the name of an ancient kingdom of Asia, originally a part of Cappadocia; bounded on the east by Colchis, on the west by the river Halys, on the north by the Euxine Sea, and on the south by Armenia Minor. Some derive the name of Pontus from the etymology of neighbouring sea, commonly called by the Latins Pontus of the Euxinus; others from an ancient king named Pontus, who imparted his name both to the country and the sea; but Bochart deduces it from the Phoenician word botno, signifying a fibred, as if that nut abounded remarkably in this place. But this derivation seems to be very far fetched; and the common opinion that the country derived its name from the sea, seems by far the most probable. The kingdom was divided into three parts; the first, named Pontus Galaticus, extending from the river Halys to the Thermodon; the second, named Pontus Polemoniacus, extended from the Thermodon to the borders of Pontus Cappadocius; and this last extended from Pontus Polemoniacus to Colchis, having Armenia Minor and the upper stream of the Euphrates for its southern boundary.

It is commonly believed, that the first inhabitants of Pontus were descended from Tubal; but in process of time mixed with Cappadocians, Paphlagonians, and other foreign nations, besides many Greek colonies which settled in those parts, and maintained their liberty till the time of Mithridates the Great and Pharnaces. The first king of this country whom we find mentioned in history is Artabazes, who had the crown bestowed on him by Darius (a) Hytaphes. The next was Rhodobates, who reigned in the time of Darius Nothus. After him came Mithridates, who, refusing to pay the usual tribute to the Persians, was defeated by Artaxerxes Mnemon; but a peace was soon after concluded by the mediation of Tissaphernes. Besides this, we hear nothing of him farther than that he was treacherously taken prisoner by Clearchus afterwards tyrant of Heraclea, and obliged to pay a large sum for his ransom.

Mithridates I. was succeeded by Ariobarzanes, who being appointed by Artaxerxes governor of Lydia, dates I. Ionia, and Phrygia, employed the forces that were under his care in the extending of his own dominions, and subduing those of his natural prince. The king of Persia sent one Autophrodates against him; but Ariobarzanes, having with great promises prevailed on Agesilaus and Timotheus the Athenian to come to his assistance, obliged Autophrodates to retire. He then rewarded Agesilaus with a great sum of money, and bestowed on Timotheus the cities of Selos and Abydos, which he had lately taken from the Persians. He used his utmost endeavours to reconcile the Lacedemonians and Thebans; but not being able to bring the latter

(a) This country, together with the adjacent provinces, was in different periods under the dominion of the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians; the last of whom divided Cappadocia into satrapies or governments, and bestowed that division which was afterwards called Pontus on one of the ancestors of Mithridates. This regulation was effected in the reign of Darius the son of Hytaphes, and has been regarded as the date of the kingdom. to any reasonable terms, he afflicted the Lacedemonians with vast sums of money. The Athenians showed so much respect for this prince, that they not only made him free of their city, but granted both him and his children whatever they asked of them. He was murdered in the 28th year of his reign by one Mithridates, whom authors suppose to have been his son. This happened at the time that Alexander the Great invaded Asia, so that Pontus for a time fell under the power of the Macedonians.

In the reign of Antigonus, Mithridates the son of Ariobarzanes shook off the Macedonian yoke; the particulars of which event are related as follow. Antigonus having dreamed that he had a field in which gold grew after the manner of corn, and that Mithridates cut it down and carried it into Pontus, began to be very jealous of him, and ordered him to be put to death privately. But Mithridates, having got notice of the king's intention, withdrew into Paphlagonia, attended only by six horsemen. Here, being joined by many others, he possessed himself of Cimiatum, a strong hold situated near mount Olgafys; from whence, as his army continually increased, he made an irruption into Cappadocia; and having driven the commanders of Antigonus from that part which borders upon Pontus, he entered his paternal kingdom, which, in spite of the utmost efforts of Antigonus, he held for the space of 26 years, and transmitted to his posterity.

Under the reigns of Mithridates III., Ariobarzanes II., and Mithridates IV., the immediate successors of Mithridates II., nothing remarkable happened. But Mithridates V. made war on the inhabitants of Sinope, a city on the coast of Paphlagonia. He made himself master of all the adjacent places; but finding the whole peninsula, on which Sinope itself stood, well fortified and garrisoned, not only by the inhabitants, but by their allies the Rhodians, he abandoned the enterprise. He afterwards proved a great friend to the Rhodians, and assisted them with money to repair the losses they had sustained by an earthquake. He entered also into a strict alliance with Antiochus the Great, who married one of his daughters named Laodice.

After the death of Mithridates V., his son Pharnaces I., differs with attacking the city of Sinope, unexpectedly took it by storm. On this the Rhodians sent ambassadors to Rome, complaining of the behaviour of the king of Pontus; but Pharnaces was so far from being intimidated by their threats, that he invaded the territories of Eumenes their great ally. The latter sent ambassadors to Rome, and entered into an alliance with Ariarathes king of Cappadocia. Pharnaces, in his turn, sent ambassadors to Rome, complaining of Eumenes and Ariarathes; upon which some Romans were sent into Asia to inquire into the state of matters. There found Eumenes and his associates willing to accommodate the difference, but Pharnaces in a quite opposite disposition, which they accordingly reported at Rome.

In the mean time a war was commenced between Eumenes and Pharnaces; but the latter, being disappointed of assistance from Seleucus king of Syria, whom the Romans would not allow to join him, was at last forced to sue for peace; which was granted him upon the following conditions: That he should forthwith withdraw his forces from Galatia, and disannul all engagements and alliances with the inhabitants of that country; that he should in like manner evacuate Paphlagonia, and send back such as he had from thence carried into slavery; that he should restore to Ariarathes all the places which he had taken during the war, the hostages of both kings, all their prisoners without ransom, and moreover should deliver up to them such of their subjects as from the first breaking out of the war had fled to him; that he should return to Morzias, a petty king in these parts, and to Ariarathes, 900 talents which he had seized in the war, and pay down 300 more to Eumenes as a fine for invading his dominions without provocation. Mithridates, king of Armenia, having in this war joined Pharnaces, was, by the articles of the treaty, obliged to pay 300 talents to Ariarathes for having afflicting his enemy contrary to an alliance at that time subsisting between them. Soon after Pharnaces died, and left the kingdom to his son Mithridates VI., more weakened by this peace than by the most destructive war.

The new king entered into an alliance with the Romans, and proved such a faithful friend, that he was rewarded by the senate with Phrygia Major, and honoured with the title of the friend and ally of the people of Rome. After a long and prosperous reign, he was murdered by some of his intimate acquaintance, and was succeeded by his son Mithridates VII., surnamed the Great.

The new prince, though not exceeding 13 years of Mithridates' age, began his reign with most inhuman acts of cruelty to his mother and nearest relations. His father, by his cruel will, had appointed him and his mother joint heirs prince to the kingdom; but he, claiming the whole, threw her into prison, where she soon died through the hard usage she met with. Those to whom the care of his education was committed, observing him to be of a cruel and unruly temper, made various attempts on his life, but could never effect their design, as the king was always on his guard, and armed, in that tender age, against all kind of treachery, without showing the least diffidence.

In his youth Mithridates took care to inure himself to hardships, passing whole months in the open air, employed in the exercise of hunting, and often taking his rest amidst the frozen snow. When he came of age, he married his sister named Laodice, by whom he had a son named Pharnaces. After this he took a journey through many different kingdoms of Asia, having nothing less in view than the whole continent. He learned their different languages, of which he is said to have spoken 22; took an estimate of their strength; and above all viewed narrowly their strong holds and fortified towns. In this journey he spent three years; during which time, a report being spread abroad that he was dead, his wife Laodice had a criminal conversation with one of the lords of her court, and had a son by him. When her husband returned, she presented him with a poisoned bowl; but Mithridates had accustomed himself to take poison from his infancy, so that it had now no other effect than to hasten the destruction of his wife, which very soon took place, together with all those who had been any way accessory to her disloyalty and incontinence.

The king now began to put in execution his schemes of conquest. However, he certainly took the wrong method by attacking first those nations which were immediately... mediately under the protection of Rome, and thus at once provoking that powerful people to fall upon him. He began with Paphlagonia, which the Romans had declared a free state. This country he easily reduced, and divided between himself and Nicomedes king of Bithynia, at that time his ally. The Romans remonstrated; but Mithridates, instead of paying any regard to their remonstrances, invaded Galatia, which was immediately under their protection. This he also reduced, and then turned his eyes on Cappadocia. But as the kingdom of Cappadocia was at that time held by Ariarathes, who was a great favourite of the Romans, and married to the sister of Mithridates, the latter hired an assassin to dispatch Ariarathes, after which he thought he might succeed better in his designs. After the death of Ariarathes, Cappadocia was invaded by Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, who drove out the son, and married the widow of Ariarathes. This gave Mithridates a plausible pretence for invading Cappadocia; which he instantly did, and drove Nicomedes quite out of the country. Thus Mithridates gained considerable reputation, not only as a warrior, but as a just and good-natured prince; for it was not known that he had any hand in the murder of Ariarathes, every one imagined that he had undertaken the war against Nicomedes, merely to revenge the quarrel of his nephew, and to restore him to his right. To keep up the farce a little longer, Mithridates actually withdrew his troops out of the country, and left the young prince master of the kingdom. In a short time, however, he began to press the young king of Cappadocia to recall the assassin Gordius, who had murdered his father; but this the king of Cappadocia refused with indignation; and Mithridates, being determined on a quarrel at all events, took the field with an army of 80,000 foot, 10,000 horse, and 600 chariots armed with spears. With this force he imagined he should carry all before him; but finding the king of Cappadocia ready to oppose him with a force no way inferior to his own, he had recourse to treachery; and inviting his nephew to a conference, he invited him, in the sight of both armies, with a dagger which he had concealed in the plait of his garment. This barbarous and unexpected piece of treachery had such an effect on the Cappadocians that they threw down their arms, and suffered Mithridates, without opposition, to seize upon all their strong holds. He resigned the kingdom, however, to his son, a child of eight years of age. The care of the young prince, and of the whole kingdom, he committed to Gordius; but the Cappadocians, disdaining to be ruled by such a scoundrel as Gordius, placed on the throne the brother of Ariarathes, who had kept himself concealed in some part of Asia. His reign, however, was of short duration; he being soon after driven out by Mithridates, and the Cappadocians again reduced. The unhappy prince died of grief; and in him ended the family of Pharnaces, who had ruled Cappadocia from the time of Cyrus the Great.

Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, being now greatly afraid of Mithridates, and supposing that his own dominions would next fall a prey to the ambitious conqueror, suborned a youth of a comely and majestic aspect to pretend that he was a third son of Ariarathes, to go to Rome, and demand the kingdom of Cappadocia as his just right. He was received by the senate with the greatest kindness, and Laodice the wife of Nicomedes even confirmed the deceit by her oath. But in the meantime Mithridates having got intelligence of the deceit, sent notice of it by Gordius to the Romans, so exposed by that the imposture was soon known at Rome also. The consequence of this was, that the senate commanded Mithridates to relinquish Cappadocia, and Nicomedes that part of Paphlagonia which he possessed; declaring both these countries free. The Cappadocians protested that they could not live without a king; upon which they were allowed to choose one of their own nation. Mithridates used all his interest in favour of Gordius; but he being excluded by the Romans, one Ariobarzanes was chosen by the majority of votes.

