WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:04.639 Section thirteen of the grochy Marius and Sola by A. H. Beasley. 2 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:10.400 This librovox recording is in the public domain. Read by Pamelinagami, 3 00:00:10.839 --> 00:00:17.399 chapter eleven, the First Mithridateic War. Events have been anticipated 4 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:21.199 in order to relate the close of Sinna's career, But 5 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:24.120 it is time now to say what Sullah had been 6 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:28.359 doing and who that Mithridates was, whose name for so 7 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:32.320 long had been formidable at Rome. After the defeat of 8 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:35.520 the Northern Hordes and the suppression of the second slave revolt, 9 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:38.719 there was a war with the Keltiberi in Spain in 10 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:43.640 ninety seven, in which Sertorius showed himself already an adroit 11 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:49.679 and bold officer. He was in winter quarters at Castulo Caslona, 12 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:53.479 and his men were so disorderly that the Spaniards were 13 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:58.280 emboldened to attack them in the town. Sertorius escaped, rallied 14 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:02.320 those soldiers who had also was escaped, marched back, and 15 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:05.799 after putting those in the town to the sword, dressed 16 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:09.120 his troops in the dead men's clothes, and so obtained 17 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:12.640 admission to another town which had helped the enemy. But 18 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:17.680 the hero of the campaign was Titus Didius. Afterwards Caesar's 19 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:22.200 lieutenant in the social war. He had some hard fighting 20 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:27.040 and captured Termasus, the chief town of the Aravaki, and Colenda. 21 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:32.159 He earned his triumph by other means. Also. There was 22 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:35.719 a town near Colenda, the inhabitants of which the Romans 23 00:01:35.799 --> 00:01:39.519 wished to destroy. Didius told them that he would give 24 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:42.480 them the lands of Colinda, and they came to receive 25 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:46.159 their allotments. As soon as they were within his lines, 26 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.560 his soldiers set on them and slew them all. In 27 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:56.879 ninety six b C. Tolemaus Appian bequeathed Sireni, a narrow 28 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:00.519 strip of terraced land on the north coast of Africa, 29 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:05.120 situated between the Libyan deserts and the Mediterranean, to Rome. 30 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:09.479 The Romans did not refuse the legacy, but they took 31 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:13.400 no trouble to govern the country. The cities of Syreni 32 00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:17.599 were declared to be free. In other words, while nominally 33 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:21.319 subject to Rome, so that she might interfere when she pleased, 34 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:26.680 they were left to govern themselves. Such government was no government, 35 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.879 but it was in accordance with the deliberate policy of 36 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:34.520 the Senatorial Party. It was in the same year ninety 37 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:38.159 six b C. That Mithridatees committed the first of the 38 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:42.800 series of crimes which eventually brought him into collision with Rome. 39 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:51.280 His sister had married the king of Cappadocia, Mithridatees assassinated him. Nicomates, 40 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:55.840 king of Bethynia, seized Cappadocia, and married the widowed sister 41 00:02:55.960 --> 00:03:01.360 of Mithridates. Having slain one brother in law, Mithridatees expelled 42 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.360 the other and set on the throne his sister's son. 43 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:08.879 But when his nephew refused to welcome home Gordius, the 44 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:13.240 man who had murdered his father, Mithriddes marched against and 45 00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:17.879 assassinated him. Then he set on the throne his own son, 46 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:21.719 to whom he gave his nephew's name, and made Gordius 47 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:26.680 his guardian him. The Cappadocians expelled and raised to the 48 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:32.080 throne another nephew of Mithridates, but Mithridatees instantly drove him 49 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:37.280 from power. Nicomedes now appealed to the Senate and produced, 50 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:40.879 as he asserted, a third nephew of Mithridatees as a 51 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.919 claimant for the crown. To support his assertion, he sent 52 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.639 his wife to Rome to swear she had had three sons. Mithridates, 53 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:53.919 as if in burlesque of the imposture, sent Gordius to 54 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:56.840 swear that the youth on the throne was son of 55 00:03:56.840 --> 00:04:00.360 a Cappadocian king who had died more than thirty years before. Four. 56 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:05.120 The Senate decided as a lion might between two jackals 57 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:10.280 