way for the splendid achievements of Sulla in the East. A great warrior
had arisen in a quarter least expected. In the mountainous region along
the north side of the Euxine, the kingdom of Pontus had grown from a
principality to a kingdom, and Mithridates, ruling over Cappadocia,
Papalagonia, and Phrygia, aspired for the sovereignty of the East. He
was an accomplished and enlightened prince, and could speak twenty-five-
languages, hardy, adventurous, and bold, like an ancient Persian. By
conquests and alliances he had made himself the most powerful sovereign
in Asia.

[Sidenote: Mithridates.]

Availing himself of the disturbance growing out of the Social War, he
fomented a rebellion of the provinces of Asia Minor, seized Bithynia,
and encouraged Athens to shake off the Roman yoke. Most of the Greek
communities joined the Athenian insurrection, and Asia rallied around
the man who hoped to cope successfully with Rome herself.

[Sidenote: Conquests of Sulla in Greece.]

At this juncture, Sulla was sent into Greece with fifty thousand men.
Athens fell before his conquering legions, B.C. 88, and the lieutenants
of Mithridates retreated before the Romans with one hundred thousand
foot and ten thousand horse, and one hundred armed chariots. On the
plains of Chaeronea, where Grecian liberties had been overthrown by
Philip of Macedon, two hundred and fifty years before, a desperate
conflict took place, and the Pontic army was signally defeated. Shortly
after, Sulla gained another great victory over the generals of the King
of Pontus, and compelled him to accept peace, the terms of which he
himself dictated, after exacting heavy contributions from the cities of