thenes and Philip of Macedon. Yet it must be allowed that the very partiality of the writer imparts a warmth and animation to his style, and renders his work more readable, if not more accurate. Mitford died at Exbury in 1827.—T. A.
MITHRIDATES II., who was in reality the first independent king of Pontus, and should more accurately be classed as Mithridates I., was son of Ariobarzanes II., whom he succeeded in 337 b.c. There are no particulars of his life from that date until we meet with him, apparently in a very subordinate capacity, at the court of Antigonus, soon after the death of Alexander. Flying from this servitude and dependence, he seized a fortress in Paphlagonia, rapidly increased his forces, and thus became the founder of the kingdom of Pontus. In 302 b.c., however, his assassination was procured by Antigonus, to prevent him from joining the league formed by Cassander and his confederates.—Mithridates III. succeeded him, added largely to his dominions, and reigned for thirty-six years.—Mithridates IV., grandson of the preceding, succeeded Ariobarzanes III., but the precise date of his accession is still a matter of dispute. He repulsed an invasion of his kingdom by the Gauls; and subsequently taking part in the war between Seleucus and Antiochus Hierax, defeated the former in a great battle. In 220 b.c. Mithridates attacked the powerful city of Sinope, but was unable to reduce it. The date of his death is conjectured by Clinton to be 190 b.c.—His grandson, Mithridates V., surnamed Euergetes, was on the throne in 154 b.c., when we find him assisting Attalus II. against Prusias, king of Bithynia. He was the first of the Pontic kings who entered into an alliance with the Romans, to whose aid, during the third Punic war, he sent some ships and a small auxiliary force. He was assassinated at Sinope, by a conspiracy amongst his attendants, about 120 b.c.—W. J. P.
MITHRIDATES VI., King of Pontus, surnamed Eupator, but commonly known in history as Mithridates the Great, was born about 132 b.c. and was brought up at Sinope, where he received a Greek education. He succeeded his father Mithridates V., about 121 b.c. His grounds of quarrel with the Romans commenced early, as during his minority they deprived him of Phrygia, which had been possessed by his father. He commenced his career by the conquest of Colchis and Lesser Armenia, about 112 b.c., having first secured himself on the throne by the execution of his mother and brother. Being called in by the Greeks of the Chersonesus Taurica or Crimea to their assistance against the Scythians, he expelled the latter from the Crimea, and carried his victorious arms as far as the Dneister. He appears to have established a strong influence over the Scythians even as far as the Danube—having in view already his great contest with Rome. The kingdom of Bosphorus in the Crimea became tributary to him, and soon afterwards, by the bequest of its last king Parisades, was incorporated with his dominions. He also allied himself with Tigranes, king of Armenia, and with the Parthians and the Iberians in the vicinity of the Caspian. During some years he, moreover, laboured in various ways to gain entire possession of Paphlagonia, Galatia, and Cappadocia, against the authority and influence of Rome; the republic being much hampered about 90 b.c. with the social war. Our knowledge of these events is very imperfect, but it appears that Mithridates for a long time carefully avoided coming to an open rupture with Rome. The war broke out in 88 b.c. The Roman legate Aquilius and their ally Nicomedes king of Bithynia, were completely defeated in Paphlagonia, and Mithridates followed up his success by the invasion of the Roman province of Asia, which then comprised a large part of western Asia Minor, with Pergamus for its capital. He overran the whole province, and all Asia Minor soon acknowledged his authority, excepting some of the islands and the confederate Greek cities of Lycia. In the middle of the winter he issued orders to all the cities of Asia Minor that all Roman citizens found in them should be forthwith put to death. So hateful had the Romans rendered themselves by their extortions and oppressions, that the massacre seems to have been almost universally carried out, and seventy thousand persons at the lowest computation are said to have perished in it. In the spring of 87 b.c., Mithridates sent a large army into Greece, and subsequently occupied Thrace and Macedonia also. But in 86 b.c., Archelaus, his general, was defeated with enormous slaughter at Chæronea by the celebrated Sulla, and in 85 b.c. the Roman Fimbria totally routed Mithridates himself and drove him out of the Roman province in Asia Minor. In the same year Sulla gained another great victory over Archelaus at Orchomenos, and in 84 