Then followed a short conversation between the
generals. While Corbulo complained that his efforts had been fruitless and
that the war might have been ended with the flight of the Parthians,
Pætus replied that for neither of them was anything lost, and urged
that they should reverse the eagles, and with their united forces invade
Armenia, much weakened, as it was, by the departure of
Vologeses. Corbulo said that he had no such instructions from the emperor;
it was the peril of the legions which had stirred him to leave his province,
and, as there was uncertainty about the designs of the Parthians, he should
return to
Syria, and, even as it was, he must pray
for fortune under her most favourable aspect in order that the infantry,
wearied out with long marches, might keep pace with the enemy's untiring
cavalry, certain to outstrip him on the plains, which facilitated their
movements. Pætus then went into winter quarters in
Cappadocia. Vologeses, however, sent a message to
Corbulo, requiring him to remove the fortresses on the further bank of the
Euphrates, and to leave the river to be, as
formerly, the boundary between them. Corbulo also demanded the evacuation of
Armenia by the garrisons posted throughout it. At
last the king yielded, all the positions
EUPHRATES ROMAN-PARTHIAN BOUNDARY |
fortified by
Corbulo beyond the
Euphrates were destroyed, and the
Armenians too left without a master.