Such was the trend of his philosophy: he maintained that to make personal gains was outrageous and to aim at the possessions of others unjust, as soon as he was no longer able to use them. Through dread of the forces of the Parthian, therefore, and fear of the unsettled state of affairs he did not take up this war in spite of many solicitations. As for the barbarians' complaints, he disparaged them, offering no counter-argument, but asserting that the dispute which the prince had with Tigranes concerned some boundaries, and that three men should decide the case for them. These he actually sent, and they were enrolled as arbitrators by the two kings, who then settled all their mutual complaints. For Tigranes was angry at not having obtained assistance, and Phraates wished the Armenian ruler to survive, so that in case of need he might some day have him as an ally against the Romans. They both understood well that whichever of them should conquer the other would simply help on matters for the Romans and would himself become easier for them to subdue. For these reasons, then, they were reconciled. Pompey passed the winter in Aspis, winning over the sections that were still resisting, and took Symphorion,[14] a fort which Stratonice betrayed to him. She was the wife of Mithridates, and in anger toward him because she had been abandoned sent the garrison out pretendedly to collect supplies and let the Romans in, although her child was with ... [15] ... [B.C. 65 (_a.u._ 689)] [-8-] ... [not (?)] for this alone in his aedileship he (C. Jul. Caesar) received praise, but because he had also conducted both the Roman and the Megalesian games on the most expensive scale and had further arranged contests of gladiators in the most magnificent manner. Of the sums expended on them a portion was raised by him in conjunction with his colleague Marcus Bibulus, but another portion by him privately; and his individual expenditure on the spectacles so much surpassed, that he appropriated to himself the glory for them, and was thought to have taken the whole cost on himself. Even Bibulus joked about it saying that he had suffered the same fate as Pollux: for, although that hero possessed a temple in common with his brother Castor, it was named only for the latter. [-9-] All this contributed to the Romans' joy, but they were quite disturbed at the portents of that year. On the Capitol many statues were melted by thunderbolts, among other images one of Jupiter, set upon a pillar, and a likeness of the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus, mounted on a pedestal, fell down; also the letters of the tablets on which the laws were inscribed ran together and became indistinct. Accordingly, on the advice of the soothsayers, they offered many expiatory sacrifices and voted that a larger statue of Jupiter should be set up, looking toward the east and the Forum, in order that the conspiracies by which they were distraught might dissolve.