to blows, singled out Pompey, and spurring furiously up to him, darted his javelin at him. But Pompey received him so vigorously with his spear, that it went through his body, and laid him dead at his horse's feet. The Albanians were overthrown, and a great slaughter was made of them. This victory obliged king Orodes to buy a second peace upon the same terms with that which he had made with the Romans the year before, at the price of great presents, and by giving one of his sons as a hostage for his observing it better than he had done the former.

Mithridates, in the mean time, had passed the winter at Dioscurias, in the north-east of the Euxine sea. Early in the spring he marched to the Cimmerian Bosphorus, through several nations of the Scythians, some of which suffered him to pass voluntarily, and others were obliged to it by force. The kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosphorus is the same which is now called Crim Tartary, and was at that time a province of Mithridates's empire. He had assigned it as an establishment to one of his sons, named Machares. But that young prince had been so vigorously pressed by the Romans, whilst they besieged Sinope, and their fleet was in possession of the Euxine sea, which lay between that city and his kingdom, that he had been obliged to make a peace with them, and had inviolably observed it till then. He well knew that his father was extremely displeased with such conduct, and therefore very much dreaded meeting him. In order to a reconciliation, he sent ambassadors to him upon his route, who represented to him, that he had been reduced to act in that manner, contrary to his inclination, by the necessity of his affairs. But finding that his father was not influenced by his reasons, he endeavoured to escape by sea, and was taken by vessels sent expressly by Mithridates to cruise in his way. He chose rather to kill himself than fall into his father's hands.

Pompey, having terminated the war in the north, and seeing it impossible to follow Mithridates into the remote country to which he had retired, led back his army to the south, and on his march subjected Darius king of the Medes, and Antiochus king of Coniagena. He went on to Syria, and made himself master of the whole empire. Scaurus reduced Cole-syria and Damascus, and Gabinius all the rest of the country as far as the Tigris: these were two of his lieutenant-generals. Antiochus Asiaticus,* son of Antiochus Eusebes, heir of the house of the Seleucidæ, who, by Lucullus's permission, had reigned four years in part of that country, of which he had taken possession when Tigranes abandoned it, came to solicit him to re-establish him upon the throne of his ancestors. But Pompey refused to give him audience, and deprived him of all his dominions, which he made a Roman province. Thus, whilst Ti granes was left in possession of Armenia, who had done the Ro

Appian. in Syr. p. 133. Justin. 1. xl. c. 2.

609803

mans great hurt during the course of a long war, Antiochus was dethroned, who had never committed the least hostility, and by no ineans deserved such treatment. The reason given for it was, that the Romans had conquered Syria from Tigranes; that it was not just that they should lose the fruit of their victory; that Antiochus was a prince who had neither the courage nor capacity necessary for the defence of the country; and that to put it into his hands would be to expose it to the perpetual ravages and incursions of the Jews and Arabians, which Pompey took care not to do. In consequence of this way of reasoning, Antiochus lost his crown, and was reduced to the necessity of passing his life as a private person. In him ended the empire of the Ant. J. C. 65. Seleucidæ, after a duration of almost 250 years. During these expeditions of the Romans in Asia, great revolutions happened in Egypt. The Alexandrians, weary of their king Alexander, took up arms; and after having expelled him, called in Ptolemy Auletes to supply his place. That history will be treated at large in the ensuing article.

A. M. 3939.

Pompey afterwards went to Damascus,* where he regulated several affairs relating to Egypt and Judea. During his residence there, twelve crowned heads went thither to make their court to him, and were all in the city at the same time.

A fine contention between the love of a father and the duty of a son was seen at this time; a very extraordinary contest in those days, when the most horrid murders and parricides frequently opened the way to thrones. Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia, voluntarily resigned the crown in favour of his son, and put the diadem on his head in the presence of Pompey. The most sincere tears flowed in abundance from the eyes of the son, who was truly afflicted at a circumstance for which others would have highly rejoiced. It was the sole occasion in which he thought disobedience allowable; and he would have persisted in refusing the sceptre,‡ if Pompey's orders had not interfered, and obliged him at length to submit to paternal authority. This is the second example Cappadocia has displayed of such a contest of generosity. We have spoken in its place of a similar contest between the two Ariaratheses.

