Pompeius subdues Mithridates and Tigranes.
Pompeius interea memorabile adversus Mithridaten, qui post Luculli profectionem magnas novi exercitus vires reparaverat, bellum gessit. At rex fusus fugatusque et omnibus exutus copiis Armeniam Tigranenque generum petit, regem eius temporis, 5 nisi qua Luculli armis erat infractus, potentissimum. Simul itaque duos persecutus Pompeius intravit Armeniam. Prior filius Tigranis, sed discors patri, pervenit ad Pompeium: mox ipse supplex et praesens se regnumque dicioni eius permisit, 10 praefatus neminem alium neque Romanum neque ullius gentis virum futurum fuisse, cuius se societate commissurus foret, quam Pompeium; non esse turpe ab eo vinci, quem vincere esset nefas, neque inhoneste aliquem summitti huic, quem fortuna super 15 omnes extulisset. Servatus regi honos imperi, sed multato ingenti pecunia, quae omnis, sicuti Pompeio moris erat, redacta in quaestoris potestatem ac publicis descripta litteris. Syria aliaeque, quas occupaverat, provinciae ereptae, et aliae restitutae populo 20 Romano, aliae tum primum in eius potestatem redactae, ut Syria, quae tum primum facta est stipendiaria. Finis imperi regi terminatus Armenia.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 37.
Context. In 66 B.C. Lucullus, of whom Mommsen says ‘hardly any other Roman general accomplished so much with so trifling means,’ was superseded by Pompeius. By the Lex Manilia Pompeius obtained, in addition to the extensive powers conferred upon him by the Lex Gabinia 67 B.C., the military administration of Asia as far as Armenia. ‘Never since Rome stood had such power been united in the hands of a single man.’—M.
3-4 rex fusus . . . copiis, i.e. in Lesser Armenia, on S. bank of R. Lycus, where Pompeius afterwards founded Nicopolis.
5 Tigranenque generum petit. Tigranes had married Cleopatra, the daughter of Mithridates.
17-19 quae omnis . . . litteris, i.e. paid into the Roman treasury. Cf. Lucan ix. 197 Immodicas possedit opes, sed plura retentis | Intulit sc. in aerarium.
The End of Mithridates. After his defeat at Nicopolis the aged king took refuge in his Northern capital of Panticapaeum (on the Cimmerian Bosporus). Here, when all turned against him, he took poison, 63 B.C. ‘In him a great enemy was borne to the tomb, a greater than had ever yet withstood the Romans in the indolent East.’—M.
Syria made a Roman Province, 65 B.C.