d between their
generals: one set were fairly aglow with delight at their rapidity; the
others were grieved and ashamed of their compact. Vologaesus sent Monaeses
to Corbulo with the demand that the newcomer should give up the fort in
Mesopotamia. So they held a prolonged conference together right at the
bridge crossing the Euphrates, after first destroying the center of the
structure. Corbulo having promised to leave the country if the Parthian
would also abandon Armenia, both of these things were done temporarily
until Nero could learn the outcome of the engagements and begin
negotiations with the envoys of Vologaesus, whom the latter had sent a
second time. The answer given them by the emperor was that he would bestow
Armenia upon Tiridates if this aspirant would come to Rome. Paetus was
deposed from his command and the soldiers that had been with him were sent
somewhere else. Corbulo was again assigned to the war against the same
foes. Nero had intended to accompany the expedition in person, but after
falling down during the ceremony of sacrificing he would not venture to go
abroad but remained where he was.]

[Sidenote:--23--] [Corbulo therefore officially prepared for war upon
Vologaesus and sent a centurion bidding him depart from the country.
Privately, however, he suggested to the king that he send his brother to
Rome, and this advice met with acceptance, since Corbulo seemed to have
the stronger force. Thus it came about that they both, Corbulo and
Tiridates, met at no other place than Rhandea, which suited them both. It
appealed to the Parthian because there his people had cut off the Romans
and had sent them away under a capitulation, a visible proof of the favor
that had been done them. To the Roman it appealed because his men were
going to wipe out the ill repute that had attached to them there before.
For the meeting of the two was not limited merely to conversation; a lofty
platform had been erected on which were set images of Nero, and in the
presence of crowds of Armenians, Parthians, and Romans Tiridates
approached and did them reverence; after sacrificing to them and calling
them by laudatory names he took off the diadem from his head and set it
upon them. Monobazus and Vologaesus also came to Corbulo and gave him
hostages. In honor of this event Nero was a number of times saluted as
imperator and held a triumph, contrary to precedent.] But Corbulo in spite
of the large force that he had and the very