Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
concerting means for escape by sea, and sent for all his fleets
from every quarter to attend him. Which when Fimbria perceived,
having no ships of his own, he sent to Lucullus, entreating him to
assist him with his, in subduing the most odious and warlike of
kings, lest the opportunity of humbling Mithridates, the prize
which the Romans had pursued with so much blood and trouble, should
now at last be lost, when he was within the net, and easily to be
taken. And were he caught, no one would be more highly commended
than Lucullus, who stopped his passage and seized him in his
flight. Being driven from the land by the one, and met in the sea
by the other, he would give matter of renown and glory to them
both, and the much applauded actions of Sylla at Orchomenus and
about Chaeronea, would no longer be thought of by the Romans. The
proposal was no unreasonable thing; it being obvious to all men,
that if Lucullus had hearkened to Fimbria, and with his navy, which
was then near at hand, had blocked up the haven, the war soon had
been brought to an end, and infinite numbers of mischiefs prevented
thereby. But he, whether from the sacredness of friendship between
himself and Sylla, reckoning all other considerations of public or
of private advantage inferior to it, or out of detestation of the
wickedness of Fimbria, whom he abhorred for advancing himself by
the late death of his friend and the general of the army, or by a
divine fortune sparing Mithridates then, that he might have him an
adversary for a time to come, for whatever reason, refused to
comply, and suffered Mithridates to escape and laugh at the
attempts of Fimbria. He himself alone first, near Lectum in Troas,
in a sea-fight, overcame the king's ships; and afterwards,
discovering Neoptolemus lying in wait for him near Tenedos, with a
greater fleet, he went aboard a Rhodian quinquereme galley,
commended by Damagoras, a man of great experience at sea, and
friendly to the Romans, and sailed before the rest. Neoptolemus
made up furiously at him, and commanded the master, with all
imaginable might, to charge; but Damagoras, fearing the bulk and
massy stem of the admiral, thought it dangerous to meet him prow to
prow, and, rapidly wheeling round, bid his men back water, and so
received him astern; in which place, though violently borne upon,
he received no manner of harm, the blow being defeated by falling
on those parts of the ship which lay under water. By which time,
the rest of the fleet coming up to him, Lucullus gave order to turn
again, and vigorously falling, upon the enemy, put them to flight,
and pursued Neoptolemus. After this he came to Sylla, in
Chersonesus, as he was preparing to pass the strait, and brought
timely assistance for the safe transportation of the army.
Peace being presently made, Mithridates sailed off to the Euxine
sea, but Sylla taxed the inhabitants of Asia twenty thousand
talents, and ordered Lucullus to gather and coin the money. And it
was no small comfort to the cities under Sylla's severity, that a
man of not only incorrupt and just behavior, but also of
moderation, should be employed in so heavy and odious an office.
The Mitylenaeans, who absolutely revolted, he was willing should
return to their duty, and submit to a moderate penalty for the
offense they had given in the case of Marius. But, finding them
bent upon their own destruction, he came up to them, defeated them
at sea, blocked them up in their city and besieged them; then
sailing off from them openly in the day to Elaea, he returned
privately, and posting an ambush near the city, lay quiet himself:
And on the Mitylenaeans coming out eagerly and in disorder to
plunder the deserted camp, he fell upon them, took many of them,
and slew five hundred, who stood upon their defense. He gained six
thousand slaves, and a very rich booty.
He was no way engaged in the great and general troubles of Italy
which Sylla and Marius created, a happy providence at that time
detaining him in Asia upon business. He was as much in Sylla's
favor, however, as any of his other friends; Sylla, as was said
before, dedicated his Memoirs to him as a token of kindness, and at
his death, passing by Pompey, made him guardian to his son; which
seems, indeed, to have been the rise of the quarrel and jealousy
between them two being both young men, and passionate for honor.
A little after Sylla's death, he was made consul with Marcus Cotta,
about the one hundred and seventy-sixth Olympiad. The Mithridatic
war being then under debate, Marcus declared that it was not
finished, but only respited for a time, and therefore, upon choice
of provinces, the lot falling to Lucullus to have Gaul within the
Alps, a province where no great action was to be done, he was
ill-pleased. But chiefly, the success of Pompey in Spain fretted
him, as, with the renown he got there, if the Spanish war were
finished in time, he was likely to be chosen general before anyone
else against Mithridates. So that when Pompey sent for money, and
signified by letter that, unless it were sent him, he would leave
the country and Sertorius, and bring his forces home to Italy,
Lucullus most zealously supported his request, to prevent any
pretence of his returning home during his own consulship; for all
things would have been at his disposal, at the head of so great an
army. For Cethegus, the most influential popular leader at that
time, owing to his always both acting and speaking to please the
people, had, as it happened, a hatred to Lucullus, who had not
concealed his disgust at his debauched, insolent, and lawless life.
