Dios Rome, Vol. 2 | Page 4

for it was now winter. Comana belongs to the present territory
of Cappadocia and was reported to have preserved right through to that
time the Tauric statue of Artemis and the race of Agamemnon. As to
how these reached them or how remained there I can find no certain
account, since there are various stories. But what I understand
accurately I will state. There are two cities in Cappadocia not far apart
and of the same name which contend for the same honors. Their myths
and the relics they exhibit are alike, and both treasure a sword, which is
supposedly the very one connected with the story of Iphigenia.
[B.C. 67 (_a.u._ 687)]
[-12-] To resume our narrative. The following year, in the consulship of
Manius Acilius and Gaius Piso, Mithridates encamped against Triarius
near Gaziura, trying to challenge and provoke him to battle; for
incidentally he himself practiced watching the Romans and trained his
army to do so. His hope was to engage and vanquish Triarius before
Lucullus came up and thus get back the rest of the province. As he
could not arouse him, he sent some men to Dadasa, a garrison where
the Romans' baggage was deposited, in order that his opponent by
defending it might be drawn into conflict. And so it was. Triarius for a
time fearing the numbers of Mithridates and expecting Lucullus, whom
he had sent for,[4] remained quiet. But when news came of the siege of
Dadasa, and the soldiers in fear for the place got disturbed and kept
threatening that if no one would lead them out they would go to the
rescue at their own bidding, he reluctantly left his position. As he was
now moving forward the barbarians fell upon him, surrounded and
overwhelmed by their numbers those near at hand, and encompassed
with cavalry and killed those who, not knowing that the river had been
directed into the plain, had fled thither.[-13-] They would have
destroyed them utterly, had not one of the Romans, pretending to come
from the allies of Mithridates--no few of whom, as I have said, were

along with the expedition on an equal footing with the
Romans,--approached the leader, as if wishing to make some
communication, and wounded him. To be sure, the fellow was
immediately seized and put to death, but the barbarians were so
disheartened in view of the occurrence that many of the Romans
escaped.
When Mithridates had had his wound cured, he suspected that there
were some others, too, of the enemy in the camp. So he held a review
of the soldiers as if with a different purpose, and gave the order that
they should retire singly to their tents with speed. Then he despatched
the Romans, who were thus left alone. [-14-] At this juncture the arrival
of Lucullus gave the idea to some that he would conquer Mithridates
easily, and soon recover all that had been let slip: however, he effected
nothing. For his antagonist, entrenched on the high ground near Talaura,
would not come out against him, and the other Mithridates from Media,
son-in-law of Tigranes, fell upon the Romans while scattered, and
killed many of them. Likewise the approach of Tigranes himself was
announced.
Then there was mutiny in the army; for the Valerians,[5] who had been
exempted from military service and afterward had started on a
campaign again, had been restless even at Nisibis on account of the
victory and ensuing idleness, and also because they had had provisions
in abundance and the bulk of the management, Lucullus being absent
on many errands. But it was chiefly because a certain Publius Clodius
(whom some called Claudius) under the influence of an innate love of
revolution solidified the seditious element among them, though his
sister was united in wedlock to Lucullus. They were especially wrought
up at that time, moreover, through hearing that Acilius the consul, who
had been sent out to relieve Lucullus for reasons mentioned, was
drawing near. They held him in slight repute, regarding him as a mere
private citizen. [-15-]Lucullus was in a dilemma both for these reasons
and because Marcius[6] (consul the year before Acilius), who was en
route to Cilicia, the province he was destined to govern, had refused a
request of his for aid. He hesitated to depart through a barren country
and feared to stand his ground: hence he set out against Tigranes, to see
if he could repulse the latter while off his guard and tired from the
march, and thus put a stop, to a certain extent, to the mutiny of the

soldiers. He attained neither object. The army accompanied him to a
certain spot from which it was possible to turn aside into Cappadocia,
and all with one consent without a word turned off in that