Note 35 — Chapter IX · THE EUPHRATES FRONTIER AND THE PARTHIANS. (continued 2)

This is said by Tacitus himself, Ann. xv. 10: nec a Corbulone properatum, quo gliscentibus periculis etiam subsidii laus augeretur, in naive unconcern at the severe censure which this praise involves. How partial is the tone of the whole account resting on Corbulo’s despatches, is shown among other things by the circumstance that Paetus is reproached in one breath with the inadequate provisioning of the camp (xv. 8) and with the surrender of it in spite of copious supplies (xv. 16), and the latter fact is inferred from this, that the retiring Romans preferred to destroy the stores which, according to the capitulation, were to be delivered to the Parthians. As the exasperation against Tiberius found its expression in the painting of Germanicus in fine colours, so did the exasperation against Nero in the picture of Corbulo.