|  | | Louis Sheehan | | Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire | |
|
|  | | | |
| |
|
|
|
Monday, August 02, 2010 - 2:20 PM
In the consulship of Caius Cestius and Marcus Servilius, some Parthian
nobles came to Rome without the knowledge of their king Artabanus. Dread
of Germanicus had made that prince faithful to the Romans and just to his
people, but he subsequently changed this behaviour for insolence towards
us and tyranny to his subjects. He was elated by the wars which he had
successfully waged against the surrounding nations, while he disdained
the aged and, as he thought, unwarlike Tiberius, eagerly coveting Armenia,
over which, on the death of Artaxias, he placed Arsaces, his eldest son.
He further added insult, and sent envoys to reclaim the treasures left
by Vonones in Syria and Cilicia. Then too he insisted on the ancient boundaries
of Persia and Macedonia, and intimated, with a vainglorious threat, that
he meant to seize on the country possessed by Cyrus and afterwards by
Alexander.
The chief adviser of the Parthians in sending the secret embassy
was Sinnaces, a man of distinguished family and corresponding wealth. Next
in influence was Abdus, an eunuch, a class which, far from being despised
among barbarians, actually possesses power. These, with some other nobles
whom they admitted to their counsels, as there was not a single Arsacid
whom they could put on the throne, most of the family having been murdered
by Artabanus or being under age, demanded that Phraates, son of king Phraates,
should be sent from Rome. "Only a name," they said, "and an authority were
wanted; only, in fact, that, with Caesar's consent, a scion of the house
of Arsaces should show himself on the banks of the Euphrates."
This suited the wishes of Tiberius. He provided Phraates with what
he needed for assuming his father's sovereignty, while he clung to his
purpose of regulating foreign affairs by a crafty policy and keeping war
at a distance. Artabanus meanwhile, hearing of the treacherous arrangement,
was one moment perplexed by apprehension, the next fired with a longing
for revenge. With barbarians, indecision is a slave's weakness; prompt
action king-like. But now expediency prevailed, and he invited Abdus, under
the guise of friendship, to a banquet, and disabled him by a lingering
poison; Sinnaces he put off by pretexts and presents, and also by various
employments. Phraates meanwhile, on arriving in Syria, where he threw off
the Roman fashions to which for so many years he had been accustomed, and
adapted himself to Parthian habits, unable to endure the customs of his
country, was carried off by an illness. Still, Tiberius did not relinquish
his purpose. He chose Tiridates, of the same stock as Artabanus, to be
his rival, and the Iberian Mithridates to be the instrument of recovering
Armenia, having reconciled him to his brother Pharasmanes, who held the
throne of that country. He then intrusted the whole of his eastern policy
to Lucius Vitellius. The man, I am aware, had a bad name at Rome, and many
a foul story was told of him. But in the government of provinces he acted
with the virtue of ancient times. He returned, and then, through fear of
Caius Caesar and intimacy with Claudius, he degenerated into a servility
so base that he is regarded by an after-generation as the type of the most
degrading adulation. The beginning of his career was forgotten in its end,
and an old age of infamy effaced the virtues of youth.
Of the petty chiefs Mithridates was the first to persuade Pharasmanes
to aid his enterprise by stratagem and force, and agents of corruption
were found who tempted the servants of Arsaces into crime by a quantity
of gold. At the same instant the Iberians burst into Armenia with a huge
host, and captured the city of Artaxata. Artabanus, on hearing this, made
his son Orodes the instrument of vengeance. He gave him the Parthian army
and despatched men to hire auxiliaries. Pharasmanes, on the other hand,
allied himself with the Albanians, and procured aid from the Sarmatae,
whose highest chiefs took bribes from both sides, after the fashion of
their countrymen, and engaged themselves in conflicting interests. But
the Iberians, who were masters of the various positions, suddenly poured
the Sarmatae into Armenia by the Caspian route. Meanwhile those who were
coming up to the support of the Parthians were easily kept back, all other
approaches having been closed by the enemy except one, between the sea
and the mountains on the Albanian frontier, which summer rendered difficult,
as there the shallows are flooded by the force of the Etesian gales. The
south wind in winter rolls back the waves, and when the sea is driven back
upon itself, the shallows along the coast, are exposed.