quarreling over a carcass. It took Cappadocia from Mithridates and 58 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:16.199 Paphlagonia from Nicomedes and declared both countries free. But the 59 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:20.839 Cappadocians clamored for a king, and so in ninety three 60 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:26.439 the Senate appointed Ariobarzanus, the first. Mithridates then stirred up 61 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:31.279 to Granus, king of Armenia, to expel Ariobarzanus, who fled 62 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:34.639 to Rome. Sullah was sent to restore him, and did 63 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:39.199 so in ninety two after defeating the Cappadocians under Gordius 64 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:42.399 and the Armenians. It was when he was on this 65 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:46.480 mission that the Romans and Parthians confronted each other for 66 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:50.759 the first time. The Parthians sent an embassy to ask 67 00:04:50.839 --> 00:04:55.600 for the alliance of Rome. Three chairs were set for Ariobarzanus, 68 00:04:56.120 --> 00:05:01.240 Sollah and Orobazas and Solah, who was only proprietor took 69 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:06.000 the central seat. This incensed the Parthian king, and he 70 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:10.160 revenged himself, not on Sullah, but on the unfortunate Orobazus, 71 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:14.680 whom he put to death. A Kaldean in the Parthian suite, 72 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:19.800 after studying Sullah's face, predicted great things for him, which 73 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:22.480 pleased Sullah as much as it would have done Marius, 74 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:26.319 for he believed in his luck, just as his rival 75 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:30.480 did in his seventh consulship. But when he came home 76 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:34.879 he was impeached for taking bribes from Ariobarzanus. No doubt, 77 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:37.519 he had made his trip, which was so gratifying to 78 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:41.839 his pride, not less profitable also, and had had his 79 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:48.160 appetite wedded for a second taste of Eastern treasures. Mithridates, meanwhile, 80 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:53.040 was brooding over his humiliation and meditating revenge. He went 81 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:56.920 on a journey incognito through the Roman province of Asia 82 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:00.680 and Bithynia, intending to attack both if he found himself 83 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:04.959 strong enough. When he came back, he found that his wife, 84 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:08.360 who was also his sister, had been unfaithful to him, 85 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:11.560 and he put her to death. He had now murdered 86 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:15.639 a wife, a sister, a brother, and a nephew. He 87 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:19.040 had also imprisoned his mother, and was equally merciless to 88 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:23.639 his sons, his daughters, and his concubines. At his death, 89 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:26.079 it is said a paper was found in which he 90 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:30.319 had foredoomed his most trusted servants, and he slew all 91 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:32.879 the inmates of his harem in order to hinder them 92 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:37.959 from falling into his enemy's hands. His whole history is 93 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.560 in fact one long record of sensuality, treachery, and murder. 94 00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:46.399 From his earliest years, he had breathed, as it were, 95 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:51.759 an atmosphere of assassination. His father had been assassinated when 96 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:55.199 he was eleven years old. His guardians and even his 97 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:59.399 own mother had then plotted to assassinate him. They placed 98 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:02.279 him on a wire horse and made him perform exercises 99 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:06.120 with the javelin on it. When his precocious vigor defeated 100 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:10.759 their hopes, they tried to poison him, but by studying antidotes, 101 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:14.000 he made his body poison proof, or at least was 102 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:17.439 reputed to have done so, and, flying from his enemies, 103 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:20.519 lived for seven years through all the hardships of a 104 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:24.160 wild and wandering life in which he never slept under 105 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:27.680 a roof and hunted and fought with wild beasts to 106 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:31.480 emerge in manhood. A very tiger himself for strength and 107 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:36.639 beauty of body and ferocity of disposition, a tyrant who 108 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:41.439 spared neither man in his ambition nor woman in his lust. 109 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:45.959 His stature was gigantic. His strength and activities such as 110 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:49.319 took captive the imagination of the East. He could, it 111 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:53.480 was believed, outrun the deer, out eat and out drink 112 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:58.560 anyone at the banquet, strike down flying game, unorringly, tame 113 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:02.439 the wildest steed, and ride one hundred and twenty miles 