enemy's
subjects, whom the harshness, or the novelty, of the Parthian rule
had offended. The malcontents joined his standard as he advanced;
and supported, as he thus was, by Persian, Elymsen, and Bactrian
contingents, he engaged and defeated the Parthians in several battles.
Upon this, Mithridates, finding himself inferior in strength, had
recourse to stratagem, and having put Demetrius off his guard by
proposals of peace, attacked him, defeated him, and took him prisoner.
The invading army appears to have been destroyed. The captive monarch
was, in the first instance, conveyed about to the several nations which
had revolted, and paraded before each in turn, as a proof to them of
their folly in lending him aid, but afterwards he was treated in a
manner befitting his rank and the high character of his captor. Assigned
a residence in Hyrcania, he was maintained in princely state, and was
even promised by Mithridates the hand of his daughter, Ehodo-guns. The
Parthian monarch, it is probable, had the design of conquering Syria,
and thought it possible that he might find it of advantage to have
a Syrian prince in his camp, well disposed towards him, connected by
marriage, and thus fitted for the position of tributary monarch. But the
schemes of Mithridates proved abortive. His career had now reached its
close. Attacked by illness not very long after his capture of Demetrius,
his strength proved insufficient to bear up against the malady, and he
died after a glorious reign of about thirty-eight years, B.C. 136.

CHAPTER VI.

_System of government established by Mithridates I. Constitution of the
Parthians. Government of the Provinces. Laws and Institutions. Character
of Mithridates I._

The Parthian institutions possessed great simplicity; and it is probable
that they took a shape in the reign of Arsaces I., or, at any rate, of
Tiridates, which was not greatly altered afterwards. Permanency is the
law of Oriental governments; and in a monarchy which lasted less than
five hundred years, it is not likely that many changes occurred. The
Parthian institutions are referred to Mithridates I., rather than to
Tiridates, because in the reign of Mithridates Parthia entered upon a
new phase of her existence--became an empire instead of a mere
monarchy; and the sovereign of the time could not but have reviewed
the circumstances of his State, and have determined either to adopt the
previous institutions of his country, or to