Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1112

Rh 1098 MITHRTDATES. xxxvii. Exc. Phot. p. 540.) It is difficult to judge whether he was really meditating a war with Rome, but did not yet consider hii* preparations sufficiently advanced to connnence the contest, or was desirous by a show of moderation to throw upon the Romans the odium of forcing on the war. If the latter were his object, his measures were certainly not ill chosen ; for it is clear even from the accounts transmitted to us, that whatever may have been the secret designs of Mithridates, the immediate occasion of the war arose from acts of aggression and injustice on the part of the Romans and their allies. No sooner was Nicomedes replaced on the throne of Bithynia than he was urged by the Roman legates to invade the territories of Mithridates, into which he made a predatory incursion as far as Amastris. Mithridates offered no resistance, but sent Pelopidas to the Romans to demand satis- faction, and it was not until his ambassador was sent away with an evasive answer that he prepared for immediate hostilities, B c. 88. ( Appian, Mith: 11 — 15.) His first step was to invade Cappadocia, from which he easily expelled Ariobarzanes for the third time. Shortly afterwards his two generals, Neoptolemus and Archelaus. advanced against Bithynia with an army of 250,000 foot and 40,000 horse. They were met by Nicomedes, supported by the presence of the Roman legate Aquillius and Mancinus, with such forces as they had been able to raise in Asia, but with very few Roman troops, on the banks of the river Amneius in Paphlagonia, wiien a great battle ensued, which terminated in the complete victory of the generals of Mithridates. Nicomedes fled from the field, and, abandoning Bithj'nia Avithout another blow, took refuge at Pergamus. Aquillius was closely pursued by Neoptolemus, compelled to fight at disadvantage, and again defeated ; and Mithridates, following up his advantage, not only made himself master of Phrygia and Galatia, but invaded the Roman pro- vince of Asia. Here the universal discontent of the inhabitants, caused by the oppression of the Roman governors, enabled him to overrun the whole province almost without opposition : the Roman officers, who had imprudently brought this danger upon themselves, were unable to collect any forces to oppose the progress of Mithridates, and two of them, Q. Oppius and Aquillius himself, the chief author of the war, fell into the hands of the king of Pontus. (Appian, Mithr. 15 — 21 ; Mem- non, 31 ; Justin, xxxviii. 3 ; Li v. Epit. Ixxvi. Ixxvii. Ixxviii. ; Oros. vi. 2 ; Eutrop. v. 5 ; Flor. iii. 6 ; Strab. xii. p. 562.) These events took place in the summer and autumn of b. c. 88 ; before the close of that year they were known at Rome, and Sulla was ap- pointed to take the command in the war which was now inevitable. Meanwhile, Mithridates con- tinued his military operations in Asia, with a view to make himself master of the whole of that country before the Romans were prepared to attack him. All the cities of the main land except iI;ignesia and some of those of Lycia had opened their gates to him ; but the important islands of Cos and Rhodes still held out ; and against them Mithri- dates now directed his arras. Cos was quickly subdued ; but the Rhodians were well prepared for defence, and possessed a powerful fleet ; so that Mithridates, though he commanded his fleet and army in person, and exerted the most strenuous MITHRIDATES. efforts, was ultimately compelled to abandon the siege. After tliis he made a fruitless attempt upon the city of Patara in Lycia ; and then resigning the command of the war in that quarter to his general, Pelopidas, took up his winter-quarters at Pergamus, where he gave himself up to luxury and enjoyment, especially to the society of his newly- married wife Monima, a Greek of Stratoniceia. (Appian, Mitkr. 21, 23—27.) It was in the midst of these revelries that he issued the san- guinary order to all the cities of Asia to put to death on the same day all the Roman and Italian citizens who were to be found within their walla. So hateful had the Romans rendered themselves during the short period of their dominion, that these commands were obeyed with alacrity by almost all the cities of Asia, who found the oppor- tunity of gratifying their own vengeance at the same time that they earned the favour of Mithri' dates, by carrying into effect the royal mandate with the most unsparing cruelty. The number of those who perished in this fearful massacre is stated by Memnon and Valerius Maximus at eighty thou- sand persons, while Plutarch increases the amount to a hundred and fifty thousand. (Appian, Mithr. 22, 23 ; Memnon, 31, Plut. SulL 24 ; Liv. Epit. Ixxviii. ; Dion Cass. Fr. 115; Eutrop. v. 5 ; Oros. vi. 2 ; Flor. iii. 5 ; Cic. p. Leg. Manil. 3, pro Place. 24, 25; Tac. Ann. iv. 14; Val. Max. ix. 2. ext. 3.) But while he thus created an apparently insu- perable barrier to all hopes of reconciliation with Rome, Mithridates did not neglect to prepare for the approaching contest ; and though he remained inactive himself at Pergamus, he was busily em- ployed in raising troops and collecting ships, so that in the spring of b. c. 87 he was able to send Archelaus to Greece with a powerful fleet and army. During the subsequent operations of that general [Archelaus], Mithridates was continually sending fresh reinforcements both by land and sea to his support ; besides which he entrusted the com- mand of a second army to his son Arcathias, with orders to advance through Thrace and Macedonia, to co-operate in the war against Sulla. The in- tended diversion was prevented by the death of Arcathias ; but the following year (b. c. 86 ) Taxiies followed the same route with an army of 110,000 men ; and succeeded in uniting his forces with those of Archelaus. Their combined ai'mies were totally defeated by Sulla at Chaeronea ; but Mi- thridates, on receiving the news of this great disaster, immediately set about raising fresh levies, and was soon able to send another army of 80,000 men, under Dorylaus to Euboea, Meanwhile, his severities in Asia, coupled with the disasters of his arms in Greece, seem to have produced a general spirit of disaffection ; the cities of Chios, Ephesus, and Tralles, besides others of less note, drove out his governors and openly revolted : and the assas- sination of the tetnirchs of Galatia, whom he put to death from suspicions of their fidelity, led to the loss of that important province. (Appian, Mithr. 27, 29, 35, 41—49 ; Plut. Sull.U, 15,20; Mem- non, 32, 33.) He now also found himself threat- ened with danger from a new and unexpected quarter. While Sulla was still occupied in Greece, the party of Marias at Rome had sent a fresh array to Asia under L. Flaccus, to carry on the war at once against their foreign and domestic enemie."} ; and Fimbria, who had obtained the command of