[11] Vbi haec atque talia dissertavere, incipit orationem Caesar de fastigio Romano Parthorumque obsequiis, seque divo Augusto adaequabat, petitum ab eo regem referens omissa Tiberii memoria, quamquam is quoque miserat. addidit praecepta (etenim aderat Meherdates), ut non dominationem et servos, sed rectorem et civis cogitaret, clementiamque ac iustitiam, quanto ignota barbaris, tanto laetiora capesseret. hinc versus ad legatos extollit laudibus alumnum urbis, spectatae ad id modestiae: ac tamen ferenda regum ingenia neque usui crebras mutationes. rem Romanam huc satietate gloriae provectam ut externis quoque gentibus quietem velit. datum posthac C. Cassio, qui Syriae praeerat, deducere iuvenem ripam ad Euphratis.
11 In reply to these and similar representations, the emperor began a speech upon Roman preëminence and the signs of deference evinced by Parthia. He claimed parity with the deified Augustus, to whom, as he pointed out, they had applied for a king; but he omitted to mention Tiberius, though he too had sent out sovereigns. As Meherdates was present, he subjoined a few maxims:—”Let him form the idea not of a despotism and slaves but of a governor and citizens, and practise mercy and justice — qualities unknown to barbarians, and as such doubly welcome.” Then, turning to the deputies, he eulogized the foster-child of the city, “who so far had given every proof of moderation. Still, the character of kings had to be borne with, and frequent changes served no purpose. Rome, in her satiety of glory, had reached the stage when she desired tranquillity for foreign countries as well as herself.” Gaius Cassius, the governor of Syria, was then commissioned to escort the youth to the bank of the Euphrates.
[12] Ea tempestate Cassius ceteros praeminebat peritia legum: nam militares artes per otium ignotae, industriosque aut ignavos pax in aequo tenet. ac tamen quantum sine bello dabatur, revocare priscum morem, exercitare legiones, cura provisu perinde agere ac si hostis ingrueret: ita dignum maioribus suis et familia Cassia per illas quoque gentis celebrata. igitur excitis quorum de sententia petitus rex, positisque castris apud Zeugma, unde maxime pervius amnis, postquam inlustres Parthi rexque Arabum Acbarus advenerat, monet Meherdaten barbarorum impetus acris cunctatione languescere aut in perfidiam mutari: ita urgeret coepta. quod spretum fraude Acbari, qui iuvenem ignarum et summam fortunam in luxu ratum multos per dies attinuit apud oppidum Edessam. et vocante Carene promptasque res ostentante, si citi advenissent, non comminus Mesopotamiam, sed flexu Armeniam petivit, id temporis importunam, quia hiems occipiebat.
12 In that period, Cassius stood unrivalled as a jurist: for the arts of war are lost in a quiet world, and peace maintains on a single level the man of action and the sluggard. Still, so far as was possible, he reintroduced the old code of discipline, constantly exercised his legions, and acted with the same care and forethought as if an enemy had been at hand: in his view, the only conduct worthy of his ancestry and of the Cassian family, which had gained celebrity even in those regions. Accordingly, he called up the persons who had suggested the application for a king; pitched his camp at Zeugma, the most convenient point for crossing the river; and, after the arrival of the Parthian magnates and the Arab prince Acbarus, cautioned Meherdates that the enthusiasm of barbarians, though lively, grows chill with delay or changes into treachery: let him therefore press on with his adventure. The advice was ignored through the dishonesty of Acbarus, by whom the inexperienced youth — who identified kingship with dissipation — was detained day after day in the town of Edessa. Even when invited by Carenes, who pointed out that all was easy if they arrived quickly, he took, not the short road into Mesopotamia, but a circuitous route to Armenia, at that time an impracticable district, as winter was setting in.
[13] Exim nivibus et montibus fessi, postquam campos propinquabant, copiis Carenis adiunguntur, tramissoque amne Tigri permeant Adiabenos, quorum rex Izates societatem Meherdatis palam induerat, in Gotarzen per occulta et magis fida inclinabat. sed capta in transitu urbs Ninos, vetustissima sedes Assyriae, [et] castellum insigne fama, quod postremo inter Darium atque Alexandrum proelio Persarum illic opes conciderant. interea Gotarzes apud montem, cui nomen Sanbulos, vota dis loci suscipiebat, praecipua religione Herculis, qui tempore stato per quietem monet sacerdotes ut templum iuxta equos venatui adornatos sistant. equi ubi pharetras telis onustas accepere, per saltus vagi nocte demum vacuis pharetris multo cum anhelitu redeunt. rursum deus, qua silvas pererraverit, nocturno visu demonstrat, reperiunturque fusae passim ferat.
