Mithridatic Wars

When Mithridates heard of his defeat at Orchomenus he reflected on the immense number of men he had sent into Greece from the beginning, and the continual and swift disaster that had overtaken them. Accordingly, he sent word to Archelaus to make peace on the best terms possible. The latter had an interview with Sulla in which he said, "King Mithridates was your father's friend, O Sulla. He became involved in this war through the rapacity of other Roman generals. He will avail himself of your virtuous character to make peace, if you will grant him fair terms." As Sulla had no ships; as his enemies at Rome had sent him no money, nor anything else, but had declared him an outlaw; as he had already spent the money which he had taken from the Pythian, Olympian, and Epidauric temples, in return for which he had assigned to them half of the territory of Thebes on account of its frequent defections; and because he was in a hurry to lead his army fresh and unimpaired against the hostile faction at home, he assented to the proposal, and said," If injustice was done to Mithridates, O Archelaus, he ought to have sent an embassy to show how he was wronged, instead of which he put himself in the wrong by overrunning such a vast territory belonging to others, killing such a vast number of people, seizing the public and sacred funds of cities, and confiscating the private property of those whom he destroyed. He has been just as perfidious to his own friends as to us, many of whom he has put to death, including the tetrarchs whom he had brought together at a banquet, and their wives and children, although they had committed no hostile act. Toward us he was moved by an inborn enmity rather than by any necessity for war, visiting every possible calamity upon the Italians throughout Asia, torturing and murdering all of our race, together with their wives, children, and servants. Such hatred did this man bear toward Italy, who now pretends friendship for my father!--a friendship which ye did not call to mind until I had destroyed 160,000 of your troops.

"Instead of treating for peace we ought to be absolutely implacable toward him, but for your sake I will undertake to obtain his pardon from Rome if he actually repents. But if he is playing the hypocrite again, I advise you, Archelaus, to look out for yourself. Consider how matters stand at present between you and him. Bear in mind how he has treated his other friends and how we treated Eumenes and Masinissa." While he was yet speaking, Archelaus rejected the offer with indignation, saying that he would never betray one who had put an army under his command. "I hope," he said, "to come to an agreement with you if you offer moderate terms." After a short interval Sulla said, "If Mithridates will deliver to us the entire fleet in your possession; if he will surrender our generals and ambassadors and all prisoners, deserters, and runaway slaves, and send back to their homes the people of Chios and all others whom he has dragged off to Pontus; if he will remove his garrison from all places except those that he held before the outbreak of hostilities; if he will pay the cost of the war incurred on his account, and remain content with his ancestral dominions,--I shall hope to persuade the Romans not to remember the injuries he has done them." Such were the terms which he offered. Archelaus at once withdrew his garrison from all the places he held and referred the other conditions to the king. In order to make use of his leisure in the meantime, Sulla marched against the Eneti, the Dardani, and the Sinti, tribes on the border of Macedonia, who were continually invading that country, and devasted their territory. In this way he exercised his soldiers and enriched them at the same time. [*](Y.R. 670)

The ambassadors of Mithridates returned with ratifications of all the terms except those relating to Paphlagonia, and they added that Mithridates could obtain better conditions, "if he should negotiate with your other general, Fimbria." Sulla was indignant that he should be brought into such comparison and said that he would bring Fimbria to punishment, and would go himself to Asia and see whether Mithridates wanted peace or war. Having spoken thus he marched through Thrace to Cypsella after having sent Lucullus forward to Abydus, for Lucullus had arrived at last, having run the risk of capture by pirates several times. He had collected a sort of a fleet composed of ships from Cyprus, Phoenicia, Rhodes, and Pamphylia, and had ravaged much of the enemy's coast, and had skirmished with the ships of Mithridates on the way. Then Sulla advanced from Cypsella and Mithridates from Pergamus, and [*](B.C. 84) they met in a conference. Each went with a small force to a plain in sight of the two armies. Mithridates began by discoursing of his own and his father's friendship and alliance with the Romans. Then he accused the Roman ambassadors, committeemen, and generals of doing him injuries by putting Ariobarzanes on the throne of Cappadocia, depriving him of Phrygia, and allowing Nicomedes to wrong him. "And all this," he said, "they did for money, taking it from me and from them by turns; for there is nothing of which most of you are so liable to accusation, 0 Romans, as the love of lucre. When war had broken out through the acts of your generals all that I did was in self-defence, and was the result of necessity rather than of intention."

When Mithridates had ceased speaking Sulla replied: "Although you called us here," he said, "for a different purpose, namely, to accept our terms of peace, I shall not refuse to speak briefly of those matters. I restored Ariobarzanes to the throne of Cappadocia by decree of the Senate when I was governor in Cilicia, and you obeyed the decree. You ought to have opposed it and given your reasons then, or forever after held your peace. Manius gave Phrygia to you for a bribe, which was a crime on the part of both of you. By the very fact of your getting it by bribery you confess that you had no right to it. Manius was tried at Rome for other acts that he had done for money and the Senate annulled them all. For this reason they decided, not that Phyrgia, which had been given to you wrongfully, should be made tributary to Rome, but should be free. If we who had taken it by war did not think best to govern it, by what right could you hold it? Nicomedes charges that you sent against him an assassin named Alexander, and then Socrates Chrestus, a rival claimant of the kingdom, and that it was to avenge these wrongs that he invaded your territory. However, if he wronged you, you ought to have sent an embassy to Rome and waited for an answer. But although you took swift vengeance on Nicomedes, why did you attack Ariobarzanes, who had not harmed you? When you drove him out of his kingdom you imposed upon the Romans, who were there, the necessity of putting him back. By preventing them from doing so you brought on the war. You had meditated war a long time, because you hoped to rule the whole world if you could conquer the Romans, and the reasons you tell of were mere pretexts to cover your real intent. The proof of this is that you, although not yet at war with any nation, sought the alliance of the Thracians, Sarmatians, and Scythians, sought aid from the neighboring kings, built a navy, and enlisted pilots and helmsmen.