Pompeii. especially from the numberless ones which further excavations may supply, lost at such a period in two of the most capital cities, in the richest, most frequented, and most learned province in Italy, each of them an established seat of the arts and sciences, each of them the resort of the most distinguished Romans, not any part of those illustrious authors should be discovered.

"But the manuscript of Philodemus itself makes the reverse of such an idea appear much more probable. To the moderns, who have

"Untwisted all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony,"

his Treatise on Music cannot, indeed, be supposed to
communicate much information; yet the subject is scien-
tific, and scientifically treated. The author himself, too,
was one of the most eminent men in his time for wit,
learning, and philosophy. But in the rest of the arts
and sciences, in history, in poetry, the discovery of any
lost writer, either in whole or part, would be deemed a
most valuable acquisition and treasure, and form a new
era in literature.

"It is extremely fortunate that the characters of these manuscripts, whether they should be Greek or Latin, must be very obvious and legible. Before the year of our Lord 79, and some time after it, the Majusculæ or Unciales Litteræ, capital letters, were solely used. A page, therefore, in one of these manuscripts, would present to your royal highness an exact image of some mutilated inscription in those languages on an ancient column, statue, or sepulchre.

"There cannot remain a doubt, even omitting the assurances from men of official situation to that effect, that your royal highness's superintendant will receive every possible assistance from the marquis del Vasto; and in that case it seems improbable that the object of this mission can be altogether fruitless.

"With such a termination of it, however, your royal highness, by having proposed to concur with his Sicilian majesty in the quicker and more effectual developement, transcription, and publication of these manuscripts, will reap the satisfaction of having made a most princely attempt in behalf of knowledge and literature, on an occasion where their interests might be affected most materially, and in a manner of which no annals have afforded, or can hereafter afford, an example. Your very interposition will be your glory: your want of success will only make the learned world feel with gratitude what you would have done.”

The interposition of his royal highness has had the happiest effect. The splendid encouragement which he gave to the work revived the drooping spirits of the Italian literati, and the consequence has been, that the business of unrolling and transcribing the manuscripts now proceeds with an alacrity which promises the most brilliant success. In forty-six years not more than eighteen rolls were developed before the interference of our prince. Under his encouragement, ninety have been recovered in two years! What new facilities may not now he expected when all the vigour of British intelligence is exerted on the subject!-See Swinburne's Travels in the Two Sicil es, vol. ii. p. 98, &c.; Lady Miller's Letters, or De la Lande; Captain Sutherland's Tour up the Straits, from Gibraltar to Constantinople, p. 75, &c.; Dr Smith's Sketch of a Tour on the Continent, in 1786 and

1787, vol. ii. p. 118, &c.; and Watkin's Tour through Pompeii Swisserland, Italy, &c. See also Lemaistre's Travels through France, Italy, &c.

POMPEY the GREAT, CNEIUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS, the renowned rival of Julius Cæsar. Being defeated by him at the battle of Pharsalia, owing to the defection of his cavalry, he fled to Egypt by sea, where he was basely assassinated by order of Theodotus, prime minister to Ptolemy the Younger, then a minor, 48 B. C. See ROME.

POMPEYS, CNEIUS and SEXTUS, his sons, commanded a powerful army when they lost their illustrious father. Julius Cæsar pursued them into Spain, and defeated them at the battle of Munda, in which Cneius was slain, 45 B. C. Sextus made himself master of Sicily; but being defeated in the celebrated naval engagement at Actium by Augustus and Lepidus, he fled to Asia with only seven ships, the remains of his fleet, which consisted of more than 350; and from thence, unable to continue the war, he was obliged to retire to Lesbos, where renewing the war by raising an army, and seizing on some considerable cities, Marcus Titius, in the interest of Mark Antony, gave him battle, defeated him, took him prisoner, and basely put him to death, 35 B. C. See ROME.

POMPEY'S Pillar, a celebrated column near Alexandria in Egypt, 114 feet high, and of which the shaft, composed of a single piece of granite, is 90 feet. For an account of different opinions concerning the origin and design of this pillar, see ALEXANDRIA, p. 596.

