Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/300

 292 STRABO. CASATJB. 545. nean rocks, and were allies of the Greeks in many naval battles beyond these limits. Although this city was independent for a long period, it did not preserve its liberty to the last, but was taken by siege, and became subject first to Pharnaces, then to his successors, to the time when the Romans put an end to the power of. Mithridates Eupator. This prince was born and brought up in this city, on which he conferred dis- tinguished honour, and made it a capital of the kingdom. It has received advantages from nature which have been im- proved by art. It is built upon the neck of a peninsula ; on each side of the isthmus are harbours, stations for vessels, and fisheries worthy of admiration for the capture of the pela- mydes. Of these fisheries we have said 1 that the people of Sinope have the second, and the Byzantines the third, in point of excellence. The peninsula projects in a circular form ; the shores are surrounded by a chain of rocks, and in some parts there are cavities, like rocky pits, which are called Choenicides. These are filled when the sea is high. For the above reason, the place is not easily approached ; besides which, along the whole surface of rock the road is covered with sharp-pointed stones, and persons cannot walk upon it with naked feet. The lands in the higher parts and above the city have a good soil, and are adorned with fields dressed as gardens, and this is the case in a still greater degree in the suburbs. The city itself is well secured with walls, and magnificently ornamented with a gymnasium, forum, and porticos. Notwithstanding these advantages for defence, it was twice taken ; first by Phar- naces, who attacked it unexpectedly ; afterwards by Lucullus, who besieged it while it was harassed by an insidious tyrant within the walls. For Bacchides, 2 who was appointed by the king commander of the garrison, being always suspicious of treachery on the part of those within the city, had disgraced and put many to death. He thus prevented the citizens both from defending themselves with bravery, although capable of making a gallant defence, and from offering terms for a capitul- ation. The city was therefore captured. Lucullus took away 1 B. vii. c. vi. 2. 2 The eunuch Bacchides, or Bacchus, according to others, whom Mi- thridates, after despairing of success, commissioned with the order for his women to die. Plutarch, Life of Lucullus.