best for Gotarzes. Abgarus induced Meherdates to proceed from Zeugma
+to his own capital, Edessa, and there detained him for several days
+by means of a series of festivities. He then persuaded him, though the
+winter was approaching, to enter Armenia, and to proceed against his
+antagonist by the circuitous route of the Upper Tigris, instead of the
+more direct one through Mesopotamia. In this way much valuable time
+was lost. The rough mountain-routes and snows of Armenia harassed and
+fatigued the pretender's troops, while Gotarzes was given an interval
+during which to collect a tolerably large body of soldiers. Still, the
+delay was not very great. Meherdatos marched probably by Diarbekr, Til,
+and Jezireh, or in other words, followed the course of the Tigris, which
+he crossed in the neighborhood of Mosul, after taking the small town
+which represented the ancient Nineveh. His line of march had now brought
+him into Adiabene; and it seemed a good omen for the success of his
+cause that Izates, the powerful monarch of that tract, declared in his
+favor, and brought a body of troops to his assistance. Gotarzes was in
+the neighborhood, but was distrustful of his strength, and desirous of
+collecting a larger force before committing himself to the hazard of an
+engagement. He had taken up a strong position with the river Corma
+in his front, and, remaining on the defensive, contented himself with
+trying by his emissaries the fidelity of his rival's troops and allies.
+The plan succeeded. After a little time, the army of Meherdates began
+to melt away. Izates of Adiabene and Abgarus of Edessa drew off their
+contingents, and left the pretender to depend wholly on his Parthian
+supporters. Even their fidelity was doubtful, and might have given way
+on further trial; Meherdates therefore resolved, before being wholly
+deserted, to try the chance of a battle.
+
+His adversary was now as willing to engage as himself, since he felt
+that he was no longer outnumbered. The rivals met, and a fierce and
+bloody action was fought between the two armies, no important advantage
+being for a long time gained by either. At length Oarrhenes, the chief
+general on the side of Meherdates, having routed the troops opposed
+to him and pursued them too hotly, was intercepted by the enemy on his
+return and either killed or made prisoner. This event proved decisive.
+The loss of their leader caused the army of Meherdates to fly; and he
+himself, being induced to intrust his safety to a certain Parrhaces, a
+dependent of his father's, was betrayed by this miscreant, loaded with
+chains, and given up to his rival. Gotarzes now proved less unmerciful
+than might have been expected from his general character. Instead of
+punishing Meherdates with death, he thought it sufficient to insult him
+with the names of "foreigner" and "Roman," and to render it impossible
+that he should be again put forward as monarch by subjecting him to
+mutilation. The Roman historian supposes that this was done to cast
+a slur upon Rome but it was a natural measure of precaution under the
+circumstances, and had probably no more recondite motive than compassion
+for the youth and inexperience of the pretender.
+
+Gotarzes, having triumphed over his rival, appears to have resolved on
+commemorating his victory in a novel manner. Instead of striking a new
+coin, like Vonones, he determined to place his achievement on record by
+making it the subject of a rock-tablet, which he caused to be engraved
+on the sacred mountain of Baghistan, adorned already with sculptures and
+inscriptions by the greatest of the Achaemenian monarchs. The bas-relief
+and its inscription have been much damaged, both by the waste of ages
+and the rude hand of man; but enough remains to show that the conqueror
+was represented as pursuing his enemies in the field, on horseback,
+while a winged Victory, flying in the air, was on the point of placing a
+diadem on his head. In the Greek legend which accompanied the sculpture
+he was termed "Satrap of Satraps"--an equivalent of the ordinary title
+"King of Kings"; and his conquered rival was mentioned under the name
+of Mithrates, a corrupt form of the more common or Mithridates or
+Meherdates.
+
+Very shortly after his victory Gotarzes died. His last year seems to
+have been A.D. 51. According to Tacitus, he died a natural death, from
+the effects of disease; but, according to Josephus, he was the victim of
+a conspiracy. The authority of Tacitus, here as elsewhere generally,
+is to be preferred; and we may regard Gotarzes as ending peacefully his
+unquiet reign, which had begun in A.D. 42, immediately after the death
+of his father, had been interrupted for four years--from A.D. 42 to
+A.D. 46--and had then been renewed and lasted from A.D. 46 to A.D. 51.
+Gotarzes was not a prince of any remarkable talents, or of a character
+differing in any important respects from the ordinary Parthian type. He
+was perhaps even more cruel than the bulk of the Arsacidae, though his
+treatment of Meherdates showed that he could be lenient upon occasion.
+He was more prudent than daring, more politic than brave, more bent on
+maintaining his own position than on advancing the power or dignity
+of his country. Parthia owed little or nothing to him. The internal
+organization of the country must have suffered from his long wars with
+his brother and his nephew; its external reputation was not increased by
+one whose foreign expeditions were uniformly unfortunate.
+
+The successor of Gotarzes was a certain Vonones. His relationship to
+previous monarchs is doubtful--and may be suspected to have been remote.
+Gotarzes had murdered or mutilated all the Arsacidse on whom he could
+lay his hands; and the Parthians had to send to Media upon his disease
+in order to obtain a sovereign of the required blood. The coins of
+Vonones II. are scarce, and have a peculiar rudeness. The only date
+found upon them is one equivalent to A.D. 51; and it would seem that
+his entire reign was comprised within the space of a few months. Tacitus
+tells us that his rule was brief and inglorious, marked by no important
+events, either prosperous or adverse. He was succeeded by his son,
+Volagases I., who appears to have ascended the throne before the year
+A.D. 51 had expired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+_Reign of Volagases I. His first attempt on Armenia fails. His quarrel
+with Izates. Invasion of Parthia Proper by the Dahce and Sacce. Second
+attack of Volagases on Armenia. Tiridates established as King. First
+expedition of Corbulo. Half submission of Volagases. Revolt of Vardanes.
+Second expedition of Corbulo. Armenia given to Tigranes. Revolt of
+Hyrcania. Third attack of Volagases on Armenia. Defeat of Paitus,
+and re-establishment of Tiridates. Last expedition of Corbulo, and
+arrangement of Terms of Peace. Tiridates at Rome. Probable time of the
+Death of Volagases._
+
+
+Vonones the Second left behind him three sons, Volagases, Tiridates, and
+Paeorus. It is doubtful which of them was the eldest, but, on the whole,
+most probable that that position belonged to Paeorus. We are told that
+Volagases obtained the crown by his brothers yielding up their claim to
+him, from which we must draw the conclusion that both of them were his
+elders. These circumstances of his accession will account for much of
+his subsequent conduct. It happened that he was able at once to bestow
+a principality upon Paeorus, to whom he felt specially indebted; but in
+order adequately to reward his other benefactor, he found it necessary
+to conquer a province and then make its government over to him. Hence
+his frequent attacks upon Armenia, and his numerous wars with Rome for
+its possession, which led ultimately to an arrangement by which the
+quiet enjoyment of the Armenian throne was secured to Tiridates.
+
+The circumstances under which Volagases made his first attack upon
+Armenia were the following. Pharasmanes of Iberia, whose brother,
+Mithridates, the Romans had (in A.D. 47) replaced upon the Armenian
+throne, had a son named Rhadamistus, whose lust of power was so great
+that to prevent his making an attempt on his own crown Pharasmanes found
+it necessary to divert his thoughts to another quarter.
+
+Armenia, he suggested, lay near, and was a prize worth winning;
+Rhadamistus had only to ingratiate himself with the people, and then
+craftily remove his uncle, and he would probably step with ease into
+the vacant place. The son took the advice of his father, and in a little
+time succeeded in getting Mithridates into his power, when he ruthlessly
+put him to death, together with his wife and children. Rhadamistus then,
+supported by his father, obtained the object of his ambition, and became
+king. It was known, however, that a considerable number of the Armenians
+were adverse to a rule which had been brought about by treachery and
+murder; and it was suspected that, if an attack were made upon him,
+he would not be supported with much zeal by his subjects. This was the
+condition of things when Volagases ascended the Parthian throne, and
+found himself in want of a principality with which he might reward the
+services of Tiridates, his brother. It at once occurred to him that, a
+happy chance presented him with an excellent opportunity of acquiring
+Armenia, and he accordingly proceeded, in the very year of his
+accession, to make an expedition against it. At first he carried all
+before him. The Iberian supporters of Rhadamistus fled without risking a
+battle; his Armenian subjects resisted weakly; Artaxata and Tigranocerta
+opened their gates; and the country generally submitted. Tiridates
+enjoyed his kingdom for a few months; but a terrible pestilence, brought
+about by a severe winter and a want of proper provisions, decimated the
+Parthian force left in garrison; and Volagases found himself obliged,
+after a short occupation, to relinquish his conquest. Rhadamistus
+returned, and, although the Armenians opposed him in arms, contrived to
+re-establish himself. The Parthians did not renew their efforts, and
+for three years--from A.D. 51 to A.D. 54--Rhadamistus was left in quiet
+possession of the Armenian kingdom.'
+
+It appears to have been in this interval that the arms of Volagases
+were directed against one of his great feudatories, Izatos. As in
+Europe during the prevalence of the feudal system, so under the Parthian
+government, it was always possible that the sovereign might be forced to
+contend with one of the princes who owed him fealty. Volagases seems to
+have thought that the position of the Adiabenian monarch was becoming
+too independent, and that it was necessary to recall him, by a
+sharp mandate, to his proper position of subordinate and tributary.
+Accordingly, he sent him a demand that he should surrender the special
+privileges which had been conferred upon him by Artabanus III., and
+resume the ordinary status of a Parthian feudatory. Izates, who feared
+that if he yielded he would find that this demand was only a prelude to
+others more intolerable, replied by a positive refusal, and immediately
+prepared to resist an invasion. He sent his wives and children to the
+strongest fortress within his dominions, collected all the grain that
+his subjects possessed into fortified places, and laid waste the whole
+of the open country, so that it should afford no sustenance to an
+invading army. He then took up a position on the lower Zab, or Caprius,
+and stood prepared to resist an attack upon his territory. Volagases
+advanced to the opposite bank of the river, and was preparing to invade
+Adiabene, when news reached him of an important attack upon his
+eastern provinces. A horde of barbarians, consisting of Dahse and other
+Scythians, had poured into Parthia Proper, knowing that he was engaged
+elsewhere, and threatened to carry fire and sword through the entire
+province. The Parthian monarch considered that it was his first duty to
+meet these aggressors; and leaving Izates unchastised, he marched away
+to the north-east to repel the external enemy.
+
+Volagases, after defeating this foe, would no doubt have returned to
+Adiabene, and resumed the war with Izates, but in his absence that
+prince died. Monobazus, his brother, who inherited his crown, could
+have no claim to the privileges which had been conferred for personal
+services upon Izates; and consequently there was no necessity for the
+war to be renewed. The bones of Izates were conveyed to the holy soil
+of Palestine and buried in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Monobazus was
+accepted by Volagases as his brother's successor without any apparent
+reluctance, and proved a faithful tributary, on whom his suzerain could
+place complete dependence.
+
+The quarrel with Izates, and the war with the Dahee and Sacse, may have
+occupied the years A.D. 52 and 53. At any rate it was not till A.D. 54,
+his fourth year, that Volagases resumed his designs against Armenia.
+Rhadamistus, though he had more than once had to fly the country, was
+found in possession as king, and for some time he opposed the progress
+of the Parthian arms; but, before the year was out, despairing of
+success, he again fled, and left Volagases to arrange the affairs of
+Armenia at his pleasure. Tiridates was at once established as king, and
+Armenia brought into the position of a regular Parthian dependency.
+The claims of Rome were ignored. Volagases was probably aware that the
+Imperial throne was occupied by a mere youth, not eighteen years old,
+one destitute of all warlike tastes, a lover of music and of the arts,
+who might be expected to submit to the loss of a remote province without
+much difficulty. He therefore acted as if Rome had no rights in this
+part of Asia, established his brother at Artaxata, and did not so
+much as send an embassy to Nero to excuse or explain his acts. These
+proceedings caused much uneasiness in Italy. If Nero himself cannot
+be regarded as likely to have felt very keenly the blow struck at the
+prestige of the Empire, yet there were those among his advisers who
+could well understand and appreciate the situation. The ministers of the
+young prince resolved that efforts on the largest scale should be made.
+Orders were at once issued for recruiting the Oriental legions, and
+moving them nearer to Armenia; preparations were set on foot for
+bridging the Euphrates; Antiochus of Commagene, and Herod Agrippa II.,
+were required to collect troops and hold themselves in readiness to
+invade Parthia; the Roman provinces bordering upon Armenia were placed
+under new governors; above all, Corbulo, regarded as the best general
+of the time, was summoned from Germany, and assigned the provinces of
+Cappadocia and Galatia, together with the general superintendence of the
+war for retaining possession of Armenia. At the same time instructions
+were sent out to Ummidius, proconsul of Syria, requiring him to
+co-operate with Corbulo; and arrangements were made to obviate
+the clashing of authority which was to be feared between two equal
+commanders. In the spring of A.D. 55 the Roman armies were ready to take
+the field, and a struggle seemed impending which would recall the times
+of Antony and Phraates.
+
+But, at the moment when expectation was at its height, and the clang
+of arms appeared about to resound throughout Western Asia, suddenly a
+disposition for peace manifested itself. Both Corbulo and Ummidius
+sent embassies to Volagases, exhorting him to make concessions, and
+apparently giving him to understand that something less was required of
+him than the restoration of Armenia to the Romans. Volagases listened
+favorably to the overtures, and agreed to put into the hands of the
+Roman commanders the most distinguished members of the royal family as
+hostages. At the same time he withdrew his troops from Armenia; which
+the Romans, however, did not occupy, and which continued, as it would
+seem, to be governed by Tiridates. The motive of the Parthian king in
+acting as he did is obvious. A revolt against his authority had broken
+out in Parthia, headed by his son, Vardanes; and, until this internal
+trouble should be suppressed, he could not engage with advantage in a
+foreign war. [PLATE III. Fig. 1.] The reasons which actuated the Roman
+generals are far more obscure. It is difficult to understand their
+omission to press upon Volagases in his difficulties, or their readiness
+to accept the persons of a few hostages, however high their rank, as an
+equivalent for the Roman claim to a province. Perhaps the jealousy which
+subsequently showed itself in regard to the custody of the hostages may
+have previously existed between the two commanders, and they may have
+each consented to a peace disadvantageous to Rome through fear of the
+other's obtaining the chief laurels if war were entered on.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 3.]
+
+
+The struggle for power between Volagases and his son Vardanes seems to
+have lasted for three years--from A.D. 55 to A.D. 58. Its details are
+unknown to us; but Volagases must have been successful; and we may
+assume that the pretender, of whom we hear no more, was put to death.
+No sooner was the contest terminated than Volagases, feeling that he was
+now free to act, took a high tone in his communications with Corbulo
+and Ummidius, and declared that not only must his brother, Tiridates, be
+left in the undisturbed possession of Armenia but it must be distinctly
+understood that he held it as a Parthian, and not as a Roman, feudatory.
+At the same time Tiridates began to exercise his authority over the
+Armenians with severity, and especially to persecute those whom he
+suspected of inclining towards the Romans. Oorbulo appears to have felt
+that it was necessary to atone for his three years of inaction by at
+length prosecuting the war in earnest. He tightened the discipline of
+the legions, while he recruited them to their full strength, made fresh
+friends among the hardy races of the neighborhood, renewed the Roman
+alliance with Pharasmanes of Iberia, urged Antiochus of Commagene to
+cross the Armenian frontier, and taking the field himself, carried fire
+and sword over a large portion of the Armenian territory. Volagases
+sent a contingent of troops to the assistance of his feudatory, but was
+unable to proceed to his relief in person, owing to the occurrence of a
+revolt in Hyrcania, which broke out, fortunately for the Romans, in the
+very year that the rebellion of Vardanes was suppressed. Under these
+circumstances it is not surprising that Tiridates had recourse to
+treachery, or that on his treachery failing he continually lost
+ground, and was at last compelled to evacuate the country and yield the
+possession of it to the Romans. It is more remarkable that he prolonged
+his resistance into the third year than that he was unable to continue
+the straggle to a later date. He lost his capital, Artaxata, in A.D. 58,
+and Tigranocerta, the second city of Armenia, in A.D. 60. After this
+he made one further effort from the side of Media, but the attempt was
+unavailing; and on suffering a fresh defeat he withdrew altogether from
+the struggle, whereupon Armenia reverted to the Romans. They entrusted
+the government to a certain Tigranes, a grandson of Archelaus, king of
+Cappadocia, but at the same time greatly diminished the extent of the
+kingdom by granting portions of it to neighboring princes. Pharasmanes
+of Iberia, Polemo of Pontus, Aristobulus of the Lesser Armenia, and
+Antiochus of Commagene, received an augmentation of their territories
+at the expense of the rebel state, which had shown itself incapable of
+appreciating the blessings of Roman rule and had manifested a decided
+preference for the Parthians.
+
+But the fate of Armenia, and the position which she was to hold in
+respect of the two great rivals, Rome and Parthia, were not yet decided.
+Hitherto Volagases, engaged in a contest with the Hyrcanians and with
+other neighboring nations, whereto the flames of war had spread, had
+found himself unable to take any personal part in the struggle in which
+his brother and vassal had been engaged in the west. Now matters in
+Hyrcania admitted of arrangement, and he was at liberty to give his
+main attention to Armenian affairs. His presence in the West had become
+absolutely necessary. Not only was Armenia lost to him, but it had been
+made a centre from which his other provinces in this quarter might
+be attacked and harassed. Tigranes, proud of his newly-won crown, and
+anxious to show himself worthy of it, made constant incursions into
+Adiabene, ravaging and harrying the fertile country far and wide.
+Monobazus, unable to resist him in the field, was beginning to
+contemplate the transfer of his allegiance to Rome, as the only means
+of escaping from the evils of a perpetual border war. Tiridates,
+discontented with the position whereto he found himself reduced, and
+angry that his brother had not given him more effective support, was
+loud in his complaints, and openly taxed Volagases with an inertness
+that bordered on cowardice. Public opinion was inclined to accept and
+approve the charge; and in Parthia public opinion could not be safely
+contemned. Volagases found it necessary to win back his subjects'
+good-will by calling a council of the nobility, and making them a formal
+address: "Parthians," he said, "when I obtained the first place among
+you by my brothers ceding their claims, I endeavored to substitute for
+the old system of fraternal hatred and contention a new one of domestic
+affection and agreement; my brother Pacorus received Media from my hands
+at once; Tiridates, whom you see now before you, I inducted shortly
+afterwards into the sovereignty of Armenia, a dignity reckoned the third
+in the Parthian kingdom. Thus I put my family matters on a peaceful and
+satisfactory footing. But these arrangements are now disturbed by the
+Romans, who have never hitherto broken their treaties with us to their
+profit, and who will now find that they have done so to their ruin. I
+will not deny that hitherto I have preferred to maintain my right to the
+territories, which have come to me from my ancestors, by fair dealing
+rather than by shedding of blood--by negotiation rather than by arms;
+if, however, I have erred in this and have been weak to delay so long, I
+will now correct my fault by showing the more zeal. You at any rate
+have lost nothing by my abstinence; your strength is intact, your glory
+undiminished; you have added, moreover, to your reputation for valor the
+credit of moderation--a virtue which not even the highest among men can
+afford to despise, and which the Gods view with special favor." Having
+concluded his speech, he placed a diadem on the brow of Tiridates,
+proclaiming by this significant act his determination to restore him to
+the Armenian throne. At the same time he ordered Monseses, a Parthian
+general, and Monobazus, the Adiabenian monarch, to take the field and
+enter Armenia, while he himself with the main strength of the empire
+advanced towards the Euphrates and threatened Syria with invasion.
+
+The results of the campaign which followed (A.D. 62) scarcely answered
+to this magnificent opening. Monseses indeed, in conjunction with
+Monobazus, invaded Armenia, and, advancing to Tigranocerta, besieged
+Tigranes in that city, which, upon the destruction of Artaxata by
+Corbulo, had become the seat of government. Volagases himself proceeded
+as far as Nisibis, whence he could threaten at the same time Armenia
+and Syria. The Parthian arms proved, however, powerless to effect
+any serious impression upon Tigranocerta; and Volagases, being met at
+Nisibis by envoys from Corbulo, who threatened an invasion of Parthia
+in retaliation of the Parthian attack upon Armenia, consented to
+an arrangement. A plague of locusts had spread itself over Upper
+Mesopotamia, and the consequent scarcity of forage completely paralyzed
+a force which consisted almost entirely of cavalry. Volagases was
+glad under the circumstances to delay the conflict which had seemed
+impending, and readily agreed that his troops should suspend the siege
+of Tigranocerta and withdraw from Armenia on condition that the Roman
+should at the same time evacuate the province. He would send, he said,
+ambassadors to Rome who should arrange with Nero the footing upon which
+Armenia was to be placed. Meanwhile, until the embassy returned, there
+should be peace--the Armenians should be left to themselves--neither
+Rome nor Parthia should maintain a soldier within the limits of the
+province, and any collision between the armies of the two countries
+should be avoided.
+
+A pause, apparently of some months' duration, followed. Towards the
+close of autumn, however, a new general came upon the scene; and a new
+factor was introduced into the political and military combinations of
+the period. L. Caesennius Paetus, a favorite of the Roman Emperor, but a
+man of no capacity, was appointed by Nero to take the main direction of
+affairs in Armenia, while Corbulo confined himself to the care of Syria,
+his special province. Corbulo had requested a coadjutor, probably not
+so much from an opinion that the war would be better conducted by two
+commanders than by one, as from fear of provoking the jealousy of Nero,
+if he continued any longer to administer the whole of the East. On
+the arrival of Paetus, who brought one legion with him, an equitable
+division of the Roman forces was made between the generals. Each had
+three legions; and while Corbulo retained the Syrian auxiliaries, those
+of Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia were attached to the army of Paetus.
+But no friendly feeling united the leaders. Corbulo was jealous of the
+rival whom he knew to have been sent out as a check upon him rather than
+as a help; and Paetus was inclined to despise the slow and temporizing
+policy of the elder chief. The war, according to his views, required to
+be carried on with more dash and vigor than had hitherto appeared in
+its conduct--cities should be stormed, he said--the whole country
+plundered--severe examples made of the guilty. The object of the war
+also should be changed--instead of setting up shadowy kings, his own aim
+would be to reduce Armenia into the form of a province.
+
+The truce established in the early summer, when Volagases sent his
+envoys to Nero, expired in the autumn, on their return without a
+definite reply; and the Roman commanders at once took the offensive and
+entered upon an autumn campaign, the second within the space of a year.
+Corbulo crossed the Euphrates in the face of a large Parthian army,
+which he forced to retire from the eastern bank of the river by means
+of military engines worked from ships anchored in mid-stream. He
+then advanced and occupied a strong position in the hills at a little
+distance from the river, where he caused his legions to construct an
+entrenched camp. Paetus, on his part, entered Armenia from Cappadocia
+with two legions, and, passing the Taurus range, ravaged a large
+extent of country; winter, however, approaching, and the enemy nowhere
+appearing in force, he led back his troops across the mountains, and,
+regarding the campaign as finished, wrote a despatch to Nero boasting
+of his successes, sent one of his three legions to winter in Pontus, and
+placed the other two in quarters between the Taurus and the Euphrates,
+at the same time granting furloughs to as many of the soldiers as chose
+to apply for them. A large number took advantage of his liberality,
+preferring no doubt the pleasures and amusements of the Syrian and
+Cappadocian cities to the hardships of a winter in the Armenian
+highlands. While matters were in this position Paetus suddenly heard
+that Volagases was advancing against him. As once before at an important
+crisis, so now with the prospect of Armenia as the prize of victory, the
+Parthians defied the severities of winter and commenced a campaign when
+their enemy regarded the season for war as over. In this crisis Paetus
+exhibited an entire unfitness for command. First, he resolved to remain
+on the defensive in his camp; then, affecting to despise the protection
+of ramparts and ditches, he gave the order to advance and meet the
+enemy; finally, after losing a few scouts whom he had sent forward, he
+hastily retreated and resumed his old position, but at the same time
+unwisely detached three thousand of his best foot to block the pass of
+Taurus, through which Volagases was advancing. After some hesitation
+he was induced to make Corbulo acquainted with his position; but
+the message which he sent merely stated that he was expecting to be
+attacked. Corbulo was in no hurry to proceed to his relief, preferring
+to appear upon the scene at the last moment, when he would be hailed as
+a savior.
+
+Volagases, meanwhile, continued his march. The small force left by
+Paetus to block his progress was easily overpowered, and for the most
+part destroyed. The castle of Arsamosata, where Paetus had placed his
+wife and child, and the fortified camp of the legions, were besieged.
