He doubtless knew that Artavasdes of Armenia had offended the Roman leader by deserting him in the hour of his greatest peril, and felt that, if Antony was intending to revenge himself on the traitor, he would be glad to have a friend on the Armenian border.

He therefore sent an ambassador of rank to Alexandria, where Antony was passing the winter, and boldly proposed the alliance.

Antony readily accepted it; he was intensely angered by the conduct of the Armenian monarch, and determined on punishing his defection; he viewed the Median alliance as of the utmost importance in connection with the design, which he still entertained, of invading Parthia itself; and he saw in the powerful descendant of Atropates a prince whom it would be well worth his while to bind to his cause indissolubly.

He therefore embraced the overtures made to him with joy, and even rewarded the messenger who had brought them with a principality.

After sundry efforts to entice Artavasdes into his power, which occupied him during most of B.C.85, in the spring of B.C.34 he suddenly appeared in Armenia.