[Sidenote: A.D. 66 (a.u. 819)] [Sidenote:--1--] In the consulship of Gaius Telesinus and Suetonius Paulinus one event of great glory and another of deep disgrace took place. For one thing Nero contended among the zither-players, and after Menecrates, [Footnote: This proper name is the result of an emendation by Reimar.]the teacher of this art, had celebrated a triumph for him in the hippodrome, he appeared as a charioteer. For the other, Tiridates presented himself in Rome, bringing with him not only his own children but those of Vologaesus, of Pacorus, and of Monobazus. They were the objects of interest in a quasi-triumphal procession through the whole country west from the Euphrates. [Sidenote:--2--] Tiridates himself was in the prime of life, a notable figure by reason of his youth, beauty, family, and intelligence: and his whole train of servants together with the entourage of a royal court accompanied the advance. Three thousand Parthian horsemen and besides them numerous Romans followed his train. They were received by gaily decorated cities and by peoples who shouted their compliments aloud. Provisions were furnished them free of cost, an expenditure of twenty myriads for their daily support being thus charged to the public treasury. This went on without change for the nine months occupied in their journey. The prince covered the whole distance to the confines of Italy on horseback and beside him rode his wife, wearing a golden helmet in place of a veil, so as not to defy the traditions of her country by letting her face be seen. In Italy he was conveyed in a two-horse carriage sent by Nero and met the emperor at Naples, which he reached by way of the Picentes. He refused, however, to obey the order to put down his dagger when he approached the Roman monarch, and he nailed it firmly to the scabbard. Yet he knelt upon the ground, and with arms crossed called him master and did obeisance. [Sidenote:--3--] Nero manifested his approbation of this act and entertained him in many ways, one of which was a gladiatorial show at Puteoli. The person who directed the contests was Patrobius, one of his freedmen. He managed to make it a brilliant and costly affair, as is shown by the fact that on one of the days not a person but Ethiopians, men, women, and children, appeared in the theatre. By way of showing Patrobius some proper honor Tiridates shot at beasts from his elevated seat. And, if we may trust the report, he transfixed and killed two bulls together with one arrow.