erfered with it. He would be glad, he said, to renew with Germanicus
the interchange of friendly assurances which had passed between his
predecessor, Phraataces, and Caius; and to accommodate the Roman
general, he would willingly come to meet him as far as the Euphrates;
meanwhile, until the meeting could take place, he must request that
Vonones should be removed to a greater distance from the Parthian
frontier, and that he should not be allowed to continue the
correspondence in which he was engaged with many of the Parthian nobles
for the purpose of raising fresh troubles. Germanicus replied politely,
but indefinitely, to the proposal of an interview, which he may have
thought unnecessary, and open to misconstruction. To the request for the
removal of Vonones he consented. Vonones was transferred from Syria to
the neighboring province of Cilicia; and the city of Pompeiopolis, built
by the great Pompey on the site of the ancient Soli, was assigned to him
as his residence. With this arrangement the Parthian monarch appears to
have been contented. Vonones on the other hand was so dissatisfied with
the change that in the course of the next year (A.D. 19) he endeavored
to make his escape; his flight was, however, discovered, and, pursuit
being made, he was overtaken and slain on the banks of the Pyramus. Thus
perished ingloriously one of the least blamable and most unfortunate of
the Parthian princes.

After the death of Germanicus, in A.D. 19, the details of the Parthian
history are for some years unknown to us. It appears that during this
interval Artabanus [PLATE II. Fig. 5.] was engaged in wars with several
of the nations upon his borders, and met with so much success that he
came after a while to desire, rather than fear, a rupture with Rome. He
knew that Tiberius was now an old man, and that he was disinclined to
engage in distant wars; he was aware that Germanicus was dead; and he
was probably not much afraid of L. Vitellius, the governor of Syria,
who had been recently deputed by Tiberius to administer that province.
Accordingly in A.D. 34, the Armenian throne being once more vacant
by the death of Artaxias (Zeno), he suddenly seized the country, and
appointed his eldest son, whom Dio and Tacitus call simply Arsaces, to
be king. At the same time he sent ambassadors to require the restoration
of the treasure which Vonones had carried off from Parthia and had left
behind him in Syria or Cilicia. To this plain and defin