To enforce this election, Sylla was sent into Cappadocia. He had the character of an ambassador, but the real intent of his coming was to disappoind the ambitious designs of Mithridates. With a handful of forces he defeated a numerous army of Cappadocians and Armenians commanded by Gordius, and settled Ariobarzanes on the throne. But no sooner was Sylla gone than Mithridates stirred up Tigranes king of Armenia against Ariobarzanes, who, without making any resistance, fled to Rome, and Tigranes restored the kingdom to Ariarathes the son of Mithridates. At the same time died the king of Bithynia; upon which Mithridates immediately invaded that country, and drove out Nicomedes the natural son of the late king. But the expelled prince, having fled to Rome, and being assisted by that powerful republic, the king of Pontus was soon obliged to abandon Bithynia and Cappadocia.

The Romans now being exceedingly jealous of the power and ambition of Mithridates, resolved to humble him at all events. For this purpose they sent ambassadors to the kings of Bithynia and Cappadocia, demanding them to make frequent incursions into the neighbouring territories of Mithridates, and behave there as they pleased; affording them of powerful assistance in case they should have occasion. Ariobarzanes could not by any means be induced to provoke so powerful a neighbour; but Nicomedes being induced, partly by promises and partly by menaces, to comply, entered Pontus, where he laid waste whole provinces with fire and sword. Mithridates complained to the Roman legates; but they replied, that he himself had been the first aggressor; that Nicomedes had only paid him in his own coin, and that they would not allow him to hurt their friend and ally. Upon this Mithridates, entering Cappadocia with a numerous army, put to flight the united forces of Ariobarzanes and Attinius the Roman legate; thus making himself once more master of this kingdom. In the mean time he sent ambassadors to Rome, complaining of the proceedings of Nicomedes; but his ambassadors met with a very indifferent reception; being enjoined to tell their matter, that he must either restore the kingdom of Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, and make peace with Nicomedes, or be accounted an enemy of the Roman people. With this answer they were commanded to depart the city that very day, and told that no more ambassadors could be admitted till such time as their commands were obeyed.

In the mean time both parties prepared for war. The Roman legates in Asia drew together all the forces they could muster in Bithynia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Galatia; and, being joined by Caecilius governor of Asia, took the field against Mithridates in the year 89 B.C. They divided their army into several small bodies: Caius encamped on the confines of Bithynia and Galatia; Manius Aquilius with his body possessed himself of the avenues leading from Pontus into Bithynia; Quintus Oppius secured the entrance into Cappadocia; and the admirals Minucius Rufus and C. Popilius lay with a fleet of 300 sail at Byzantium, to prevent the enemy from entering the Euxine sea. Each of the generals had under his command an army of 45,000 men; besides a body of 50,000 foot and 6000 horse brought to their alliance by Nicomedes.

On the other hand, Mithridates having invited several of the neighbouring nations to join him, collected an army of 250,000 foot, 50,000 horse, 130 chariots armed with lances; besides 300 ships and 100 galleys. Part of this force he detached against Nicomedes; and utterly defeated him, though much superior in number, as he was taking possession of an advantageous post by order of Caius. Another part he detached against Manius Aquilius, whom he also defeated with the loss of 10,000 killed on the spot, and 3000 taken prisoners; on which the other Roman generals abandoned their posts, the fleet also dispersed, and most of the ships were either taken or sunk by the admirals of Mithridates.

The king of Pontus now resolving to improve the opportunity, and drive the Romans entirely out of Asia, overran all Phrygia, Myria, Asia Proper, Caria, Lycia, Pamphylia, Paphlagonia, and Bithynia, with all the rest of the countries which had either belonged to or sided with the Romans, as far as Ionia. He was received everywhere with the greatest demonstrations of joy; the inhabitants flocking to him in white garments, and calling him their father, deliverer, their god, and the great and sole lord of all Asia. What gained him the affections of the people was his kind usage to the prisoners he had taken in the two engagements above-mentioned; for he not only sent them all home without ransom, but furnished them with plenty of provisions, and money sufficient to defray their expenses by the way. Ambassadors flocked to him from all parts; and among others, from Laodicea on the Lycus, to whom the king promised his protection, provided they delivered up to him Q. Oppius governor of Pamphylia, who had fled thither for protection. This request was readily complied with; Oppius was sent to him in chains, with lictors walking before him in derision of the Roman pride and ostentation. Mithridates was overjoyed to see a Roman general and proconsul in his power; and his joy was soon after increased by the arrival of Manius Aquilius, whom the Lycians, revolting from the Romans, sent to him in fetters, together with many other Romans of distinction who had taken shelter among them. As he had been the chief author of the war, Mithridates led him about with him wherever he went, either bound on an ass, or on foot coupled with one Baitarnes a public malefactor, compelling him to proclaim to the crowds who came to see him, that he was Manius Aquilius the Roman legate. When he came to Pergamus, he caused him first to be publicly whipped, then to be put on the rack, and lastly melted gold to be poured down his throat.

Mithridates being now looked upon as invincible, all the free cities of Asia received him as their sovereign, contributing large sums towards the defraying the expenses of the war; by which means he became possessed of such treasures as enabled him to keep several numerous armies in the field for five years without levying any taxes on his subjects. As many Roman citizens were dispersed in the provinces which Mithridates had subjugated, he considered these as so many spies who would not fail to send an account of his proceedings to Rome; for which reason he resolved to cut them all off at once cruelly by a general massacre; which barbarous policy, it is said, had never been heard of till his time, but has been since practised by other nations. He dispatched private letters to all the governors and magistrates of the cities where the Romans resided, enjoining them on pain of death, and the entire destruction of their country, to cause all the Italian race, women and children not excepted, to be murdered on the 30th day from the date of his letters, and to let their bodies lie unburied in the open fields. One moiety of their goods was to be forfeited to the king, and the other bestowed as a reward on the assassins. Whatever slave murdered his master was to receive his liberty, and one half of the debt was to be remitted to the debtor that should kill his creditor. Whoever concealed an Italian, under any pretence whatever, was to be punished with immediate death. On the fatal day, all the gates of the cities being shut, and the avenues kept with soldiers, the king's orders were proclaimed, which caused an universal horror, not only among the unhappy victims themselves, but among those who had any feelings of humanity, at seeing themselves obliged either to betray and murder their innocent guests, friends, and relations, or to become liable to a cruel death. However, as most of the Asiatics bore a mortal hatred to the Romans, and were moreover animated by the promise of an ample reward, the orders were without delay put in execution. The inhabitants of Ephesus, where Mithridates then resided, dragged such as had taken sanctuary in the temple of Diana from the very statue of the goddess, and put them to the sword. The Pergamenians discharged showers of darts upon them as they embraced the statues in the temple of Esculapius. At Adramyttium in Mysia many were murdered in the water, while they were attempting, with their children on their backs, to swim over to the island of Lesbos. The Caunians, who not long before had been delivered from the yoke of the Rhodians, and restored to their ancient privileges, excelled all the rest in cruelty: for, as if they had apostatised from human nature, they took pleasure in tormenting and butchering the innocent children before their mothers' eyes; some of them running distracted, and others dying with grief at a sight which nature could not bear. The Trallians were the only people on the continent who would not have the cruelty to imbrue their hands in the blood of the innocent Italians. However, as the king's orders were peremptory, they hired one Theophilus a Paphlagonian to dispatch the few Romans that lived among them. He, having shut them all up together in the temple of Concord, first cut off their hands as they embraced the statues of the gods, and then hacked them in pieces. Many Romans were saved on the floating islands of Lydia called Caluminae, where they concealed themselves till such time as they found an opportunity of escaping out of Asia. Nevertheless, Mithridates having now got rid of those whom he was in dread of on the continent, embarked great part of his forces in order to reduce the islands of the Archipelago. At Cos he was gladly received, and had delivered up to him the young Alexander, son of Alexander king of Egypt, who being driven out of that country, was killed by Charaxas a sea-captain as he was retiring in a small vessel to Cyprus. With the young prince, they put into the king's hands vast sums of money, with all the golden vessels and jewels, to an immense value, which his grandmother Cleopatra had been amassing for many years. To the young prince Mithridates gave an education suitable for a king's son, but kept the treasures to himself. Here likewise he found 800 talents in ready money, which, at the first breaking out of the war, had been deposited by the Jews of Asia, and were designed for the temple of Jerusalem.

From Cos Mithridates steered his course for Rhodes, where at that time all the Romans who had escaped the massacre above-mentioned found a sanctuary, and amongst others, L. Cassius the proconsul. The Rhodians, however, being very expert in maritime affairs, Mithridates did not think proper to venture an engagement. As the enemy's fleet advanced, therefore, he retired; but five of the Rhodian ships coming up with 25 of his, a sharp action ensued, in which the Rhodians sunk two of the king's ships, and put the rest to flight. In this encounter, though Mithridates had never seen a sea-fight before, he behaved with great intrepidity; but one of the ships of his own squadron falling foul of that which carried him, he was very near being taken prisoner. From this time forth he abhorred the sea, and took an aversion to all the Chians, because the pilot of that ship was a Chian. However, he again appeared before the island; but was forced anew to leave it with disgrace, and to give over all thoughts of reducing it.

Mithridates now retired into Asia, with a design to settle the civil government of the countries which he had conquered, committing the care of the war to his generals. Archelaus, his generalissimo, was sent into Greece with an army of 120,000 men; where, by treachery, he made himself master of Athens, and either put to the sword or sent to Mithridates all those who favoured or were suspected to favour the Romans. From Athens he dispatched parties to reduce the neighbouring cities and the island of Delos, which they did accordingly; but Orobius, a Roman general, hearing that the enemy kept no guards, but passed their time in carousing and debauchery, fell upon them unexpectedly, and cut off the whole party, except Apellicon the commander.

In the mean time, Metrophanes, another of the king's generals, entering Euboea, laid waste the whole country, exerting his rage chiefly against the cities of Demetrias and Magnesia, which refused to open their gates to him. But as he was sailing off with a great booty, Brytius, the praetor or governor of Macedonia, coming up with him, sunk some of his ships, and took others, putting all the prisoners to the sword. Mithridates, upon the news of this loss, sent his son Ariarathes with a powerful army to invade Macedonia; which he soon reduced, together with the kingdom of Thrace, driving the Romans everywhere before him. The generals whom he sent into other quarters were no less successful; so that Mithridates had, according to Aulus Gellius, 25 different nations who paid him homage. The same author adds, that he was skilled in every one of their various languages, so that he could converse with the natives without an interpreter. Among these nations we find the Rhoxani, now the Ruffians or Mucovitae, whom Deiphontes, one of the king's generals, brought under subjection, after having slain in an engagement 50,000 of the barbarians.

