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188 were placed at the command of Paetus, while the III Gallica, the VI Ferrata, and the X Fretensis were allotted to Corbulo. The troops were apparently paid in silver which had been specially struck at Caesarea in Cappadocia. Corbulo took up a position on the Euphrates, where he effectively discouraged any Parthian advance in that direction.

The ambassadors whom Vologases had dispatched to Rome returned, unsuccessful, and the Parthians prepared to resume hostilities. Paetus at once assumed the offensive. Planning to take Tigranocerta, he crossed the Euphrates, probably near Melitene (Malatya), with his two legions, the IV Scythica un­ der Funisulanus Vettonianus and the XII Fulminata under Calavius Sabinus. The V Macedonica was left in Pontus for the winter. After he had reduced some of the nearer fortresses, Paetus was forced by the approach of cold weather into winter quarters at Rhandeia on the Arsanias River, a tributary of the Euphrates. Now that the Romans had made the first move in the contest, Vologases took the field in ear-