Section fourteen of the grochy Marius and Sulla by A. H. Beasley. This librevox recording is in the public domain. Read by Pamelinagami, Chapter twelve Sullah in Greece and Asia. A citizen of Athens named Eurysthion, whose mother was an Egyptian slave, and who was the son or adopted son of one Athenian, had been sent by the Athenians as ambassador to Mithridates. He had been a schoolmaster and teacher of rhetoric, and
professed the philosophy of Epicurus. He gained the ear of Mithridates and sent home flaming accounts of the king's power and of his intention of restoring the democracy at Athens. The Athenians sent some ships of war to bring him home from Eubea, with a present of a silver footed litter, and in this clothed in purple, and with a fine ring on his finger, which he had got, probably from his friend Mithriti Dedes. He came back to Athens with
much parade. In a set speech, he dilated on the king's splendid successes and advised the people to declare themselves independent and elect him their general. They did so, and he very soon massacred his opponents and made himself despot. Thus Athens and the Piraeus passed into the hands of Mithridates. The spirit of disaffection to Rome spread rapidly when Archelaus
Reader's note Greek Archelaus appeared in Greece. The Achaeans, Laconians and Botians, with the exception of THESPII, joined him, while the Pontic fleet seized Ubea and Demetrius, a town at the head of the Gulf of Pegasi. Surro was sent by the Roman governor of Macedonia to make head against the invaders. He won a naval battle and captured Sciathus,
where all the spoils of the enemy were stored. Then he marched into BeO Osia, and after a three days engagement with the combined forces of Archilaus and Aristion, pushed Archilaus back to the coast. The war perhaps might have been ended here, but at this moment Leucullus came to announce the approach of Sullah and to warn Sura that the war had been entrusted to him. So Sura retired
to Macedonia. Sullah had left Brundusium in eighty seven, and landing on the coast of Epirus, gathered what supplies he could from Aetolia and Thessaly, and marched straight for Athens. It was soon seen that the foundations of the empire of Mithridates was based on sand. The Beeotians at once submitted, including Thebes, which had joined the king. Cellah then began two sieges, that of the Pyraeus, where Archilaus was, and
that of Athens, defended by Aristian. Archilaus had before shown himself an intrepid soldier, and he baffled all Sullah's efforts with equal ingenuity and courage. After an unsuccessful attempt to storm the walls, Sulla retired to Eleusis and Megara, thus keeping up his communications with Thebes and the Peloponnese, and set to work constructing catapults and other engines and preparing an earthwork from which he meant to attack the wall with them. For these purposes he cut down the trees
of the Academia and Lyceum. He was kept informed of intended sallies by two slaves inside the town, who threw down leaden balls with words cut on them. But as fast as the earthwork rose, Archilaus built towers on the walls opposite to it, and thus harassed the besiegers. He was also reinforced by Mithridates, and then came out and fought a battle which was for some time doubtful, but he was forced to retire at length with the loss
of two thousand men. He himself remained till the last the gates were shut, and he had to be drawn up by a rope over the wall. The affairs of Selah, however, were in no flourishing condition. He had come to Greece with only thirty thousand men, with no fleet and little money. He was forced to plunder the shrines of Epidorus, Olympia and Delphi. His messenger to Delphi came back saying that he had heard the sound of a lute in the
temple and dared not commit the sacrilege. But Selah sent him back saying that he was sure the sound was a note of welcome, and that the god meant him to have the treasure. He promised to pay it back some day, and he kept his word, for he confiscated half the land of Thebes and applied the proceeds to reimbursing the sacred funds in his worst straits, he was always ready with some such mockery. Winter was now at hand,
and Sullah dispatched Lucullus to Egypt to get ships. The refusal of the king of Egypt shows what was now thought of the Roman power. Sellah then formed a camp at Eleusis and continued the siege, and so shook the great tower of Archilaus by a simultaneous discharge of twelve leaden balls from his catapults, that it had to be
drawn back by means of the two slaves. He was also able to frustrate the attempts of Archilaus to throw supplies into Athens, which was now suffering from hunger, for Sullah had surrounded it with forts and turned the siege into a blockade. Mithridates now sent his son into Macedonia with an army, before which the small Roman force there had to retire. After this success, the prince marched toward Athens, but died on the way at the Pyrieus. Scenes occurred,
