XVII. From Lebadeia[233] and the oracle of Trophonius favourable omens and predictions of victory were sent to the Romans, about which the people of the country have a good deal to say. But Sulla, in the tenth book of his Memoirs, writes, that Quintus Titius, a man of some note among those who had mercantile affairs in Greece, came to him immediately after the victory in Chæroneia, to report that Trophonius foretold a second battle and victory there in a short time. After Titius, a soldier in his army, named Salvenius, brought an answer from the god, as to what would be the result of affairs in Italy. Both reported the same as to the vision[234] of the god: they said, that in beauty and stature he was like the Olympian Jupiter. After crossing the Assus and advancing to the foot of Hedylium, Sulla encamped near Archelaus, who had thrown up a strong intrenchment between Mounts Akontium and Hedylium, at a place called the Assia. The spot on which he encamped is called Archelaus from his name up to the present day. After the interval of one day Sulla left Murena[235] with one legion and two cohorts, to annoy the enemy if he should attempt to form in order of battle; he himself sacrificed on the banks of the Kephisus, and the victims being favourable, he advanced towards Chæroneia with the object of again effecting a junction with the forces there, and examining the place called Thurium, which was occupied by the enemy. This is a rough summit and a conical-shaped hill, named Orthopagus; and under it is the stream of the Morius and a temple of the Thurian Apollo. The deity has this name from Thuro, the mother of Chæron, who is said to have been the founder of Chæroneia. Some say that the cow which was given by the Pythian Apollo as a guide to Kadmus[236] appeared there, and that the place was so called from her; for the Phœnicians call the cow Thor. As Sulla was approaching Chæroneia, the tribune who was stationed in the city led out the soldiers under arms, and met him with a chaplet of bay. No sooner had Sulla received the chaplet, and after saluting the soldiers, encouraged them to the approaching battle, than two Chæroneians (Homoloichus and Anaxidamos) presented themselves to him and undertook to drive the enemy from Thurium if he would give them a few soldiers. They said there was a path unknown to the barbarians, leading from the place called Petrachus by the Museum[237] to the highest point of Thurium, and that by taking this direction they could, without difficulty, fall on the enemy and either roll stones down upon them from above or drive them into the plain. As Gabinius bore testimony to the courage and fidelity of the men, Sulla bade them make the attempt; and in the mean time he formed his line and distributed his cavalry on each flank, himself taking the right and giving Murena the command on the left. The legati Galba[238] and Hortensius, with some reserved cohorts in the rear, occupied the neighbouring heights, to prevent the army from being attacked on the flank, for it was observed that the enemy were placing a strong body of cavalry and light infantry on their wings, with the view of adapting that part of their battle to ready and easy manœuvres, their design being to extend their line and to surround the Romans.
XVIII. In the mean time the Chæroneians, whom Sulla had placed under the command of Ericius, went round Thurium without being perceived, and all at once showed themselves to the enemy, who immediately falling into great confusion, took to flight and sustained considerable loss, but chiefly from themselves; for as they did not stand their ground, but ran down the hill, they got entangled among their own spears and shoved one another down the rocks, while the Chæroneians pressing upon them from above, wounded them in the parts which were unprotected; and there fell of the enemy to the number of three thousand. Part of those who got safe to the foot of the hill, being met by Murena, whose troops were already in order of battle, had their retreat cut off and were destroyed: the rest forced their way to the army of Archelaus, and, falling upon the line in disorder, caused a general alarm and confusion, and some loss of time to the generals; and this did them no small harm, for Sulla promptly led his forces against the enemy while they were still in disorder, and by quickly traversing the interval between the two lines, deprived the scythe-bearing chariots[239] of all opportunity of being effective. The efficacy of the chariots depends mainly on the space they traverse, by which they acquire velocity and momentum; but when the space is small their attack is ineffectual and feeble, just like missiles that have not been propelled with due force. Now this happened to the barbarians. The first chariots were driven on without any vigour, and came feebly against the ranks of the Romans, who easily pushed them aside, and, clapping their hands and laughing, called for more, as the people do in the horse-races of the Circus.[240] Upon this the infantry joined battle; the barbarians pushed forward their long spears and endeavoured by locking their shields to maintain their ranks in line: the Romans hurled their javelins, and then drawing their swords, endeavoured to beat aside the spears, that they might forthwith close with the enemy; for they were irritated at seeing drawn up in front of the enemy fifteen thousand slaves, whom the king's generals had invited from the cities by a proclamation of freedom, and enrolled among the hoplitæ.[241] A Roman centurion is said to have remarked, that slaves had only freedom of speech at the Saturnalia,[242] so far as he knew. Now, owing to the depth of the ranks of these slaves and their close order, it was some time before they could be made to give way before the heavy-armed Roman soldiers, and they also fought with more courage than one expects from a slave; but the missiles from the slings and the light javelins which were showered upon them unsparingly by the Romans in the rear, at last made them turn and put them into complete confusion.