All this time the Romans had been too much taken up with their own domestic quarrels to take such effectual measures as they otherwise would have done for checking the progress of Mithridates. But at last, having received certain advice that the king designed to invade Italy, and that he had even been solicited to do so by some of the revolted Italians, they sent against him Lucius Sylla, who had already given sufficient proofs of his courage, conduct, and experience in war. He had with him only five legions and a few cohorts. With this inconsiderable force he landed in Attica, and in a short time made himself master of the capital; Archelaus not daring, or, according to others, through treachery, not caring, to engage him. As Sylla had but a few frigates, he sent Lucullus to the island of Rhodes, with orders to the Rhodians to join him with their fleet. The undertaking was very dangerous, as the king's fleet in a manner covered the sea. However, Lucullus, despising all danger, ventured out, and failed, without meeting with any perverse accident, to Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Cyprus; from whence he returned with such supplies of ships and experienced mariners, as enabled Sylla, after their conjunction with the Rhodians, to act offensively by sea also. Archelaus now dispatched messengers to Taxiles, who commanded in Thrace and Macedon, desiring him to join him with all his forces; which the other readily did, and between both mustered an army of 120,000 men. Sylla met them near Cheronea with only 15,000 foot and 1500 horse; but gave them a most dreadful overthrow, no fewer than 110,000 of the Asiatics being slaughtered, while the Romans lost only 12 men.

This success having raised envy and jealousy against Sylla in Rome, the senate sent Lucius Valerius Flaccus, the consul of that year, with two legions into Asia, in appearance to attack Mithridates on that side, but with private instructions to fall upon Sylla himself, if they found him disaffected to the senate. As Flaccus was a man of no experience in war, C. Fimbria, a senator of great repute among the soldiery, was appointed to attend him with the character of legate and lieutenant-general. Sylla was at that time in Bocotia; but, hearing what had happened at Rome, he marched with all expedition into Thessaly, with a design to meet Flaccus, who, he expected, was to land in that province. But no sooner had he left Boeotia, than the country was overrun by an army of Asiatics, under the command of Dorylaus the king's chief favourite. On this advice Sylla returned into Boeotia, where he gained two signal victories, which put an end to the war in Greece. In the first of these Dorylaus lost 150,000 of his men, according to some, or 200,000 according to others; two other and in the next all the rest. In this last engagement victories in Greece. were driven into a river, where they all perished; an equal number were pursued into a marsh, and entirely cut off; the rest were killed in the heat of battle, the Romans giving no quarter to men who had treated their fellow-citizens after such a barbarous manner in Asia. Plutarch tells us, that the marshes were dyed with blood; that the course of the river was stopped by the dead bodies; and that even in his time, that is, near 200 years after, a great number of bows, helmets, coats of mail, and swords, were found buried in the mud. Archelaus, who had joined Dorylaus with a body of 10,000 men a few days before the battle, lay three days stripped among the slain till he found a small vessel which carried him to Euboea, where he gathered what forces he could, but was never again able to appear in the field. Indeed Livy tells us, that Archelaus betrayed the king's cause; and Aurelius Victor, that the king's fleet was intercepted by Sylla through the treachery of Archelaus: adding, that there was a good understanding between the two commanders, as was plain from Sylla's bestowing upon Archelaus 10,000 acres of land near the city of Chalcis in Euboea. Strabo also informs us, that Archelaus was afterwards greatly esteemed and cared for by Sylla and the senate; but Sylla himself in his commentaries, and Dio, endeavour to clear Archelaus from all suspicion of treachery.

In the mean time, Sylla having given up Bocotia to be plundered by his soldiers, marched into Thessaly, where he took up his winter-quarters, caulked his old ships to be refitted and several new ones built, in order to pass over into Asia in the beginning of the spring, that he might drive from thence not only Mithridates, but his rival Flaccus also, whom the senate, out of opposition to him, had appointed governor of that province. But before he arrived, some differences having arisen between Flaccus and Fimbria, the latter was by the consul deprived of his command. Upon this Fimbria, having gained over the soldiery to his side, made war on the consul, took him prisoner, put him to death, and assumed the command of all the Roman forces in Asia. In this station he behaved with the greatest cruelty, in so much that his name became more odious than even that of Mithridates itself. This hatred the king of Pontus endeavoured to improve to his own advantage; and therefore commanded his son, by name also Mithridates, to join Taxiles, Diophantus, and Menander, three of his most experienced commanders, to return at the head of a numerous army into Asia; not doubting but the inhabitants, thus harassed by Fimbria, would shake off the Roman yoke when they saw such a powerful army in the field ready to protect them. But Fimbria, distrusting the Asiatics, marched out to meet the enemy, and offered them battle before they entered the province. As the king's army was greatly superior to the Romans in number, the latter suffered greatly in the engagement, but held out till night parted them, when they withdrew to the opposite side of a river, which was at a small distance from the field of battle. Here they designed to intrench themselves; but in the mean time a violent storm arising, Fimbria laid hold of that opportunity to repulse the river and surprise the enemy; of whom he made such havoc as they lay in their tents, that only the commanders and some few troops of horse escaped. Among these was the king's son; who, attended by a few horse, got safe to Pergamus, where his father resided. But Fimbria, pursuing him night and day without intermission, entered Pergamus sword in hand; and hearing that both Mithridates and his son had fled from thence a few hours before, he continued his pursuit, and would have taken the king himself, had he not entered Pitane with a considerable body of horse. The place was closely invested by Fimbria; but as he had no ships to block it up by sea also, he sent a messenger to Lucullus, who commanded the Roman navy in Asia, intreating him, as he tendered the welfare of the republic, to make what haste he could to Pitane, and assist him in taking the most inveterate enemy the Romans had. But Lucullus, preferring the gratification of a private pique to the good of his country, refused to come; and thus allowed the fleet of Mithridates to carry him in safety to Mitylene.

Soon after the king's departure, Fimbria took Pitane by storm, and reduced most of the cities of Asia, particularly Troy, which he also took by storm in eleven days, and put most of the inhabitants to the sword, because they had sent an embassy to Sylla, offering to submit to him rather than to Fimbria.—To add to the misfortunes of Mithridates, his fleet was entirely defeated in two engagements by Lucullus; so that he began to be weary of the war, and therefore desired Archelaus to conclude a peace upon as honourable terms as he could. The king himself had afterwards also a peace concluded with Sylla, and a peace was concluded with him. 85 B.C. on the following terms, viz. That Mithridates should relinquish all his conquests, and content himself with his paternal dominions, which were confined within the limits of Pontus: that he should immediately resign Bithynia to Nicomedes, and Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, and release without ransom all the prisoners he had taken during the war: that he should pay to the Romans 2000, or as others will have it 3000, talents, and deliver up to Sylla 80 ships with all their arms and ammunition, and 500 archers; and lastly, that he should not molest such cities or persons as had during the war revolted from him and sided with the Romans.

Sylla, having thus concluded the war with great glory to himself and advantage to the republic, turned his army against Fimbria; but the latter, finding himself in no condition to oppose his rival by force, had recourse to treachery, and attempted to get Sylla murdered. The plot miscarried, and Fimbria put an end to his own life; upon which Sylla, having now an uncontrolled power in Asia, declared the Chians, Rhodians, Lycians, Magnesians, and Trojans, free, and friends of the people of Rome, by way of reward for their having sided with the Romans: but on the other cities he laid heavy fines; condemning them in one year to pay 20,000 talents, and quartering his soldiers in the houses of those who had shown disaffection to the Romans. Each private man was to receive of his landlord 16 drachmas a-day, and each officer 50; and besides, both were to be supplied with provisions, not only for themselves, but for such of their friends as they thought proper to invite. By these impositions most of the people of Asia were reduced to beggary; especially the inhabitants of Ephesus, who had above all others shown their hatred to the Romans. Sylla then, having collected immense treasure, set sail for Italy; leaving behind him Lucullus with with the character of quaestor, and Muræna with that of praetor.

The two legions which Fimbria had commanded were given to Muræna, because Sylla suspected them of an inclination to the faction of Marius, whose party he was going to crush at Rome.

Mithridates in the mean time no sooner returned into Pontus, than he set about the reduction of those nations which had revolted from him during the war. He began with the Colchi; who immediately submitted, upon condition that Mithridates would give his son for a king over them. This was complied with; but the old king had thenceforward a jealousy of his son, and therefore first imprisoned and then put him to death. Soon after this, the king having made great preparations under pretence of reducing the Bospori, a warlike nation who had revolted from him, the Romans began to be jealous. Their jealousy was further increased by Archelaus, who fled to them, and assured them that the preparations of Mithridates were not at all designed against the Bospori. On hearing this, Muræna invaded Pontus without any farther provocation. The king put him in mind of the articles of peace concluded with Sylla; but Muræna replied that he knew of no such articles; for Sylla had set nothing down in writing, but contented himself with the execution of what had been agreed upon. Having given this answer, the Roman general began to lay waste and plunder the country, without sparing even the treasuries or temples consecrated to the gods. Having put all to fire and sword on the frontiers of Pontus towards Cappadocia, he passed the river Halys, and on that side posted himself of 400 villages without opposition; for Mithridates was unwilling to commit any hostilities before the return of an ambassador whom he had sent to Rome to complain of the conduct of Muræna. At last the ambassador returned, and with him one Callidius; who, in public assembly, commanded Muræna to forbear molesting a friend and ally of the Roman people; but afterwards, calling him aside, he had a private conference with him, in which it is supposed, as he brought no decree of the senate, that he encouraged him to pursue the war. Whatever might be in this, it is certain that Muræna still continued to practise the same hostilities, and even made an attempt on Sinope, where the king resided and the royal treasuries were kept. But as the town was well fortified, he was forced to retire with some loss. In the mean time Mithridates himself taking the field, appeared at the head of a powerful army, drove the Romans out of their camp, and forced them with great slaughter to save themselves over the mountains into Phrygia; which sudden victory again induced many cities to join Mithridates, and gave him an opportunity once more of driving the Romans out of Cappadocia.

In the mean time, Sylla, being created dictator at Rome, sent a messenger to Muræna, charging him in his name not to molest Mithridates, whom he had honoured with the title of a friend and ally of Rome. Muræna did not think proper to disregard this message; and therefore immediately abandoned all the places he had seized, and Mithridates again renounced Cappadocia, giving his own son as an hostage of his fidelity. Being then at leisure to pursue his other plans, Mithridates fell upon the Bospori; and, having soon subdued them, appointed Machares one of his sons king of the country. But leading his army from thence against the Achæans, a people bordering on the Colchi, and originally defended from the Greeks, who returning from Troy had mistaken their way into Greece and settled there, he was defeated with the loss of three-fourths of his men. On his return to Pontus, however, he recruited his army, and made vast preparations to invade them in a new anew; but in the mean time, hearing of Sylla's death, he came to the imprudent resolution of entering into a second war with the Romans. Having therefore induced his son-in-law Tigranes, king of Armenia, to invade Cappadocia, he himself entered Paphlagonia at the head of 120,000 foot disciplined after the Roman manner, 16,000 horse, and 100 chariots armed with scythes. This country readily submitted; after which the king marched into Bithynia, which also submitted without opposition; the province of Asia followed the example of the rest; for these countries being oppressed with exorbitant taxes, looked upon him as their deliverer. In entering the cities of Asia, he caused M. Marius or Varus, whom Sertorius had sent him out of Spain to discipline his troops, walk before him with the ensigns of consular dignity as if he was the chief magistrate; the king following as one of his attendants. He made several cities free; but at the same time acquainted the inhabitants, that they were indebted to Sertorius for their liberty; and thus, by the connivance of that general, many cities revolted from the Romans without knowing that they had done so. But in the mean time Julius Caesar, being at that time at Rhodes, whither he had gone to study oratory, and hearing what havoc the king's officers made in the adjacent countries, he collected what troops he could, and falling unexpectedly upon them, drove them quite out of the province of Asia.