+The Romans were challenged to a battle, but dared not show themselves
+outside their entrenchments. Having no confidence in their leader, the
+legionaries despaired and began openly to talk of a surrender. As the
+danger drew nearer, fresh messengers had been despatched to Corbulo, and
+he had been implored to come at his best speed in order to save the poor
+remnant of a defeated army. That commander was on his march, by way
+of Commagene and Cappadocia; it could not be very long before he would
+arrive; and the supplies in the camp of Paetus were sufficient to have
+enabled him to hold out for weeks and months. But an unworthy terror had
+seized both Paetus and his soldiers. Instead of holding out to the last,
+the alarmed chief proposed negotiations, and the result was that he
+consented to capitulate. His troops were to be allowed to quit their
+entrenchments and withdraw from the country, but were to surrender their
+strongholds and their stores. Armenia was to be completely evacuated
+by the Romans; and a truce was to be observed and Armenia not again
+invaded, until a fresh embassy, which Volagases proposed to send to
+Rome, returned. Moreover, a bridge was to be made by the Romans over the
+Arsanias, a tributary of the Euphrates, which, as it was of no immediate
+service to the Parthians, could only be intended as a monument of the
+Roman defeat. Paetus assented to these terms, and they were carried out;
+not, however, without some further ignominy to the Romans. The Parthians
+entered the Roman entrenchments before the legionaries had left them,
+and laid their hands on anything which they recognized as Armenian
+spoil. They even seized the soldiers' clothes and arms, which were
+relinquished to them without a struggle, lest resistance should provoke
+an outbreak. Paetus, once more at liberty; proceeded with unseemly haste
+to the Euphrates, deserting his wounded and his stragglers, whom he left
+to the tender mercies of the Armenians. At the Euphrates he effected a
+junction with Corbulo, who was but three days' march distant when Paetus
+so gracefully capitulated.
+
+The chiefs, when they met, exchanged no cordial greeting. Corbulo
+complained that he had been induced to make a useless journey, and
+to weary his troops to no purpose, since without any aid from him the
+legions might have escaped from their difficulties by simply waiting
+until the Parthians had exhausted their stores, when they must have
+retired. Paetus, anxious to obliterate the memory of his failure,
+proposed that the combined armies should at once enter Armenia and
+overrun it, since Volagases and his Parthians had withdrawn. Corbulo
+replied coldly--that "he had no such orders from the Emperor. He had
+quitted his province to rescue the threatened legions from their peril;
+now that the peril was past, he must return to Syria, since it was quite
+uncertain what the enemy might next attempt. It would be hard work for
+his infantry, tired with the long marches it had made, to keep pace with
+the Parthian cavalry, which was fresh and would pass rapidly through the
+plains." The generals upon this parted. Paetus wintered in Cappadocia;
+Corbulo returned into Syria, where a demand reached him from Volagases
+that he would evacuate Mesopotamia. He agreed to do so on the condition
+that Armenia should be evacuated by the Parthians. To this Volagases
+consented; since he had re-established Tiridates as king, and the
+Armenians might be trusted, if left to themselves, to prefer Parthian to
+Roman ascendancy.
+
+There was now, again, a pause in the war for some months. The envoys
+sent by Volagases after the capitulation of Paetus reached Rome at the
+commencement of spring (A.D. 63), and were there at once admitted to
+an audience. They proposed peace on the terms that Tiridates should be
+recognized as king of Armenia, but that he should go either to Rome,
+or to the head-quarters of the Roman legions in the East, in order to
+receive investiture, either from the Emperor or his representative. It
+was with some difficulty that Nero was brought to believe in the success
+of Volagases, so entirely had he trusted the despatches of Paetus, which
+represented the Romans as triumphant. When the state of affairs was
+fully understood from the letters of Corbulo and the accounts given by
+a Roman officer who had accompanied the Parthian envoys, there was
+no doubt or hesitation as to the course which should be pursued.
+The Parthian proposals must be rejected. Rome must not make peace
+immediately upon a disaster, or until she had retrieved her reputation
+and shown her power by again taking the offensive. Paetus was at once
+recalled, and the whole direction of the war given to Corbulo, who
+was intrusted with a wide-spreading and extraordinary authority. The
+Parthian envoys were dismissed, but with gifts, which seemed to show
+that it was not so much their proposals as the circumstances under which
+they had been made that were unpalatable. Another legion was sent to
+the East; and the semi-independent princes and dynasts were exhorted to
+support Corbulo with zeal. That commander used his extraordinary powers
+to draw together, not so much a very large force, as one that could be
+thoroughly trusted; and, collecting his troops at Melitene (Malatiyeh),
+made his arrangements for a fresh invasion.
+
+Penetrating into Armenia by the road formerly followed by Lucullus,
+Corbulo, with three legions, and probably the usual proportion of
+allies--an army of about 80,000 men--advanced against the combined
+Armenians and Parthians under Tiridates and Volagases, freely offering
+battle, and at the same time taking vengeance, as he proceeded, on the
+Armenian nobles who had been especially active in opposing Tigranes,
+the late Roman puppet-king. His march led him near the spot where the
+capitulation of Paetus had occurred in the preceding winter; and it was
+while he was in this neighborhood that envoys from the enemy met him
+with proposals for an accommodation. Corbulo, who had never shown
+himself anxious to push matters to an extremity, readily accepted the
+overtures. The site of the camp of Paetus was chosen for the place of
+meeting; and there, accompanied by twenty horsemen each, Tiridates and
+the Roman general held an interview. The terms proposed and agreed upon
+were the same that Nero had rejected; and thus the Parthians could not
+but be satisfied, since they obtained all for which they had asked.
+Corbulo, on the other hand, was content to have made the arrangement
+on Armenian soil, while he was at the head of an intact and unblemished
+army, and held possession of an Armenian district; so that the terms
+could not seem to have been extorted by fear, but rather to have been
+allowed as equitable. He also secured the immediate performance of a
+ceremony at which Tiridates divested himself of the regal ensigns and
+placed them at the foot of the statue of Nero; and he took security
+for the performance of the promise that Tiridates should go to Rome and
+receive his crown from the hands of Nero, by requiring and obtaining
+one of his daughters as a hostage. In return, he readily undertook that
+Tiridates should be treated with all proper honor during his stay at
+Rome, and on his journeys to and from Italy, assuring Volagases, who was
+anxious on these points, that Rome regarded only the substance, and made
+no account of the mere show and trappings of power.
+
+The arrangement thus made was honestly executed. After a delay of about
+two years, for which it is difficult to account, Tiridates set out
+upon his journey. He was accompanied by his wife, by a number of noble
+youths, among whom were sons of Volagases and of Monobazus, and by an
+escort of three thousand Parthian cavalry. The long cavalcade passed,
+like a magnificent triumphal procession, through two thirds of the
+Empire, and was everywhere warmly welcomed and sumptuously entertained.
+Each city which lay upon its route was decorated to receive it; and
+the loud acclaims of the multitudes expressed their satisfaction at the
+novel spectacle. The riders made the whole journey, except the passage
+of the Hellespont, by land, proceeding through Thrace and Illyricum
+to the head of the Adriatic, and then descending the peninsula. Their
+entertainment was furnished at the expense of the state, and is said
+to have cost the treasury 800,000 sesterces (about L6250.) a day this
+outlay was continued for nine months, and must have amounted in
+the aggregate to above a million and a half of our money. The first
+interview of the Parthian prince with his nominal sovereign was at
+Naples, where Nero happened to be staying. According to the ordinary
+etiquette of the Roman court, Tiridates was requested to lay aside his
+sword before approaching the Emperor; but this he declined to do; and
+the difficulty seemed serious until a compromise was suggested, and
+he was allowed to approach wearing his weapon, after it had first been
+carefully fastened to the scabbard by nails. He then drew near, bent
+one knee to the ground, interlaced his hands, and made obeisance, at the
+same time saluting the Emperor as his "lord."
+
+The ceremony of the investiture was performed afterwards at Rome. On
+the night preceding, the whole city was illuminated and decorated
+with garlands; the Forum, as morning approached, was filled with "the
+people," arranged in their several tribes, clothed in white robes and
+bearing boughs of laurel; the Praetorians, in their splendid arms, were
+drawn up in two lines from the further extremity of the Forum to the
+Rostra, to maintain the avenue of approach clear; all the roofs of the
+buildings on every side were thronged with crowds of spectators; at
+break of day Nero arrived in the attire appropriated to triumphs,
+accompanied by the members of the Senate and his body-guard, and took
+his seat on the Rostra in a curule chair. Tiridates and his suite were
+then introduced between the two long lines of soldiers; and the prince,
+advancing to the Rostra, made an oration, which (as reported by Dio) was
+of a sufficiently abject character. Nero responded proudly; and then
+the Armenian prince, ascending the Rostra by a way constructed for the
+purpose, and sitting at the feet of the Roman Emperor, received from his
+hand, after his speech had been interpreted to the assembled Romans, the
+coveted diadem, the symbol of Oriental sovereignty.
+
+After a stay of some weeks, or possibly months, at Rome, during which he
+was entertained by Nero with extreme magnificence, Tiridates returned,
+across the Adriatic and through Greece and Asia Minor, to his own land.
+The circumstances of his journey and his reception involved a concession
+to Rome of all that could be desired in the way of formal and verbal
+acknowledgment. The substantial advantage, however, remained with
+the Parthians. The Romans, both in the East and at the capital, were
+flattered by a show of submission; but the Orientals must have concluded
+that the long struggle had terminated in an acknowledgment by Rome of
+Parthia as the stronger power. Ever since the time of Lucullus, Armenia
+had been the object of contention between the two states, both of
+which had sought, as occasion served, to place upon the throne its own
+nominees. Recently the rival powers had at one and the same time brought
+forward rival claimants; and the very tangible issue had been raised,
+Was Tigranes or Tiridates to be king? When the claims of Tigranes were
+finally, with the consent of Rome, set aside, and those of Tiridates
+allowed, the real point in dispute was yielded by the Romans. A
+Parthian, the actual brother of the reigning Parthian king, was
+permitted to rule the country which Rome had long deemed her own. It
+could not be doubted that he would rule it in accordance with Parthian
+interests. His Roman investiture was a form which he had been forced to
+go through; what effect could it have on him in the future, except to
+create a feeling of soreness? The arms of Volagases had been the real
+force which had placed him upon the throne; and to those arms he must
+have looked to support him in case of an emergency. Thus Armenia was
+in point of fact relinquished to Parthia at the very time when it was
+nominally replaced under the sovereignty of the Romans.
+
+There is much doubt as to the time at which Volagases I. ceased to
+reign. The classical writers give no indication of the death of any
+Parthian king between the year A.D. 51, when they record the demise of
+Vonones II., and about the year A.D. 90, when they speak of a certain
+Pacorus as occupying the throne. Moreover, during this interval,
+whenever they have occasion to mention the reigning Parthian monarch,
+they always give him the name of Volagases. Hence it has been customary
+among writers on Parthian history to assign to Volagases I. the entire
+period between A.D. 51 and A.D. 90--a space of thirty-nine years.
+Recently, however, the study of the Parthian coins has shown absolutely
+that Pacorus began to reign at least as early as A.D. 78, while it has
+raised a suspicion that the space between A.D. 51 and A.D. 78 was shared
+between two kings, one of whom reigned from A.D. 51 to about A.D. 62,
+and the other from about A.D. 62 to A.D. 78. It has been proposed
+to call these kings respectively Volagases I. and Artabanus IV. or
+Volagases I. and Volagases II., and Parthian history has been written
+on this basis; but it is confessed that the entire absence of any
+intimation by the classical writers that there was any change of
+monarch in this space, or that the Volagases of whom they speak as a
+contemporary of Vespasian was any other than the adversary of Corbulo,
+is a very great difficulty in the way of this view being accepted; and
+it is suggested that the two kings which the coins indicate may have
+been contemporary monarchs reigning in different parts of Parthia. To
+such a theory there can be no objection. The Parthian coins distinctly
+show the existence under the later Arsacidae of numerous pretenders, or
+rivals to the true monarch, of whom we have no other trace. In the time
+of Volagases I. there was (we know) a revolt in Hyrcania, which was
+certainly not suppressed as late as A.D. 75. The king who has been
+called Artabanus IV. or Volagases II. may have maintained himself
+in this region, while Volagases I. continued to rule in the Western
+provinces and to be the only monarch known to the Romans and the Jews.
+If this be the true account of the matter, we may regard Volagases I. as
+having most probably reigned from A.D. 51 to about A.D. 78--a space of
+twenty-seven years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+_Results of the Establishment of Tiridates in Armenia. Long period of
+Peace between Parthia and Rome. Obscurity of Parthian History at this
+time. Relations of Volagases I. with Vespasian. Invasion of Western Asia
+by Alani. Death of Volagases I. and Character of his Reign. Accession
+and Long Reign of Pacorus. Relations of Pacorus with Decebalus of Dacia.
+Internal Condition of Parthia during his Reign. Death of Pacorus and
+Accession of Chosroes._
+
+
+The establishment of Tiridates as king of Armenia, with the joint
+consent of Volagases and Nero, inaugurated a period of peace between
+the two Empires of Rome and Parthia, which exceeded half a century. This
+result was no doubt a fortunate one for the inhabitants of Western Asia;
+but it places the modern historian of the Parthians at a disadvantage.
+Hitherto the classical writers, in relating the wars of the
+Syro-Macedonians and the Romans, have furnished materials for Parthian
+history, which, if not as complete as we might wish, have been at any
+rate fairly copious and satisfactory. Now, for the space of half a
+century, we are left without anything like a consecutive narrative, and
+are thrown upon scattered and isolated notices, which can form only
+a most incomplete and disjointed narrative. The reign of Volagases I.
+appears to have continued for about twelve years after the visit of
+Tiridates to Rome; and no more than three or four events are known as
+having fallen into this interval. Our knowledge of the reign of Pacorus
+is yet more scanty. But as the business of the workman is simply to make
+the best use that he can of his materials, such a sketch of this dark
+period as the notices which have come down to us allow will now be
+attempted.
+
+When the troubles which followed upon the death of Nero shook the Roman
+world, and after the violent ends of Galba and Otho, the governor of
+Judaea, Vespasian, resolved to become a candidate for the imperial power
+(A.D. 69), Volagases was at once informed by envoys of the event, and
+was exhorted to maintain towards the new monarch the same peaceful
+attitude which he had now for seven years observed towards his
+predecessors. Volagases not only complied with the request, out sent
+ambassadors in return to Vespasian, while he was still at Alexandria
+(A.D. 70), and offered to put at his disposal a body of forty thousand
+Parthian cavalry. The circumstances of his position allowed Vespasian to
+decline this magnificent proposal, and to escape the odium which
+would have attached to the employment of foreign troops against his
+countrymen. His generals in Italy had by this time carried all before
+them; and he was able, after thanking the Parthian monarch, to inform
+him that peace was restored to the Roman world, and that he had
+therefore no need of auxiliaries. In the same friendly spirit in which
+he had made this offer, Volagases, in the next year (A.D. 71), sent
+envoys to Titus at Zeugma, who presented to him the Parthian king's
+congratulations on his victorious conclusion of the Jewish war, and
+begged his acceptance of a crown of gold. The polite attention was
+courteously received; and before allowing them to return to their master
+the young prince hospitably entertained the Parthian messengers at a
+banquet.
+
+Soon after this, circumstances occurred in the border state of Commagene
+which threatened a rupture of the friendly relations that had hitherto
+subsisted between Volagases and Vespasian. Caesennius Paetus, proconsul
+of Syria, the unsuccessful general in the late Armenian war, informed
+Vespasian, early in A.D. 72, that he had discovered a plot, by which
+Commagene, one of the Roman subject kingdoms, was to be detached from
+the Roman alliance, and made over to the Parthians. Antiochus, the aged
+monarch, and his son Epiphanes were, according to Paetus, both concerned
+in the treason; and the arrangement with the Parthians was, he said,
+actually concluded. It would be well to nip the evil in the bud. If the
+transfer of territory once took place, a most serious disturbance of the
+Roman power would follow. Commagene lay west of the Euphrates; and
+its capital city, Samosata (the modern Sumeisat), commanded one of the
+points where the great river was most easily crossed; so that, if the
+Parthians held it, they would have a ready access at all times to the
+Roman provinces of Cappadocia, Cilicia, and Syria, with a perfectly safe
+retreat. These arguments had weight with Vespasian, who seems to have
+had entire confidence in Paetus, and induced him to give the proconsul
+full liberty to act as he thought best. Thus empowered, Paetus at once
+invaded Commagene in force, and meeting at first with no resistance
+(for the Commagenians were either innocent or unprepared), succeeded in
+occupying Samosata by a _coup de main_. The aged king wished to yield
+everything without a blow; but his two sons, Epiphanes and Callinicus,
+were not to be restrained. They took arms, and, at the head of such a
+force as they could hastily muster, met Paetus in the field, and
+fought a battle with him which lasted the whole day, and ended without
+advantage to either side. But the decision of Antiochus was not to be
+shaken; he refused to countenance his sons' resistance, and, quitting
+Commagene, passed with his wife and daughters into the Roman province
+of Cilicia, where he took up his abode at Tarsus. The spirit of the
+Commagenians could not hold out against this defection; the force
+collected began to disperse; and the young princes found themselves
+forced to fly, and to seek a refuge in Parthia, which they reached
+with only ten horsemen. Volagases received them with the courtesy and
+hospitality due to their royal rank; but as he had given them no help
+in the struggle, so now he made no effort to reinstate them. All the
+exertion to which he could be brought was to write a letter on their
+behalf to Vespasian, in which he probably declared them guiltless of the
+charges that had been brought against them by Paetus. Vespasian, at any
+rate, seems to have become convinced of their innocence; for though
+he allowed Commagene to remain a Roman province, he permitted the two
+princes with their father to reside at Rome, assigned the ex-monarch an
+ample revenue, and gave the family an honorable status.
+
+It was probably not more than two or three years after the events above
+narrated, that Volagases found himself in circumstances which impelled
+him to send a petition to the Roman Emperor for help. The Alani,
+a Scythian people, who had once dwelt near the Tanais and the Lake
+Mseotis, or Sea of Azof, but who must now have lived further to the
+East, had determined on a great predatory invasion of the countries west
+of the Caspian Gates, and having made alliance with the Hyrcanians, who
+were in possession of that important pass, had poured into Media through
+it, driven King Pacorus to the mountains, and overrun the whole of
+the open country. From hence they had passed on into Armenia, defeated
+Tiridates, in a battle, and almost succeeded in capturing him by means
+of a lasso. Volagases, whose subject-kings were thus rudely treated,
+and who might naturally expect his own proper territories to be next
+attacked, sent in this emergency a request to Vespasian for aid. He
+asked moreover that the forces put at his disposal should be placed
+under the command of either Titus or Domitian, probably not so much from
+any value that he set on their military talents as from a conviction
+that if a member of the Imperial family was sent, the force which
+accompanied him would be considerable. We are told that the question,
+whether help be given or no, was seriously discussed at Rome, and that
+Domitian was exceedingly anxious that the troops should go, and begged
+that he might be their commander. But Vespasian was disinclined for any
+expenditure of which he did not recognize the necessity, and disliked
+all perilous adventure. His own refusal of extraneous support,
+when offered by his rival, rendered it impossible for him to reject
+Volagases's request without incurring the charge of ingratitude. The
+Parthians were therefore left to their own resources; and the result
+seems to have been that the invaders, after ravaging and harrying Media
+and Armenia at their pleasure, carried off a vast number of prisoners
+and an enormous booty into their own country. Soon after this, Volagases
+must have died. The coins of his successor commence in June, A.D. 78,
+and thus he cannot have outlived by more than three years the irruption
+of the Alani. If he died, as is most probable, in the spring of A.D. 78,
+his reign would have covered the space of twenty-seven years. It was an
+eventful one for Parthia. It brought the second period of struggle with
+the Romans to an end by compromise which gave to Rome the shadow and
+to Parthia the substance of victory. And it saw the first completed
+disintegration of the Empire in the successful revolt of Hyrcania--an
+event of evil portent. Volagases was undoubtedly a monarch of
+considerable ability. He conducted with combined prudence and firmness
+the several campaigns against Corbulo; he proved himself far superior
+to Paetus; exposed to attacks in various quarters from many different
+enemies, he repulsed all foreign invaders and, as against them,
+maintained intact the ancient dominions of the Arsacidae. He practically
+added Arminia to the Empire. Everywhere success attended him, except
+against a domestic foe. Hyrcania seceded during his reign, and it may
+be doubted whether Parthia ever afterwards recovered it. An example was
+thus set of successful Arian revolt against the hitherto irresistible
+Turanians, which may have tended in no slight degree to produce the
+insurrection which eventually subverted the Parthian Empire.
+
+The successor of Volagases I. was Pacorus, whom most writers on Parthian
+history have regarded as his son. There is, however, no evidence of this
+relationship; and the chief reason for regarding Pacorus as belonging
+even to the same branch of the Arsacidse with Volagases I. is his youth
+at his accession, indicated by the beardless head upon his early coins,
+which is no doubt in favor of his having been a near relation of the
+preceding king. PLATE III., Fig 1. The Parthian coins show that his
+reign continued at least till A.D. 93; it may have lasted considerably
+longer, for the earliest date on any coin of Chosroes is AEr. Seleuc.
+421, or A.D. 110. The accession of Chosroes has been conjecturally
+assigned to A.D. 108, which would allow to Pacorus the long reign of
+thirty years. Of this interval it can only be said that, so far as our
+knowledge goes, it was almost wholly uneventful. We know absolutely
+nothing of this Pacorus except that he gave encouragement to a person
+who pretended to be Nero; that he enlarged and beautified Otesiphon;
+that he held friendly communications with Decebalus, the great Dacian
+chief, who was successively the adversary of Domitian and Trajan; and
+that he sold the sovereignty of Osrhoene at a high price to the Edessene
+prince who was cotemporary with him. The Pseudo-Nero in question appears
+to have taken refuge with the Parthians in the year A.D. 89, and to have
+been demanded as an impostor by Domitian. Pacorus was at first inclined
+to protect and to even assist him, but after a while was induced to give
+him up, probably by a threat of hostilities. The communication with
+the Dacian chief was most likely earlier. The Dacians, in one of
+those incursions into Maesia which they made during the first years of
+Domitian, took captive a certain Callidromus, a Greek, if we may judge
+by his name, slave to a Roman of some rank, named Liberius Maximus. This
+prisoner Decebalus (we are told) sent as a present to Pacorus, in whose
+service and favor he remained for a number of years. This circumstance,
+insignificant enough in itself, acquires an interest from the indication
+which it gives of intercommunication between the enemies of Rome, even
+when they were separated by vast spaces, and might have been thought
+to have been wholly ignorant of each other's existence. Decebalus can
+scarcely have been drawn to Pacorus by any other attraction than that
+which always subsists between enemies of any great dominant power. He
+must have looked to the Parthian monarch as a friend who might make a
+diversion on his behalf upon occasion; and that monarch, by accepting
+his gift, must be considered to have shown a willingness to accept this
+kind of relation.
+
+The sale of the Osrhoene territory to Abgarus by Pacorus was not a fact
+of much consequence. It may indicate an exhaustion of his treasury,
+resulting from the expenditure of vast sums on the enlargement and
+adornment of the capital, but otherwise it has no bearing on the general
+condition of the Empire. Perhaps the Parthian feudatories generally paid
+a price for their investiture. If they did not, and the case of Abgarus
+was peculiar, still it does not appear that his purchase at all altered
+his position as a Parthian subject. It was not until they transferred
+their allegiance to Rome that the Osrhoene princes struck coins, or
+otherwise assumed the status of kings. Up to the time of M. Aurelius
+they continued just as much subject to Parthia as before, and were far
+from acquiring a position of independence.
+
+There is reason to believe that the reign of Pacorus was a good deal
+disturbed by internal contentions. We hear of an Artabanus as king of
+Parthia in A.D. 79; and the Parthian coins of about this period present
+us with two very marked types of head, both of them quite unlike that
+of Pacorus, which must be those of monarchs who either contended with
+Pacorus for the crown, or ruled contemporaneously with him over other
+portions of the Parthian Empire. [PLATE III., Fig. 2.] Again, towards
+the close of Pacorus's reign, and early in that of his recognized
+successor, Chosroes, a monarch called Mithridates is shown by the coins
+to have borne sway for at least six years--from A.D. 107 to 113. This
+monarch commenced the practice of placing a Semitic legend upon his
+coins, which would seem to imply that he ruled in the western rather
+than the eastern provinces. The probability appears, on the whole, to
+be that the disintegration which has been already noticed as having
+commenced under Volagases I. was upon the increase. Three or four
+monarchs were ruling together in different portions of the Parthian
+world, each claiming to be the true Arsaces, and using the full titles
+of Parthian sovereignty upon his coins. The Romans knew but little of
+these divisions and contentions, their dealings being only with the
+Arsacid who reigned at Ctesiphon and bore sway over Mesopotamia and
+Adiabene.
