prince, at the death of his father, ascended the throne by the name of Ariarathes VI., and signalized the beginning of his reign by an action no less glorious to his generosity than to his valour. Artaxias, king of Armenia Major, after having routed the forces of My throbuzanus, king of Armenia Minor, and forced him to seek an asylum at the court of Cappadocia, stained the glory of his victory by offering Ariarathes one half of the conquered kingdom, as areward for taking away the life of the exiled monarch. The answer which the wounded virtue of the Cappadocian returned to this insulting pro posal, was given on the field of battle, where he routed the forces of Artaxias; and, with a magnanimity border ing on rashness, restored Al ythrobuzanus to his throne, though he had too great reason to dread the ingratitude of that prince, who soon joined Artaxias against his be nefactor. \Viten the confederates were about to invade his dominions, the Romans interposed ; and in gratitude for the peace which their autnoritv procured, he pre sented to the senate a crown of gold, who, in return, ho noured him with a rod and chair of ivory. The cultiva tion of the arts and sciences in every part of his domi nions dignified this interval of peace, which was soon interrupted by Demetrius Soter, king of Syria, whose sister Ariarathes had refused to marry, dreading the re sentment of the Romans. As the instrument of his re venge, Demetrius incited Holophernes, who pretended to be the eldest son of the late king, to claim the crown of Cappadocia; and assisting him with the power of Sy ria, defeated Ariarathes and Eumencs, king of Perga mils, who, at the command of the Romans, joined him with his army, and having driven the former front his dominions, raised his rival to the throne. An appeal was made by both parties to the Romans, who, with their usual policy, adjudged the rivals to share the kingdom between them, without ullbrding Ariarathes the means or recur ering any part of his authority. Holophernes, however, soon shook the foundations of his power, by exercising it in acts of oppression, of cruelty, and of sa crilege ; and Attains, now king of Perganms, espousing the cause of the exiled monarch, dissipated the forces of the usurper on the field of battle, forced him to abandon the country, and restored A riarathcs to the throne. When his affairs became doubtful, llolophemes had deposited 400 talents of gold with the inhabitants of Priene, a city nl Ionia; and A riarathes sullied the fame, which his for mer conduct had so justly merited, by employing his arms, and those of Attains, in ravaging the territories, and besieging the walls of that city, because its inhabi tants refused to surrender the treasure of his rival. The Priennians, however, not only conveyed the to its owner; but defended the city till the irresistible wait date of the Roman senate, which they had solicited, ar rived, and obliged the confederates to abandon the siege. Remembering former injuries, Ariarathes now entered into an alliance with Alexander Epiphanes, who, pre tending to be the son of Antioehus, claimed the king dom of Syria, and joining his forces to that impostor, attacked and defeated the army of Demetrius Suter, who was slain in the contest. Sonic time after he joined the Romans, who claimed the kingdom of Pergamus, in vir tue of a will which Attalus had made in their favour ; and along with P. Crassus, proconsul of Asia, attacked the army of Aristonicus, who, assisted by the Thracians and the Phoexans, asserted his right to that throne as the son of Eninenes. The avarice of Crassus, which directed all his efforts to save his booty, consummated the shame of his defeat, and defrauded his captivity of the pity of his country ; but the death or Ariarathes, which was distinguished by the most intrepid bravery, did not cloud his former reputation in arms. The Ro mans, to repair the loss of that clay, added Cilicia and L) caonia to the kingdom of Cappadocia ; and appointed Laodice, the widow of Ariarathes, during the minority of her children, to be regent. Intoxicated with the charms of royalty, and dreading the loss of her authority, she administered poison to five of the six children which were placed under her protection. The Cappadocians vindicated the honour of their country, by resisting the tyranny of the regent, and inflicting upon her that death which her crimes deserved.