114 00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:06.279 in a day. Twenty two nations obeyed him, and he 115 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:09.439 could speak the dialect of each of An ear of 116 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:13.319 Greek refinement was spread thinly over the savage animalism of 117 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:17.279 the man. He was a virtuoso and had a wonderful 118 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:21.560 collection of rings. He maintained Greek poets and historians, and 119 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:25.920 offered prizes for singing. He had shrewdness enough to employ 120 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:29.319 Greek generals, but not enough to keep him from being 121 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:34.639 grossly superstitious. For twenty years, from one ten to ninety 122 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:39.039 b c. He had been with never resting activity, extending 123 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:43.320 his empire before the Romans assailed him. He had inherited 124 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:47.120 from his ancestors the kingdom of Pontus or Cappadocia on 125 00:08:47.159 --> 00:08:49.960 the Pontus, which had been one of the two satropies 126 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.840 into which Cappadocia was divided at the time of the 127 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:58.039 Macedonian conquest. Mithridates the fourth had married a princess of 128 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:01.759 the Greek race, the sister of Seleucus, king of Syria. 129 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:07.279 His grandfather had conquered Sinope and Paphlagonia as far as 130 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:12.279 the Bithynian frontier. His father had helped the Romans in 131 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:16.279 the Third Punic War, had been styled the Friend of Rome, 132 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:20.879 and had been rewarded with the province of Phrygia nominally 133 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.919 for his services against Aristonicus the Pretender to the Kingdom 134 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:28.679 of Adilas, but had been deprived of it afterwards when 135 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:31.879 it was found out that really it had been put 136 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.279 up for auction by Manius Aquilius, who was completing the 137 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:40.360 subjugation of the adherents of the Pretender. The boundaries of 138 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:45.440 Pontus at his accession cannot be strictly defined. On the east, 139 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:48.519 it stretched towards the Caucasus and the sources of the 140 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:53.720 Euphrates lesser Armenia being dependent on it. On the south 141 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:59.000 and southwest, its frontiers were Cappadocia and Galicia. On the west, 142 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:03.120 nominally passed Phlagonia was the frontier for the grandfather of 143 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:06.159 Mithridatees had been induced by the Romans to promise to 144 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:11.039 evacuate his conquests, but Snobi was then and continued to 145 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:15.440 be the capital of the Pontic Kingdom, and both Paphlagonia 146 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:20.000 and Galicia were virtually independent. This was the territory to 147 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:23.679 which Mithridates was heir, and which, true to the policy 148 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:27.480 of his father and grandfather, he constantly strove, by force 149 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:31.360 or fraud, to extend. To the east of the Black Sea. 150 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:34.840 He conquered Colchis on the Faces and converted it into 151 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:38.440 a satrope. To the north. He was hailed as the 152 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:42.120 deliverer of the Greek towns on that coast, and in 153 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:45.519 the region now known as the Crimea, which from the 154 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:49.679 constant exaction of tribute by barbarous tribes, were in the 155 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:53.360 absence of any protectorate like that of Athens, falling into 156 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:57.720 decay by sea, and perhaps across the Caucasus by land, 157 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:04.000 Mithridates sent his troops under the Greek generals Neoptolemus and Diophantis. 158 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:10.240 Neoptolemus won a victory over the Tawera Scythians at Panticapium Kirch, 159 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:14.679 and the kingdom of Bosphorus, and the Crimea was ceded 160 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:20.080 to his master by its grateful king. Diophants marched westwards 161 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:23.320 as far as the Tyras Neister, and in a great 162 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:28.200 battle almost annihilated an army of the Roxalani, a nomadic 163 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:32.360 people who roamed between the Boristhenes, the Neper and the 164 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:37.720 Tenaius don. By these conquests, Mithridates acquired a tribute of 165 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:42.159 two hundred talents forty eight thousand pounds and two hundred 166 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:45.919 and seventy thousand bushels of grain, and the rich recruiting 167 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:50.159 ground for his armies. On the east, he annexed Lesser 168 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:55.080 Armenia and entered into the closest alliance with Tigranus, king 169 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:59.279 of Greater Armenia, which had lately become a powerful kingdom, 170 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:04.200 given him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage. If the allies 171 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:08.600 had any defined scheme of conquest, it was that Mithridates 172 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:12.039 should occupy Asia Minor and the coast of the Black Sea, 173 00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:16.600 and to Granus the interior and Syria. How the king 174 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:21.840 intrigued and meddled in Cappadocia and Bithynia had been previously related. 