XIX. While Archelaus was extending his right wing, in order to surround the Romans, Hortensius made his cohorts advance at a run, with the intention of taking the enemy in the flank; but as Archelaus suddenly wheeled round with his two thousand horsemen, Hortensius was overpowered by numbers and retreated towards the mountain region, being gradually separated from the main body of the army and in danger of being completely hemmed in by the barbarians. Sulla, who was on the right wing, which was not yet engaged in the action, hearing of the danger of Hortensius, hastened to relieve him. Archelaus conjecturing from the dust raised by Sulla's troops how the matter was, left Hortensius, and wheeling round moved towards the position which Sulla had quitted (the right), expecting to find the soldiers there without their general, and to defeat them. At the same time Taxiles led the Chalkaspides against Murena; and now the shouts being raised from both armies and re-echoed by the mountains, Sulla halted and hesitated to which quarter he should move. Having determined to maintain his own original position, he sent Hortensius with four cohorts to support Murena, and ordering the fifth to follow him, he hurried to the right wing, which unaided was bravely resisting Archelaus; but as soon as Sulla appeared, the Romans completely broke the line of Archelaus, and pursued the barbarians in disorderly flight to the river and Mount Akontium. However, Sulla did not leave Murena alone in his dangerous position, but hastened to help him. Seeing, however, that the Romans were victorious here also, he joined in the pursuit. Now many of the barbarians were cut down in the plain, but the greatest number were destroyed in the attempt to regain their entrenchments, and only ten thousand out of so large a host made their escape to Chalkis.[243] Sulla says in his Memoirs, that he missed only fourteen of his own soldiers, and that ten of them showed themselves in the evening; in commemoration of which he inscribed on the trophies, Mars and Victory, and Venus, to signify that he had gained the victory no less through good fortune than skill and courage. One of these trophies, which commemorates the victory in the plain, stands where the soldiers of Archelaus first gave ground in the flight to the Molus:[244] the other is placed on the summit of Thurium, to commemorate the surprise of the barbarians, with a Greek inscription in honour of the courage of Homoloichus and Anaxidamus. Sulla celebrated the festival for the victory in Thebes at the fountain of Oedipus, where he erected a stage. The judges were Greeks invited from the other cities of Greece; for Sulla could not be reconciled to the Thebans; and he took from them half of their lands, which he dedicated to the Pythian Apollo and Olympian Jupiter; and from the revenue of these lands he ordered the sums of money which he had taken from them to be repaid to the deities.
