Dios Rome, Vol. 2 | Page 5

direction.
The Valerians, indeed, learning that they had been exempted from the
campaign by the authorities at home, withdrew altogether.
[-16-] Let no one wonder that Lucullus, who had proved himself of all
men most versed in warfare, and was the first Roman to cross the
Taurus with an army and for hostile operations, who had vanquished
two powerful kings and would have captured them if he had chosen to
end the war quickly, was unable to rule his fellow-soldiers, and that
they were always revolting and finally left him in the lurch. He required
a great deal of them, was difficult of access, strict in his demands for
labor, and inexorable in his punishments: he did not understand how to
win over a man by argument, or to attach him to himself by kindliness,
or to make a comrade of him by sharing honors or wealth,--all of which
means are necessary, especially in a large body, and most of all in a
body of soldiers. Hence the soldiers, as long as they prospered and got
booty that was a fair return for their dangers, obeyed him: but when
they encountered trouble and fell into fear instead of hopes, they no
longer heeded him at all. The proof of this is that Pompey took these
same men (he enrolled the Valerians again) and kept them without the
slightest show of revolt. So much does man differ from man.
[-17-] After this action of the soldiers Mithridates won back almost all
his domain and wrought dire devastation in Cappadocia, since neither
Lucullus defended it, under the excuse that Acilius was near, nor
Acilius himself. For the latter, who in the first place was hurrying on to
rob Lucullus of the fruits of victory, now, when he learned what had
taken place, did not come to the camp, but delayed in Bithynia. As for
Marcius, the pretext which he gave for not assisting Lucullus was that
his soldiers refused to follow him. When he reached Cilicia he received
one Menemachus, a deserter from Tigranes, and Clodius who had
revolted under Lucullus, and, fearing a repetition of the doings at
Nisibis, he put him in command of the fleet; for Marcius, too, had one
of his sisters as wife. Now Clodius, after being captured by the pirates
and released by them in consequence of their fear of Pompey, came to
Antioch in Syria, declaring that he would be their ally against the
Arabians, with whom the people were then at variance. There, likewise,

he caused some to revolt, and his activity nearly cost him his life.
[-18-] ... he spares.[7] In his eagerness for supremacy he assailed even
the Cretans who had come to terms with him, and not heeding their
objection that there was a state of truce he hastened to do them harm
before Pompey came up. Octavius, who was there, had no troops and so
kept quiet: in fact, he had not been sent to do any fighting, but to take
charge of the cities. Cornelius Sisenna, the governor of Greece, did, to
be sure, when he heard the news, come to Crete and advise Metellus to
spare the villages, but on failing to persuade him made no active
opposition. Metellus, after many other outrages, captured by treachery
the city Eleuthera and extorted money from it. The traitors had
repeatedly at night saturated with vinegar a very large brick tower,
most difficult of capture, so that it became brittle. Next he took by
storm Lappa, in spite of Octavius's occupancy, and did the latter no
harm, but put to death the Cilicians, his followers. [-19-]Octavius,
incensed at this, no longer remained quiet, but first used the army of
Sisenna (that general had fallen sick and died) to aid here and there the
victims of oppression, and then, when the detachment of Metellus had
retired, proceeded to Aristion at Hieropydna, by whose side he fought.
Aristion, on the retreat from Cydonia about that time, had conquered
one Lucius Bassus who sailed out to oppose him, and had gained
possession of Hieropydna. They held out for a while, but at the
approach of Metellus left the fortification and put to sea. There they
encountered a storm, and were driven ashore, losing many men.
Henceforth Metellus was master of the entire island.
In this way the Cretans, who had been free through all preceding ages
and had never owned a foreign lord, were enslaved; and from their
subjugation Metellus obtained his title. He was, however, unable to
have Panares and Lasthenes (whom he had also captured) march in his
triumph. For Pompey had got them away beforehand by persuading one
of the tribunes that it was to him they had submitted and not to
Metellus.
[-20-] I will now relate the progress of Pompey's