Welcome to Google Summer of Code 2021. It's the 3rd of June. This is the Git Credentials Binding Project. Thanks. So Harshik, I had username, password, binding prototype on Windows and I think you'd suggested a demonstration. I like that a lot. And even if that was all we completed, that would be great. Are there any other things you'd like to put on today's session? Yeah, I just wanted to know like, is there a fixed number of meetings that we have to have every week during the coding phase also? Oh, good question. Yeah, and I don't think there is. So meeting plans during coding phase. So that's what we may wanna do is bring that to the next meeting when we've got Justin there and Rishabh first meeting next week because I think they may be willing to say, let's switch to once a week rather than doing twice a week. If you think it will work for you or once a week plus the option, if you say, hey, I have a question, they'll happy to meet separately. So I believe in the past or I think last year we did one meeting a week and it was sufficient. Particularly since this year, your expected time is actually less per week than last year's was, right? The assumption is you're roughly, I think the assumption is you're putting roughly 20 hours a week into this and last year the assumption I think was 40. So one meeting a week may be more than enough. So that's a good topic for next meeting. Any other topics? All right, then let's go ahead and have you share your screen and show a demo. Oh, hello Rishabh. Hello, hi, I was on mute, I'm sorry. So Rishabh was just asking a question that I proposed to have answered in the next meeting about how many times a week to meet during the coding phase. Coding phase starts next Monday and Rishabh, do I remember correctly that we only met once a week during coding phase? We used to meet twice. Oh, okay. So open to both. It's something to negotiate with the mentors. Yeah, I can say it depends on how it works. I can say this again. However, the schedule may change. Sorry for being late, I really didn't mean to. Great that you're here with us. So Harshad is going to show us username, username password credentials running on Windows. It is visible to all that. We can see your browser. I just have to make a few changes in there. I mean, I first, I was first using this command. So actually this, you created a separate directory under the pipeline job directory there. So due to which I have to use that. Right. Yeah, it was causing problems. So I think I should switch to this only. The Git step provided in the pipeline. And are you using the same credential ID in the Git step as you are in the, oh yes, you are. It's the same, good, very good. Okay, so good confirmation that it works. So now I wasn't sure you made two copies of that. What was the motivation for two copies? Oh, no, good step. Yeah, well, when you bring it up in the editor again, we'll see it. Okay, so the delete durr on line seven clears out the workspace, good. And then on line eight, you do a checkout using the Git step of a branch named main without collecting changelog information using that credentials ID. And then I assume that the URL is off on the end of that. Yeah. And then in the with credentials, you do a git push to delete the v3 tag. Ah, okay. I can't close it to your request. But now why the next, why the clone on line 16? Why the Git step on line 16? Yeah, I have to, I mean, fetch the change. Like I'm pushing the tag, but I have to fetch the changes again, I'm not sure, but it is causing error if I don't use this step. Okay, I think so what you're doing the thing you're doing in line 12, I think you're doing a git push origin effectively minus, minus delete a tag named v3, is that right? So then what you're doing here in line 16 is saying, I need to retrieve that repository without the tag v3. Okay, so what you're doing is that that step you're doing in 16 at most is just doing a delete of a local tag. Yes. Okay, and that's a very optimistic thing because Git doesn't always promise to do deletion of local tags. So this, okay, now I remember that this command is for deleting the tag from the server. There's another command for deleting the tag on the local server, but it won't delete in the remote server. So I'm directly deleting the remote server not in the local server. So using this, I'm just fetching the changes so it is automatically deleted in the local server as well. Right, and what I was warning is that I'm not, I think in that case you may actually be depending on a behavior that command line Git has changed over its lifetime. That if I remember right, there's actually code inside the Git plugin or the Git client plugin that does some very explicit deletion of remote tags because command line Git has changed its behavior over its lifetime for that. But this is great, what you're doing is good. Okay, so you clone the remote repository, delete the v3 tag from the remote, clone it again so that the deletion is now recorded locally and then you're going to tag, push the tag and you're going to push the branch named main as well. Is that correct on line 20? Yeah. Okay. Is there a missing back, I don't know if she's there? Yes, I guess so I have just corrected it because it already exists. Okay, but we can actually adjust that as well. So this is trying to apply the tag locally. So let's adjust inside your pipeline and let's do the tag deletion locally. So after line 12, you could just insert another, yeah, another bat command. And I think it's Git tag minus, minus delete v3, right? Now, I don't know if that will cause a problem if the tag does not exist. No, actually, it is on the local repository. Oh, okay. Let's see. Okay, and there is a way to, there is a way to ignore the return value from the bat command, I think just a minute, let me look to be sure. Pipeline notes and processes, bat, yeah, so you can add an additional statement. It is return status. It is a bat command. Yeah, the bat command takes it. So if you put it in, if you put parentheses around the argument, well, actually maybe, wait a sec, maybe there's a better way to do it. There's probably a better, a simpler way to do it. Just a minute. So cause a batch file to always succeed. I'm not finding it. There's a, how to make, how can I make my bat file continue after an error? There it is. Yes. Okay. So, so if after your Git tag command, they get tag minus, minus delete. Yeah. Right. On line 13, if on the end of that line, inside the single quote, you put an ampersand space and then something that succeeds like echo tag deleted. Because what that does is that says the first command that you issued, it's return value will be ignored. And the second commands result will be used. Actually. It worked. Yeah. Okay. So what we should. Yeah, actually it worked. I commented the delete tag from the local repository and started the build again. Now. Okay. Great. I can show. There it is. Congratulations. I can build it again. Yep. Oh, this is also working. Excellent. That's great.  I mean, I have tested on the bat comma batch files. I have to like in the project proposal, we were. Well, there was a discussion about the power shell steps as well. So I have to test it on that. Right. I have to install the plug in for that. Power shell support. Oh, no, power shell should already be included in the same plugin that gives you the bat step, at least as far as I know it is. I think if you, if you just replaced one of your power shell commands in the demo you just did with a bat or bat command with a power shell command, it should just work. Oh, what, what is the command for that? Power P O W E R. S H E L L. Let's try it just to see. Yeah. And I think that modern windows versions now do all have power shell installed. So, and you're running windows 10, is that correct? Yes. Okay. I will see. Okay, it's got some message. Oh, right. The ampersand. Yeah, probably not. You're, that's that good point. It did, it did some things. Yeah. I think it deleted the time. Okay. Yeah. I think power shell may be hiding failures from us. No. No. Okay. Yeah, I think power shell may be hiding failures from us. No, it's not. No. Okay. I can just comment. It shows success, but there is. It was the title that I three minutes ago. Right. So it's, it's not, it's not doing its job. Even if it's reporting success. Try catch throw. It's like it. It's like it's missing a closing. Double quote. There's some syntax problem in the script. Well, so open up the, open up the, open up the pipeline editor again. Let's take a look at it. Maybe we're just missing a closing double quote. Ah, yes. Look at that. I don't know why it ever worked line 20. You could either take out. The double quote that's there, or put a second double quote in either is fine. Yes. Yeah. Interesting. Bat was more forgiving. Yes. Asking supported pattern matches of get underscore username. Get password. Okay. Tag already exists. So now we need to delete the tag. Command. I should remove this. I think so. Yeah, because the tag should exist. Now it says tag V three not found. Okay. So why, what happened there? All right. So. When is it same? After deleting the tag. V three not found. Okay. So it says, so I can't tell if that's the push that's trying to push the tag that doesn't. Okay. So it has been deleted from the remote. That's good. Okay. So we know a part of the script is working. I think it is probably the script. Well, there's, there's work to be done to be sure it works on PowerShell. And you know that. So that's, that's good work to do. Yeah. Right. Congratulations. That's, that's great progress. Thanks. I have a question. So the process here is that. How should this testing. The binding is an imposter bindings for. Multiple platforms. With multiple executable and then this. The steps to. Be sure that this is working. The first is the interactive testing. We're doing right now. And.  Then we're going to look at it, we're going to look at automatic tests or we're going to look at. Adding this to get client plugin. And then look, look at those things. How are we sure that this is going to work. And we're not missing each basis. Okay. I just wanted to know that since this is, this is. So we, of course have interactive testing to. it's kind of a sanity check. I assume that, okay, this is working and the binding works for the commands, but also you're saying that you're going to cover, going to write automated test cases for the binding them in the Gitlan project. Yes. So at least for me, that was quite challenging. The writing automated tests for authentication cases usually means sharing a credential that publicly and that for me never worked. I just wasn't willing to share a credential publicly. So there are some tests either in the Git plugin or the Git client plugin that use a technique of relying on the existence of a file on the local disk to provide those credentials. And if the file doesn't exist, the test is skipped. So, and you could consider doing something like that hardship. There are also tests in the Git plugin that use a pipeline and they actually express pipeline in the test and that again, could be a good place to put that kind of a test where you say, if this special file exists on the disk and it contains a username, password pair, then use that username, password pair to create a Jenkins credential and use that credential to run this test. But for me, that's relatively, well, that's relatively exotic. It could be really great if you could figure out how to do that, but I would think, at least for me, I'm more concerned with getting you through username, password and getting it released than I am worrying about if you get detailed test automation for the authentication cases. Now, Rishabh, you may have a different opinion there, a different view. I just think of, I was assuming it's going to quite difficult to write authentication test cases. I don't have a different opinion. I think if it works for you, then it's good. That's, I was just saying on my test cases because I just thought that interactive testing, I think it's a great thing to do and it's the best thing to do right now. But it's just that sometimes you tend to miss some cases and then we get bugs. But I understand the case here and the writing automated test cases is going to take a lot of considerable time of our shifts. And we already have a lot of other work as well. And that seems challenging as well when it comes to SSH, right? Yeah, see, for me, I was thinking if we accept that username password, we want to get it implemented and released as quickly as possible so that Harshit has been through the experience of going all the way to shipping code. And we do that just as quickly as he can after he's done all the interactive testing. It's been code reviewed, et cetera. After all the usual steps, but, and if automation can be written for it, it should be, right? Test it as much as you can with unit tests. But end-to-end unit tests for this one seemed like it was going to be binding plug-in of how they're doing it. I'm not sure they may have mocks or something that they're using. Credentials binding. Right, because it's got this problem in spades, right? It has this problem everywhere. It, everything it does is binding a credential. And how does, how did Jesse write tests for that thing? And the answer is, I don't know how he did it. But it certainly wouldn't be harmful to look at what he did and see how he did it. So I should maybe that could be a good exercise for you to look at those tests.  If it looks like something we could easily put to get client back in this environment. It's okay.  