XX. After the battle Sulla received intelligence that Flaccus,[245] who belonged to the opposite faction, was chosen consul, and was crossing the Ionian[246] sea with a force which was said to be designed against Mithridates, but was in fact directed against himself; and accordingly he advanced towards Thessalia to meet Flaccus. He had advanced to the neighbourhood of Meliteia,[247] when reports from all sides reached him that the country in his rear was ravaged by another army of Mithridates as numerous as that which he had dispersed. Dorylaus had landed at Chalkis with a large navy, on board of which he brought eighty thousand men of the best trained and disciplined troops of Mithridates, and he immediately advanced into Bœotia and occupied the country, being eager to draw Sulla to an engagement, and paying no regard to Archelaus, who dissuaded him from fighting: he even said publicly that so many thousands could never have been destroyed if there had not been treachery. However, Sulla, who quickly returned to Bœotia, showed Dorylaus that Archelaus was a prudent man and had formed a very just estimate of the courage of the Romans; for after a slight skirmish with Sulla near Tilphossium,[248] Dorylaus was himself the first among those who were not for deciding the matter by a battle, but thought it best to prolong the war till the Romans should be exhausted by want of supplies. However, Archelaus was somewhat encouraged by the position of their encampment near Orchomenus, which was very favourable for battle to an army which had the superiority in cavalry; for of all the plains in Bœotia noted for their beauty and extent, this, which commences at the city of Orchomenus, is the only one which spreads without interruption and without any trees, and it reaches to the marshes in which the river Melas[249] is lost. The Melas rises close to Orchomenus, and is the only river of Greece that is a copious and navigable stream at its source; it also increases like the Nile about the summer solstice, and the same plants grow on its banks; but they produce no fruit and do not attain any large size. Its course however is short, for the larger part of the water is soon lost in obscure marshes overgrown with shrubs: a small part joins the Kephisus somewhere about the point where the lake is said to produce the reed that is adapted for making musical pipes.
XXI. The two armies being encamped near one another, Archelaus kept quiet, but Sulla began to dig trenches on both sides with the view, if possible, of cutting off the enemy from the hard ground and those parts which were favourable to cavalry and driving them into the marshes. However, the barbarians would not endure this, and as soon as their generals allowed them to attack the Romans, they rushed forward with so much vigour and force, that not only were the men dispersed who were working at the trenches, but the greater part of the Roman troops that were drawn up for their protection were involved in the fight. Upon this Sulla leapt down from his horse, and snatching up a standard, made his way through the fugitives towards the enemy, crying out, "For my part, Romans, it is fit I should die here; as for you, when you are asked where you deserted your Imperator, remember to say it was in Orchomenus." These words made the soldiers rally, and two cohorts came to their support from the right wing, which Sulla led against the enemy and put them to flight. He then led his soldiers back a short distance, and after allowing them to take some food, he began again to work at the trenches which were designed to enclose the enemy's camp. The barbarians made another attack in better order than before; in which Diogenes, the son of the wife of Archelaus, fell fighting bravely on the right wing; and the bowmen being hard pressed by the Romans and having no means of retreat, took their arrows altogether in their hands, and using them like swords, struck at the Romans, but, at last they were driven back to their camp, where they spent a wretched night owing to their wounds and great losses. As soon as day dawned Sulla again led his soldiers up to the enemy's encampment and again commenced working at the ditches. The enemy came out in a great force, but Sulla put them to flight, and as no one stood his ground after they were thrown into disorder, Sulla stormed the camp. The swamps and the lake were filled with the blood and bodies of those who fell, and even to the present day many barbarian bows, helmets, and pieces of iron cuirasses and swords are found buried in the marshes, though it is near two hundred[250] years since the battle. Such, according to the historians, was the battle about Chæroneia and near Orchomenus.
