n this replaced on the Armenian throne, the task of settling him in
the government being deputed to a certain Thucydides, by whose efforts,
together with those of Martius Verus, all opposition to the restored
monarch was suppressed, and the entire country tranquillized.

Rome had thus in the space of two years recovered her losses, and shown
Parthia that she was still well able to maintain the position in Western
Asia which she had acquired by the victories of Trajan. But such a
measure of success did not content the ambitious generals into whose
hands the incompetence of Verus had thrown the real direction of the
war. Military distinction at this time offered to a Roman a path to the
very highest honors, each successful general becoming at once by force
of his position a candidate for the Imperial dignity. Of the various
able officers employed under Verus, the most distinguished and the most
ambitious was Cassius--a chief who ultimately raised the standard of
revolt against Aurelius, and lost his life in consequence. Cassius,
after he had succeeded in clearing Syria of the invaders, was made
by Aurelius a sort of generalissimo; and being thus free to act as he
chose, determined to carry the war into the enemy's country, and to
try if he could not rival, or outdo, the exploits of Trajan fifty years
previously. Though we have no continuous narrative of his expedition, we
may trace its course with tolerable accuracy in the various fragmentary
writings which bear upon the history of the time--from Zeugma, when
he crossed the Euphrates into Mesopotamia, to Nicephorium, near the
junction of the Belik with the Euphrates; and thence down the course of
the stream to Sura (Sippara?) and Babylon. At Sura a battle was fought,
in which the Romans were victorious; and then the final efforts were
made, which covered Cassius with glory. The great city of Seleucia,
upon the Tigris, which had a population of 400,000 souls, was besieged,
taken, and burnt, to punish an alleged treason of the inhabitants.
Ctesiphon, upon the opposite side of the stream, was occupied, and the
summer palace of Volagases there situated was levelled with the ground.
The various temples were plundered; secret places, where it was thought
treasure might be hid, were examined, and a rich booty was carried off
by the invaders. The Parthians, worsted in every encounter, ceased to
resist; and all the conquests made by Trajan were recovered. Nor was
this all. The Roma