he might be cast out of the city as the stone from his hand, he hurled it to the ground in the presence of a large number of persons.  But as soon as Cinna had received the consulship, he attempted to disturb the present settlement of affairs, and prepared to institute a process against Sulla, and induced Virginius, one of the tribunes, to be the accuser; but Sulla,[201] without caring for him or the court, set out with his army against Mithridates.

XI.  It is said that about the time when Sulla was conducting his armament from Italy, many omens occurred to Mithridates, who was staying in Pergamum, and that a Victory, bearing a crown, which the people of Pergamum were letting down upon him by some machinery from above, was broken in pieces just as it was touching his head, and the crown falling upon the theatre, came to the ground and was destroyed, which made the spectators shudder and greatly dispirited Mithridates, though his affairs were then going on favourably beyond all expectation.  For he had taken Asia[202] from the Romans, and Bithynia and Cappadocia from their kings, and had fixed himself at Pergamum, where he was distributing wealth and provinces and kingdoms among his friends; one of his sons also held without any opposition the ancient dominions in Pontus, and the Bosporus[203] as far as the uninhabited regions beyond the Maeotis; Ariarathes[204] occupied Thrace and Macedonia with a large army; and his generals with their forces were subduing other places.  Archelaus,[205] the greatest of his generals, was master of all the sea with his navy, and was subjugating the Cyclades[206] and all the other islands east of Malea, and had already taken Euboea, while with his army, advancing from Athens as his starting-point, he was gaining over all the nations of Greece as far north as Thessaly, and had only sustained a slight check near Chaeroneia.  For there he was met by Bruttius Sura,[207] a legatus of Sentius, praetor of Macedonia, and a man of signal courage and prudence.  Archelaus was sweeping through Boeotia like a torrent, when he was vigorously opposed by Sura, who, after fighting three battles near Chaeroneia, repulsed him and drove him back to the coast.  On receiving orders from Lucius Lucullus[208] to make room for Sulla, who was coming, and to allow him to carry on the war, for which he had received his commission, Sura immediately left Boeotia and went back to Sentius, though he had succeeded beyond his expectations, and Greece was well disposed to change sides on account of his great merit.  However, these exploits of Bruttius were very brilliant.