+
+Pacorus must have died about A.D. 108, or a little later. He left behind
+him two sons, Exedares and Parthamasiris, but neither of these two
+princes was allowed to succeed him. The Parthian Megistanes assigned the
+crown to Chosroes, the brother of their late monarch, perhaps regarding
+Exedares and Parthamasiris as too young to administer the government of
+Parthia satisfactorily. If they knew, as perhaps they did, that the
+long period of peace with Rome was coming to an end, and that they might
+expect shortly to be once more attacked by their old enemy, they might
+well desire to have upon the throne a prince of ripe years and approved
+judgment. A raw youth would certainly have been unfit to cope with the
+age, the experience, and the military genius of Trajan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+_Reign of Chosroes. General condition of Oriental Affairs gives a handle
+to Trajan. Trajan's Schemes of Conquest. Embassy of Chosroes to Trajan
+fails. Great Expedition of Trajan. Campaign of A. D. 115. Campaign of
+A.D. 116. Death of Trajan, and relinquishment of his Parthian Conquests
+by Hadrian. Interview of Chosroes with Hadrian. Its Consequences. Death
+of Chosroes and Accession of Volagases II._
+
+
+The general state of Oriental affairs at the accession of Chosroes seems
+to have been the following. Upon the demise of Tiridates (about A.D.
+100) Pacorus had established upon the Armenian throne one of his sons,
+named Exedares, or Axidares, and this prince had thenceforth reigned as
+king of Armenia without making any application to Rome for investiture,
+or acknowledging in any way the right of the Romans to interfere with
+the Armenian succession. Trajan, sufficiently occupied in the West, had
+borne this insult. When, however, in A.D. 114, the subjugation of Dacia
+was completed, and the Roman Emperor found his hands free, he resolved
+to turn his arms towards Asia, and to make the Armenian difficulty
+a pretext for a great military expedition, designed to establish
+unmistakably the supremacy of Rome throughout the East. The condition
+of the East at once called for the attention of Rome, and was
+eminently favorable for the extension of her influence at this period.
+Disintegrating forces were everywhere at work, tending to produce a
+confusion and anarchy which invited the interposition of a great power,
+and rendered resistance to such a power difficult. Christianity, which
+was daily spreading itself more and more widely, acted as a dissolvent
+upon the previously-existing forms of society, loosening the old ties,
+dividing man from man by an irreconcilable division, and not giving much
+indication as yet of its power to combine and unite. Judaism, embittered
+by persecution, had from a nationality become a conspiracy; and the
+disaffected adherents of the Mosaic system, dispersed through all the
+countries of the East, formed an explosive element in the population
+which involved the constant danger of a catastrophe. The Parthian
+political system was also, as already remarked, giving symptoms of
+breaking up. Those bonds which for two centuries and a half had sufficed
+to hold together a heterogeneous kingdom extending from the Euphrates
+to the Indus, and from the Oxus to the Southern Ocean, were beginning
+to grow weak, and the Parthian Empire appeared to be falling to pieces.
+There seemed to be at once a call and an opportunity for a fresh
+arrangement of the East, for the introduction of a unifying power, such
+as Rome recognized in her own administrative system, which should compel
+the crumbling atoms of the Oriental world once more into cohesion.
+
+To this call Trajan responded. His vast ambition had been whetted,
+rather than satiated, by the conquest of a barbarous nation, and a
+single, not very valuable, province. In the East he might hope to add to
+the Roman State half a dozen countries of world-wide repute, the seats
+of ancient empires, the old homes of Asiatic civilization, countries
+associated with the immortal names of Sennacherib and Sardanapalus,
+Cyrus, Darius, and Alexander. The career of Alexander had an attraction
+for him, which he was fain to confess; and he pleased himself by
+imitating, though he could not hope at his age to equal it. His Eastern
+expedition was conceived very much in the same spirit as that of
+Crassus; but he possessed the military ability in which the Triumvir
+was deficient, and the enemy whom he had to attack was grown less
+formidable.
+
+Trajan commenced his Eastern expedition in A.D. 114, seven years after
+the close of the Dacian War. He was met at Athens in the autumn of
+that year by envoys from Chosroes, who brought him presents, and made
+representations which, it was hoped, would induce him to consent to
+peace. Chosroes stated that he had deposed his nephew, Exedares, the
+Armenian prince whose conduct had been offensive to Rome; and proposed
+that, as the Armenian throne was thereby vacant, it should be filled by
+the appointment of Parthamasiris, Exedares's brother. This prince would
+be willing, he said, to receive investiture at the hands of Rome; and he
+requested that Trajan would transmit to him the symbol of sovereignty.
+The accommodation suggested would have re-established the relations of
+the two countries towards Armenia on the basis on which they had been
+placed by the agreement between Volagases and Nero. It would have
+saved the credit of Rome, while it secured to Parthia the substantial
+advantage of retaining Armenia under her authority and protection.
+Trajan might well have consented to it, had his sole object been to
+reclaim the rights or to vindicate the honor of his country. But he had
+distinctly made up his mind to aim, not at the re-establishment of any
+former condition of things, but at the placing of matters in the East on
+an entirely new footing. He therefore gave the ambassadors of Chosroes
+a cold reception, declined the gifts offered him, and replied to the
+proposals of accommodation that the friendship of kings was to be
+measured by deeds rather than by words--he would therefore say nothing,
+but when he reached Syria would act in a becoming manner. The envoys
+of the Parthian monarch were obliged to return with this unsatisfactory
+answer; and Chosroes had to wait and see what interpretation it would
+receive from the course of events.
+
+During the later months of autumn, Trajan advanced from Athens to
+Antioch. At that luxurious capital, he mustered his forces and prepared
+for the campaign of the ensuing year. Abgarus, the Osrhoene prince who
+had lately purchased his sovereignty from Pacorus, sent an embassy
+to him in the course of the winter, with presents and an offer of
+friendship. Parthamasiris also entered into communications with him,
+first assuming the royal title, and then, when his letter received no
+answer, dropping it, and addressing the Roman Emperor as a mere private
+person. Upon this act of self-humiliation, negotiations were commenced.
+Parthamasiris was encouraged to present himself at the Roman camp, and
+was given to understand that he would there receive from Trajan,
+as Tiridates had received from Nero, the emblem of sovereignty and
+permission to rule Armenia. The military preparations were, however,
+continued. Vigorous measures were taken to restore the discipline of the
+Syrian legions, which had suffered through the long tranquillity of the
+East and the enervating influence of the climate. With the spring Trajan
+commenced his march. Ascending the Euphrates, to Samosata, and receiving
+as he advanced the submission of various semi-independent dynasts and
+princes, he took possession of Satala and Elegeia, Armenian cities on
+or near the Euphrates, and establishing himself at the last-named place,
+waited for the arrival of Parthamasiris. That prince shortly rode into
+the Roman camp, attended by a small retinue; and a meeting was arranged,
+at which the Parthian, in the sight of the whole Roman army, took the
+diadem from his brows and laid it at the feet of the Roman Emperor,
+expecting to have it at once restored to him. But Trajan had determined
+otherwise. He made no movement; and the army, prepared no doubt for the
+occasion, shouted with all their might, saluting him anew as Imperator,
+and congratulating him on his "bloodless victory." Parthamasiris felt
+that he had fallen into a trap, and would gladly have turned and fled;
+but he found himself surrounded by the Roman troops and virtually a
+prisoner. Upon this he demanded a private audience, and was conducted to
+the Emperor's tent, where he made proposals which were coldly rejected,
+and he was given to understand that he must regard his crown as
+forfeited. It was further required of him that, to prevent false rumors,
+he should present himself a second time at the Emperor's tribunal,
+prefer his requests openly, and hear the Imperial decision. The Parthian
+consented. With a boldness worthy of his high descent, he affirmed that
+he had neither been defeated nor made prisoner, but had come of his
+own free will to hold a conference with the Roman chief, in the full
+expectation of receiving from him, as Tiridates had received from Nero,
+the crown of Armenia, confident, moreover, that in any case he would
+"suffer no wrong, but be allowed to depart in safety." Trajan answered
+that he did not intend to give the crown of Armenia to any one--the
+country belonged to the Romans, and should have a Roman governor. As
+for Parthamasiris, he was free to go whithersoever he pleased, and his
+Parthian attendants might accompany him. The Armenians, however, must
+remain. They were Roman subjects, and owed no allegiance to Parthia.
+
+The tale thus told, with no appearance of shame, by the Roman historian,
+Dio Cassius, is sufficiently disgraceful to Trajan, but it does not
+reveal to us the entire baseness of his conduct. We learn from other
+writers, two of them contemporary with the events, that the pompous
+dismissal of Parthamasiris, with leave to go wherever he chose, was
+a mere pretence. Trajan had come to the conclusion, if not before
+the interview, at any rate in the course of it, that the youth was
+dangerous, and could not be allowed to live. He therefore sent troops to
+arrest him as he rode off from the camp, and when he offered resistance
+caused him to be set upon and slain. This conduct he afterwards strove
+to justify by accusing the young prince of having violated the agreement
+made at the interview; but even the debased moral sense of his age was
+revolted by this act, and declared the grounds whereon he excused it
+insufficient. Good faith and honor had been sacrificed (it was said)
+to expediency--the reputation of Rome had been tarnished--it would have
+been better, even if Parthamasiris were guilty, to have let him escape,
+than to have punished him at the cost of a public scandal. So strongly
+was the disgrace felt that some (it seems) endeavored to exonerate
+Trajan from the responsibility of having contrived the deed, and to
+throw the blame of it on Exedares, the ex-king of Armenia and brother of
+Parthamasiris. But Trajan had not sunk so low as to shift his fault on
+another. He declared openly that the act was his own, and that Exedares
+had had no part in it.
+
+The death of Parthamasiris was followed by the complete submission of
+Armenia. Chosroes made no attempt to avenge the murder of his nephew, or
+to contest with Trajan the possession of the long-disputed territory.
+A little doubt seems for a short time to have been entertained by the
+Romans as to its disposal. The right of Exedares to be reinstated in
+his former kingdom was declared by some to be clear; and it was probably
+urged that the injuries which he had suffered at the hands of Chosroes
+would make him a sure Roman ally. But these arguments had no weight with
+Trajan. He had resolved upon his course. An end should be put, at once
+and forever, to the perpetual intrigues and troubles inseparable from
+such relations as had hitherto subsisted between Rome and the Armenian
+kingdom. The Greater and the Lesser Armenia should be annexed to the
+Empire, and should form a single Roman province. This settled, attention
+was turned to the neighboring countries. Alliance was made with
+Anchialus, king of the Heniochi and Macheloni, and presents were sent
+to him in return for those which his envoys had brought to Trajan. A
+new king was given to the Albanians. Friendly relations were established
+with the chiefs of the Iberi, Sauro-matse, Golchi, and even with the
+tribes settled on the Cimmerian Bosphorus. The nations of these parts
+were taught that Rome was the power which the inhabitants even of
+the remote East and North had most to fear; and a wholesome awe was
+instilled into them which would, it was hoped, conduce to the general
+tranquillity of the Empire.
+
+But the objects thus accomplished, considerable as they were, did
+not seem to the indefatigable Emperor sufficient for one year. Having
+settled the affairs of the North-east, and left garrisons in the chief
+Armenian strongholds, Trajan marched southwards to Edessa, the capital
+of the province of Gsrhoene, and there received the humble submission
+of Abgarus, who had hitherto wavered between the two contending powers.
+Manisares, a satrap of these parts, who had a quarrel of his own with
+Chosroes, also embraced his cause, while other chiefs wavered in their
+allegiance to Parthia, but feared to trust the invader. Hostilities
+were commenced by attacks in two directions--southward against the tract
+known as Anthemusia, between the Euphrates and the Khabour; and eastward
+against Batnas, Nisibis, and the mountain region known as Gordyene,
+or the Mons Masius. Success attended both these movements; and, before
+winter set in, the Romans had made themselves masters of the whole of
+Upper Mesopotamia, and had even pushed southwards as far as Singara, a
+town on the skirts of the modern Sinjar mountain-range. Mesopotarnia
+was at once, like Armenia, "reduced into the form of a Roman province."
+Medals were issued representing the conqueror with these subject
+countries at his foot and the obsequious Senate conferred the title of
+"Parthicus" upon the Imperator, who had thus robbed the Parthians of two
+provinces.
+
+According to some, the headquarters of Trajan during the ensuing winter
+were at Nisibis or Edessa, but the nexus of the narrative in Dio seems
+rather to require, and the other ancient notices to allow, the belief
+that he returned to Syria and wintered at Antioch, leaving his generals
+in possession of the conquered regions, with orders to make every
+preparation for the campaign of the next year. Among other instructions
+which they received was the command to build a large fleet at Nisibis,
+where good timber was abundant, and to prepare for its transport to the
+Tigris, at the point where that stream quits the mountains and enters on
+the open country. Meanwhile, in the month of December, the magnificent
+Syrian capital, where Trajan had his headquarters, was visited by a
+calamity of a most appalling character. An earthquake, of a violence and
+duration unexampled in ancient times, destroyed the greater part of its
+edifices, and buried in their ruins vast multitudes of the inhabitants
+and of the strangers that had flocked into the town in consequence of
+the Imperial presence. Many Romans of the highest rank perished, and
+among them M. Virgilianus Pedo, one of the consuls for the year. The
+Emperor himself was in danger, and only escaped by creeping through
+a window of the house in which he resided; nor was his person quite
+unscathed. Some falling fragments struck him; but fortunately the
+injuries that he received were slight, and had no permanent consequence.
+The bulk of the surviving inhabitants, finding themselves houseless, or
+afraid to enter their houses if they still stood, bivouacked during the
+height of the winter in the open air, in the Circus, and elsewhere about
+the city. The terror which legitimately followed from the actual perils
+was heightened by imaginary fears. It was thought that the Mons Casius,
+which towers above Antioch to the south-west, was about to be shattered
+by the violence of the shocks, and to precipitate itself upon the ruined
+town.
+
+Nor were the horrors of the catastrophe confined to Antioch. The
+earthquake was one of a series which carried destruction and devastation
+through the greater part of the East. In the Roman province of Asia,
+four cities were completely destroyed--Eleia, Myrina, Pitane, and Cyme.
+In Greece two towns were reduced to ruins, namely, Opus in Locris, and
+Oritus. In Galatia three cities, unnamed, suffered the same fate. It
+seemed as if Providence had determined that the new glories which Rome
+was gaining by the triumphs of her arms should be obscured by calamities
+of a kind that no human power could avert or control, and that despite
+the efforts of Trajan to make his reign a time of success and splendor,
+it should go down to posterity as one of gloom, suffering, and disaster.
+
+Trajan, however, did not allow himself to be diverted from the objects
+that he had set before him by such trifling matters as the sufferings of
+a certain number of provincial towns. With the approach of spring (A.D.
+116) he was up and doing. His officers had obeyed his orders, and a
+fleet had been built at Nisibis during the winter amply sufficient for
+the purpose for which it was wanted. The ships were so constructed that
+they could be easily taken to pieces and put together again. Trajan had
+them conveyed on wagons to the Tigris at Jezireh, and there proceeded
+to make preparations for passing the river and attacking Adiabene.
+By embarking on board some of his ships companies of heavy-armed
+and archers, who protected his working parties, and at the same time
+threatening with other ships to cross at many different points, he was
+able, though with much difficulty, to bridge the stream in the face of
+a powerful body of the enemy, and to land his troops safely on the
+opposite bank. This done, his work was more than half accomplished.
+Chosroes remained aloof from the war, either husbanding his resources,
+or perhaps occupied by civil feuds, and left the defence of his outlying
+provinces to their respective governors. Mobarsapes, the Adiabenian
+monarch, had set his hopes on keeping the invader out of his kingdom by
+defending the line of the Tigris, and when that was forced he seems
+to have despaired, and to have made no further effort. His towns and
+strongholds were taken one after another, without their offering any
+serious resistance. Nineveh, Arbela, and Gaugamala fell into the enemy's
+hands. Adenystrse, a place of great strength, was captured by a small
+knot of Roman prisoners, who, when they found their friends near, rose
+upon the garrison, killed the commandant, and opened the gates to their
+countrymen. In a short time the whole tract between the Tigris and the
+Zagros mountains was overrun; resistance ceased; and the invader was
+able to proceed to further conquests.
+
+It might have been expected that an advance would have at once been
+directed on Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital; but Trajan, for some reason
+which is not made clear to us, determined otherwise. He repassed the
+Tigris into Mesopotamia, took Hatra (now el-Hadhr), at that time one of
+the most considerable places in those parts, and then, crossing to the
+Euphrates, descended its course to Hit and Babylon. No resistance was
+offered him, and he became master of the mighty Babylon without a blow.
+Seleucia seems also to have submitted; and it remained only to attack
+and take the capital in order to have complete possession of the entire
+region watered by the two great rivers. For this purpose a fleet was
+again necessary, and, as the ships used on the upper Tigris had, it
+would seem, been abandoned, Trajan conveyed a flotilla, which had
+descended the Euphrates, across Mesopotamia on rollers, and launching it
+upon the Tigris, proceeded to the attack of the great metropolis. Here
+again the resistance that he encountered was trivial. Like Babylon and
+Seleucia, Ctesiphon at once opened its gates. The monarch had departed
+with his family and his chief treasures,6 and had placed a vast space
+between himself and his antagonist. He was prepared to contend with
+his Roman foe, not in battle array, but by means of distance, natural
+obstacles, and guerilla warfare. He had evidently determined neither
+to risk a battle nor stand a siege. As Trajan advanced, he retreated,
+seeming to yield all, but no doubt intending, if it should be necessary,
+to turn to bay at last, and in the meantime diligently fomenting that
+spirit of discontent and disaffection which was shortly to render the
+further advance of the Imperial troops impossible.
+
+But, for the moment, all appeared to go well with the invaders. The
+surrender of Ctesiphon brought with it the submission of the whole
+region on the lower courses of the great rivers, and gave the conqueror
+access to the waters of a new sea. Trajan may be excused if he overrated
+his successes, regarded himself as another Alexander, and deemed that
+the great monarchy, so long the rival of Rome, was now at last swept
+away, and that the entire East was on the point of being absorbed into
+the Roman Empire. The capture by his lieutenants of the golden throne
+of the Parthian kings may well have seemed to him emblematic of this
+change; and the flight of Chosroes into the remote and barbarous regions
+of the far East may have helped to lull his adversary into a feeling of
+complete security. Such a feeling is implied in the pleasure voyage of
+the conqueror down the Tigris to the Persian Gulf, in his embarkation
+on the waters of the Southern Sea, in the inquiries which he instituted
+with respect to Indian affairs, and in the regret to which he gave
+utterance, that his advanced years prevented him from making India
+the term of his labors. No shadow of his coming troubles seems to have
+flitted before the eyes of the Emperor during the weeks that he was thus
+occupied--weeks which he passed in self-complacent contemplation of the
+past and dreams of an impossible future.
+
+Suddenly, tidings of a most alarming kind dispelled his pleasing
+visions, and roused him to renewed exertions. Revolt, he found, had
+broken out everywhere in his rear. At Seleucia, at Hatra, at Nisibis,
+at Edessa, the natives had flown to arms; his entire line of retreat was
+beset by foes, and he ran a risk of having his return cut off, and
+of perishing in the land which he had invaded. Trajan had hastily to
+retrace his stops, and to send his generals in all directions to check
+the spread of insurrection. Seleucia was recovered by Erucius Clarus
+and Julius Alexander, who punished its rebellion by delivering it to the
+flames. Lucius Quietus retook Nisibis, and plundered and burnt Edessa.
+Maximus, on the contrary, was defeated and slain by the rebels, who
+completely destroyed the Roman army under his orders. Trajan, perceiving
+how slight his hold was upon the conquered populations, felt compelled
+to change his policy, and, as the only mode of pacifying, even
+temporarily, the growing discontent, instead of making Lower Mesopotamia
+into a Roman province, as he had made Armenia, Upper Mesopotamia, and
+Adiabene (or Assyria), he proceeded with much pomp and display to set
+up a native king. The prince selected was a certain Parthamaspates, a
+member of the royal family of the Arsacidse, who had previously sided
+with Rome against the reigning monarch. In a plain near Ctesiphon,
+where he had had his tribunal erected, Trajan, after a speech wherein he
+extolled the greatness of his own exploits, presented to the assembled
+Romans and natives this youth as King of Parthia, and with his own hand
+placed the diadem upon his brow.
+
+Under cover of the popularity acquired by this act the aged Emperor now
+commenced his retreat. The line of the Tigris was no doubt open to him,
+and along this he might have marched in peace to Upper Mesopotamia or
+Armenia; but either he preferred the direct route to Syria by way
+of Hatra and Singara, or the insult offered to the Roman name by
+the independent attitude which the people of the former place still
+maintained induced him to diverge from the general line of his course,
+and to enter the desert in order to chastise their presumption. Hatra
+was a small town, but strongly fortified. The inhabitants at this time
+belonged to that Arabian immigration which was always more and more
+encroaching upon Mesopotamia. They were Parthian subjects, but appear
+to have had their own native kings. On the approach of Trajan,
+nothing daunted, they closed their gates, and prepared themselves for
+resistance. Though he battered down a portion of the wall, they repulsed
+all the attempts of his soldiers to enter through the breach, and when
+he himself came near to reconnoitre, they drove him off with their
+arrows. His troops suffered from the heat, from the want of provisions
+and fodder, from the swarms of flies which disputed with them every
+morsel of their food and every drop of their drink, and finally from
+violent hail and thunderstorms. Trajan was forced to withdraw after a
+time without effecting anything, and to own himself baffled and defeated
+by the garrison of a petty fortress.
+
+The year, A.D. 116, seems to have closed with this memorable failure.
+In the following spring, Chosroes, learning the retreat of the Romans,
+returned to Ctesiphqn, expelled Parthamaspates, who retired into Roman
+territory, and re-established his authority in Susiana and Southern
+Mesopotamia. The Romans, however, still held Assyria (Adiabene) and
+Upper Mesopotamia, as well as Armenia, and had the strength of the
+Empire been exerted to maintain these possessions, they might have
+continued in all probability to be Roman provinces, despite any efforts
+that Parthia could have made to recover them. But in August, A.D. 117,
+Trajan died; and his successor, Hadrian, was deeply impressed with the
+opinion that Trajan's conquests had been impolitic, and that it was
+unsafe for Rome to attempt under the circumstances of the time any
+extension of the Eastern frontier. The first act of Hadrian was to
+relinquish the three provinces which Trajan's Parthian war had added to
+the Empire, and to withdraw the legions within the Euphrates. Assyria
+and Mesopotamia were at once reoccupied by the Parthians. Armenia
+appears to have been made over by Hadrian to Parthamaspates, and to have
+thus returned to its former condition of a semi-independent kingdom,
+leaning alternately on Rome and Parthia. It has been asserted that
+Osrhoene was placed likewise upon the same footing; but the numismatic
+evidence adduced in favor of this view is weak; and upon the whole
+it appears most probable that, like the other Mesopotamian countries,
+Osrhoene again fell under the dominion of the Arsacidae. Rome therefore
+gained nothing by the great exertions which she had made, unless it were
+a partial recovery of her lost influence in Armenia, and a knowledge of
+the growing weakness of her Eastern rival--a knowledge which, though it
+produced no immediate fruit, was of importance, and was borne in mind
+when, after another half-century of peace, the relations of the two
+empires became once more unsatisfactory.
+
+The voluntary withdrawal of Hadrian from Assyria and Mesopotamia placed
+him on amicable terms with Parthia during the whole of his reign.
+Chosroes and his successor could not but feel themselves under
+obligations to the monarch who, without being forced to it by a defeat,
+had restored to Parthia the most valuable of her provinces. On one
+occasion alone do we hear of any, even threatened, interruption of
+the friendly relations subsisting between the two powers; and then the
+misunderstanding, whatever it may have been, was easily rectified and
+peace maintained. Hadrian, in A.D. 122, had an interview with Chosroes
+on his eastern frontier, and by personal explanations and assurances
+averted, we are told, an impending outbreak. Not long afterwards
+(A.D. 130, probably) he returned to Chosroes the daughter who had been
+captured by Trajan, and at the same time promised the restoration of
+the golden throne, on which the Parthians appear to have set a special
+value.