Releasing it, releasing the user password binding first, which is sufficient interactive testing would be a great, it's a progress. And then you would have a lot of material for the phase one evaluations as well. So I think it would be a good systematic way to do it. But yeah, we'll look at the French binding first, to estimate that effort. I will report it on the Gitter Chat. What are some of those? Thank you. Are there any other topics we should review today? I actually explored a little bit on the topic last time we were discussing that is converting open SSH private keys to PEM files using Bouncy Castle. So I have to show some code I tried. I haven't reached, I could not convert it into a PEM. Basically, hardship what we want is that we want a private key, right? We want to generate a private key from the whatever key we are trying to ingest. Essentially what we want is a private key, Java private key from it, right? From the key store we are able to generate a private key and then we pass it to whoever you want. So I like, can I share my screen and show you what I tried? Absolutely. So I have, I created a private key with passphrase and the public key as well. I just heard them here for ease of testing. So what I'm doing here, so Harshad, what I discovered, I'm not sure if you've seen this or not. And it is strange, Bouncy Castle is providing a spec for open SSH private key and a utility to parse it. So they are recognizing that there is a new format with open SSH users to encode their private keys. So what I've essentially done is that I've, so they have a way of ingesting the file, which is to decode it, base 64 decode it and replace the headers. And so I was able to create the spec. The problem I'm facing is generating the private key. It's a weird one. It says that it does not support the encoding type. Oh. Yeah. Okay. What form of open SSH private key was it? Was it an RSA, an ED 252519? So it's not an RSA definitely, because if it was RSA, then it would have said it, right? Well, at least mine, I had a case, I had at least one case where it didn't tell me it was RSA, but I knew it was. How can I confirm that? So I generated my key. I think there is an SS, let's see, what is it? Let me do a quick look. Which crypto format is my open SSH key in using? So what I want to, so in their own code, what they're telling us is that this is how you could use open SSH private key. It tries to figure out the encoded algorithm as well, I think in the code, but here it says that you create the private spec. This is the way they've created the pre-factory as well. They've used the boundary as a provider and the algorithm is thickness RSA. Okay. Yeah, and they generate the private key from this. So if it's just the matter of having the key factor, once we have the instance of the key factor, then it's all about generating the private key. So what I believe here is I'm still not 100% sure is that if they're providing the private key spec here, that means there is a possibility of, they do agree that, okay, we can do it. Because I thought initially that Bouncy does not support for my, I mean, using the open, it doesn't support the existence, very existence of open SSH private keys, the new format. But this leads to, I think we could do it. I'm not sure why it's not supporting the encoding. I did ask the same question in the mailing chat, in the Bouncy-Gassett mailing chat, but I haven't seen the reply yet. Maybe what you're saying, Mark, is that maybe the algorithm is different. So you're saying that I should, can we just hit and try that? Sure, try ed25519. I don't know what format you used for your key, but it's worth trying. It may give us a different error message. I actually did not give any format, I just generated them using a file. I did not provide, I just assumed that I'm a user who will not provide the algorithm. Okay, so you didn't use a minus T, so then it definitely is using RSA. The default is still RSA. And this is the problem. So this is what it says, encrypted key is not supported. Encrypted key, huh? Yes, that's it. So maybe it only wants to read the public key, but it's an open SSH private key spec. It seems like it has to be private key. That's what I, it does have a public key spec as well, so I did not try that. I was more focused on generating the private key first. Yeah. So I also tried, I was thinking that, okay, this is a passphrase protected private key. Let's say I don't have a passphrase protected private key and just have a private key without it. And if I do that, let's say if I change the private key to that without passphrase, still it says a different area. Private key block has trading data. Has all interesting. So, so well, but, but private underscore without, does it end with the same end open SSH private key sequence? Yes, it does. This is the private key I have. Private without. So this one is the private key I created the passphrase and without the passphrase, I don't see any difference in the way it is. Right. Yeah. It just seems like they do, they do recognize the existence of open SSH private key. And if that's the case, then there must be a way to, I think there must be a way to get the keys as well. But yeah, I really did not find any one on the internet doing it. So that's weird. I did not find someone using the private key. I did find people using it to generate open SSH private keys. So I did find a case where a person was generating open SSH private keys using the key space. So there is a, they have also provided a utility to encode a private key or pass a private key. So we, if you want to generate private key, you would use encode private key. And this, this works. You can create the same. And it does recognize the new algorithm we have. So this is what the new format is using. Right. This is the new, I was reading about, because I could not figure out what is this new format, which open SSH has adopted. I was reading about it somewhere. Maybe this is something for me. I don't know who is her. I'll, you know, spend some more time on this and try to figure out if this can actually work or not. If you know anything about this, if you've seen this, then maybe you could share something when you were looking at bouncing. Okay. Can you please, can you show that what, which class is this open SSH private aspect? This is in the JCAJCE on spec package. Oh, so we had, oh, okay, okay, okay. So we are using the Bouncycast cell AP provided by the Java. Okay. And should we not use that? I was using this. Yeah. Yeah. And your choice was, it's great. If you've found a bouncy castle implementation that does it, that's wonderful. It looks very promising. Yes.  See, I actually went to that cool as well. Just. Acting up and I could not. What I was trying to look at is that if they've implemented this spec, they must have tested it as well. Right. There seems like it. Yes. And I was, that is what I wanted to see if I could. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This, this is the test. Beautiful. Yeah. And there is an RSA private key. Okay. Oh, except that's an RSA private key, not an open SSH private key. So that's one of the old format. Yes. Which was weird to me because.  It says. It says private key spec and I thought that this is specially for the. For that for the RSA private key, the already. Have the key specs. I'm not sure. Why would it use the open SSH private key spec for it? We have a private keys and a specification for RSA. Separately seven length. So that is what confuse me. So it's it's a using the included RSA that it's using the DSA. And I think DSA is deprecated now, but it does not use a DSA to encrypt key. Right. As far as I know, DSA is long deprecated. So in their own tests, I could not find them using the latest format of the OpenSSH. But this is, I think, when this was written long back from it was 2018. I think I need to move forward to this. I need to find something about it. Then someone did report that this unit is failing. There is a certain format. We started to generate private keys. Oh, interesting. Okay, but they say they say that they have fixed it to support. Huh, to support ED25519. This is not, seems to be a different use case, but yeah. This is the problem is that I don't see anyone using this spec. The internet to actually do this, but yeah. And I think I did try ED25519 as well. And my factory says it does not understand. This is the right monitor, right? That's the right spelling. That's the spelling I recognize anyway. But it says that it does not. It says that it does not recognize the algorithm. Oh, maybe I use the wrong monitor. I think I use the smaller d. So, uh, I look, look at this one. I just want to share it so that if hardship, you know, you want to build on this. And maybe you know how to use this or to use the spec further with the key factory. If not, if this seems like a dead end, I definitely try it. We can go with your direct approach of converting it into a, so we were also thinking about converting it converting the open SSH private key into a PEM file right into a RSA encoding by using the SSH key gen. Yes. In PEM format, the algorithm will show itself like which encoding algorithm it uses. I mean, the private key will show itself which encoding algorithm it uses. Once it is converted into the PEM format. So essentially what we're thinking is that we will execute a shell. We will use a step and launch a command and the command will be that we're going to convert. Or do we expect the user to give us that key in that format? Do we specify that instead of generating? I'm thinking about the launch command functionality that is provided by the client plugin. But I have not. Which was a SSH key gen hyphen f the key and then hyphen m PEM. That is what I think Mark mentioned. Yeah. It is mentioned in the docs. In the notes. Yeah, I'm, I'm not sure I'm following Rishabh. I apologize for not being entirely up.  Are there things that I need to be doing here? I'm sorry. I just took both of you to Robert. I think it's wonderful that you're looking at open SSH. Thank you very much. What a great thing to do. That's great. Thank you. And it looks promising for me. It does. I mean, your exploration seems to support that there's at least some thought about open SSH private keys inside bouncy castle. So we may be able to do do much more than we expected with it. I, and with this thought, I just wanted to ask, what is the launch command with arguments and doing it programmatically? What are we trading off here? Is it, is it more execution time? It is more, it is much more expensive to create a sub process, run something and then come back than it is to do it native in Java. It's back to the, the J get the J get case and SSH key gen is probably even shorter live than most get commands. You remember how we found that J get could clone much faster on small repositories because the overhead of starting and stopping the process was much less. It didn't exist. But if we need to do SSH key gen, we need to do SSH key gen. So there is a real benefit of if you're able to find it, find bouncy castle or any library to do this. It has a worthwhile benefit for us. I believe so. Yes, I think it's a real benefit. And one real benefit is that it, it makes it much more maintainable and much less reliant on specific programs being installed on the target computer. Every time we need to run an external program, we, we hope that the user has that external program installed on that agent. That's correct. So, so I think this could be done in a way where her shit's progress is not blocked.  You can definitely share it with me. Mark from the chat with everyone, but I think you should continue with whatever you're doing and the plan is I can definitely look into it during the weekend. So it should not be a problem. And before we conclude where we're past our hour. Do we want to set a time and a day for our next meeting? So do we want to make it the ninth? So next, next Wednesday, do you want to make it sooner than that? Yeah, we can. I think we can have next Tuesday on eight. June. Okay. Oh, six, oh, eight. And again, at seven 30 a.m. India standard time. That's one that I won't be able to attend because that's during my time of running the, the documentation office hours with contributors in India. So, but Justin and Rishabh, you're both welcome to be there. That would be great with me. I think we can really, you should use your markets as long as you are here. So. Can we reschedule it to a time where you can also be available. So that you. We could, we could go one hour later on that day. But if I remember right, that collides with hardship school schedule. Or we could do it one day later. We can. We can. You go with the one or later. I'm in one hour later would work. Yeah. So my colleges are like. Starting the practical so there's not much. I have to do on that. So, Rishabh, is that okay for you if we start one hour later 830 a.m. on Tuesday. Okay, so that mark to schedule that time. And we'll, we'll plan a, I'll send, I'll send the meeting invitation. We'll see if, if Justin is able, able to meet at that time. Great. Yeah, all we could keep it on. I'll see like if we were sitting Wednesday as the time. If that's what Justin is comfortable with as well. Yeah, for me Wednesday is difficult because that's the, the day before my surgery. So I would rather not do it on the ninth, if we can avoid it. So, so for me, it would be the eighth is much better, particularly if you're willing to do it one hour later. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. All right. I will, I will send the meeting invitation to everyone proposing that time. Thanks everybody. Thanks. Bye.


