It was not until B.C.20, when Octavian (now become Augustus) visited the East, and war seemed the probable alternative if he continued obstinate, that the Parthian monarch brought himself to relinquish the trophies which were as much prized by the victors as the vanquished.

In extenuation of his act we must remember that he was unpopular with his subjects, and that Augustus could at any moment have produced a pretender, who had once occupied, and with Roman help might easily have mounted for a second time, the throne of the Arsacidse.
The remaining years of Phraates--and he reigned for nearly twenty years after restoring the standards--are almost unbroken by any event of importance.

The result of the twenty years' struggle between Rome and Parthia had been to impress either nation with a wholesome dread of the other.

Both had triumphed on their own ground; both had failed when they ventured on sending expeditions into the enemy's territory.

Each now stood on its guard, watching the movements of its adversary across the Euphrates.