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Notes Do not display Latin text | Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb Book XV Chapter 13: War between Armenia/Rome and Iberia/Parthia (cont.)[AD 62] | Next chapter Return to index Previous chapter |
| All the more vigorously did Vologeses press the besieged, now attacking the legions' entrenchments, and now again the fortress, which guarded those whose years unfitted them for war. He advanced closer than is the Parthian practice, seeking to lure the enemy to an engagement by such rashness. They, however, could hardly be dragged out of their tents, and would merely defend their lives, some held back by the general's order, others by their own cowardice; they seemed to be awaiting Corbulo, and should they be overpowered by force, they had before them the examples of Candium and Numantia. "Neither the Samnites, Italian people as they were, nor the Carthaginians, the rivals of the Roman empire, were, it seemed, equally formidable, and even the men of old, with all their strength and glory, whenever fortune was adverse, had taken thought for safety." The general, although he was overcome by the despair of his army, first wrote a letter to Vologeses, not a suppliant petition, but in a tone of remonstrance against the doing of hostile acts on behalf of the Armenians, who always had been under Roman dominion, or subject to a king chosen by the emperor. Peace, he reminded him, was equally for the interest of both, and it would be well for him not to look only at the present. He indeed had advanced with the whole strength of his kingdom against two legions, while the Romans had all the rest of the world with which to sustain the war. | Eoque intentius Vologaeses premere obsessos, modo vallum legionum, modo castellum, quo imbellis aetas defendebatur, adpugnare, propius incedens quam mos Parthis, si ea temeritate hostem in proelium eliceret. at illi vix contuberniis extracti, nec aliud quam munimenta propugnabant, pars iussu ducis, et alii propria ignavia aut Corbulonem opperientes, ac vis [si] ingrueret, provisis exemplis Caudinae Numantinaeque [pacis; neque] eandem vim Samnitibus, Italico populo, aut [Hispanis quam] Parthis, Romani imperii aemulis. validam quoque et laudatam antiquitatem, quotiens fortuna contra daret, saluti consuluisse. qua desperatione exercitus dux subactus primas tamen litteras ad Vologaesen non supplices, sed in modum querentis composuit, quod pro Armeniis semper Romanae dicionis aut subiectis re[g]i, quem imperator delegisset, hostilia faceret: pacem ex aequo utilem. ne praesentia tantum spectaret: ipsum adversus duas legiones totis regni viribus advenisse; at Romanis orbem terrarum |