re far
from acquiring a position of independence.

There is reason to believe that the reign of Pacorus was a good deal
disturbed by internal contentions. We hear of an Artabanus as king of
Parthia in A.D. 79; and the Parthian coins of about this period present
us with two very marked types of head, both of them quite unlike that
of Pacorus, which must be those of monarchs who either contended with
Pacorus for the crown, or ruled contemporaneously with him over other
portions of the Parthian Empire. [PLATE III., Fig. 2.] Again, towards
the close of Pacorus's reign, and early in that of his recognized
successor, Chosroes, a monarch called Mithridates is shown by the coins
to have borne sway for at least six years--from A.D. 107 to 113. This
monarch commenced the practice of placing a Semitic legend upon his
coins, which would seem to imply that he ruled in the western rather
than the eastern provinces. The probability appears, on the whole, to
be that the disintegration which has been already noticed as having
commenced under Volagases I. was upon the increase. Three or four
monarchs were ruling together in different portions of the Parthian
world, each claiming to be the true Arsaces, and using the full titles
of Parthian sovereignty upon his coins. The Romans knew but little of
these divisions and contentions, their dealings being only with the
Arsacid who reigned at Ctesiphon and bore sway over Mesopotamia and
Adiabene.

Pacorus must have died about A.D. 108, or a little later. He left behind
him two sons, Exedares and Parthamasiris, but neither of these two
princes was allowed to succeed him. The Parthian Megistanes assigned the
crown to Chosroes, the brother of their late monarch, perhaps regarding
Exedares and Parthamasiris as too young to administer the government of
Parthia satisfactorily. If they knew, as perhaps they did, that the
long period of peace with Rome was coming to an end, and that they might
expect shortly to be once more attacked by their old enemy, they might
well desire to have upon the throne a prince of ripe years and approved
judgment. A raw youth would certainly have been unfit to cope with the
age, the experience, and the military genius of Trajan.

CHAPTER XVIII.

_Reign of Chosroes. General condition of Oriental Affairs gives a handle
to Trajan. Trajan's Schemes of Conquest. Embassy of Chosroes to Trajan
fails. Great Expedition of Trajan. Campaign of A. D. 115. Campaign of
A.D.