ed,
after a short occupation, to relinquish his conquest. Rhadamistus
returned, and, although the Armenians opposed him in arms, contrived to
re-establish himself. The Parthians did not renew their efforts, and
for three years--from A.D. 51 to A.D. 54--Rhadamistus was left in quiet
possession of the Armenian kingdom.'

It appears to have been in this interval that the arms of Volagases
were directed against one of his great feudatories, Izatos. As in
Europe during the prevalence of the feudal system, so under the Parthian
government, it was always possible that the sovereign might be forced to
contend with one of the princes who owed him fealty. Volagases seems to
have thought that the position of the Adiabenian monarch was becoming
too independent, and that it was necessary to recall him, by a
sharp mandate, to his proper position of subordinate and tributary.
Accordingly, he sent him a demand that he should surrender the special
privileges which had been conferred upon him by Artabanus III., and
resume the ordinary status of a Parthian feudatory. Izates, who feared
that if he yielded he would find that this demand was only a prelude to
others more intolerable, replied by a positive refusal, and immediately
prepared to resist an invasion. He sent his wives and children to the
strongest fortress within his dominions, collected all the grain that
his subjects possessed into fortified places, and laid waste the whole
of the open country, so that it should afford no sustenance to an
invading army. He then took up a position on the lower Zab, or Caprius,
and stood prepared to resist an attack upon his territory. Volagases
advanced to the opposite bank of the river, and was preparing to invade
Adiabene, when news reached him of an important attack upon his
eastern provinces. A horde of barbarians, consisting of Dahse and other
Scythians, had poured into Parthia Proper, knowing that he was engaged
elsewhere, and threatened to carry fire and sword through the entire
province. The Parthian monarch considered that it was his first duty to
meet these aggressors; and leaving Izates unchastised, he marched away
to the north-east to repel the external enemy.

Volagases, after defeating this foe, would no doubt have returned to
Adiabene, and resumed the war with Izates, but in his absence that
prince died. Monobazus, his brother, who inherited his crown, could
have no claim to the privileges which had been conferred for personal
se