made the whole journey, except the passage
of the Hellespont, by land, proceeding through Thrace and Illyricum
to the head of the Adriatic, and then descending the peninsula. Their
entertainment was furnished at the expense of the state, and is said
to have cost the treasury 800,000 sesterces (about L6250.) a day this
outlay was continued for nine months, and must have amounted in
the aggregate to above a million and a half of our money. The first
interview of the Parthian prince with his nominal sovereign was at
Naples, where Nero happened to be staying. According to the ordinary
etiquette of the Roman court, Tiridates was requested to lay aside his
sword before approaching the Emperor; but this he declined to do; and
the difficulty seemed serious until a compromise was suggested, and
he was allowed to approach wearing his weapon, after it had first been
carefully fastened to the scabbard by nails. He then drew near, bent
one knee to the ground, interlaced his hands, and made obeisance, at the
same time saluting the Emperor as his "lord."

The ceremony of the investiture was performed afterwards at Rome. On
the night preceding, the whole city was illuminated and decorated
with garlands; the Forum, as morning approached, was filled with "the
people," arranged in their several tribes, clothed in white robes and
bearing boughs of laurel; the Praetorians, in their splendid arms, were
drawn up in two lines from the further extremity of the Forum to the
Rostra, to maintain the avenue of approach clear; all the roofs of the
buildings on every side were thronged with crowds of spectators; at
break of day Nero arrived in the attire appropriated to triumphs,
accompanied by the members of the Senate and his body-guard, and took
his seat on the Rostra in a curule chair. Tiridates and his suite were
then introduced between the two long lines of soldiers; and the prince,
advancing to the Rostra, made an oration, which (as reported by Dio) was
of a sufficiently abject character. Nero responded proudly; and then
the Armenian prince, ascending the Rostra by a way constructed for the
purpose, and sitting at the feet of the Roman Emperor, received from his
hand, after his speech had been interpreted to the assembled Romans, the
coveted diadem, the symbol of Oriental sovereignty.

After a stay of some weeks, or possibly months, at Rome, during which he
was entertained by Nero with extreme magnificence, Tiridates returned,
across the Adr