As Mithridates was in possession of several strong places in Pon tus and Cappadocia, Pompey judged it necessary to return thither in order to reduce them. He made himself master of almost all of them upon his arrival, and afterwards wintered at Aspis, a city of Pontus.

Stratonice, one of Mithridates's wives, surrendered a castle of the Bosphorus, which she had in her keeping, to Pompey, with the treasures concealed in it, demanding only for recompense, that if her son Xiphares should fall into his hands, he should be restored

Plut. in Pomp. p. 638, 639.

t Val. Max. 1. v. c. 7

Nec ullum finem tam egregium certamen habuisset, nisi patriæ voluntati auctorb tas Pompeii adfuisset. Val. Max.

to her. Pompey accepted only such of those presents as would serve for the ornaments of temples. When Mithridates knew what Stratonice had done, to revenge her facility in surrendering that fortress, which he considered as a treason, he killed Xiphares in his mother's sight, who beheld that sad spectacle from the other side of the strait.

Caina, or the New City, was the strongest place in Pontus, and therefore Mithridates kept the greatest part of his treasures, and whatever he had of greatest value, in that place, which he conceived impregnable. Pompey took it, and with it all that Mithridates had left in it. Amongst other things were found secret memoirs, written by himself, which gave a very good insight into his character. In one part he had noted down the persons he had poisoned, amongst whom were his own son Ariarathes, and Alcaus of Sardis; the latter, because he had carried the prize in the chariot-race against him. What fantastical records were these! Was he afraid that the public and posterity should not be informed of his monstrous crimes, and his motives for committing them?

His memoirs of physic* were also found there, which Pompey caused to be translated into Latin by Lenæus, a good grammarian, one of his freedmen; and they were afterwards made public in that language. For, amongst the other extraordinary qualities of Mithridates, he was very skilful in medicine. It was he who invented the excellent antidote which still bears his name, and from which physicians have experienced such effects, that they continue to use it successfully to this day.

A. M. 3940.

Pompey, during his stay at Aspis, made such Ant. J. C. 64. regulations in the affairs of the country, as the state of them would admit. As soon as the spring returned, he marched back into Syria for the same purpose. He did not think it adviseable to pursue Mithridates in the kingdom of the Bosphorus, whither he was returned. To do that he must have marched round the Euxine sea with an army, and passed through many countries, either inhabited by barbarous nations, or entirely desert; a very dangerous enterprise, in which he would have run great risk of perishing. So that all Pompey could do was to post the Roman fleet in such a manner as to intercept any convoys that might be sent to Mithridates. He believed by that means, he should be able to reduce him to the last extremity; and said, on setting out, that he left Mithridates more formidable enemies than the Romans, which were hunger and necessity.

What carried him with so much ardour into Syria was his excessive and vainglorious ambition to push his conquests as far as the Red Sea. In Spain, and before that in Africa, he had carried the Roman arms as far as the western ocean on both sides of the

Plin. l. xxv. c. 20.. † Joseph. Antiq. 1. xiv. 5, 6. Plut. in Pomp. p. 639–641. Dion. Cass. 1. xxxvii. p. 34-36. Appian. p. 246–251.

straits of the Mediterranean. In the war against the Albanians, he had extended his conquests to the Caspian Sea, and believed there was nothing wanting to his glory, but to push them on as far as the Red Sea. Upon his arrival in Syria, he declared Antioch and Seleucia, upon the Orontes, free cities, and continued his march towards Damascus; from whence he designed to have gone on against the Arabians, and afterwards to have conquered all the countries to the Red Sea. But an accident happened which obliged him to suspend all his projects, and to return into Pontus.

