διὸ καὶ Μιθριδάτης οὐ συνέτεινεν ἐπὶ τὴν μάχην, τῇ συνήθει τὸν Λούκουλλον εὐλαβείᾳ καὶ παραγωγῇ πολεμήσειν οἰόμενος, ἀλλὰ καθʼ ἡσυχίαν ἐπορεύετο πρὸς τὸν Τιγράνην. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ὀλίγοις τῶν Ἀρμενίων ἐντυχὼν καθʼ ὁδὸν ἐπτοιημένοις καὶ περιφόβοις ἀπιοῦσιν εἴκασε τὸ πάθος, εἶτʼ ἤδη πλειόνων γυμνῶν καὶ τετρωμένων ἀπαντώντων πυθόμενος τὴν ἧτταν ἐζήτει τὸν Τιγράνην.
This was the reason why Mithridates made no haste to be at the battle. He thought Lucullus would carry on the war with his wonted caution and indirectness, and so marched slowly to join Tigranes. At first he met a few Armenians hurrying back over the road in panic fear, and conjectured what had happened; then presently, when he had learned of the defeat from more unarmed and wounded fugitives whom he met, he sought to find Tigranes.
εὑρὼν δὲ πάντων ἔρημον καὶ ταπεινόν οὐκ ἀνθύβρισεν, ἀλλὰ καταβὰς καὶ συνδακρύσας τὰ κοινὰ πάθη θεραπείαν τε τὴν ἑπομένην αὐτῷ βασιλικὴν ἔδωκε καὶ κατεθάρρυνε πρὸς τὸ μέλλον, οὗτοι μὲν οὖν αὖθις ἑτέρας δυνάμεις συνῆγον. ἐν δὲ τῇ πόλει τοῖς Τιγρανοκέρτοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους στασιασάντων καὶ τῷ Λουκούλλῳ τὴν πόλιν ἐνδιδόντων προσβαλὼν εἷλε·
And though he found him destitute of all things and humiliated, he did not return his insolent behaviour, but got down from his horse and wept with him over their common sufferings. Then he gave him his own royal equipage, and tried to fill him with courage for the future. And so these kings began again to assemble fresh forces. But in the city of Tigranocerta, the Greeks had risen up against the Barbarians and were ready to hand the city over to Lucullus; so he assaulted and took it.
καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐν τῇ πόλει θησαυροὺς παρελάμβανε, τὴν δὲ πόλιν διαρπάσαι παρέδωκε τοῖς στρατιώταις, μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων χρημάτων ὀκτακισχίλια τάλαντα νομίσματος ἔχουσαν. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ὀκτακοσίας δραχμὰς κατʼ ἄνδρα διένειμεν ἀπὸ τῶν λαφύρων.
The royal treasures in the city he took into his own charge, but the city itself he turned over to his soldiers for plunder, and it contained eight thousand talents in money, together with the usual valuables. Besides this, he gave to each man eight hundred drachmas from the general spoils.
πυνθανόμενος δὲ πολλοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει κατειλῆφθαι τῶν περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον τεχνιτῶν, οὓς ὁ Τιγράνης πανταχόθεν ἠθροίκει μέλλων ἀποδεικνύναι τὸ κατεσκευασμένον ὑπʼ αὑτοῦ θέατρον, ἐχρήσατο τούτοις πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας καὶ τὰς θέας τῶν ἐπινικίων. τοὺς δʼ Ἕλληνας εἰς τὰς αὑτῶν πατρίδας ἔπεμψε προσθεὶς ἐφόδια, καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων ὁμοίως τοὺς ἠναγκασμένους κατοικεῖν, ὥστε συνέβη μιᾶς πόλεως διαλυθείσης πολλὰς ἀνοικίζεσθαι πάλιν κομιζομένας τοὺς αὑτῶν οἰκήτορας, ὑφʼ ὧν ὡς εὐεργέτης ὁ Λούκουλλος καὶ κτίστης ἠγαπᾶτο.
On learning that many dramatic artists had been captured in the city, whom Tigranes had collected there from all quarters for the formal dedication of the theatre which he had built, Lucullus employed them for the contests and spectacles with which he celebrated his victories. The Greeks he sent to their native cities, giving them also the means wherewith to make the journey, and likewise the Barbarians who had been compelled to settle there. Thus it came to pass that the dissolution of one city was the restoration of many others, by reason of their recovering their own inhabitants, and they all loved Lucullus as their benefactor and founder.
