![]() If I have sinned through irresolution, my valour shall make amends for it. It was by just dealing rather than by bloodshed, by having a good cause rather than by arms, that I had wished to retain what my ancestors had won. The Romans thwart me, and though they have never with success to themselves disturbed the peace between us, they are now again breaking it to their own destruction. And I thought to myself that I had duly arranged our family and home so as to guard against the old feuds and rivalries of brothers. As for Media, Pacorus was already in possession of it. Moved by these considerations Vologeses called a council, placed Tiridates by his side, and began to speak as follows: "This man before you, born from the same father as myself, having waived in my favour, on the ground of age, the highest title of all, was established by me in the possession of Armenia, which is accounted the third grade of power. And though it is the glory of a private house to keep its own, it is the glory of a king to fight for the possessions of others." "It is not," he urged, "by weak inaction that great empires are held together there must be the struggle of brave men in arms might is right with those who are at the summit of power. Their anger was inflamed by Monobazus, who ruled the Adiabeni, and repeatedly asked what protection he was to seek and from what quarter- "Already," he said, "Armenia has been given up, and its borders are being wrested from us, and unless the Parthians help us, we shall find that subjection to Rome is lighter for those who surrender than for the conquered." Tiridates too, exile as he was from his kingdom, by his silence or very moderate complaints made the deeper impression. The chief men of the tribes were indignant at having fallen into such contempt that they were victims to the inroads, not indeed of a Roman general, but of a daring hostage, who for so many years had been numbered among slaves. Tigranes, quitting Armenia, had ravaged the Adiabeni, a people on its border, too extensively and continuously for mere plundering raids. Suddenly, as he was wavering, fresh and further tidings of disgrace goaded him to action. Naturally irresolute, he was now hampered by a revolt of the Hyrcanians, a powerful tribe, and by several wars arising out of it. MEANWHILE, the Parthian king, Vologeses, when he heard of Corbulo's achievements and of a foreign prince, Tigranes, having been set over Armenia, though he longed at the same time to avenge the majesty of the Arsacids, which had been insulted by the expulsion of his brother Tiridates, was, on the other hand, drawn to different thoughts as he reflected on the greatness of Rome, and felt reverence for a hitherto unbroken treaty.
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