+
+It must have been soon after he received back his daughter that Chosroes
+died. His latest coins bear a date equivalent to A.D. 128; and the Roman
+historians give Volagases II. as king of Parthia in A.D. 133. It
+has been generally supposed that this prince was Chosroes' son, and
+succeeded him in the natural course; but the evidence of the Parthian
+coins is strong against these suppositions. According to them, Volagases
+had been a pretender to the Parthian throne as early as A.D. 78, and had
+struck coins both in that year and the following one, about the date of
+the accession of Pacorus. His attempt had, however, at that time failed,
+and for forty-one years he kept his pretensions in abeyance; but about
+A.D. 119 or 120 he appears to have again come forward, and to have
+disputed the crown with Chosroes, or reigned contemporaneously with
+him over some portion of the Parthian kingdom, till about A.D. 130,
+when--probably on the death of Chosroes--he was acknowledged as sole
+king by the entire nation. Such is the evidence of the coins, which in
+this case are very peculiar, and bear the name of Volagases from first
+to last. It seems to follow from them that Chosroes was succeeded, not
+by a son, but by a rival, an old claimant of the crown, who cannot have
+been much younger than Chosroes himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+_Reign of Volagases II. Invasion of the Alani. Communications between
+Volagases and Antoninus Pius. Death of Volagases II. and Accession of
+Volagases III. Aggressive War of Volagases III. on Rome. Campaign of
+A.D. 162. Verus sent to the East. Sequel of the War. Losses suffered by
+Parthia. Death of Volagases III._
+
+
+Volagases II. appears to have occupied the Parthian throne, after the
+death of Chosroes, for the space of nineteen years. His reign has a
+general character of tranquillity, which agrees well with the advanced
+period of life at which, according to the coins, he first became
+actual king of Parthia. It was disturbed by only one actual outbreak of
+hostilities, an occasion upon which Volagases stood upon the defensive;
+and on one other occasion was for a brief period threatened with
+disturbance. Otherwise it seems to have been wholly peaceful. So far
+as appears, no pretenders troubled it. The coins show, for the years
+between A.D. 130 and A.D. 149, the head of but one monarch, a head of a
+marked type, which is impossible to be mistaken. [PLATE III., Fig. 4.]
+
+The occasion upon which actual hostilities disturbed the repose of
+Volagases was in A.D. 133, when, by the intrigues of Pharasmanes,
+king of the Iberians, a great horde of Alani from the tract beyond the
+Caucasus was induced to pour itself through the passes of that mountain
+chain upon the territories of both the Parthians and the Romans
+Pharasmanes had previously shown contempt for the power of Rome by
+refusing to pay court to Hadrian, when, in A.D. 130, he invited the
+monarchs of Western Asia generally to a conference. He had also, it
+would seem, been insulted by Hadrian, who, when Pharasmanes sent him a
+number of cloaks made of cloth-of-gold, employed them in the adornment
+of three hundred convicts condemned to furnish sport to the Romans in
+the amphitheatre. What quarrel he had with the Parthians we are not
+told; but it is related that at his instigation the savage Alani,
+introduced within the mountain barrier, poured at one and the same time
+into Media Atropatene, which was a dependency of Parthia; into
+Armenia, which was under Parthamaspates; and into the Roman province of
+Cappadocia. Volagases sent an embassy to Rome complaining of the conduct
+of Pharasmanes, who appears to have been regarded as ruling under Roman
+protection; and that prince was summoned to Rome in order to answer for
+his conduct. But the Alanian inroad had to be dealt with at once.
+The Roman governor of Cappadocia, who was Arrian, the historian of
+Alexander, by a mere display of force drove the barbarians from his
+province. Volagases showed a tamer spirit; he was content to follow an
+example, often set in the East, and already in one instance imitated by
+Rome, but never adopted by any nation as a settled policy without fatal
+consequences, and to buy at a high price the retreat of the invaders.
+
+It was to have been expected that Rome would have punished severely the
+guilt of Pharasmanes in exposing the Empire and its allies to horrors
+such as always accompany the inroads of a barbarous people. But though
+the Iberian monarch was compelled to travel to Rome and make his
+appearance before the Emperor's tribunal, yet Hadrian, so far from
+punishing him, was induced to load him with benefits and honors. He
+permitted him to sacrifice in the Capitol, placed his equestrian statue
+in the temple of Bellona, and granted him an augmentation of territory.
+Volagases can scarcely have been pleased at these results of his
+complaints; he bore them, however, without murmuring, and, when (in A.D.
+138) Hadrian died and was succeeded by his adopted son, T. Aurelius,
+better known as Antoninus Pius, Volagases sent to Rome an embassy of
+congratulation, and presented the new monarch with a crown of gold.
+
+It was probably at this same time that he ventured to make an unpleasant
+demand. Hadrian had promised that the golden throne which Trajan had
+captured, in his expedition, and by which the Parthians set so much
+store, should be surrendered to them; but this promise he had failed to
+perform. Volagases appears to have thought that his successor might
+be more facile, and accordingly instructed his envoys to re-open the
+subject, to remind Antoninus of the pledged faith of his adopted father,
+and to make a formal request for the delivery of the valued relic.
+Antoninus, however, proved as obdurate as Hadrian. He was not to be
+persuaded by any argument to give back the trophy; and the envoys had
+to return with the report that their representations upon the point had
+been in vain, and had wholly failed to move the new Emperor.
+
+The history of Volagases II. ends with this transaction. No events are
+assignable to the last ten years of his reign, which was probably a
+season of profound repose, in the East as it was in the West--a period
+having (as our greatest historian observes of it) "the rare advantage
+of furnishing very few materials for history," which is, indeed (as
+he says), "little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and
+misfortunes of mankind." The influence of Rome extended beyond his
+borders. As in modern times it has become a proverb that when a
+particular European nation is satisfied the peace of the world is
+assured, so in the days whereof we are treating it would seem that
+Rome had only to desire repose, for the surrounding nations to find
+themselves tranquil. The inference appears to be that not only were the
+wars which occurred between Rome and her neighbors for the most
+part stirred up by herself, but that even the civil commotions which
+disturbed States upon her borders had very generally their origin in
+Roman intrigues, which, skilfully concealed from view, nevertheless
+directed the course of affairs in surrounding States, and roused in
+them, when Rome thought her interests required it, civil differences,
+disorders, and contentions.
+
+The successor of Volagasos II. was Volagases III., who was most probably
+his son, although of this there is no direct evidence. The Parthian
+coins show that Volagases III. ascended the throne in A.D. 148 or 149,
+and reigned till A.D. 190 or 191--a space of forty-two years. We may
+assume that he was a tolerably young man at his accession, though the
+effigy upon his earliest coins is well bearded, and that he was somewhat
+tired of the long inactivity which had characterized the period of his
+father's rule. He seems very early to have meditated a war with Rome,
+and to have taken certain steps which betrayed his intentions; but, upon
+their coming to the knowledge of Antoninus, and that prince writing to
+him on the subject, Volagases altered his plans, and resolved to wait,
+at any rate, until a change of Emperor at Rome should give him a
+chance of taking the enemy at a disadvantage. Thus it was not till A.D.
+161--twelve years after his accession--that his original design was
+carried out, and the flames of war were once more lighted in the East to
+the ruin and desolation of the fairest portion of Western Asia.
+
+The good Antoninus was succeeded in the spring of A.D. 161 by his
+adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, who at once associated with him in the
+government the other adopted son of Antoninus, Lucius Verus. Upon this,
+thinking that the opportunity for which he had been so long waiting had
+at last arrived, Volagases marched his troops suddenly into Armenia,
+expelled Sosemus, the king protected by the Romans, and established in
+his place a certain Tigranes, a scion of the old royal stock, whom the
+Armenians regarded as their rightful monarch. News of this bold
+stroke soon reached the governors of the adjacent Roman provinces,
+and Severianus, prefect of Cappadocia, a Gaul by birth, incited by
+the predictions of a pseudo-prophet of those parts, named Alexander,
+proceeded at the head of a legion into the adjoining kingdom, in the
+hope of crushing the nascent insurrection and punishing at once the
+Armenian rebels and their Parthian supporters. Scarcely, however, had
+he crossed the Euphrates, when he found himself confronted by an
+overwhelming force, commanded by a Parthian called Chosroes, and was
+compelled to throw himself into the city of Elegeia, where he was
+immediately surrounded and besieged. Various tales were told of his
+conduct under these circumstances, and of the fate which overtook him
+the most probable account being that after holding out for three days
+he and his troops were assailed on all sides, and, after a brave
+resistance, were shot down almost to a man. The Parthians then crossed
+the Euphrates, and carried fire and sword through Syria. Attidius
+Cornelianus, the proconsul, having ventured to oppose them, was
+repulsed. Vague thoughts of flying to arms and shaking off the Roman
+yoke possessed the minds of the Syrians, and threatened to lead to some
+overt act. The Parthians passed through Syria into Palestine, and almost
+the whole East seemed to lie open to their incursions. When these facts
+were reported at Rome, it was resolved to send Lucius Verus to the East.
+He was of an age to undergo the hardships of campaigning, and therefore
+better fitted than Marcus Aurelius to undertake the conduct of a great
+war. But, as his military talent was distrusted, it was considered
+necessary to place at his disposal a number of the best Roman generals
+of the time, whose services he might use while he claimed as his own
+their successes. Statius Priscus, Avidius Cassius, and Martius Verus,
+were the most important of these officers; and it was by them, and not
+by Verus himself, that the military operations were, in fact, conducted.
+It was not till late in the year A.D. 162 that Verus, having with
+reluctance torn himself from Italy, appeared, with his lieutenants,
+upon the scene in Syria, and, after vainly offering them terms of
+peace, commenced hostilities against the triumphant Parthians. The young
+Emperor did not adventure his own person in the field, but stationed
+himself at Antioch, where he could enjoy the pleasures and amusements of
+a luxurious capital, while he committed to his lieutenants the task of
+recovering Syria and Armenia, and of chastising the invaders. Avidius
+Cassius, to whom the Syrian legions were entrusted, had a hard task to
+bring them into proper discipline after their long period of inaction,
+but succeeded after a while by the use of almost unexampled severities.
+Attacked by Volagases within the limits of his province, he made a
+successful defence, and in a short time was able to take the offensive,
+to defeat Volagases in a great battle near Europus, and (A.D. 163) to
+drive the Parthians across the Euphrates. The Armenian war was at the
+same time being pressed by Statius Priscus, who advanced without a check
+from the frontier to the capital, Artaxata, which he took and (as it
+seems) destroyed. He then built a new city, which he strongly garrisoned
+with Roman troops, and sent intelligence of his successes to Rome,
+whither Soaemus, the expelled monarch, had betaken himself. Soasmus was
+upon this replaced on the Armenian throne, the task of settling him in
+the government being deputed to a certain Thucydides, by whose efforts,
+together with those of Martius Verus, all opposition to the restored
+monarch was suppressed, and the entire country tranquillized.
+
+Rome had thus in the space of two years recovered her losses, and shown
+Parthia that she was still well able to maintain the position in Western
+Asia which she had acquired by the victories of Trajan. But such a
+measure of success did not content the ambitious generals into whose
+hands the incompetence of Verus had thrown the real direction of the
+war. Military distinction at this time offered to a Roman a path to the
+very highest honors, each successful general becoming at once by force
+of his position a candidate for the Imperial dignity. Of the various
+able officers employed under Verus, the most distinguished and the most
+ambitious was Cassius--a chief who ultimately raised the standard of
+revolt against Aurelius, and lost his life in consequence. Cassius,
+after he had succeeded in clearing Syria of the invaders, was made
+by Aurelius a sort of generalissimo; and being thus free to act as he
+chose, determined to carry the war into the enemy's country, and to
+try if he could not rival, or outdo, the exploits of Trajan fifty years
+previously. Though we have no continuous narrative of his expedition, we
+may trace its course with tolerable accuracy in the various fragmentary
+writings which bear upon the history of the time--from Zeugma, when
+he crossed the Euphrates into Mesopotamia, to Nicephorium, near the
+junction of the Belik with the Euphrates; and thence down the course of
+the stream to Sura (Sippara?) and Babylon. At Sura a battle was fought,
+in which the Romans were victorious; and then the final efforts were
+made, which covered Cassius with glory. The great city of Seleucia,
+upon the Tigris, which had a population of 400,000 souls, was besieged,
+taken, and burnt, to punish an alleged treason of the inhabitants.
+Ctesiphon, upon the opposite side of the stream, was occupied, and the
+summer palace of Volagases there situated was levelled with the ground.
+The various temples were plundered; secret places, where it was thought
+treasure might be hid, were examined, and a rich booty was carried off
+by the invaders. The Parthians, worsted in every encounter, ceased to
+resist; and all the conquests made by Trajan were recovered. Nor was
+this all. The Roman general, after conquering the Mesopotamian plain,
+advanced into the Zagros mountains, and occupied, at any rate, a portion
+of Media, thereby entitling his Imperial masters to add to the titles
+of "Armeniacus," and "Parthicus," which they had already assumed, the
+further and wholly novel title of "Medicus."
+
+But Rome was not to escape the Nemesis which is wont to pursue the
+over-fortunate. During the stay of the army in Babylonia a disease
+was contracted of a strange and terrible character, whereto the
+superstitious fears of the soldiers assigned a supernatural origin. The
+pestilence, they said, had crept forth from a subterranean cell in the
+temple of Comsean Apollo at Seleucia, which those who were plundering
+the town rashly opened in the hope of its containing treasure, but which
+held nothing except this fearful scourge, placed there in primeval times
+by the spells of the Chaldaeans. Such a belief, however fanciful, was
+calculated to increase the destructive-power of the malady, and so to
+multiply its victims. Vast numbers of the soldiers perished, we are
+told, from its effects during the march homeward; their sufferings being
+further aggravated by the failure of supplies, which was such that; many
+died of famine. The stricken army, upon entering the Roman territory,
+communicated the infection to the inhabitants, and the return of Verus
+and his troops to Rome was a march of Death through the provinces. The
+pestilence raged with special force throughout Italy, and spread as far
+as the Rhine and the Atlantic Ocean. According to one writer more than
+one half of the entire population, and almost the whole Roman army, was
+carried off by it.
+
+But though Rome suffered in consequence of the war, its general result
+was undoubtedly disadvantageous to the Parthians. The expedition
+of Cassius was the first invasion of Parthia in which Rome had
+been altogether triumphant. Trajan's campaign had brought about the
+submission of Armenia to the Romans; but it did not permanently deprive
+Parthia of any portion of her actual territory. And the successes of
+the Emperor in his advance were almost balanced by the disasters which
+accompanied his retreat--disasters so serious as to cause a general
+belief that Hadrian's concessions sprang more from prudence than from
+generosity. The war of Verus produced the actual cession to Rome of a
+Parthian province, which continued thenceforth for centuries to be an
+integral portion of the Roman Empire. Western Mesopotamia, or the tract
+between the Euphrates and the Khabour, passed under the dominion of Rome
+at this time; and, though not reduced to the condition of a province,
+was none the less lost to Parthia, and absorbed by Rome into her
+territory. Parthia, moreover, was penetrated by the Roman arms more
+deeply at this time than she had ever been previously, and was made to
+feel, as she had never felt before, that in contending with Rome she was
+fighting a losing battle. It added to the disgrace of her defeats, and
+to her own sense of their decisive character, that they were inflicted
+by a mere general, a man of no very great eminence, and one who was far
+from possessing the free command of those immense resources which Rome
+had at her disposal.
+
+Parthia had now, in fact, entered upon the third stage of her decline.
+The first was reached when she ceased to be an aggressive and was
+content to become a stationary power; the second set in when she began
+to lose territory by the revolt of her own subjects; the third--which
+commences at this point--is marked by her inability to protect herself
+from the attacks of a foreign assailant. The causes of her decline were
+various. Luxury had no doubt done its ordinary work upon the conquerors
+of rich and highly-civilized regions, softening down their original
+ferocity, and rendering them at once less robust in frame and less bold
+and venturesome in character.
+
+The natural law of exhaustion, which sooner or later affects all
+races of any distinction, may also not improbably have come into play,
+rendering the Parthians of the age of Verus very degenerate descendants
+of those who displayed such brilliant qualities when they contended with
+Crassus and Mark Antony. Loyalty towards the monarch, and the absolute
+devotion of every energy to his service, which characterized, the
+earlier times, dwindled and disappeared as the succession became
+more and more disputed, and the kings less worthy of their subjects'
+admiration. The strength needed against foreign enemies was, moreover,
+frequently expended in civil broils; the spirit of patriotism declined;
+and tameness under insult and indignity took the place of that fierce
+pride and fiery self-assertion which had once characterized the people.
+
+The war with Rome terminated in the year A.D. 165. Volagases survived
+its close for at least twenty-five years; but he did not venture at any
+time to renew the struggle, or to make any effort for the recovery of
+his lost territory. Once only does he appear to have contemplated an
+outbreak. When, about the year A.D. 174 or 175, Aurelius being occupied
+in the west with repelling the attacks of the wild tribes upon the
+Danube, Avidius Cassius assumed the purple in Syria, and a civil war
+seemed to be imminent, Volagases appears to have shown an intention of
+once more taking arms and trying his fortune. A Parthian war was at this
+time expected to break out by the Romans. But the crisis passed without
+an actual explosion. The promptness of Aurelius, who, on hearing the
+news, at once quitted the Danube and marched into Syria, together with
+the rapid collapse of the Cassian revolt, rendered it imprudent for
+Volagases to persist in his project. He therefore laid aside all thought
+of renewing hostilities with Rome; and, on the arrival of Aurelius
+in Syria, sent ambassadors to him with friendly assurances, who were
+received favorably by the philosophic Emperor.
+
+Four years after this Marcus Aurelius died, and was succeeded in the
+purple by his youthful son, Lucius Aurelius Commodus. It might have been
+expected that the accession of this weak and inexperienced prince would
+have induced Volagases to resume his warlike projects, and attempt the
+recovery of Mesopotamia. But the scanty history of the time which
+has come down to us shows no trace of his having entertained any such
+design. He had probably reached the age at which repose becomes a
+distinct object of desire, and is infinitely preferred to active
+exertion. At any rate, it is clear that he made no effort. The reign
+of Gommodus was from first to last untroubled by Oriental disturbance.
+Volgases III. was for ten years contemporary with this mean and
+unwarlike prince; but Rome was allowed to retain her Parthian conquests
+unmolested. At length, in A.D. 190 or 191, Volagases died,56 and the
+destinies of Parthia passed into the hands of a new monarch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+_Accession of Volagases IV. His Alliance sought by Pescennius Niger,
+Part taken by Parthia in the Contest between Niger and Severus,
+Mesopotamia revolts from Rome. First Eastern Expedition of Severus. Its
+Results. Second Expedition. Successes of Severus. His Failure at Hatra.
+General Results of the War. Death of Volagases IV._
+
+
+On the death of Volagases III., in A.D. 190 or 191, the Parthian crown
+fell to another prince of the same name, who was probably the eldest son
+of the late monarch. This prince was scarcely settled upon the throne
+when the whole of Western Asia was violently disturbed by the commotions
+which shook the Roman Empire after the murder of Commodus. The
+virtuous Pertinax was allowed to reign but three months (A.D. 193,
+January--March). His successor was scarcely proclaimed when in three
+different quarters the legionaries rose in arms, and, saluting their
+commanders as "Emperors," invested them with the purple. Clodius
+Albinus, in Britain; Severus, in Pannonia; and Pescennius Niger, in
+Syria, at one and the same time claimed the place which the wretched
+Julianus had bought, and prepared themselves to maintain their rights
+against all who should impugn them. It seems that, on the first
+proclamation of Niger, and before it had become evident that he would
+have to establish his authority by force of arms, either the Parthian
+monarch, or at any rate princes who were among his dependants, sent
+to congratulate the new Emperor on his accession and to offer him
+contingents of troops, if he required them. These spontaneous proposals
+were at the first politely declined, since Niger expected to find
+himself accepted joyfully as sovereign, and did not look to have
+to engage in war. When, however, the news reached him that he had
+formidable competitors, and that Severus, acknowledged Emperor at Rome,
+was about to set out for the East, at the head of vast forces, he saw
+that it would be necessary for him, if he were to make head against his
+powerful rival, to draw together troops from all quarters. Accordingly,
+towards the close of A.D. 193, he sent envoys to the princes beyond the
+Euphrates, and especially to the kings of Parthia, Armenia, and Hatra,
+entreating them to send their troops at once to his aid. Volagases,
+under these circumstances, appears to have hesitated. He sent an answer
+that he would issue orders to his satraps for the collection of a force,
+but made no haste to redeem his promise, and in fact refrained from
+despatching any body of distinctly Parthian troops to the assistance of
+Niger in the impending struggle.
+
+While, however, thus abstaining from direct interference in the contest
+between the two Roman pretenders, Volagases appears to have allowed one
+of his dependent monarchs to mix himself up in the quarrel. Hatra, at
+this time the capital of an Arabian community, and the chief city of
+central Mesopotamia (or the tract between the Sinjar and the Babylonian
+alluvium), was a dependency of Parthia, and though, like so many other
+Parthian dependencies, it possessed its native kings, cannot have been
+in a position to engage in a great war without permission from the
+Court of Ctesiphon. When, therefore, we find that Barsemius, the King
+of Hatra, not only received the envoys of Niger favorably, but actually
+sent to his aid a body of archers, we must understand that Volagases
+sanctioned the measure. Probably he thought it prudent to secure the
+friendship of the pretender whom he expected to be successful, but
+sought to effect this in the way that would compromise him least if the
+result of the struggle should be other than he looked for. The sending
+of his own troops to the camp of Niger would have committed him
+irretrievably; but the actions of a vassal monarch might with some
+plausibility be disclaimed.
+
+As the struggle between the two pretenders progressed in the early
+months of A.D. 194, the nations beyond the Euphrates grew bolder,
+and allowed themselves to indulge their natural feelings of hostility
+towards the Romans. The newly subjected Mesopotamians flew to arms,
+massacred most of the Roman detachments stationed about their country,
+and laid siege to Nisibis, which since the cession Rome had made her
+head-quarters. The natives of the region were assisted by their kindred
+races across the Tigris, particularly by the people of Adiabene, who,
+like the Arabs of Hatra, were Parthian vassals. Severus had no sooner
+overcome his rival and slain him, than he hastened eastward with the
+object of relieving the troops shut up in Nisibis, and of chastising the
+rebels and their abettors. It was in vain that the Mesopotamians sought
+to disarm his resentment by declaring that they had taken up arms in his
+cause, and had been only anxious to distress and injure the partisans of
+his antagonist. Though they sent ambassadors to him with presents, and
+offered to make restitution of the Roman spoil still in their hands,
+and of the Roman prisoners, it was observed that they said nothing about
+restoring the strongholds which they had taken, or resuming the position
+of Roman tributaries. On the contrary, they required that all Roman
+soldiers still in their country should be withdrawn from it, and that
+their independence should henceforth be respected. As Severus was not
+inclined to surrender Roman territory without a contest, war was at once
+declared. His immediate adversaries were of no great account, being, as
+they were, the petty kings of Osrhoene, Adiabene, and Hatra; but behind
+them loomed the massive form of the Parthian State, which was attacked
+through them, and could not be indifferent to their fortunes.
+
+In the spring of A.D. 195, Severus, at the head of his troops, crossed
+the Euphrates in person, and taking up his own quarters at Nisibis,
+which the Mesopotamians had been unable to capture, proceeded to employ
+his generals in the reduction of the rebels and the castigation of
+their aiders and abettors. Though his men suffered considerably from the
+scarcity and badness of the water, yet he seems to have found no great
+difficulty in reducing Mesopotamia once more into subjection. Having
+brought it completely under, and formally made Nisibis the capital, at
+the same time raising it to the dignified position of a Roman colony,
+he caused his troops to cross the Tigris into Adiabene, and, though
+the inhabitants offered a stout resistance, succeeded in making himself
+master of the country. The Parthian monarch seems to have made no effort
+to prevent the occupation of this province. He stood probably on the
+defensive, expecting to be attacked, in or near his capital. But Severus
+could not afford to remain in these remote regions. He had still a rival
+in the West in the person of Clodius Albinus, who might be expected to
+descend upon Italy, if it were left exposed to his attacks much longer.
+He therefore quitted the East early in A.D. 196, and returned to Rome
+with all speed, leaving Parthia very insufficiently chastised, and his
+new conquests very incompletely settled.
+
+Scarcely was he gone when the war broke out with greater violence than
+ever. Volagases took the offensive, recovered Adiabene, and crossing the
+Tigris into Mesopotamia, swept the Romans from the open country.
+Nisibis alone, which two years before had defied all the efforts of the
+Mesopotamians, held out against him, and even this stronghold was
+within a little of being taken. According to one writer, the triumphant
+Parthians even crossed the Euphrates, and once more spread themselves
+over the fertile plains of Syria. Severus was forced in A.D. 197 to make
+a second Eastern expedition to recover his lost glory and justify the
+titles which he had taken. On his first arrival in Syria, he contented
+himself with expelling the Parthians from the province, nor was it till
+late in the year, that, having first made ample preparation, he crossed
+the Euphrates into Mesopotamia.
