iatic and through Greece and Asia Minor, to his own land.
The circumstances of his journey and his reception involved a concession
to Rome of all that could be desired in the way of formal and verbal
acknowledgment. The substantial advantage, however, remained with
the Parthians. The Romans, both in the East and at the capital, were
flattered by a show of submission; but the Orientals must have concluded
that the long struggle had terminated in an acknowledgment by Rome of
Parthia as the stronger power. Ever since the time of Lucullus, Armenia
had been the object of contention between the two states, both of
which had sought, as occasion served, to place upon the throne its own
nominees. Recently the rival powers had at one and the same time brought
forward rival claimants; and the very tangible issue had been raised,
Was Tigranes or Tiridates to be king? When the claims of Tigranes were
finally, with the consent of Rome, set aside, and those of Tiridates
allowed, the real point in dispute was yielded by the Romans. A
Parthian, the actual brother of the reigning Parthian king, was
permitted to rule the country which Rome had long deemed her own. It
could not be doubted that he would rule it in accordance with Parthian
interests. His Roman investiture was a form which he had been forced to
go through; what effect could it have on him in the future, except to
create a feeling of soreness? The arms of Volagases had been the real
force which had placed him upon the throne; and to those arms he must
have looked to support him in case of an emergency. Thus Armenia was
in point of fact relinquished to Parthia at the very time when it was
nominally replaced under the sovereignty of the Romans.

There is much doubt as to the time at which Volagases I. ceased to
reign. The classical writers give no indication of the death of any
Parthian king between the year A.D. 51, when they record the demise of
Vonones II., and about the year A.D. 90, when they speak of a certain
Pacorus as occupying the throne. Moreover, during this interval,
whenever they have occasion to mention the reigning Parthian monarch,
they always give him the name of Volagases. Hence it has been customary
among writers on Parthian history to assign to Volagases I. the entire
period between A.D. 51 and A.D. 90--a space of thirty-nine years.
Recently, however, the study of the Parthian coins has shown absolutely
that Pacorus began to reign at least as early as A.D. 78