CHAPTER XXI.

ILLYRICUM AND SPAIN.

B.C. 48-47.

WHILE Caesar was in Egypt, other events were happening, which are described by the author of the Alexandrine War in the same book (c. 34, &c.).

King Deiotarus came to Domitius Calvinus, to whom Caesar had entrusted the administration of Asia and the adjoining provinces, to entreat him not to allow his kingdom of the Less Armenia, and Cappadocia the kingdom of Ariobarzanes III. to be seized and wasted by Pharnaces, the son and successor of Mithridates VI., the Great. On the death of Mithridates, Pharnaces received from Pompeius a grant of the kingdom of Bosporus except the town of Phanagoria; but he lost the kingdom of Pontus. (Vol. iii. p. 192.) Pharnaces taking advantage of the Roman civil war resolved to recover his father's Asiatic possessions, and he came probably by land along the east side of the Black Sea to disturb Deiotarus and Ariobarzanes. Unless they were relieved from this powerful enemy, Deiotarus declared that he could not discharge the requisitions which had been imposed on him or pay to Caesar the money which he had promised. As Deiotarus was on the side of Pompeius at the battle of Pharsalia, it appears that he afterwards made his submission to Caesar, who had required him to pay a sum of money; but the submission was not personally made to Caesar, as we may infer from another passage (c. 67). Domitius, who knew that money was wanting for the necessary military expenses, and considered that it was disgraceful to the Roman people, to Caesar and to himself, to allow the kingdoms of friends and allies to be occupied by VOL. V.

T

a foreign king, immediately sent to Pharnaces an order to quit. Armenia and Cappadocia, and not to attack the authority and majesty of the Roman people while they were engaged in a civil war. Thinking that it would add weight to this notice if he advanced with his army towards those countries, he took one of his three legions, the thirty-sixth, and sent to Egypt two which Caesar had summoned. One of these legions, which was sent through Syria, did not arrive in time to take part in the Alexandrine war. Domitius added to the thirtysixth legion two legions of Deiotarus, which the king had for some years disciplined and armed in Roman fashion. He took also a hundred horsemen and as many from Ariobarzanes. He sent P. Sestius to the quaestor C. Plaetorius with orders to bring a legion which had been hastily levied in Pontus, and Q. Patius or Patisius to Cilicia to collect auxiliaries. All these troops quickly assembled at Comana by the order of Domitius. This town was the Pontic Comana, now Gumenek on the Tocat-Su, the ancient Iris, about seven miles north-east of Tocat.

In the meantime ambassadors came with an answer from Pharnaces that he had quitted Cappadocia, but had taken possession of Armenia, which he claimed by a title from his father: he asked that the dispute about this kingdom should be reserved for Caesar's decision, to which he was ready to submit. Domitius knew that Pharnaces had evacuated Cappadocia from necessity, because he could more easily defend Armenia, which lay close to his own kingdom, than Cappadocia which was more remote, and because he supposed that Domitius would bring his three legions; and he also knew that when Pharnaces heard that two legions had been sent to Caesar, he was emboldened to remain in possession of Armenia. For these reasons Domitius persisted in ordering the king to quit Armenia also, and he said that Pharnaces had no more right to Armenia than to Cappadocia ; and that he could not fairly ask that the matter should remain as it then was till the arrival and decision of Caesar, for a thing remained as it was, when it remained as it had been before. After sending this answer Domitius advanced into Armenia by the higher road; for from Comana there extends a lofty mountain range

covered with forests to Armenia the Less, and this range forms the boundary between Cappadocia and Armenia. The advantage of the route was that the army could not be unexpectedly attacked by the enemy, and that Cappadocia, which lay below the mountains, would furnish abundant supplies. While Domitius was on his march, the king sent several messengers to him to treat of peace and to carry royal presents. Domitius constantly refused the presents, and told the messengers that he had no other object than to maintain the dignity of the Roman people and to recover the kingdoms of their allies. By long and uninterrupted marches he approached Nicopolis,1 a town in the Less Armenia on level ground, but with high mountains on two sides, yet at a considerable distance from the town, and he made his camp about seven miles from Nicopolis. From this camp there was a narrow and difficult defile by which Domitius must pass, and here Pharnaces placed in ambuscade some picked infantry and almost all his cavalry; and he also ordered a great number of cattle to be dispersed through the defile and the country people and townsmen to place themselves in the way of Domitius; with this view, that if Domitius should come as a friend, he might not suspect an ambuscade when he saw both men and cattle in the country as if friends were expected; and, if he was coming as an enemy, that the soldiers when they were dispersed and busy with making booty might be cut to pieces. In the meantime Pharnaces was continually sending commissioners to propose peace, expecting that he could thus more easily deceive Domitius. But on the other hand the hope of peace led Domitius to rest in his camp.

men.