+
+The success of any expedition against Parthia depended greatly on the
+dispositions of the semi-dependent princes, who possessed territories
+bordering upon those of the two great empires. Among these the most
+important were at this time the kings of Armenia and Osrhoene. Armenia
+had at the period of Niger's attempt been solicited by his emissaries;
+but its monarch had then refused to take any part in the civil conflict.
+Subsequently, however, he in some way offended Severus who, when he
+reached the East, regarded Armenia as a hostile State requiring instant
+subjugation. It seems to have been in the summer of A.D. 197, soon after
+his first arrival in Syria, that Severus despatched a force against the
+Armenian prince, who was named (like the Parthian monarch of the time)
+Volagases. That prince mustered his troops and met the invaders at the
+frontier of his kingdom. A battle seemed imminent; but ere the fortune
+of war was tried the Armenian made an application for a truce, which
+was granted by the Roman leaders. A breathing-space being thus gained,
+Volagases sent ambassadors with presents and hostages to the Roman
+emperor in Syria, professed to be animated by friendly feelings towards
+Rome, and entreated Severus to allow him terms of peace. Severus
+permitted himself to be persuaded; a formal treaty was made, and the
+Armenian prince even received an enlargement of his previous territory
+at the hands of his mollified suzerain.
+
+The Osrhoenian monarch, who bore the usual name of Abgarus, made a more
+complete and absolute submission. He came in person into the emperor's
+camp, accompanied by a numerous body of archers, and bringing with
+him his sons as hostages. Severus must have hailed with especial
+satisfaction the adhesion of this chieftain, which secured him the
+undisturbed possession of Western Mesopotamia as far as the junction of
+the Khabour with the Euphrates. It was his design to proceed himself by
+the Euphrates route, while he sent detachments under other leaders
+to ravage Eastern Mesopotamia and Adiabene, which had evidently
+been re-occupied by the Parthians. To secure his army from want, he
+determined, like Trajan, to build a fleet of ships in Upper Mesopotamia,
+where suitable timber abounded, and to march his army down the left
+bank of the Euphrates into Babylonia, while his transports, laden with
+stores, descended the course of the river. In this way he reached
+the neighborhood of Ctesiphon without suffering any loss, and easily
+captured the two great cities of Babylon and Seleucia, which on his
+approach were evacuated by their garrisons. He then proceeded to the
+attack of Ctesiphon itself, passing his ships probably through one of
+the canals which united the Tigris with the Euphrates, or else (like
+Trajan) conveying them on rollers across the neck of land which
+separates the two rivers.
+
+Volagases had taken up his own position at Ctesiphon, bent on defending
+his capital. It is possible that the approach of Severus by the line of
+march which he pursued was unexpected, and that the sudden presence of
+the Romans before the walls of Ctesiphon came upon the Parthian
+monarch as a surprise. He seems, at any rate, to have made but a poor
+resistance. It may be gathered, indeed, from one author that he met the
+invaders in the open field, and fought a battle in defence of Ctesiphon
+before allowing himself to be shut up within its walls. But after the
+city was once invested it appears to have been quickly taken. We hear of
+no such resistance as that which was soon afterwards offered by Hatra.
+The soldiers of Severus succeeded in storming Ctesiphon on the first
+assault; the Parthian monarch betook himself to flight, accompanied by
+a few horsemen; and the seat of empire thus fell easily--a second
+time within the space of eighty-two years--into the hands of a foreign
+invader. The treatment of the city was such as we might expect from
+the ordinary character of Roman warfare. A general massacre of the
+male population was made. The soldiers wore allowed to plunder both the
+public and the private buildings at their pleasure. The precious metals
+accumulated in the royal treasury were seized, and the chief ornaments
+of the palace were taken and carried off. Nor did blood and plunder
+content the victors. After slaughtering the adult males they made
+prize of the women and children, who were torn from their homes without
+compunction and led into captivity, to the number of a hundred thousand.
+
+Notwithstanding the precautions which he had taken, Severus appears
+to have become straitened for supplies about the time that he captured
+Ctesiphon. His soldiers were compelled for some days to exist on roots,
+which produced a dangerous dysentery. He found himself unable to pursue
+Volagases, and recognized the necessity of retreating before disaster
+overtook him. He could not, however, return by the route of the
+Euphrates, since his army had upon its advance completely exhausted the
+resources of the Euphrates region. The line of the Tigris was therefore
+preferred for the retreat; and while the ships with difficulty made
+their way up the course of the stream, the army pursued its march upon
+the banks, without, so far as appears, any molestation. It happened,
+however, that the route selected led Severus near to the small state of
+Hatra, which had given him special offence by supporting the cause
+of his rival, Niger; and it seemed to him of importance that the
+inhabitants should receive condign punishment for this act of audacity.
+He may also have hoped to eclipse the fame of Trajan by the capture of a
+town which had successfully resisted that hero. He therefore stopped
+his march in order to lay siege to the place, which he attacked with
+military engines, and with all the other offensive means known at the
+time to the Romans. His first attempt was, however, easily repulsed.
+The walls of the town were strong, its defenders brave and full of
+enterprise. They burnt the siege-machines brought against them, and
+committed great havoc among the soldiers. Under these circumstances
+disorders broke out among the besiegers; mutinous words were heard;
+and the emperor thought himself compelled to have recourse to severe
+measures of repression. Having put to death two of his chief officers,
+and then found it necessary to deny that he had given orders for the
+execution of one of them, he broke up from before the place and removed
+his camp to a distance.
+
+He had not, however, as yet relinquished the hope of bringing his
+enterprise to a successful issue. In the security of his distant camp
+he constructed fresh engines in increased numbers, collected an abundant
+supply of provisions, and made every preparation for renewing the siege
+with effect at no remote period. The treasures stored up in the
+city were reported to be great, especially those which the piety of
+successive generations had accumulated in the Temple of the Sun. This
+rich booty appealed forcibly to the cupidity of the emperor, while his
+honor seemed to require that he should not suffer a comparatively
+petty town to defy his arms with impunity. He, therefore, after a short
+absence retraced his steps, and appeared a second time before Hatrawith
+a stronger siege-train and a better appointed army than before. But the
+Hatreni met his attack with a resolution equal to his own. They were
+excellent archers; they possessed a powerful force of cavalry; they knew
+their walls to be strong; and they were masters of a peculiar kind
+of fire, which was calculated to terrify and alarm, if not greatly to
+injure, an enemy unacquainted with its qualities. Severus once more
+lost almost all his machines; the Hatrene cavalry severely handled his
+foragers; his men for a long time made but little impression upon the
+walls, while they suffered grievously from the enemy's slingers and
+archers, from his warlike engines, and especially, we are told, from
+the fiery darts which were rained upon them incessantly. However, after
+enduring these various calamities for a length of time, the perseverance
+of the Romans was rewarded by the formation of a practicable breach
+in the outer wall; and the soldiers demanded to be led to the assault,
+confident in their power to force an entrance and carry the place. But
+the emperor resisted their inclination. He did not wish that the city
+should be stormed, since in that case it must have been given up to
+indiscriminate pillage, and the treasures which he coveted would have
+become the prey of the soldiery. The Hatreni, he thought, would make
+their submission, if he only gave them a little time, now that they
+must see further resistance to be hopeless. He waited therefore a day,
+expecting an offer of surrender. But the Hatreni made no sign, and in
+the night restored their wall where it had been broken down.
+
+Severus then made up his mind to sacrifice the treasures on which his
+heart had been set, and, albeit with reluctance, gave the word for the
+assault. But now the legionaries refused. They had been forbidden to
+attack when success was certain and the danger trivial--they were
+now required to imperil their lives while the result could not but be
+doubtful. Perhaps they divined the emperor's motive in withholding them
+from the assault, and resented it; at any rate they openly declined to
+execute his orders. After a vain attempt to force an entrance by means
+of his Asiatic allies, Severus desisted from his undertaking. The summer
+was far advanced the heat was great; disease had broken out among his
+troops; above all, they had become demoralized, and their obedience
+could no longer be depended on. Severus broke up from before Hatra a
+second time, after having besieged it for twenty days, and returned--by
+what route we are not told--into Syria.
+
+Nothing is more surprising in the history of this campaign than the
+inaction and apparent apathy of the Parthians. Volagases, after quitting
+his capital, seems to have made no effort at all to hamper or harass
+his adversary. The prolonged resistance of Hatra, the sufferings of the
+Romans, their increasing difficulties with respect to provisions,
+the injurious effect of the summer heats upon their unacclimatized
+constitutions, would have been irresistible temptations to a prince of
+any spirit or energy, inducing him to advance as the Romans retired,
+to hang upon their rear, to cut off their supplies, and to render their
+retreat difficult, if not disastrous. Volagases appears to have
+remained wholly inert and passive. His conduct is only explicable by the
+consideration of the rapid decline which Parthia was now undergoing, of
+the general decay of patriotic spirit, and the sea of difficulties into
+which a monarch was plunged who had to retreat before an invader.
+
+The expedition of Severus was on the whole glorious for Rome, and
+disastrous for Parthia, though the glory of the victor was tarnished
+at the close by his failure before Hatra. It cost Parthia a second
+province. The Roman emperor not only recovered his previous position in
+Mesopotamia, but overstepping the Tigris, established the Roman
+dominion firmly in the fertile tract between that stream and the Zagros
+mountain-range. The title of "Adiabenicus" became no empty boast.
+Adiabene, or the tract between the Zab rivers--probably including at
+this time the entire low region at the foot of Zagros from the eastern
+Khabour on the north to the Adhem towards the south--passed under
+the dominion of Rome, the monarch of the country, hitherto a Parthian
+vassal, becoming her tributary. Thus the imperial standards were planted
+permanently at a distance less than a degree from the Parthian
+capital, which, with the great cities of Seleucia and Babylon in its
+neighborhood, was exposed to be captured almost at any moment by a
+sudden and rapid inroad.
+
+Volagases survived his defeat by Severus about ten or eleven years.
+For this space Parthian history is once more a blank, our authorities
+containing no notice that directly touches Parthia during the period in
+question. The stay of Severus in the East during the years A.D. 200 and
+201, would seem to indicate that the condition of the Oriental provinces
+was unsettled and required the presence of the Imperator. But we hear
+of no effort made by Parthia at this time to recover her losses--of
+no further collision between her troops and those of Rome; and we may
+assume therefore that peace was preserved, and that the Parthian monarch
+acquiesced, however unwillingly, in the curtailment of his territory.
+Probably internal, no less than external, difficulties pressed upon him.
+The diminution of Parthian prestige which had been brought about by the
+successive victories of Trajan, Avidius Cassius, and Severus must have
+loosened the ties which bound to Parthia the several vassal kingdoms.
+Her suzerainty had been accepted as that of the Asiatic nation most
+competent to make head against European intruders, and secure the native
+races in continued independence of a wholly alien power. It may well
+have appeared at this time to the various vassal states that the
+Parthian vigor had become _effete_, that the qualities which had
+advanced the race to the leadership of Western Asia were gone, and that
+unless some new power could be raised up to act energetically against
+Rome, the West would obtain complete dominion over the East, and Asia
+be absorbed into Europe. Thoughts of this kind, fermenting among the
+subject populations, would produce a general debility, a want both of
+power and of inclination to make any combined effort, a desire to wait
+until an opportunity of acting with effect should offer. Hence probably
+the deadness and apathy which characterize this period, and which seem
+at first sight so astonishing. Distrust of their actual leader paralyzed
+the nations of Western Asia, and they did not as yet see their way
+clearly towards placing themselves under any other guidance.
+
+Volagases IV. reigned till A.D. 208-9, dying thus about two years before
+his great adversary, who expired at York, February 4, A.D. 211.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+_Struggle between the two Sons of Volagases IV., Volagases V.
+and Artabanus. Continued Sovereignty of both Princes. Ambition of
+Caracallus. His Proceedings in the East. His Resolve to quarrel
+with Parthia. First Proposal made by him to Artabanus. Perplexity
+of Artabanus. Caracallus invades Parthia. His Successes, and Death.
+Macrinus, defeated by Artabanus, consents to Terms of Peace. Revolt of
+the Persians under Artaxerxes. Prolonged Struggle. Death of Artabanus,
+and Downfall of the Parthian Empire._
+
+
+On the death of Volagases IV., the Parthian crown was disputed between
+his two sons, Artabanus and Volagases. According to the classical
+writers, the contest resulted in favor of the former, whom they regard
+as undisputed sovereign of the Parthians, at any rate from the year
+A.D. 216. It appears, however, from the Parthian coins, that both the
+brothers claimed and exercised sovereignty during the entire term
+of seventeen or eighteen years which intervened between the death of
+Volagases IV. and the revolt of the Persians. Artabanus must beyond all
+doubt have acquired the sole rule in the western portions of the empire,
+since (from A.D. 216 to A.D. 226) he was the only monarch known to the
+Romans. But Volagases may at the same time have been recognized in the
+more eastern provinces, and may have maintained himself in power in
+those remote regions without interfering with his brother's dominion in
+the West. Still this division of the empire must naturally have tended
+to weaken it; and the position of Volagases has to be taken into account
+in estimating the difficulties under which the last monarch of the
+Arsacid series found himself placed--difficulties to which, after a
+struggle, he was at last forced to succumb. Domestic dissension, wars
+with a powerful neighbor (Rome), and internal disaffection and rebellion
+formed a combination, against which the last Parthian monarch, albeit a
+man of considerable energy, strove in vain. But he strove bravely; and
+the closing scenes of the empire, in which he bore the chief part, are
+not unworthy of its best and palmiest days.
+
+An actual civil war appears to have raged between the two brothers for
+some years. Caracallus, who in A.D. 211 succeeded his father, Severus,
+as Emperor of Rome, congratulated the Senate in A.D. 212 on the strife
+still going on in Parthia, which could not fail (he said) to inflict
+serious injury on that hostile state. The balance of advantage seems at
+first to have inclined towards Volagases, whom Caracallus acknowledged
+as monarch of Parthia in the year A.D. 215. But soon after this the
+fortune of war must have turned; for subsequently to the year A.D. 215,
+we hear nothing more of Volagases, but find Caracallus negotiating with
+Artabanus instead, and treating with him as undisputed monarch of the
+entire Parthian empire. That this was not his real position, appears
+from the coins; but the classical evidence may be accepted as showing
+that from the year A.D. 216, Volagases ceased to have much power,
+sinking from the rank of a rival monarch into that of a mere pretender,
+who may have caused some trouble to the established sovereign, but did
+not inspire serious alarm.
+
+Artabanus, having succeeded in reducing his brother to this condition,
+and obtained a general acknowledgment of his claims, found himself
+almost immediately in circumstances of much difficulty. From the moment
+of his accession, Caracallus had exhibited an inordinate ambition; and
+this ambition had early taken the shape of a special desire for the
+glory of Oriental conquests. The weak and dissolute son of Severus
+fancied himself, and called himself, a second Alexander; and thus he was
+in honor bound to imitate that hero's marvellous exploits. The extension
+of the Roman territory towards the East became very soon his great
+object, and he shrank from no steps, however base and dishonorable,
+which promised to conduce towards the accomplishment of his wishes. As
+early as A.D. 212 he summoned Abgarus, the tributary king of Osrhoene,
+into his presence, and when he unsuspectingly complied, seized him,
+threw him into prison, and declaring his territories forfeited,
+reduced them into the form of a Roman province. Successful in this bold
+proceeding, he attempted to deal with Armenia in the same way; but,
+though the monarch fell foolishly into the trap set for him, the nation
+was not so easily managed. The Armenians flew to arms on learning
+the imprisonment of their king and royal family; and when, three year
+afterwards (A.D. 215), Caracallus sent a Roman army under Theocritus,
+one of his favorites, to chastise them, they inflicted a severe defeat
+on their assailant. But the desire of Caracallus to effect Oriental
+conquests was increased, rather than diminished, by this occurrence. He
+had sought a quarrel with Parthia as early as A.D. 214, when he demanded
+of Volagases the surrender of two refugees of distinction. The rupture,
+which he courted, was deferred by the discreditable compliance of the
+Great King with his requisition.
+
+Volagases surrendered the two unfortunates; and the Roman Emperor was
+compelled to declare himself satisfied with the concession. But a year
+had not elapsed before he had devised a new plan of attack and proceeded
+to put it in execution.
+
+Volagases V. was about this time compelled to yield the western capital
+to his brother; and Artabanus IV. became the representative of Parthian
+power in the eyes of the Romans. Caracallus in the summer of A.D.
+215, having transferred his residence from Nicomedia to Antioch, sent
+ambassadors from the last-named place to Artabanus, who were to present
+the Parthian monarch with presents of unusual magnificence, and to make
+him an unheard-of proposition. "The Roman Emperor," said the despatch
+with which they were intrusted, "could not fitly wed the daughter of a
+subject or accept the position of son-in-law to a private person. No
+one could be a suitable wife to him who was not a princess." He therefore
+asked the Parthian monarch for the hand of his daughter. Rome and
+Parthia divided between them the sovereignty of the world; united, as
+they would be by this marriage, no longer recognizing any boundary as
+separating them, they would constitute a power that could not but be
+irresistible. It would be easy for them to reduce under their sway all
+the barbarous races on the skirts of their empires, and to hold them in
+subjection by a flexible system of administration and government. The
+Roman infantry was the best in the world, and in steady hand-to-hand
+fighting must be allowed to be unrivalled. The Parthians surpassed all
+nations in the number of their cavalry and in the excellency of their
+archers. If these advantages, instead of being separated, were combined,
+and the various elements on which success in war depends were thus
+brought into harmonious union, there could be no difficulty in
+establishing and maintaining a universal monarchy. Were that done,
+the Parthian spices and rare stuffs, as also the Roman metals and
+manufactures, would no longer need to be imported secretly and in small
+quantities by merchants, but, as the two countries would form together
+but one nation and one state, there would be a free interchange among
+all the citizens of their various products and commodities.
+
+The recital of this despatch threw the Parthian monarch into extreme
+perplexity. He did not believe that the proposals made to him were
+serious, or intended to have an honorable issue. The project broached
+appeared to him altogether extravagant, and such as no one in his senses
+could entertain for a moment. Yet he was anxious not to offend the
+master of two-and-thirty legions, nor even to give him a pretext for
+a rupture of amicable relations. Accordingly he temporized, contenting
+himself with setting forth some objections to the request of Caracallus,
+and asking to be excused compliance with it. "Such a union, as
+Caracallus proposed, could scarcely," he said, "prove a happy one. The
+wife and husband, differing in language, habits, and mode of life,
+could not but become estranged from one another. There was no lack of
+patricians at Rome, possessing daughters with whom the emperor might
+wed as suitably as the Parthian kings did with the females of their own
+royal house. It was not fit that either family should sully its blood by
+mixture with the other."
+
+There is some doubt whether Caracallus construed this response as an
+absolute refusal, and thereupon undertook his expedition, or whether he
+regarded it as inviting further negotiation, and sent a second embassy,
+whose arguments and persuasions induced Artabanus to consent to the
+proposed alliance. The contemporary historian, Dio, states positively
+that Artabanus refused to give his daughter to the Roman monarch, and
+that Caracallus undertook his expedition to avenge this insult; but
+Herodian, another contemporary, declares exactly the reverse. According
+to him, the Roman Emperor, on receiving the reply of Artabanus, sent a
+new embassy to urge his suit, and to protest with oaths that he was
+in earnest and had the most friendly intentions. Artabanus upon this
+yielded, addressed Caracallus as his son-in-law, and invited him to come
+and fetch home his bride. Herodian describes with much minuteness,
+and with a good deal of picturesque effect, the stately march of the
+Imperial prince through the Parthian territory, the magnificent welcome
+which he received, and the peaceful meeting of the two kings in the
+plain before Ctesiphon, which was suddenly interrupted by the meditated
+treason of the crafty Roman. Taken at disadvantage, the Parthian
+monarch with difficulty escaped, while his soldiers and other subjects,
+incapable of making any resistance, were slaughtered like sheep by their
+assailants, who then plundered and ravaged the Parthian territory at
+their will, and returned laden with spoil into Mesopotamia. In general,
+Dio is a more trustworthy authority than Herodian, and most moderns have
+therefore preferred his version of the story. But it may be questioned
+whether in this particular case the truth has not been best preserved
+by the historian on whom under ordinary circumstances we place less
+dependence. If so disgraceful an outrage as that described by Herodian
+was, indeed, committed by the head of the Roman State on a foreign
+potentate, Dio, as a great State official, would naturally be anxious
+to gloss it over. There are, moreover, internal difficulties in his
+narrative; and on more than one point of importance he contradicts not
+only Herodian, but also Spartianus. It is therefore not improbable that
+Herodian has given with most truth the general outline of the expedition
+of Caracallus, though, with that love of effect which characterizes him,
+he may have unduly embellished the narrative.
+
+The advance of Caracallus was, if Spartianus is to be believed, through
+Babylonia. The return may have been (as Dio seems to indicate that it
+was) by the way of the Tigris, through Adiabene and Upper Mesopotamia.
+It was doubtless on the return that Caracallus committed a second and
+wholly wanton outrage upon the feelings of his adversary, by violating
+the sanctity of the Parthian royal sepulchres, and dispersing their
+contents to the four winds. These tombs were situated at Arbela, in
+Adiabene, a place which seems to have been always regarded as in some
+sort a City of the Dead. The useless insult and impiety were worthy of
+one who, like Caracallus, was "equally devoid of judgment and humanity,"
+and who has been pronounced by the most unimpassioned of historians
+to have been "the common enemy of mankind." A severe reckoning was
+afterwards exacted for the indignity, which was felt by the Parthians
+with all the keenness wherewith Orientals are wont to regard any
+infringement of the sanctity of the grave.
+
+Caracallus appears to have passed the winter at Edessa, amusing himself
+with hunting and charioteering after the fatigues of his campaign. In
+the spring he threatened another advance into Parthian territory, and
+threw the Medes and Parthians into great alarm. He had not, however, the
+opportunity of renewing his attack. On April 8, A.D. 217, having quitted
+Edessa with a small retinue for the purpose of visiting a famous temple
+of the Moon-God near Carrhaa, he was surprised and murdered on the way
+by Julius Martialis, one of his guards. His successor, Macrinus, though
+a Praetorian prefect, was no soldier, and would willingly have retired
+at once from the war. But the passions of the Parthians had been roused.
+Artahanus possessed the energy and spirit which most of the recent
+monarchs had lacked; and though defeated when taken at disadvantage, and
+unable for some months to obtain any revenge, had employed the winter
+in the collection of a vast army, and was determined to exact a heavy
+retribution for the treacherous massacre of Ctesiphon and the wanton
+impiety of Arbela. He had already taken the field and conducted his
+troops to the neighborhood of the Roman frontier when Caracallus lost
+his life. Macrinus was scarcely acknowledged emperor when he found that
+the Parthians were close at hand, that the frontier was crossed, and
+that unless a treaty could be concluded he must risk a battle.
+
+Under these circumstances the unwarlike emperor hurriedly, sent
+ambassadors to the Parthian camp, with an offer to restore all the
+prisoners made in the late campaign as the price of peace. Artabanus
+unhesitatingly rejected the overture, but at the same time informed his
+adversary of the terms on which he was willing to treat. Macrinus, he
+said, must not only restore the prisoners, but must also consent to
+rebuild all the towns and castles which Caracallus had laid in ruins,
+must make compensation for the injury done to the tombs of the kings,
+and further must cede Mesopotamia to the Parthians. It was impossible
+for a Roman Emperor to consent to such demands without first trying the
+fortune of war, and Macrinus accordingly made up his mind to fight a
+battle. The Parthian prince had by this time advanced as far as Nisibis,
+and it was in the neighborhood of that city that the great struggle took
+place.
+
+The battle of Nisibis, which terminated the long contest between Rome
+and Parthia, was the fiercest and best-contested which was ever fought
+between the rival powers. It lasted for the space of three days. The
+army of Artabanus was numerous and well-appointed: like almost every
+Parthian force, it was strong in cavalry and archers; and it had
+moreover a novel addition of considerable importance, consisting of
+a corps of picked soldiers, clad in complete armor, and carrying long
+spears or lances, who were mounted on camels. The Roman legionaries
+were supported by numerous light-armed troops, and a powerful body of
+Mauritanian cavalry. According to Dio, the first engagement was brought
+on accidentally by a contest which arose among the soldiers for the
+possession of a watering-place. Herodian tells us that it commenced with
+a fierce assault of the Parthian cavalry, who charged the Romans with
+loud shouts, and poured into their ranks flight after flight of arrows.
