Res Gestae

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.)