1. Mithradāticum: sc. bellum commōtum est.
bellō cīvīlī: in classical Latin probably a Genitive would have been used.
2. cum Sulla: Lucius Cornelius Sulla was born of a patrician family in 138 B.C. After having secured a good education, he passed his early life in the pursuit of pleasure, squandering the small fortune left him by his father. He served under Marius in Africa (Bk. IV, 8), and received the surrender of Jugurtha. During the war with the Cimbri and Teutones, he served under Marius and Catulus with distinction. When the Social war broke out he again entered the service and won fresh laurels (Ch. 3). In 88 B.C. he was elected consul and received the command of the war against Mithradates (Chs. 5-7). When he had concluded peace with Mithradates, he returned to Italy in 83 B.C., and prepared for the campaign against the leaders of the Marian party. His efforts were crowned with success. In 82 B.C. he brought the conflict to a close with the decisive battle of the Colline gate (Ch. 8). Sulla was now master of Italy. He resolved to take the most ample vengeance upon his enemies, and utterly to crush the popular party. He inaugurated a proscription, in which as many as 47,000 are said to have perished. He was chosen dictator by the senate, and made various reforms in the constitution of the state, all tending to strengthen the power of the aristocracy and to weaken that of the commons. In 79 B.C. he resigned his office and retired to his estate at Puteoli, where he died in 78 B.C. “None of his friends ever did him a kindness, and none of his enemies a wrong, without being fully repaid.”
3. gestūrus: the Future Participle is not used by prose writers of the classical period to denote purpose.
9. prīmus … armātus: a general with his army could not enter the city, except when celebrating a triumph, without losing his command.
11. in futūrum annum: ‘for the next year.’
Cn. Octāviō et L. Cornēliō Cinnā: in apposition with cōnsulibus.
Ch. 5.
13. Mithradātēs: Mithradates V was king of Pontus, a state of Asia Minor. He is one of the most striking characters of Roman history. Possessed of a large and powerful frame, he was endowed also with a mind of great strength and alertness, indomitable courage, and consuming ambition. It was the desire to extend his realm that brought him into collision with the Romans. In 88 B.C. he overran Bithynia, Cappadocia, and the greater part of the Roman province of Asia. In 84 B.C. peace was concluded with Sulla. In 83 B.C. he again began war. This was brought to an end two years later (Chs. 6, 8). For the third time he began to wage war in 74 B.C. This was the last and most important war, and, owing to mismanagement on the part of the Romans, was not concluded until 63 B.C., when he was driven from his kingdom and forced to take his own life (Bk. VI, 14). Creighton, pp. 66, 71.