POMPONATIUS, PETER, an eminent Italian philosopher, was born at Mantua in 1462. He was of so small a stature, that he was little better than a dwarf; yet he possessed an exalted genius, and was considered as one of the greatest philosophers of the age in which he lived. He taught philosophy, first at Padua, and afterwards at Bologna, with the highest reputation. He had frequent disputations with the celebrated Achillini, whose puzzling objections would have confounded him, had it not been for his skill in parrying them by some joke. His book De Immortalitate Anima, published in 1516, made a great noise. He maintained, that the immortality of the soul could not be proved by philosophical reasons; but solemnly declared his belief of it as an article of faith. This precaution did not, however, save him; many adversaries rose up against him, who did not scruple to treat him as an atheist; and the monks procured his book, although he wrote several apologies for it, to be burnt at Venice. His book upon Incantations was also thought very dangerous. shows in it, that he believed nothing of magic and sorcery; and he lays a prodigious stress on occult virtues in certain men, by which they produced miraculous effects. He gives a great many examples of this; but his adversaries do not admit them to be true, or free from magic.-Paul Jovius says, that he died in 1525, in his grand climacteric. He was three times married; and had but one daughter, to whom he left a large sum of money. He used to apply himself to the solution of difficulties so very intensely, that he frequently forgot to eat, drink, sleep, and perform the ordinary functions of nature nay, it made him almost distracted, and a laughing-stock to every one, as he himself tells us. POMPONIUS MELA. See MELA.

He

POMUM, an APPLE; a species of seed-vessel, composed

Pomum.

cherry.

Pomum posed of a succulent fleshy pulp; in the middle of which is generally found a membranous capsule, with a numPondi- ber of cells, or cavities, for containing the seeds. Seedvessels of this kind have no external opening or valve. At the end opposite to the footstalk is frequently a small cavity, called by the gardeners the eye of the fruit, and by botanists umbilicus, the "navel," from its fancied resemblance to the navel in "nimals. Gourd, cucumber, melon, pomegranate, pear, and apple, furnish instances of the fruit seed-vessel in question.

POND, or FISH-Pond. See FISH-Pond. POND, is a small pool or lake of water from whence no stream issues. In the Transactions of the Society instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, vol. viii. and printed in the year 1790, there is a short account of a machine for draining ponds without disturbing the mud. It was communicated to the society, together with a drawing and model of the machine, by Lieutenant-colonel Dansey. The model was made from the description of a machine used by a gentleman near Taunton for many years before, for supplying a cascade in his pleasuregrounds. The colonel's regiment was then lying at Windsor; and thinking that the invention might be useful to supply the grand cascade at Virginia water, he made the model, and presented it to the king, who was graciously pleased to approve of it. In consequence of which, by his majesty's desire, a penstock on that principle was constructed from the model at one of the ponds in the neighbourhood.-The colonel thinks the machine may be useful in the hands of men of science, and applicable to silk, cotton, and other mills, where a steady and uniform velocity of water is wanted; which might be regulated at pleasure, occasioning no current to disturb the mud or fish, as the stream constantly runs from the surface. He says he has often made the experiment by the model in a tub of water.

Of this machine the following is a description. Plate In fig. 1. A is the pipe, loaded with a rim of lead, of CCCCXXXVII. such weight as serves to sink it below the surface of the fig. 1. water. B is the discharging pipe, laid through the bank HI. C is the joint on which the pipe A turns its form, which is shown fig. 2. D is the ball or float, which, swimming on the surface of the pond, prevents the pipe A from descending deeper than the length of the chain by which they are connected. E is a chain winding on the windlass F, and serving to raise the tube A above the surface of the water, when the machinery is not in use. G is a stage. HI is the bank, represented as if cut throught at I, to show the tube B lying within it. K is a post to receive the tube A when lowered, and to prevent its sinking in the mud. In Fig. 2. fig. 2. A is a cast cylinder, with a plate or cheek, B, which is fastened to the timber of the tube on one side, but not on the other, as the part of the cylinder C turns in the hollow of the wooden tube when it is immerged. A piece of strong sole leather is put inside the brassplate B, to prevent leaking.