Some time before, an embassy had come to him from Mithridates, who demanded peace. He proposed, that he should be suffered to retain his hereditary dominions, as Tigranes had been, upon condition of paying a tribute to the Romans, and resigning all his other provinces. Pompey replied, that then he should also come in person, as Tigranes had done. Mithridates could not consent to such a meanness, but proposed sending his children, and some of his principal friends. Pompey would not be satisfied with that. The negotiation broke off, and Mithridates applied himself to making preparations for war with as much vigour as ever. Pompey, who received advice of this activity, judged it necessary to be upon the spot, in order to have an eye to every thing. For that purpose, he went to pass some time at Amisus, the ancient capital of the country. There, through the just punishment of the gods, says Plutarch, his ambition made him commit faults which drew upon him the blame of all the world. He had publicly charged and reproached Lucullus, for having, while the war still raged, disposed of provinces, given rewards, decreed honours, and acted in all things as victors are not accustomed to act till a war is finally terminated; and now he fell into the same inconsistency himself. For he disposed of governments, and divided the dominions of Mithridates into provinces, as if the war had been at an end. But Mithridates still lived, and every thing was to be apprehended from a prince inexhaustible in resources, whom the greatest defeats could not disconcert, and whom losses themselves seemed to inspire with new courage, and to supply with new strength. And indeed at that very time, when he was believed to be irretrievably ruined, he was actually meditating a terrible invasion into the very heart of the Roman empire with the troops he had lately raised.

Pompey, in the distribution of rewards, gave Armenia Minor to Dejotarus, prince of Galatia, who had always continued firmly attached to the Roman interests during this war, to which he added the title of king. It was this Dejotarus who, by always persisting, through gratitude, in his adherence to Pompey, incurred the resentment of Cæsar, and had occasion for the eloquence of Cicero to defend him.

He made Archelaus also high-priest of the Moon, who was the supreme goddess of the Comanians in Pontus, and gave him the sovereignty of the place, which contained at least 6000 persons, all

devoted to the worship of that deity. I have already observed, that this Archelaus was the son of him who commanded in chief the troops sent by Mithridates into Greece in his first war with the Romans, and who, being disgraced by that prince, had, with his son, taken refuge amongst them. They had always, from that time, continued their firm adherents, and had been of great use to them in the wars of Asia. The father being dead, the high-priesthood of Comana, and the sovereignty annexed to it, were given to the son, in recompense for the services of both.

During Pompey's stay in Pontus, Aretas, king of Arabia Petræa, took advantage of his absence to make incursions into Syria, which very much distressed the inhabitants. Pompey returned thither. Upon his way he came to the place where lay the dead bodies of the Romans killed in the defeat of Triarius. He caused them to be interred with great solemnity, which gained him the hearts of his soldiers. From thence he continued his march towards Syria, with the view of executing the projects he had formed for the war of Arabia; but news of importance interrupted those designs.

Though Mithridates had lost all hopes of peace, ever since Pompey had rejected the overtures he had caused to be made to him; and though he saw many of his subjects abandon his party; far from losing courage, he had formed the design of crossing Pannonia, and passing the Alps, to attack the Romans in Italy itself, as Hannibal had done before him: a project more bold than prudent, with which his inveterate hatred and blind despair had inspired him. A great number of the neighbouring Scythians had entered themselves in his service, and considerably augmented his army. He had sent deputies into Gaul to solicit the nations there to join him, when he should approach the Alps. As great passions are always credulous, and men easily flatter themselves in what they ardently desire, he was in hopes that the flame of the revolt among the slaves in Italy and Sicily, perhaps ill extinguished, might suddenly rekindle upon his presence: that the pirates would soon repossess themselves of the empire of the sea, and involve the Romans in new difficulties; and that the provinces, oppressed by the avarice and cruelty of the magistrates and generals, would be anxious to throw off the yoke by his aid, under which they had so long groaned. Such were the thoughts that he had revolved in his mind.

But as, in order to execute this project, it was necessary to march more than 500 leagues, and traverse the countries now called Little Tartary, Podolia, Moldavia, Wallachia, Transylvania, Hungary, Stiria, Carinthia, the Tirol, and Lombardy; and pass three great rivers, the Borysthenes, Danul, and Po; the bare idea of so toilsome and dangerous a march threw his army into such terror, that, to prevent the execution of his design, they conspired against him, and chose Pharnaces, his son, king, who had been active in exciting the soldiers to this revolt. Mithridates then, seeing himself abandoned by all the world, art even his son would not suffer him