13 At last, when, outworn by snows and mountains, they were nearing the plains, they effected a junction with the forces of Carenes, and, crossing the Tigris, struck through the country of the Adiabeni, whose king, Izates, had in public leagued himself with Meherdates, whilst in private, and with more sincerity, he inclined to Gotarzes. In passing, however, they captured Nineveh, the time-honoured capital of Assyria, together with a fortress, known to fame as the site on which the Persian empire fell in the last battle between Darius and Alexander. — Meanwhile, Gotarzes, at a mountain by the name of Sanbulos, was offering vows to the local deities; the chief cult being that of Hercules, who at fixed intervals warns his priests by dream to place beside his temple a number of horses equipped for hunting. These, after being furnished with quivers full of arrows, run loose in the forest glades, and only at night return, panting hard, and with quivers emptied. In a second nightly vision, the god points out the course he held through the forest, and all along it wild beasts are discovered strewing the ground.
[14] Ceterum Gotarzes, nondum satis aucto exercitu, flumine Corma pro munimento uti, et quamquam per insectationes et nuntios ad proelium vocaretur, nectere moras, locos mutare et missis corruptoribus exuendam ad fidem hostis emercari. ex quis Izates Adiabeno, mox Acbarus Arabum cum exercitu abscedunt, levitate gentili, et quia experimentis cognitum est barbaros malle Roma petere reges quam habere. at Meherdates validis auxiliis nudatus, ceterorum proditione suspecta, quod unum reliquum, rem in casum dare proelioque experiri statuit. nec detrectavit pugnam Gotarzes deminutis hostibus ferox; concursumque magna caede et ambiguo eventu, donec Carenem profligatis obviis longius evectum integer a tergo globus circumveniret. tum omni spe perdita Meherdates, promissa Parracis paterni clientis secutus, dolo eius vincitur traditurque victori. atque ille non propinquum neque Arsacis de gente, sed alienigenam et Romanum increpans, auribus decisis vivere iubet, ostentui clementiae suae et in nos dehonestamento. dein Gotarzes morbo obiit, accitusque in regnum Vonones Medos tum praesidens. nulla huic prospera aut adversa quis memoraretur: brevi et inglorio imperio perfunctus est, resque Parthorum in filium eius Vologesen translatae.
14 Gotarzes, whose army had not as yet reached adequate strength, made use of the river Corma as a natural barrier, and, in spite of derisive messages challenging him to battle, continued to interpose delays, to change his quarters, and, by despatching bribery-agents, to bid for the defection of his enemies. First Izates and the contingents of Adiabene, then Acbarus with those of the Arabs, took their departure, in accordance with the levity of their race and with the fact, proved by experience, that barbarians are more inclined to seek their kings from Rome than to keep them. Stripped of these powerful auxiliaries, and apprehending treason from the rest, Meherdates took the one course remaining and decided to stake his fortune upon a trial of arms. Gotarzes, emboldened by the depletion of the enemy, did not decline an engagement, and the armies met, with great slaughter and dubious success; until Carenes, who had broken the forces opposed to him, carried his advance too far and was cut off by fresh troops in his rear. With all hope lost, Meherdates now listened to the promises of his father’s vassal Parraces, and, by an act of perfidy on his part, was thrown into chains and surrendered to the victor; who, upbraiding him as no relative of his, nor a member of the Arsacian house, but an alien and a Roman, struck off his ears and commanded him to live — an advertisement of his own mercy and of our dishonour. Next came the death of Gotarzes by disease, and Vonones, then viceroy of Media, was called to the throne. No successes and no reverses entitled him to mention: he completed a short, inglorious and perfunc
tory reign, and the Parthian empire devolved upon his son Vologaeses.
[15] At Mithridates Bosporanus amissis opibus vagus, postquam Didium ducem Romanum roburque exercitus abisse cognoverat, relictos in novo regno Cotyn iuventa rudem et paucas cohortium cum Iulio Aquila equite Romano, spretis utrisque concire nationes, inlicere perfugas; postremo exercitu coacto regem Dandaridarum exturbat imperioque eius potitur. quae ubi cognita et iam iamque Bosporum invasurus habebatur, diffisi propriis viribus Aquila et Cotys, quia Zorsines Siracorum rex hostilia resumpserat, externas et ipsi gratias quaesivere missis legatis ad Eunonen qui Aorsorum genti praesidebat. nec fuit in arduo societas potentiam Romanam adversus rebellem Mithridaten ostentantibus. igitur pepigere, equestribus proeliis Eunones certaret, obsidia urbium Romani capesserent.
