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 Farthia. 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.

Τελευταῖος γέγονεν ὁ ̓Αρτάβανος.—Dio Cass. lxxx. 3.

Ox 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 favour of the former, whom they regard as undisputed sovereign of the Parthians, at any rate from the year A.D. 216.1 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 recognised in the

1 The negotiations between Caracallus and Artabanus, which Herodian describes (iv. 18-20), must have taken place in the course of

this year. (See Clinton, F. R. vol. i. p. 224.)

2 See Lindsay, History and Coinage, pp. 113, 114.

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 neighbour (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.1 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.3

1 Dio Cass. lxxvii. 12.

2 Ibid. lxxvii. 19 and 21. The Tapos of the latter chapter must, it would seem, be the Ovolóyasor

of the former.

3 Herodian. 1. s. c. Dio Cass. lxxviii. 1.

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 honour 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 dishonourable, which promised to conduce towards the accomplishment of his wishes. As early as A.D. 212 he summoned Abgarus, the tributary king of Osrhoëné, 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.2 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

1 Dio Cass. lxxvii. 22; Herodian. iv. 13; Spanheim, De Usu Numism.

Diss. xii.

2 Dio Cass. lxxvii. 12 (Compare Gibbon, vol. i. p. 343; Smith's edition.)

king and royal family; and when, three years afterwards (A.D. 215), Caracallus sent a Roman army under Theocritus, one of his favourites, 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.1 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.

3

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 perNo one could be a suitable wife to him who was

son.

1 Dio Cass. 1.s.c.

2 Ibid. lxxvii. 21.

3 These were a certain Tiridates, who seems to have been an Armenian prince, and a Cynic philosopher, named Antiochus (Dio Cass. lxxvii.

19).

Ibid. lxxvii. 21.

5 Herodian. iv. 18:-ПipяL SE πρεσβείαν καὶ δῶρα πάσης ὕλης τε πολυτελοῦς καὶ τέχνης ποικά ing.

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 recognising 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.'1

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 honourable issue. The project broached appeared to him altogether extravagant, and such as no one in his senses could entertain for a

1 Herodian. iv. 18.