s, Sulla's
quaestor, appeared in the Aegean with a fleet that he had gathered among
Rome's allies in the East. He defeated the fleet of Mithradates and
secured Sulla's passage to Asia. The king's position was now precarious.
His exactions had alienated the sympathies of the Greek cities which now
began to desert his cause. Furthermore Flaccus, after recovering Macedonia
and Thrace, had crossed the Bosphorus into Bithynia. There he was killed
in a mutiny of his soldiers and was succeeded by his legate Fimbria, who
was popular with the troops because he gratified their desire for plunder.
But Fimbria was energetic; he defeated Mithradates and recovered the coast
district as far south as Pergamon (86 B. C.). Mithradates was ready for
peace and Sulla was anxious to have his hands free to return to Italy,
where the Marians were again in power. Negotiations were opened by
Mithradates with Sulla and after some delay peace was concluded in 85
B. C. on the following terms: The king was to surrender Cappadocia,
Bithynia, the Roman province of Asia and his other conquests in Asia
Minor, to pay an indemnity of 3000 talents, and give up a part of his
fleet. His kingdom of Pontus remained intact.

*Sulla's treatment of Asia and Greece, 85-83 B. C.* Sulla spent the
following winter in Asia, readjusting affairs in the province. The
rebellious communities were punished by the quartering of troops upon
them, and by being forced to contribute to Sulla the huge sum of 20,000
talents, or $24,000,000. To raise this amount they were forced to borrow
from Roman bankers and incur a crushing burden of debt. In 84 B. C. Sulla
crossed to Greece, there to complete his preparations for a return to
Italy. The Greek states had suffered heavily in the recent campaigns on
her soil. Sulla had carried off the temple treasures of Olympia, Delphi
and Epidaurus, Attica and Boeotia had been ravaged and depopulated, and
the coasts had been raided by the Mithradatic fleet. From the devastations
of the Mithradatic war Hellas never recovered.

IX. SULLA'S DICTATORSHIP

*The Marian party in Rome 87-84 B. C.* While Sulla had been conducting his
successful campaign in Greece, in Italy the Marian party had again won the
upper hand. Scarcely had Sulla left Italy with his army when the consul
Cinna re-enacted the Sulpician Laws. His colleague Gnaeus Octavius and the
senatorial faction drove him from the city and had him deposed from
off