+A long struggle followed. The Romans suffered greatly from the bows of
+the horse-archers, and from the lances of the corps mounted on camels;
+and though, when they could reach their enemy, they had always the
+superiority in close combat, yet after a while their losses from the
+cavalry and camels forced them to retreat. As they retired they strewed
+the ground with spiked balls and other contrivances for injuring the
+feet of animals; and this stratagem was so far successful that
+the pursuers soon found themselves in difficulties, and the armies
+respectively retired, without any decisive result, to their camps.
+
+The next day there was again a combat from morning to night, of which
+we have no description, but which equally terminated without any clear
+advantage to either side. The fight was then renewed for the third time
+on the third day, with the difference that the Parthians now directed
+all their efforts towards surrounding the enemy, and thus capturing
+their entire force. As they greatly outnumbered the Romans, these last
+found themselves compelled to extend their line unduly, in order to meet
+the Parthian tactics; and the weakness of the extended line seems to
+have given the Parthians an opportunity of throwing it into confusion,
+and thus causing the Roman defeat. Macrinus took to flight among the
+first; and his hasty retreat discouraged his troops, who soon afterwards
+acknowledged themselves beaten, and retired within the lines of their
+camp. Both armies had suffered severely. Herodian describes the heaps
+of dead as piled to such a height that the manoeuvres of the troops were
+impeded by them, and at last the two contending hosts could scarcely
+see one another! Both armies, therefore, desired peace. The soldiers
+of Macrinus, who had never had much confidence in their leader, were
+demoralized by ill success, and showed themselves inclined to throw off
+the restraints of discipline. Those of Artabanus, a militia rather than
+a standing force, were unaccustomed to sustained efforts; and having
+been now for some months in the field, had grown weary, and wished to
+return home. Macrinus under these circumstances re-opened negotiations
+with his adversary. He was prepared to concede something more than he
+had proposed originally, and he had reason to believe that the Parthian
+monarch, having found the Roman resistance so stubborn, would be content
+to insist on less. The event justified his expectations. Artabanus
+relinquished his demand for the cession of Mesopotamia, and accepted a
+pecuniary compensation for his wrongs. Besides restoring the captives
+and the booty carried off by Caracallus in his raid, Macrinus had to pay
+a sum exceeding a million and a half of our money. Rome thus concluded
+her transactions with Parthia, after nearly three centuries of struggle,
+by ignominiously purchasing a peace.
+
+It might have been expected that the glory of this achievement would
+have brought the troubles of Artabanus to a close; and if they did not
+cause the pretender who still disputed his possession of the throne to
+submit, would at any rate have put an end to any disaffection on the
+part of the subject nations that the previous ill-success of Parthia in
+her Roman wars might have provoked. But in the histories of nations and
+empires we constantly find that noble and gallant efforts to retrieve
+disaster and prevent the ruin consequent upon it come too late. When
+matters have gathered to a head, when steps that commit important
+persons have been taken, when classes or races have been encouraged to
+cherish hopes, when plans have been formed and advanced to a certain
+point, the course of action that has been contemplated and arranged for
+cannot suddenly be given up. The cause of discontent is removed, but the
+effects remain. Affections have been alienated, and the alienation still
+continues. A certain additional resentment is even felt at the tardy
+repentance, or revival, which seems to cheat the discontented of that
+general sympathy whereof without it they would have been secure. In
+default of their original grievance, it is easy for them to discover
+minor ones, to exaggerate these into importance, and to find in them
+a sufficient reason for persistence in the intended course. Hence
+revolutions often take place just when the necessity for them seems
+to be past, and kingdoms perish at a time when they have begun to show
+themselves deserving of a longer term of life.
+
+It is impossible at the present day to form any trustworthy estimate
+of the real value of those grounds of complaint which the Persians, in
+common doubtless with other subject races, thought that they had against
+the Parthian rule. We can well understand that the supremacy of any
+dominant race is irksome to the aliens who have to submit to it;
+but such information as we possess fails to show us either anything
+seriously oppressive in the general system of the Parthian government,
+or any special grievance whereof the Persians had to complain. The
+Parthians were tolerant; they did not interfere with the religious
+prejudices of their subjects, or attempt to enforce uniformity of creed
+or worship. Their military system did not press over-heavily on the
+subject peoples, nor is there any reason to believe that the scale of
+their taxation was excessive. Such tyranny as is charged upon certain
+Parthian monarchs is not of a kind that would have been sensibly felt
+by the conquered nations, for it was exercised upon none who were not
+Parthians. If we endeavor to form a distinct notion of the grievances
+under which the Persians suffered, they seem to have amounted to no more
+than this: 1. That high offices, whether military or civil, were for the
+most part confined to those of Parthian blood, and not thrown open to
+Parthian subjects generally; 2. That the priests of the Persian religion
+were not held in any special honor, but placed merely on a par with the
+religious ministers of the other subject races; 3. That no advantage in
+any respect was allowed to the Persians over the rest of the conquered
+peoples, notwithstanding that they had for so many years exercised
+supremacy over Western Asia, and given to the list of Asiatic worthies
+such names as those of Cyrus and Darius Hystaspis. It must, however,
+be confessed that the account which has come down to us of the times
+in question is exceedingly meagre and incomplete; that we cannot say
+whether the Persians had not also other grounds of complaint besides
+those that are known to us; and, more especially, that we have no means
+of determining what the actual pressure of the grievances complained
+of was, or whether it did not reach to that degree of severity which
+moderns mostly hold to justify disaffection and rebellion. On the whole,
+perhaps, our conclusion must be, that the best justification of the
+outbreak is to be found in its success. The Parthians had no right to
+their position but such as arose out of the law of the stronger--
+
+     The ancient rule, the good old plan,
+     That those shall take who have the power,
+     And those shall keep who can--
+
+when the time came that they had lost this pre-eminence, superiority
+in strength having passed from them to a nation hitherto counted among
+their subjects, it was natural and right that the seat of authority
+should shift with the shift in the balance of power, and that the
+leadership of the Persians should be once more recognized.
+
+If the motives which actuated the nation of the Persians in rising
+against their masters are thus obscure and difficult to be estimated,
+still less can we form any decided judgment upon those which caused
+their leader, Artaxerxes, to attempt his perilous enterprise. Could we
+trust implicitly the statement of Agathias, that Artaxerxes was himself
+a Magus, initiated in the deepest mysteries of the Order, we should have
+grounds for considering that religious zeal was, at any rate, a leading
+motive of his conduct. It is certain that among the principal changes
+consequent upon his success was a religious revolution--the substitution
+for Parthian tolerance of all faiths and worships, of a rigidly enforced
+uniformity in religion, the establishment of the Magi in power, and the
+bloody persecution of all such as declined obedience to the precepts of
+Zoroaster. But the conjecture has been made, and cannot be refuted,
+that the proceedings of Artaxerxes in this matter should be ascribed to
+policy rather than to bigotry, and in that case we could not regard him,
+as originally inspired by a religious sentiment. Perhaps it is best to
+suppose that, like most founders of empires, he was mainly prompted
+by ambition; that he saw in the distracted state of Parthia and in
+the awakening of hope among the subject races, an occasion of which
+he determined to avail himself as far as he could, and that he
+was gradually led on to enlarge his views and to effect the great
+revolution, which he brought about, by the force of circumstances, the
+wishes of others, and the occurrence of opportunities which at first he
+neither foresaw nor desired.
+
+It has been observed, that Parthia was, during the whole reign of
+Artaxerxes, distracted by the claims of a pretender, Volagases V.
+According to Moses of Chorene, two branches of the Arsacid family, both
+of them settled in Bactria, were at feud with the reigning prince; and
+these offended relatives carried their enmity to such a length as to
+consider submission to a foreigner a less evil than subjection to the
+_de facto_ head of their house. The success of Artabanus in the war
+against Rome had no effect upon his domestic foes; and Artaxerxes
+undoubtedly knew that, if he raised the standard of revolt, he might
+count on a certain amount of support from discontented Arsacids and
+their followers. But his main reliance must have been on the Persians.
+The Persians had, in the original arrangements of the Parthian empire,
+been treated with a certain amount of favor. They had been allowed to
+retain their native monarchs, a concession which naturally involved
+the continuance of the nation's laws, customs, and traditions. Their
+religion had not been persecuted, and had even in the early times
+attracted a considerable amount of Court favor. But it would seem that
+latterly the privileges of the nation had been diminished, while their
+prejudices were wantonly shocked. The Magi had ceased to be regarded as
+of much account, and, if they still formed nominally a portion of the
+king's council, can have had little influence on the conduct of affairs
+by the government. Such a custom as that of burning the dead, which
+seems to have been the rule in the later Parthian times, could never
+have maintained its ground, if the opinion of the Magi, or their
+coreligionists, had been considered of much account.
+
+Encouraged by the dissensions prevailing in the Parthian royal house,
+strong in the knowledge of his fellow-countrymen's discontent, and
+perhaps thinking that the losses which Artabanus had sustained in his
+three days' battle against the Romans under Macrinus had seriously
+weakened his military strength, Artaxerxes, tributary king of Persia
+under Parthia, about A.D. 220, or a little later, took up arms
+against his master, and in a little time succeeded in establishing the
+independence of Persia Proper, or the modern province of Fars. Artabanus
+is said to have taken no steps at first to crush the rebellion, or to
+re-establish his authority over his revolted vassal. Thus the Persian
+monarch, finding himself unmolested, was free to enlarge his plans, and
+having originally, as is probable, designed only the liberation of his
+own people, began to contemplate conquests. Turning his arms eastwards
+against Carmania (Kerman), he easily reduced that scantily-peopled tract
+under his dominion, after which he made war towards the north, and added
+to his kingdom some of the outlying regions of Media. Artabanus now at
+length resolved to bestir himself, and collecting his forces, took
+the field in person. Invading Persia Proper, he engaged in a desperate
+struggle with his rival. Three great battles were fought between the
+contending powers. In the last, which took place in the plain of
+Hormuz, between Bebahan and Shuster, on the course of the Jerahi river,
+Artabanus was, after a desperate conflict, completely defeated, and not
+only defeated but slain (A.D. 226).
+
+The victory of Hormuz did not, however, absolutely decide the contest,
+or determine at once that the Parthian empire should fall, and the new
+Persian kingdom succeed into its place. Artabanus had left sons; and
+there were not wanting those among the feudatories of the empire, and
+even among the neighboring potentates, who were well inclined to embrace
+their cause. A certain Artavasdes seems to have claimed the throne, and
+to have been accepted as king, at least by a portion of the Parthians,
+in the year following the death of Artabanus (A.D. 227), when he
+certainly issued coins. The Armenian monarch, who had been set on his
+throne by Artabanus, and was uncle to the young princes, was especially
+anxious to maintain the Arsacids in power; he gave them a refuge in
+Armenia, collected an army on their behalf, and engaging Artaxerxes, is
+even said to have defeated him in a battle. But his efforts, and those
+of Artavasdes, were unavailing. The arms of Artaxerxes in the end
+everywhere prevailed. After a struggle, which cannot have lasted more
+than a few years, the provinces of the old Parthian empire submitted;
+the last Arsacid prince fell into the hands of the Persian king; and
+the founder of the new dynasty sought to give legitimacy to his rule by
+taking to wife an Arsacid princess.
+
+Thus perished the great Parthian monarchy after an existence of nearly
+five centuries. Its end must be attributed in the main to internal
+decay, working itself out especially in two directions. The Arsacid
+race, with which the idea of the empire was bound up, instead of
+clinging together with that close "union" which is "strength," allowed
+itself to be torn to pieces by dissensions, to waste its force in
+quarrels, and to be made a handle of by every foreign invader, or
+domestic rebel, who chose to use its name in order to cloak his
+own selfish projects. The race itself does not seem to have become
+exhausted. Its chiefs, the successive occupants of the throne, never
+sank into mere weaklings or faineants, never shut themselves up in their
+seraglios, or ceased to take a leading part, alike in civil broils, and
+in struggles with foreign rivals. But the hold which the race had on
+the population, native and foreign, was gradually weakened by the feuds
+which raged within it, by the profusion with which the sacred blood was
+shed by those in whose veins it ran, and the difficulty of knowing which
+living member of it was its true head, and so entitled to the allegiance
+of those who wished to be faithful Parthian subjects. Further, the
+vigor of the Parthian soldiery must have gradually declined, and their
+superiority over the mass of the nations under their dominion have
+diminished. We found reasons for believing that, as early as A.D. 58,
+Hyrcania succeeded in throwing off the Parthian yoke, and thus setting
+an example of successful rebellion to the subject peoples. The example
+may have been followed in cases of which we hear nothing; for the
+condition of the more remote portions of the empire was for the most
+part unknown to the Romans. When Persia, about A.D. 220, revolted from
+Artabanus, it was no doubt with a conviction that the Parthians were no
+longer the terrible warriors who under Mithridates I. had driven all
+the armies of the East before them like chaff, or who under Orodes and
+Phraates IV. had gained signal victories over the Romans. It is true
+that Artabanus had contended not unsuccessfully with Macrinus. But the
+prestige of Parthia was far from being re-established by the result of
+his three days' battle. Rome retained as her own, notwithstanding his
+success, the old Parthian province of Mesopotamia, and was thus, even in
+the moment of her weakness, acknowledged by Parthia to be the stronger.
+The Persians are not likely to have been braver or more warlike at the
+time of their revolt from Artabanus than in the days when they were
+subjected by Mithridates. Any alteration, therefore, in the relative
+strength of the two peoples must be ascribed to Parthian decline,
+since it cannot have been owing to Persian advance and improvement. To
+conclude, we may perhaps allow something to the personal qualities of
+Artaxerxes, who appears to have possessed all the merits of the typical
+Oriental conqueror. Artabanus was among the most able of the later
+Parthian monarchs; but his antagonist was more than this, possessing
+true military genius. It is quite possible that, if the leaders on the
+two sides had changed places, the victory might have rested, not with
+the Persians, but with the Parthians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+_On the Architecture and Ornamental Art of the Parthians._
+
+
+The modern historian of Architecture observes, when he reaches the
+period with which we have had to deal in this volume, that, with the
+advent of Alexander, Oriental architecture disappears, and that its
+history is an absolute blank from the downfall of the Achaemenians in
+B.C. 331 to the rise of the Sassanians, about A.D. 226. The statement
+made involves a certain amount of exaggeration; but still it expresses,
+roughly and strongly, a curious and important fact. The Parthians were
+not, in any full or pregnant sense of the word, builders. They did not
+aim at leaving a material mark upon the world by means of edifices
+or other great works. They lacked the spirit which had impelled
+successively the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians to cover
+Western Asia with architectural monuments, proofs at once of the wealth,
+and the grand ideas, of those who raised them. Parthia, compared to
+these pretentious empires, was retiring and modest. The monarchs,
+however rich they may have been, affected something of primitive
+rudeness and simplicity in their habits and style of life, their
+dwellings and temples, their palaces and tombs. It is difficult indeed
+to draw the line in every case between pure Parthian work and Sassanian;
+but on the whole there is, no doubt, reason to believe that the
+architectural remains in Mesopotamia and Persia which belong to the
+period between Alexander and the Arab conquest, are mainly the work of
+the Sassanian or New Persian kingdom, and that comparatively few of them
+can be ascribed with confidence to a time anterior to A.D. 227. Still a
+certain number, which have about them indications of greater antiquity
+than the rest, or which belong to sites famous in Parthian rather than
+in Persian times, may reasonably be regarded as in all probability
+structures of the Arsacid period; and from these we may gather at least
+the leading characteristics of the Parthian architecture, its aims
+and resources, its style and general effect, while from other
+remains--scanty indeed, and often mutilated--we may obtain a tolerable
+notion of their sculpture and other ornamental art.
+
+The most imposing remains which seem certainly assignable to the
+Parthian period are those of Hatra, or El-Hadhr, visited by Mr. Layard
+in 1846, and described at length by Mr. Ross in the ninth volume of the
+"Journal of the Royal Geographical Society," as well as by Mr. Fergusson,
+in his "History of Architecture." Hatra became known as a place of
+importance in the early part of the second century after Christ. It
+successfully resisted Trajan in A.D. 116, and Severus in A.D. 198. It
+is then described as a large and populous city, defended by strong
+and extensive walls, and containing within it a temple of the Sun,
+celebrated for the great value of its offerings. It enjoyed its own
+kings at this time, who were regarded as of Arabian stock, and were
+among the more important of the Parthian tributary monarchs. By the year
+A.D. 363 Hatra had gone to ruin, and is then described as "long since
+deserted." Its flourishing period thus belongs to the space between A.D.
+100 and A.D. 300; and its remains, to which Mr. Fergusson assigns the
+date A.D. 250, must be regarded as probably at least a century earlier,
+and consequently as indicating the character of the architecture
+which prevailed under the later Parthians, and which, if Sassanian
+improvements had not obliterated them, we should have found upon the
+site of Ctesiphon.
+
+The city of Hatra was enclosed by a circular wall of great thickness,
+built of large square-cut stones, and strengthened at intervals of
+about 170 yards by square towers or bastions. [PLATE IV. Fig. 1.] Its
+circumference considerably exceeded three miles. Outside the wall was a
+broad and very deep ditch, and on the further side of the ditch was
+an earthen rampart of considerable height and thickness. Two detached
+forts, situated on eminences, commanded the approaches to the place, one
+towards the east, and the other towards the north. The wall was pierced
+by four gateways, of which the principal one faced the east.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 4.]
+
+
+The circular space within the walls was divided into two portions by a
+water-course passing across it from north to south, and running somewhat
+east of the centre, which thus divided the circle into two unequal
+parts. The eastern portion was left comparatively clear of buildings,
+and seems to have been used mainly as a burial-ground; in the
+western were the public edifices and the more important houses of the
+inhabitants. Of the former by far the most remarkable was one which
+stood nearly in the centre of the city, and which has been called by
+some a palace, by others a temple, but which may best be regarded as
+combining both uses. [PLATE IV. Fig. 2.] This building stood within a
+walled enclosure of an oblong square shape, about 800 feet long by 700
+broad. The wall surrounding it was strengthened with bastions, like the
+wall around the city. The enclosure comprised two courts, an inner and
+an outer. The outer court, which lay towards the east, and was first
+entered, was entirely clear of buildings, while the inner court
+contained two considerable edifices. Of these the less important was
+one which stretched from north to south across the entire inclosure, and
+abutted upon the outer court; this was confused in plan, and consisted
+chiefly of a number of small apartments, which have been regarded as
+guard-rooms. The other was a building of greater pretensions. It was
+composed mainly of seven vaulted halls, all of them parallel one to
+another, and all facing eastward, three being of superior and four of
+inferior size. The smaller halls (Nos. I., III., IV., and VI., on the
+plan) were about thirty feet long by twenty wide, and had a height of
+thirty feet; the larger ones measured ninety feet in length, and were
+from thirty-five to forty feet broad, with a height of sixty feet.
+All were upon the same plan. They had semicircular vaulted roofs, no
+windows, and received their light from the archway at the east end,
+which was either left entirely open, or perhaps closed with curtains.
+
+Externally, the eastern facade of the building, which was evidently its
+main front, had for ornament, besides the row of seven arches, a series
+of pillars, or rather pilasters, from which the arches sprang, some
+sculptures on the stones composing the arches, and one or two emblematic
+figures in the spaces left between the pilasters. The sculptures on
+the stones of the arches consisted either of human heads, or of
+representations of a female form, apparently floating in air. [PLATE
+IV. Fig. 3.] An emblematic sculpture between the fourth and fifth arch
+represented a griffin with twisted tail, raised about 5 feet above the
+ground. The entire length of the facade was about 300 feet.
+
+The interior of the smaller halls had no ornament; but the larger ones
+were decorated somewhat elaborately. Here the side walls were broken by
+three squared pilasters, rising to the commencement of the vaulting, and
+terminated by a quasi-capital of ornamental work, consisting of a series
+of ovals, each oval containing in its centre a round ball of dark stone.
+
+Underneath these quasi-capitals, at the distance of from two to three
+feet, ran a cornice, which crossed the pilasters, and extended the whole
+length of the apartment, consisting of flowers and half-ovals, each oval
+containing a half-ball of the same dark stone as the capitals. [PLATE
+IV. Fig. 4.] Finally, on the pilasters, immediately below the cornice,
+were sculptured commonly either two or three human heads, the length of
+each head being about two feet, and the faces representing diverse types
+of humanity, some old and some young, some male and some female, some
+apparently realistic, some idealized and more or less grotesque in their
+accompaniments. The drawing of the heads is said to have been full of
+spirit, and their general effect is pronounced life-like and striking.
+
+The seven halls, which have been described, were divided into two
+groups, of three and four respectively, by a low fence, which ran from
+east to west across the inner court, from the partition wall separating
+the third and fourth halls to the buildings which divided the inner
+court from the outer. It is probable that this division separated the
+male and female apartments. The female ornamentation of the large hall
+(No. II.) belonging to the southern group is perhaps an indication of
+the sex of its inmates; and another sign that these were the female
+quarters is to be found in the direct communication existing between
+this portion of the building and "the Temple" (No. VIII.), which could
+not be reached from the male apartments except by a long circuit round
+the building.
+
+The "Temple" itself was an apartment of a square shape, each side being
+about forty feet. It was completely surrounded by a vaulted passage,
+into which light came from two windows at its south-west and north-west
+corners. The Temple was entered by a single doorway, the position of
+which was directly opposite an opening leading into the passage from
+Hall No. II. Above this doorway was a magnificent frieze, the character
+of which is thought to indicate the religious purpose of the structure.
+[PLATE V. Fig. 1.] The interior of the Temple was without ornamentation,
+vaulted, and except for the feeble light which entered by the single
+doorway, dark. On the west side a portal led into the passage from the
+outer air.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 5.]
+
+
+Besides these main apartments, the edifice which we are describing
+contained a certain number of small rooms, lying behind the halls, and
+entered by doorways opening from them. One or two such rooms are
+found behind each of the smaller halls; and another of somewhat larger
+dimensions lay behind the great hall (numbered VII. in the plan),
+forming the extreme north-western corner of the building. These rooms
+were vaulted and had no windows, receiving their only light from the
+small doorways by which they were entered.
+
+It is believed that the entire edifice, or at any rate the greater
+portion of it, had an upper story. Traces of such a structure appear
+over the halls numbered I and VI.; and it is thought that the story
+extended over the entire range of halls. One traveller, on conjectural
+grounds, even assigns to the building an elevation of three stories, and
+ventures to restore the second and third in the mode represented in the
+woodcut. [PLATE V. Fig. 2.] According to this author the upper portion
+of the edifice resembled in many respects the great palace of the
+Sassanian monarchs, of which splendid remains still exist on the site
+of Ctesiphon, where they are known as the Takht-i-Khuzroo, or Palace of
+Chosroes. That palace was, however, on a very different plan from the
+Hatra one, comprising as it did one hall only, but of a size vastly
+superior to any of those at Hatra, and two wings, one on either side of
+the hall, made up of dwelling and sleeping apartments.
+
+The few windows which exist at Hatra are oblong square in shape, as in
+general are the doorways connecting one apartment with another. In one
+case there is an arched doorway, or niche, which has been blocked up.
+There are no passages except the one which surrounds "the Temple," the
+apartments generally leading directly one into another. In some cases
+the lintel of a doorway is formed of a single stone, and ornamented with
+very delicate carving. The doorways are for the most part towards the
+corners of apartments; that of the Temple, however, is in the centre of
+its eastern wall.
+
+The general style of the buildings at Hatra has been said to be "Roman
+or Byzantine;" and it has even been supposed that in the style of the
+ornaments and sculptured figures may be traced the corrupt taste and
+feeble outline of the artists of Constantinople. But there is abundant
+reason to believe that the Hatra Palace was built nearly two centuries
+before Constantinople came into existence; and, although the large-use
+of the round arch in vaulting may be due to the spread of Roman
+architectural ideas, yet there are no grounds for supposing that any but
+native artists, Parthian subjects, were employed in the work, or that
+it is other than a fair specimen of what was achieved by the Parthian
+builders during the later period of the empire. The palace of Volagases
+III. at Ctesiphon, which Avidius Cassius destroyed in his invasion, was
+most likely of the same general character--a combination of lofty halls
+suitable for ceremonies and audiences with small and dark sleeping or
+living rooms, opening out of them, the whole placed in the middle of a
+paved court, and the male apartments carefully divided from those of the
+women.
+
+The remains at Hatra are further remarkable for a considerable number
+of reservoirs and tombs. The open space between the town proper and
+the eastern wall and gate is dotted with edifices of a square shape,
+standing apart from one another, which are reasonably regarded as
+sepulchres. These are built in a solid way, of hewn stone, and consist
+either of one or two chambers. They vary in size from twenty feet square
+to forty, and are generally of about the same height. Some are perfectly
+plain, but the exteriors of others are ornamented with pilasters. The
+reservoirs occur in the paved court which surrounds the main building;
+they have narrow apertures, but expand below the aperture into the shape
+of a bell, and are carefully constructed of well-cut stones closely
+fitted together.
