the zither-players, and after Menecrates, [Footnote: This proper name is
the result of an emendation by Reimar.]the teacher of this art, had
celebrated a triumph for him in the hippodrome, he appeared as a
charioteer. For the other, Tiridates presented himself in Rome, bringing
with him not only his own children but those of Vologaesus, of Pacorus,
and of Monobazus. They were the objects of interest in a quasi-triumphal
procession through the whole country west from the Euphrates.
[Sidenote:--2--] Tiridates himself was in the prime of life, a notable
figure by reason of his youth, beauty, family, and intelligence: and his
whole train of servants together with the entourage of a royal court
accompanied the advance. Three thousand Parthian horsemen and besides them
numerous Romans followed his train. They were received by gaily decorated
cities and by peoples who shouted their compliments aloud. Provisions were
furnished them free of cost, an expenditure of twenty myriads for their
daily support being thus charged to the public treasury. This went on
without change for the nine months occupied in their journey. The prince
covered the whole distance to the confines of Italy on horseback and
beside him rode his wife, wearing a golden helmet in place of a veil, so
as not to defy the traditions of her country by letting her face be seen.
In Italy he was conveyed in a two-horse carriage sent by Nero and met the
emperor at Naples, which he reached by way of the Picentes. He refused,
however, to obey the order to put down his dagger when he approached the
Roman monarch, and he nailed it firmly to the scabbard. Yet he knelt upon
the ground, and with arms crossed called him master and did obeisance.
[Sidenote:--3--] Nero manifested his approbation of this act and
entertained him in many ways, one of which was a gladiatorial show at
Puteoli. The person who directed the contests was Patrobius, one of his
freedmen. He managed to make it a brilliant and costly affair, as is shown
by the fact that on one of the days not a person but Ethiopians, men,
women, and children, appeared in the theatre. By way of showing Patrobius