Parthenon

“ Although the beauty is sufficiently humane to weaken us, to stir the deep deposit of mud—memories, abandonments, regrets, sentimental devotions—the Parthenon is separate from all that; and if you consider how it has stood out all night, for centuries, you begin to connect the blaze (at midday the glare is dazzling and the frieze almost invisible) with the idea that perhaps it is beauty alone that is immortal. ”

“ His opponents included both the sentimentalists who took their cue from Byron’s Curse of Minerva in shrieking at Elgin as a vandal, and the dilettanti who, blinded to the true Greek touch by familiarity with smoothed and pumiced Roman copies, had declared the Parthenon sculptures to be works of the age of Hadrian. ”

“ There are men whose manners have the same essential splendor as the simple and awful sculpture on the friezes of the Parthenon, and the remains of the earliest Greek art. ”

“ Careful distinction is made by some contemporary writers between Greek and Parthian cities within the Parthian empire. This may well imply a difference in administration as well as population, for documents from Dura and Susa show that the governments of these places preserved the pattern of the Hellenistic city-state. Such places rarely held Parthian garrisons. Ctesiphon, for example, is said to have been built to house Parthian troops, which evidently could not be installed in Seleucia across the river. ”

“ Unlike other invaders from the northeast, the Parthians did not kill and destroy for the sake of booty, but often took over new territory without creating more than a ripple in the life of the common man. The greatest changes which they brought about probably took place within the administrative machinery, but unfortunately little firsthand information is available on the internal structure of the Parthian empire, because we possess very few official documents. ”

“ The prestige of the Parthian name was gone. Roman soldiers could be trusted to meet them without alarm, and to contend with them without undue excitement or flurry. The weakness, as well as the strength, of their military system had come to be known; and expedients had been devised by which its strong points were met and counterbalanced. At the head of sixteen legions, Antony might well think that he could invade Parthia successfully, and not only avoid the fate of Crassus, but gather laurels which might serve him in good stead in his contest with his great political rival. ”

“ There is a story that the first Parthian leader, Arsaces, was a Bactrian who became discontented with the rule of the satrap Diodotus of Bactria, invaded Parthia, and successfully fomented a revolt. [38] Still a third and more detailed version is to be found in Arrian, [39] according to which either Arsaces or Tiridates was insulted by the Seleucid satrap. The brothers thereupon took five men into their confidence, killed the offender, and persuaded the people to revolt. Without additional evidence it is impossible to determine the correct account. ”

“ They generally discharged their arrows backwards, holding the bow behind the shoulder; a mode of attack more dangerous to a pursuing enemy than to one in order of battle. The Parthians first appeared in history as subject to the great Persian empire. After the death of Alexander the Great, Parthia formed part of the Syrian kingdom, but revolted under Antiochus II., and constituted itself into an independent kingdom under the Arsacidæ, 250 B.C., a race of kings who exercised the most completely despotic authority ever known. ”

“ Parthia was never long sympathetic with kings who held their crowns by virtue of Roman support, and the disaffected party probably had strong support from the two nobles who had failed to attend the coronation. Artabanus was discovered in Hyrcania clothed in dirty rags and living by his bow. Naturally he was suspicious of a trap when first approached, but eventually he became convinced of the reality of Parthian dislike for Tiridates if not of the people's love for himself. ”

“ There were in existence in antiquity various histories of Parthia, some written by men of unquestioned ability. The Parthian histories of Arrian and of Apollodorus of Artemita would have answered many questions, and those of Asinius Quadratus and Quintus Dellius might have been nearly as useful. According to the estimate of Lucian, the work of Crepereius Calpurnianus of Pompeiopolis would have been of little value. Fragments of Quadratus and Arrian exist, the latter of particular value in the campaign of Trajan provided we can place them in the narrative. ”

“ IN THE period covered by the past four chapters important changes were taking place in the world of commerce, changes which were eventually to influence profoundly the course of Parthian history. With increasing wealth and luxury in Syria and Rome came a demand for the products of the Far East. One or more of the great silk routes from China passed through Parthia, and others crossed territory which Parthian arms controlled. ”

