would seem that not very long after the conclusion of this peace and
the retirement of Pompey from Asia (B.C. 62), Phraates lost his life. He
was assassinated by his two sons, Mithridates and Orodes; for what cause
we are not told. Mithridates, the elder of the two, succeeded him
(about B.C. 60); and, as all fear of the Romans had now passed away
in consequence of their apparently peaceful attitude, he returned soon
after his accession to the policy of his namesake, Mithridates II., and
resumed the struggle with Armenia from which his father had desisted.
The object of the war was probably the recovery of the lost province of
Gordyene, which, having been delivered to the elder Tigranes by Pompey,
had remained in the occupation of the Armenians. Mithridates seems to
have succeeded in his enterprise. When we next obtain a distinct view of
the boundary line which divides Parthia from her neighbors towards the
north and the north-west, which is within five years of the probable
date of Mithridates's accession, we find Gordyene once more a Parthian
province. As the later years of this intermediate lustre are a time
of civil strife, during which territorial gains can scarcely have been
made, we are compelled to refer the conquest to about B.C. 39-57. But
in this case it must have been due to Mithridates III., whose reign is
fixed with much probability to the years B.C. 60-56.

The credit which Mithridates had acquired by his conduct of the Armenian
war he lost soon afterwards by the severity of his home administration.
There is reason to believe that he drove his brother, Orodes, into
banishment. At any rate, he ruled so harshly and cruelly that within
a few years of his accession the Parthian nobles deposed him, and,
recalling Orodes from his place of exile, set him up as king in his
brother's room. Mithridates was, it would seem, at first allowed to
govern Media as a subject monarch; but after a while his brother grew
jealous of him, and deprived him of this dignity. Unwilling to acquiesce
in his disgrace, Mithridates fled to the Romans, and being favorably
received by Gabinius, then proconsul of Syria, endeavored to obtain
his aid against his countrymen. Gabinius, who was at once weak and
ambitious, lent a ready ear to his entreaties, and was upon the point
of conducting an expedition into Parthia, when he received a still more
tempting invitation from another quarter. Ptolemy Auletes, expelled
from Egypt by his rebellious