The Roman senate, now finding a war unavoidable, Lucullus appointed Lucullus to manage it. The other consul and Cotta, having solicited an employment in this war, were sent against him with a fleet to guard the Propontis and defend Bithynia. Lucullus having raised one legion in Italy, passed over with it into Asia, where he was joined by four others, two of which, as they had served under Fimbria, proved at first very mutinous and refractory; nor were the other two much better, having been immersed in the Asiatic luxuries. The disciplining of these troops took up a considerable time, which was prejudicial to the Roman affairs; for almost all the Asiatics were ready to revolt, and Mithridates was making the greatest preparations. One of his armies was ordered to march into Cappadocia, under the command of Diophantus Matharus, in order to oppose Lucullus if he should attempt to enter Pontus on that side; another, commanded by Mithridates in person, consisted of 150,000 foot, 12,000 horse, and 100 chariots armed with scythes; a third army, commanded by Marius and Eumachus, two generals of great experience in war, was encamped in the neighbourhood of Heraclea in Pontus.

The beginning of the war proved favourable to Mithridates. Cotta being desired by Lucullus to keep his fleet within the harbour, as being inferior to that of successful Mithridates, resolved to take the first opportunity of fighting the king by land, not doubting of an easy victory. Having for this purpose collected all the forces he could, Cotta dispatched his legate, P. Rutilius, with a considerable body to observe the motions of the enemy. This commander being met by Marius and Eumachus, an engagement ensued, in which the Romans were defeated, and the greatest part of them, together with their commander, cut in pieces. The same misfortune befell several other officers of distinction sent out to oppose Mithridates; who, being elated with success, ordered his admiral to fail into the very harbour, and fire the Roman fleet. This was accordingly performed without the least opposition from Cotta; and so ships were taken, sunk, or burnt, on that occasion.

These victories having increased the rebellious disposition of the Asiatics, made Lucullus hasten his march in order to stop the progress of the enemy. But finding the king's army much more numerous than he expected, he thought proper to decline an engagement. However, several skirmishes happened, in which the Romans had always so much the advantage, that they became impatient for a general engagement. But Lucullus did not at this time choose to run so great a risk; and therefore Mithridates, seeing he could not force the Romans to a battle, decamped in the night-time, and by daybreak reached Cyzicus, a most important city, and greatly attached to the Romans. Lucullus pursued him; and, falling on his rear, killed 10,000, and took 13,000 prisoners. After this, the Roman general, by a manoeuvre, gained an important pass, which enabled him to cut off all communication between the army of Mithridates and the neighbouring country. The king, seeing himself thus in danger of famine, redoubled his efforts to gain the city; but finding that he could not batter down the walls, he resolved to undermine them. In this also he was unsuccessful; the besieged sunk countermines, and had very near taken the king himself in one of his own mines. In the mean time, winter coming on, the army of Mithridates was so distressed for want of provisions, that many died of hunger, while the survivors were forced to feed on the flesh of their dead companions. The famine was followed by a plague, which destroyed such numbers, that Mithridates was obliged to think of a retreat; and even this was become very dangerous. However, he laid hold of the opportunity when Lucullus went away to besiege a neighbouring castle, and sent off the greatest part of his cavalry in the night; ordering them not to halt till they were out of the reach of the enemy. But Lucullus having got intelligence of their march, suddenly returned, and pursued them so close, that he came up with them as they were passing a river, took 600 horse, all their beasts of burden, 15,000 men, and put the rest to the sword. On his return he fell in with Aristonicus the king's admiral, whom he took, just as he was ready to fail with a large sum of money designed to bribe the Roman army. In the mean time Mithridates, finding himself reduced to the last extremity, embarked in the night-time with the greatest part of the forces, while Marius and Eumachus, with 30,000 men, made the best of their way to Lampacus. But being closely pursued by the Romans, they were overtaken at the river Æsopus, which at that time was not fordable, by reason of its having been swollen by heavy rains. Twenty thousand were killed on the spot; nor could a single man have escaped, had not the Asiatics scattered great quantities of gold and silver in the way, that the march of the Romans might be retarded by their stopping to gather it up. Lucullus on his return entered Cyzicus amidst the acclamations of the citizens; who afterwards instituted public sports in honour of him, which they called Luculea. The city was declared free, and all the privileges, exemptions, and immunities, bestowed upon the citizens which were enjoyed by the inhabitants of Rome itself.

From Cyzicus, Lucullus marched along the coast of Bithynia till he came to Troas; where he equipped his fleet, and put to sea in quest of Marius, Alexander, and Dionysius, three of the king's generals, who had a fleet of 50 ships, with 10,000 land-forces on board. Lucullus came up with them near the island of Lemnos, took 32 of their ships, and put a great number of their land-forces to the sword. The day after the engagement the three generals were discovered in a cave where they had concealed themselves, and dragged from thence to Lucullus; who, after having severely upbraided Marius for fighting against his country, caused him to be put to death. Alexander and Dionysius were reserved for the triumph; but the latter postponed himself to avoid that disgrace. Lucullus then steered his course for Bithynia, on receiving intelligence that Mithridates had appeared with his fleet on those coasts; but the king having notice of his approach, made what haste he could to gain Pontus, and arrived at Heraclea on board a pirate named Seleucus; with whom he was obliged to trust himself, his fleet being dispersed by a violent storm, and the ship that carried him cast away.

In the mean time Mithridates was no less unfortunate by land than by sea. Triarius, one of the officers of Lucullus, reduced the cities of Apamea, Prusa, Prussias, and Nicea. From thence he marched with all expedition to Nicomedia, where the king himself was, and near which place Cotta lay encamped. But before the two armies could be joined, Mithridates escaped, first to Heraclea, which was betrayed to him, and from thence to Sinope. Nor was Lucullus himself all this time inactive. Having reduced all Paphlagonia and Bithynia, he marched through Cappadocia, and joined Cotta and Triarius at Nicomedia, with a design to invade Pontus; but hearing that Heraclea was in the hands of Mithridates, he dispatched Cotta to reduce that city. Triarius was ordered with the fleet to the Hellespont and Propontis, to intercept the king's fleet, which was daily expected from Spain with supplies from Sertorius. Lucullus himself, with the main strength of the army, purposed his march into Pontus. His army was greatly harassed, especially in the narrow passes between Cappadocia and Pontus, by flying parties of the enemy. But the greatest inconvenience was the want of provisions, as the king's troops had laid waste all the country round; insomuch that Lucullus having lost almost all his beasts of burden, was obliged to take along with the army 30,000 Galatians, each of them carrying a sack of corn on his back. At last, however, he gained the plains of Pontus; where provisions were so plentiful, that an ox was sold for a drachma, and every thing else in proportion.

The Roman general having now carried the war into the enemy's country, divided his forces, and at the same time invested a very strong town named Amisus; another called Eupatoria, built by Mithridates, and made Pontus, the place of his residence; and another, named Themiscyra, situated on the banks of the Thermodon. Eupatoria was soon taken, but Themiscyra made a vigorous resistance. The townsmen galled the Romans to such a degree, that, not daring to approach the walls openly, they contented themselves with undermining them; but in this too they met with no small difficulty; for the enemy countermined, and often engaged them, under ground, letting into the mines bears and other wild beasts, with swarms of bees, which obliged them to abandon their works. However, the town was at last obliged to surrender for want of provisions. As for Amisus, Lucullus himself sat down before it; but finding it strongly fortified and garrisoned with the flower of the king's troops, the Roman general thought proper to reduce it by famine; and on this occasion his countrymen first complained of him as protracting the war for his own advantage.

In the mean time Mithridates having recruited his shattered army, advanced to Cabira, a city not far distant from Amisus. Lucullus, leaving part of the army to continue the siege, marched at the head of the rest to oppose Mithridates. But the king having drawn his cavalry into a general engagement, defeated them with considerable loss, and drove them back to the mountains, through the passes of which Lucullus had lately marched to attack him. This check obliged the Roman general to retire to a rising ground near the city of Cabira, where the enemy could not force him to an engagement. Here provisions beginning to grow scarce, Lucullus sent out strong parties from his army into Cappadocia, the only place from whence he could have supplies. One of these parties entirely defeated Taxiles and Diophantes, two of the king's generals, who had been stationed there to prevent Lucullus from having any communication with the country. The king, upon the news of this defeat, resolved to break up his camp and retire, not questioning but that Lucullus would attack him as soon as his forces returned. This resolution he no sooner imparted to his nobles, than they began privately to send away their most valuable goods; which being found out by the folderies, they obliged the king to fly given them, that they plundered their baggage, and put into Armenia those who had the care of it to the sword. After this they betook themselves to flight, crowding out of the gates in the utmost confusion. The king hastened to stop their flight; but nobody showing him the least respect, he was carried away by the crowd, and in great danger of being trampled to death. Having with difficulty made his escape, he retired with a small retinue, first to Cabira, and then to his son-in-law Tigranes king of Armenia. Lucullus dispatched the best part of his cavalry to pursue the fugitives; while he himself, with the rest, invested the camp of Mithridates, where those remained who could not fly with the rest. The camp was easily taken; but most of the folderies made their escape, while the Romans, contrary to their general's orders, were buried in plundering. Lucullus then pursued hard after the king; who, being overtaken by a company of Galatians, caused a mule loaded with part of his treasures to be driven in among them, by which means he made his escape while they quarrelled about the booty. Mithridates, remembering in his flight, that he had left his sisters, wives, and concubines at Pharnacia, dispatched an eunuch, named Bacchus or Bacchides, with orders to put them all to death, lest they should fall into the hands of the enemy; which was accordingly done.

After the flight of Mithridates, the Romans no longer met with any opposition; the king's governors flocking from all parts to put themselves under the protection of the conqueror. Among these was the grandfather of Strabo the geographer, whom the king had disobliged by putting to death his cousin-german Tibius, and his son Theophilus. He was a man of such credit, that it was no sooner heard that he had abandoned the king's party, than 15 other commanders delivered up to Lucullus the places with which they had been intrusted; and about the same time Triarius falling in with the king's fleet near the island of Tenedos, obtained a complete victory, having either taken or sunk 62 of the enemy's vessels.

