C. 88.
The campaign of Sylla in the East does not fall to be described in this
place. He was a second Coriolanus, a proud, imperious aristocrat,
contemptuous, above all men living, of popular rights; but he was the
first soldier of his age; he was himself, though he did not know it, an
impersonation of the change which was passing over the Roman character. He
took with him at most 30,000 men. He had no fleet. Had the corsair
squadrons of Mithridates been on the alert, they might have destroyed him
on his passage. Events at Rome left him almost immediately without support
from Italy. He was impeached; he was summoned back. His troops were
forbidden to obey him, and a democratic commander was sent out to
supersede him. The army stood by their favorite commander. Sylla
disregarded his orders from home. He found men and money as he could. He
supported himself out of the countries which he occupied, without
resources save in his own skill and in the fidelity and excellence of his
legions. He defeated Mithridates, he drove him back out of Greece and
pursued him into Asia. The interests of his party demanded his presence at
Rome; the interests of the State required that he should not leave his
work in the East unfinished, and he stood to it through four hard years
till he brought Mithridates to sue for peace upon his knees.
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