THE DECLINE AND FALL

340

chap, opposite extremes of the Persian dominions,_",„the main body, under the command of Alexan-der himself, should support their attack, by in-vading the centre of the kingdom. But the un-experienced youth, influenced by his mother’scounsels, and perhaps by his own fears, desert-ed the bravest troops, and the fairest prospectof victory; and after consuming in Mesopota-mia an inactive and inglorious summer, he ledback to Antioch an army diminished by sick-ness, and provoked by disappointment. Thebehaviour of Artaxerxes had been very different.Flying with rapidity from the hills of Media tothe marshes of the Euphrates , hehad every whereopposed the invaders in person; and in eitherfortune, had united with the ablest conduct thsmost undaunted resolution. But in several ob-stinate engagements against the veteran legionsof Rome, the Persian monarch had lost the flowerof his troops. Even his victories had weakenedhis power. The favourable opportunities of theabsence of Alexander, and of the confusion thatfollowed that emperor’s death, presented them-selves in vain to his ambition. Instead of ex-pelling the Romans, as he pretended, from thecontinent of Asia , he found himself unable towrest from their hands the little province ofMesopotamia. 8

The reign of Artaxerxes , which from the lastdefeat of the Parthians lasted only fourteen years,

* For the account of this war, see Herodian , 1. vi, p. 209, 212. Theold abbreviators and modern compilers have blindly followed the Augus-tan history.