n general, after conquering the Mesopotamian plain,
advanced into the Zagros mountains, and occupied, at any rate, a portion
of Media, thereby entitling his Imperial masters to add to the titles
of "Armeniacus," and "Parthicus," which they had already assumed, the
further and wholly novel title of "Medicus."

But Rome was not to escape the Nemesis which is wont to pursue the
over-fortunate. During the stay of the army in Babylonia a disease
was contracted of a strange and terrible character, whereto the
superstitious fears of the soldiers assigned a supernatural origin. The
pestilence, they said, had crept forth from a subterranean cell in the
temple of Comsean Apollo at Seleucia, which those who were plundering
the town rashly opened in the hope of its containing treasure, but which
held nothing except this fearful scourge, placed there in primeval times
by the spells of the Chaldaeans. Such a belief, however fanciful, was
calculated to increase the destructive-power of the malady, and so to
multiply its victims. Vast numbers of the soldiers perished, we are
told, from its effects during the march homeward; their sufferings being
further aggravated by the failure of supplies, which was such that; many
died of famine. The stricken army, upon entering the Roman territory,
communicated the infection to the inhabitants, and the return of Verus
and his troops to Rome was a march of Death through the provinces. The
pestilence raged with special force throughout Italy, and spread as far
as the Rhine and the Atlantic Ocean. According to one writer more than
one half of the entire population, and almost the whole Roman army, was
carried off by it.

But though Rome suffered in consequence of the war, its general result
was undoubtedly disadvantageous to the Parthians. The expedition
of Cassius was the first invasion of Parthia in which Rome had
been altogether triumphant. Trajan's campaign had brought about the
submission of Armenia to the Romans; but it did not permanently deprive
Parthia of any portion of her actual territory. And the successes of
the Emperor in his advance were almost balanced by the disasters which
accompanied his retreat--disasters so serious as to cause a general
belief that Hadrian's concessions sprang more from prudence than from
generosity. The war of Verus produced the actual cession to Rome of a
Parthian province, which continued thenceforth for centuries to be an
integral portion of the Roman Empire