that the Parthian vassal state of Mesene was by this time more or less independent, which is not surprising in view of the weak central government.[1]
Vonones bribed his guards the next year, a.d. 19, and in the course of a hunt attempted to escape. Halted at the banks of the Pyramus River (Jeihan, Turkish Ceyhan Nehri) by the destruction of a bridge which had been torn up to prevent his escape, he was arrested by Vibius Fronto, prefect of the cavalry. Shortly afterward Vonones was assassinated by Remmius, under whose charge he had been placed in Pompeiopolis. Probably Remmius had been implicated in the escape and feared the revelations which might be made after its failure.[2]
In the same year that Vonones was murdered, Germanicus died, and for the next decade the East remained at peace. Thus between the years 19 and 32 only one governor was sent out to Syria, and even he probably served but a short term. Tiberius was later reproached for thus inviting trouble on the Armenian frontier by leaving that office vacant.[3]
Artabanus at once set about consolidating his position. Josephus[4] tells us at length a story of two Jewish brothers, Anilaeus and Asinaeus, who lived in