which were afterwards repeated at the Siege of Jerusalem. Arcoles Lais undermined the earthwork, and solom made another determined attempt to take the wall by storm, he battered down part of it, fired the props of his mine, and so brought down more, and sent troops by relays to escalade the breach. But Archilaus, like the Plataeans in the Peloponnesian War, built an inner crescent shaped wall, from which they took the assailants in front and on both flanks when they
tried to advance. At last, wearied by this dogged resistance, Sula turned the siege of the Pyrieus into a blockade, which meant simply that he hindered Archilaus from helping Athens, for he could not prevent the influx of supplies from the sea. Athens, meanwhile, was in dreadful straits. Wheat was selling at nearly three pounds ten shillings a gallon, and the inhabitants were feeding on old leather bottles, shoes, and
the bodies of the dead. A deputation came out, but Sullah sent them back because they began and harangue on the deeds of their ancestors put into their moulice. No doubt by the rhetorician Aristian, Sullah told them they were the scum of nations, not descended from the old Athenians at all, and that instead of listening to their rhetoric, he meant to punish their rebellion. On the night of March first, eighty six b c. He broke into the town amid the blare of trumpets and the shouts of
his troops. He told his men to give no quarter, and the blood, it was said, ran down through the gates into the suburbs. A Ristion fled to the acropolis. Hunger forced him, in the end to capitulate, and he was killed. Solo meanwhile, had forced on the siege of Pyrieus still more vigorously. He got past the crescent wall, only to find other walls similarly constructed behind it. But he gradually drove our Kleaeus into Munichia or the peninsular part of Piraeus, and as he had no ships, he
could do nothing more. Either before or after the capture of the acropolis. Archelaus sailed away in obedience to his summons from Taxilis, a new general whom Mithridates had sent with an army of one hundred thousand foot, ten thousand horse and ninety scythed chariots into Greece with these forces and the troops previously sent with his master's son. He formed a junction at Thermopylae, marched into Phocus, down the valley of the Caphesus, attempted but failed to take Aletaea,
and came up with Sulla near Chyronea. Sullah had marched into Baeotia and joined Hortensius, who had brought some troops from Thessaly, but he is said by Appian to have had not a third of the enemy's numbers, while Plutarch affirms that he had only fifteen thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. Sullah was on the west bank of the Capphaesus on an eminence named Philippiotis, and Archilaus on the
other side of the river not far off. Sulla's soldiers were alarmed by the numbers and splendors of the enemy, for the brass and steel of their armor kindled the air with an awful flame like that of lightning. Archilaus, marching down the valley of the Capphasus, tried to seize a strong position called the acropolis of the Peripotamie, situated on the assis, which joined the Capphasus to the south
of both armies. But Cellah, who had wearied out his men by drudgery and dike making and made them eager for a fight, crossed the Capphaesus seized the position first, and then, crossing the asses, took up his position under Mount Adyllium. Here he encamped opposite Archilaus, who, having also crossed the ass was now at a place called Assia, which was near Lake Capius. Thence Archilaus made an temped on Chyronea, but Sullah was again beforehand with him and
garrisoned the place with one legion. South of Chyrinea was a hill called Thurium. This Archilayus seized. Cellah then brought the rest of his troops across the Capphesus to form a junction with the legion in Chynea and dislodge the enemy from Thurium. He left Morena on the north of the Caphaesus to keep the enemy in check at Assia. Archilaius, however, also brought his main army across the Caphesus after Sullah.
Morena followed him, and Sullah drew up his army with his cavalry on each wing, himself commanding the right and Marina the left. The armies were now opposite each other. Sulla to the south, then Archilaus, then the Caphesus. Selah sent some troops round Thurium, to the hills behind Chyronea
and in the enemy's rear. The enemy ran down in confusion from Thurium, where they were met by Marina with Sollah's left wing, and were either destroyed or driven back into the center of the line of Archilaus, which they
threw into disorder. Solah on the right advanced so quickly as to prevent the scythed chariots from getting any impetus by which they were rendered useless, for the soldiers easily eluded them when driven at a slow pace, and as soon as they had passed, killed the horses and drivers.