“ Spring was at hand and travel difficult, but a successor of Alexander the Great could not give ground before a foe whom he had defeated three times, and the Parthian attack was received on the spot. The Seleucid troops, in poor condition, were easily put to flight by the Parthians, and Antiochus died, abandoned by all his men; [22] perhaps he was killed in the fighting, [23] or he may have committed suicide. [24] So complete was the Parthian victory that Antiochus' young son Seleucus [25] and his niece, a daughter of Demetrius, [26] . were among those captured. ”

“ Aeschylus [22] reports that among those killed in the fighting in Greece was a cavalry leader called Arsaces, a name which later be­came the throne name of the Parthian kings.
The official tribute list quoted by Herodotus (iii. 89–95) is clearly from his own time, that of Artaxerxes I, not, as he states, from that of Darius. [23] Here again the tendency toward union of the provinces makes us suspect further shrinkage of the frontiers. Parthia was now joined with Chorasmia, Sogdiana, and Aria to form one province, and Hyrcania was united with Media. ”

“ Parthenia ran with the faded baby to awaken Ingomar, and almost simultaneously the gallant expressman stood again before me, addressing me by my Christian name, and invited me to drink out of a mysterious black bottle. The horses were speedily watered, and the business of the gallant expressman concluded, and, bidding Parthenia good by, I got on the stage, and immediately fell asleep, and dreamt of calling on Parthenia and Ingomar, and being treated with pie to an unlimited extent, until I woke up the next morning in Sacramento. ”

“ The friendship between Rome and Parthia was a public matter; it bound the Romans to help the nation allied to them—a nation which, though equal to them in strength, was content on account of its respect for Rome to yield her precedence. Parthian princes were allowed to be hostages in foreign lands for the very reason that then it was always possible, if their own monarch displeased them, for the people to obtain a king from abroad, brought up under milder influences. ”

“ So that I am not so sanguine as your friend the popish priest." "Nay, to be sure, sir," answered Partridge, "all the prophecies I have ever read speak of a great deal of blood to be spilt in the quarrel, and the miller with three thumbs, who is now alive, is to hold the horses of three kings, up to his knees in blood. Lord, have mercy upon us all, and send better times!" "With what stuff and nonsense hast thou filled thy head!" answered Jones: "this too, I suppose, comes from the popish priest. Monsters and prodigies are the proper arguments to support monstrous and absurd doctrines. ”

“ At the same time he withdrew his troops from Armenia; which the Romans, however, did not occupy, and which continued, as it would seem, to be governed by Tiridates. The motive of the Parthian king in acting as he did is obvious. A revolt against his authority had broken out in Parthia, headed by his son, Vardanes; and, until this internal trouble should be suppressed, he could not engage with advantage in a foreign war. [PLATE III. Fig. 1.] The reasons which actuated the Roman generals are far more obscure. ”

“ PARTHENIUS, of Nicaea in Bithynia, Greek grammarian and poet. He was taken prisoner in the Mithradatic War and carried to Rome (72 B.C.) ; subsequently he visited Neapolis, where he taught Virgil Greek. Parthenius was a writer of elegies, especially dirges, and of short epic poems. The pseudo-Virgilian Moretum and Ciris were imitated from his Μυττωτός and Μεταμορφώσεις. ”

“ Parthenio was represented as a holy man--a Spiritualist or Mystic--who had lived for many years in a cave in one of the Arabian deserts. Commanded at length by what he calls the "inner voice," he sets out on his travels to visit sundry courts and kingdoms of the East. ”

“ Partridge, who had been all this time washing his bloody nose at the pump, returned into the kitchen at the instant when his master and the landlord were shaking hands with each other. As he was of a peaceable disposition, he was pleased with those symptoms of reconciliation; and though his face bore some marks of Susan's fist, and many more of her nails, he rather chose to be contented with his fortune in the last battle than to endeavour at bettering it in another. ”

