The results of the campaign which followed (A.D. 62) scarcely answered to this magnificent opening.  Monseses indeed, in conjunction with Monobazus, invaded Armenia, and, advancing to Tigranocerta, besieged Tigranes in that city, which, upon the destruction of Artaxata by Corbulo, had become the seat of government.  Volagases himself proceeded as far as Nisibis, whence he could threaten at the same time Armenia and Syria.  The Parthian arms proved, however, powerless to effect any serious impression upon Tigranocerta; and Volagases, being met at Nisibis by envoys from Corbulo, who threatened an invasion of Parthia in retaliation of the Parthian attack upon Armenia, consented to an arrangement.  A plague of locusts had spread itself over Upper Mesopotamia, and the consequent scarcity of forage completely paralyzed a force which consisted almost entirely of cavalry.  Volagases was glad under the circumstances to delay the conflict which had seemed impending, and readily agreed that his troops should suspend the siege of Tigranocerta and withdraw from Armenia on condition that the Roman should at the same time evacuate the province.  He would send, he said, ambassadors to Rome who should arrange with Nero the footing upon which Armenia was to be placed.  Meanwhile, until the embassy returned, there should be peace—­the Armenians should be left to themselves—­neither Rome nor Parthia should maintain a soldier within the limits of the province, and any collision between the armies of the two countries should be avoided.

A pause, apparently of some months’ duration, followed.  Towards the close of autumn, however, a new general came upon the scene; and a new factor was introduced into the political and military combinations of the period.  L. Caesennius Paetus, a favorite of the Roman Emperor, but a man of no capacity, was appointed by Nero to take the main direction of affairs in Armenia, while Corbulo confined himself to the care of Syria, his special province.  Corbulo had requested a coadjutor, probably not so much from an opinion that the war would be better conducted by two commanders than by one, as from fear of provoking the jealousy of Nero, if he continued any longer to administer the whole of the East.  On the arrival of Paetus, who brought one legion with him, an equitable division of the Roman forces was made between the generals.  Each had three legions; and while Corbulo retained the Syrian auxiliaries, those of Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia were attached to the army of Paetus.  But no friendly feeling united the leaders.  Corbulo was jealous of the rival whom he knew to have been sent out as a check upon him rather than as a help; and Paetus was inclined to despise the slow and temporizing policy of the elder chief.  The war, according to his views, required to be carried on with more dash and vigor than had hitherto appeared in its conduct—­cities should be stormed, he said—­the whole country plundered—­severe examples made of the guilty.  The object of the war also should be changed—­instead of setting up shadowy kings, his own aim would be to reduce Armenia into the form of a province.