army must have suffered
severely, descended into Hyrcanian and captured several of the towns.
Here our main authority, Polybius, suddenly deserts us, and we can give
no further account of the war beyond its general result--Artabanus and
the Parthians remained unsubdued after a struggle which seems to have
lasted some years; Artabanus himself displayed great valor; and at
length the Syrian monarch thought it best to conclude a peace with him,
in which he acknowledged the Parthian independence. It is probable that
he exacted in return a pledge that the Parthian monarch should lend him
his assistance in the expedition which he was bent on conducting against
Bactria; but there is no actual proof that the conditions of peace
contained this clause. We are left in doubt whether Artabanus stood
aloof in the war which Antiochus waged with Euthydemus of Bactria
immediately after the close of his Parthian campaigns, or whether he
lent his aid to the attempt made to crush his neighbor. Perhaps, on the
whole, it is most probable that, nominally, he was Antiochus's ally in
the war, but that, practically, he gave him little help, having no wish
to see Syria aggrandized.

At any rate, whether Euthydemus had to meet the attack of Syria only, or
of Syria and Parthia in combination, the result was, that Bactria,
like Parthia, proved strong enough to maintain her ground, and that the
Syrian King, after a while, grew tired of the struggle, and consented to
terms of accommodation. The Bactrian monarchy, like the Parthian, came
out of the contest unscathed--indeed we may go further, and say that the
position of the two kingdoms was improved by the attacks made upon them.
If a prince possessing the personal qualities that distinguished the
third Antiochus, and justified the title of "Great" which he derived
from his oriental expedition--if such a prince, enjoying profound peace
at home, and directing the whole force of his empire against them, could
not succeed in reducing to subjection the revolted provinces of the
northeast, but, whatever military advantages he might gain, found
conquest impossible, and returned home, having acknowledged as
independent kings those whom he went out to chastise as rebellious
satraps, it was evident that the kingdoms might look upon themselves
as firmly established, or, at least, as secure from the danger of
re-absorption into the Syrian State. The repulse of Callinicus was a
probable indication of the fate of