FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR. B.C. 88-84.
The kingdom of Pontus, which derived its name from being on the coast of
the Pontus Euxinus, or Black Sea, was originally a satrapy of the
Persian empire, extending from the River Halys on the west to the
frontiers of Colchis on the east. Even under the later Persian kings the
rulers of Pontus were really independent, and in the wars of the
successors of Alexander the Great it became a separate kingdom. Most of
its kings bore the name of Mithridates; and the fifth monarch of this
name formed an alliance with the Romans, and was rewarded with the
province of Phrygia for the services he had rendered them in the war
against Aristonicus. He was assassinated about B.C. 120, and was
succeeded by his son Mithridates VI., commonly called the Great, who was
then only about twelve years of age. His youth was remarkable, but much
that has been transmitted to us respecting this period of his life wears
a very suspicious aspect; it is certain, however, that when he attained
to manhood he was not only endowed with consummate skill in all martial
exercises, and possessed of a bodily frame inured to all hardships, but
his naturally vigorous intellect had been improved by careful culture.
As a boy he had been brought up at Sinope, where he had probably
received the elements of a Greek education, and so powerful was his
memory that he is said to have learned not less than twenty-five
languages, and to have been able in the days of his greatest power to
transact business with the deputies of every tribe subject to his rule
in their own peculiar dialect. As soon as he was firmly established on
the throne he began to turn his arms against the neighboring nations. On
the west his progress was hemmed in by the power of Rome, and the minor
sovereigns of Bithynia and Cappadocia enjoyed the all-powerful
protection of the Republic. But on the east his ambition found free
scope. He subdued the barbarian tribes between the Euxine and the
confines of Armenia, including the whole of Colchis and the province
called Lesser Armenia; and he even added to his dominions the Tauric
Chersonesus, now called the _Crimea_. The Greek kingdom of Bosphorus,
which formed a portion of the Chersonesus, likewise submitted to his
sway. Moreover, he formed alliances with Tigranes, king of Armenia, to
whom he gave his daughter Cleopatra in marriage, as well as with the
warlike nations of the Parthians and Iberians. He thus found himself in
possession of such great power and extensive resources, that he began to
deem himself equal to a contest with Rome itself. Many causes of
dissension had already arisen between them. Shortly after his accession,
the Romans had taken advantage of his minority to wrest from him the
province of Phrygia. In B.C. 93 they resisted his attempt to place upon
the throne of Cappadocia one of his own nephews, and appointed a
Cappadocian named Ariobarzanes to be king of that country. For a time
Mithridates submitted; but the death of Nicomedes II., king of Bithynia,
shortly afterward, at length brought matters to a crisis. That monarch
was succeeded by his eldest son, Nicomedes III.; but Mithridates took
the opportunity to set up a rival claimant, whose pretensions he
supported with an army, and quickly drove Nicomedes out of Bithynia
(B.C. 90). About the same time he openly invaded Cappadocia, and
expelled Ariobarzanes from his kingdom, establishing his own son
Ariarathes in his place. Both the fugitive princes had recourse to Rome,
where they found ready support; a decree was passed that Nicomedes and
Ariobarzanes should be restored to their respective kingdoms, and the
execution of it was confided to M. Aquillius and L. Cassius.
Mithridates again yielded, and the two fugitive kings were restored to
their dominions; but no sooner was Nicomedes replaced on the throne of
Bithynia than he was urged by the Roman legates to invade the
territories of Mithridates, into which he made a predatory incursion.
Mithridates offered no resistance, but sent to the Romans to demand
satisfaction, and it was not until his embassador was dismissed with an
evasive answer that he prepared for immediate hostilities (B.C. 88). His
first step was to invade Cappadocia, from which he easily expelled
Ariobarzanes once more. His generals drove Nicomedes out of Bithynia,
and defeated Aquillius. Mithridates, following up his advantage, not
only made himself master of Phrygia and Galatia, but invaded the Roman
province of Asia. Here the universal discontent of the inhabitants,
caused by the oppression of the Roman governors, enabled him to overrun
the whole province almost without opposition. The Roman officers, who
had imprudently brought this danger upon themselves, were unable to
collect any forces to oppose his progress; and Aquillius himself, the
chief author of the war, fell into the hands of the King of Pontus.
Mithridates took up his winter quarters at Pergamus, where he issued the
sanguinary order to all the cities of Asia to put to death on the same
day all the Roman and Italian citizens who were to be found within their
walls. So hateful had the Romans rendered themselves during the short
period of their dominion, that these commands were obeyed with alacrity
by almost all the cities of Asia. Eighty thousand persons are said to
have perished in this fearful massacre.
The success of Mithridates encouraged the Athenians to declare against
Rome, and the king accordingly sent his general Archelaus with a large
army and fleet into Greece. Most of the Grecian states now declared in
favor of Mithridates. Such was the position of affairs when Sulla landed
in Epirus in B.C. 87. He immediately marched southward, and laid siege
to Athens and the Piræus. But for many months these towns resisted all
his attacks. Athens was first taken in the spring of the following year;
and Archelaus, despairing of defending the Piræus any longer, withdrew
into Boeotia, where he received some powerful re-enforcements from
Mithridates. Piræus now fell into the hands of Sulla, and both this
place and Athens were treated with the utmost barbarity. The soldiers
were indulged in indiscriminate slaughter and plunder. Having thus
wreaked his vengeance upon the unfortunate Athenians, Sulla directed his
arms against Archelaus in Boeotia, and defeated him with enormous loss
at Chæronea. Out of the 110,000 men of which the Pontic army consisted,
Archelaus assembled only 10,000 at Chalcis, in Euboea, where he had
taken refuge. Mithridates, on receiving news of this great disaster,
immediately set about raising fresh troops, and was soon able to send
another army of 80,000 men to Euboea. But he now found himself
threatened with danger from a new and unexpected quarter. While Sulla
was still occupied in Greece, the party of Marius at Rome had sent a
fresh army to Asia under the Consul L. Valerius Flaccus to carry on the
war at once against their foreign and domestic enemies. Flaccus was
murdered by his troops at the instigation of Fimbria, who now assumed
the command, and gained several victories over Mithridates and his
generals in Asia (B.C. 85). About the same time the new army, which the
king had sent to Archelaus in Greece, was defeated by Sulla in the
neighborhood of Orchomenus. These repeated disasters made Mithridates
anxious for peace, but it was not granted by Sulla till the following
year (B.C. 84), when he had crossed the Hellespont in order to carry on
the war in Asia. The terms of peace were definitely settled at an
interview which the Roman general and the Pontic king had at Dardanus,
in the Troad. Mithridates consented to abandon all his conquests in
Asia, to restrict himself to the dominions which he held before the
commencement of the war, or pay a sum of 5000 talents, and surrender to
the Romans a fleet of seventy ships fully equipped. Thus terminated the
First Mithridatic War.
Sulla was now at liberty to turn his aims against Fimbria, who was with
his army at Thyatira. The name of Sulla carried victory with it. The
troops of Fimbria deserted their general, who put an end to his own
life. Sulla now prepared to return to Italy. After exacting enormous
sums from the wealthy cities of Asia, he left his legate, L. Licinius
Murena, in command of that province, with two legions, and set sail with
his own army to Athens. While preparing for his deadly struggle in
Italy, he did not lose his interest in literature. He carried with him
from Athens to Rome the valuable library of Apellicon of Teos, which
contained most of the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus.
[Illustration: Coin of Nicomedes III., king of Bithynia.]
[Illustration: Brundisium.]