Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1116

Rh 1102 MITHRIDATES. not venture to meet the enemy in the field, and avoided an action with Pompey, while he pro- tracted the campaign, and gradually withdrew towards the frontiers of Armenia. But he was no match for the generalship of his adversary, who attacked him during a night march through a nar- row pass which had been previously occupied by the Roman troops : the greater part of the army of Mithridates was cut to pieces, and the king him- self escaped with only a few horsemen and his concubine Hypsicratea, the faithful companion of all his fortunes, to the frontier fortress of Synoria. Here he once more assembled a considerable force, with which he prepared to withdraw into Armenia; but Tigranes, who suspected him of fomenting the intrigues of his son against hira, now refused to admit him into his dominions, and no choice re- mained for Mithridates but to plunge with his small arm}-- into the heart of Colchis, and thence make his way to the Palus Maeotis and the Cim- merian Bosporus. Arduous as this enterprise appeared it was successfully accomplished. After crossing the Phasis he deemed himself secure from the pursuit of Pompey, and took up his quarters for the winter at Dioscurias (the extreme eastern limit of the Greek settlements in this part of the Euxine), where he levied additional troops and also assembled a small fleet. With these combined forces he resumed his progress in the following year (65)^ and succeeded in effecting his passage, partly bj' force, partly by persuasion, through all the various barbarian tribes that occupied the country between the Caucasus and the Euxine, and reached in safety the city of Phanagoria on the Bosporus. His son Machares, to whom he had confided the government of these regions, but who had long before made his submission to LucuUus, fled on learning his approach, and soon after put an end to his own life. Mithridates, in consequence, established himself without opposition at Pantica- paeum, the capital of the kingdom of Bosporus. (Appian, Mithr. 97 — 102, 107 ; Dion Cass, xxxvi. 28—33 ; Plut. Pomp. 32, 34, 35 ; Liv. Epit. ci. ; Oros. vi. 4 ; Strab. xi. pp. 496, 497, xii. p. 555.) He had now nothing to fear from the pursuit of Pompey, who appears to have at once abandoned all thoughts of following the fugitive monarch into the wild and inaccessible regions beyond the Phasis, and turned his arms first against Tigranes, and afterwards against Syria. It was probably this sense of security that emboldened him in the year 64 to send ambassadors to Pompey to sue for peace, offering to submit on terms similar to those which had been lately granted to Tigranes, namely, that he should be allowed to retain possession of his hereditary dominions, as a tributary to Rome. Pompey, however, insisted that the king should come in person to make his submission, and this Mithridates resolutely refused. The negotiations were in consequence broken off ; and while Pompey regulated the affairs of Pontus, which he reduced to the condition of a Roman province, Mithridates on his part commenced the most extensive pre- parations for a renewal of the contest. Far from contenting hhnself with the possession of the re- mote province of the Bosporus, in which, from its inaccessible position, he might defy the arms of Rome, he now conceived the daring project of marching round the north and west coasts of the Euxine, through the wild tribes of the Sarmatians and Getae, which had been in part already visited MITHRIDATES. b}' his generals Neoptolemus and Diophantus, and having gathered around his standard all these barbarian nations, of whose hostility towards Rome there could be no question, to throw himself with these accumulated masses upon the frontiers of the Roman state, and perhaps penetrate even into Italy itself. With these views, he was busily engaged in assembling such a fleet and army as would be sufficient for an enterprise of this mag- nitude. But his proceedings were much delayed at first by a violent earthquake, which overthrew whole towns and villages, and subsequently by a long and painful illness, which incapacitated him for any personal exertion. At length, however, his preparations were completed, and he found himself at the head of an army of 36,000 men and a considerable fleet. But during his illness, while he lived in complete seclusion, visible to none but a few chosen eunuchs, disaffection had made rapid progress among his followers. The full extent of his schemes was probably communicated to few ; but enough had transpired to alarm the multitude, and neither the soldiers nor their leaders were dis- posed to follow their aged monarch on an enterprise which they might well regard as little less than desperate. In this state of things an act of private revenge led to the revolt of the important town of Phanagoria, where the sons of Mithridates, who held the citadel, were compelled to surrender to the insurgents, and the flame of insurrection quickly spread to several other cities of the Tauric Cher- sonese. Still the spirit of the old king was un- broken : he endeavoured to renew his alliances with the neighbouring Scythian chieftains, and sent some of his daughters to them as brides, under the escort of some confidential eunuchs, who, how- ever, followed the general example, and betrayed their charge into the hands of the Romans. A more formidable conspiracy was now organised by Pharnaces, the favourite son of Mithridates, and whom he had declared heir to his crown. The designs of the young man were discovered, and his accomplices put to death, but Mithridates was per- suaded to spare his son's life, and Pharnaces im- mediately availed himself of his impunity to break out into open insurrection. He was quickly joined both by the whole army and the citizens of Pan- ticapaeum, who unanimously proclaimed him king ; and Mithridates, who had taken refuge in a strong tower, after many fruitless messages and embassies to his son, saw that no choice remained to him but death or captivity. Hereupon he took poison, which he constantly carried with him ; but his constitution had been so long inured to antidotes, that it did not produce the desired effect, and he was compelled to call in the assistance of one of his Gaulish mercenaries to despatch him with his sword. (Appian, Mithr. 107 — 111 ; Dion Cass. xxxvii. 3, 11 — 13 ; Plut. Pomp. 41 ; Oros. vi. 5 ; Eutrop. vi. 12 ; Liv. Epit. cii.; Flor. iii. 6 ; Joseph. Ant. xiv. 3. § 4 ; Val. Max. ix. 2, ext. 3 ; Gell. xvii. 16 ; Aur. Vict, de Fir. Illust. 76, 77 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 40.) The death of Mithridates took place in the year 63 B.C. (Dion Cass, xxxvii. 10.) The dread that his name still inspired at Rome is strongly dis- played in a passage of Cicero's speech on the Agrarian laws, delivered early in that very j'ear {Da Leg. Agrar. ii. 19), and we may thus readily credit the statement of Plutarch, that his death was regarded by the army as equal to a great victory.