XXII. Cinna and Carbo[251] were now conducting themselves towards the chief men at Rome in an illegal and violent manner, and many flying from their tyranny resorted to the camp of Sulla as a harbour of refuge, so that in a short time a kind of Senate was formed about him. Metella also, who had with difficulty escaped with her children, came and reported that his house and farms were burnt by his enemies, and she entreated him to go to the assistance of his friends at Rome. Sulla was perplexed what to do: he could not endure the thoughts of neglecting his country in her present oppressed condition, nor did he see how he could leave so great an undertaking as the Mithridatic war imperfect. In the meantime there came to him a merchant of Delos,[252] named Archelaus, who secretly brought from Archelaus, the king's general, hopes of peace and certain proposals. Sulla was so well pleased that he was eager for an interview with Archelaus, and they met at Delium on the sea-coast, where the temple of Apollo is. Archelaus, who began the conference, urged Sulla to give up Asia and the Pontus, and to sail to Rome to prosecute the war against his enemies, and he offered him money, ships, and troops on behalf of the king. Sulla in reply advised Archelaus not to trouble himself any further about Mithridates, but to assume the kingly title himself and to become an ally of Rome, and to give up the ships of Mithridates. As Archelaus professed his detestation of such treachery, Sulla said, "You then, Archelaus, who are a Cappadocian, and the slave of a barbarian king, or, if you please, his friend—you refuse to do a base deed for so splendid a reward, and yet venture to talk about treachery to me who am a Roman general, and am Sulla, as if you were not that Archelaus who fled from Chæroneia with a few men out of your one hundred and twenty thousand, and were hid for two days in the marshes[253] of Orchomenus, and left Bœotia with all the roads made impassable by the heaps of dead?" Upon this Archelaus changed his tone, and humbling himself, entreated Sulla to give up the war and to come to terms with Mithridates. Sulla accepted the proposal, and peace was made on the following terms:—Mithridates was to give up Asia[254] and Paphlagonia, and to surrender Bithynia to Nikomedes, and Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, to pay down to the Romans two thousand talents, and to give them seventy ships fitted with brass and completely equipped; Sulla was to confirm Mithridates in the rest of his possessions and to recognise him as an ally of the Romans.
XXIII. These terms being settled, Sulla retraced his steps and marched through Thessaly and Macedonia to the Hellespont in company with Archelaus, whom he treated with great respect. Archelaus fell dangerously ill at Larissa, on which Sulla stopped his march and paid as much attention to him as if he had been one of his own officers and fellow-generals. This gave rise to some suspicion that the battle of Chæroneia was not fairly fought, which was strengthened by the fact that Sulla restored all the friends of Mithridates whom he had taken prisoners, except Aristion[255] the tyrant, who was an enemy of Archelaus, and whom he caused to be poisoned: but the most convincing proof of all was Sulla's giving the Cappadocian ten thousand plethra of land in Eubœa, and the title of friend and ally of the Romans. However, Sulla makes his apology about these matters in his Memoirs. Ambassadors from Mithridates now arrived, and were ready to accede to all the terms agreed on, except that the king would not consent to give up Paphlagonia, and as to the ships he dissented altogether; on which Sulla in a passion exclaimed, "What say ye? Mithridates claims to keep Paphlagonia, and refuses to abide by the agreement about the ships; I thought he would have been thankful if I left him his right hand, which has destroyed so many Romans. However, he will soon speak another language when I have crossed over to Asia. At present let him stay in Pergamum and there direct the conduct of a campaign which he has not seen." The ambassadors were so much alarmed that they said nothing, but Archelaus implored Sulla and tried to soften his anger, clinging to his hands with tears in his eyes. At last he prevailed on Sulla to let him go to Mithridates, and he promised to effect a peace on Sulla's own terms, or to kill himself. Sulla accordingly sent Archelaus to Mithridates, and in the mean time he invaded Mædike,[256] and having ravaged the greater part of it, returned to Macedonia and found Archelaus at Philippi,[257] who reported that all was favourable, but that Mithridates much wished to have an interview with him. Mithridates was mainly induced to this by the circumstance that Fimbria, after murdering the consul Flaccus, who belonged to the opposite faction, and defeating the generals of Mithridates, was advancing against the king himself. It was fear of Fimbria that made Mithridates more inclined to make a friend of Sulla.
