=95.= In the seven years’ breathing-space which followed, Mithridates subdued all his revolted subjects, and recruited his forces with the utmost energy. His army, drawn largely from the barbarous nations on the Danube and Euxine, was drilled and equipped according to the Roman system, and his navy was increased to four hundred vessels. Both the Pontic king and the Romans would willingly have remained some years longer at peace, but, in 74 B. C., the legacy of Bithynia to the latter power, by Nicomedes III., brought them into unavoidable collision. Mithridates first seized the country, and gained a double victory over Cotta, by sea and land. But he failed in the sieges of Chalcedon and Cyzicus, and in the second year he was repeatedly worsted by Lucul´lus. His fleet was first defeated off Tenedos, and then wrecked by a storm. In the third year Mithridates was driven out of his own dominions, and those of his son-in-law, Tigranes. For three years the war was carried on in Armenia, where the two kings were twice defeated by Lucullus. In 68 B. C., Mithridates returned to his kingdom, and defeated the Romans twice within a few months. But in 66 B. C., Pompey assumed the command, and Mithridates, after the loss of nearly his whole army, abandoned Pontus, and retired into the barbarous regions north of the Euxine, where the Romans did not care to pursue him. With a spirit untamed either by years or misfortunes, he plotted the bold design of gathering to his standard the wild tribes along the Danube, and marching upon Italy from the north. But his officers did not share his enthusiasm. A conspiracy against him was headed by his own son; and the old king, deserted by all whom he would have trusted, attempted to end his life by poison. His constitution had been for many years so guarded by antidotes, that the drugs had no effect, and he was finally dispatched by one of his Gallic soldiers. Pontus became a Roman province, only a small portion of its territory continuing, a century or more, under princes of the ancient dynasty. VIII. CAPPADOCIA. [Illustration: Coin of Ariarathes V., twice the size of original.] =96.= The southern part of Cappadocia remained loyal to the Persian kings until their downfall at Arbela. It was conquered by Perdiccas after the death of Alexander, but within six years became independent, and continued under native kings until it was absorbed into the Roman dominions, A. D. 17. The history of these monarchs is of little importance, except so far as it is included in that of the neighboring nations. The fifth king, Ariara´thes IV., made, in his later years, a close and friendly alliance with the Romans, which continued unbroken under his successors.