Shipmates, CNO Gilday here. Six months ago, I asked each of you to listen. And to ensure that we heard you, we stood up Task Force One Navy to help identify inequalities across the force regarding race, ethnicity, gender, age, and rank. Today, I'm here to announce that the Task Force has completed the report and we will begin to implement many of their recommendations going forward. I'm joined today by the senior leaders of the Task Force who will share some of what they found. Admiral Halsey, over to you. Task Force One Navy conducted hundreds of listening sessions and focus groups around the world. We participated in defense-wide efforts to address issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We spoke to a host of leaders and experts, E1-010, active, reserved, retirees, civilian shipmates, and consulted with experts in industry and academia. We dove into the data, statistics, and the demographics of our Navy. Ultimately, we organized ourselves around four main lines of effort, recruiting, talent management and retention, professional development, and innovation and STEM. And finally, we took a hard look at several other issues from woman's policy to the naming of ships and buildings and disparities in our naval justice system. Our report contains more than 50 recommendations for the CNO that will help remove barriers, level the plan field, and make our Navy an even better place to serve. These recommendations include initiatives like making sure there's a better mechanism for sailors to challenge a performance evaluation if they feel that it is not fair or justified, improve an outreach in underrepresented communities so we can increase our Navy's diversity of talent, taking a deeper look at our pattern of misconduct and non-judicial punishment policies to ensure they are being fairly applied and to evaluate our selection board process to provide post-board feedback to eligible and interested candidates. And there are dozens more. Some gender-specific recommendations include designating a specific advisor on women's policy issues within OPNEV N1. This advisor would leverage one of our new management advisory groups made up of members from a cross-section of rates, ranks, designators, genders, and underrepresented groups to understand the barriers to service that women continue to face and make recommendations on how to remove those barriers. This could include things like uniform apparel, grooming standards, parental policies, and other recommendations. As we move to a more technically advanced Navy, we are also working to strengthen our inclusion of civilians and STEM programs to further develop and enrich both technical and collaborative competencies for civilians and sailors. I want to thank the entire Task Force One Navy team for their extremely hard work over the past six months. While some of these changes will be put into place soon, other recommendations will take time, but make no mistake. What we are implementing will no doubt make our Navy better. I am deeply committed to this effort, and I hope you are too. But most of all, I ask that you show each other respect. It underpins everything that we do, as people, as sailors, and as a Navy. We'll see you in the fleet, shipmates.


Chapter 18 Part 1 of J.B. Bury's The Student's Roman Empire, Part 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Mark Penfold. The Student's Roman Empire, Part 1 by John Bagnell Bury, Chapter 18, Part 1. The Wars for Armenia, under Claudius and Nero. The struggle between Rome and Parthia for the possession of Armenia was renewed in the reign of Claudius. This struggle was perpetually being decided and perpetually reoccurring. The Romans were determined to keep their hold over a country which was a ground of vantage for either realm against the other, while the Parthian monarchs tried, whenever they got an opportunity, to supplant Roman influence and reduce the land to dependence on themselves. War-like demonstrations on the part of Rome were generally sufficient to make the Parthian kings withdraw their pretensions to Armenia and adopt a respectful attitude to the Roman Emperor, for they were constantly hampered by wars on other frontiers of their dominion and by domestic dissensions. These repeated settlements of the Armenian question are marked by the same general features. Rival pretenders to the throne of Armenia are supported by Rome and Parthia. The Parthian kingdom is distracted by civil war or excited into discontent against the reigning monarch, and there is a movement in favor of some Scyon of the Arsaceid house who is living in exile or as a hostage at Rome. He is supported by Roman arms, but by an inevitable reaction is soon rejected, and the war ends with the acknowledgement of Roman supremacy in some form in Armenia. It will be remembered that Tiberius had established the overlordship of Rome in 20 BC that it was again confirmed by Gaius Caesar into A.D. Again in 18 A.D. the Parthians submitted at the appearance of another presumptive heir to the Empire, and recently the energetic action of Lucius Vitellius had thwarted the schemes of Artibanus III. But what had been well done under the auspices of Tiberius was immediately undone by the caprice of his successor. Gaius summoned Mithridates, the new king of Armenia to Rome, deposed him and sent him into exile. At the same time he recalled Vitellius in disgrace from his government of Syria. This was an opportunity for the Parthians, and they did not fail to seize the coveted land. Thus when Claudius came to the throne, one of the tasks which devolved upon him was the recovery of Armenia. Mithridates was immediately recalled from exile and, restored to his royal dignity, he set about recovering his kingdom with the help of his brother Feresmenes, king of Iberia. Artibanus III was now dead, and Parthia was disturbed by a war for the succession between his sons, Gotarzes and Vardanes. Gotarzes had come to the throne and made himself detested by his cruelties. One of his acts was the murder of his brother Artibanus with his wife and son. His subjects accordingly sent for his other brother Vardanes, an enterprising prince, who was then at a distance of 400 miles from the court. He is said to have traversed this space in two days, and Gotarzes, completely surprised and terrified, fled. Celusia alone, which had held out against his father, declined the rule of Vardanes, and the new king was impolitic enough to give way to his resentment at such a moment, and embarrass himself with the siege of a city secured by strong fortifications and abundant supplies. He thus gave Gotarzes time to collect an army of Herkanians and Dehei, Scythian Rysus east of the Caspian Sea, and was then compelled to raise the siege and march against his brother. He pitched his camp on the great Bactrian plain, which stretches between the Oxus and the Parapemesis, now the Hindu Kush. It was a favourable moment for Mithridates to re-establish his rule in Armenia, and the Armenians made no resistance when their governor, who had ventured on a battle, was slain. Some of the nobles inclined to Cotus, king of Little Armenia, but a letter from his overlord Claudius prevented that monarch from interfering. Some of the fortresses of Armenia received Roman garrisons. Meanwhile the armies of the Parthian brothers had met, but just as they were about to begin battle, they came suddenly to an agreement through the discovery of a plot which Gotarzes revealed to his brother. They joined right hands, and Gotarzes yielded the sovereignty to his brother, and, to avoid rivalry, retired into the wilds of Herkania. Vardanis was then able to force Seleucia, which had defied the Parthian government for seven years, to capitulate 43 A.D. After this success he was preparing to invade Armenia, but was deterred by the threatening attitude of Vibious Marces, the Legatus of Syria. The struggle with Gotarzes soon broke out anew. That prince repented of his renunciation of the crown, and was urged by the discontented nobility to take up arms again. The conflict took place in the country between the Caspian and Herat, and Vardanis gained a great victory and pushed his successes as far as the borders of the Dehae. He returned hotier and more intolerable to his subjects than ever. A plot was concerted, and he was assassinated when he was intent upon the chase, 45 A.D. He was still in his first youth, but he would deserve, says the historian Tacitus, to be ranked among the few greatest of even long-lived kings, if he had sought to be loved by his subjects as he sought to be feared by his enemies. Gotarzes immediately assumed the sovereignty, but after some years his cruelty and proflicacy drove the Parthians to send an embassy to Rome, and begged that the prince Mehardeities, the surviving son of the Nones, whom Germanicus had put to death in Cilicia, should be sent to dispute the Parthian throne with the hated Gotarzes, 49 A.D. The ambassadors represented that Parthia sent her king's sons as hostages to Rome in order that when she grew tired of her own government, she might fall back on the emperor and the senate, and obtain a better king trained in Roman manners. Claudius improved the occasion by emphasizing the superiority of Rome and the submissiveness of the Parthians. He did not lose the opportunity of comparing himself to the divine Augustus from whom the Parthians in like manner had sought a king, Vonones, but he omitted all reference to his uncle Tiberius, who had sent two kings to Parthia. He gave good advice to Mehardeities, who was present, urging him to consider himself as a ruler among freemen, not as a despot among slaves. The barbarians will like clemency and justice all the more because they are unused to them. Then turning to the ambassadors, he dwelled on the virtues of the young foster child of Rome, yet, even if his character should change, it is well that subjects should bear with the caprices of kings. Frequent revolutions are unprofitable. Rome has now reached such a height that he can afford to wish that even foreign peoples should enjoy repose. As El Vitellius had formerly conducted Tiridates to the frontiers of the Parthian Empire, so it devolved now upon C. Cassius, governor of Syria, to escort Mehardeities to the Euphrates. There he was received by several Parthian potentates, including King Abgar of Ossriene. Cassius gave the young prince sound advice, showing him that delay would be fatal, and that if he did not act quickly, the enthusiasm of the barbarians would soon flag. But Mehardeities was induced by Abgar to amuse himself for several days in Edessa, and then, instead of occupying Mesopotamia, where success seems to have been assured to him by Carinii, the governor of Mesopotamia, he proceeded by a circuitous route to Armenia, where, as winter was beginning, it was impossible to do much. He was joined by Carinii, and then advancing along the Tigris into Adiabene, whose king Aizates, pretended to espouse his cause, he occupied the historic site of Nenus, and gave it the name of Colonia Nini Claudia. Delay was fatal to Mehardeities, even as it had been fatal to Tiridates, the pretender sent by Tiberias. His chief adherents, recognizing his incompetence, especially Abgar and Aizates, deserted to Gotarzees, and then he decided to risk everything on a battle. The struggle seems to have taken place between the Tigris and Mount Zagros. Both sides fought with desperate courage. Carinii's carried all before him, but advancing too far was surprised in the rear. This decided the issue. Mehardeities yielded to false promises and was led in chains to the victor who despised