taken to Crete and executed. [Alexander's mother, being a slave to
money, gathered funds from all sources. She also brought home for her
son a spouse, whom she would not allow to be addressed as Augusta. After
a time, however, she separated her from her son and drove her away to
Libya, in spite of the woman's possessing his affections. Alexander,
however, could not oppose his mother, for she ruled him absolutely.]

[Sidenote:--3--] Many uprisings were made by many persons, some of which
caused serious alarm, but they were all checked. But affairs in
Mesopotamia were still more terrifying, and provoked in the hearts of
all, not merely the men of Rome but the rest of mankind, a fear that had
a truer foundation. Artaxerxes, a Persian, having conquered the
Parthians in three battles and killed their king, Artabanus, [made a
campaign against Hatra, which he endeavored to take as a base for
attacking the Romans. He did make a breach in the wall but, as he lost a
number of soldiers through an ambuscade, he transferred his position
into Media. Of this district, as also of Parthia, he acquired no small
portion, partly by force and partly by intimidation, and then] marched
against Armenia. Here he suffered a reverse at the hands of the natives,
some Medes, and the children of Artabanus, and either fled (as some say)
or (as others assert) retired to prepare a larger expedition.
[Sidenote:--4--] He accordingly became a source of fear to us; for he
was encamped with a large army over against not Mesopotamia only but
Syria also and boasted that he would win back everything that the
ancient Persians had once held, as far as the Grecian Sea. It was, he
said, his rightful inheritance from his forefathers. He was of no
particular account himself, but our military affairs are in such a
condition that some joined his cause and others refused to defend
themselves. The troops are so distinguished by wantonness, and
arrogance, and freedom from reproof, that those in Mesopotamia dared to