175 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:25.360 And when he had marched into Cappadocia, it was at 176 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:29.240 the head of eighty thousand foot, ten thousand horse and 177 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:34.799 six hundred scythed chariots. Such was the history, the power, 178 00:12:34.919 --> 00:12:37.720 and the character of the great Potentate, who had yielded 179 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:40.960 to the demands of Sullah the Proprietor, but who now 180 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:46.879 awaited the attack of Sullah the Proconsul with proud disdain. Much, indeed, 181 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:52.559 had happened since the year ninety two to justify such feelings. 182 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:57.080 Hardly had Celery and stated Ariobarzanus, when Tigranus drove him 183 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:02.200 out again and restored the son of Mithridates. While in Bithynia, 184 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:06.879 the younger son of Nicomedes, Socrates appeared in arms against 185 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:10.840 his elder brother, Nicomedes the Second, who on his father's 186 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:15.240 death had been acknowledged as king by Rome. Socrates had 187 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:19.720 soldiers from Pontus with him, but Mithridates, though his hand 188 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:24.840 was plain in these disturbances outwardly stood aloof and the Senate, 189 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:29.720 sending Manius Aquilius to restore the two kings, ordered Mithridates 190 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:33.440 to aid him with troops if they were wanted. The 191 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:38.600 king submitted, as before, not indeed sending troops, but without resisting, 192 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:42.679 and as a proof of his complacency, put Socrates to death. 193 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:47.440 This happened in the year ninety when Rome was pressed 194 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:51.440 hardest by the Italians, and at first sight it seems 195 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:54.519 astonishing that he should not have seized on so favorable 196 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:58.399 a moment. But in those days news would travel from 197 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:01.759 the west of Italy to Sinopia, but slowly and uncertainly, 198 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:05.679 and Mithridates would have the fate of Antiochus in mind 199 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:08.639 to warn him how the foes of the Great Republic fared, 200 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:12.480 and the history of Pergamus to testify to the prosperity 201 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:16.759 of those who remained its friends. Sullah's proud tone in 202 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:20.759 ninety two would not have lessened this impression, and before 203 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:24.080 he appealed to force, the crafty king hoped to make 204 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:29.320 his position securer by fraud, partly therefore from real awe, 205 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:33.279 partly because he was not yet ready. He obeyed Aquilius 206 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:37.000 as he had obeyed Sullah. But Aquilius, who had once 207 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:40.559 put up for Jia to auction, knew what pickings there 208 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:44.159 were for a senator when war was afoot in Asia, 209 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.960 and perhaps may have had the honester notion that as 210 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.320 Mithridatees were sure to go to war soon, it was 211 00:14:51.399 --> 00:14:54.519 for the public as well as for his private interest, 212 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:58.320 to act boldly and strike the first blow. So he 213 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:02.200 forced the reluctant Bethynia king to declare war and to 214 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:06.279 ravage with an army the country round a Mastris, while 215 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:11.519 his fleet shut up the Bosphorus. Still, Mithridates did not stir. 216 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:14.639 All that he did was to lodge a complaint with 217 00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:18.279 the Romans and solicit their mediation or their permission to 218 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:21.960 defend himself. Acuilius replied that he was in no case 219 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:25.519 to make war on Nicomades. It is easy to conceive 220 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:28.759 how such an answer affected a man of the king's temper. 221 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:32.919 He instantly sent his son with an army into Cappadocia. 