him too much to put him to death, but rendered him harmless by the amputation of his ears. But Gotarzees did not long survive his victory. He was succeeded in summer 51 A.D., by Vonones II, king of Medea, who was followed after a reign of a few months, by his son Velogasees I, a capable and successful ruler, 51-78 A.D. One of the chief ends of the policy of Velogasees was to recover Armenia, and an opportunity was soon offered through an act of foul treachery on the part of the Iberian king. Farasmanes had a son named Radimistus, tall, handsome, of remarkable bodily strength, trained in archery and riding, and the other accomplishments of his countrymen, and of high renown among the neighboring peoples. This ambitious youth declared too boldly his impatience of his father's long old age, which kept him out of the little kingdom which he perhaps hoped to extend. Farasmanes, seeing that his son was prepared to grasp the power, if an occasion offered itself, tempted the youth with other prospects and pointed to Armenia, suggesting that his brother, Mithridates, might be overthrown. A treacherous scheme was devised. Radimistus, feigning to have quarreled with his father, sought shelter at his uncle's court, and there engaged in treasonable intrigues with some of the Armenian nobles. When the ground was prepared, Farasmanes declared war against his brother on some trifling plea, and supplied his son with an army, with which he invaded and occupied Armenia, fifty-two A.D. Mithridates placed himself under the protection of the Roman garrison of the fortress of Gournais, which was commanded by Cilius Polio. Radimistus blockaded the place, and, unable to take it, attempted to bribe Polio. But Gasperius, a centurion, who held a secondary command, protested, and having arranged a truce, commanded to Farasmanes to induce him to withdraw the army. Farasmanes replied in a conciliatory manner, but by secret messages urged Radimistus to hurry on the siege. A large bribe was offered to Polio, who seems to have been a man of bad character. He bribed the soldiers to threaten to abandon the place unless terms were made with the besiegers, and the unfortunate Mithridates was compelled to surrender. Radimistus at first rushed into his embrace, greeted him as his parent, and feigned the deepest respect. He even swore an oath that he would offer him no violence either by sword or by poison. He then drew him into a neighboring grove, where he said that preparations had been made for the sacrifice which should confirm peace in the presence of the gods. It was the custom of these princes when they met to form an alliance, to join their right hands and tie together their thumbs in a tight knot. Then when the blood was collected into the extremities which were thus tied, they led it out by a small puncture and sucked it each in turn. The treaty had thus a mystical sanctity being sealed by the blood of both. On this occasion the man who was tying the knot pretended to fall, and seizing the knees of Mithridates flung him down. A number of people then rushed upon him and loaded him with chains. He was dragged along, subject to all kinds of indignities while his wife and little children followed, wailing. They were hidden in covered wagons until the will of Ferris Manes as to their fate should be made known. To him the desire of kingdom was more than his brother and his daughter, and his heart was steeled to crimes, but he spared his eyes the sight of a brother's execution. Radymestis, to keep the letter of his oath, used neither steel nor poison against his uncle and his sister, but had them thrown on the ground and smothered under a load of heavy clothes. Even the sons of Mithridates were slaughtered for having wept at the murder of their father and mother. Umidius Quadratus, the Legatus of Syria, on whom it devolved to watch the course of events in the neighboring dependent kingdoms, decided not to interfere. He or his counselors judged it to be a matter of indifference whether Armenia was ruled by the uncle or by the nephew, and the principal was asserted that all crime in a foreign land was to be received with joy. It was the policy of Rome to so strife among the barbarians, and it was rather for her interest that the hated Radymestis should retain what he had got by such an infamous deed in as much as he would be more easily managed. At the same time, appearances were kept up by sending an embassy to Ferris Manes, bidding him and his son evacuate Armenia. A show of interference was also made by Julius Pelignus, the procurator of Cappadocia, a man of deformed body and feeble intellect who had been a sort of buffoon at the court of Claudius. There were no military forces stationed in Cappadocia at this time, but Pelignus collected some native militia and set forth to recover Armenia. His men deserted their incompetent leader, and he, finding himself defenseless, went to Radymestis, whose gifts had such an effect that Pelignus actually urged him to assume the tiara and diadem of royalty, and take part in the coronation of the usurper whom he had come to expel. This disgraceful act caused great scandal, and lest other Romans should be judged by the behavior of Pelignus, Quadratus sent a certain Helvetius Priscus, with one of the Syrian legions, to restore order, but this force was speedily withdrawn in order to avoid a collision with the Parthians. For in the meantime, phylogasies, judging the moment to be favorable, and supposing that the Romans would not trouble themselves to support Radymestis, had named his brother Tiridates, king of Armenia, and had entered the country with an army, fifty-three A.D. The Iberians were expelled without a blow, and the two chief cities, Artexata and Tegrana Serta, submitted to the Parthian yoke. A severe winter, want of provisions, and the breaking out of a disease in his army, compelled phylogasies to retire, and Radymestis speedily returned and dealt out vengeance to those who had deserted him. But his subjects rebelled against his cruelty, and an armed crowd gathered round his palace in Artexata. He and his wife Zinobia were obliged to flee, and the story of their escape is romantic. Their chance of safety lie in the swiftness of their horses, but Zinobia was pregnant, and, though she endured somehow or other the first part of the flight, she was after a while so shaken by the continuous galloping that she could hold out no longer, and dismounting she begged her husband to rescue her from the insults of captivity by an honorable death. Radymestis was at length induced to comply with her request, unceiving his short saber, the Asanasis. He stabbed her, and dragging her to the bank of the Araxes, committed her to the stream that even her dead body might be rescued from the enemy. He then continued his headlong flight, and reached Iberia in safety. But Zinobia was not mortally wounded. She lay in the calm water near the edge of the river, breathing and showing signs of life. Some shepherds observed her, and seeing from her appearance that she was a woman of high degree, bound up her wound and applied rustic remedies. Having discovered her name and story, they took her to Artexata, whence she was led to Tiridates, now established as King of Armenia, who received her kindly, and treated her as a queen, 54 AD. Some desultory warfare was kept up between Tiridates and Radymestis during the first year of Claudius, 54 AD. The Parthians were at this time trampled by revolts in the north of their empire, and the Romans were busy with the suppression of a rising of the Clite in Cilicia and with troubles in Judea. The Armenians disgusted at the continents which the Romans had given to the usurpation of Radymestis, where by no means dissatisfied at the establishment of a Parthian prince in their country. The success of Tiridates seemed to be one more proof that the policy of Augustus was not likely to lead to a stable settlement of the eastern question. The death of Claudius and the accession of Nero was a good opportunity for trying a new policy. The government of Nero, conducted by Seneca and Burris, decided to take active measures for the recovery of Armenia and the maintenance of Rome's prestige, which had been dimmed by the recent triumph of the Logacies and his brother. The first step was the appointment of Geneus Domitius Corbulo to the government of Cappadocia with the rank of a consular Legatus, although that province had been hitherto under a procurator. He was consul in 39 AD. We have already met him as Legatus of lower Germany, 47 AD, where he gained a high reputation for discipline and ability. Quadratus was allowed to keep his post in Syria, but was ordered to place two of his four legions at the disposal of the new Legatus of Cappadocia. Antiochus of Comagine and Herod Agrippa II of Chalcis received commands to have their troops in readiness for operations against the Parthians. Lesser Armenia and Sofini, the countries which bordered Armenia on the west, were entrusted to two Syrian princes, Aristobulus and Sohemus, respectively. But the legions had become demoralized by a long peace, and they liked little to change their quarters in Syria for the mountains of Armenia. There were veterans in the army who had never served on sentinel duty, to whom the rampart and the ditch were novelties, men without helmets or breastplates, sleek traitors who had served all their time in towns. The first thing that Corbulo had to do was to dismiss a large number of incapable men and levy new recruits. Even after the restoration of discipline, he was obliged to ask for additional troops from the more efficient armies of the west. A legion and auxiliaries were sent from Germany, but Rome did not immediately come to blows with Parthia. Instead of invading Armenia, Corbulo entered into negotiations with philogacies and a treaty was concluded. The Parthians undertook to give hostages as a pledge of peace, while the Romans suffered the rule of Tiridates in Armenia. Perhaps this was only for the purpose of gaining time, but it may be that the Roman government had come to see the uselessness of continually setting up kings of their own choice in Armenia destined to be overthrown in a few years by Parthian rivals. So as they were not prepared to annex that country as a province, they decided to adopt the policy of recognizing the Parthian candidate, on the understanding that he held his dependency under the overlord ship of the Roman emperor, not of the Parthian monarch. But as time went on and Tiridates still demurred to receive Armenia as a Roman gift and take an oath of allegiance to the emperor, Corbulo set out in 57 AD, two years after his appointment, with an army of about 30,000 men and wintered in Armenia. The rigor of Armenian winters was proverbial, and the army seems to have suffered severely. The ground covered with ice yielded no place for the tents until it was regularly dug up. The cold was so intense that many of the men had their limbs frostbitten, others perished on guard. A soldier carrying a bundle of wood was observed, whose hands dropped off and fell with a burden. Corbulo was glad to give his demoralized soldiers the experience of hardships. He is described as going about among his men, lightly clad with uncovered head, praising the brave, encouraging the weak, enforcing strict discipline. Dissertors were put to death for the first offense. It was probably in the Table-Land of Erzeroom that the warfare of the year 58 AD was carried on. The campaign began by a slight reverse for the Romans. Corbulo had posted some auxiliary infantry in certain defensive positions under the command