First of all, Mithridates left a strong
mountain which was difficult to assault, whereon he happened to be
encamped, because he supposed there was no water there; but Pompeius,
after occupying the same mountain, conjectured from the nature of the
vegetation upon it and the hollows formed by the slopes of the ground
that the place contained springs, and he ordered wells to be dug in
all parts: and immediately the whole army had abundance of water, so
that it was a matter of surprise that Mithridates had all along been
ignorant of this. Pompeius then surrounded Mithridates with his troops
and hemmed him in with his lines. After being blockaded forty-five
days Mithridates succeeded in stealing away with the strongest part of
his army, after having first massacred those who were unfit for
service and were sick. Next, Pompeius overtook him on the Euphrates
and pitched his camp near him; and fearing lest Mithridates should
frustrate his design by crossing the river, he led his army against
him in battle order at midnight, at which very hour it is said that
Mithridates had a vision in his sleep which forewarned him of what was
going to happen. He dreamed that he was sailing on the Pontic sea with
a fair wind, and was already in sight of the Bosporus, and
congratulating his fellow voyagers, as a man naturally would do in his
joy at a manifest and sure deliverance; but all at once he saw himself
abandoned by everybody and drifting about upon a small piece of wreck.
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