Lucullus, therefore, was at open warfare with him. And Lucius
Quintius, also, another demagogue, who was taking steps against
Sylla's constitution, and endeavoring to put things out of order,
by private exhortations and public admonitions he checked in his
designs, and repressed his ambition, wisely and safely remedying a
great evil at the very outset.
At this time news came that Octavius, the governor of Cilicia, was
dead, and many were eager for the place, courting Cethegus, as the
man best able to serve them. Lucullus set little value upon
Cilicia itself, no otherwise than as he thought, by his acceptance
of it, no other man besides himself might be employed in the war
against Mithridates, by reason of its nearness to Cappadocia. This
made him strain every effort that that province might be allotted
to himself, and to none other; which led him at last into an
expedient not so honest or commendable, as it was serviceable for
compassing his design, submitting to necessity against his own
inclination. There was one Praecia, a celebrated wit and beauty,
but in other respects nothing better than an ordinary harlot; who,
however, to the charms of her person adding the reputation of one
that loved and served her friends, by making use of those who
visited her to assist their designs and promote their interests,
had thus gained great power. She had seduced Cethegus, the first
man at that time in reputation and authority of all the city, and
enticed him to her love, and so had made all authority follow her.
For nothing of moment was done in which Cethegus was not concerned,
and nothing by Cethegus without Praecia. This woman Lucullus
gained to his side by gifts and flattery, (and a great price it was
in itself to so stately and magnificent a dame, to be seen engaged
in the same cause with Lucullus,) and thus he presently found
Cethegus his friend, using his utmost interest to procure Cilicia
for him; which when once obtained, there was no more need of
applying himself either to Praecia, or Cethegus; for all
unanimously voted him to the Mithridatic war, by no hands likely to
be so successfully managed as his. Pompey was still contending
with Sertorius, and Metellus by age unfit for service; which two
alone were the competitors who could prefer any claim with Lucullus
for that command. Cotta, his colleague, after much ado in the
senate, was sent away with a fleet to guard the Propontis, and
defend Bithynia.
Lucullus carried with him a legion under his own orders, and
crossed over into Asia and took the command of the forces there,
composed of men who were all thoroughly disabled by dissoluteness
and rapine, and the Fimbrians, as they were called, utterly
unmanageable by long want of any sort of discipline. For these
were they who under Fimbria had slain Flaccus, the consul and
general, and afterwards betrayed Fimbria to Sylla; a willful and
lawless set of men, but warlike, expert, and hardy in the field.
Lucullus in a short time took down the courage of these, and
disciplined the others, who then first, in all probability, knew
what a true commander and governor was; whereas in former times
they had been courted to service, and took up arms at nobody's
command, but their own wills.
The enemy's provisions for war stood thus; Mithridates, like the
Sophists, boastful and haughty at first, set upon the Romans, with
a very inefficient army, such, indeed, as made a good show, but was
nothing for use. But being shamefully routed, and taught a lesson
for a second engagement, he reduced his forces to a proper,
serviceable shape. Dispensing with the mixed multitudes, and the
noisy menaces of barbarous tribes of various languages, and with
the ornaments of gold and precious stones, a greater temptation to
the victors than security to the bearers, he gave his men broad
swords like the Romans', and massy shields; chose horses better for
service than show, drew up an hundred and twenty thousand foot in
the figure of the Roman phalanx, and had sixteen thousand horse,
besides chariots armed with scythes, no less than a hundred.
Besides which, he set out a fleet not at all cumbered with gilded
cabins, luxurious baths and women's furniture, but stored with
weapons and darts, and other necessaries, and thus made a descent
upon Bithynia. Not only did these parts willingly receive him
again, but almost all Asia regarded him as their salvation from the
intolerable miseries which they were suffering from the Roman
money-lenders, and revenue farmers. These, afterwards, who like
harpies stole away their very nourishment, Lucullus drove away, and
at this time by reproving them, did what he could to make them more
moderate, and to prevent a general secession, then breaking out in
all parts. While Lucullus was detained in rectifying these
matters, Cotta, finding affairs ripe for action, prepared for
battle with Mithridates; and news coming from all hands that
Lucullus had already entered Phrygia, on his march against the
enemy, he, thinking he had a triumph all but actually in his hands,
lest his colleague should share in the glory of it, hasted to
battle without him. But being routed, both by sea and land, he
lost sixty ships with their men, and four thousand foot, and
himself was forced into and besieged in Chalcedon, there waiting
for relief from Lucullus. There were those about Lucullus who
would have had him leave Cotta and go forward, in hope of
surprising the defenseless kingdom of Mithridates. And this was
the feeling of the soldiers in general, who wore indignant that
Cotta should by his ill-counsel not only lose his own army, but
hinder them also from conquest, which at that time, without the
hazard of a battle, they might have obtained. But Lucullus, in a
public address, declared to them that he would rather save one
citizen from the enemy, than be master of all that they had.
Archelaus, the former commander in Boeotia under Mithridates, who
afterwards deserted him and accompanied the Romans, protested to
Lucullus that, upon his mere coming, he would possess himself of
all Pontus. But he answered, that it did not become him to be more