of a centurion, to whom he had given strict orders to keep the army. Corbulo had sent some men to the camp of Erzeroom, and to the camp of Erzeroom he had sent some men to the camp of Erzeroom. A centurion to whom he had given strict orders to keep within the entrenchments. But this officer, seeing what he thought a favorable opportunity, disobeyed and was defeated. The general punished both officers and soldiers by making them in camp outside the rampart, and they were only released from this disgrace when the whole army interceded. When spring was well advanced, Corbulo did all in his power to force into an engagement Tiridates, who was scouring the country and plundering all whom he thought friendly to Rome. Wary of following the enemy hither and thither, Corbulo divided his forces so that his legati and prefects might attack several points at the same time. His operations were supported by Antiochus, king of Comegine, advancing from the south, and Feresmenes of Iberia, who desired to redeem his former treachery and had already put to death his son Radimistus from the north. A people called the Moshe, who dwelled near the sources of the river Faces, also assisted Rome. Vologases was occupied in another quarter of his kingdom by a revolt of the Hurcanians, and Tiridates found himself unable to cope with the superior forces of the Romans. He therefore entered into negotiations with Corbulo, who advised him to send a petition to the Emperor. As it was found that the interchange of messages did not lead to a settlement, an interview was arranged between the commanders. Tiridates proposed to arrive himself with a thousand horsemen, and that Corbulo should be accompanied by as many soldiers as he chose, provided they came without helmets and breastplates, so as to give the appearance of peace. The wary old general was not deceived by this offer, so transparently treacherous. Tiridates intended that his trained archers should shoot down the escort of Corbulo, whose numbers would be of no avail if their bodies were undefended. Corbulo, however, pretended not to see through the stratagem, but replied that it would be better to discuss the matters in dispute in the presence of the whole armies. On the appointed day he arrived first and disposed his troops, but Tiridates did not appear till the afternoon, and then stood at a distance, whence he could be seen rather than heard. Thus no conference took place, and Tiridates presently marched off, apparently in a north-westerly direction, perhaps intending to cut off the supplies which the Roman army drew from Trapezes. Corbulo now ceased to follow Tiridates and prepared a series of attacks on the Armenian fortresses. He undertook himself the assault on Volandum, the strongest in the district, and assigned the lesser forts to the subordinate officers. Volandum lay west of Artexata and south of the river Araxes. Corbulo formed his troops in four divisions and assigned to each a different task. One part with their shields locked above their heads, in the army known as Testudo, advanced close to the rampart to undermine it. Others applied scaling ladders to the walls. Others hurled javelins and brands from the engines, while the slingers at a distance discharged lead and balls against the garrison. Within the third part of the day the walls were stripped of their defenders, the barricades of the gate were thrown down, the fortifications scaled and captured, all the adults butchered, without the loss of a single Roman soldier. Corbulo's officers were equally successful in their less difficult enterprises, and he was encouraged by this success to attack Artexata, the capital of the country. On the march thither the Romans were attacked by the cavalry of Tiridates, who had hoped to take them unawares. But Corbulo had formed his army for fighting as well as for marching. On the right and left sides the third and sixth legions marched respectively, and a chosen body of the fifth was placed in the center. The baggage was secured within the lines, and the rear was guarded by a thousand cavalry who were ordered to resist if attacked, but not to pursue. On the wings were placed the foot bowmen and the rest of the cavalry. The left wing was extended further along the foot of the hills, so that if the enemy broke through the center his flank might be enveloped by the extended wing. Tiridates rode up in the face of the advancing army, but taking care to keep out of the range of missiles. His object was to loosen the ranks by threatening an attack, and then to fall on the separated divisions, but his design failed. Only one cavalry officer advanced rashly and fell pierced with arrows. His example confirmed the others in obedience to orders, and Tiridates retired on the approach of night. Corbulo thought of advancing on Artexata the same night and beginning the blockade. But when his scouts reported that Tiridates had started on a distant march, either to Medea or Albania, he waited for daylight and then sent on his light-armed troops with directions to begin the attack at a distance. But no siege was necessary. The inhabitants immediately opened the gates and surrendered, and thereby saved their lives. The city was burnt to the ground as Corbulo could not spare a sufficient garrison, and the place was too strong to be left unoccupied. The army seems to have wintered in the neighborhood of Artexata, and in the following year, 59 AD, to have marched to Tigran Asserta, which they reached in autumn. The line of march which Corbulo followed is not certain. It seems probable that he proceeded southward from Artexata, and skirting the foot of Little Ararat, entered the plain of Bayazid. Whence following the basin of the river Balik, he could have crossed the watershed of that stream and the murad at Jadin, and then smarged along the murad through the plain of Arishkird. The way would then lie through the plain of Musch, and southeastward across the Bitlis Pass and Tigran Asserta. On this march the Roman general made no hostile demonstrations, but did not relax his vigilance, knowing the character of the Armenians who were as treacherous when opportunity offered as they were slow to face danger. Those who submitted received quarter, but to those who fled or hid themselves in caverns, Corbulo was pitiless. He burnt them out of their holes, filling the entrances and egresses with brushwood. The Mardi of Mount Nefates were especially troublesome, and defied him in their mountain fastnesses. Corbulo set the Iberians on them so as to avoid the sacrifice of Roman lives. In this march the Romans suffered as much from heat as they had suffered during the winters from cold. They were exhausted by shortness of supplies, and were compelled to depend solely on the cattle of the country. This meat diet without any other food was found to be very injurious. Besides this, water was scarce, and the marches in the burning heat were long. At length they reached cultivated lands, perhaps in the neighborhood of Malazgird, and were able to obtain vegetable food. Two Armenian fortresses were taken, and then they crossed into the country of the Taranites, which is probably to be identified with the district of Mush, west of Lake Van. Here Corbulo's life was endangered. A barbarian of considerable rank was discovered with a dagger near the general's tent, and on being tortured, confessed the names of Confederates who were associated with him. The men were convicted and punished. Soon after this envoys whom Corbulo had sent to Tigran Asserta returned and reported that the gates were open to receive him, and the inhabitants ready to obey his orders. They also brought a golden crown, a gift betokening the friendship of the city. Corbulo left the place intact, and then proceeded against Lagerda, a fortress to the west of Tigran Asserta. The stronghold was defended by a brave band and was stormed with difficulty. This success seems to have marked the end of the campaign. Tiridates made some further attempts to re-establish himself in Armenia, but was promptly checked by Corbulo. The land was completely in Roman power, and a new king was chosen, Sixty A.D. The choice of the government fell onto Grannys, a young prince who had been brought up in Rome, descended on the father's side from Herod the Great and on the mother's from Archelaus of Cappadocia. But the realm which Nero conferred on to Grannys was considerably less than that which the previous kings had ruled. It was curtailed by some frontier districts, which were distributed between neighboring princes, Feresmenes, Antiochus, Aristobulus, and Palimo of Pontus. Tigranes sought to increase his kingdom on another side by wrestling Adiabene from Parthia. He invaded that province and defeated the governor Monobasis. This occurrence forced the Parthian monarch, who had abstained from interfering in the recent war in Armenia, to take a decisive step. He confirmed the sovereignty of Tiridates in Armenia, placing the diadem on his head in Solemn Council, and sent his general Menaces to drive out the Roman usurper. In the meantime, Quadratus, the governor of Syria, had died, and, pending the appointment of a successor, the command both in Syria and Cappadocia devolved upon Corbulo. That general sent two legions to Armenia to support Tigranes, who was besieged by the Parthians into Granacerta. But it was not the interest of Corbulo to finish the war and shorten his own command. The two legions which he sent were not those which had been trained by himself, but four and seven, which had remained behind in Syria and were quite inefficient. Moreover, he is said to have given secret instructions to the two commanders, to whom he committed the charge of the legions, to act with deliberation rather than with expedition, for he would rather have war on hand than prosecute it. He himself prepared to cross the Euphrates and meet phylogasies. But the Parthian monarch, again as so often before, shrank from war at the last moment. The attack of his general upon Tigraneserta had been completely unsuccessful. He opened negotiations and declared himself ready to fulfill the conditions of the treaty which had been proposed in 55 AD and let his brother hold Armenia as vassal of the Roman emperor. Corbulo accepted the proposal, withdrew his legions from Armenia, gave up the cause of Tigranes, 61 AD, and permitted Tiridates to resume his possession of the land. It was said, by some, and it is not improbable, that there was a secret understanding between Corbulo and phylogasies. In any case, these proceedings of Corbulo cannot be justified. He may have honestly thought that the arrangement which he twice attempted to make with phylogasies was the best solution of the Armenian question. But once the Roman government had set up Tigranes, he had no right to give up the results which had been won by his own campaigns. Moreover, he was at this time only a temporary commander, and Lucius Cassanius Patus was already on his way to assume the government of Cappadocia to which he had been appointed. It is possible that Corbulo was jealous of his successor and wished to deprive him of the honour of the final subjugation of Armenia. In any case, Corbulo did not act in accordance with the views of the government, and when the ambassadors of phylogasies presented themselves at Rome, the treaty was not confirmed. There is some ground for believing that at this moment it was actually contemplated to make Armenia a Roman province, and this certainly was the view of the new governor of Cappadocia. Thus, Armenia had to be conquered again. The two legions which were stationed in Cappadocia were to