Yet he knelt upon
the ground, and with arms crossed called him master and did obeisance.
[Sidenote:--3--] Nero manifested his approbation of this act and
entertained him in many ways, one of which was a gladiatorial show at
Puteoli. The person who directed the contests was Patrobius, one of his
freedmen. He managed to make it a brilliant and costly affair, as is shown
by the fact that on one of the days not a person but Ethiopians, men,
women, and children, appeared in the theatre. By way of showing Patrobius
some proper honor Tiridates shot at beasts from his elevated seat. And, if
we may trust the report, he transfixed and killed two bulls together with
one arrow.

[Sidenote:--4--] After this affair Nero took him up to Rome and set the
diadem upon his head. The entire city had been decorated with lights and
garlands, and great crowds of people were to be seen everywhere, the
Forum, however, being especially full. The center was occupied by the
populace, arranged according to rank, clad in white and carrying laurel
branches: everywhere else were the soldiers, arrayed in shining armor,
their weapons and standards reflecting back the sunbeams. The very roof
tiles of the buildings in this vicinity were completely hidden from view
by the spectators who had ascended to these points of vantage. Everything
was in readiness by the time night drew to a close and at daybreak Nero,
wearing the triumphal garb and accompanied by the senate and the
Pretorians, entered the Forum. He ascended the rostra and seated himself
upon the chair of state. Next Tiridates and his suite passed through rows
of heavy-armed men drawn up on each side, took their stand close to the
rostra, and did obeisance to the emperor as they had done before.
[Sidenote:--5--] At this a great roar went up which so alarmed Tiridates
that for some moments he stood speechless, in terror of his life. Then,
silence having been proclaimed, he recovered courage and quelling his
pride made himself subservient to the occasion and to his need, caring
little how humbly he spoke, in view of the prize he hoped to obtain. These
were his words: "Master, I am the descendant of Arsaces, brother of the
princes Vologaesus and Pacorus, and thy slave. And I have come to thee, my
deity, to worship thee as I do Mithra. The destiny thou spinnest for me
shall be mine: for thou art my Fortune and my Fate."

Nero replied to him as follows: "Well hast thou done to come hither in
person, tha