προὐχώρει δὲ καὶ τἆλλα κατʼ ἀξίαν τἀνδρί τῶν ἀπὸ δικαιοσύνης καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ἐπαίνων ὀρεγομένῳ μᾶλλον ἢ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς πολεμικοῖς κατορθώμασιν. ἐκείνων μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀλίγον ἡ στρατιὰ καὶ πλεῖστον ἡ τύχη μετεῖχε, ταῦτα δʼ ἦν ἡμέρου ψυχῆς καὶ πεπαιδευμένης ἐπίδειξις, οἷς ὁ Λούκουλλος τότε χωρὶς ὅπλων ἐχειροῦτο τοὺς βαρβάρους, καὶ γὰρ Ἀράβων βασιλεῖς ἧκον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐγχειρίζοντες τὰ σφέτερα, καὶ τὸ Σωφηνῶν ἔθνος προσεχώρει·
And whatever else he did also prospered, in a way worthy of the man, who was ambitious of the praise that is consequent upon righteousness and humanity, rather than of that which follows military successes. For the latter, the army also was in no slight degree, and fortune in the highest degree, responsible; but the former were the manifestations of a gentle and disciplined spirit, and in the exercise of these qualities Lucullus now, without appeal to arms, subdued the Barbarians. The kings of the Arabs came to him, with proffers of their possessions, and the Sopheni joined his cause.
τὸ δὲ Γορδυηνῶν οὕτω διέθηκεν, ὥστε βούλεσθαι τὰς πόλεις ἐκλιπόντας ἀκολουθεῖν ἐκείνῳ μετὰ παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν ἐθελοντὰς ἐξ αἰτίας τοιᾶσδε. Ζαρβιηνὸς γὰρ ὁ τῶν Γορδυηνῶν βασιλεὺς, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, διʼ Ἀππίου κρύφα Λουκούλλῳ διείλεκτο περὶ συμμαχίας τὴν Τιγράνου τυραννίδα βαρυνόμενος· μηνυθεὶς δʼ ἀπεσφάγη, καὶ παῖδες αὑτοῦ καὶ γυνὴ συναπώλοντο πρὶν ἢ Ῥωμαίους εἰς Ἀρμενίαν ἐμβαλεῖν.
The Gordyeni were so affected by his kindness that they were ready to abandon their cities and follow him with their wives and children, in voluntary service. The reason for this was as follows. Zarbienus, the king of the Gordyeni, as has been said, secretly stipulated with Lucullus, through Appius, for an alliance, being oppressed by the tyranny of Tigranes. He was informed against, however, and put to death, and his wife and children perished with him, before the Romans entered Armenia.
τούτων οὐκ ἠμνημόνησεν ὁ Λούκουλλος, ἀλλὰ παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν Γορδυηνῶν ταφὰς προὔθετο τοῦ Ζαρβιηνοῦ, καὶ πυρὰν ἐσθῆτι καὶ χρυσῷ βασιλικῷ καὶ τοῖς ἀπὸ Τιγράνου κοσμήσας λαφύροις αὐτὸς παρὼν ὑφῆψε, καὶ χοὰς ἐπήνεγκε μετὰ φίλων καὶ οἰκείων τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἑταῖρον ἑαυτοῦ καὶ Ῥωμαίων σύμμαχον ἀνακαλούμενος.
Lucullus was not unmindful of all this, but on entering the country of the Gordyeni, appointed funeral rites in honour of Zarbienus, and after adorning a pyre with royal raiment and gold and with the spoils taken from Tigranes, set fire to it with his own hand, and joined the friends and kindred of the man in pouring libations upon it, calling him a comrade of his and an ally of the Romans.
ἐκέλευσε δὲ καὶ μνημεῖον ἀπὸ χρημάτων συχνῶν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι· πάμπολλα γὰρ εὑρέθη, καὶ χρυσὸς καὶ ἄργυρος ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Ζαρβιηνοῦ βασιλείοις, σίτου δʼ ἀπέκειντο μυριάδες τριακόσιαι μεδίμνων, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ὠφελεῖσθαι καὶ τὸν Λούκουλλον θαυμάζεσθαι, ὅτι δραχμὴν μίαν ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου ταμιείου μὴ λαβὼν αὐτὸν ἐξ αὑτοῦ διῴκει τὸν πόλεμον.