222 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:37.960 But once more he tried diplomacy. Pelopotus, his envoy, came 223 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.159 to Acuilius and said that his master was willing to 224 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:44.960 aid the Romans against the Italians if the Romans would 225 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.519 forbid Nicomedes to attack him their ally. If not, he 226 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:53.519 wished the alliance to be formally dissolved, or there was 227 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:58.240 yet another alternative, let the commissioners and himself appeal to 228 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:02.320 the Senate to decide between them. The commissioners treated the 229 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:07.559 message as an insult Mithridatees, they said, must not attack Nicomedes, 230 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:12.120 and they intended to restore Ario Barzanis. Possibly the conduct 231 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.120 of Aquilius was due to his having been heavily bribed 232 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:19.120 by Nicomedes, who must have felt that when the Romans 233 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:22.399 were gone, he would be like a mouse awaiting the 234 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:27.120 cat's spring. For it is difficult to imagine the foolhardiness which, 235 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:31.159 without some such tangible stimulus, would at that moment have 236 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:35.440 plunged him into war. But when once the die was cast, 237 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.799 Mithridanes threw himself into the war with the energy of 238 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:43.000 long suppressed rage. He sent to court the Alliance of 239 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.960 Egypt and the Cretan League, to whom he represented himself 240 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:51.440 as the champion of Greece against her tyrant. He tried 241 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:55.240 to stir up revolts in Thrace and Macedonia. He arranged 242 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:59.039 with Tagranus that an Armenian army should co operate with him, 243 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:03.440 leaving him the land it occupied, but carrying off the plunder. 244 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.279 He gave the word, and a swarm of pirate ships 245 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:12.319 swept the Mediterranean. Under his colors. He summoned an army 246 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:16.640 of two hundred and fifty thousand foot, forty thousand horse 247 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:20.960 and one hundred and thirty scythed chariots, a fleet of 248 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:24.839 three hundred decked vessels, and one hundred other ships called 249 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:28.599 die Crota, with a double bank of oars. He formed 250 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:32.000 an armed in Roman fashion, a foreign contingent in which 251 00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:36.160 many Romans and Italians enlisted, and he placed able Greek 252 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:41.000 generals Archelaus and Neoptolemus over his troops. To meet this 253 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:45.079 formidable array, the Romans had a fleet off Byzantium, the 254 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:48.880 Army of Nicomedes, which was still between Sinopian a Mastris, 255 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:53.279 and three corps, each of forty thousand men, but composed 256 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:57.759 for the most part of hastily organized Asiatics, one under 257 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:03.440 Cassius between Bithynia and Galatian, another under Aquilius between Bithynia 258 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:08.359 and Pontus, and a third under Appius in Cappadocia. The 259 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:13.279 war was decided almost in a single battle. Neoptolemus and 260 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:17.039 Archelaus routed the Bithynian army on the River Omnius and 261 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:21.279 captured the camp and military chest. It was a fierce 262 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:24.279 and for some time a doubtful fight, and seems to 263 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:28.200 have been decided by the scythed chariots, which spread terror 264 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:33.160 in the Bithynian ranks. Nicomedes fled to Aquilius, who was 265 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:37.680 defeated by Archelaus near Mount Scorobas, and fled with the 266 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:42.319 king across the Sangarius to Pergamus, whence he attempted to 267 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:47.359 reach Rhodes. Cassius retreated to Phrygia and tried to discipline 268 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:51.079 his raw levies, but finding this impossible, he broke up 269 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:54.359 the army and led the Roman troops with him to Apamea. 270 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:58.319 The fleet in the Black Sea was surrendered by its commander. 271 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:04.480 Thus tried triumphant by sea and land. Mithridatees, after settling Bithynia, 272 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:09.759 marched through Phrygia and Mesia into the Roman province of Asia, 273 00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:14.240 and was hailed everywhere as a deliverer, for after his 274 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:18.640 victories he had sent home all his Asiatic prisoners with presents. 