Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1114

Rh 1100 MITHRTDATES. ib. 67.) Hence, on the death of the latter, B c. 78, Mithridates abandoned all thoughts of peace ; and while he concluded the alliance with Sertorius on the one hand, he instigated Tigranes on the other to invade Cappadocia, and sweep away the inhabitants of that country, to people his newly- founded city of Tigranocerta, But it was the death of Nicomedes III., king of Bithynia, at the begin- ning of the year b. c. 74, that brought matters to a crisis, and became the immediate occasion of the war which both parties had long felt to be inevi- table. That monarch left his dominions by will to the Roman people ; and Bithynia was accordingly declared a Roman province : but Mithridates as- serted that the late king had left a legitimate son by his wife Nysa, whose pretensions he immedi- ately prepared to support by his arms. (Eutrop. vi. 6 ; Liv. Epit xciii. ; Appian, Mithr. 71 ; Epist. Mithrid. ap, Sallust. Hist. iv. p. 239, ed. Gerlach ; Veil. Pat. ii, 4, 39.) It was evident that the contest in which both parties were now about to engage would be a struggle for life or death, which could be terminated only by the complete overthrow of Mithridates, or by his establishment as undisputed monarch of Asia. The forces with which he was now pre- pared to take the field were such as might inspire him with no unreasonable confidence of victory. He had assembled an army of 120,000 foot soldiers, armed and disciplined in the Roman manner, and sixteen thousand horse, besides an hundred scythed chariots : but, in addition to this regular army, he was supported by a vast number of auxiliaries from the barbarian tribes of the Chalybes, Achaeans, Armenians, and even the Scythians and Sarmatians. His fleet also was so far superior to any that the Romans could oppose to him, as to give him the almost undisputed command of the sea. These preparations, however, appear to have delayed him so long that the season was far advanced before he was able to take the field, and both the Roman consuls, Lucullus and Cotta, had arrived in Asia. Neither of them, however, wa» able to oppose his first irruption ; he traversed almost the whole of BithjTiia without encoimtering any resistance ; and when at length Cotta ventured to give him battle under the walls of Chalcedon, he was totally de- feated both by sea and land, and compelled to take refuge within the city. Here Mithridates at first prepared to besiege him, but soon chaTiged his in- tention, and moved with his whole army to Cyzicus, to which important city he proceeded to lay siege, both by sea and land. His military engines and works were managed by a Greek named Niconides, who displayed the utmost skill and science in this department ; while the attacks of the besieging forces were unremitting. But the Roman general Lucullus, who had advanced from Phrygia to the relief of Cotta, and followed Mithridates to Cyzicus, had been allowed, by the negligence of the king, or the treachery, as it was said, of the Roman L. Magius, who enjoyed a high place in his confidence, to occupy an advantageous position near the camp of Mithridates, where he almost entirely cut him off from receiving supplies by land, while the storms of the winter prevented him from depending on those by sea. Hence it was not long before famine began to make itself felt in the camp of Mithridates, and all his assaults upon the city having been foiled by the courage and resolution of the besieged, he was at length compelled (early MITHRTDATES. in the year 73) to abandon the enterprise and raise the siege. But a large detachment of his army, which he at first sent off into Bithynia, was inter- cepted and cut to pieces by Lucullus ; and when at length he broke up his camp, his main body, as it moved along the coast towards the westward, was repeatedly attacked by the Roman general, and suffered very heavy loss at the passage of the Aesepus and Granicus. The king himself pro- ceeded by sea to Parium, where he collected the shattered remnants of his forces, and leaving a part of his fleet under Varius to maintain possession of the Hellespont and the Aegaean, Avithdrew himself with the rest, after a fruitless attempt upon Perinthus, to Nicoraedia. Here he was soon threatened by the advance of three Roman armies under Cotta and the two lieutenants of Lucullus, Triarius and Voconius Barba. These generals had made themselves masters in succession of Prusias and Nicaea, and were preparing to besiege Mithri- dates himself at Nicomedia, when the king re- ceived intelligence of the defeat of his fleet under Varius at Tenedos, and becoming in consequence apprehensive for the safety of his communications by sea, hastened to set sail for Pontus. On his voyage he encountered a violent storm, by which he lost many of his ships, and was himself com- pelled to make his escape in the light galley of a pirate captain. He obtained, however, an im- portant advantage by the surprise of the free city of Heracleia, which had hitherto remained neutral, but was now compelled to receive a Pontic garrison. Afrer this he returned to Sinope. (Appian, Miihr. 69—78 ; Plut. Lucull. 7—13 ; Memnon, 37—42 ; Liv. Epit. xciii. xcv. ; Eutrop. vi. 6.) The great army with which Mithridates had commenced the war was now annihilated ; and he was not only compelled to retire into his own dominions, but was without the means of opposing the advance of Lucullus into the heart of Pontus itself. But he now again set to work with inde- fatigable activity to raise a fresh army ; and while he left the whole of the sea-coast of Pontus open to the invaders, he established himself in the interior at Cabeira, where he soon gathered a numerous force around his standard, while he sent to his son Machares and his son-in-law Tigranes, to request succours and auxiliaries. Lucullus. having in vain tried to allure him to the relief of Amisus, the siege of which he continued throughout the winter, on the approach of spring (b. c. 72) advanced into the interior, and took up a position opposite to him at Cabeira. Mithridates was superior in cavalry, on which account the Roman general avoided an action in the plains, and the campaign was chiefly occupied with mutual attempts to cut oflF each other's convoys of provisions, which led to repeated partial engagements, with various vicissitudes of fortune. At length a large detachment of the king's army was entirely cut off, and Mithridates hereupon determined to remove his camp : but the orders to this effect by some mismanagement gave rise to a panic in the undisciplined multitudes which composed his army ; great confusion arose, and Lucullus having sent his cavalry to take ad- vantage of this, a general rout was the consequence. Mithridates himself with difficulty made his way through the tumult, and must have fallen into the hands of the Romans, had not the cupidity of some of his pursuers, who stopped to plunder a mule laden with gold, given him time to effect