be reinforced by a legion from Macea and Patus as soon as he arrived in his province lost no time in setting out. He crossed the Euphrates at Melitini and marched through Sophini, capturing forts and booty on his way. His first object was the recovery of Tigranocerta, but it was late in the year, 62 AD, and he was obliged to defer this enterprise until next season, especially as the Macean legion had not yet arrived. He established the winter quarters of the fourth legion at Randea, a place on the borders of Sophini, close to the Taurus range, and situated on the north bank of the Arsenius, Mirad. In the meantime, Corbulo had taken up a position on the banks of the Euphrates near Zugma to prevent the forces of phylogasies from invading Syria. The Parthian king, learning that the two legions of Patus were not together, that the camp at Randea was badly supplied with provisions, and that Patus was granting furloughs indiscriminately to all the soldiers who applied for them, suddenly determined to invade Armenia, notwithstanding the lateness of the season, and surprise the Roman camp before reinforcements could arrive. Corbulo did nothing to hinder the march of the Parthians into Armenia. Perhaps he was secretly pleased at the prospect of the other commander getting into difficulties. When Patus heard that phylogasies was approaching with a large force, he summoned the seventh legion to his headquarters, and then fully realized the numerical weakness of his forces. The whole army advanced in the direction from which the Parthians were approaching, but when a centurion and some soldiers, who had been sent on to Reconator, were killed in a collision with an advanced party of the enemy, it retreated to the camp. Phylogasies did not press on immediately, and Patus posted a body of 3,000 chosen infantry in the Pass of Mount Taurus, which the Parthians had yet to pass before they reached Randea, and also placed the best of his cavalry in the plain to support the legionaries. But these forces were utterly insufficient, and were swept away before the advance of the Parthian army. The unwounded fled to distant wilds, the disabled returned to the camp. Thus Patus was left, having lost the best part of his army through his ill-considered dispositions, and his forces were still further weakened by the withdrawal of a cohort to the defense of the neighboring fort of Arsamasata, whither his wife and son had been removed for safety. His only chance of escape lay in speedy succour from Corbulo, to whom he had already sent a pressing message. But Corbulo did not hurry, he was willing to let the peril increase in order that the glory of rescuing the army might be enhanced. But he ordered 1,000 men from each of his three legions, along with 800 cavalry, and about 4,000 auxiliary infantry, to be an instant readiness to march. When, however, another message arrived from Patus, with news of the defeat, and earnestly entreating him to come to save the eagles, he set out, leaving half his army to defend the forts on the Euphrates. He marched straight north from Zugma through Camigine and Cappadocia, the route which was shortest and most convenient for obtaining supplies. His army was attended by a large number of camels laden with corn. When he met stragglers from the defeated army, and they alleged various excuses for their flight, he advised them to return to their standards and throw themselves on the mercy of Patus. I, he said, have no pardon but for the victorious. In the meantime Vologases pressed both the fortress of Arsamasata and the camp at Randea. He tried to lure the legions from their entrenchments and bring on an engagement, but the Roman soldiers were demoralized and had no intention of fighting. They only thought of escaping with their lives. They are said to have quoted the historical disasters of Rome, such as the Caudine Forks and the capitulation of Mancinus at Numantia, and urged that if Romans had yielded to Samnites, it would be no disgrace to capitulate to the greater power of Parthia. The general was forced by this attitude of his troops into treating with the enemy. Yet, if he had held out for three days longer, his colleague would have arrived with Sakur. The terms of the capitulation were that the legions should quit Armenia, that the forts and supplies should be surrendered to the Parthians, and a bridge thrown across the river Arsenius to enable them to carry off the booty. The Romans had to submit to such ignominy. The Parthians and Armenians insulted them as they prepared to retire, and their flight was precipitate. Paitis traversed forty miles in a single day, leaving his wounded all along the route. The fugitives met the army of Corbulo on the banks of the Euphrates, near Militine. Corbulo made no exhibition of standards and arms so as to taunt them by the contrast. His manifolds, in their grief for the lot of their comrades, could not even refrain from tears. The mutual salutation was hardly interchanged for weeping. Rivalry and desire of glory, emotions which men feel in success, had died away. Pity alone prevailed, and was more deeply felt in the lower ranks. A short conversation took place between Corbulo and Paitis. The defeated general urged that everything might still be retrieved if the whole army were at once to invade Armenia, from which phylogasies had already departed. Corbulo declined on the ground that his commission from the Emperor strictly confined him to the limits of Syria, which he had only left on account of the peril of the legions. Paitis then retired to Cappadocia and Corbulo to Syria, where messages passed between him and phylogasies, and it was agreed that the Roman fortresses on the Parthian bank of the Euphrates were to be abandoned, while on the other hand the Parthian garrisons were to be removed from Armenia. When Paitis first established his quarters at Randea he had sent bragging dispatches to Rome, as if he were in possession of the whole country, and trophies and arches were erected at Rome in honor of his supposed successes. The arrival of the envoys of phylogasies early in 63 AD exposed the falseness of these pretensions. The letter of the King was moderate, but its tone was that of one who'd need not condescend to ask for terms. He professed that his brother Tiridates was ready to receive the crown of Armenia as a Roman vassal. Being a Magian priest, Tiridates had a scruple against crossing the sea, otherwise he would have been ready to appear at Rome and receive the diadem from the Emperor's hand. But he would willingly go to one of the neighboring camps and do homage to the standards and the image of the Emperor. The Council of Nero rejected this proposal and sent the envoys back without a formal answer, refusing to accept the terms which were arranged between Corbulo and Vologases. But they seemed to have intimated at the same time that if Tiridates presented himself at Rome in person, an understanding might be affected, but for the present the war was to continue and preparations were made for it on an unusually large scale. Paitis was recalled, and Corbulo, who, though his recent behavior was certainly open to criticism, was justly recognized to be the most capable general, undertook once more the command in Cappadocia, while C. Cestius Gallus replaced him in Syria. He was now entrusted with larger powers than before, perhaps with an imperium proconsolare. All the governors and dependent princes of the east were instructed to obey his commands, and his position resembled that which had been formerly held by Germanicus and Vitellius. The army was increased by the 14th Legion, Apollonaris, taken from Pannononia. The whole strength of Corbulo's army, taking into account the troops supplied by neighboring Allied princes, probably approached fifty thousand, and was the most numerous force ever put in the field for an Armenian war. Corbulo crossed the Euphrates, and entered southern Armenia, advancing in the direction of Tigran Asserta, and opening up the route which in former days had been followed by Lucilus, when he advanced to overthrow Tigranes. He drove from their possessions those Armenian nobles who had led the revolt against Rome, and captured their fortresses. Then philogacies sent envoys to demand an armistice, and Tiridates proposed a personal interview with the Roman general. Corbulo acceded, and made no objection when Tiridates proposed that the place of meeting should be at Randea, the scene of the disaster of Paitis. He commanded the son of Paitis, who was a military tribune in his army, to take some troops with him and cover up the relics of the battlefield. Tiridates and Corbulo, each attended by twenty horsemen, met on the appointed day. It was agreed that the Parthian should take the diadem from his head, place it in front of the Emperor's image, and not resume it until he had formerly received it in Rome from the Emperor's own hand. This ceremony was to take place in the presence of both armies, and on the very spot where Paitis had capitulated, so that the memory of the disgrace which had then tarnished Roman arms might in some measure be effaced. The interview ended with a kiss. After a few days, the solemnity took place. On one side was ranged the Parthian cavalry with their national decorations. On the other, the legions with glittering eagles and standards and images of the gods, set so as to represent a temple. Between the armies was a tribunal supporting a chair of state on which a statue of Nero was placed. Tiridates advanced and, having slain the customary victims, removed the diadem from his head and placed it at the foot of the statue. Then Corbulo courteously entertained the king, who prepared to set out for Rome as soon as he had visited his brothers. This time Corbulo's favorite scheme succeeded. New statesmen were influential at Rome, and the vanity of the Emperor was gratified by the prospect of giving away the crown of Armenia to a Parthian prince as a humble supplient. Tiridates, accompanied by three thousand Parthian horsemen, arrived in Rome in 66 AD. The ceremony of investiture took place in the Forum, where the brother of the logacies kneeling at the feet of his overlord received the crown of Armenia. This settlement of the Eastern question lasted for many years. Rome had succeeded in getting rid of a troublesome dependency without losing her prestige or endangering her interests. One more Eastern expedition was planned by Nero, but its execution was prevented by his overthrow. It was directed against the Alans, a people who lived north of the Caucasus, and had recently made some plundering excursions in Armenia and media. The object was probably to occupy the Caucasian Gate, now known as the Dariel Pass, between Tiflis and Vladik Caucasus, with a permanent garrison. And this was for the advantage of Parthia as well as for that of Rome. The fourteenth legion, which was recalled from Britain, and the first Italica, newly enrolled for this expedition, were on the way to the East when they were recalled on account of the revolt of Vindex. It remains to tell the fate of Corbulo. His prominent position and services seemed to have roused the jealousy of Nero, who summoned him to his presence in Greece, 67 AD. When Corbulo landed at Senkre, he received a message to the effect that he was expected to cease to live. He plunged his sword in his breast with the words, I deserve it! It is impossible to know whether he had given any real ground of suspicion. He was an able soldier, but his merits perhaps have been exaggerated. Tacitus, at least, seems to use the meritorious Corbulo as a sort of antithesis to Nero, just as he set up Germanicus as a foil to Tiberius. And the contrast drawn between Corbulo's unerring generalship and the rash incompetence of Paitis is obviously heightened for the sake of artistic effect. The end of Chapter 18, Part 2, and the end of J.B. Bury's The Student's Roman Empire, Part 1. Recording by Mark Penfold.


