the conquest to about B.C. 59-57. 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.3 Unwilling to acquiesce in his disgrace, Mithridates fled to the Romans, and being favourably received by Gabinius, then proconsul of Syria, endeavoured 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-en

1 Plutarch tells us that the Parthian general who defeated Crassus had previously brought back Orodes from banishment (Vit. Crass. § 21). Appian follows him (Parth. p. 141, A).

2 Justin, l.s.c. 'Propter crudeli

tatem a senatu Parthico regno pellitur.'

3 Dio Cass. xxxix. 56. Mifpičárnv τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐκ τῆς Μηδίας, ἧς ἤρχεν, Eißale.

4 App. Syriac. p. 120, A; Par134, A.

tering the Parthian territory, commenced a civil war against his brother, finding numerous partisans, especially in the region about Babylon.1 It may be suspected that Seleucia, the second city in the Empire, embraced his cause.2 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 first War with Rome.

Parthi. . . a Romanis, bellis per maximos duces florentissimis temporibus lacessiti, soli ex omnibus gentibus non pares solum, sed etiam victores fuere.' Justin, xli. 1, § 7.

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. 55,1 In this latter year Crassus obtained the consulship at Rome, and, being appointed at the same time to the command of the East,2 made no secret of his intention. to march the Roman legions across the Euphrates, and engage in hostilities with the great Parthian kingdom.3 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

1 Gabinius, to whom Mithridates fled, was not proconsul of Syria till B.C. 56, and Mithridates therefore cannot have applied to him till that year. As the civil war followed on this application, and the siege of Babylon is expressly said to have occupied a long time (Justin), Mithridates can scarcely have submitted until B.C. 55.

33.

2 Liv. Epit. cv.; Dio Cass. xxxix.

3 Plut. Crass. § 16.

4 Ibid. Ως παιδιὰν ἀποφανῶν τὰ Λουκούλλου πρὸς Τιγράνην καὶ Πομπηίου πρὸς Μιθριδάτην, ἄχρι Βακτρίων καὶ Ἰνδῶν καὶ τῆς ἔξω θαλάσσης avйyer kavròv raiç mig. Compare App. Parth. p. 135, C.

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 Osrhoêné, 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.2 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.4 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 moun

The name is given variously, as Abgarus, Acbarus, and Avgarus (Αύγαρος); but the first form is the only one used upon the coins of Edessa. Otherwise the form Acbarus might seem preferable, as the representative of the Arabic Akbar.

3

All the princes of Edessa seem to have been called either Abgarus or Mannus.

2 Dio Cass. xl. 20; App. Parth. p. 140, A.

3 Dio Cass. xxxv. 2, ad fin.
4 Ibid. xl. 20.

tains into Adiabêné, 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 no haste to make a decision. He must have arrived in Syria tolerably early in the spring; but his opera1 tions 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.2 The country was defended by the Parthian satrap with a small force; but this was easily defeated, the satrap himself receiving a wound.3

1 Crassus left Rome in the year of his consulship B.C. 55, later than Nov. 15 (Cic. Ep. ad Att. iv. 13). He took ship from Brundusium before the storms of winter were over (Plut. Crass. § 17), proceeded to Asia Minor, and marched rapidly through Galatia (ήπείγετο dia Padarias, ib.) into Syria, where he must have arrived as early as April or May. Mommsen, however, overstates the case, when he makes him reach Syria at the

very beginning of 700' (bereits Anfang 700).

2 Dio Cass. xl. 13. Compare Isid. Char. Mans. Parth. § 1. The chief of these cities were Apameia, Anthemusias or Charax Sidæ, Ichnæ, and Nicephorium.

3 Dio Cass. xl. 12. This engagement took place near Ichnæ, which was on the Belik, about seventeen miles north of Rakkah (Nicephorium).