Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/166

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��HISTORY OF ARMENIA*

��l>ariu8» irritated beyond measure at these a.d.6i. successes of the Romans, ordered his general Manech to set forward with the Persian cavaky to ndvade Upper Armenia^ and to solicit aid from the Assyrians in his expedition>. Manech*s£r9t enterprise was directed against the city of Aparan, where Tigranes the Little was holding his court, to which he laid siege. News of this inyasion being dispatched to Rome, Nero sent a body of troops to Tigranes, headed by Betus> an eminent and warlike character, to maintain him m the possession of his kingdom. Betus attacked and took several fortresses, with such rapidity, that he threw the whole country into a etate of consternation. Darius, on this being made a.d.«8. known to him, hastened into Armenia, and being joined by great numbers of the population, attacked and defeated Betus in every place where he encountered him. Several Roman standards were captured, and Betus was obliged to withdraw his forces into impregnable forts, to save them from utter destruction. He then sent to Corbulo for assistance, and the more strongly to express the imminent danger in which he was, he says in his letter, " Hasten hither to preserve the Roman eagles, otherwise they fall into the hands of the Barbarians !^ Immediately after this account reached Gorbulo he marched into Armenia, accompanied by one-

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