Thank you and now it gives me great pleasure to introduce our final speaker of the morning session my dear friend the longtime board member of the drug policy alliance the senior servant and metropolitan interdenominational church in Nashville Tennessee Reverend Edwin Sanders. I want to stand back to your feet all those freedom movements that Ethan just listed every one of them has a freedom song so I'm gonna treat you treat you one today okay I'm just gonna start singing this song if you know it and that's something that don't know it I'm just gonna ask you to learn it real quick it just goes like this we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes that's it that's all of it we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest there you go we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes come on louder than that we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it come take the roof off this time we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. Ethan talked about freedom but freedom is a constant struggle freedom is not what we do on our day off freedom is not the business that we're about but it's convenient and easy freedom is not something that we can opt into and opt out of freedom is not something that we can excuse ourselves from when we desire if we're going to be a part of this movement there's a way in which we have to understand that we cannot rest until it comes on July August the 12th Ethan sent me an email and the first line of the email was what a day if only every Monday was like this I've held onto that ever since because we need to be the people who can stand up every day and say what a day we need to be able to know that every day is the right day it's not just the day when we've heard from Washington the news that we want to need to hear it's not just the day when we've been able to have the experiences that allow us to have some sense of individual and collective success in our efforts it's not just the day when we personally feel like something we've done has made a difference but it's the day that has to become our every day Ethan said he wishes every Monday could be that way I want every day to be that way because there's a way in which we ought to be able to say every day it's all right it's all right now I want you to have that line I'm used to talking to people who talk back to me all right if you don't want to talk back you gotta say man but not wink or do something and let me know you hear me right and I did the first thing I want to say about this business about it's all right and that's the line I want you to hold on to today it's just simply it's all right let me hear you say that you see it's all right today because we're the right people and we're the right place I mean it's all right all right we're the right people in place it's the right day it's the right issue and if we allow ourselves to live up to the possibilities of potential the locked up the people in this room we can be sure that the drug war will be brought to an end so I realize I was going to end up with only about 15 or 20 minutes so I decided what I was going to do was give you the title of all five of the messages I intended to deliver the first one was don't take no for an answer is that all right the second one was don't turn back the third one was overcoming the culture of oppression the fourth one was living in the shadows of the Empire and the fifth one is one that many of you all know especially your reggae fan if you know any Grants boys at all is living on the front line let me tell what I heard in our session yesterday we brought fake leaders together one of the things that we talked about in that session was we talked about the whole business of how this movement has evolved in the places that we're celebrating it today and one of the things I will suggest to you is that movements don't happen unless there's something unless there's some energy unless there's some force and that's there's some dynamic unless there's some presence unless there's something that transcends what we can easily reduce to what we can embrace with our limited ability to logically and reasonably wrap our minds around it the first thing I'm convinced we have to understand is that it's beyond the limitations of reason and logic but what we're talking about in this movement requires you being able to see being able to believe being able to embrace being able to visualize being able to somehow carry your heart the awareness that what you're trying to do even though all of the all the factors in life might say it's beyond what can be done you have to be the one that believes there's something bigger and there's something greater and there's something that you can do that no one else can see and see as being possible when Ethan stands here and talks about the movement that transcended to the end of slavery don't you know that no one who had shackles on their feet who had to have the whip marks on their back who did not have any of the privileges that were a part of the ideals of this country could even began to see the possibility that we would be here today you see it's only because there's a spirit that carried it what we talked about a little bit yesterday was trying to talk about how we own how we shape how we fashion how we end up being a part of constructing the spirit of this movement and I'm convinced this captured that little song I had to singing the just simply said we who believe in freedom will not rest until it comes don't you know there were those who they never believed that women's rights would be where they are today don't you know that just 30 or 40 years ago there are those who never would believe the same gender loving people would be able to freely marry and have relationships that are accepted and affirmed and celebrated in places where you never thought there would be before don't you know there's no way that the rights that we take for granted are not the byproduct of some people who had to rise above the limitations of logic and we need to understand that from where we are today because this movement is one that's going to have a transforming effect upon the world and the times in which we live each of the senator but you need to hear it in your own heart in your own voice in your own way you understand if we do this right we'll deal with all the complex and difficult issues that are undermining the infinite possibilities of life available available for all of us in this world if we do this right we'll adjust the issues of economic opportunity if we do this right we will deal with the issues of access to housing and that kind of thing if we do this right we will deal with health care that's available to everywhere everybody everywhere if we do this right you see there's a thread in this there's a way in which I cannot be happy I cannot be content I cannot be satisfied I cannot sit out I can't stop until I know that the forces that drive and the forces that continue to be a part of what allows this horror to be visited upon us in the name of the drug war is not going to go away don't you know then drug war I want you to understand this right now it's nothing but the mask of all the stuff we hate the drug war is the mask of racism the drug war is the mask of sexism the drug war is the mass of xenophobia the drug war is the mass of homophobia Islamophobia and all the other stuff that contend it's the mask and one of the things that we're gonna do is take off the mask I'm almost ashamed to tell you this I don't know why Ethan I depend on Ethan to feed me information that's my wife right there Billy I'll wait by your hand Billy let me tell you what Billy says about me all the time she says if you'll be able to say this about Ethan's speech this morning she says I can be with you where you heard something the same time I heard it for the first time and the next time I hear you deliver the switch I would swear you were it all originated with you now I depend on Ethan all the time to feed me information but yesterday we started talking about the Netherlands and the way in which that country had made one of the more important steps historically in terms of dealing with this issue of drugs and rights and the line that I picked up on either what you never gave me before was ever really what underverted that in the Netherlands was this line that all people are worth what all people are worth saving is that the line all people are worth saving can you imagine what that means all people are worth saving you see what that means is that that gave a speck gave a voice to a spirit that gave a voice to a power that gave a voice to something that transcends all the limitations and all the barriers of fragmentation and division because there's a way in which what we have to do at the heart at the core at the center of this movement is make sure that all about efforts are shaped in a fashion that are affirming of all people I like the way what sir let's say a little bit earlier it's ending the war on people who use drugs in the war on people who use drug it's kind of like going to the doctor I tell people all the time you always want to go to a doctor who treats the person who has a disease versus the doctor who treats the disease that the person has that might not sound like it's a big difference but the difference is it's about people it's not just about individuals it's about community it's about understanding that there's something inherent that there's something that's a part of who we are as human beings that's always mitigating the direction of trying to bring together pull together keep together hold together the community of people that some people like monster king junior referred to as the beloved community but there was a community that had a heart in a way that allowed as how the thermon said when we engage each other my relationship to you is when my heart connects with your heart when my heart in your heart began to resonate as one when my heart and your heart come to be a part of a fabric that is seamless and cannot easily be torn apart because we've been woven into that which we are as a result of a spirit that's bigger than all of us even your dad would have been proud of you this morning that boy prayed in front of everybody you know even his father was a rabbi was a rabbi he learned it well he heard it enough he knew it I always like it without eating too because he always understands like to call up the last minute say even gotta do a funeral gotta do wedding gotta do this and other but you know let me just tell you this it is about people understand that you not only have to have to just give lip service to the ways in which you believe and know and understand there's some energies there's some forces there's some powers working that are bigger than we are there's a way in which we have to appreciate the fact that we are the evidence of that fabric right now we are the drug policy congregation we are the drug policy assembly we are the people who right now represent what is the greatest hope to ending the insanity and the madness that is loose all around us so we can't ever take no for an answer we can't take no for an answer we have to be the ones who will insist on being heard we can't take no for an answer if you're not