C A P P A D O C I A. 



415 



,pa- government to his nephew, he discovered the treachery 

 , designs, and roused the spirit of the Cappa- 



^^r* ' docians; who, t<> .ivrnge tlu-ir wrong*, routed his 

 *, and placed Ariarathes VIII. on the throne of 

 tors. 



Ariarathe* This prince began his administration by conclud- 

 ing a peace with Mithridates; and, receiving from 



Ant. C. '1. | um a b tK iy O f aux ili ar jc8, prosecuted the war with 

 Nicomedes, and wrested from him some of his pro- 

 vinces. Hostilities being thus happily terminated, 

 Mithridates, trusting to his influence with Ariarathes, 

 requested that monarch to recal Gordius from ba- 

 nishment, with the insidious design of again employ- 

 ing the dagger of that assassin against the Cappa- 

 docian king. Fear, and indignation, and revenge, rou- 

 sed the spirit of Ariarathes ; and wielding the energies 

 of his flourishing kingdom, he met on his frontiers 

 the army of Mittiridates, and disappointed the hopes 

 which his enemy had formed of taking him unpre- 

 pared. The gloomy soul of Mithridates had again 

 recourse to his dark policy ; and distrusting the issue 

 of a battle, in which he could have commanded 

 80,000 foot, 10,000 horse, and 600 chariots, he ex- 

 pressed the strongest desire of reconciliation ; and in- 

 viting Ariarathes to a conference to settle all differ- 

 .s, plunged in his unsuspecting bosom a dagger 

 which he had concealed in his garments. The Cap- 

 padocians, who witnessed this perfidious action, were 

 struck with consternation ; and, instead of avenging 

 the inglorious blow, fled from the field. The regicide, 

 by placing the Cappadocian sceptre in the hand of 

 his son, a boy of eight years of age, completed his 

 own triumph, and the degradation of that unhappy 

 country. But when Gordius was recalled, and ap- 

 pointed governor, the spirit of the people, which was 

 depressed but not extinguished, resented the insult ; 

 and recalling from Asia, where he had been exiled, 

 the brother of their late king, placed him upon the 

 throne, by the name of Ariarathes IX. and expelled 

 his rival. But Mithridates, to revenge that affront, 

 again invaded Cappadocia with a mighty army, and 

 meeting its monarch on the field, routed his forces, 

 drove him from his dominions, and restored his own 

 son. The exiled prince soon after died of grief, and 

 was the last of the family of Pharnaces who govern- 

 ed that country. 



At this time, the Bithynian prince had again re- 

 course to the influence which his marriage with the 

 widow of Ariarathes gave him, to overturn the power 

 of Mithridates in Cappadocia. For this purpose, he 

 asserted that Ariarathes had by Laodice three sons, 

 and that the youngest, who had concealed himself 

 that he might elude the fate of his brothers, was still 

 alive in the Bithynian court. Laodice, with a young 

 man whom she acknowledged as her son, went to 

 Rome, and claimed in his behalf the protection of the 

 Romans. The address of this artful princess impo- 

 sed upon the wisdom of the senate ; but scarcely had 

 they promised their assistance, when Gordius, in the 

 name of Mithridates, appeared before that august 

 assembly ; discovered the imposture of Laodice ; and, 

 with a tale equally deceitful, maintained that the 

 prince, whom Mithridates had placed on the throne 

 of Cappadocia, was a son of Ariarathes VI. The 

 senate perceived the falsehood of both parties, and in- 

 dignant at the insult which they had offered to their 

 -isdom, by endeavouring to deceive them, command- 



Ariarathes 

 IX. 



cd Mithridates to abandon Cappadocia, and Nicome- 

 des, Paphlagonia ; and gave their freedom to both 

 these states. The Cappadocians, however, requested 

 the liberty of electing a king to themselves, which 

 was granted by the senate, and Ariobarzanes was 

 raised to the throne by the voice of his country. 



This prince soon found that he had sacrificed his 

 happiness for the splendor of royalty. Mithridates 

 and Tigranes, king of Armenia, drove him from 

 his throne, and restored the kingdom to the son of 

 the former. Flying to Rome for protection, the 

 senate commanded Sylla to reinstate him upon the 

 throne ; and that general, having defeated the numer- 

 ous army of Gordius, obeyed their command. Again 

 was Ariobarzanes expelled from his dominions by 

 Mithridates ; again was he restored by the arms ot 

 Sylla ; again was he driven to Rome, and the coun- 

 try swept of its inhabitants by Tigranes, who plant- 

 ed them in Armenia ; and again was the exiled mo- 

 narch restored by the Romans under Pompey, who 

 added to his dominions Sophene, Gordiene, and part 

 of Cilicia. Regretting the tranquillity which he en- 

 joyed when a subject, the Cappadocian monarch com- 

 pleted the vicissitudes of an eventful life, by resign- 

 ing the sceptre into the hands of his son. 



Ariobar/anes II. inherited the kingdom of Cap- 

 padocia and the protection of the Romans ; and, what 

 is no less honourable to his fame, he acquired the 

 friendship of Cicero when proconsul of Cilicia. At 

 that time a conspiracy was formed sgainst him, at 

 the head of which was the high priest of Bellona, a 

 man who was second only to the king, and who, 

 both from his birth and office, could command a 

 numerous army to take the field. But Cicero not 

 only informed the king of his danger, but exerted 

 his authority to avert the storm, and induced the head 

 of the conspiracy to leave the kingdom. When the 

 empire of the world was afterwards decided on the 

 plains of Pharsalia, Ariobarzanes, who, from grati- 

 tude, assisted Pompey, not only shared in the defeat 

 of the vanquished, but also in the clemency of the 

 victor, who accepted of his submission, and demanded 

 a large subsidy as the price of reconciliation. He, 

 however, endeavoured to elude the demand, by de- 

 claring that his treasury was exhausted, by repelling 

 an invasion which had been made upon his dominions 

 by Pharnaces, king of Pont us. Caesar, therefore, 

 after having terminated a war with the Egyptians, 

 sought and routed the forces of Pharnaces ; and 

 having despoiled him of his Cappadocian provinces, 

 restored them, with part of Cilicia and Armenia, to 

 Ariobarzanes. The resentment of Brutus and Cas- 

 sius, whose fortunes Ariobarzanes now abandoned, 

 was roused against him ; and the latter, having routed 

 his troops, and taken himself prisoner, put him to 

 death, and, as he left no children, the crown remain- 

 ed to his brother. 



This prince, who is known by the name of Ari- 

 arathes X., did not immediately ascend the throne. 

 Sisinna, son of the high priest of Comana, and a de- 

 scendant of Archelaus, who, though a Cappadocian, 

 had acted as a general under Mithridates, laid claim 

 to the sovereignty, in virtue of a donation from Mark 

 Antony. This Roman, who seemed born to be the 

 sport of passion, had formed an attachment to Gla- 

 phyra, mother of Sisinna ; and, as the price of her 

 virtue, received the kingdom of Cappadocia for her 



Cappa- 



docia. 



Ariobar- 

 zane* I . 

 Ant. C. 89. 



Ariobax- 

 zanes II- 

 Ant. C. 50. 



Ariarathes 

 X. 



