Chapter 3.
HOW ARTABANUS, THE KING OF PARTHIA OUT OF FEAR OF THE SECRET
CONTRIVANCES OF HIS SUBJECTS AGAINST HIM, WENT TO IZATES, AND WAS BY HIM
REINSTATED IN HIS GOVERNMENT; AS ALSO HOW BARDANES HIS SON DENOUNCED WAR
AGAINST IZATES.FJAJ 20.15
1. BUT now Artabanus, king of the Parthians perceiving that the governors
of the provinces had framed a plot against him, did not think it safe for
him to continue among them; but resolved to go to Izates, in hopes of finding
some way for his preservation by his means, and, if possible, for his return
to his own dominions
So he came to Izates, and brought a thousand of his
kindred and servants with him, and met him upon the road, while he well
knew Izates, but Izates did not know him
When Artabanus stood near him,
and, in the first place, worshipped him, according to the custom, he then
said to him, "O king! do not thou overlook me thy servant, nor do
thou proudly reject the suit I make thee; for as I am reduced to a low
estate, by the change of fortune, and of a king am become a private man,
I stand in need of thy assistance
Have regard, therefore, unto the uncertainty
of fortune, and esteem the care thou shalt take of me to he taken of thyself
also; for if I be neglected, and my subjects go off unpunished, many other
subjects will become the more insolent towards other kings also."
And this speech Artabanus made with tears in his eyes, and with a dejected
countenance
Now as soon as Izates heard Artabanus's name, and saw him
stand as a supplicant before him, he leaped down from his horse immediately,
and said to him, "Take courage, O king! nor be disturbed at thy present
calamity, as if it were incurable; for the change of thy sad condition
shall be sudden; for thou shalt find me to be more thy friend and thy assistant
than thy hopes can promise thee; for I will either re-establish thee in
the kingdom of Parthia, or lose my own."FJAJ 20.16
2. When he had said this, he set Artabanus upon his horse, and followed
him on foot, in honor of a king whom he owned as greater than himself;
which, when Artabanus saw, he was very uneasy at it, and sware by his present
fortune and honor that he would get down from his horse, unless Izates
would get upon his horse again, and go before him
So he complied with
his desire, and leaped upon his horse; and when he had brought him to his
royal palace, he showed him all sorts of respect when they sat together,
and he gave him the upper place at festivals also, as regarding not his
present fortune, but his former dignity, and that upon this consideration
also, that the changes of fortune are common to all men
He also wrote
to the Parthians, to persuade them to receive Artabanus again; and gave
them his right hand and his faith, that he should forget what was past
and done, and that he would undertake for this as a mediator between them.
Now the Parthians did not themselves refuse to receive him again, but pleaded
that it was not now in their power so to do, because they had committed
the government to another person, who had accepted of it, and whose name
was Cinnamus; and that they were afraid lest a civil war should arise on
this account
When Cinnamus understood their intentions, he wrote to Artabanus
himself, for he had been brought up by him, and was of a nature good and
gentle also, and desired him to put confidence in him, and to come and
take his own dominions again
Accordingly, Artabanus trusted him, and returned
home; when Cinnamus met him, worshipped him, and saluted him as a king,
and took the diadem off his own head, and put it on the head of Artabanus.FJAJ 20.17
3. And thus was Artahanus restored to his kingdom again by the means
of Izates, when he had lost it by the means of the grandees of the kingdom.
Nor was he unmindful of the benefits he had conferred upon him, but rewarded
him with such honors as were of the greatest esteem among them; for he
gave him leave to wear his tiara upright, (6)
This privilege of wearing the tiara upright, or with the tip of the cone
erect, is known to have been of old peculiar to great kings, from Xenophon
and others, as Dr. Hudson observes here.
and to sleep upon a golden bed, which are privileges and marks of honor
peculiar to the kings of Parthia
He also cut off a large and fruitful
country from the king of Armenia, and bestowed it upon him
The name of
the country is Nisibis, wherein the Macedonians had formerly built that
city which they called Antioch of Mygodonla
And these were the honors
that were paid Izates by the king of the Parthians.FJAJ 20.18
4. But in no long time Artabanus died, and left his kingdom to his son
Bardanes
Now this Bardanes came to Izates, and would have persuaded him
to join him with his army, and to assist him in the war he was preparing
to make with the Romans; but he could not prevail with him
For Izates
so well knew the strength and good fortune of the Romans, that he took
Bardanes to attempt what was impossible to be done; and having besides
sent his sons, five in number, and they but young also, to learn accurately
the language of our nation, together with our learning, as well as he had
sent his mother to worship at our temple, as I have said already, was the
more backward to a compliance; and restrained Bardanes, telling him perpetually
of the great armies and famous actions of the Romans, and thought thereby
to terrify him, and desired thereby to hinder him from that expedition.
But the Parthian king was provoked at this his behavior, and denounced
war immediately against Izates
Yet did he gain no advantage by this war,
because God cut off all his hopes therein; for the Parthians perceiving
Bardanes's intentions, and how he had determined to make war with the Romans,
slew him, and gave his kingdom to his brother Gotarzes
He also, in no
long time, perished by a plot made against him, and Vologases, his brother,
succeeded him, who committed two of his provinces to two of his brothers
by the same father; that of the Medes to the elder, Pacorus; and Armenia
to the younger, Tiridates.FJAJ 20.19