+
+The material used at Hatra is uniformly a brownish gray limestone; and
+the cutting is so clean and smooth that it is doubted whether the stones
+have needed any cement. If cement has been employed, at any rate
+it cannot now be seen, the stones everywhere appearing to touch one
+another.
+
+There are several buildings remaining in Persia, the date of which
+cannot be much later than that of the Hatra edifice; but, as it is on
+the whole more probable that they belong to the Sassanian than to the
+Parthian period, no account of them will be given here. It will be
+sufficient to observe that their architecture grows naturally out of
+that which was in use at Hatra, and that thus we are entitled to ascribe
+to Parthian times and to subjects of the Parthian Empire that impulse
+to Oriental architecture which awoke it to renewed life after a sleep
+of ages, and which in a short time produced such imposing results as
+the Takht-i-Khuzroo at Ctesiphon, the ruins of Shapur, and the triumphal
+arch at Takht-i-Bostan.
+
+The decorative and fictile art of the Parthians has received no
+inconsiderable amount of illustration from remains discovered, in the
+years 1850-1852, in Babylonia. In combination with a series of Parthian
+coins were found by Mr. Loftus, on the site of the ancient Erech (now
+Warka), a number of objects in clay, plaster, and metal, enabling us
+to form a fair idea of the mode in which purely Parthian edifices were
+decorated during the best times of the empire, and of the style that
+then prevailed in respect of personal ornaments, domestic utensils, and
+other objects capable, more or less, of aesthetic handling. The remains
+discovered comprised numerous architectural fragments in plaster and
+brick; a large number of ornamental coffins; several statuettes in
+terra-cotta; jars, jugs, vases, and lamps in earthenware; some small
+glass bottles; and various personal decorations, such as beads, rings,
+and earrings.
+
+The architectural fragments consisted of capitals of pillars [PLATE
+V. Fig. 3], portions of cornices, and specimens of a sort of diapering
+which seems to have been applied to screens or thin partitions. The
+capitals were somewhat heavy in design, and at first sight struck the
+spectator as barbarous; but they exhibited a good deal of ingenious
+boldness, an absence of conventionality, and an occasional quaintness
+of design not unworthy of a Gothic decorator. One especially, which
+combines the upper portion of a human figure, wearing the puffed-out
+hair or wig, which the Parthians affected, with an elegant leaf rising
+from the neck of the capital, and curving gracefully under the abacus,
+has decided merit, and is "suggestive of the later Byzantine style." The
+cornices occasionally reminded the discoverer of the remarkable frieze
+at El-Hadhr, and were characterized by the same freedom and boldness
+of invention as the capitals. But the most curious remains were the
+fragments of a sort of screen work, pieces of plaster covered with
+geometric designs upon both sides, the patterns on the two sides
+differing. [PLATE V. Fig. 4.] These designs, though unlike in many
+respects the arabesques of the Mohammedans, yet seemed on the whole to
+be their precursors, the "geometric curves and tracery" appearing
+to "shadow forth the beauty and richness of a style which afterwards
+followed the tide of Mohammedan conquest to the remotest corners of the
+known world."
+
+The ornamental coffins were of a coarse glazed earthenware, bluish-green
+in hue, and belonged to the kind which has been called "slipper-shaped."
+[PLATE VI. Fig. 1.] They varied in length from three feet to six, and
+had a large aperture at their upper end, by means of which the body was
+placed in them, and a flat lid to close this aperture, ornamented like
+the coffin, and fixed in its place by a fine lime cement. A second
+aperture at the lower extremity of the coffin allowed for the escape
+of the gases disengaged during decomposition. The ornamentation of the
+coffins varied, but consisted generally of small figures of men, about
+six or seven inches in length, the most usual figure being a warrior
+with his arms akimbo and his legs astride, wearing on his head a
+coiffure, like that which is seen on the Parthian coins, and having a
+sword hanging from the belt. [PLATE VI. Fig. 2.]
+
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 6.]
+
+
+Of the statuettes in terra-cotta, one of the most curious represented a
+Parthian warrior, recumbent, and apparently about to drink out of a cup
+held in the left hand. [PLATE VI. Fig. 3.] The figure was clad in a
+long coat of mail, with greaves on the legs and a helmet upon the
+head. Others represented females; these had lofty head-dresses, which
+sometimes rose into two peaks or horns, recalling the costume of English
+ladies in the time of Henry IV. These figures were veiled and carefully
+draped about the upper part of the person, but showed the face, and had
+the legs bare from the knee downwards.
+
+The jars, jugs, vases, and lamps greatly resembled those of the Assyrian
+and Babylonian periods, but were on the whole more elegant and artistic.
+The forms appended will give a tolerable idea of the general character
+of these vessels. [PLATE VI. Fig. 4.] They were of various sizes, and
+appear to have been placed in the tombs, partly as the offerings of
+friends and well-wishers, partly with the more superstitious object of
+actually supplying the deceased with the drink and light needful for him
+on his passage from earth to the realms of the dead.
+
+The glass bottles were, perhaps, lachrymatories. They had no peculiar
+characteristics, but were almost exactly similar to objects of the same
+kind belonging to the times of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires. They
+exhibited the same lovely prismatic colors, which have been so admired
+in the glass of those kingdoms, an effect of decomposition, which,
+elsewhere generally disfiguring, in the case of this material enhances
+the original beauty of the object tenfold by clothing it in hues of the
+utmost brilliance and delicacy.
+
+The personal decorations consisted chiefly of armlets, bangles, beads,
+rings, and ear-rings. They were in gold, silver, copper, and brass. Some
+of the smaller gold ornaments, such as earrings, and small plates
+or beads for necklaces and fillets, were "of a tasteful and elegant
+design." The finger-rings were coarser, while the toe-rings, armlets,
+and bangles, were for the most part exceedingly rude and barbarous.
+Head-dresses in gold, tall and pointed, are said to have been found
+occasionally; but the museums of Europe have not yet been able to secure
+any, as they are usually melted down by the finders. Broad ribbons of
+gold, which may have depended like strings from a cap, are commoner, and
+were seen by Mr. Loftus. Altogether, the ornaments indicated a strong
+love of personal display, and the possession of considerable wealth, but
+no general diffusion of a correct taste, nor any very advanced skill in
+design or metallurgy.
+
+Of purely aesthetic art--art, that is, into which the idea of the useful
+does not enter at all--the Parthians appear scarcely to have had an
+idea. During the five centuries of their sway, they seem to have set
+up no more than some half dozen bas-reliefs. There is, indeed, only
+one such work which can be positively identified as belonging to the
+Parthian period by the inscription which accompanies it. The other
+presumedly Parthian reliefs are adjudged to the people by art critics
+merely from their style and their locality, occurring as they do within
+the limits of the Parthian kingdom, and lacking the characteristics
+which attach to the art of those who preceded and of those who followed
+the Parthians in these countries.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 7.]
+
+
+The one certainly Parthian bas-relief is that which still exists on the
+great rock of Behistun, at the foot of the mountain, raised but slightly
+above the plain. It seems to have contained a series of tall figures,
+looking towards the right, and apparently engaged in a march or
+procession, while above and between them were smaller figures on
+horseback, armed with lances, and galloping in the same direction. One
+of these was attended by a figure of Fame or Victory, flying in the air,
+and about to place a diadem around his brow. The present condition of
+the sculpture is extremely bad. Atmospheric influences have worn away
+the larger figures to such an extent that they are discerned with
+difficulty; and a recent Governor of Kirmanshah has barbarously inserted
+into the middle of the relief an arched niche, in which he has placed
+a worthless Arabic inscription. It is with difficulty that we form any
+judgment of the original artistic merit of a work which presents itself
+to us in such a worn and mutilated form; but, on the whole, we are
+perhaps justified in pronouncing that it must at its best have been
+one of inferior quality, even when compared only with the similar
+productions of Asiatics. The general character is rather that of the
+Sassanian than of the Assyrian or Persian period. The human figures have
+a heavy clumsiness about them that is unpleasant to contemplate; the
+horses are rudely outlined, and are too small for the men; the figure
+of Fame is out of all proportion to the hero whom she crowns, and the
+diadem which she places on his head is ridiculous, being nearly as large
+as herself! On the other hand, there is spirit in the attitudes of both
+men and horses; the Fame floats well in air; and the relief is free from
+that coarse grotesqueness which offends us in the productions of the
+Sassanian artists.
+
+Another, bas-relief, probably, but not quite certainly Parthian, exists
+in the gorge of Sir-pul-i-zohab, and has been recently published in
+the great work of M. Flandin. [PLATE VIII.] The inscription on this
+monument, though it has not yet been deciphered, appears to be written
+in the alphabet found upon the Parthian coins. The monument seems to
+represent a Parthian king, mounted on horseback, and receiving a chaplet
+at the hand of a subject. The king wears a cap bound round with the
+diadem, the long ends of which depend over his shoulder. He is clothed
+in a close-fitting tunic and loose trowsers, which hang down upon
+his boots, and wears also a short cloak fastened under the chin, and
+reaching nearly to the knee. The horse which he bestrides is small, but
+strongly made; the tail is long, and the mane seems to be plaited.
+Thus far the representation, though somewhat heavy and clumsy, is not
+ill-drawn; but the remaining figure--that of the Parthian subject--is
+wholly without merit. The back of the man is turned, but the legs are in
+profile; one arm is ridiculously short, and the head is placed too near
+the left shoulder. It would seem that the artist, while he took pains
+with the representation of the monarch, did not care how ill he rendered
+the subordinate figure, which he left in the unsatisfactory condition
+that may be seen in the preceding woodcut.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 8.]
+
+
+A set of reliefs, discovered by the Baron de Bode in the year 1841, are
+also thought by the best judges to be Parthian. The most important of
+them represents a personage of consequence, apparently a Magus, who
+seems to be in the act of consecrating a sacred cippus, round which
+have been placed wreaths or chaplets. (PLATE IX.) Fifteen spectators are
+present, arranged in two rows, one above the other, all except the first
+of them standing. The first sits upon a rude chair or stool. The figures
+generally are in an advanced stage of decay; but that of the Magus
+is tolerably well preserved, and probably indicates with sufficient
+accuracy the costume and appearance of the great hierarchs under the
+Parthians, The conical cap described by Strabo is very conspicuous.
+Below this the hair is worn in the puffed-out fashion of the later
+Parthian period. The upper lip is ornamented by moustaches, and the chin
+covered by a straight beard. The figure is dressed in a long sleeved
+tunic, over which is worn a cloak, fastened at the neck by a round
+brooch, and descending a little below the knees. The legs are encased
+in a longer and shorter pair of trowsers, the former plain, the latter
+striped perpendicularly. Round the neck is worn a collar or necklace;
+and on the right arm are three armlets and three bracelets. The conical
+cap appears to be striped or fluted.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 9.]
+
+
+On the same rock, but in no very evident connection with the main
+representation, is a second relief, in which a Parthian cavalier,
+armed with a bow and arrows, and a spear, contends with a wild animal,
+seemingly a bear. [PLATE X. Fig. 1.] A long flowing robe here takes
+the place of the more ordinary tunic and trowsers. On the head is worn a
+rounded cap or tiara. The hair has the usual puffed-out appearance. The
+bow is carried in the left hand, and the quiver hangs from, the saddle
+behind the rider, while with his right hand he thrusts his spear into
+the beast's neck. The execution of the whole tablet seems to have been
+rude; but it has suffered so much from time and weather, that no very
+decided judgment can be passed upon it.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 10.]
+
+
+Another still ruder representation occurs also on another face of the
+same rock. This consists of a female figure reclining upon a couch, and
+guarded by three male attendants, one at the head of the couch unarmed,
+and the remaining two at its foot, seated, and armed with spears. The
+female has puffed-out hair, and carries in her right hand, which is
+outstretched, a wreath or chaplet. One of the spearmen has a curious
+rayed head-dress; and the other has a short streamer attached to
+the head of his spear. Below the main tablet are three rudely carved
+standing figures, representing probably other attendants.
+
+This set of reliefs may perhaps be best regarded as forming a single
+series, the Parthian king being represented as engaged in hunting the
+bear, while the queen awaits his return upon her couch, and the chief
+Magus attached to the court makes prayer for the monarch's safety.
+
+Such are the chief remains of Parthian aesthetic art. They convey
+an idea of decline below the standard reached by the Persians of the
+Achaemenian times, which was itself a decline from the earlier art of
+the Assyrians. Had they been the efforts of a race devoid of models,
+they might fairly have been regarded as not altogether without promise.
+But, considered as the work of a nation which possessed the Achaemenian
+sculptures, and which had moreover, to a certain extent, access to Greek
+examples, a they must be pronounced clumsy, coarse, and wanting in all
+the higher qualities of Fine Art. It is no wonder that they are scanty
+and exceptional. The nation which could produce nothing better must have
+felt that its vocation was not towards the artistic, and that its powers
+had better be employed in other directions, e.g. in conquest and in
+organization. It would seem that the Parthians perceived this, and
+therefore devoted slight attention to the Fine Arts, preferring to
+occupy themselves mainly with those pursuits in which they excelled;
+viz. war, hunting, and government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+Customs of the Parthians--in Religion; in War; in their Embassies and
+Dealings with Foreign Nations; at the Court; in Private Life. Extent of
+the Refinement to which they reached. Their gradual Decline in Taste and
+Knowledge.
+
+
+Very little is known as to the religion of the Parthians. It seems
+probable that during the Persian period they submitted to the
+Zoroastrian system, which was generally maintained by the Achaemenian
+kings, acquiescing, like the great bulk of the conquered nations, in
+the religious views of their conquerors; but as this was not their
+own religion, we may conclude that they were at no time very zealous
+followers of the Bactrian prophet, and that as age succeeded age they
+became continually more lukewarm in their feelings, and more lax
+in their religious practice. The essence of Zoroastrian belief was
+dualism--recognition of Ormazd as the great Principle of Good, and of
+Ahriman as the Principle of Evil. We need not doubt that, in word, the
+Parthians from first to last admitted this antagonism, and professed
+a belief in Ormazd as the supreme god, and a dread of Ahriman and his
+ministers. But practically, their religious aspirations rested, not on
+these dim abstractions, but on beings whose existence they could better
+realize, and whom they could feel to be less remote from themselves.
+The actual devotion of the Parthians was offered to the Sun and Moon,
+to deities who were supposed to preside over the royal house, and to
+ancestral idols which each family possessed, and conveyed with it from
+place to place with every change of habitation. The Sun was saluted at
+his rising, was worshipped in temples, under the name of Mithra, with
+sacrifices and offerings; had statues erected in his honor, and was
+usually associated with the lesser luminary. The deities of the royal
+house were probably either genii, ministers of Ormazd, to whom was
+committed the special protection of the monarchs and their families,
+like the _bagaha vithiya_ of the Persians, or else the ancestors of
+the reigning monarch, to whom a qualified divinity seems to have been
+assigned in the later times of the empire. The Parthians kings usually
+swore by these deities on solemn occasions; and other members of the
+royal family made use of the same oath. The main worship, however, of
+the great mass of the people, even when they were of the royal stock,
+was concentrated upon ancestral images, which had a place sacred to them
+in each house, and received the constant adoration of the household.
+
+In the early times of the empire the Magi were held in high repute,
+and most of the peculiar tenets and rites of the Magian religion
+were professed and followed by the Parthians. Elemental worship was
+practised. Fire was, no doubt, held sacred, and there was an especial
+reverence for rivers. Dead bodies were not burned, but were exposed to
+be devoured by birds and beasts of prey, after which the dry bones were
+collected and placed in tombs. The Magi formed a large portion of the
+great national council, which elected and, if need were, deposed the
+kings. But in course of time much laxity was introduced. The Arsacid
+monarchs of Armenia allowed the Sacred Fire of Ormazd, which ought
+to have been kept continually burning, to go out; and we can scarcely
+suppose but that the Parthian Arsacidae shared their negligence. Respect
+for the element of fire so entirely passed away, that we hear of the
+later Parthians burning their dead. The Magi fell into disrepute, and,
+if not expelled from their place in the council, at any rate found
+themselves despised and deprived of influence. The later Parthian
+religion can have been little more than a worship of the Sun and Moon,
+and of the teraphim, or sacred images, which were the most precious
+possession of each household.
+
+While thus lax and changeful in their own religious practice, the
+Parthians were, naturally, tolerant of a variety of creeds among their
+subjects. Fire altars were maintained, and Zoroastrian zeal was allowed
+to nourish in the dependent kingdom of Persia. In the Greek cities the
+Olympian gods were permitted to receive the veneration of thousands,
+while in Babylon, Nearda, and Nisibis the Jews enjoyed the free exercise
+of their comparatively pure and elevated religion. No restrictions seem
+to have been placed on proselytism, and Judaism certainly boasted many
+converts from the heathen in Adiabene, Charax Spasini, and elsewhere.
+Christianity also penetrated the Parthian provinces to a considerable
+extent, and in one Parthian country, at any rate, seems to have become
+the state religion. The kings of Osrhoene are thought to have been
+Christians from the time of the Antonines, if not from that of our Lord;
+and a nourishing church was certainly established at Edessa before the
+end of the second century. The Parthian Jews who were witnesses of the
+miraculous events which signalized the day of Pentecost may have, in
+some cases, taken with them the new religion to the land where they had
+their residence; or the Apostle, St. Thomas, may (as Eusebius declares)
+have carried the Gospel into the regions beyond the Euphrates, and have
+planted the Christian Church in the countries out of which the Jewish
+Church sprang. Besides the nourishing community of Edessa, which was
+predominantly, if not wholly, Christian from the middle of the second
+century, many converts were, we are told, to be found among the
+inhabitants of Persia, Media, Parthia Proper, and even Bactria. The
+infusion, however, was not sufficient to leaven to any serious extent
+the corrupt mass of heathenism into which it was projected; and we
+cannot say that the general character of the Parthian empire, or of the
+manners and customs of its subjects, was importantly affected by the new
+religion, though it had an extraordinary influence over individuals.
+
+The Parthians were essentially a warlike people; and the chief interest
+which attaches to them is connected with their military vigor and
+ability. It is worth while to consider at some length the peculiarities
+of that military system which proved itself superior to the organization
+of the Macedonians, and able to maintain for nearly three hundred years
+a doubtful contest with the otherwise irresistible Romans.
+
+We are told that the Parthians had no standing army. When war was
+proclaimed and the monarch needed a force, he made his immediate vassals
+acquainted with the fact, and requested each of them to marshal their
+troops, and bring them to a fixed rendezvous by a certain day. The
+troops thus summoned were of two kinds, Parthian and foreign. The
+governors of the provinces, whether tributary kings or satraps, called
+out the military strength of their respective districts, saw to
+their arming and provisioning, and, marching each at the head of his
+contingent, brought a foreign auxiliary force to the assistance of
+the Great King. But the back-bone of the army, its main strength, the
+portion on which alone much reliance was placed, consisted of Parthians.
+Each Parthian noble was bound to call out his slaves and his retainers,
+to arm and equip them at his own expense, and bring them to the
+rendezvous by the time named. The number of troops furnished by each
+noble varied according to his position and his means; we bear in one
+instance of their amounting to as many as 10,000, while in another
+recorded case the average number which each furnished was no more than
+125. The various contingents had their own baggage-trains, consisting
+ordinarily of camels, in the proportion (as it would seem) of one to
+every ten fighting-men.
+
+A Parthian army consisted usually of both horse and foot, but in
+proportions unusual elsewhere. The foot soldiers were comparatively few
+in number, and were regarded as of small account. Every effort was made
+to increase the amount and improve the equipment of the horsemen, who
+bore the brunt of every fight, and from whose exertions alone victory
+was hoped. Sometimes armies consisted of horsemen only, or rather of
+horsemen followed by a baggage train composed of camels and chariots.
+
+The horse were of two kinds, heavy and light. The heavy horsemen wore
+coats of mail, reaching to their knees, composed of rawhide covered with
+scales of iron or steel, very bright, and capable of resisting a strong
+blow. They had on their heads burnished helmets of Margian steel, whose
+glitter dazzled the spectator. Their legs seem not to have been
+greaved, but encased in a loose trouser, which hung about the ankles
+and embarrassed the feet, if by any chance the horseman was forced to
+dismount. They carried no shield, being sufficiently defended by their
+coats of mail. Their offensive arms were a long spear, which was of
+great strength and thickness, and a bow and arrows of unusual size. They
+likewise carried in their girdle a short sword or knife, which might be
+used in close combat. Their horses were, like themselves, protected by a
+defence of scale armor, which was either of steel or bronze.
+
+The light horse was armed with the same sort of bows and arrows as the
+heavy, but carried no spear and wore no armor. It was carefully trained
+to the management of the horse and the bow, and was unequalled in the
+rapidity and dexterity of its movements. The archer delivered his arrows
+with as much precision and force in retreat as in advance, and was
+almost more feared when he retired than when he charged his foe. Besides
+his arrows, the light horseman seems to have carried a sword, and he no
+doubt wore also the customary knife in his belt.
+
+We are told by one writer that it was a practice of the Parthians to
+bring into battle a number of led horses, and that the riders from time
+to time exchanged their tired steeds for fresh ones, thus obtaining a
+great advantage over enemies who had no such practice. But the accounts
+which we have of Parthian engagements make no reference to this usage,
+which we can therefore scarcely suppose to have been adopted to any
+large extent. It may be doubted, also, if the practice could ever be
+one of much value, since the difficulty of managing led horses amid the
+tumult of a battle would probably more than counterbalance the advantage
+derivable from relays of fresh steeds.
+
+During the later period of the monarchy, the Parthians, who had always
+employed camels largely in the conveyance of stores and baggage, are
+said to have introduced a camel corps into the army itself, and to have
+derived considerable advantage from the new arm. The camels could bear
+the weight of the mailed warrior and of their own armor better than
+horses, and their riders were at once more safe in their elevated
+position and more capable of dealing effective blows upon the enemy.
+As a set-off, however, against those advantages, the spongy feet of
+the camel were found to be more readily injured by the _tribulus_, or
+caltrop, than the harder feet of the horse, and the corps was thus more
+easily disabled than an equal force of cavalry, if it could be tempted
+to pass over ground on which caltrops had been previously scattered.
+
+The Parthian tactics were of a simple kind, and differed little from
+those of other nations in the same region, which have depended mainly on
+their cavalry. To surround their foe, to involve him in difficulties,
+to cut off: his supplies and his stragglers, and ultimately to bring him
+into a position where he might be overwhelmed by missiles, was the aim
+of all Parthian commanders of any military capacity. Their warfare was
+suited for defence rather than for attack, unless against contemptible
+enemies. They were bad hands at sieges, and seldom ventured to engage in
+them, though they would do so if circumstances required it. They wearied
+of long campaigns, and if they did not find victory tolerably easy,
+were apt to retire and allow their foe to escape, or baffle him by
+withdrawing their forces into a distant and inaccessible region. After
+their early victories over Crassus and Antony, they never succeeded in
+preventing the steady advance of a Roman army into their territory,
+or in repulsing a determined attack upon their capital. Still they
+generally had their revenge after a short time. It was easy for the
+Romans to overrun Mesopotamia, but it was not so easy for them to hold
+it; and it was scarcely possible for them to retire from it after an
+occupation without disaster. The clouds of Parthian horse hung upon
+their retreating columns, straitened them for provisions, galled them
+with missiles, and destroyed those who could not keep up with the main
+body. The towns upon the line of their retreat revolted and shut their
+gates, defying even such commanders as Severus and Trajan. Of the six
+great expeditions of Rome against Parthia, one only, that of Avidius
+Cassius, was entirely successful. In every other case either the
+failure of the expedition was complete, or the glory of the advance was
+tarnished by disaster and suffering during the retreat.
+
+The results of invading Parthia would have been even more calamitous
+to an assailant but for one weak point in the military system of the
+Parthians. They were excessively unwilling to venture near an enemy
+at night, and as a general rule abstained from all military movements
+during the hours of darkness. As evening approached, they drew off to a
+considerable distance from their foe, and left him unmolested to retreat
+in any direction that he pleased. The reason of this probably was, not
+merely that they did not fortify their camps; but that, depending wholly
+on their horses, and being forced to hobble or tether them at night,
+they could not readily get into fighting order on a sudden during
+darkness. Once or twice in the course of their history, we find them
+departing from their policy of extreme precaution, and recommencing
+the pursuit of a flying foe before dawn; but it is noted as an unusual
+occurrence.