going to take no for an answer the first thing you have to do you have to move beyond your fear and there's still fear that continues to be the thing that cripples and undermines and represents a stumbling block in terms of this movement there are too many people in Congress I was so glad to hear the congressman suggest that perhaps there are some ways in which we will see some changes because of the way in which this groundswell of energy which we represent in this room is going to impact the behavior of a lot of folks in Washington who even if they get on board for the wrong reason you know let me tell you something about a strong voice okay a strong voice will make bad people do the right thing you can understand you know there's a great text a great biblical text and I always it doesn't make any difference you have to read the Bible or another text even that's a great story about a woman who says she had to go to a judge who had no fear of God and no respect for people but it says she just kept on coming and eventually the wall came down the barrier was removed the avenue was open and the possibilities were released we're the ones that have to understand we got a long way to go but a part of what we have to do is we can't take no fun answer but we have to make sure that our critique is relentless such that when you heard that time I gave you call the whole business of living in the shadow of the Empire it is great for us to be here where we are today it is a wonderful moment of affirmation of the energy and the effort that has gone forth in terms of this movement but you have to appreciate the fact that even right now we are living in the shadow of the Empire right now it's obviously not in the interest of those who see themselves in this world as the true power elite to be a part of this movement but we have to understand that if we continue to raise the issues as we should if we continue to insist on not accepting no for an answer there's a way in which those who in some ways we think can never be moved bad people bad people can be moved and force to do the right thing there are people who are profiting there are people who are getting funky rich every day every day often continue to perpetuate this madness but we need to understand and they need to understand that we are not those who will try to pretend that the issue of the power being vested in the hands of just a few is not a part of what continues to perpetuate the problem we're talking about freedom we talked about freedom and we have to be clear about what it means but last but not least we have to understand what it means to be those who are living on the front line the people live on the front line the first thing you got to know is you got to be ready to live on the fire you got to be ready to live on the fire because there are people who are taking aim and there are people who are trying to undermine there are people who are not our friends who are about the business of trying to make sure that this movement does not go forward I couldn't help but appreciate Ethan's words when he said there's a way in which we have to look at those of you that it began to bring down some of the barriers and understand that we've got to figure out how to support you encourage you and stand with you because you're going to be living under fire you're living on the front line the first thing you have to second thing you have to realize is that where you are is simply at the point that there are literally tens and hundreds of thousands who in the ranks behind you who need us to continue to speak up speak out and if necessary act up until that which we need is addressed and done the third thing we have to do is we have to live in the way that for us says we will live in the light you know it's important not to allow ourselves to become in any way closet it anyway let me just tell you five minutes actually I was gonna stop in about two that's all right so I got three more minutes to work with all right but you have to get ready for this you got to be able to live in the light every day it's not easy we're talking about bringing the faith community into this arena and for us to speak the truth that needs to be and has to be spoken around this issue and I should not say bring into this gap the faith community has always been here and involved but we're talking about a massive involvement in a way that we have not seen before especially in the communities of those who are being disproportionately impacted more than others we are blessed that we've now been able to create an alliance and a relationship with the same process to the work that they're doing we're blessed in that the folks from Pico who've always been there on social justice issues have been there we need to appreciate the fact that we do have an opportunity in the next few months I'm convinced to be a part of doing something that might see for us Ethan a greater return on the promises that were made in this last electoral season when the president won his second term we need to be figuring out right now how to make sure that the midterm elections come out in a way that give the kind of reason why I have hoping that I have hoping it because we're talking about a president who spent more than the last two decades almost three decades of his life organizing people around social justice issues in the south side of Chicago now we got to figure out how we bring that energy to bear with the presence in the White House and when that happens we're going to all know that we did the right thing in terms of our support and in terms of but that's only going to happen when we continue to be the ones who push the issues stand up speak up and necessary act up and the last thing I want to tell you is that you got to learn what it means to just keep the faith now for some of y'all that instantly takes you to a place of difficulty because some of y'all have been alienated from the institutions that you think of as being identified with faith but why don't suggest to you is that it's bigger than any religion in and of itself it has to do with something that's inherent in us all and that's the ability to believe in what you've heard me say now for the fourth time the infinite possibilities of life that's the only way you can believe in every person being a person that has worth it's the only way you can believe and what I'm saying to you today is that you have to keep the faith because you see when you're on the front line and when you're under fire you've got to be able to know that there is a power greater than you that there is something that is a part and akin to the truth that we've been trying to deliver through this movement for a number of years now and we have to be the ones who will stand in it stand for it and not let it go we have to be the ones who are the champions of the disenfranchised the marginalized the left out the forgotten the put down the held down the kept down the misused the abused we're the ones that have to be there every time a voice needs to be heard on behalf of those who are struggling every day to overcome the ways in which the ravages and the powers of this drug war have served to undermine the lives of so many it happens when people like you and me and all of us stand up stand up stand up stand up and speak up in the face of what might be a horror that's unfolding we're the ones that know in spite of everything it's what it's gonna be all right it's gonna be all right because we are the ones that are gonna stand up it's gonna be all right because we're the ones that are gonna speak up it's gonna be all right because we're the ones that won't turn back who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it come we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it come one more loud time we who believe in freedom cannot rest cannot rest we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes God bless you


Assalamu Alaikum, I am Dua Magzumi and I am here to show you how the Quran can improve your life. Allah has revealed the Quran in the holy month of Ramadan. Now how do we deal with stress in the holy month of Ramadan? Do you find it difficult to adapt to the holy month of Ramadan? Does it spiritually help dealing with stress in the month of Ramadan? What different spiritual acts can you perform in the month of Ramadan to help deal with stress? Well, leaving stress in the month of Ramadan is very important. The holy month of Ramadan itself can change your daily system which can be a source of stress and anxiety. But it's very important to be relaxed and to keep everything behind you. All the stressful issues that you're going through with reciting the holy Quran. I myself, when I get depressed and feel stressed out, I read the Quran because Imam Alaikum said learn from the holy Quran because it is the best part of learning. Pay attention towards its verses because they are like the spring that revives the heart and read the Quran because it's a healing for your heart. So what can you do better when you're stressed out other than reciting the Quran? If you're going through this depression, it's a healing for your heart. If you are stressed out, it's a spring that revives the heart. On the other hand, there are specific du'as that can help with stress and they are available in the section of Ramadan, of the month of Ramadan. There are supplications for the month of Ramadan that are in the month of Ramadan. They help relieve stress. For example, one of the du'as begins with Oh Allah, I pray to you a sorrow that no one will release but you. And a mercy that does not come by anyone but you. And a distress that will never get solved without you. And a need which I will not accomplish without your help. So supplicating in the month of Ramadan, raise your hands up to Allah and ask Him from what you need because Allah gives His servants with mercy. He answers them if they supplicate, responds if they grant, if they ask, he accepts if they entreat. Certainly, after reading those supplications, you are definitely left with no stress at all. Ramadan Mubarak wa taqabbal Allah wa amalakum.


Hi, and welcome to Sitrep, army news that affects you. You may have heard a lot about the new blended retirement system. With the December 31st deadline approaching, it is imperative that you make a final decision on what is best for you. Why is making a decision so important? The traditional retirement plan that is currently in place benefits those who serve 20 years. The blended retirement system was created to ensure that those who serve at least two years but may not necessarily serve 20 years are not left without. In the past, less than 20 percent of those who joined the military received a government retirement benefit after they left service. Those who joined before January 1st, 2018 and have less than 12 years in the service have the option of remaining in the current legacy retirement plan or opting into the blended retirement plan. If you are grandfathered into the current legacy plan and do not opt in by December 31st, you will remain in the legacy retirement plan. Something else to keep in mind is that once you opt in, you cannot change your retirement plan. This is a huge decision, but you don't have to make it uninformed. While you have the time, take advantage of all the information and resources you have readily available to you. For more information or for help in making your decision, you can visit militarypay.defense.gov forward slash blended retirement for helpful tools. If you have questions or topics for SITREP, let us know on Facebook or Twitter. Sergeant Cadet, out.