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superseded by Pompeius.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.
[Linenotes:
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.
B33
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR (3)
A. _Curule Aedile, 65 B.C._
Aedilis praeter comitium ac forum basilicasque etiam Capitolium ornavit
porticibus ad tempus exstructis, in quibus abundante rerum copia pars
apparatus exponeretur. Venationes autem ludosque et cum collega et
separatim edidit, quo factum est, {5} ut communium quoque impensarum
solus gratiam caperet, nec dissimularet collega eius Marcus Bibulus
evenisse sibi quod Polluci: ut enim geminis fratribus aedes in foro
constituta tantum Castoris vocaretur, ita suam Caesarisque munificentiam
unius Caesaris {10} dici.
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