+
+It was also a general principle of Parthian warfare to abstain from
+campaigning during the winter. So much depended upon the tension of
+their bow-strings, which any dampness relaxed, that their rule was to
+make all their expeditions in the dry time of their year, which lasted
+from early in the spring until late in the autumn. The rule was,
+however, transgressed upon occasions. Phraates II. made his attack
+upon Antiochus Sidetes, while the snow was still upon the ground; and
+Volagases I. fell upon Paetus after the latter had sent his troops into
+winter quarters. The Parthians could bear cold no less than heat; though
+it was perhaps rather in the endurance of the latter than of the former
+that they surpassed the Romans. The sun's rays were never too hot for
+them; and they did not need water frequently or in large quantities. The
+Romans believed that they increased their ability of bearing thirst by
+means of certain drugs which they consumed; but it may be questioned
+whether they really employed any other remedies than habit and
+resolution.
+
+We find no use of chariots among the Parthians, except for the
+conveyance of the females, who accompanied the nobles upon their
+expeditions. The wives and concubines of the chiefs followed the camp
+in great numbers; and women of a less reputable class, singers, dancers,
+and musicians, swelled the ranks of the supernumeraries. Many of these
+were Greeks from Seleucia and other Macedonian towns. The commissariat
+and transport departments are said to have been badly organized; but
+some thousands of baggage camels always accompanied an army, carrying
+stores and provisions. Of these a considerable portion were laden with
+arrows, of which the supply was in this way rendered inexhaustible.
+
+The use of the elephant in war was still more rare in Parthia than that
+of the chariot. While the Seleucid kings employed the animal to a large
+extent, and its use was also probably known to the Greek princes of
+Bactria, the Arsacidae appear to have almost entirely neglected it. On
+one occasion alone do we find their employment of it mentioned, and
+then we hear of only a single animal, which is ridden by the monarch.
+Probably the unwieldy creature was regarded by the Parthians as too
+heavy and clumsy for the light and rapid movements of their armies,
+and was thus disused during the period of their supremacy, though again
+employed, after Parthia had fallen, by the Sassanidse.
+
+The Parthians entered into battle with much noise and shouting. They
+made no use of trumpets or horns, but employed instead the kettledrum,
+which resounded from all parts of the field when they made their onset.
+Their attack was furious. The mailed horsemen charged at speed, and
+often drove their spears through the bodies of two enemies at a blow.
+The light horse and the foot, when any was present, delivered their
+arrows with precision and with extraordinary force. But if the
+assailants were met with a stout resistance, the first vigor of the
+attack was rarely long maintained. The Parthian warriors grew quickly
+weary of an equal contest, and, if they could not force their enemy to
+give way, soon changed their tactics. Pretending panic, dispersing, and
+beating a hasty retreat, they endeavored to induce their foe to pursue
+hurriedly and in disorder, being ready at any moment to turn and take
+advantage of the least appearance of confusion. If these tactics failed,
+as they commonly did after they came to be known, the simulated flight
+was generally converted into a real one; further conflict was avoided,
+or at any rate deferred to another occasion.
+
+When the Parthians wished to parley with an enemy, they unstrung their
+bows, and advancing with the right hand outstretched, asked for a
+conference. They are accused by the Romans of sometimes using treachery
+on such occasions, but, except in the single case of Crassus, the charge
+of bad faith cannot be sustained against them. On solemn occasions, when
+the intention was to discuss grounds of complaint or to bring a war
+to an end by the arrangement of terms of peace, a formal meeting
+was arranged between their representatives and those of their enemy,
+generally on neutral ground, as on an island in the Euphrates, or on a
+bridge constructed across it. Here the chiefs of the respective nations
+met, accompanied by an equal number of guards, while the remainder of
+their forces occupied the opposite banks of the river. Matters were
+discussed in friendly fashion, the Greek language being commonly
+employed as the vehicle of communication; after which festivities
+usually took place, the two chiefs mutually entertaining each other,
+or accepting in common the hospitalities of a third party. The terms of
+peace agreed upon were reduced to writing; hands were grasped as a
+sign that faith was pledged; and oaths having been interchanged,
+the conference broke up, and the chiefs returned to their respective
+residences.
+
+Besides negotiating by means of conferences, the Parthian monarchs often
+sent out to neighboring states, and in return received from them formal
+embassies. The ambassadors in every case conveyed, as a matter of
+course, gifts to the prince to whom they were accredited, which might
+consist of articles of value, or of persons. Augustus included an
+Italian slave-girl among the presents which he transmitted to Phraates
+IV.; and Artabanus III. sent a Jewish giant to Tiberius. The object
+of an embassy was sometimes simply to congratulate; but more often the
+ambassadors were instructed to convey certain demands, or proposals,
+from their own prince to the head of the other nation, whereto his
+assent was required, or requested. These proposals were commonly
+formulated in a letter from the one prince to the other, which it was
+the chief duty of the ambassadors to convey safely. Free powers to
+conclude a treaty at their discretion were rarely, or never, entrusted
+to them. Their task was merely to deliver the royal letter, to explain
+its terms, if they were ambiguous, and to carry back to their own
+monarch the reply of the foreign sovereign. The sanctity of the
+ambassadorial character was invariably respected by the Parthians, who
+are never even taxed with a violation of it.
+
+As a security for the performance of engagements, or for the permanent
+maintenance of a friendly attitude, it was usual in the East during the
+Parthian period to require, and give, hostages. The princes who occupied
+the position of Parthian feudatories gave hostages to their suzerain,
+who were frequently their near relations, as sons or brothers. And a
+practice grew up of the Parthian monarchs themselves depositing their
+own sons or brothers with the Roman Emperor, at first perhaps merely for
+their own security, but afterwards as pledges for their good behavior.
+Such hostages lived at the expense of the Roman court, and were usually
+treated with distinction. In the event of a rupture between their
+country and Rome, they had little to fear. Rome found her advantage in
+employing them as rivals to a monarch with whom she had quarrelled,
+and did not think it necessary to punish them for his treachery or
+inconstancy.
+
+The magnificence of the Parthian court is celebrated in general terms
+by various writers, but not very many particulars have come down to us
+respecting it. We know that it was migratory, moving from one of the
+chief cities of the empire to another at different seasons of the year,
+and that owing to the vast number of the persons composing it, there was
+a difficulty sometimes in providing for their subsistence upon the road.
+The court comprised the usual extensive harem of an Oriental prince,
+consisting of a single recognized queen, and a multitude of secondary
+wives or concubines. The legitimate wife of the prince was commonly
+a native, and in most cases was selected from the royal race of the
+Arsacidae but sometimes she was the daughter of a dependent monarch,
+and she might even be a slave raised by royal favor from that humble
+position. The concubines were frequently Greeks. Both wives and
+concubines remained ordinarily in close seclusion, and we have little
+mention of them, in the Parthian annals. But in one instance, at any
+rate, a queen, brought up in the notions of the West, succeeded in
+setting Oriental etiquette at defiance, took the direction of affairs
+out of the hands of her husband, and subsequently ruled the empire in
+conjunction with her son. Generally, however, the Parthian kings were
+remarkably free from the weakness of subservience to women, and managed
+their kingdom with a firm hand, without allowing either wives or
+ministers to obtain any undue ascendency over them. In particular, we
+may note that they never, so far as appears, fell under the baleful
+influence of eunuchs, who, from first to last, play a very subordinate
+part in the Parthian history.
+
+The dress of the monarch was commonly the loose Median robe, which had
+been adopted from the Medes by the Persians. This flowed down to the
+feet in numerous folds, enveloping and concealing the entire figure.
+Trousers and a tunic were probably worn beneath it, the latter of linen,
+the former of silk or wool. As head-dress, the king wore either the mere
+diadem, which was a band or ribbon, passed once or oftener round the
+head, and terminating in two long ends which fell down behind, or else a
+more pretentious cap, which in the earlier times was a sort of Scythian
+pointed helmet, and in the later a rounded tiara, sometimes adorned with
+pearls or gems. His neck appears to have been generally encircled with
+two or three collars or necklaces, and he frequently wore ear-rings in
+his ears. The beard was almost always cultivated, and, with the hair,
+was worn variously. Generally both hair and beard were carefully curled;
+but sometimes they depended in long straight locks, Mostly the beard was
+pointed, but occasionally it was worn square. In later times a fashion
+arose of puffing out the hair at either side extravagantly, so as to
+give it the appearance of a large bushy wig.
+
+In war the monarch seems to have exchanged his Median robe for a short
+cloak, reaching half way down the thigh. His head was protected by a
+helmet, and he carried the national arm of offence, the bow. He usually
+took the field on horseback, but was sometimes mounted on an elephant,
+trained to encounter the shock of battle. Gold and silver were
+abundantly used in the trappings of his steed and in his arms. He
+generally took the command, and mingled freely in the fight, though he
+might sometimes shrink without reproach from adventuring his own person.
+His guards fought about him; and he was accompanied by attendants, whose
+duty it was to assist him in mounting on horseback and dismounting.
+
+The status of the queen was not much below that of her royal consort.
+She wore a tiara far more elaborate than his, and, like him, exhibited
+the diadem. Her neck was encircled with several necklaces. As the title
+of Theos, "God," was often assumed by her husband, so she was allowed
+the title of "Goddess", or "Heavenly Goddess".
+
+Separate apartments were of course assigned to the queen, and to the
+royal concubines in the various palaces. These were buildings on a
+magnificent scale, and adorned with the utmost richness. Philostratus,
+who wrote in Parthian times, thus describes the royal palace at Babylon.
+"The palace is roofed with brass, and a bright light flashes from it.
+It has chambers for the women, and chambers for the men, and porticos,
+partly glittering with silver, partly with cloth-of-gold embroideries,
+partly with solid slabs of gold, let into the walls, like pictures. The
+subjects of the embroideries are taken from the Greek mythology, and
+include representations of Andromeda, of Amymone, and of Orpheus, who
+is frequently repeated.... Datis is moreover represented, destroying
+Naxos with his fleet, and Artaphernes besieging Eretria, and Xerxes
+gaining his famous victories. You behold the occupation of Athens, and
+the battle of Thermopylae, and other points still more characteristic of
+the great Persian war, rivers drunk up and disappearing from the face
+of the earth, and a bridge stretched across the sea, and a canal cut
+through Athos.... One chamber for the men has a roof fashioned into a
+vault like the heaven, composed entirely of sapphires, which are the
+bluest of stones, and resemble the sky in color. Golden images of the
+gods whom they worship, are set up about the vault, and show like stars
+in the firmament. This is the chamber in which the king delivers his
+judgments. Four golden magic-wheels hang from its roof, and threaten
+the monarch with the Divine Nemesis, if he exalts himself above the
+condition of man. These wheels are called 'the tongues of the gods,' and
+are set in their places by the Magi who frequent the palace."
+
+The state and pomp which surrounded the monarch seem scarcely to have
+fallen short of the Achaemenian standard. Regarded as in some sort
+divine during his life, and always an object of national worship after
+his death, the "Brother of the Sun and Moon" occupied a position far
+above that of the most exalted of his subjects. Tributary monarchs
+were shocked, when, in times of misfortune, the "Great King" stooped
+to solicit their aid, and appeared before them in the character of a
+suppliant, shorn of his customary splendor. Nobles coveted the dignity
+of "King's Friend," and were content to submit to blows and buffets
+at the caprice of their royal master, before whom they prostrated
+themselves in adoration after each castigation. The Parthian monarch
+dined in solitary grandeur, extended on his own special couch, and
+eating from his own special table, which was placed at a greater
+elevation than those of his guests. His "friend" sat on the ground at
+his feet, and was fed like a dog by scraps from his master's board.
+Guards, ministers, and attendants of various kinds surrounded him,
+and were ready at the slightest sign to do his bidding. Throughout the
+country he had numerous "Eyes" and "Ears"--officers who watched his
+interests and sent him word of whatever touched his safety. The bed on
+which the monarch slept was of gold, and subjects were forbidden to take
+their repose on couches of this rich material. No stranger could obtain
+access to him unless introduced by the proper officer; and it was
+expected that all who asked an audience would be prepared with some
+present of high value. For the gifts received the monarch made a
+suitable return, allowing those whom he especially favored to choose the
+presents that they preferred.
+
+The power and dignity of the Parthian nobles was greater than that
+usually enjoyed by any subjects of an Oriental king. Rank in Parthia
+being hereditary and not simply official, the "megistanes" were no
+mere creatures of the monarch, but a class which stood upon its own
+indefeasible rights. As they had the privilege of electing to the throne
+upon a vacancy, and even that of deposing a duly elected monarch, the
+king could not but stand in wholesome awe of them, and feel compelled to
+treat them with considerable respect and deference. Moreover, they were
+not without a material force calculated to give powerful support to
+their constitutional privileges. Each stood at the head of a body
+of retainers accustomed to bear arms and to serve in the wars of the
+Empire. Together these bodies constituted the strength of the army; and
+though the royal bodyguard might perhaps have been capable of dealing
+successfully with each group of retainers separately, yet such an
+_esprit de corps_ was sure to animate the nobles generally, that they
+would make common cause in case one of their number were attacked,
+and would support him against the crown with the zeal inspired by
+self-interest. Thus the Parthian nobility were far more powerful and
+independent than any similar class under the Achaemenian, Sassanian,
+Modern Persian, or Turkish sovereigns. They exercised a real control
+over the monarch, and had a voice in the direction of the Empire. Like
+the great feudal vassals of the Middle Ages, they from time to time
+quarrelled with their liege lord, and disturbed the tranquillity of the
+kingdom by prolonged and dangerous civil wars; but these contentions
+served to keep alive a vigor, a life, and a spirit of sturdy
+independence very unusual in the East, and gave a stubborn strength to
+the Parthian monarchy, in which Oriental governments have for the most
+part been wanting.
+
+There were probably several grades of rank among the nobles. The highest
+dignity in the kingdom, next to the Crown, was that of Surena, or
+"Field-Marshal;" and this position was hereditary in a particular
+family, which can have stood but a little below the royal house in
+wealth and consequence. The head of this noble house is stated to have
+at one time brought into the field as many as 10,000 retainers and
+slaves, of whom a thousand were heavy-armed. It was his right to place
+the diadem on the king's brow at his coronation. The other nobles lived
+for the most part on their domains, but took the field at the head
+of their retainers in case of war, and in peace sometimes served the
+offices of satrap, vizier, or royal councillor. The wealth of the class
+was great; its members were inclined to be turbulent, and, like
+the barons of the European kingdoms, acted as a constant check and
+counterpoise to the royal dignity.
+
+Next to war, the favorite employment of the king and of the nobles
+was hunting. The lion continued in the wild state an occupant of the
+Mesopotamian river-banks and marshes; and in other parts of the empire
+bears, leopards, and even tigers abounded. Thus the higher kinds of
+sport were readily obtainable. The ordinary practice, however, of
+the monarch and his courtiers seems to have fallen short of the true
+sportsman's ideal. Instead of seeking the more dangerous kinds of
+wild beasts in their native haunts, and engaging with them under the
+conditions designed by nature, the Parthians were generally content
+with a poorer and tamer method. They kept lions, leopards, and bears in
+enclosed parks, or "paradises," and found pleasure in the pursuit and
+slaughter of these denaturalized and half-domesticated animals. The
+employment may still, even under these circumstances, have contained
+an element of danger which rendered it exciting; but it was a poor
+substitute for the true sport which the "mighty Hunter before the Lord"
+had first practised in these regions.
+
+The ordinary dress of the Parthian noble was a long loose robe reaching
+to the feet, under which he wore a vest and trousers. Bright and
+varied colors were affected, and sometimes dresses were interwoven or
+embroidered with gold. In seasons of festivity garlands of fresh flowers
+were worn upon the head. A long knife or dagger was carried at all
+times, which might be used either as an implement or as a weapon.
+
+In the earlier period of the empire the Parthian was noted as a spare
+liver; but, as time went on, he aped the vices of more civilized
+peoples, and became an indiscriminate eater and a hard drinker. Game
+formed a main portion of his diet; but he occasionally indulged in pork,
+and probably in other sorts of butcher's meat. He ate leavened bread,
+with his meat, and various kinds of vegetables. The bread, which was
+particularly light and porous, seems to have been imported sometimes by
+the Romans, who knew it as _panis aquaticus_ or _panis Parthicus_. Dates
+were also consumed largely by the Parthians, and in some parts of the
+country grew to an extraordinary size. A kind of wine was made from
+them; and this seems to have been the intoxicating drink in which
+the nation generally indulged too freely. That made from the dates of
+Babylon was the most highly esteemed, and was reserved for the use of
+the king and the higher order of satraps.
+
+Of the Parthian feasts, music was commonly an accompaniment. The flute,
+the pipe, the drum, and the instrument called eambuca, appear to have
+been known to them; and they understood how to combine these instruments
+in concerted harmony. They are said to have closed their feasts with
+dancing--an amusement of which they were inordinately fond--but this was
+probably the case only with the lower class of people. Dancing in the
+East, if not associated with religion, is viewed as degrading, and,
+except as a religious exercise, is not indulged in by respectable
+persons.
+
+The separation of the sexes was very decided in Parthia. The women took
+their meals, and passed the greater portion of their life, apart from
+the men. Veils were commonly worn, as in modern Mohammedan countries;
+and it was regarded as essential to female delicacy that women, whether
+married or single, should converse freely with no males but either their
+near relations or eunuchs. Adultery was punished with great severity;
+but divorce was not difficult, and women of rank released themselves
+from the nuptial bond on light grounds of complaint, without much
+trouble. Polygamy was the established law; and every Parthian was
+entitled, besides his chief wife, to maintain as many concubines as he
+thought desirable. Some of the nobles supported an excessive number; but
+the expenses of the seraglio prevented the generality from taking much
+advantage of the indulgence which the law permitted.
+
+The degree of refinement and civilization which the Parthians reached
+is difficult to determine with accuracy. In mimetic art their remains
+certainly do not show much taste or sense of beauty. There is some
+ground to believe that their architecture had merit; but the existing
+monuments can scarcely be taken as representations of pure Parthian
+work, and may have owed their excellence (in some measure, at any rate)
+to foreign influence. Still, the following particulars, for which there
+is good evidence, seem to imply that the nation had risen in reality far
+above that "barbarism" which it was the fashion of the Greek and Roman
+writers to ascribe to it. In the first place, the Parthians had a
+considerable knowledge of foreign languages. Plutarch tells us that
+Orodes, the opponent of Crassus, was acquainted with the Greek language
+and literature, and could enjoy the representation of a play of
+Euripides. The general possession of such knowledge, at any rate by the
+kings and the upper classes, seems to be implied by the use of the Greek
+letters and language in the legends upon coins and in inscriptions.
+Other languages were also to some extent cultivated. The later kings
+almost invariably placed a Semitic legend upon their coins; and there is
+one instance of a Parthian prince adopting an Aryan legend of the
+type known as Bactrian. Josephus, moreover, regarded the Parthians as
+familiar with Hebrew, or Syro-Chaldaic, and wrote his history of
+the Jewish War in his own native tongue, before he put out his Greek
+version, for the benefit especially of the Parthians, among whom he
+declares that he had many readers.
+
+Though the Parthians had, so far as we can tell, no native literature,
+yet writing was familiar to them, and was widely used in matters of
+business. Not only were negotiations carried on with foreign powers
+by means of despatches, but the affairs of the empire generally were
+conducted by writing. A custom-house system was established along the
+frontier, and all commodities liable to duty that entered the country
+were registered in a book at the time of entry by the custom-house
+officer. In the great cities where the Court passed a portion of the
+year, account was kept of the arrival of strangers, whose names and
+descriptions were placed upon record by the keepers of the gates. The
+orders of the Crown were signified in writing to the satraps; and they
+doubtless corresponded with the Court in the same way. In the earlier
+times the writing material commonly used was linen; but shortly before
+the time of Pliny, the Parthians began to make paper from the papyrus,
+which grew in the neighborhood of Babylon, though they still employed in
+preference the old material.
+
+There was a considerable trade between Parthia and Rome, carried on
+by means of a class of merchants. Parthia imported from Rome various
+metals, and numerous manufactured articles of a high class. Her
+principal exports were textile fabrics and spices. The textile fabrics
+seem to have been produced chiefly in Babylonia, and to have consisted
+of silks, carpets, and coverlets. The silks were largely used by the
+Roman ladies. The coverlets, which were patterned with various colors,
+fetched enormous prices, and were regarded as fit adornments of the
+Imperial palace. Among the spices exported, the most celebrated wore
+bdellium, and the _juncus odoratus_ or odoriferous bulrush.
+
+The Parthians had many liberal usages which imply a fairly advanced
+civilization. Their tolerance of varieties in religion has been already
+mentioned. Even in political matters they seem to have been free from
+the narrowness which generally characterizes barbarous nations. They
+behaved well to prisoners, admitted foreigners freely to offices of high
+trust, gave an asylum to refugees, and treated them with respect and
+kindness, were scrupulous observers of their pledged word, and eminently
+faithful to their treaty obligations. On the other hand, it must be
+admitted that they had some customs which indicate a tinge of barbarism.
+They used torture for the extraction of answers from reluctant persons,
+employed the scourge to punish trifling offences, and, in certain
+cases, condescended to mutilate the bodies of their dead enemies. Their
+addiction to intemperance is also a barbaric trait. They were, no doubt,
+on the whole, less civilized than either the Greeks or Romans; but the
+difference does not seem to have been so great as represented by the
+classical writers.
+
+Speaking broadly, the position that they occupied was somewhat similar
+to that which the Turks hold in the system of modern Europe. They had a
+military strength which caused them to be feared and respected, a vigor
+of administration which was felt to imply many sterling qualities. A
+certain coarseness and rudeness attached to them which they found it
+impossible to shake off; and this drawback was exaggerated by their
+rivals into an indication of irreclaimable barbarity. Except in respect
+of their military prowess, it may be doubtful if justice is done them by
+any classical writer. They were not merely the sole rival which dared to
+stand up against Rome in the interval between B.C. 65 and A.D. 226, but
+they were a rival falling in many respects very little below the great
+power whose glories have thrown them so much into the shade. They
+maintained from first to last a freedom unknown to later Rome;
+they excelled the Romans in toleration and in liberal treatment
+of foreigners, they equalled them in manufactures and in material
+prosperity, and they fell but little short of them in the extent and
+productiveness of their dominions. They were the second power in the
+world for nearly three centuries, and formed a counterpoise to Rome
+which greatly checked Roman decline, and, by forcing the Empire to exert
+itself, prevented stagnation and corruption.
+
+It must, however, be confessed, that the tendency of the Parthians
+was to degenerate. Although the final blow was struck in an unexpected
+quarter, and perhaps surprised the victors as much as the vanquished,
+still it is apparent that for a considerable space before the revolt of
+Artaxerxes the Parthian Empire had shown signs of failing strength, and
+had tended rapidly towards decay and ruin. The constant quarrels among
+the Arsacidae and the incipient disintegration of the Empire have been
+noticed. It may be added here that a growing barbarism, a decline in art
+and letters, is observable in the Parthian remains, such as have usually
+been found to accompany the decrepitude of a nation. The coinage has
+from first to last a somewhat rude character, which indicates that it
+is native, and not the production of Greek artists. But on the earlier
+coins the type, though not indicative of high art, is respectable, and
+the legends are, with few exceptions, perfectly correct and classical.
+Barbarism first creeps in about the reign of Gotarzes, A.D. 42-51. It
+increases as time goes on, until, from about A.D. 133, the Greek legend
+upon the coins becomes indistinct and finally unintelligible, the
+letters being strewn about the surface of the coin, like dead soldiers
+over a field of battle. It is, clear that the later directors of
+the mint were completely ignorant of Greek, and merely attempted to
+reproduce on the coin some semblance of a language which neither they
+nor their countrymen understood. Such a condition of a coinage is almost
+without parallel, and indicates a want of truth and honesty in the
+conduct of affairs which implies deep-seated corruption. The Parthians
+must have lost the knowledge of Greek about A.D. 130, yet
+still a pretence of using the language was kept up. On the
+tetra-drachms--comparatively rare coins--no important mistake was
+committed; but on the more usual drachm, from the time of Gotarzes, the
+most absurd errors were introduced, and thenceforth perpetuated. The
+old inscription was, in a certain sense, imitated, but every word of it
+ceased to be legible: the old figures disappeared in an indistinct
+haze, and--if we except the head and name of the king (written now in a
+Semitic character)--the whole emblazonment of the coin became unmeaning.
+A degeneracy less marked, but still sufficiently clear to the numismatic
+critic, is observable in the heads of the kings, which, in the earlier
+times, if a little coarse, are striking and characteristic; while in the
+later they sink to a conventional type, rudely and poorly rendered, and
+so uniform that the power of distinguishing one sovereign from
+another rests no longer upon feature, but upon mere differences in the
+arrangement of hair, or beard, or head-dress.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The
+Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6. (of 7): Parthia, by George Rawlinson
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