POND-Weed. See POTAMOGETON, BOTANY Index. PONDICHERRY, is a large town of Asia, in the peninsula on this side the Ganges, and on the coast of Coromandel. Its situation is low, and the ships anchor about a mile and a half from it; nor can the boats or canoes come nearer it than a musket-shot, on account of the breakers, so that the blacks come in flat bottomed

Pont

boats to carry the men and merchandises to the fleet. PordiThe fort is 200 paces from the sea, and very irregular; cherry built with bricks, and covered with fine plaster, resembling white marble. The huts of the blacks lie bere and there, and the walls are of bamboos mixed with the branches of trees. The French are greatly addicted to women, from whom they catch diseases that render them pale, livid, and meagre, with a frightful aspect. However, several of the French are married to a sort of Portuguese women, who are of a mixed breed, being a kind of Mulattoes. The country about it is barren, and consequently most of their provisions are brought from other places. Their trade consists of cotton-cloth, silks, pepper, saltpetre, and other merchandises that are brought from Bengal. With regard to the religion of the natives, the most numerous are the Gentoos; but there are Mahometans or Moors who hold a great many ridiculous opinions. The Gentoos are of different sects, and that of the Brahmins are priests. The custom of women burning themselves with the bodies of their dead husbands was very common, but of late much discountenanced. This place was taken, and the fortifications demolished, by Colonel Coote in 1761; it was restored to the French by the peace of 1763; was retaken by the English in 1793, and finally restored to France in 1814. It is 100 miles south of Madras. E. Long. 79. 58. N. Lat. 11. 42.

PONDICO, an island of the Archipelago, lying on the gulf of Ziton, near the coast of Negropont. It is small and uninhabited, as well as two others that lie near it.

PONG-HOU Isles, in the province of Fo-kien in China, form an archipelago between the port of Emouy and the island of Formosa. A Chinese garrison is kept here, with one of those mandarins who are called literati, whose principal employment is to watch the trading vessels which pass from China to Formosa, or from Formosa to China.

As these islands are only sand-banks or rocks, the inhabitants are obliged to import every necessary of life; neither shrubs nor bushes are seen upon them; all their ornament consists of one solitary tree. The harbour is good, and sheltered from every wind; it has from 20 to 25 feet depth of water. Although it is an uncultivated and uninhabited island, it is absolutely necessary for the preservation of Formosa, which has no port capable of receiving vessels that draw above eight feet of water.

PONIARD, a little pointed dagger, very sharp edged; borne in the hand, or at the girdle, or hid in the pocket. The word is formed from the French poignard, and that from poignée," handful."-The poniard was anciently in very great use; but it is now in a good measure set aside, except among assassins. Sword and poniard were the ancient arms of duellists; and are said to continue still so among the Spaniards. The practice of sword and poniard still make a part of the exercise taught by the masters of defence.

PONS, a town of France, in the department of Charente Inferior, very famous in the time of the Huguenots. It is seated on a hill, near the river Seigne, 10 miles from Saintes. W. Long. o. 30. N. Lat. 45. 36.

PONT-DU-GARD, is a bridge of France, in Lower Languedoc, built over the river Gardon, which served for an aqueduct. It is a very remarkable and a most

magnificent

Pont

magnificent work, and was raised by the ancient Romans. It consists of three bridges, one above another; Ponton., the uppermost of which was the aqueduct, to convey water to the city of Nismes, which is eight miles to the south. They are altogether 192 feet high, and the uppermost 580 feet long. They are constructed between two rocks. E. Long. 4. 26. N. Lat. 43. 58.

PONTEDERIA, a genus of plants belonging to the hexandria class; and in the natural method ranking under the sixth order, Ensatæ. See BOTANY Index.