Ariarathes VII. recalled by the Cappadocians at the death of his mother, ascended the throne, and maimed Laodice, sister of Mithiridates, king of Pontus. This
prince formed the ambitious scheme of annexing the kingdom of Cappadocia to his own ; and employed a Cap padocian nobleman, named Gordius, privately to murder Ariarathes, that he might seize the country, under the pretence of acting for his sister. But his sister pre vented him from reaping the fruits of his fratricide ; for suddenly marrying Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, who had long meditated the invasion of Cappadocia, she in stigated that monarch to accomplish his design, which he soon did by expelling the son of the late king, and assuming the supreme authority. Mithridatcs conceal ed his ambition by espousing the cause of his sister's children ; and pretending to restore his nephew, defeat ed the forces of Nicomedcs, and took possession of the kingdom. The glory which he acquired by this action, was soon converted into infamy ; for refusing to resign the government to his nephew, he discovered the trea t hery of his designs, and roused the spirit of the Cappa docians ; who, to avenge their wrongs, routed his forces, and placed Ariarathes VIII. on the throne of his ances tors.
This prince began his administration by concluding a peace with Mithridates; and, receiving from hint a body of auxiliaries, prosecuted the war with Nicomedes, and wrested from him some of his provinces. Hostilities being thus happily terminated, Mithridatcs, trusting to his influence with Ariarathes, requested that monarch to weal Gordius from banishment, with the insidious design of agaiu employing the dagger of that assassin against the Cappadocian king. Fear, and indis•nation, and revenge, roused the spit it of Ai iarathes ; and wielding tl,e energies of his flout fishing kingdom, he met on his frontiers the army of ridates, and disappointed the tvhich his cm toy had formed of taking hint unpre pared. The bloomy soul of Mithridates had again recourse to his dark policy ; and distrusting the issue of a battle, in which Ile could have commanded tio,000 )0,000 Goo chariots, he expressed the strongest desire of reconciliation ; and inviting Ariarathes to a conference to settle all differences, plunged in his unsuspecting bosom a dagger, which he bad concealed in his garments. The Cappadocians, who witnessed this perfidious action, were struck with consternation ; and, instead of avenging the inglorious blow, fled from the field. The regicide, by placing the Cappadocian sceptre in the hand of his son, a buy of eight years of age, completed his own triumph, and the degradation of that unhappy country. But when Gordius w as recalled, and appointed governor, the spirit of the people, which was depressed but not extinguished, resented the insult ; and recalling from Asia, where he had been exiled, the brother of their late king, placed him upon the throne, by the name of Ariarathes IX. and expelled his rival. But Mithridates, to revenge that affront, again invaded Cappadocia with a mighty army, and meeting its mon arch on the field, routed his forces, drove him from his dominions, and restored his own son. The exiled prince soon after died of grief, and was the last of the family of Pharnaces who governed that country.
At this time, the Bithynian prince had again recourse to the influence which his marriage with the widow of of Ariarathes gave him, to overturn the power of AIithridates in Cappadocia. For this purpose, he as serted that Ariarathes had by Laodice three sons, and that the youngest, who had concealed himself that he might elude the fate of his brothers, was still alive in the Bithynian court. Laodice, with a young man whom she acknowledged as her son, went to Rome, and claim ed in his behalf the protection of the Romans. The address of this artful princess imposed upon the wisdom of the senate ; but scarcely had they promised their as sistance, when Gordius, in the name of Mithridates, ap peared before that august assembly ; discovered the im posture of Laodice ; and, with a talc equally deceitful, maintained that the prince, whom Mithridates had placed on the throne of Cappadocia, was a sou of Ariarathes VI. The senate perceived the falsehood of both parties, and indignant at the insult which they had offered to their wisdom, by endeavouring to deceive them, commanded Mithridates to abandon Cappadocia, and Nicomedes Paphlagonia ; and gave their freedom to both these states. The Cappadocians, however, requested the liberty of electing a king to themselves, which was granted by the senate, and Artobarzanes was raised to the throne by the voice of his country.