Vardanes, before committing himself by any overt act, appears to have taken this prince into his counsels, and to have requested his opinion on affronting the Romans by an interference with Armenian affairs.

Izates strenuously opposed the project.

He had a personal interest in the matter, since he had sent five of his boys to Rome, to receive there a polite education, and he had also a profound respect for the Roman power and military system.

He endeavored, both by persuasion and reasoning, to induce Vardanes to abandon his design.

His arguments may have been cogent, but they were not thought by Vardanes to have much force, and the result of the conference was that the Great King declared war against his feudatory.
The war had, apparently, but just begun, when fresh troubles broke out in the north-east.