PONTEFRACT, or POMFRET, a town of the west riding of Yorkshire in England, situated on the river Are, which contained 3605 inhabitants in 1811. It is said to take its name from a broken bridge, which is supposed to have been laid anciently over that marshy spot called the Wash. Here are the ruins of a noble old castle, where Richard II. was barbarously murdered, and two of Edward V.'s uncles. The collegiate chapel of St Clement, which had a dean, three prebendaries, &c. is still distinguishable in it. This town has a good market, and fairs for horses, sheep, and other cattle. It is a corporation, governed by a mayor, recorder, aldermen, and burgesses. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 2001. was left by George Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, to be lent for ever at 51. a time, on proper security, for three years, to the poor artificers of the town; and Thomas Wentworth, Esq. ancestor to the marquis of Rocking ham, left 200l. to the charity-shool. A branch of the great Roman military way called Ermin street, which passed from Lincoln to York, may be traced betwixt this town and Doncaster. The adjacent country yields plenty of limestone, together with liquorice and skirrets. W. Long. 1. 18. N. Lat. 53. 42.

PONTIFEX, PONTIFF, or High-priest, a person who has the superintendence and direction of divine worship, as the offering of sacrifices and other religious solemnities. The Romans had a college of pontiffs; and over these a sovereign pontiff, or pontifex maximus, instituted by Numa, whose function it was to prescribe the ceremonies each god was to be worshipped withal, compose the rituals, direct the vestals, and for a good while to perform the business of augury, till, on some superstitious occasion, he was prohibited intermeddling therewith. The office of the college of pontiffs was to assist the high-priest in giving judgment in all causes relating to religion, inquiring into the lives and manners of the inferior priests, and punishing them if they saw occasion, &c. The Jews, too, had their pontiffs; and among the Romanists, the pope is still styled the sovereign pontiff.

PONTIFICATE, is used for the state or dignity of a pontiff or high-priest; but more particularly in modern writers for the reign of a pope.

PONTIUS PILATE. See PILATE. PONTON, or PONTOON, in War, a kind of flatbottomed boat, whose carcase of wood is lined within and without with tin: they serve to lay bridges over rivers for the artillery and army to march over. The French pontoons, and those of most other powers, are made of copper on the outside: though these cost more at first, yet they last much longer than those of tin; and when worn out, the copper sells nearly for as

much as it cost at first; but when ours are rendered useless, they sell for nothing. Our pontoons are 21 feet long, five feet broad, and depth within two feet 1.5 inches.

PONTOON-Carriage, is made with two wheels only, and two long side-pieces, whose fore-ends are supported by a limber; and serves to carry the pontoon, boards, cross-timbers, anchors, and every other thing necessary for making a bridge.

PONTOON-Bridge, is made of pontoons slipped inte the water, and placed about five or six feet asunder ; each fastened with an anchor, when the river has a strong current; or to a strong rope that goes across the river, running through the rings of the pontoons. Each boat has an anchor, cable baulks, and chests. The baulks are about five or six inches square, and 21 feet long. The chests are boards joined together by wooden bars, about three feet broad and 12 feet long. The baulks are laid across the pontoons at some distance from one another, and the chests upon them joined close ; which makes a bridge in a very short time, capable of supporting any weight.

It

PONT ST ESPRIT, is a town of France, in the department of Gard. It is seated on the river Rhone, over which is one of the finest bridges in France. is 840 yards long, and consists of 26 arches. Each pier is pierced with an aperture, in order to facilitate the passage of the water when the river is high. The town is large, but the streets are narrow and ill built. It formerly contained several churches and convents. It is 17 miles south of Viviers, and 55 north-east of Montpelier. E. Long. 4. 46. N. Lat. 44. 13.

Ponton, Pontus

of the

I

name.

PONTUS, the name of an ancient kingdom of Asia, originally a part of Cappadocia ; bounded on the east by Colchis, on the west by the river Halys, on the north by the Euxine sea, and on the south by Armenia Minor. Some derive the name of Pontus from the Etymology neighbouring sea, commonly called by the Latins Pontus Euxinus; others from an ancient king named Pontus, who imparted his name both to the country and the sea; but Bochart deduces it from the Phoenician word botno, signifying a filberd, as if that nut abounded remarkably in this place. But this derivation seems to be very far fetched; and the common opinion that the country `derived its name from the sea, seems by far the most probable. The kingdom was divided into three parts; the first named Pontus Galaticus, extending from the river Halys to the Thermodon; the second, named Pontus Polemonaicus, extended from the Thermodon to the borders of Pontus Cappadocicus; and this last extended from Pontus Polemonaicus to Colchis, having Armenia Minor and the upper stream of the Euphrates for its southern boundary.