He also ordered that a monument be erected to his memory at great cost; for many treasures were found in the palace of Zarbienus, including gold and silver, and three million bushels of grain were stored up there, so that the soldiers were plentifully supplied, and Lucullus was admired for not taking a single drachma from the public treasury, but making the war pay for itself.
ἐνταῦθα καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Πάρθων βασιλέως ἧκε πρεσβεία παρʼ αὐτόν εἰς φιλίαν προκαλουμένου καὶ συμμαχίαν. ἦν δʼ ἀσμένῳ ταῦτα τῷ Λουκούλλῳ· καὶ πάλιν ἀντέπεμψε παρʼ ἑαυτοῦ πρεσβείαν πρὸς τὸν Πάρθον, οἳ κατεφώρασαν αὐτόν ἐπαμφοτερίζοντα τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ μισθὸν αἰτοῦντα κρύφα τοῦ συμμαχῆσαι τῷ Τιγράνῃ τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν.
Here he received an embassy from the king of the Parthians also, inviting him into friendly alliance. This was agreeable to Lucullus, and in his turn he sent ambassadors to the Parthian, but they discovered that he was playing a double game, and secretly asking for Mesopotamia as reward for an alliance with Tigranes.
ὡς οὖν ταῦθʼ ὁ Λούκουλλος ᾔσθετο, Τιγράνην μὲν ἔγνω καὶ Μιθριδάτην παρελθεῖν ὥσπερ ἀνταγωνιστὰς ἀπειρηκότας, ἀποπειρᾶσθαι δὲ τῆς Πάρθων δυνάμεως καὶ στρατεύειν ἐπʼ αὐτούς, καλὸν ἡγούμενος μιᾷ ῥύμῃ πολέμου τρεῖς ἐφεξῆς ὥσπερ ἀθλητὴς βασιλεῖς καταπαλαῖσαι καὶ διὰ τριῶν τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον μεγίστων ἡγεμονιῶν ἀήττητος καὶ νικῶν διεξελθεῖν.
Accordingly, when Lucullus was apprised of this, he determined to ignore Tigranes and Mithridates as exhausted antagonists, and to make trial of the Parthian power by marching against them, thinking it a glorious thing, in a single impetuous onset of war, to throw, like an athlete, three kings in succession, and to make his way, unvanquished and victorious, through three of the greatest empires under the sun.
ἔπεμψεν οὖν εἰς Πόντον τοῖς περὶ Σωρνάτιον ἡγεμόσιν ἐπιστείλας ἄγειν τὴν ἐκεῖ στρατιὰν πρὸς αὐτόν, ὡς ἐκ τῆς Γορδυηνῆς ἀναβησόμενος. οἱ δὲ καὶ πρότερον χαλεποῖς χρώμενοι καὶ δυσπειθέσι τοῖς στρατιώταις τότε παντελῶς ἀπεκάλυψαν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀκολασίαν, οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ πειθοῦς οὐδʼ ἀνάγκης εὑρόμενοι προσαγαγέσθαι μαρτυρομένους καὶ βοῶντας, ὡς οὐδʼ αὐτόθι μενοῦσιν, ἀλλʼ οἰχήσονται τὸν Πόντον ἔρημον ἀπολιπόντες.
Accordingly he sent orders to Sornatius and his fellow commanders in Pontus to bring the army there to him, as he intended to proceed eastward from Gordyené. These officers had already found their soldiers unmanageable and disobedient, but now they discovered that they were utterly beyond control, being unable to move them by any manner of persuasion or compulsion. Nay, they roundly swore that they would not even stay where they were, but would go off and leave Pontus undefended.
ταῦτα πρὸς Λούκουλλον ἀπαγγελθέντα καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖ προσδιέφθειρε στρατιώτας, ἤδη μὲν ὑπὸ πλούτου καὶ τρυφῆς βαρεῖς γεγονότας πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν καὶ σχολῆς δεομένους, ὡς δὲ τὴν ἐκείνων ἐπύθοντο παρρησίαν, ἄνδρας αὐτοὺς ἀπεκάλουν καὶ μιμητέον αὐτοὺς ἔφασαν εἶναι· πολλὰ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἄξια σωτηρίας καὶ ἀναπαύσεως κατειργάσθαι.
When news of this was brought to Lucullus, it demoralised his soldiers there also. Their wealth and luxurious life had already made them averse to military service and desirous of leisure, and when they heard of the bold words of their comrades in Pontus, they called them brave men, and said their example must be followed in Gordyené, for their many achievements entitled them to respite from toil and freedom from danger.
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