Meantime, while Orodes was without an ally, Pharasmanes, now strengthened
by reinforcements, challenged him to battle, taunted him on his refusal,
rode up to his camp and harassed his foraging parties. He often hemmed
him in with his picquets in the fashion of a blockade, till the Parthians,
who were unused to such insults, gathered round the king and demanded battle.
Their sole strength was in cavalry; Pharasmanes was also powerful in infantry,
for the Iberians and Albanians, inhabiting as they did a densely wooded
country, were more inured to hardship and endurance. They claim to have
been descended from the Thessalians, at the period when Jason, after the
departure of Medea and the children born of her, returned subsequently
to the empty palace of Aeetes, and the vacant kingdom of Colchi. They have
many traditions connected with his name and with the oracle of Phrixus.
No one among them would think of sacrificing a ram, the animal supposed
to have conveyed Phrixus, whether it was really a ram or the figure-head
of a ship.
Both sides having been drawn up in battle array, the Parthian leader
expatiated on the empire of the East, and the renown of the Arsacids, in
contrast to the despicable Iberian chief with his hireling soldiery. Pharasmanes
reminded his people that they had been free from Parthian domination, and
that the grander their aims, the more glory they would win if victorious,
the more disgrace and peril they would incur if they turned their backs.
He pointed, as he spoke, to his own menacing array, and to the Median bands
with their golden embroidery; warriors, as he said, on one side, spoil
on the other.
Among the Sarmatae the general's voice was not alone to be heard.
They encouraged one another not to begin the battle with volleys of arrows;
they must, they said, anticipate attack by a hand to hand charge. Then
followed every variety of conflict. The Parthians, accustomed to pursue
or fly with equal science, deployed their squadrons, and sought scope for
their missiles. The Sarmatae, throwing aside their bows, which at a shorter
range are effective, rushed on with pikes and swords. Sometimes, as in
a cavalry-action, there would be alternate advances and retreats, then,
again, close fighting, in which, breast to breast, with the clash of arms,
they repulsed the foe or were themselves repulsed. And now the Albanians
and Iberians seized, and hurled the Parthians from their steeds, and embarrassed
their enemy with a double attack, pressed as they were by the cavalry on
the heights and by the nearer blows of the infantry. Meanwhile Pharasmanes
and Orodes, who, as they cheered on the brave and supported the wavering,
were conspicuous to all, and so recognised each other, rushed to the combat
with a shout, with javelins, and galloping chargers, Pharasmanes with the
greater impetuosity, for he pierced his enemy's helmet at a stroke. But
he could not repeat the blow, as he was hurried onwards by his horse, and
the wounded man was protected by the bravest of his guards. A rumour that
he was slain, which was believed by mistake, struck panic into the Parthians,
and they yielded the victory.
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire very soon marched with the whole strength of his kingdom,
intent on vengeance. The Iberians from their knowledge of the country fought
at an advantage. Still Artabanus did not retreat till Vitellius had assembled
his legions and, by starting a report that he meant to invade Mesopotamia,
raised an alarm of war with Rome. Armenia was then abandoned, and the fortunes
of Artabanus were overthrown, Vitellius persuading his subjects to forsake
a king who was a tyrant in peace, and ruinously unsuccessful in war. And
so Sinnaces, whose enmity to the prince I have already mentioned, drew
into actual revolt his father Abdageses and others, who had been secretly
in his counsel, and were now after their continued disasters more eager
to fight. By degrees, many flocked to him who, having been kept in subjection
by fear rather than by goodwill, took courage as soon as they found
leaders.
|
|
| << Navigate to Monday, August 02, 2010 |
Add New Comment |
|
|
|
|