upon the scene; and a new
factor was introduced into the political and military combinations of
the period. L. Caesennius Paetus, a favorite of the Roman Emperor, but a
man of no capacity, was appointed by Nero to take the main direction of
affairs in Armenia, while Corbulo confined himself to the care of Syria,
his special province. Corbulo had requested a coadjutor, probably not
so much from an opinion that the war would be better conducted by two
commanders than by one, as from fear of provoking the jealousy of Nero,
if he continued any longer to administer the whole of the East. On
the arrival of Paetus, who brought one legion with him, an equitable
division of the Roman forces was made between the generals. Each had
three legions; and while Corbulo retained the Syrian auxiliaries, those
of Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia were attached to the army of Paetus.
But no friendly feeling united the leaders. Corbulo was jealous of the
rival whom he knew to have been sent out as a check upon him rather than
as a help; and Paetus was inclined to despise the slow and temporizing
policy of the elder chief. The war, according to his views, required to
be carried on with more dash and vigor than had hitherto appeared in
its conduct--cities should be stormed, he said--the whole country
plundered--severe examples made of the guilty. The object of the war
also should be changed--instead of setting up shadowy kings, his own aim
would be to reduce Armenia into the form of a province.

The truce established in the early summer, when Volagases sent his
envoys to Nero, expired in the autumn, on their return without a
definite reply; and the Roman commanders at once took the offensive and
entered upon an autumn campaign, the second within the space of a year.
Corbulo crossed the Euphrates in the face of a large Parthian army,
which he forced to retire from the eastern bank of the river by means
of military engines worked from ships anchored in mid-stream. He
then advanced and occupied a strong position in the hills at a little
distance from the river, where he caused his legions to construct an
entrenched camp. Paetus, on his part, entered Armenia from Cappadocia
with two legions, and, passing the Taurus range, ravaged a large
extent of country; winter, however, approaching, and the enemy nowhere
appearing in force, he led back his troops across the mountains, and,
regarding the campaign as finished, wrote a despatch to Nero boasting
of