It is commonly believed, that the first inhabitants of Pontus were descended from Tubal; but in process of time mixed with Cappadocians, Paphlagonians, and other foreign nations, besides many Greek colonies which settled in those parts, and maintained their liberty till the time of Mithridates the Great and Pharnaces. The first king of this country whom we find mentioned in history is Artabazes, who had the crown bestowed on the first him by Darius (A) Hystaspes. The next was Rhodo- king. bates,

U

syrians,

2

Artabazes

wards proved a great friend to the Rhodians, and assisted Pontus them with money to repair the losses they had sustained by an earthquake. He entered also into a strict alliance with Antiochus the Great, who married one of his daughters named Laodice.

Pontus. bates, who reigned in the time of Darius Nothus. After him came Mithridates, who, refusing to pay the usual tribute to the Persians, was defeated by Artaxerxes Mnemon; but a peace was soon after concluded by the mediation of Tissaphernes. Besides this, we hear nothing of him farther than that he was treacherously taken prisoner by Clearchus afterwards tyrant of Heraclea, and obliged to pay a large sum for his ransom.

3

Mithridates I.

Mithri

dates II. shakes off the Macedonian

yoke.

Mithridates I. was succeeded by Ariobarzanes, who being appointed by Artaxerxes governor of Lydia, Ionia, and Phrygia, employed the forces that were under his care in the extending of his own dominions, and subduing those of his natural prince. The king of Persia sent one Autophrodates against him; but Ariobarzanes, having with great promises prevailed on Agesilaus and Timothæus the Athenian to come to his assistance, obliged Autophrodates to retire. He then rewarded Agesilaus with a great sum of money, and bestowed on Timothæus the cities of Sestos and Abydos, which he had lately taken from the Persians. He used his utmost endeavours to reconcile the Lacedæmonians and Thebans ; but not being able to bring the latter to any reasonable terms, he assisted the Lacedæmonians with vast sums of money. The Athenians showed so much respect for this prince, that they not only made him free of their city, but granted both him and his children whatever they asked of them. He was murdered in the 28th year of his reign by one Mithridates, whom authors suppose to have been his son. This happened at the time that Alexander the Great invaded Asia, so that Pontus for a time fell under the power of the Macedonians.

In the reign of Antigonus, Mithridates the son of Ariobarzanes shook off the Macedonian yoke; the particulars of which event are related as follow. Antigonus having dreamed that he had a field in which gold grew after the manner of corn, and that Mithridates cut it down and carried it into Pontus, began to be very jealous of him, and ordered him to be put to death privately. But Mithridates, having got notice of the king's intention, withdrew into Paphlagonia, attended only by six horsemen. Here, being joined by many others, he possessed himself of Ciniatum, a stronghold situated near Mount Olgasys; from whence, as his army continually increased, he made an irruption into Cappadocia; and having driven the commanders of Antigonus from that part which borders upon Pontus, he entered his paternal kingdom, which, in spite of the utmost efforts of Antigonus, he held for the space of 26 years, and transmitted to his posterity.

Under the reigns of Mithridates III. Ariobarzanes II. and Mithridates IV. the immediate successors of Mithridates II. nothing remarkable happened. But Mithridates V. made war on the inhabitants of Sinope, a city on the coast of Paphlagonia. He made himself master of all the adjacent places; but finding the whole peninsula, on which Sinope itself stood, well fortified and garrisoned, not only by the inhabitants, but by their allies the Rhodians, he abandoned the enterprise. He after

mans.