All this time Cotta had been employed without success in besieging Heraclea, which he could never have reduced without the afflatus of Triarius. That commander, having defeated the fleet, soon reduced the town to such distress, that a third part of the garrison died of hunger; upon which the governor, Conacorix, privately agreed with Triarius to deliver one of the gates to him. This was accordingly done; and the Romans, entering, made a terrible slaughter of the helpless inhabitants. But in the mean time Cotta, provoked at seeing himself deprived both of all share of the booty, and the honour of reducing a place before which he had sat so long, fell upon his countrymen as they were buried in plundering; which would have occasioned a great deal of bloodshed, had not Triarius promised to divide the booty equally. Conacorix, in order to conceal his treachery, after marching out of Heraclea, seized on two forts belonging to the Romans; and Triarius being sent to recover them, Cotta, in his absence, plundered the city anew, rifled the temples which the other had spared, put all the citizens he could meet with to the sword, and having carried off every thing valuable, at last set fire to the city in several places, by which means it was soon reduced to ashes. Cotta then, having no farther occasion for his troops, dismissed the auxiliaries, resigned his legions to Lucullus, and put to sea himself in order to return to Rome. But he had scarce got out of the harbour, when part of his ships, being overloaded with the spoils of the city, sunk; and the others were by a violent north wind dashed against the shore, which occasioned the loss of a great part of the booty. However, on his return to Rome, he was highly applauded by the senate, and honoured with the title of Ponticus.

Lucullus, having now reduced Pontus, marched against the Chaldeans, Tibareniens, and inhabitants of Armenia Minor; who voluntarily submitted to him, and put him in possession of all their strong holds. From Armenia, he returned before Amisus, which still held out; Callimachus, governor of the place, having harassed the Romans to such a degree by engines of his own contrivance, that they had given over their assaults, and contented themselves with blocking it up by land, though the garrison was at the same time plentifully supplied with provisions by sea. Lucullus, on his arrival, summoned the city to surrender, offering ing the inhabitants very honourable terms; but, being refused, he made a general assault at the time when he knew that Callimachus used to draw off great part of his troops to give them some respite. The Romans applying their scaling ladders, got over the wall before Callimachus could come to the assistance of those whom he had left to guard it; however, by setting the city on fire, he found means in that confusion to make his escape. Lucullus commanded his men to use their utmost endeavours to save the city; but they being intent only upon plundering, regarded nothing but the furniture. At last the fire was extinguished by a violent shower; and Lucullus, having with much ado restrained his soldiers from committing any farther excesses, repaired the city in some measure before he left it, and suffered the inhabitants to enjoy their possessions in peace.

Nothing was now wanting but the captivity of Mithridates himself to put a final period to the war; and therefore Lucullus demanded him from his son-in-law, Tigranes. But though that prince could not be prevailed to see Mithridates on account of his misconduct, he could as little be induced to deliver him up to his enemies. After this refusal, however, he for the first time condescended to see his father-in-law, after he had resided a year and eight months in his dominions. In a private conference held by the two kings, it was agreed, that Tigranes should march against the Romans, and Mithridates with 10,000 horse return into Pontus, where he should make what levies he could, and rejoin Tigranes, before Lucullus, who was then employed in the siege of Sinope, could enter Armenia. But, in the mean time, Sinope having surrendered, Lucullus with all possible expedition marched against Tigranes, and, having drawn him into a general engagement, gave him an entire defeat, as is related under the article Armenia.

Mithridates was marching to his assistance, when he met his son-in-law flying with a small retinue to shelter himself in some remote corner of the kingdom. He encouraged him to raise new forces; not doubting but that another campaign would repair all former losses, provided he would commit to his management every thing relating to the war. To this Tigranes agreeing, as he thought him more fit to deal with the Romans than himself, orders were issued out for raising a new army, and all the Armenians able to bear arms summoned to meet at the place of the general rendezvous. Out of these Mithridates chose 70,000 foot and 35,000 horse; and having trained them up during the winter, after the Roman discipline, in the beginning of the spring he left part of them with Tigranes, and marched himself with the rest into Pontus, where he recovered many important places, and overcame in a pitched battle M. Fabius, whom Lucullus had appointed governor of that province. Being flushed with this success, as soon as the wounds he received in the engagement suffered him to move, he pursued Fabius, and besieged him in the city of Cabira, whither he had retired; but in the mean time Triarius, who was marching out of Asia to join Lucullus, hearing what distress the Romans were in, hastened to their relief, and appearing unexpectedly on the neighbouring hill, struck such terror into the enemy, that they raised the siege, and made the best of their way into Cappadocia. Triarius pursued them, and got so near them as to be parted only by a river. Here he halted, with a design to pass the river after he had allowed his men some rest; for they were tired out with long marches. But Mithridates was before-hand with him, and crossing the river on a bridge, where he had placed a strong guard, attacked the Romans with great resolution before they had time to refresh themselves. The battle was bloody, and the event doubtful, till the bridge breaking down with the weight of the multitude that passed, the king's troops who had engaged, relying chiefly on their numbers, began to lose courage, seeing they could receive no further assistance; and the Romans charging them with fresh vigour, they betook themselves to a precipitate flight. After this engagement, as winter came on, both armies were glad to retire to their winter-quarters.

During the winter, Mithridates raised new forces; and having received considerable supplies from Tigranes, took the field early in the spring, in hopes of driving the Romans quite out of Pontus, before Lucullus, who had work enough on his hands in Armenia, could come to their assistance. With this view he marched straight against Triarius and Sornatus, to whom Lucullus had committed the care and defence of that province; and finding them encamped near the city of Gaziusa, proffered them battle; which they declining, he sent a strong detachment to besiege a castle where the Romans had left all their baggage, hoping they would rather venture an engagement to relieve the place, than lose all they had got with so much toil and labour during the war; neither was he disappointed in his hopes; for though Triarius was for keeping close in his camp till the arrival of Lucullus, whom he daily expected, having acquainted him with the danger, the soldiers hearing that the castle was besieged, declared in a tumultuous manner, that if he did not lead them they would march to the relief of the place without his leave. Triarius being thus forced by his own men to fight, drew out his forces against the king, whose army was three times his number; but while they were upon the point of engaging, both armies were by a violent storm forced to retire to their respective camps; but Triarius receiving that very day intelligence of the approach of Lucullus, and fearing he would snatch the victory out of his hands, resolved to make a bold push, and next morning by break of day attack the king in his camp. If he conquered, the glory he thought would be entirely his own; if he were overcome, the enemy could reap no great advantage from his victory, Lucullus being at hand with a powerful army. The king, in that surprize, putting himself at the head of a few troops of his guards, sustained the brunt of the Romans, till the rest of his army drawing up came to his relief, and attacked the enemy with such fury, that the Roman foot were forced to give way, and were driven into a wood, where they were surrounded, and great numbers of them cut in pieces.

Their horse were likewise put to flight, and pursued with great slaughter, till a Roman centurion in the king's service, pitying his countrymen, attempted to kill him. The king's life was saved by his breastplate; but as he received a deep wound in the thigh, he was obliged to give over the pursuit himself, and those that were about him caused the retreat to be founded, found, which, as it was unexpected, occasioned a great confusion in the whole army. The centurion was immediately cut in pieces; but the Roman horse in the meantime getting the start of the enemy, found means to make their escape. Above 7000 of the Romans were killed in that battle; and among them 150 centurions and 24 tribunes, the greatest number of officers that had been lost in any engagement to that day.

Mithridates being cured of his wound, that he might not for the future be exposed to such dangers, caused all the Romans that served in his army to be formed into one body, as if they were to be sent out on a party, and then ordered them to retire to their tents, where they were all to a man cut in pieces.

The king, however elated with success, yet would not engage Lucullus; but with long marches hastened into Armenia Minor, and encamped upon a hill near the town of Talara, expecting Tigranes, who was advancing with a strong army to join him. Lucullus, in pursuit of Mithridates, marched over the field of battle, leaving those unburred who had fallen in the engagement, which alienated the minds of the soldiery from him, and they began to be very mutinous; being flattered by Appius Claudius, whom Lucullus had turned out of his command for his vile behaviour, notwithstanding he was nearly related to him, Lucullus having married his sister. The discontent that prevailed in the army came to such a height, that Lucullus was obliged to lie still in his camp all that summer; the soldiers declaring in a mutinous manner, that they would not follow him any longer, nor serve under a general who refused to share the booty with them.

These complaints, and the general discontent that reigned in the army, obliged the senate to recall Lucullus, and appoint Manius Acilius Glabrio, confidant of that year, in his room. Glabrio arriving in Bithynia, gave notice by public criers to all the cities, that the senate had discharged Lucullus and his army, and confiscated his goods for protracting the war and refusing to comply with their injunctions. Hereupon Lucullus was abandoned by the greater part of his army, and forced to retire into Galatia, not being in a condition to make head against the joint forces of the two kings; who, laying hold of that opportunity, recovered the best part of Pontus, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Armenia Minor; for though Glabrio had hastened into Pontus, as if he had intended to engage the enemy and rob Lucullus of the victory, yet, upon the first news of the approach of the two kings, he thought fit to retire and leave the country open on all sides to the enemy.

When this was heard at Rome, a law was enacted there by C. Manlius, a tribune of the people, whereby the management of the war against Mithridates and Tigranes was committed to Pompey, and likewise the provinces of Cilicia, then under Quintus Marcius, and of Bithynia under Glabrio. By the same law he was continued in that unlimited power by sea, with which he was invested when he first set out against the pirates of Cilicia. In virtue of this law, Pompey, who had just then ended the war with the Cilician pirates, took upon him the command of the army, and directed all the allies of the Roman people to join him with all possible expedition; but before he took the field, he renewed the alliance which Sylla and Lucullus had concluded with Phraates king of Parthia, and then sent friendly proposals to Mithridates; who at first seemed inclined to give ear to them, and accordingly dispatched an ambassador to the Roman army to treat of peace. Pompey required of him to lay down his arms if he was in earnest, and deliver up to him all those who had revolted from the Romans during the war. This demand was no sooner reported abroad in the king's camp, but the deserters, who were very numerous in the king's army, betaking themselves to their arms, threatened to put Mithridates himself to death; and would have occasioned a great disturbance, had not the king appeased the growing tumult, by assuring them, that he had sent ambassadors, not to treat of a peace, but only to take, under pretence of suing for peace, a view of the enemy's strength. He moreover obliged himself, by a solemn oath in the presence of the whole army, never to enter into any treaty of friendship with the Romans, nor to deliver up to them such as had ever served under him.

Pompey, finding his proposals rejected, advanced against the king with an army of 30,000 foot and 20,000 horse, as Plutarch writes, or 30,000, as we read in Appian, all chosen troops; for he discharged most of those who had served under Glabrio and Lucullus. As he entered Galatia, he was met by Lucullus, who endeavoured to persuade him to march back, the war being near finished, and even deputies sent by the republic to settle the province of Pontus; but not being able to prevail with him, after mutual complaints against each other, they parted; and Pompey removing his camp, commanded the troops that were with Lucullus to join him, except 1600 whom he left to attend Lucullus in his triumph. From thence Lucullus set out for Rome, where he was received by the senate with great marks of esteem, most men thinking him highly injured by the authors of the Manilian law. Pompey pursued his march into Pontus; but finding that he could not by any means draw the king to a battle, he marched back into Armenia Minor, with a design either to reduce that province, or oblige Mithridates to venture a battle in order to relieve it. Mithridates followed him at some distance; and entering Armenia, encamped on a hill over-against the Romans, and, by intercepting their convoys, reduced them to such distress, that they were obliged to remove to a more convenient place, the king cutting off many in their rear, and harassing them with frequent attacks, till he fell into an ambuscade laid by Pompey, whose personal courage and prudent conduct on that occasion confirmed the king in his resolution not to hazard a general engagement. The two armies encamped over-against each other; Pompey on one hill, and the king on another, near the city of Daffira, in the province of Acilifene, at a small distance from the Euphrates, which divides Acilifene from Armenia Minor.

