There now followed some years of peace, which certainly did not make him happy. When therefore the Parthian king had deposed the king of Armenia, which was subject to the doubtful sovereignty of Rome and Parthia, and had raised a kinsman of his to the throne; Trajan, availing himself of the opportunity, took up arms, marched into Armenia, and received the homage of Parthamasiris, the king set up by the Parthians. With this he was satisfied, the king having come to his camp, and received back his kingdom from him as a fief, which it in truth may be called. But Trajan went on with the war. It is a pity that we do not know its history in detail: like the Dacian wars, it must have been rich indeed in great achievements, as nature opposed immense difficulties. Thus much seems clear, that Trajan took Armenia for the base of his operations, and penetrated towards the lower Tigris. There he reduced, not only Seleucia, but also Ctesiphon, the capital of the king of kings; and he came as far as the ocean, that is to say, the Persian Gulf. Here he either began to feel the difficulties in the way of his darling wish to conquer the whole of the Persian Empire; or it was with him as with many a great general who waged war for its own sake, finding pleasure in it, that he became tired of war, and thought that he should be able at any time to return to it. Thus it was with Napoleon, in whose case it saved the world. He was sometimes sick of war; and as he then wished to rest himself for some months in Paris, he would make peace, meaning to renew the war afterwards: he liked moreover to let people somewhat raise their heads once more, and then, when they had recovered their strength a little, to beat them again with so much the greater glory. Thus Trajan also felt induced to grant peace to the Parthians, after having given them Parthamaspates, one of their pretenders, for a king. The Parthians, as individuals, deserve but little of our esteem: they were barbarians, and they gained their civilization only from the Greek towns. Persia did not rise into eminence till it was ruled by Sassanides. At this time, the Parthians had vassal-kings in the different countries, and the king himself with his court travelled from one of these to the other, and was entertained by them: his proper residence was at Ctesiphon.