After the death of Mithridates V. his son Pharnaces I. Pharna attacking the city of Sinope, unexpectedly took it by ces 1. dif storm. On this the Rhodians sent ambassadors to Rome, fers with the Rocomplaining of the behaviour of the king of Pontus; but Pharnaces was so far from being intimidated by their threats, that he invaded the territories of Eumenes their great ally. The latter sent ambassadors to Rome, and entered into an alliance with Ariarathes king of Cappadocia ; Pharnaces, in his turn, sent ambassadors to Rome, complaining of Eumenes and Ariarathes; upon which some Romans were sent into Asia to inquire into the state of matters. These found Eumenes and his associates willing to accommodate the difference, but Pharnaces in a quite opposite disposition, which they accordingly reported at Rome.

6

a most dis. advantage

In the mean time a war was commenced between Eumenes and Pharnaces; but the latter, being disappointed of assistance from Seleucus king of Syria, whom the Romans would not allow to join him, was at last forced to sue for peace; which was granted him upon the following conditions; That he should forthwith Concludes withdraw his forces from Galatia, and disannul all engagements and alliances with the inhabitants of that ous peace. country; that he should in like manner evacuate Paphlagonia, and send back such as he had from thence carried into slavery; that he should restore to Ariarathes all the places which he had taken during the war, the hostages of both kings, all their prisoners without ransom, and moreover should deliver up to them such of their subjects as from the first breaking out of the war had fled to him; that he should return to Morzias, a petty king in these parts, and to Ariarathes, 900 talents which he had seized in the war, and pay down 300 more to Eumenes as a fine for invading his dominions without provocation. Mithridates, king of Armenia, having in this war joined Pharnaces, was, by the articles of the treaty, obliged to pay 300 talents to Ariarathes for having assisted his enemy contrary to an alliance at that time subsisting between them. Soon after Pharnaces died, and left the kingdom to his son Mithridates VI. more weakened by this peace than by the most destructive war.

7

with the

Romans.

The new king entered into an alliance with the Ro-His son mans, and proved such a faithful friend that he was re-enters into warded, by the senate with Phrygia Major, and honour-alliance ed with the title of the friend and ally of the people of Rome. After a long and prosperous reign, he was murdered by some of his intimate acquaintance, and was succeeded by his son Mithridates VII. surnamed the Great.

The new prince, though not exceeding 13 years of Mithri age, began his reign with most inhuman acts of cruelty dates the to his mother and nearest relations. His father, by his last will, had appointed him and his mother joint heirs prince.

to

Great a

cruel

Pontas. to the kingdom; but he, claiming the whole, threw her into prison, where she soon died through the hard usage she met with. Those to whom the care of his education was committed, observing him to be of a cruel and unruly temper, made various attempts on his life, but could never effect their design, as the king was always on his guard, and armed, in that tender age, against all kind of treachery, without showing the least diffidence.

9

extra

In his youth Mithridates took care to inure himself inary to hardships, passing whole months in the open air, emlities. ployed in the exercise of hunting, and often taking his rest amidst the frozen snow. When he came of age, he married his sister named Laodice, by whom he had a son named Pharnaces. After this he took a journey through many different kingdoms of Asia, having nothing less in view than the whole continent. He learned their different languages, of which he is said to have spoken 22; took an estimate of their strength; and above all viewed narrowly their strong holds and fortified towns. In this journey he spent three years; during which time, a report being spread abroad that he was dead, his wife Laodice had a criminal conversation with one of the lords of her court, and had a son by him. When her husband returned, she presented him with a poisoned bowl; but Mithridates had accustomed himself to take poison from his infancy, so that it had now no other effect than to hasten the destruction of his wife, which very soon took place, together with all those who had been any way accessory to her disloyalty and incontinence.

ral

tries.