Here Pompey, seeing he could neither draw the king to a battle, nor force his camp, which was pitched on by a steep and craggy mountain, began to block him up, with a ditch which he carried round the bottom of the hill where the king was encamped; and meeting with no opposition, finished his work, and quite cut off the enemy's communication with the country. Pompey was amazed to see the king thus tamely suffer himself to be shut up; and could not help saying, That he was either a great fool or a great coward: a fool, if he did not... not apprehend the danger he was in; a coward, if, being apprised of it, he did not to the utmost of his power prevent it. By this ditch, which was 150 furlongs in circuit, and defended by many forts raised at small distances from each other, the king was so closely besieged, that he could neither send out parties to forage, nor receive the supplies that came to him from Pontus. He was thus besieged for the space of 45 or 50 days; and his army reduced to such straits, that, having consumed all their provisions, they were at last forced to live on their dead horses. Hereupon Mithridates resolved at all events to break through the Roman fortifications: and accordingly, having put to the sword all those that were sick or disabled, that they might not fall into the enemy's hands, he attacked in the dead of the night the Roman guards; and having overpowered them with his numbers, got safe into the open fields, and continued his march all night towards Armenia Major, where he was expected by Tigranes.

Pompey next morning by break of day pursued the enemy with his whole army; and having with much ado overtaken them, found the king encamped on a hill, to which there was but one ascent, and that guarded by a strong body of foot. The Romans encamped over-against them; but Pompey, fearing the king should make his escape in the night-time, privately decamped, and taking the same rout the enemy were to hold in order to gain Armenia, possessed himself of all the eminences and defiles through which the king was to pass. Mithridates thinking that Pompey was returned to his former camp, pursued his march, and about the dusk of the evening entered a narrow valley, which was surrounded on all sides by steep hills. On these hills the Romans lay concealed, expecting the signal to fall upon the enemy and attack them on all sides at once, while they were tired with their march, and seemingly, as they had sent out no scouts, in great security. Pompey was at first for putting off the attack till the next morning, thinking it not safe to engage in the nighttime among such steep and craggy mountains; but was at last prevailed upon, by the earnest prayers and intrigues of all the chief officers of the army, to fall upon the enemy that very night. It was therefore agreed, that in the dead of the night all the trumpets should at once sound the charge, that this signal should be followed by an universal shout of the whole army, and that the soldiers should make what noise they could, by striking their spears against the brazen vessels that were used in the camp. The king's army at this sudden and unexpected noise, which was echoed again by the mountains, imagined at first that the gods themselves were come down from heaven to destroy them; and the Romans charging them on all sides with showers of stones and arrows from the tops of the hills, they betook themselves to a precipitate flight; but finding all the passes beset with strong bodies of horse and foot, were forced to fly back into the valleys, where, for many hours together, they were exposed to the enemy's shot, without being able, in that confusion, either to attack them or defend themselves. They attempted indeed to make some resistance when the moon rose; but the Romans running down upon them from the hills, did not give them time to draw up, and the place was so narrow that they had not room even to make use of their swords. The king lost on that occasion 10,000 men, according to Appian, but 40,000, according to Eutropius and others. On Pompey's side there fell between 20 and 30 private men, and two centurions.

Mithridates, at the head of 800 horse, broke through Dillustus of the Roman army, and being after this effort abandoned by all the rest, because they were closely pursued by the enemy, he travelled all night attended by three persons only, viz. his wife, or, as Plutarch calls her, his concubine, by name Hyppiatia, his daughter Drupetina, and an officer. At day-break he fell in with a body of mercenary horse, and 3000 foot, who were marching to join him. By these he was escorted to the castle of Sinoria, situated on the borders of the two Armenias. As great part of his treasures were lodged here, he rewarded very liberally those who accompanied him in his flight; and taking 6000 talents, withdrew into Armenia. As soon as he entered the borders, he dispatched ambassadors to Tigranes, acquainting him with his arrival; but that prince, who was then on the point of concluding a separate peace with the Romans, clapped his ambassadors in irons, pretending that his son Tigranes had, at the instigation of Mithridates, revolted first to the Parthians, and then to the Romans. Mithridates finding himself thus abandoned, even by his son-in-law, left Armenia; and directing his course towards Colchis, which was subject to him, and not as yet invaded by the Romans, passed the Euphrates the fourth day, and got safe into his own territories.

Pompey sent out several parties in pursuit of the king; but remained himself with the main body of the army in the field of battle, where he built a city, calling it from that remarkable victory Nicopolis. This city, with the adjoining territory, he bestowed upon such of his soldiers as were old or disabled; and many flocking to it from the neighbouring countries, it became in a short time a very considerable place. This battle was certainly attended with very fatal consequences for Mithridates; who was forced, his army being entirely cut off or dispersed, to abandon his own dominions, and fly for shelter to the most remote parts of Scythia. Pompey having concluded a peace with Tigranes, as we have related in the history of Armenia, and settled the affairs of that kingdom, began his march in pursuit of Mithridates through those countries that lie about Mount Caucasus. The barbarous nations through which he passed, chiefly the Albanians and Iberians, attempted to stop his march, but were soon put to flight. However, he was obliged, by the excessive cold and deep roads, to pass the winter near the river Cyrus. Early in the spring he pursued his march; but meeting with great opposition from the Iberians, a warlike nation, and entirely devoted to Mithridates, he was employed most part of the summer in reducing them. In the mean time, Mithridates, who had wintered at Diocecurias, on the isthmus between the Euxine and Caspian seas, and had been joined there by such of his troops as had made their escape from the late unfortunate battle, continued his flight through the countries of the Achaeanes, Zygians, Heniochians, Cercetans, Mofchi, and Colchians. Of these nations some received him kindly, and even entered into alliance with him; through others he was forced to make himself a way with his sword.

Pompey took the same rout, directing his course by the seas, especially in the northern parts of Scythia, and carrying with him even provision of water, to supply the army in the vast deserts through which he marched. He spent two years in warring with these nations, and was often in danger of losing both his life and his army; but at last he overcame them all; and believing Mithridates, of whom he could have no account, to be dead, he marched back into Armenia Minor, where he allowed some rest to his soldiers, who were quite worn out with the hardships they had endured in that expedition. Having refreshed his army, he marched into Pontus, to reduce some strongholds which were still garrisoned by the king's troops. While he was at Aspis in Pontus, many of the king's concubines were brought to him; but he sent them all home to their parents, without offering them the least injury, and thereby gained the affection of the chief lords of Pontus, whose daughters they were. The strong castle of Symphori was delivered up to him by Stratoni, one of the king's concubines, upon no other terms than that he would spare her son Xiphares, who was with the king, in case he should fall into his hands. She likewise discovered to him great treasures hid under ground, which he, with great generosity, bestowed upon her, referring for himself only some vessels to set off his triumph. Having taken another fort, called the New Castle, and to that time looked upon as impregnable, he found in it great store of gold, silver, and other valuable things, which he afterwards consecrated to Jupiter Capitolinus. Here, in looking over the king's manuscripts, he came to discover where the rest of his treasures were concealed, what troops he could raise and maintain, what sums were yearly paid him by his subjects and tributaries, &c., whereby he could make a true estimate of his whole power and wealth. Amongst other manuscripts he found some books of physic, wrote by Mithridates himself, which he commanded Leneas, a learned grammarian, to translate into Latin.

Pompey, having thus reduced all Pontus, marched into Syria, with a design to recover that kingdom, and passing through Arabia to penetrate as far as the Red Sea. But while he was employed in this expedition, news was brought him that Mithridates, whom he believed dead, had appeared unexpectedly in Pontus at the head of a considerable army, and surprised Panticapaeum, a famous emporium at the mouth of the Euxine Sea. He had lain all this time concealed in the territories of a Scythian prince, adjoining to the Palus Maeotis; but hearing that Pompey had left Pontus, and was engaged in other wars, he ventured out of his hiding-place, resolved either to recover his paternal kingdom, or die in the attempt. He returned privately into Pontus and managed matters there so dexterously, that the Roman garrisons knew nothing of his arrival till he appeared with a considerable army in the field. He advanced first to the castle of Symphori; and understanding that Stratoni had delivered it up to Pompey, on condition he would save the life of her son in case he should take him prisoner, the king immediately caused the youth, who was in his army, to be put to death, and his body to be left unburied, Stratoni beholding from the walls the cruel and unnatural murder, for he was her son by Mithridates, and had served him with great fidelity.

At the same time he sent ambassadors to Pompey to treat of a peace, offering to pay a yearly tribute to the republic, on condition he restored to him his kingdom. Pompey replied, that he would hearken to no proposals whatsoever, without the king came to treat with him in person, as Tigranes had done. This Mithridates looked upon as nowise consistent with his dignity; and therefore laying aside all thoughts of an accommodation, began to make what preparations he could for renewing the war.

He summoned all his subjects that were able to bear arms to meet at an appointed place; and having chosen out of the whole multitude 60 cohorts, each consisting of 100 men, he incorporated them with the regular troops that were already on foot. Being now in a condition to act offensively, for Pompey had left but a small number of troops in Pontus he possessed himself of Phanagorium, Chersonesus, Theodosia, Nymphaeum, and several other important places. But in the mean time, Castron, whom Mithridates had appointed governor of Phanagorium, falling out with Tripho, one of the king's favourite eunuchs, killed him, and dreading the king's resentment, stirred up the inhabitants to a revolt: by which means Phanagorium was again lost; but the castle, which was defended by four of the king's sons, Artaphernes, Darius, Xerxes, and Oxathres, held out for some time. The king hastened to their relief; but the castle being set on fire by the rebels, they were forced to surrender themselves to Castron before his arrival. These four sons, with one of the king's daughters, by name Cleopatra, Castron sent to the Romans; and fortifying himself in the town, perplexed most of the neighbouring cities, which were oppressed with heavy taxes, and strangely harassed by the king's collectors, to join in the rebellion.