“ The watchman stared at him, struggling with his returning wits. Suddenly Parton uttered an exclamation, and with a stroke of his arm knocked over the lantern. The room was plunged in darkness, but a thread of light came from the direction of the ladder. I heard the breathing of several men, of whom I was one. Parton's hand went silently down to my arm in a pressure of warning. Upon that I caught the noise of swift feet coming in a rush. I stood up and backed away. A cry and a groan came from near by, and after that a scuffling noise, and then silence. ”

“ The death of the leader decides in the East, almost to a certainty, the issue of a contest. We cannot doubt that the Parthians, having lost their monarch, were repulsed; that the expedition failed; and that the situation of affairs became once more at least as threatening as it had been before Artabanus made his attempt. Two Parthian monarchs had now fallen within the space of a few years in combat with the aggressive Scyths—two Parthian armies had suffered defeat. ”

“ The revenue from taxes swelled Parthian treasuries until Tacitus compared them with those of Rome. [2] Incentive for the development of new routes to avoid Parthia probably arose not from a desire to avoid payment of these duties but from the breakdown of Parthian control along the route. Customs exacted by an organized government, though high, amount to less than the numerous tributes required by petty chieftains every few miles when strong centralized rule is gone. The water route to India with its harbor dues and pirates must have been the lesser of two evils. ”

“ Those authors who wrote in Armenian, Syriac, and Arabic, though all later than the Parthian period, add some information not otherwise available. But the fact that the evidence is to an overwhelming extent given by natives of or sympathizers with countries hostile to Parthia makes it impossible to present the picture wholly from the Parthian viewpoint.
Evidence from the Orient is scanty but of the utmost importance. Besides the late writers mentioned above, most of whom suffered from lack of good sources on which to draw, we have the contemporary cuneiform tablets. ”

“ The figure of the horseman is much defaced by time. The winter rains have worn thin his armour, the spring floods have undermined the rock on which he stands, but shadowy though his image may be, it marks the triumph of a European civilization, and its prototypes are to be sought not among the bearded divinities and winged monsters of Assyria, but in the work of Western sculptors. The Parthian, who was the bitter enemy of the Roman empire, carved it upon the rocks of Ḳaṣr Ghellî, and bore witness with his own hand to the overmastery of Roman culture. ”

“ Individual groups may have penetrated into the heart of the Parthian empire, perhaps even as far as Mesopotamia; but the majority of the Sacae were turned back by the exertions of the Parthians, and thus the Roman orient was spared their ravages. The explanation for the close interrelation in later times between the Sacae and the Parthians lies in the contacts which occurred as the hordes moved slowly southward toward India, contacts which must also explain the Parthian cultural influences at Taxila in India. ”

“ The power and dignity of the Parthian nobles was greater than that usually enjoyed by any subjects of an Oriental king. Rank in Parthia being hereditary and not simply official, the “megistanes” were no mere creatures of the monarch, but a class which stood upon its own indefeasible rights. As they had the privilege of electing to the throne upon a vacancy, and even that of deposing a duly elected monarch, the king could not but stand in wholesome awe of them, and feel compelled to treat them with considerable respect and deference. ”

“ Moreover, the Parthians were, probably, better able than their adversaries to endure the hardships and severities of a campaign in the cold season. Parthia is a cold country, and the winters, both of the great plateau of Iran and of all the mountain tracts adjoining it, are severe. The climate of Syria is far milder. Moreover, the troops of Antiochus had, we are informed, been enervated by an excessive indulgence on the part of their leader during the marches and halts of the preceding summer. ”

“ The clouds of Parthian horse hung upon their retreating columns, straitened them for provisions, galled them with missiles, and destroyed those who could not keep up with the main body. The towns upon the line of their retreat revolted and shut their gates, defying even such commanders as Severus and Trajan. Of the six great expeditions of Rome against Parthia, one only, that of Avidius Cassius, was entirely successful. In every other case either the failure of the expedition was complete, or the glory of the advance was tarnished by disaster and suffering during the retreat. ”