II

The king now began to put in execution his schemes of conquest. However, he certainly took the wrong method, by attacking first those nations which were immediately under the protection of Rome, and thus at 10 once provoking that powerful people to fall upon him. quers He began with Paphlagonia, which the Romans had declared a free state. This country he easily reduced, and divided between himself and Nicomedes king of Bithynia, at that time his ally. The Romans remonstrated; but Mithridates, instead of paying any regard to their remonstrances, invaded Galatia, which was immediately under their protection. This he also reduced, and then turned his eyes on Cappadocia. But as the kingdom of Cappadocia was at that time held by Ariarathes, who was a great favourite of the Romans, and married to the sister of Mithridates, the latter hired an assassin to dispatch Ariarathes, after which he thought he might succeed better in his designs. After the death of Ariarathes, Cappadocia was invaded by Nicomedes king of Bithynia, who drove out the son, and married the widow of Ariarathes. This gave Mithridates a plausible pretence for invading Cappadocia; which he instantly did, and drove Nicomedes quite out of the country. Thus Mithridates gained considerable repu tation, not only as a warrior, but as a just and goodnatured prince; for as it was not known that he had hand in the murder of Ariarathes, every one imagined that he had undertaken the war against Nicomedes, merely to revenge the quarrel of his nephew, and to restore him to his right. To keep up the farce a little longer, Mithridates actually withdrew his troops out of the country, and left the young prince master of the kingdom. In a short time, however, he began to press the young king of Cappadocia to recal the assassin Gor

ses the

- of

pado

to be

dered.

any

12

own ne

dius, who had murdered his father: but this the king Pontus. of Cappadocia refused with indignation; and Mithridates, being determined on a quarrel at all events took the field with an army of 80,000 foot, 10,000 horse, and 600 chariots armed with scythes. With this force he imagined he should carry all before him: but finding the king of Cappadocia ready to oppose him with a force no way inferior to his own, he had recourse to treachery; and inviting his nephew to a conference, Assassinstabbed him, in the sight of both armies, with a daggerates his which he had concealed in the plaits of his garment, phew. This barbarous and unexpected piece of treachery had such an effect on the Cappadocians that they threw down their arms, and suffered Mithridates, without opposition, to seize upon all their strongholds. He resigned the kingdom, however, to his son, a child of eight years of age. The care of the young prince, and of the whole kingdom, he committed to Gordius; but the Cappadocians, disdaining to be ruled by such a scandalous assassin, placed on the throne the brother of Ariarathes, who had kept himself concealed in some part of Asia. tion; he being soon after driven out by Mithridates, and the Cappadocians again reduced. The unhappy prince died of grief; and in him ended the family of Pharnaces, who had ruled Cappadocia from the time of Cyrus the Great.

His reign, however, was of short dura

13

Mithri

Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, being now greatly a- Nicomedes fraid of Mithridates, and supposing that his own domi- king of Binions would next fall a prey to the ambitious conqueror, thynia atsuborred a youth of a comely and majestic aspect to deceive the tempts to pretend that he was a third son of Ariarathes, to go to Romans. Rome, and demand the kingdom of Cappadocia as his just right. He was received by the senate with the greatest kindness, and Laodice the wife of Nicomedes 14 even confirmed the deceit by her oath. But in the The deceit mean time Mithridates having got intelligence of the exposed by plot, sent notice of it by Gordius to the Romans, so that the imposture was soon known at Rome also. The consequence of this was, that the senate commanded Mithridates to relinquish Cappadocia, and Nicomedes that part of Paphlagonia which he possessed; declaring both these countries free. The Cappadocians protested that they could not live without a king; upon which they were allowed to choose one of their own nation. Mithridates used all his interest in favour of Gordius; but he being excluded by the Romans, one Ariobarzanes was chosen by the majority of votes.

dates.

15

throne of

by Mithri

To enforce this election, Sylla was sent into Cappa- Ariobardocia. He had the character of an ambassador, but the zanes setreal intent of his coming was to disappoint the ambitious tled on the designs of Mithridates. With a handful of forces he Cappadocia defeated a numerous army of Cappadocians and Arme- by the Ronians commanded by Gordius, and settled Ariobarzanes mans, but on the throne. But no sooner was Sylla gone than driven out Mithridates stirred up Tigranes king of Armenia against dates, Ariobarzanes, who, without making any resistance, fled to Rome, and Tigranes restored the kingdom to Ariarathes the son of Mithridates. At the same time died the king of Bithynia; upon which Mithridates immediately invaded that country, and drove out Nicomedes the natural son of the late king. But the expelled prince, having fled to Rome, and being assisted by that powerful republic, the king of Pontus was soon obliged to abandon Bithynia and Cappadocia. U 2

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