Mithridates finding that he could neither rely upon his subjects on the soldiery, most of them being forced into the discontent service, nor on his other subjects, who were dissatisfied by reason of the exorbitant taxes, sent ambassadors to invite the princes of Scythia to his relief, and with them his daughters, to be betrothed in marriage upon such as showed themselves most inclined to assist him. But as the ambassadors he employed on this occasion were eunuchs, a race of men not less abhorred by the army than favoured by the king, over whom they had a great ascendancy, especially in his old age, the soldiers who were sent to attend them on their journey, put them all to the sword as soon as they were out of the king's reach, and delivered his daughters up to the Romans. Mithridates, finding himself thus deprived of his children, betrayed by his army, and forsaken even by those on whom he chiefly relied, could not yet be induced to submit to the Romans, though Pompey promised him honourable conditions, provided he came to treat with him in person. In this desperate condition, he left no stone unturned to stir up the princes of Asia against the Romans, especially the Parthians; but finding them awed by the great opinion they all had of Pompey he had recourse at last to the European Gauls whom he understood to be at war with the Romans; and having sent before some of his trusty friends to engage them in his favour, taking leave of his own kingdom, he began his long march, designing to pass through Bosphorus, Cimmerius, Scythia, This design was no sooner known in the army, but the soldiers openly began to complain and mutiny; exaggerating the boldness of the attempt, the length of the march, and the unsurmountable difficulties that must necessarily attend such a desperate enterprise. The chief commanders did all that lay in their power to divert him from it; representing to him, that if he was not able to cope with the Romans in his own kingdom, much less would he be a match for them in Italy or Gaul, where they could daily receive new supplies; whereas he would lose the greatest part of his army in so long and difficult a march, and the rest perhaps in the first engagement, without any possibility of repairing the loss. But all was to no purpose; for they found him so unalterably fixed in his resolution, that he caused those to be put to death who with most warmth remonstrated against it, not sparing even his own son Expipodras, for dropping some ungarded expressions on that occasion. Thus they were forced to let him pursue his own measures, till they found a more proper opportunity to oppose them, which soon after offered, as they were encamped at Bosphorus Cimmerius, on their march into Scythia.

Here Pharnaces, the king's favourite son whom he had appointed to succeed him, observing the general discontent that reigned in the army, began to entertain thoughts of placing the crown on his own head; and not doubting but the soldiery would stand by him, if he declared against the intended expedition into Italy, openly protested among the Roman deserters, who were a considerable part of the army, that if they would follow him he would return into Pontus. The Romans, who were well apprised of the danger that attended such an undertaking, and had most of all exclaimed against it, promised to support him to the utmost of their power, and even encouraged him, upon some expressions which he purposely dropped, to assume the title of king, a title which his father seemed determined to hold till he had destroyed, by his rash and desperate attempts, himself, his friends, and his army. Pharnaces, finding he could depend on the Romans engaged the same night most of the chief commanders in his party, and by their means the greater part of the soldiery. It was agreed, that next morning by break of day all those who had declared in his favour should appear in arms, and with a loud shout proclaim Pharnaces king; which was done accordingly, and the shout returned even by those whom Pharnaces had not thought fit to let into the secret. The king, who had taken up his quarters in the city, being awakened by the noise, sent out some of his domestics to know what had happened in the army. Neither did the officers or soldiers dissemble the matter, but boldly answered, that they had chosen a young king instead of an old dotard governed by eunuchs.

Hereupon Mithridates mounting on horseback, and attended by his guards, went out to appease the tumult; but his guards forsaking him, and his horse being killed under him, he was obliged to fly back into the city; from whence he sent several of his attendants one after another to desire of his son a safe conduct for himself and his friends. But as none of the messengers returned, some being slain, and others hiding with the new king, Mithridates endeavoured to move his son to compassion, by signifying to him from the walls the distressed condition he was reduced to by a son whom he had favoured above the rest of his children; but finding him nowise affected by his speech, turning to the gods, he beseeched them with many tears to make his son know one day by experience the grief and agony which a father must feel in seeing his love and tenderness requited with such ungrateful and monstrous returns. Having thus spoke, he thanked in a very obliging manner those who had stood by him to the last, and exhorted them to make their submission to the new king on the best terms they could procure; adding, that as for himself, he was determined not to outlive the rebellion of a son whom he had always distinguished with particular marks of paternal affection.

After this, he withdrew into the apartment of his wives and concubines, where he first took poison himself, and then presented it to them, and to his favourite daughters Mithridatis and Nissa, who not long before had been betrothed to the kings of Egypt and Cyprus. To the women it proved immediate death; but on the king, who from his infancy had injured his constitution to poisonous potions, it had so slow an operation, that he was forced, through fear of falling into the rebels hands, to recur to his sword. Neither did the wound, as he was greatly weakened by the poison, prove mortal; so that the rebels, having in the mean time stormed the town, and broke into the house, found the king wallowing in his blood, but still alive, and in his senses; which Pharnaces hearing, sent some of those that were about him to dress his wounds, with a design to deliver him up to the Romans, and thereby ingratiate himself with Pompey. But, in the mean time, a Gaul, who served in the army, by name Bitetus, or Bitheus, entering the king's room in quest of booty, and being touched with compassion in seeing him forsaken by all his friends, and struggling on the bare ground with the pangs of death, drawing his sword, put an end to his present agonies, and prevented the insults which he chiefly apprehended if he should fall alive into his son's hands. The barbarian is said, when he first saw the king, to have been so awed with the majesty of his countenance, that, forgetful of his booty, he fled out of the room; but being called back, and earnestly intreated by the dying prince to put an end to his misery, he summoned all his courage to perform, as he did, with a trembling hand, that office; and immediately retired without touching anything that belonged to the king, though the hopes of a rich booty was the only motive that had led him thither.

Pompey, who was at that time engaged in a war with the Jews, received the first notice of the death of Mithridates as he was on his march to Jerusalem. The messenger who brought the joyful tidings was sent by Pharnaces, and appeared unexpectedly before Pompey with the branch of a laurel, as was customary on the like occasions, twisted round the head of his javelin. When he heard what had happened at Panticapæum, he was so impatient to impart it to the soldiery, that he could not even wait till they had raised his deathbed a mound of turf from whence to speak to the army, according to the custom of the camp; but ordered them... those who were by him to form a kind of mount with their saddles, and from thence acquainted the follyery that Mithridates had laid violent hands on himself, and his son Pharnaces was ready to acknowledge the kingdom as a gift of the people of Rome, or resign it if they were unwilling he should reign. This news was received with joyful shouts of the whole army, and the day solemnized with feasts and sacrifices throughout the camp, as if in Mithridates alone all the enemies of the republic had died. Pompey dispatched without delay a messenger with letters to the senate, acquainting them with the death of Mithridates, and the submition of his son Pharnaces. When his letters were read, the senators were so overjoyed, that they appointed, at the proposal of Cicero, then consul, 12 days for returning due thanks to the gods, who had delivered them from such an insulting and powerful enemy; and the tribunes of the people enacted a law, whereby Pompey, in consideration of his eminent service in the Mithridatic war, was to wear a crown of laurel, with the triumphal gown at the Circensian sports, and a purple gown at the scenical plays.

Pharnaces, when he heard of his father's death, caused his body to be preserved in brine, proposing to present it to Pompey, who had promised to return into Pontus after the reduction of Judaea, and there settle matters to his satisfaction. And accordingly having taken the city and temple of Jerusalem, he set out with two legions for Pontus; and being arrived at Sinope, he was there met by ambassadors from Pharnaces, acquainting him, that their master had forbore afflicting the title of king till his will and pleasure were known; that he put both himself and the kingdom entirely into his hands; and that he was willing to attend him at what time or place he thought fit to appoint. The same ambassadors delivered up to Pompey those who had taken Manius Aquilius the Roman legate, whom Mithridates had put to a cruel death, all the prisoners, hostages, and deserters, whether Romans, Greeks, or Barbarians, and the body of Mithridates, with his rich apparel and arms, which were greatly admired by Pompey and the other Romans. Both soldiers and officers flocked to see the king's body; but Pompey declined that sight; and, saying that all enmity between that great prince and the people of Rome was ended with his life, he returned the body to the ambassadors, and caused it to be interred with the utmost pomp and magnificence among his ancestors in the burying-place of the kings of Pontus, Pompey defraying all the charges of that ceremony, which was the most costly and pompous that ever had been seen in those parts. With the body Pompey restored his wearing apparel and armour; but the scabbard of his sword, which cost 400 talents, was stolen by Rublius a Roman, and sold to Ariarathes king of Cappadocia; and his cap or turban, which was a very curious piece of workmanship, was privately taken by one Caius, who presented it to Faustus the son of Sylla, in whose house it was kept, and shown for many years after among the many rarities which Sylla had brought out of Asia.

Pompey bestowed the kingdom of Bosphorus on Pharnaces, and honoured him with the title of a friend and ally of the people of Rome. Pharnaces being thus acknowledged king of Bosphorus, sent orders to all the garrisons of Pontus to submit themselves, with the cattles and treasures with which they were entrusted, to Pompey, who by that means amassed an immense booty. In the city of Talaura, which Mithridates used to call his wardrobe, he found 2000 cups of onyx set in gold, with such store of gold and silver vessels, of costly furniture, of saddles, bridles, and trappings, set with jewels and precious stones, that the Roman commissaries spent 30 days in taking the inventory of the whole. In another castle he found three large tables with nine salvers of maffy gold, enriched with precious stones to an inestimable value; the statues of Minerva, Mars, and Apollo, of pure gold and most curious workmanship; and a pair of gaming-tables of two precious stones, three feet broad, and four feet long, on which was a moon of gold weighing 30 pounds, with their men, all of the same precious stone. In a fort situated among the mountains, were delivered up to him the king's statue of maffy gold, eight cubits high, his throne and sceptre, and the bed of Darius the son of Hytaphes. Most of these treasures had been transmitted to him from his ancestors, chiefly from Darius king of Persia; some belonged to the Ptolemies of Egypt, and had been deposited by Cleopatra, as we have hinted above, in the hands of the Coans, who delivered them to Mithridates; and great part of them had been collected by the king himself, who was very fond of rich and flatly furniture.

Pompey having thus got entire possession of Pontus, who he reduced it to the form of a Roman province, flows upon marched into Asia properly so called; and having wintered at Ephesus, early in the spring set out for Italy, with a fleet of 700 ships. As he brought over his army with him, the senate was under no small apprehension lest he should make himself absolute, and rule without control. But he no sooner landed at Brundufium, than he disbanded the army, without waiting for any decree either of the senate or people; what neither his friends nor his enemies had believed. His triumph lasted two whole days; and though he was attended in his triumphal chariot by 324 captives of distinction, among whom were five sons and two daughters of Mithridates, yet he would not suffer any of them to be put to death, as had been done by others; but sent them all back, except such as were of royal extraction, to their respective countries, and even supplied them with money to defray the charges of their journey. After his triumph he delivered into the treasury 20,000 talents, though, at the dismiffing of the army, he had divided 16,000 talents among the tribunes and centurions, 2000 sestertii among the quaestors, and had given to each soldier 50 sestertii.