15 Meanwhile, Mithridates of Bosporus, a wanderer since the loss of his throne, learned that the Roman commander Didius had departed with the main body of his army, leaving the young and simple Cotys in his novel kingdom, with a few cohorts under the Roman knight, Julius Aquila. Scornful of both, he proceeded to raise the tribes and attract deserters: finally, mustering an army, he ejected the king of the Dandaridae, and seized his dominions. When this had become known and his invasion of Bosporus was expected from day to day, Aquila and Cotys — diffident of their own strength, as the Siracene prince Zorsines had resumed hostilities — followed his example, and sought outside support by sending envoys to the powerful Aorsian prince, Eunones. An alliance presented little difficulty, when they could exhibit the power of Rome ranged against the rebel Mithridates. It was arranged, therefore, that Eunones should be responsible for the cavalry fighting, the Romans undertaking the siege of all towns.
[16] Tunc composito agmine incedunt, cuius frontem et terga Aorsi, media cohortes et Bosporani tutabantur nostris in armis. sic pulsus hostis, ventumque Sozam, oppidum Dandaricae, quod desertum a Mithridate ob ambiguos popularium animos obtineri relicto ibi praesidio visum. exim in Siracos pergunt, et transgressi amnem Pandam circumveniunt urbem Vspen, editam loco et moenibus ac fossis munitam, nisi quod moenia non saxo sed cratibus et vimentis ac media humo adversum inrumpentis invalida erant; eductaeque altius turres facibus atque hastis turba bant obsessos. ac ni proelium nox diremisset, coepta patrataque expugnatio eundem intra diem foret.
16 They then advanced with combined forces, the front and rear held by the Aorsi, the centre by the cohorts and by Bosporan troops armed on our model. In this order they inflicted a reverse on the enemy and reached Soza, a town of Dandarica evacuated by Mithridates, which, in view of the doubtful sympathies of the population, it was thought advisable to secure by leaving a garrison. They next advanced on the Siraci, and, crossing the stream of the Panda, invested Uspe, a city built on a height and fortified with walls and moats — the drawback being that, as the walls were not of stone but of wickerwork hurdles with soil between, they were too weak to sustain an attack, while our siege towers, with their greater elevation, threw the garrison into disorder by discharges of firebrands and spears. In fact, if the struggle had not been interrupted by night, the beginning and end of the attack would have fallen within the limits of one day.
[17] Postero misere legatos, veniam liberis corporibus orantis: servitii decem milia offerebant. quod aspernati sunt victores, quia trucidare deditos saevum, tantam multitudinem custodia cingere arduum: belli potius iure caderent, datumque militibus qui scalis evaserant signum caedis. excidio Vspensium metus ceteris iniectus, nihil tutum ratis, cum arma, munimenta, impediti vel eminentes loci amnesque et urbes iuxta perrumperentur. igitur Zorsines, diu pensitato Mithridatisne rebus extremis an patrio regno consuleret, postquam praevaluit gentilis utilitas, datis obsidibus apud effigiem Caesaris procubuit, magna gloria exercitus Romani, quem incruentum et victorem tridui itinere afuisse ab amne Tanai constitit. sed in regressu dispar fortuna fuit, quia navium quasdam quae mari remeabant in litora Taurorum delatas circumvenere barbari, praefecto cohortis et plerisque auxiliarium interfectis.
17 On the morrow, deputies were sent out asking terms for the free population, but making an offer of ten thousand slaves. The composition was rejected by the victors, on the ground that it was cruelty to massacre surrendered men, and extremely difficult to maintain a ring of guards round such a multitude: better they should perish by the law of war! And the troops, who had mounted by their ladders, received the signal for no quarter. The destruction of the inhabitants of Uspe struck dismay into the rest of the country; safety being considered impossible when armies and fortifications, high or difficult ground, rivers and cities, failed equally to stay the enemy. Zorsines, therefore, after long debating whether his first consideration was due to the desperate case of Mithridates or to his own ancestral kingdom, when once the interests of his nation carried the day, gave hostages and prostrated himself before the effigy of the Caesar — much to the glory of the Roman army, which had indisputably reached, bloodless and victorious, a point within three days’ march of the Tanais. During their withdrawal, however, fortune changed, as a few of the ships — they were returning by sea — were carried on to the Taurian coast and there surrounded by the barbarians, who killed the prefect of one cohort and many of the auxiliaries.
