Page:Political History of Parthia.pdf/81

Rh by Phraates to Syria in a silver casket. The daughter of Demetrius proved so charming to the Parthian king that he took her into his harem, and Seleucus was treated in a fashion befitting royalty. Thus the last serious attempt by a Seleucid monarch to regain the lost eastern provinces ended in complete failure. Incompetent kings and internal struggles rendered farther Parthian advance relatively easy.

Now that victory was his, Phraates regretted the release of Demetrius and ordered a body of cavalry to recapture him. Once free, however, Demetrius had sought his own country immediately, and the Parthian troops returned empty-handed.

Encouraged by his success against Antiochus, Phraates determined to invade Syria and entered Babylonia; but he was forced to abandon the whole plan by a Saca invasion in the east. Before leaving Mesopotamia to repel the invaders, he appointed his favorite, Himerus, a Hyrcanian, as governor.

The Saca mercenaries hired for the war against Antiochus were probably an advance group of this eastern horde whom Phraates attempted to quiet for a time by a subsidy. If the failure of the sources to mention the presence of Phraates in Babylonia to meet the attack of Antiochus in person is an indication that he was engaged elsewhere we may have additional