b.c. he crossed over into Asia; but being anxious to attack his enemy Fimbria, he concluded a treaty with Mithridates on behalf of the Romans, by which it was stipulated that the king should give up all the territories he had acquired in the war, should pay two thousand talents to the Romans, and should surrender to them seventy ships of war fully equipped. This last condition was especially grievous to Mithridates, as he had devoted the greatest pains to establishing a powerful navy. Hostilities were renewed again by the Roman governor Murean in the following year, but Mithridates was victorious, and peace was soon restored on the terms of the treaty with Sulla. The king devoted this respite to preparing himself for a final struggle with Rome, by improving the discipline of his armies and making fresh alliances. He entered into a treaty with Sertorius, in which he engaged to assist that general with his fleet, and to induce the Cilician pirates, over whom he had influence, to take part with Sertorius. In return, Mithridates was to have possession of all Asia, should they be successful against Rome. The third and final Mithridatic war began 74 b.c., the immediate pretence being a dispute respecting the province of Bithynia. Mithridates with an immense army invaded Bithynia, defeated the consul Cotta near Chalcedon, and shut him up in that city. He then laid siege to the wealthy city of Cyzicus—but the other consul Lucullus compelled him to raise the siege, 73 b.c. Soon after he sustained several severe defeats, and was driven back into Pontus. Lucullus proceeded to invade Pontus, and gained a great victory at Cabeira 72 b.c. Mithridates caused his wives and sisters to be put to death, lest they should fall into the hands of his enemies, and took refuge with his son-in-law Tigranes in Armenia. War ensued between the Romans and Tigranes, and in 69 b.c. Lucullus invaded Armenia. He defeated Tigranes near his capital Tigranocerta, and the next year he gained another victory at Artaxata, and laid siege to the strong city of Nisibis. Mithridates now succeeded in beating two of Lucullus' lieutenants, and recovered a considerable part of his dominions; Lucullus being much hampered by the mutinous spirit of his soldiers. In 66 b.c. Pompey assumed the chief command, and persuaded the Parthian monarch to act on the Roman side, thereby seriously embarrassing Mithridates and Tigranes. A quarrel now arose between the kings of Pontus and Armenia, and the former, having been again defeated by Pompey, found no better resource than to attempt to penetrate through Colchis to the Tauric Chersonese which had formerly been part of his dominions, and where he might be safe for a time from the pursuit of Pompey. This arduous enterprise was successfully accomplished, and Mithridates established himself at Panticapæum, now Kertch, the capital of his kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosphorus. He now sent offers of submission to Pompey, hoping to obtain terms of peace as Tigranes had done; but the negotiation was fruitless, as Pompey demanded the presence of the king in person. Still unbroken in spirit, the old king tried to organize an alliance against Rome among the wild tribes of the Sarmatians and Getæ, who surrounded the Crimea, and collected a fleet and army with the object of penetrating westwards through Thrace and Illyricum to Italy, and attacking the Romans on their own ground. But his soldiers were weary of fatigues and dangers, and hopeless of success. They mutinied against him, and his son Pharnaces headed the revolt. Finding that no choice remained to him but death or captivity, Mithridates put an end to his life 63 b.c. He was a man of extraordinary talents and energy; but cruel, suspicious, and treacherous in the extreme. He was, in truth, an oriental despot with a Greek education. With the solitary exception of Hannibal, he was the most formidable enemy that the Roman republic ever encountered.—G.
MITSCHERLICH, Eilard, a celebrated German chemist, a native of the grand duchy of Oldenburg, was born in 1794. He was for some time a pupil of Schlosser, and in 1811 became a student of Oriental languages at Heidelberg, removing two years afterwards to Paris, for the purpose of further prosecuting the same study. At Göttingen, where he took up his residence on his return to Germany, he began to turn his attention to science, and in 1819 was invited by Berzelius to take part in his chemical labours. At the end of two years he removed from Stockholm to Berlin, where he became a member of the Academy of Sciences, and professor of chemistry in the university. In 1852 he was elected an associate member of the French Institute. His researches have been attended with results of the utmost importance to chemical science. Besides a great number
