Note 119 — Chapter IX · THE EUPHRATES FRONTIER AND THE PARTHIANS. (continued 3)

This is stated clearly by Mamertinus (Paneg. ii. 7, comp. ii. 10, iii. 6) in the oration held in 289: Syriam velut amplexu suo tegebat Euphrates antequam Diocletiano sponte (that is, without Diocletian needing to have recourse to arms, as is then further set forth) se dederent regna Persarum; and further by another panegyrist of the year 296 (Paneg. v. 3): Partho ultra Tigrim reducto. Turns like that in Victor, Caes. xxxix. 33, that Galerius relictis finibus had marched to Mesopotamia, or that Narseh, according to Rufius Festus, c. 25, ceded Mesopotamia in peace, cannot on the other hand be urged; and as little, that Oriental authorities place the Roman occupation of Nisibis in 609 Sel. = 297/8 A.D. (Nöldeke, Tabarî, p. 50). If this were correct, the exact account as to the negotiations for peace of 297 in Petrus Patricius, fr, 14, could not possibly be silent as to the cession of Mesopotamia and merely make mention of the regulation of the frontier-traffic.