Archilaus now extended his right wing in order to surround Marena. Hortensius, whom Sallah had posted on some hills to the left of his left wing on purpose to defeat this maneuver, immediately pressed forward to attack this body on its left flank, but Archelaus drove him back with some cavalry and nearly
surrounded Hortensius. Selah hastened to his aid and Archilaus, seeing him coming, instantly countermarched and attacked Sulla's right in his absence, while Taxilies assailed Morena on the left, but Sullah hastened back to after leaving Hortensius to support Morena, and when he appeared, the right wing drove back Archilaus to the Caphesus. Morena was equally triumphant on the left wing, and the Barbarians fled Pellmell to the Caphesus, only ten thousand of
them reaching Calcus in Eubea. Appian says the Romans lost only thirteen men, while Plutarch, on the authority of Sulla's memoirs, says that they lost four. This is absurd. Sulla seems to have told some startling lies in his memoirs, perhaps to prove that he had been the favorite of fortune, which was a mania of his Mithridates, when he heard of the defeat of Archilaus, sent Doroleus with eight thousand men to Eubea, where he joined the remnant of the
army of Archilaus and crossed to the mainland. Met Sullah at Orcomenas. Sollah was in Phthiotis to confront Lucas Valerius Flaccus, who had come to supersede him, but he returned as soon as he heard that Doroleus had landed. Orcomenus is just north of the Caphaesus where it runs into Lake Capius, and a stream called Melus, rising on the east of
Orcomenez joined the Capphaesus near its mouth. The neighboring ground being a marsh Archilus did not want to fight, but Doroleus hinted at treachery, and had no doubt been ordered by Mithridates to avenge Chyrenaea near Mount Tilfossium. However, to the south of Lake Capius, he was worsted by Sullah in a skirmish, and, thinking better of the advice of Archilaus, tried to prolong the war. Archilaus indeed seems to have commanded in the battle, for Mithridates was shrewd enough to
know when he had a good general. He drew up his army in four lines, the scythed chariots in front, behind them the Macedonian phalanx, then his auxiliaries, including Italian deserters, and lastly his light armed troops. On each flank. He posted his cavalry Sullah, who was weak in cavalry, dug two ditches guarded by forts, one on each flank, so as to keep off the enemy's horse. Then he drew up his infantry in three lines, leaving gaps in them for the light troops and cavalry to come through from
the rear. When kneaded to the second line, stakes were given with orders to plant them so as to form a palisade, and the first line, when the chariots charged, retired behind the palisade, while the light troops advanced through the gaps and hurled missiles at the horses and drivers. The chariots turned and threw the phalanx into confusion, and when Archelaus ordered up his cavalry, Sullah sent round his
to take them in the rear. At one time, however, the contest was doubtful, and the Romans wavered till they were put to shame by their general, who, seizing a standard and advancing toward the foe, cried out. When those at home asked where it was you abandoned your leader, say it was at Orclemens. This great victory, in which Salah showed generalship of a high order, ended the First Mithridateic War. The date is not quite certain. Probably it
happened in eighty six. After the battle, Sullah wintered in Thessaly, where he built a fleet, being tired of waiting for Lucullus. At Delhiam, he met Archilaus and each urged the other to turn traitor. Archilaus promising that Mithridates would aid Selah against Sinna Sellah advising Archilaius to dethrow Mithridates. It was a curious way of showing the respect which they entertained for each other's ability. But Sullah was too scornful of
Asiatic aid, and Archilaus too loyal to listen to such suggestions. However, when Archilaius fell ill afterwards, Sullah was so attentive to him, besides giving him land and Ubia and styling him friend of the Roman people, that it was suspected that Archelaus had been playing into his hands all along. It was
a most unlikely suspicion, for nothing was more natural than that. Now, when Sullah was making terms with Mithridates and going to meet Fimbria, he should wish to make Archillais his friend, for after all, he had resolved to forget the Asiatic massacre and had not pushed Mithridates to desperation. The terms agreed upon were these. Mithridates was to surrender Cappadocia, Patholgo, Bithynia, Asia and the islands eighty ships of war, all prisoners
and deserters. He was to give pay and provisions to Sulla's men, and provide a war indemnity of three thousand talents seven hundred thirty two thousand pounds, to restore to their homes the refugees from Macedonia and those whom, as will be related afterwards he had carried off from Kios, and to hand over more of his ships of war in such states as Rhodes. In alliance with Rome. Mithridates was then to be recognized as the ally of Rome.
