towards those who had resisted his arms, but was ready to befriend them so soon as their resistance ceased.  Mild, clement, philanthropic, he conciliated those whom he subdued almost more easily than he subdued them, and by the efforts of a few years succeeded in welding together a dominion which lasted without suffering serious mutilation for nearly four centuries.  Though not dignified with the epithet of “Great,” he was beyond all question the greatest of the Parthian monarchs.  Later times did him more justice than his contemporaries, and, when the names of almost all the other kings had sunk into oblivion, retained his in honor, and placed it on a par with that of the original founder of Parthian independence.

CHAPTER VII.

Reign of Phraates II.  Expedition of Antiochus Sidetes against Parthia.  Release of Demetrius.  Defeat and Death of Sidetes.  War of Phraates with the Northern Nomads.  His death and character.

Mithridates was succeeded by his son, Phraates, the second monarch of the name, and the seventh Arsaces.  This prince, entertaining, like his father, the design of invading Syria, and expecting to find some advantage from having in his camp the rightful occupant of the Syrian throne, treated the captive Demetrius with even greater kindness than his father had done, not only maintaining him handsomely, but even giving him his sister Ehodogune, in marriage.  Demetrius, however, was not to be reconciled to his captivity by any such blandishments, and employed his thoughts chiefly in devising plans by which he might escape.  By the help of a friend he twice managed to evade the vigilance of his guards, and to make his way from Hyrcania towards the frontiers of his own kingdom; but each time he was pursued and caught without effecting his purpose.  The Parthian monarch was no doubt vexed at his pertinacity, and on the second occasion thought it prudent to feign, if he did not even really feel, offence:  he banished his ungrateful brother-in-law from his presence, but otherwise visited his crime with no severer penalty than ridicule.  Choosing to see in his attempts to change the place of his abode no serious design, but only the wayward conduct of a child, he sent him a present of some golden dice, implying thereby that it was only for lack of amusement he had grown discontented with his Hyrcanian residence.

Antiochus Sidetes, the brother of Demetrius, had been generally accepted by the Syrians as their monarch, at the time when the news reached them of that prince’s defeat and capture by Mithridates.  He was an active and enterprising sovereign, though fond of luxury and display.  For some years (B.C. 140-137) the pretensions of Tryphon to the throne gave him full occupation; but, having finally established his authority after a short war, and punished the pretender with death, he found himself, in B.C. 137, at liberty to turn his arms against foreign enemies.  He would