, while it has
raised a suspicion that the space between A.D. 51 and A.D. 78 was shared
between two kings, one of whom reigned from A.D. 51 to about A.D. 62,
and the other from about A.D. 62 to A.D. 78. It has been proposed
to call these kings respectively Volagases I. and Artabanus IV. or
Volagases I. and Volagases II., and Parthian history has been written
on this basis; but it is confessed that the entire absence of any
intimation by the classical writers that there was any change of
monarch in this space, or that the Volagases of whom they speak as a
contemporary of Vespasian was any other than the adversary of Corbulo,
is a very great difficulty in the way of this view being accepted; and
it is suggested that the two kings which the coins indicate may have
been contemporary monarchs reigning in different parts of Parthia. To
such a theory there can be no objection. The Parthian coins distinctly
show the existence under the later Arsacidae of numerous pretenders, or
rivals to the true monarch, of whom we have no other trace. In the time
of Volagases I. there was (we know) a revolt in Hyrcania, which was
certainly not suppressed as late as A.D. 75. The king who has been
called Artabanus IV. or Volagases II. may have maintained himself
in this region, while Volagases I. continued to rule in the Western
provinces and to be the only monarch known to the Romans and the Jews.
If this be the true account of the matter, we may regard Volagases I. as
having most probably reigned from A.D. 51 to about A.D. 78--a space of
twenty-seven years.

CHAPTER XVII.

_Results of the Establishment of Tiridates in Armenia. Long period of
Peace between Parthia and Rome. Obscurity of Parthian History at this
time. Relations of Volagases I. with Vespasian. Invasion of Western Asia
by Alani. Death of Volagases I. and Character of his Reign. Accession
and Long Reign of Pacorus. Relations of Pacorus with Decebalus of Dacia.
Internal Condition of Parthia during his Reign. Death of Pacorus and
Accession of Chosroes._

The establishment of Tiridates as king of Armenia, with the joint
consent of Volagases and Nero, inaugurated a period of peace between
the two Empires of Rome and Parthia, which exceeded half a century. This
result was no doubt a fortunate one for the inhabitants of Western Asia;
but it places the modern historian of the Parthians at a disadvantage.
Hitherto the classical writers, in relating the wars of the
Syro-Maced