275 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:23.519 Then he sent messengers into Litia and Pamphylia to seek 276 00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:27.799 the alliance of those countries. Opphius was in Laodicea on 277 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:31.400 the Lychas the king offered the townsmen immunity if they 278 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.880 surrendered him, and when they did so, carried him about 279 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:38.519 as a show. Aquilius was also given up by the 280 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:41.839 middle Inanians and made to ride in chains on an 281 00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:47.039 ass calling out who he was wherever he went. At Pergamus, 282 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:52.640 Mithriddes slew him by pouring molten gold down his throat, 283 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:57.599 a savage punishment which perhaps confirms the impression that it 284 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:03.160 was Roman avarice which forced the war. Magnesia on the Maander, 285 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:08.200 Ephesus and Midelini welcomed the king joyfully, and Stra Tanisea 286 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:13.960 in Carea was captured. He then attacked Magnesia near Mount Sephalus, 287 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:18.599 prepared to invade Rhodes, and issued a hideous order for 288 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:23.359 the exterminating massacre of every Roman and Italian in Asia 289 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:28.119 on an appointed day. Punishments were proclaimed for anyone who 290 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:31.160 should hide one of the proscribed or bury his body. 291 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:36.000 Rewards were promised for all who killed or denounced them 292 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:40.000 slaves who slew their masters were to be freed. The 293 00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:42.799 murder of a creditor was to be taken as payment 294 00:20:42.839 --> 00:20:46.319 by a debtor of half his debt. There were dreadful 295 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:49.799 scenes on the fatal day, the thirtieth after the order 296 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:54.640 was issued in the Asiatic cities. In Pergamus, the victims 297 00:20:54.839 --> 00:20:58.400 fled to the temple of Iceculapius and were shot down 298 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:02.039 as they clung to the statue. At Ephesus, they were 299 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:06.359 dragged out from the temple of Artemis and slain At Adramitium, 300 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:09.759 they swam out to sea, but were brought back and killed, 301 00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:13.839 and their children were drowned at costs. Alone was any 302 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:17.240 mercy shown there. Those who had taken refuge in the 303 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:21.240 temple of Iceculapius were spared. The number of the slain 304 00:21:21.400 --> 00:21:24.200 was said to be eighty thousand, or even one hundred 305 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:28.319 and twenty thousand, which must have been, however, an incredible exaggeration. 306 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:33.559 By this fiendish crime, Mithridates must, though he was mistaken, 307 00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:37.359 have felt that he had cut himself off forever from 308 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:42.000 any reconciliation with Rome. But no doubt he acted on calculation, 309 00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:44.680 for not only did he get rid of men who 310 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:48.279 might have recruited the Roman armies. Not only did he 311 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:51.839 gratify the long hoarded hatred of the farmers and peasants 312 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:56.400 of whom Roman publocani and Roman slave masters had so 313 00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:00.400 long made a prey. Not only did he obligin the 314 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.880 debtors by wiping out their debts and even the very 315 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.240 memory of them and their creditor's blood, but he might 316 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:11.279 well count on putting his accomplices also beyond the pale 317 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:16.440 of Roman mercy, and so linking them to his own fortunes. Moreover, 318 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:20.960 vengeance seemed remote, for Sullah had just marched on Rome 319 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.759 instead of to the east, and the civil war in 320 00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:28.440 Italy might make Mithridates permanently supreme in Asia. So he 321 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:32.160 made Pergamus his capital, leaving Sinopi to his son as 322 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:37.279 vice regent. While Cappadocia, Phrygia, and Bithynia were turned into satrpies. 323 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:42.039 All arrears of taxes were remitted, and so wealthy had 324 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:45.519 his spoils made him that exemption for five years to 325 00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:48.960 come was promised to the towns that had obeyed his orders. 326 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:53.880 But the tide was already on the turn. In Paphlagonia, 327 00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:59.960 there was still resistance, Archelaus was repulsed and wounded at Magnesia. 328 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.039 CI Deities in person was forced to abandon the siege 329 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:07.279 of Rhodes. His revenge was stated he was tired of 330 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:10.440 the hardships of a war which he meant his generals 331 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:13.559 to conduct in future, and with a new wife, he 332 00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:16.319 went back to Pergamus, to his rings in his music 333 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:20.279 and debaucheries, at the very time that a shudder had 334 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:24.519 gone through Italy at the tidings of the massacre, and 335 00:23:24.599 --> 00:23:28.799 when Sullah was on his way to avenge it. End 336 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:30.559 of Section thirteen.