He chafed at the terms, the proposal of which indeed brought out the long headed intrepidity, of sullest character and the strongest light walking, as it were, on the razor edge of two precipices. He never faltered once. The Romans could not charge him with not having carried into effect the original purposes of the war, the restoration of Nicomaise and Ario Barzanis, nor could Mithridates fail in the end to listen to the voice of Archilaus when he at
first rejected the terms. Sullah advanced toward Asia, plundering some of the barbarous tribes on the frontiers of Macedonia and reducing that province to order. But Mithridates did not hesitate long. He too was in a difficult position. The inhabitants of Asia Minor soon found that in yielding to him, they had exchanged whips for scorpions. He suspected that the defeat of Archilaus at Chynaea would excite rebellion, and he seized as many of the Galician chiefs as he could and
slew them with their wives and children. The consequence was that the surviving chiefs expelled the man whom he had sent a satrap. He suspected the Kaians also and made them give up their arms and the children of their
chief men as hostages. Then he made a requisition on them for two thousand talents four hundred and eighty eight thousand pounds, And because they could not raise the money, or because the tyrant pretended that there was a deficiency, the citizens were shipped off to the east of the Black Sea, and the island was occupied by colonists. The man who had managed the affair of Kios was sent to play the same game at Ephesus, but the people were on their guard, slew him and raised the standard
of rebellion. Tarles, Hypaipa, Metropolis, Ardiss, Myrna and other towns followed their example. Mithridates tried to buoy up his sinking cause, attracting debtors by the remission of debts, resident aliens by the gift of the citizenship of the towns which they inhabited, and slaves by the promise of freedom. Devices of a desperate man. A plot was laid against the life which was betrayed, and in his fury he launched out into
yet more savage excesses. He sent a set of men to collect depositions, and they slew indiscriminately those who were denounced. Sixteen hundred. It is set in all these events may have occurred in the winter of eighty six to eighty five BC, when Flaccus was on his march from the Adriatic coast through Macedonia and Thrace for Asia. Flaccus had quarreled with his lieutenant Fimbria and superseded him Fibria, when Flaccus had crossed from Byzantium to Chalcidon, induced the troops,
who hated their general, to mutiny. Flaccus returned in haste, but learning what had happened, fled back to Chalcidon and thence to Nicomedia. Here Fibria, finding him hidden in a well, murdered him and threw his head into the sea. Then attacking the king's son, he feeded him at the river Rindacus and pursued the king himself to Pergamus and Petani, where he would have taken him, but that Mithridates crossed over to Midellini, while Fimbria had no ships, and was
thus bulked of his prey. Another event had happened to aggravate his irritation. Lucullus, sent by Salah to collect a fleet, had, as has been related, failed in Egypt, but he had procured ships from Syria and Rhodes, induced Kas and Nidas to revolt, and driven out the Pontic partisans from Chios and Colophon. He was now in the neighborhood when Mithridates was at Pitani, but he turned a deaf ear to
Fimbria's request for aid. And after defeating Neoptolemus, the king's admiral met Sulla in the Thracian Cursonese and conveyed him across to Dardanus in the troad, where Mithridates came to meet him. Each had one feeling in common, dread lest the others should make terms with Fimbria, and the bargain was soon struck in spite of Sullah's soldiers, who were thus after all, bulked of the long looked for Asiatic campaign and their desire to take revenge for the great massacre.
But Sullah, as we have seen, got some money to quiet them, and they were in his power in Asia almost as much as he had been in theirs at Rome. He at once led them against Fimbria, who was near thy Retira in Lydia. He summoned that leader to hand over his army, and the soldiers began to desert to him. Fimbria tried to force them to swear obedience to him,
and slew the first who refused. Then he sent a slave to assassinate Sullah, and the discovery of this attempt so maddened Sullah's soldiers that Fimbria dared not trust even Sullah's promised safe conduct and slew himself. Sullah incorporated his troops with his own army and proceeded to regulate the affairs of Asia. Those towns which had remained faithful to Rome or had sided with him were liberally rewarded. All slaves who refused to return to their masters were slain.
The towns that resisted were punished and their walls destroyed. The ringleaders in the massacre were put to death. The taxpayers were forced to pay at once the previous five years arrears and a fine of twenty thousand talents four million, eight hundred and eighty thousand pounds, and Lucullus was left to collect it. In order to raise this sum, the unhappy Asiatics were obliged to mortgage their public buildings to
the Italian money lenders. But Sullah got the whole of it, and scarcely was he gone when pirates, hounded on by Mithridates came like flocks of vultures to devour what the eagles had left. End of Section fourteen.