[18] Interea Mithridates nullo in armis subsidio consultat cuius misericordiam experiretur. frater Cotys, proditor olim, deinde hostis, metuebatur: Romanorum nemo id auctoritatis aderat ut promissa eius magni penderentur. ad Eunonen convertit, propriis odiis [non] infensum et recens coniuncta nobiscum amicitia validum. igitur cultu vultuque quam maxime ad praesentem fortunam comparato regiam ingreditur genibusque eius provolutus ‘Mithridates’ inquit ‘terra marique Romanis per tot annos quaesitus sponte adsum: utere, ut voles, prole magni Achaemenis, quod mihi solum hostes non abstulerunt.’
18 In the interval, as there was no help in arms, Mithridates debated the question whose mercy he should put to the proof. His brother Cotys, once his betrayer, then his declared enemy, inspired mistrust; and, of the Romans, no one of sufficient authority was on the scene for much weight to be attached to his promises. He turned to Eunones, who was not embittered against him by private animosities, and whose power had been increased by his recently formed friendship with ourselves. His dress and features, then, adjusted so far as possible to his present situation, he entered the palace and fell at the king’s knees with the words:—”Mithridates, whom the Romans have sought for so many years over land and sea, is here of his own accord. Use as thou wilt the issue of the great Achaemenes — the one title of which my enemies have not bereft me.”
[19] At Eunones claritudine viri, mutatione rerum et prece haud degeneri permotus, adlevat supplicem laudatque quod gentem Aorsorum, quod suam dextram petendae veniae delegerit. simul legatos litterasque ad Caesarem in hunc modum mittit: populi Romani imperatoribus, magnarum nationum regibus primam ex similitudine fortunae amicitiam, sibi et Claudio etiam communionem victoriae esse. bellorum egregios finis quoties ignoscendo transigatur: sic Zorsini victo nihil ereptum. pro Mithridate, quando gravius mereretur, non potentiam neque regnum precari, sed ne triumpharetur neve poenas capite expenderet.
19 Eunones, moved by the fame of the man, by the revolution in his fortunes, and by his not ignoble prayer, raised the suppliant and commended him for selecting the Aorsian people and his own right hand to which to address his appeal for clemency. At the same time, he sent a legation to the Caesar, with a letter to the following effect:—”Between the emperors of the Roman nation and the kings of great realms, friendship had its origin in the similarity of rank: between himself and Claudius there subsisted also a partnership in victory. The noblest end of war was a settlement reached by pardon; and it was thus that Zorsines had been conquered, but not despoiled. On behalf of Mithridates, who deserved sterner treatment, he asked for neither power nor royalty, but simply that he should not be led in triumph nor expiate his faults with his life.”
[20] At Claudius, quamquam nobilitatibus externis mitis, dubitavit tamen accipere captivum pacto salutis an repetere armis rectius foret. hinc dolor
iniuriarum et libido vindictae adigebat: sed disserebatur contra suscipi bellum avio itinere, importuoso mari; ad hoc reges ferocis, vagos populos, solum frugum egenum, taedium ex mora, pericula ex properantis, modicam victoribus laudem ac multum infamiae, si pellerentur. quin adriperet et servaret exulem, cui inopi quanto longiorem vitam, tanto plus supplicii fore. his permotus scripsit Eunoni, meritum quidem novissima exempla Mithridaten, nec sibi vim ad exequendum deese: verum ita maioribus placitum, quanta pervicacia in hostem, tanta beneficentia adversus supplices utendum; nam triumphos de populis regnisque integris adquiri.
20 Claudius, however, lenient though he was to foreign potentates, still doubted whether it was preferable to accept the captive, under a guarantee of safety, or to reclaim him by arms. He was impelled to the second course by resentment of his injuries and by the desire of revenge; yet it was urged on the other side that “he would be undertaking a war in a roadless country and upon a harbourless sea. Consider, too, the martial kings, their nomadic peoples, the unfruitful soil; the tedium consequent on delay, the dangers consequent on haste; the modest laurels of victory, the pronounced ignominy of repulse! Better to embrace the proffered opportunity, and spare an exile to whom every extension of his poverty-stricken life would be an extension of punishment.” Impressed by these arguments, he wrote to Eunones that “Mithridates, it was true, had earned the last penalties; nor was it out of his power to exact them; but it had been a maxim of his ancestors to display as much charity to suppliants as pertinacity against the enemy: for it was at the expense of peoples and monarchies still undefeated that triumphs were earned.”
[21] Traditus posthac Mithridates vectusque Romam per Iunium Cilonem, procuratorem Ponti, ferocius quam pro fortuna disseruisse apud Caesarem ferebatur, elataque vox eius in vulgum hisce verbis: ‘non sum remissus ad te, sed reversus: vel si non credis, dimitte et quaere.’ vultu quoque interrito permansit, cum rostra iuxta custodibus circumdatus visui populo praeberetur. consularia insignia Ciloni, Aquilae praetoria decernuntur.
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 274