Tiberius received the standards from the Parthians in 734. Cf. Dio, LIV, 8, etc.; Suet. Tib. 9. Eckhel, VI, 95, shows a coin with a Parthian on bended knee presenting a standard to Augustus. Cf. also Horace, Epis., I, 12, 27; Oros., VI, 21, 29; and c. 32 of the inscription.
There were two temples of Mars Ultor, a smaller one on the Capitoline, and a larger in the forum, dedicated in 752. The standards were removed to the larger temple. Cf. Dio, LV, 10; Horace, Carm., IV, 5, 16; Epis., I, 18, 56; Propertius, III, 10, 3; Ovid, Trist. II, 295; Fasti, V, 549; VI, 459.
[137] Augustus himself had fought the Pannonians in 719, 720. Cf. Dio, XLIX, 36-38. The campaigns of Tiberius were from 742 to 745. Cf. Vell. II, 96; Dio, LIV, 31, 34; LV, 2; Suet. Tib., 9.
[138] This statement varies somewhat from Dio, L, 24, who says Augustus reached the Danube in 720, and from Suetonius, Tib. 16, who assigns the complete subjection of the district to 759.
[139] The Dacians had become organized and strong in the latter years of the Roman republic. Cf. Justin. XXXII, 3; Jordanis, Get., XI, 67; Strabo, XVI, 2, 39; VII, 3, 5; 11; Suet. Aug., 44. Julius Cæsar was about to proceed against them when he died. Cf. Suet. Jul., 44; Aug., 8; App. B. C., II, 110; III, 25, 37; Illyr., 13; Vell., II. 59; Livy, Epit., CXVII. In 719 Augustus began his Illyrican campaign by occupying Segesta on the Save, whence he threatened the Dacians and Bastarnæ. Cf. App. Illyr., 22, 23. Antony is responsible for the statement that Augustus sought to secure the goodwill of Cotiso, king of the Getæ (Dacians), by giving him his daughter and by himself marrying a daughter of Cotiso. Cf. Suetonius, Aug., 63. Cotiso refused the alliance and joined the party of Antony. Cf. Dio, L, 6; LI, 22. Antony’s story as to the proposed marriages is hardly credible, and may have been invented by him to offset his own alliance with Cleopatra. During the struggle between Antony and Octavian, an invasion of the Dacians was the constant dread of Italy. Cf. Vergil, Georg., II, 497; Hor. Sat., II, 6, 53; Carm., III, 6, 13. When Antony was overthrown M. Crassus undertook the suppression of the Dacians, and triumphed, July 4, 727. Cf. Dio, LI, 23; Tab. Triumph. But Dacian incursions were still frequent. Dio records one in 738, cf. LIV, 20; and one in 744, cf. LIV, 36. Probably it was in this latter incursion that the defeat here alluded to was met by them. Finally an army was sent against them under Lentulus, in 759. Cf. Dio, LV, 30; Strabo, VII, 12 and 13; Suet. Aug., 21; Florus, IV, 12, 19, 20; Tac. Ann., IV, 44.
[140] Cf. Suet. Aug., 21; Flor. IV, 12, 62; Oros., VI, 21, 19, says that deputies of Indians and Scythians came to Augustus at Tarracona in 728 or 729; Dio, LIV, 9, that deputies from India came to him at Samos in 734. Strabo gives the name of the Indian king as Porus. Cf. XV., 1, 4 and 73. Cf. also Ver. Georg., II, 170; Aen., VI, 794; VIII, 705; Hor. Carm., I, 12, 56; Carm. Saec., 55, 56; Carm., IV, 14, 41.
[141] For a general statement, cf. Suetonius, Aug. 21. For the Scythians, cf. Note 140, above. For the Bastarnæ, cf. Livy, Ep. CXXXIV; Dio, LI, 23, 24. For the Sarmatæ, cf. Flor. l. c.; Strabo, II, 5, 30; Tac. Ann., VI, 33; Pliny, Hist. Nat., II, 108, 246; VI, 7, 19; VI, 5, 16; VI, 13, 40. Vergil refers to them as Gelones. Cf. Aen., VIII, 725. Cf. also Hor. Carm., II, 9; III, 8, 23. For the Albani and Iberi, cf. Dio, XLIX, 24. For the Medes, cf. c. 27 and notes.
[142] For Phraates and Tiridates, cf. Justin, XLII, 5; Dio, LI, 18. Tiridates had supplanted Phraates and in turn was driven out by him. He then, in 724, came to Augustus for aid. But the latter was anxious to regain the lost standards from Parthia, and simply played off Tiridates against Phraates by setting him over Syria. Dio, in the passage cited, makes mention of a son of Phraates who was captured by Tiridates and given up to Augustus. This was possibly the Phraates here mentioned, though there are difficulties in the way of this explanation. For Augustus implies the voluntary coming of a reigning king, not the delivery of an abducted prince. We know that in 731 Tiridates was in Rome asking that Parthia be assigned to him, and that at the same time Phraates sent an embassy begging the restitution of his son. Cf. Dio, LIII, 33. Augustus laid the matter before the senate, and by their advice restored the prince in exchange for the standards, but did not yield to the plea of Tiridates.
[143] Cf. c. 27.
[144] A people east of the Tigris, and west of Media Atropatane. Nothing is known of Artaxares. For the Adiabeni and their kingdom, cf. Strabo, XVI, 1, 19; Tac. Ann., XII, 13; Josephus, Ant., XX, 2, 1.