Pompey had no sooner left Asia, but Pharnaces fell unexpectedly upon the Phanagorenes, a people of Asia out Bosphorus, whom Pompey had declared free, because with the they had revolted the first of all from Mithridates, and Romans by their example induced others to abandon the king's party. Pharnaces besieged their chief city Phanagoria, and kept them blocked up till, for want of provisions, they were forced to fall out, and put all to the issue of a battle; which proving unsuccessful, they delivered up themselves and their city to the conqueror. Some years after, the civil war breaking out between Caesar and Pompey, he laid hold of that opportunity to recover the provinces which his father had formerly possessed; and having raised a considerable army, overran Pontus, Colchis, Bithynia, Armenia, and the kingdom of Mochis, where he plundered, as Strabo observes, the temple of the goddes Leucothea. He took the strong and important city of Sinope, but could not reduce Amisus. But, in the mean time, Caesar having got the better of Pompey and his party, appointed Cn. Domitius Calvinus governor of Asia, enjoining him to make war upon Pharnaces with the legions that were quartered in that province. Domitius immediately dispatched ambassadors to Pharnaces, commanding him to withdraw his troops from Armenia and Cappadocia. The king returned answer, that he was willing to abandon Cappadocia, but as for the kingdom of Armenia Minor, it was part of his hereditary dominions; and therefore he would not resign it till he had an opportunity of laying his pretensions before Caesar himself, whom he was ready to obey in all things. Hereupon Domitius drawing together what forces he could, marched into Cappadocia, which he recovered without opposition, Pharnaces having abandoned it to make a stand in Armenia, which lay nearer his own dominions. Thither Domitius pursued him; and having overtaken him near Nicopolis, found his army drawn up in battle-array, and the king ready to come to an engagement; which Domitius not declining, both armies advanced.

The king, at the head of a choice body of men, fell upon the Romans left wing, consisting mostly of raw and undisciplined Asiatics; and having without much ado put them to flight, penetrated to the centre, where the thirty-fifth legion, the only one which Domitius had, after a faint resistance, gave ground; and, retiring to the neighbouring mountains, left their allies to shift for themselves, who were all cut off. Domitius with the remains of his scattered army marched back into Cappadocia; and from thence, winter drawing on, into the province of Asia. The king being puffed up with this victory, and hearing that Caesar, with the flower of the Roman forces, was engaged at the siege of Alexandria, appointed one Asander governor of Bosphorus, and marched himself into Cappadocia in pursuit of Domitius, with a design to invade Asia, and recover all the provinces which had been once subdued by his father. Bithynia and Cappadocia readily submitted; but Armenia the Lesser, which was held by Dejotarus, made so vigorous a resistance, that he was forced to give over the enterprise, lest the Romans should in the meantime strengthen themselves in Asia, whither he was in haste to march, in hopes of meeting there with the same success as his father Mithridates had done. But before he reached that province, he was informed that Asander had revolted, in hopes of gaining thereby the good-will of the Romans, and obtaining of them the kingdom of Bosphorus for himself. At the same time, he received intelligence that Caesar, having at last reduced Alexandria, and settled the affairs of Egypt and Syria, was marching into Armenia.

He was not a little dismayed at this news, and therefore without delay dispatched ambassadors to sue for peace; hoping that Caesar, who was hastening into Italy with a design to pass over into Africa, would willingly give ear to any proposals of that nature.

Caesar courteously entertained the ambassadors; and though he did not propose to agree to their conditions, yet, that he might come upon Pharnaces unawares, he showed himself very desirous of entering into a treaty of peace. But, in the mean time, he pursued his march with all possible expedition; and arriving on the confines of Pontus, ordered all the troops that were quartered in the neighbouring provinces to join him; for he had brought from Alexandria but one legion, namely, the fifth, and that consisting of 1000 men only, the rest having been killed at the siege of Alexandria. Besides this veteran legion, he found at the place of general rendezvous three others, but all of them very indifferently armed, and worse disciplined. With these forces, however, such as they were, he advanced against Pharnaces; who being greatly frightened at his approach, by reason of the successes that had attended him in all his expeditions, again dispatched ambassadors to him with a crown of gold, offering him his daughter in marriage, and promising to do whatever he should require. The ambassadors took care to let him know that their master, though highly obliged to Pompey, yet had never been prevailed upon to send him any supplies during the civil war, which Dejotarus, king of Armenia the Lesser, whom he had honoured with his friendship, had done. Caesar returned for answer, that he was willing to conclude a peace with Pharnaces, provided he retired without delay from Pontus, returned all the captives and hostages whether Roman or their allies, and restored the goods of the Roman citizens and publicans which he had seized since he first took up arms. He added, that as to his not sending supplies to Pompey, they ought rather to have concealed such an ungrateful proceeding of their master, than alleged it as any merit, since the forsaking of one to whom he was indebted for his crown, befell him a man of mean, fickle, and unworthy principles.

Pharnaces, upon the return of his ambassadors, acquainted Caesar that he agreed to the conditions; but finding that Caesar's affairs called him into Italy, he required a longer term of time for the performance of what was stipulated between them, starting daily new difficulties, in hopes that Caesar would in the mean time be obliged to depart, and leave the affairs of Pontus in the same posture he had found them. Caesar seeing himself disappointed, and put off from day to day, could not longer brook the king's deceitful behaviour. Wherefore he determined to put himself at the head of his small army, and attack the enemy in his camp when he least expected it. And accordingly, marching out in the night, he came by break of day in sight of the king's army; and uttering these words, Shall this treacherous parricide go unpunished? broke into the camp at the head of 1000 horse. The king's chariots, which were armed with scythes, caused some small disorder among Caesar's horse; but in the mean time the rest of his army coming up, he put the enemy to flight, and obtained a complete victory. This battle was fought near the place where Mithridates had routed with great slaughter the Roman army under the command of Triarius. Most of the king's army were either taken or cut in pieces; but Pharnaces himself had the good luck to make his escape while the Romans were busy in plundering the camp. This victory was so quick, that Cæsar in a letter to his friend Aminitius, or Anitius, at Rome, expressed it in three words, thus: "I came, I saw, I conquered." He ever afterwards used to call Pompey a fortunate rather than a great commander, since he had gained his chief glory in the Mithridatic war, fighting with so cowardly an enemy. He divided the rich booty and the spoils of the camp among his soldiers; and because Mithridates had erected a trophy near that place as a monument of his victory over Triarius, which Cæsar, as it was consecrated to the gods, did not think lawful to pull down, he set up another over-against it to transmit to posterity his victory over Pharnaces. After this victory he recovered and restored to the allies of the people of Rome all the places which Pharnaces had possessed himself of during the war, declared Amisus a free city, and appointed Mithridates Pergamenes king of Bosphorus in the room of Pharnaces.

Having thus settled the affairs of Pontus, he set sail for Italy; leaving Domitius Calvinus to pursue the war against Pharnaces, if he should appear again in the field. Pharnaces had retired after the battle to Sinope with 1000 horse, where he was quickly besieged by Domitius, to whom he surrendered the town, upon no other condition than that he should be suffered to retire into Bosphorus with the small body that attended him. This Domitius willingly granted; but caused all the king's horses to be killed, since he had asked a safe-conduct only for his horsemen. With these and a band of Scythians and Sarmatians he attempted to recover the kingdom of Bosphorus; but being met between Theodoci and Panticepeum, both which cities he had reduced, by Aesander, who was still in possession of the kingdom, a sharp engagement ensued, wherein the king's men, as not being used to fight on foot, were put to flight, and Pharnaces himself, who remained alone in the field, was surrounded by the enemy, and cut in pieces, after having reigned in Bosphorus Cimmerius, the kingdom which Pompey had bestowed upon him, according to Appian, fifteen years, according to others, seventeen.

Upon the death of Pharnaces the kingdom of Pontus was again reduced to the form of a province, and so continued to the triumvirate of Marc Antony, who after the battle at Philippi conferred it upon Darius the son of Pharnaces for his services during the civil war. He continued faithful to the Romans; but did nothing during his reign worth mentioning.

Darius was succeeded in the kingdom by Polemon, likewise preferred to that honour by Marc Antony. He was the son of Zeno, a famous orator of Laodicea, and greatly favoured by Antony. From him that part of Pontus which borders on Cappadocia borrowed the name of Polemoniacus. He attended Marc Antony in his expedition against the Parthians; and being taken prisoner in that unsuccessful battle fought by Statianus, he was sent by the king of the Medes, an ally of the Parthians, to conclude a peace with the Romans. In which embassy he acquitted himself so well, that Antony added the kingdom of Armenia to his own dominions. In the war between Antony and Augustus he sided with the former; but after the battle of Actium he was received into favour by the latter; and being sent by Agrippa against Scribonius, who upon the death of Aesander had usurped the kingdom of Bosphorus, he overcame him, and reduced the kingdom of Colchis, which was bestowed upon him by Agrippa, who likewise honoured him with the title of friend and ally of the people of Rome. He afterwards waged war with the neighbouring barbarians refusing to live in subjection to the Romans; but was overcome, taken, and put to death, by the Alpungitani, a people bordering, according to Strabo, on the Palus Maeotis.

Upon his death his son Polemon II. was by the emperor Caligula raised to the throne of Bosphorus and Pontus. But the emperor obliged him to exchange the kingdom of Bosphorus with part of Cilicia; and Nero, with his consent, reduced that part of Pontus which he enjoyed to the form of a province. He fell in love with Berenice, daughter to Agrippa king of Judea; and in order to marry her embraced the Jewish religion. But as she soon became tired of his riotous way of living, and returned to her father; so he renounced his new religion, and again embraced the superstitions of Paganism. Polemon dying without issue, the ancient kingdom of Pontus was parcelled out into several parts, and added unto the provinces of Bithynia, Galatia, and Cappadocia, several provinces only that part of it which was called Pontus Polemoniacus retaining the dignity of a distinct and separate province. During the civil discords between Vespasian and Vitellius, one Anicetus, first a slave, afterwards freedman, to king Polemon, and lastly commander of the royal navy, took up arms with a design to rescue the kingdom from the Roman bondage; and being joined by great multitudes drawn together with the prospect of spoil, overran the country, and possessed himself of Trapezund, a city founded by the Grecians on the utmost confines of Pontus. Here he cut in pieces a cohort made up of the inhabitants, but which had been formerly presented with the privilege of Roman citizens. He likewise burnt the fleet, and with scorn and insults scourged the sea; Mucianus having called to Byzantium most of the Roman galleys. Hereupon Vespasian, who was at that time in Syria, sent Verdius Geminius into Pontus with a choice body of auxiliaries from the legions. He afflicting the enemy while they were in disorder, and roaming about in pursuit of prey, drove them into their vessels; then with some galleys chased Anicetus into the mouth of the river Chobus, where he thought himself safe under the protection of Sedochus, king of the Lazians, whose alliance he had purchased with large sums and rich presents. Sedochus at first refused to deliver him up to the Romans; but was soon prevailed upon, partly by threats, partly by presents, to surrender both him and all the other fugitives who had taken sanctuary in his dominions. Thus ended that fierce war; and the kingdom of Pontus continued to be a province of the empire till the time of David and Alexis Comneni, who being driven from Constantinople by the French and Venetians A.D. 1204, under the command of Baldwin earl of Flanders, settled, the one at Heraclea, the other at Trebifond. The troubles that arose among the Latins gave Alexis Comnenus an opportunity of erecting here a new empire, which comprehended great part of Pontus, and was known by the name of the empire of Trebifond. The Comneni held it about 250 years, till the time of Mohammed II., who carried David Comnenus, the last emperor of Trebifond, prisoner to Constantinople, A.D. 1462, with all his family, and subjected his empire to that of Constantinople.