of a feeling of shame at the want of refinement and of a high type of
civilization in their masters.

Again, the later sovereigns of the Arsacid dynasty were for the most
part of weak and contemptible character. From the time of Volagases
I. to that of Artabanus IV., the last king, the military reputation
of Parthia had declined. Foreign enemies ravaged the territories
of Parthian vassal kings, and retired when they chose, unpunished.
Provinces revolted and established their independence. Rome was
entreated to lend assistance to her distressed and afflicted rival, and
met the entreaties with a refusal. In the wars which still from time
to time were waged between the two empires Parthia was almost uniformly
worsted. Three times her capital was occupied, and once her monarch's
summer palace was burned. Province after province had to be ceded to
Rome. The golden throne which symbolized her glory and magnificence was
carried off. Meanwhile feuds raged between the different branches of
the Arsacid family; civil wars were frequent; two or three monarchs at a
time claimed the throne, or actually ruled in different portions of the
Empire. It is not surprising that under these circumstances the bonds
were loosened between Parthia and her vassal kingdoms, or that the
Persian tributary monarchs began to despise their suzerains, and to
contemplate without alarm the prospect of a rebellion which should place
them in an independent position.

While the general weakness of the Arsacid monarchs was thus a cause
naturally leading to a renunciation of their allegiance on the part of
the Persians, a special influence upon the decision taken by Artaxerxes
is probably to be assigned to one, in particular, of the results of that
weakness. When provinces long subject to Parthian rule revolted, and
revolted successfully, as seems to have been the case with Hyrcania, and