Res Gestae

Finally, I promise one and all that when, after this, affairs

Therefore rouse, I pray you, at once rouse your courage, both in the anticipation of great success, since you will undergo whatever difficulty arises on equal terms with me, and with the conviction that victory must always attend the just cause.

After the speech had been brought to this most welcome conclusion, the warriors, exulting in the fame of their leader, and still more greatly fired with the hope of success, lifted their shields on high and cried that nothing would be dangerous or difficult under a leader who imposed more toil upon himself than on the common soldiers.

In particular, the Gallic troops showed this feeling by joyful shouts, remembering how often under his command, and as he ran about from company to company, they had seen some nations overcome and others reduced to entreaties.

Affairs have reached a point where I am led in a rapid digression to explain the topography of the Persian kingdom, carefully compiled from the descriptions of the nations, in only a few of which the truth has been told, and that barely. My

This kingdom, which was once small and for reasons which we have often given was called before by various names, after the fates had taken off Alexander the Great at Babylon, took its name from the Parthian Arsaces,[*](I.e. were called Parthians; see Justinus, xli. 4, 6 f.) a man of low birth; he had been a brigand chief during his younger days, but since his ideals gradually changed for the better, by a series of brilliant exploits he rose to greater heights.

After many glorious and valiant deeds, and after he had conquered Seleucus Nicator,[*](It was not Seleucus Nicator, but Seleucus II., Callinicus, the fourth king after Nikator, who was conquered by Arsaces; see Justinus, xli. 4, 9.) successor of the said Alexander, on whom his many victories had conferred that surname,[*](Nicator (cf. xiv. 8, 5) means the victorious. ) and had driven out the Macedonian garrisons, he passed his life in quiet peace, and was a mild ruler and judge of his subjects.

Finally, after all the neighbouring lands had been brought under his rule, by force, by regard for justice, or by fear, and he had filled Persia with cities, with fortified camps, and with strongholds, and to all the neighbouring peoples, which she had previously feared, he had made her a constant cause of dread, he died a peaceful death in middle life. And nobles and commons rivalling each other in agreement, he was placed among the stars according to the sacred custom of their country; and (as they believe) he was the first of all to be so honoured.

Hence to this very day the over-boastful kings of that race suffer themselves to be called brothers of the Sun and Moon, and just as for our emperors the

Hence they venerate and worship Arsaces as a god, and their regard for him has been carried so far, that even down to the memory of our time only a man who is of the stock of Arsaces (if there is one anywhere) is preferred to all in mounting the throne. Even in any civil strife, which constantly arises among them, everyone avoids as sacrilege the lifting of his hand against an Arsacid, whether he is bearing arms or is a private citizen.

It is well known that this nation, after vanquishing many peoples by its power, extended its domain as far as the Propontis and Thrace,[*](Cf. xxv. 4, 23.) but through the arrogance of its haughty leaders, who lawlessly extended their raids to a great distance, it was weakened by severe losses: first through Cyrus, who crossed the Bosporus with an army of incredible size, but was completely annihilated by the Scythian queen Tomyris, the fierce avenger of her sons.[*](Cf. Hdt. i. 214; Just. i. 8, 9 ff.)

Later, when Darius, and after him Xerxes, changed the use of the elements[*](Of water, when he bridged the Hellespont; of land, when he cut a canal through the Athos promontory.) and attacked Greece, almost all their forces were destroyed by land and sea, and they themselves barely found a safe return; not to mention the wars of Alexander and the passing by his will and testament of the whole nation to the jurisdiction of a single successor.[*](There is no mention of this will in Curtius, Arrian, or Diodorus Siculus.)