MITHRIDATES, the name of several kings of Pontus.

Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, and also the Great, succeeded to the throne at the age of eleven, about 123 years before the Christian era. The beginning of his reign was marked by ambition, cruelty, and artifice. He murdered his own mother, who had been left by his father co-heiress of the kingdom; and he fortified his constitution by drinking antidotes against the poison with which his enemies at court attempted to destroy him. He early inured his body to hardship, and employed himself in the most manly exercises, often remaining whole months in the country, and making frozen snow and the earth the place of his repose. Naturally ambitious and cruel, he spared no pains to acquire power and dominion. He murdered the two sons whom his sister Laodice had by Ariarathes king of Cappadocia, arid placed one of his own children, when only eight years old, on the vacant throne. This violent proceeding alarmed Nicoedes king of Bithynia, who had married Laodice the widow of Ariarathes, and ultimately involved Mithridates in a quarrel with the Romans. Mithridates never lost an opportunity by which he might lessen the influence of his adversaries; and in order the more effectually to destroy their power in Asia, he commanded that all the Romans who were in his dominions should be massacred. This was done in one night, and no less than a hundred and fifty thousand according to Plutarch, or eighty thousand according to Appian, became the victims of his cruelty. This atrocious butchery called aloud for vengeance. Aquilius, and soon after½’ards Sylla, marched against Mithridates with a large army. The former was made prisoner; but Sylla obtained a victory over the generals of Mithridates; and another decisive engagement rendered the great Roman captain master of all Greece, Macedonia, Ionia, and Asia Minor. This adverse fortune was aggravated by the loss of about two hundred thousand men, who were killed in the different engagements; and Mithridates, weakened by repeated reverses both by sea and land, sued for peace from the conqueror, which he obtained on hard terms. But he soon took the field again with an army of a hundred and forty thousand infantry and sixteen thousand horse, consisting of his own forces and those of his son-in-law Tigranes king of Armenia. At the head of this army he made himself master of the Roman provinces in Asia; none dared to oppose his conquests; and the Romans, relying upon his fidelity, had withdrawn the greater part of their armies from the country. But the news of his warlike preparations were no sooner heard than Lucullus the consul marched into Asia, and without delay blocked up the camp of Mithridates, who was then besieging Cyzicus. The Asiatic monarch, however, escaped, and fled into the heart of his kingdom. Lucullus pursued him with the utmost celerity, and would have taken him prisoner after a battle, had not the avidity of his soldiers preferred the plundering of a mule loaded with gold to the taking of a monarch who had exercised such cruelties against their countrymen. The appointment of Glabrio to the command of the Roman forces, instead of Lucullus, proved favourable to Mithridates, who recovered the greater part of his dominions. But the sudden arrival of Pompey soon put an end to his successes. During the night a battle was fought near the Euphrates, and an universal overthrow ensued; but Mithridates, bold in his misfortunes, rushed through the ranks of the enemy at the head of eight hundred horsemen, five hundred of whom perished in the attempt to follow him. He fled to Tigranes his son-in-law, who however refused him an asylum, although he had previously supported him with the collected forces of his kingdom. Mithridates found a safe retreat amongst the Scythians; and though destitute of power, friends, and resources, he yet meditated the overthrow of the Roman empire, by penetrating by land into the very heart of Italy. But these wild projects were rejected by his followers, and he sued for peace. It was denied to his ambassadors; and the victorious Pompey declared, that, in order to obtain it, Mithridates must ask it in person. The proud monarch scorned to trust himself in the hands of his enemy, and resolved to conquer or to die. His subjects, however, refused to follow him; and, having revolted against his authority, made his son Pharnaces king. The latter showed himself ungrateful to his father; and, according to some writers, he even ordered his parent to be put to death. This unnatural treatment broke the heart of Mithridates, who obliged his wife to poison herself, and attempted to do the same himself. But his attempt was in vain. The frequent antidotes he had taken in the early part of his life had strengthened his constitution against the poison; and when this proved unavailing, he attempted to stab himself. The blow did not prove mortal; and a Gaul who happened to be present, gave him, at his own request, the fatal stroke, about sixty-four years before the Christian era. Such were the misfortunes, the abilities, and the miserable end, of a man who supported himself so long against the whole power of Rome, and who, according to the declarations of the Roman authors, proved a more powerful and indefatigable adversary than Hannibal, Pyrrhus, Perseus, or Antiochus. It is said that Mithridates conquered twenty-four nations, whose different languages he knew and spoke with the same ease and fluency as his own. As a man of letters he also deserves attention. He was acquainted with the Greek, and even wrote in that language a treatise on botany. His skill in physic is well known; and even now there is a celebrated antidote which bears his name, and is called mithridate. The great work of Adelung has also been called by his name.