P A R T H I A. 
656 
Anthony, who was reduced to great ftraits, no fooner 
received this anfwer, than he broke up the liege, and 
inarched towards Armenia. However, Phraates was not 
fo good as his word ; for the Romans were attacked by 
his army no fewer than eighteen times on their march, 
and were thrice in the utmoft danger of being cut off. A 
famine alfo raged in the Roman army; upon which they 
began to defert; and indeed Anthony would probably 
have been left by himfelf, had not the Parthians, in a 
very cruel as well as impolitic manner, murdered all thofe 
who fled to them in fight of the reft. At laft, having loft 
32,000 men, and being reduced .to fuch defpair that he 
was with difficulty prevented from laying violent hands 
on himfelf, Anthony reached the river Araxes ; when his 
men, finding themfelves out of the reach of the enemy, 
fell down on the ground, and killed it with tears of joy. 
Anthony was no fooner gone, than the kings of Media 
and Parthia quarrelled about the booty they had taken ; 
and-, after various contefts, Phraates reduced all Media 
and Armenia. This monfter prolonged his reign under 
the charafter of a warlike prince. In procefs of time he 
made peace with Auguftus, and reftored all the captives 
and enfigns which the Parthians had taken in their wars 
with Craflus and Anthony. He alfo fent four of his fons, 
with their wives and children, as hoftages to Rome. His 
fon Phraafrus remained with him ; and it is faid that he 
was poifoned by his wife Thermofa, in order to place that 
fon upon the throne. The Parthians, however, difdaining 
to be governed by fo wicked a parricide, rofe up in arms, 
and drove him into banifhment, where he perifhed fome 
years after. The fucceeding reigns were of lliort duration; 
and Artabanus, one of the race of the Arlficides, who 
reigned in Media, was called to the Parthian throne. 
His cruelty rendered him deteftable, and afforded to Ti¬ 
berius an opportunity of placing on the throne Tiridates, 
who was likely to be more devoted to the will of the Ro¬ 
man emperor. Artabanus was ultimately reftored to the 
kingdom by the influence of Izates, king of the Adiabe- 
nians; and from this time he governed the kingdom 
with great equity and moderation ; fo that, after a reign 
of thirty years, he died, greatly lamented by all his fub- 
je£ls, leaving behind him feven fons, one of whom fuc- 
ceeded him. 
Under the reign of Nero, about the year 54., one Vo- 
logefes, the fon of Gortarzes, a former king, became 
peaceable pofl'eflor of the throne. He carried on fome wars 
againft the Romans, but with very indifferent fuccefs; and 
at laft gladly confented to a renewal of the ancient trea¬ 
ties with that powerful people. 
From this time the Parthian hiftory affords nothing re¬ 
markable till the reign of the emperor Trajan ; when the 
Parthian king, by name Cofroes , infringed the treaty with 
Rome, by driving out the king of Armenia. Upon this, 
Trajan, who was glad of any pretence to quarrel with 
the Parthians, immediately liaftened into Armenia. His 
arrival there was fo fudden and unexpected, that he re¬ 
duced almoft the whole country without oppofition ; and 
took prifoner Parthamafiris, the king whom the Parthians 
had fet up. After this he entered Mefopotamia, took the 
city of Nifibis, and reduced the whole of that wealthy 
country. A.D. 106. 
Early in the fpring of the following year, Trajan who 
had kept his winter-quarters in Syria, tookthe field again; 
but was warmly oppofed by Cofroes. He found him en¬ 
camped on the banks of the Euphrates, with a defign to 
difpute his paflage, which he did with fuch vigour, that 
the emperor, after having feveral times attempted to ford 
that river, and been always repulfed with great daugh¬ 
ter, was obliged to caufe boats to be built on the neigh¬ 
bouring mountains, which he privately conveyed from 
thence on carriages to the water-fide; and, having in 
the night-time formed a bridge with them, lie palled his 
army the next day ; but not without great lofs and dan¬ 
ger, the Parthians harraffing his men the whole time with 
inceflant fliowers of arrows, which did great execution. 
