of Arsaces are claimed by all the Parthian kings, who were formerly abject and inconsiderable.
6. So that they still worship and honour Arsaces as a god, and down to our day have given him so much honour that, in conferring the royal power, one of his race has been always preferred to any one else. And also in intestine quarrels, such as are common in that nation, every one avoids as sacrilege wounding any descendant of Arsaces, whether in arms or living as a private individual.
7. It is well known that this nation, after subduing many others by force, extended its dominions as far as the Propontis and Thrace; but that it subsequently became diminished and suffered great disasters, owing to the arrogance of its ambitious monarchs, who carried their licentious inroads into distant countries. First, in consequence of the conduct of Cyrus, who crossed the Bosphorus with a fabulous host, but was wholly destroyed by Tomyris, queen of the Scythians, who thus terribly avenged her sons.
8. After him, when Darius, and subsequently Xerxes, changed the use[1] of the elements and invaded Greece, they had nearly all their forces destroyed by land and sea, and could scarcely escape in safety themselves. I say nothing of the wars of Alexander, and of his leaving the sovereignty over the whole nation by will to his successor.
9. Then, a long time after these events, while our republic was under consuls, and was afterwards brought under the power of the Caesars, that nation was constantly warring with us, sometimes with equal fortune; being at one time defeated, and at another victorious.
10. Now I will in a few words describe the situation and position of the country as well as I can. It is a region of great extent both in length and breadth, entirely surrounding on all sides the famous Persian gulf with its many islands. The mouth of this gulf is so narrow, that
- ↑ As the Greek epigram has it—
Τὸν γαίνς καὶ πόντου αμειφθείσαισι κελευθοὶς
Ναύτην ἠπείρου, πέζόπορον πελάγους.
Thus translated in Bohn's 'Greek Anthology,' p. 25 :—
Him, who reversed the laws great Nature gave,
Sail'd o'er the continent and walked the wave,
Three hundred spears from Sparta's iron plain
Have stopp'd. Oh blush, ye mountains and thou main!
