ἐν τούτῳ δὲ Μιθριδάτης ἐπεβούλευε Κυζικηνοῖς πεπληγόσιν ἐν τῇ περὶ Χαλκηδόνα μάχῃ· τρισχιλίων γὰρ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δέκα νεῶν ἐστέρηντο. βουλόμενος οὖν λαθεῖν τὸν Λούκουλλον, εὐθὺς ἀπὸ δείπνου νύκτα δυσφανῆ καὶ νοτερὰν ἔχων ἐκίνει καὶ φθάνει τῆς πόλεως ἄντικρυς ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ περὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀδραστείας ὄρος ἱδρύσας τὴν δύναμιν.
But in the meantime, Mithridates planned a blow at Cyzicus, which had suffered terribly in the battle near Chalcedon, having lost three thousand men and ten ships. Accordingly, wishing to evade the notice of Lucullus, he set out immediately after the evening meal, taking advantage of a dark and rainy night, and succeeded in planting his forces over against the city, on the slopes of the mountain range of Adrasteia, by day-break.
ὁ δὲ Λούκουλλος αἰσθόμενος καὶ διώξας ἠγάπησε μὲν οὐκ ἐμπεσὼν ἀσύντακτος εἰς τοὺς πολεμίους, καθίζει δὲ τὸν στρατὸν περὶ τὴν Θρᾳκίαν λεγομένην κώμην ἐν τόπῳ κατὰ τῶν ὁδῶν ἄριστα πεφυκότι καὶ τῶν χωρίων, ἀφʼ ὧν καὶ διʼ ὧν ἀναγκαῖον ἦν τοῖς Μιθριδατικοῖς τὰ ἐπιτήδεια φοιτᾶν. διὸ καὶ περιλαβὼν τῇ διανοίᾳ τὸ μέλλον οὐκ ἀπεκρύψατο τοὺς στρατιώτας, ἀλλʼ ἅμα τῷ θέσθαι τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων γενέσθαι συναγαγὼν αὐτοὺς ἐμεγαληγόρησεν, ὡς ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν ἀναιμωτὶ τὸ νίκημα παραδώσων αὐτοῖς.
Lucullus got wind of his departure and pursued him, but was well satisfied not to fall upon the enemy while his own troops were in disorder from their march, and stationed his army near the village called Thracia, in a spot best suited to command the roads and regions from which, and over which, the army of Mithridates must get its necessary supplies. Seeing clearly, therefore, what the issue must be, he did not conceal it from his soldiers, but as soon as they had completed the labour of fortifying their camp, called them together, and boastfully told them that within a few days he would give them their victory, and that without any bloodshed.
Κυζικηνοὺς δὲ Μιθριδάτης δέκα μὲν ἐκ γῆς στρατοπέδοις περιλαβών, ταῖς δὲ ναυσὶν ἐκ θαλάσσης τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἠπείρου διείργοντα τὴν πόλιν εὔριπον ἐμφράξας, ἑκατέρωθεν ἐπολιόρκει, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα διακειμένους πρὸς τὸν κίνδυνον εὐθαρσῶς καὶ πᾶν ἕνεκα Ῥωμαίων ἐγνωκότας ἐκδέχεσθαι δυσχερές, ἀγνοοῦντας δὲ ὅπῃ Λούκουλλος εἴη καὶ τῷ μηδὲν περὶ αὐτοῦ πεπύσθαι ταραττομένους.
Mithridates was besieging Cyzicus both by land and sea, having encompassed it with ten camps on the land side, and having blockaded with his ships by sea the narrow strait which parts the city from the mainland. Although the citizens viewed their peril with a high courage, and were resolved to sustain every hardship for the sake of the Romans, still, they knew not where Lucullus was, and were disturbed because they heard nothing of him.
καίτοι καταφανὴς ἦν ἡ στρατοπεδεία καὶ ἄποπτος, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Μιθριδατικῶν ἐξηπατῶντο. δεικνύντες γὰρ αὐτοῖς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ἄνω παρεμβεβληκότας ὁρᾶτε τούτους; ἔφασαν, Ἀρμενίων στρατός ἐστι καὶ Μήδων, Τιγράνου Μιθριδάτῃ καταπέμψαντος ἐπικουρίαν οἱ δʼ ἐξεπλήσσοντο τοσούτου πολέμου περικεχυμένου μηδʼ, εἰ παραγένοιτο Λούκουλλος, χώραν ἔτι λελεῖφθαι βοηθείας ἐλπίζοντες.
And yet his camp was in plain sight, only they were deceived by their enemies. These pointed the Romans out to them, lying encamped on the heights, and said: Do you see those forces? It is an army of Armenians and Medes which Tigranes has sent to assist Mithridates. They were therefore terrified to see such hosts encompassing them, and had no hopes that any way of succour remained, even if Lucullus should come.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πρῶτος αὐτοῖς εἰσπεμφθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀρχελάου Δημῶναξ ἔφρασε τὴν τοῦ Λουκούλλου παρουσίαν. τούτων δʼ ἀπιστούντων καὶ νομιζόντων αὐτὸν τῶν παρόντων ἐπὶ παρηγορίᾳ πεπλασμένα λέγειν, ἧκε παιδάριον αἰχμάλωτον ἐκ τῶν πολεμίων ἀποδεδρακός. πυνθανομένων δʼ αὐτῶν, ποῦ λέγοι τὸν Λούκουλλον εἶναι, κατεγέλα παίζειν αὐτοὺς οἰόμενον. ὡς δʼ ἑώρα σπουδάζοντας, ἐσήμηνε τῇ χειρὶ τὸν χάρακα τῶν Ῥωμαίων, οἱ δʼ ἀνεθάρσησαν.