XXIV. Accordingly they met at Dardanus[258] in the Troad: Mithridates had there two hundred rowing-ships, twenty thousand heavy-armed soldiers, six thousand horsemen, and many of his scythe-bearing chariots: Sulla had four cohorts and two hundred horsemen. Mithridates advanced to meet Sulla and held out his hand, on which Sulla asked him if he would put an end to the war on the terms agreed to by Archelaus. As the king made no reply, Sulla said, "Well, those who sue must speak first; conquerors may remain silent." Mithridates began an apology, in which he partly imputed the origin of the war to the deities, and partly threw the blame on the Romans; but Sulla cut him short by saying, that he had long ago been told, and now he knew by his own experience, that Mithridates was a most skilful speaker, inasmuch as he had no difficulty in finding words to justify acts which were so base and so contrary to all right. Sulla went on to recapitulate all that Mithridates had done, reproaching him in bitter terms, and he then asked him again, if he would abide by the agreement of Archelaus. Mithridates said that he would; on which Sulla embraced him, threw his arms round him and kissed him; he then brought forward the kings Ariobarzanes and Nikomedes, and reconciled Mithridates to them. After surrendering to Sulla seventy ships and five hundred bowmen, Mithridates sailed off to the Pontus. Sulla perceived that his soldiers were dissatisfied at the settlement of the war: they thought it a shame that the greatest enemy of the Romans, who had contrived the massacre of one hundred and fifty thousand Romans in Asia in one day, should be seen sailing off with the wealth and the spoils of Asia, which he had been plundering and levying contributions on for four years; Sulla apologised to the soldiers by saying that he should not be able to oppose both Fimbria and Mithridates, if they were united against him.
XXV. From Dardanus Sulla marched against Fimbria, who was encamped near Thyateira,[259] and halting there, began to throw up his intrenchments. Fimbria's men coming out of their camp in their jackets embraced the soldiers of Sulla, and began to assist them zealously in their works. Fimbria seeing that his soldiers had deserted him, and fearing Sulla's unforgiving temper, committed suicide in the camp. Sulla now levied a contribution on Asia to the amount of twenty thousand talents: and he reduced individuals to beggary by the violence and exactions which he permitted to the soldiers who were quartered in their houses. He issued an order that the master of a house should daily supply the soldier who was quartered on him with four tetradrachmæ, and with dinner for himself and as many of his friends as he chose to invite; a centurion was to receive fifty drachmæ daily, and to be supplied with two garments, one to wear in the house and the other when he went abroad.
XXVI. Sulla set sail from Ephesus with all his ships, and on the third day anchored in the Peiræus. After being initiated into the Eleusinian[260] mysteries, he appropriated to himself the library of Apellikon[261] of Teos, which contained most of the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus. The works of these two philosophers were not then well known to people in general. It is said that when the library was brought to Rome, Tyrannio the grammarian arranged most of the books, and that Andronikus of Rhodes having procured copies from Tyrannio, published them, and made the tables which are now in use. It appears that the older Peripatetics were indeed well-instructed men, and devoted to letters, but they did not possess many of the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus, nor yet correct copies, owing to the circumstances that the books came into the hands of the heirs of Neleus of Skepsis, to whom Theophrastus bequeathed them, and that they were ignorant persons, who never troubled themselves about such matters. While Sulla was staying at Athens, he was seized with a numbness in his feet, accompanied with a feeling of heaviness, which Strabo[262] calls "a stammering of gout." Accordingly he crossed the sea to Ædepsus[263]; where he used the warm springs, at the same time indulging in relaxation and spending all his time in the company of actors. As he was walking about on the seashore, some fishermen presented him with some very fine fish; Sulla was much pleased with the present, but on hearing that the men belonged to Halæae,[264] he said, What, is there an Halæan still alive? For it happened, that while pursuing his enemies after the victory at Orchomenus, he destroyed at once three Bœotian cities, Anthedon, Larymna, and Halæae. The men were struck speechless with fear, but Sulla with a smile bade them go away in good heart, for the intercessors they had brought were no mean ones, and not to be despised. Upon this the Halæans say they took courage and again occupied their city.