Having gained the oppofite bank, he advanced boldly 
into Aflyria, the Parthians flying every-where before him ; 
and made himfelf mafter of Arbela. Thence he purfued 
his march ; fubduing, with incredible rapidity, countries 
where the Roman ftandard had never before been dif- 
played. Babylonia, or the province of Babylon, volun¬ 
tarily fubmitted to him ; and the city itfelf was, after a vi¬ 
gorous refiftance, taken by ftorm ; by which means he be¬ 
came mafter of all Chaldea and Aflyria, the two richeft 
provinces of the Parthian empire. From Babylon he 
marched to Ctefiphon, the metropolis of the Parthian 
monarchy ; which he befieged, and at laft reduced. But 
as to the particulars of thefe great conquefts, we are quite 
in the dark; this expedition, however glorious to the 
Roman name, being rather hinted at than defcribed by 
the writers of thofe times. 
While Trajan was thus making war in the heart of the 
enemy’s country, Cofroes, having recruited his army, 
marched into Mefopotamia, with a defign to recover that 
country, and cut off all communication between the Ro¬ 
man army and Syria. On his arrival in that province, the 
inhabitants flocked to him from all parts ; and moft of the 
cities, driving out the garrifons left by Trajan, opened 
their gates to him. Hereupon the emperor detached Lu¬ 
cius and Maximus, two of his chief commanders, into 
Mefopotamia, to keep fuch cities in awe as had not re¬ 
volted, and to open a communication with Syria. Max¬ 
imus was met by Cofroes ; and, having ventured a battle, 
his army was entirely defeated, and himfelf killed. But 
Lucius, being-joined by Euricius and Clarius, two other 
commanders fent by Trajan with frefh fup.plies, gained 
confiderable advantages over the enemy, and retook the 
cities of Nifibis and Seleucia, which had revolted. 
And now Trajan, feeing himfelf poffefled of all the beft 
and moft fruitful provinces of the Parthian empire, but 
at the fame time being well apprifed that he could not, 
without a vaft expenfe, maintain his conquefts, nor keep 
in fubjedlion fo fierce and warlike a people at fuch a dif- 
tance from Italy ; refolved to fet over them a king of his 
own choofing, who ftiould hold the crown of him and his 
fucceflors, and acknowledge them as his lords and fove- 
reigns. With this view he repaired to Ctefiphon ; and, 
having there aflembled the chief men of the nation, he 
crowned one of the royal family, by name Partlianafpates, 
king of Parthia, obliging all who were prefent to pay him 
their allegiance. He chofe Partlianafpates, becaufe that 
prince had joined him at his firft entering the Parthian 
dominions, conduced him with great fidelity, and ftiown 
on all occafions an extraordinary attachment to the Ro¬ 
mans. Thus the Parthians were at laft fubdued, and their 
kingdom made tributary to Rome. But they did not 
long continue in this ftate of fubjeflion ; for they no 
fooner heard of Trajan’s death, which happened fliortly 
after, (A. D. 117.) than, taking up arms, they drove 
Partlianafpates from the throne; and recalling Cofroes, 
who had retired into the country of the Hyrcanians, 
openly revolted from Rome. Adrian, who was then com¬ 
mander-in-chief of all the forces in the eaft, and foon 
after acknowledged emperor by the army, did not with, 
though he was at that time in Syria with a very nume¬ 
rous army, to engage in a new w'ar with the Parthians; 
but contented himfelf with preferving the ancient limits 
of the empire. Therefore, in the beginning of his reign, 
he abandoned thofe provinces beyond the Euphrates 
which Trajan had conquered; withdrew the Roman 
garrifons from Mefopotamia ; and, for the greater fafety 
of other places, made the Euphrates the boundary of, 
and barrier in, thofe parts, polling his legions along the 
banks of that river. 
Cofroes died after a long reign, and was fucceeded by 
his eldeft fon Vologefes II. in whofe reign the Alani, 
breaking into Media, then fubjedt to the Parthians, com¬ 
mitted great devaftations ; but were prevailed upon, with 
rich prefents fent them by Vologefes, to abandon that 
kingdom, and return home. Upon their retreat, Volo¬ 
gefes, 
6 