However, in the first place, Demonax was sent in to them by Archelaüs, and told them that Lucullus was arrived. They disbelieved him, and thought he had invented his story merely to mitigate their anxieties, but then a boy came to them, who had escaped from his captivity with the enemy. On their asking him where he thought Lucullus was, he laughed at them, supposing them to be jesting. But when he saw that they were in earnest, he pointed out the Roman camp to them, and their courage was revived.
τῆς δὲ Δασκυλίτιδος λίμνης πλεομένης ἀκατίοις ἐπιεικῶς εὐμεγέθεσι, τὸ μέγιστον αὐτῶν ὁ Λούκουλλος ἀνελκύσας καὶ διαγαγὼν ἁμάξῃ πρὸς τὴν θάλατταν ὅσους ἐχώρει στρατιώτας ἐνεβίβασεν. ἔλαθον δὲ νυκτὸς διαπεράσαντες καὶ παρεισῆλθον εἰς τὴν πόλιν.
Again, Lucullus drew out on shore the largest of the sizable craft which plied the lake Dascylitis, carried it across to the sea on a waggon, and embarked upon it as many soldiers as it would hold, who crossed by night unobserved, and got safely into the city.
ἔοικε δὲ καὶ τὸ θεῖον ἐπιθαρρῦναι τοὺς Κυζικηνούς, ἀγασθὲν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀνδραγαθίαν, ἄλλοις τε σημείοις ἐναργέσι, καὶ τῆς τῶν Φερεφαττίων ἑορτῆς ἐνεστώσης οἱ μὲν ἠπόρουν βοὸς μελαίνης πρὸς τὴν θυσίαν καὶ σταιτίνην πλάσαντες τῷ βωμῷ παρέστησαν, ἡ δʼ ἱερὰ καὶ τρεφομένη τῇ θεῷ νομὴν μὲν εἶχεν, ὥσπερ τἆλλα βοτὰ τῶν Κυζικηνῶν, ἐν τῇ περαίᾳ, κατʼ ἐκείνην δὲ τὴν ἡμέραν ἀποκριθεῖσα τῆς ἀγέλης μόνη διενήξατο πρὸς τὴν πόλιν καὶ κατέστησεν ἐπὶ τὴν θυσίαν αὑτήν.
It would seem also that Heaven, in admiration of their bravery, emboldened the men of Cyzicus by many manifest signs, and especially by the following. The festival of Persephone was at hand, and the people, in lack of a black heifer for the sacrifice, fashioned one of dough, and brought it to the altar. Now the sacred heifer reared for the goddess was pasturing, like the other herds of the Cyzicenes, on the opposite side of the strait, but on that day she left her herd, swam over alone to the city, and presented herself for the sacrifice.
ὄναρ δʼ ἡ θεὸς Ἀρισταγόρᾳ τῷ τοῦ δήμου γραμματιστῇ παραστᾶσα, καὶ μὴν ἔγωγε, εἶπεν, ἥκω τὸν Λιβυκὸν αὐλητὴν ἐπὶ τὸν Ποντικὸν σαλπιγκτὴν ἐπάγουσα. φράσον οὖν θαρρεῖν τοῖς πολίταις. θαυμαζόντων δὲ τὴν φωνὴν τῶν Κυζικηνῶν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ σάλον εἶχεν ἡ θάλασσα κατιόντος ἀκρίτου πνεύματος, αἵ τε μηχαναὶ τοῦ βασιλέως παρεστῶσαι τοῖς τείχεσιν, ἔργα θαυμαστὰ Νικωνίδου τοῦ Θεσσαλοῦ, ῥοίζῳ καὶ πατάγῳ πρῶτον ἀπεδήλουν τὸ μέλλον·
And again, the goddess appeared in a dream to Aristagoras, the town-clerk, saying: Lo, here am I, and I bring the Libyan fifer against the Pontic trumpeter. Bid the citizens therefore be of good cheer. While the Cyzicenes were lost in wonder at the saying, at daybreak the sea began to toss under a boisterous wind, and the siege-engines of the king along the walls, the wonderful works of Niconides the Thessalian, by their creaking and cracking showed clearly what was about to happen;
εἶτα νότος ἐκραγεὶς ἄπιστος τὸ μέγεθος τά τʼ ἄλλα συνέτριψε μηχανήματα ὥρας βραχεῖ μορίῳ, καὶ τὸν ξύλινον πύργον ἑκατὸν πηχῶν ὕψος ὄντα διασείσας κατέβαλεν. ἱστορεῖται δὲ τῶν ἐν Ἰλίῳ πολλοῖς καθʼ ὕπνον ὀφθῆναι τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν ἱδρῶτι πολλῷ ῥεομένην καὶ ὑποφαίνουσάν τι τοῦ πέπλου παρερρωγός, λέγουσαν, ὡς ἀρτίως ἥκοι βοηθήσασα Κυζικηνοῖς. καὶ στήλην τινὰ δόγματα καὶ γράμματα περὶ τούτων ἔχουσαν ἐδείκνυον Ἰλιεῖς.
then a south wind burst forth with incredible fury, shattered the other engines in a short space of time, and threw down with a great shock the wooden tower a hundred cubits high. It is related, too, that the goddess Athena appeared to many of the inhabitants of Ilium in their sleep, dripping with sweat, showing part of her peplus torn away, and saying that she was just come from assisting the Cyzicenes. And the people of Ilium used to show a stele which had on it certain decrees and inscriptions relating to this matter.
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