Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/846

Rh 832 LUCULLUS. retaliation was looked upon with much favour at Rome ; and although the trial, after giving rise to scenes of violence and even bloodshed, at length terminated in the acquittal of Servilius, the part which the young LucuUus had taken in the matter appears to have added greatly to his credit and reputation. (Plut. LuculL 1 ; Cic. Acad. pr. ii. 1.) AVhile yet quite a young man, he served with distinction in the Marsic or Social War ; and at this time attracted the attention of Sulla, whom he afterwards accompanied as his quaestor into Greece and Asia on the breaking out of the Mithri- datic war, b, c. 88. During the prolonged siege of Athens, Sulla found himself labouring under the greatest disadvantage from the want of a fleet, and he in consequence despatched LucuUus in the middle of winter (b. c. 87 — 86), with a squadron of only six ships, to endeavour to collect assistance from the allies of Rome. With considerable diffi- culty he raised a fleet, and expelled the forces of the king from Chios and Colophon. These opera- tions extended far on into the summer of 85 : meanwhile. Fimbria, who had assumed the com- mand of the army in Asia, which had been sent out by the Marian party at Rome, had expelled Mithridates from Pergamus, and was besieging him in Pitane, where he had taken refuge. Had LucuUus co-operated with him by sea, the king himself must havefallen into their hands, and the war would have been terminated at once : but LucuUus was faithful to the party interests of Sulla ratlier than to those of Rome : he refused to come with his fleet to the support of Fimbria, and Mithridates made his escape by sea to Mytilene. Shortly afterwards LucuUus defeated the hostile fleet under Neoptolemus off" the island of Tenedos ; and thus made himself master of the Hellespont, where he rejoined Sulla, and facilitated his passage into Asia the following spring, B. c. 84. (Plut. LuculL 2 — 4, Sull. 11 ; Appian, Mithr. 33, 51, 52, 5Q^ Oros. vi.2.) Peace with Mithridates followed shortly after, and Sulla hastened to return to Rome. It was a fortunate circumstance for LucuUus that he did not accompany his leader at this time, being left behind in the charge of various public duties in Asia, by which means he escaped all participation in the scenes of horror that ensued, at the same time that he retained the high place he already enjoyed in the favour of the all-powerful Sulla. Nor do we find that he took any part in the aggressions of Murena, and the renewed war against Mithridates. [MuRENA.] During the whole time that he con- tinued in Asia he appears to have been occupied with civil and pacific employments, especially with the coining of money, and the exaction of the heavy sums imposed by Sulla upon the Asiatic cities as a penalty for their late revolt. In the discharge of this last duty he displayed the utmost kindness and liberality, and endeavoured to render the bur- then as little onerous as possible ; at the same time that the promptitude and vigour with which he punished the revolt of the Mytilenaeans showed that he was fully prepared to put down all open resistance. (Plut. Lucull. 4 ; Cic. Acad. pr. ii. 1.) LucuUus remained in Asia apparently till near the close of the year 80, when he returned to Rome to discharge the office for the following year of curule aedile, to which he had been elected in his absunce, together with his younger brother Marcus. According to Plutarch, he had, from affection for LUCULLUS. his brother, forborne to sue for this office until Marcus was of sufficient age to hold it with him. The games exhibited by the two brothers were distinguished for their magnificence, and were reii- dered remarkable by the introduction, for the first time, of elephants combating with bulls. (Plut. Lucull. 1 ; Cic. Acad, pr. ii. 1 ; de Off. ii. 16 ; Plin. H. N. viii. 7.) So great was the favour at this time enjoyed by LucuUus with Sulla, that the dictator, on his death-bed, not only confided to him the charge of revising and correcting his Commenta- ries — a task for which the literary attainments of LucuUus especially qualified him ; but appointed him guardian of his son Faustus, to the exclusion of Pompey, a circumstance which is said to have first given rise to the enmity and jealousy that ever after subsisted between the two. (Plut. Lu- cull. i. 4.) By a special law of Sulla, he was enabled to hold the praetorship immediately after the office of aedile, probably in the year 77. At the expiration of tliis magistracy he repaired to Africa, where he distinguished himself by the justice of his administration, and returned from thence to Rome, to sue for the consulship, which he obtained, in conjunction with M. Aurelius Cotta, for the year 74. (Cic. Acad. pr. ii. 1; Aur. Vict, de Vir. Illust. 74 ; Plut. Lucull. 5 ; Fast. Capit. an. 679.) Of the political conduct of LucuUus during his consulship almost the only circumstance recorded to us is the determined and effectual opposition oflfered by him to the attempts of L. Quinctius to overthrow the constitutional laws of Sulla. (Plut. Lucull. 5 ; SalL Bint. iii. fraym. 22, p. 234, ed. Gerlach.) But the eyes of all at Rome were now turned towards the East, where it was evident that a renewal of the contest with Mithridates was be- come inevitable : and the command in this impend- ing war was the darling object of the ambition of LucuUus. At first indeed fortune did not seem to befriend him : in the division of the provinces, Bithynia (which had been lately united to the Roman dominions after the death of Nicomedes III., and which was evidently destined to be the first point assailed by Mithridates), feU to the lot of Cotta, while LucuUus obtained only Cisalpine Gaul for his province. But just at this juncture Octavius, the proconsul of Cilicia, died ; and Lu- cuUus, by dint of intrigues, succeeded in obtaining the appointment as his successor, to whioli the con- duct of the war against Mithridates was then added by general consent. Cotta, however, still retained the government of Bithynia, and the com- mand of the naval force. (Plut. Lucull. 5, 6 ; Memnon. c. 37, ed. Orell. ; Cic. pro Muren. 15; Eutrop. vi. 6.) Both consuls now hastened to Asia, where they arrived before the close of the year 74. LucuUus took with him only one legion from Italy ; but he found four others in Asia, two of which, however, had formed part of the army of Fimbria ; and though brave and hardy veterans, had been accus- tomed to licence and rapine, and were ever prone to sedition. Hence the first business of the new general was to restore the discipline of his own arm}^ a task which he appears to have for a time easily accomplished ; and he now took the field with a force of 30,000 infantrj', and 2500 horse. (Plut. LucuU. 7, 8; Appian, Mithr. 72.) But almost before he was ready to commence operations,