Pharnaces having thus lost the recent opportunity, and being afraid that his design would be discovered, recalled his On the next day Domitius approached to Nicopolis and placed his camp near the town. While the Roman army was making their camp, Pharnaces drew up his forces in his own fashion. Domitius completed his camp by placing

1 There are some remarks on the site of Nicopolis in vol. iii. p. 151. I do not know whether any recent writer has cleared up the difficulty about the site. 2 What follows (c. 37) is not clear.

part of his force in front of the rampart to protect the workers.

On the next night Pharnaces intercepted letter-carriers, who were bringing news to Domitius about the state of affairs in Alexandria, and he learned from the letters that Caesar was in great danger and required Domitius to send him relief as soon as possible, and to march through Syria himself to Alexandria. Upon gaining this information Pharnaces considered that it would be equivalent to a victory, if he could protract the war, for he supposed that Domitius must soon retreat to join Caesar. Accordingly he dug two ditches from that part of the town where he saw that the access was easiest to the troops of Domitius and most favourable as fighting ground for them: the ditches were made parallel in a straight line towards the Roman army with no great interval between them, and the ramparts were four feet high. The ditches were only dug so far as he had determined to put forward his troops, and in the space between these ditches he drew up his force from time to time. The purpose of these ditches was to protect the army of Pharnaces, which was between them; and it was intended that the cavalry should prevent the Romans from crossing the ditches and attacking the rear. The cavalry of Pharnaces were accordingly placed on the flanks and outside the ditches, for otherwise they could not be of any use, and in numbers they far surpassed the cavalry of Domitius. The Roman general was more troubled about Caesar's danger than his own, and he did not think that he could retreat in safety, if he should either ask for the terms which he had already rejected, or that he could retreat without some ground or reason. He therefore placed his little army in battle order: he put the thirty-sixth legion on the right wing, the Pontic legion on the left, and the legions of Deiotarus in the centre, but he left only very small intervals between the centre and the wings. The rest of the cohorts were placed as a reserve. The signal for battle was given

3

3 The narrative shows that Domitius received intelligence from Caesar, and yet the "tabellarii" or letter-carriers were intercepted; perhaps some escaped. The author has made the story incomplete. The words "sine causa discederet " also make some difficulty, and they may not be genuine.

at the same time on both sides. The thirty-sixth legion attacked the king's cavalry outside of the ditch and with such success that they came close to the walls of the town, crossed the ditch and fell on the rear of the enemy. The Pontic legion, which was on the other wing, gave way and made a movement for the purpose of turning to the ditch which was on their side, and taking the enemy in the rear; but they were overwhelmed with missiles in the attempt to cross the ditch. The legions of Deiotarus hardly stood the shock of the enemy. The king's troops being victorious on their right wing and in the centre turned round to oppose the thirtysixth legion, which resisted bravely, and though surrounded by the large forces of the enemy fought with the greatest courage, and finally by placing themselves in the "orbis" or circular form secured a retreat to the base of the mountains, whither Pharnaces was deterred from following by the roughness of the ground. Almost the whole of the Pontic legion was destroyed, and a great part of the soldiers of Deiotarus were killed; but the thirty-sixth legion escaped to the higher places with the loss of not more than two hundred and fifty soldiers. Some men of rank, Roman equites, fell in the battle. After this defeat Domitius collected the remains of his scattered army, and by a safe road made his retreat through Cappadocia to the province Asia. Elated by this success and hoping that matters would turn out with Caesar according to his wishes, Pharnaces occupied Pontus with all his forces, and behaved with great cruelty, expecting to enjoy his father's good fortune. He stormed several towns, made booty of the property of Roman citizens and of the people of Pontus, and inflicted on those who were young and handsome tortures worse than death. He was now master of Pontus, and boasted that he had recovered his father's kingdom. The defeat of Domitius took place in B.C. 48, and in the latter

5.

4 This sentence is probably corrupt.

As we learn from a subsequent chapter (c. 70), this ferocious Asiatic cut off the private parts of the males. The women, we assume, were ravished. Appian, B. C. ii. 91, who sometimes reports facts which are in no other extant authority, says that Pharnaces took Amisus (Samsun), a city in Pontus, which was on the Roman side, enslaved the people and castrated all the young males.