rn by
celebrating festivals, called after the name of Lucullus, to do honour
to the man; and they manifested towards him what is more pleasing than
demonstrations of respect, real affection. Now, when Appius had
returned, and it appeared that there was to be war with Tigranes,
Lucullus again advanced into Pontus, and, getting his troops together,
he besieged Sinope,[391] or rather the Cilicians of the king's party,
who were in possession of the city; but the Cilicians made their
escape by night, after massacring many of the Sinopians, and firing
the city. Lucullus, who saw what was going on, made his way into the
city, and slaughtered eight thousand of the Cilicians, who were left
there; but he restored to the rest of the inhabitants their property,
and provided for the interests of Sinope, mainly by reason of a vision
of this sort: he dreamed that a man stood by him in his sleep, and
said, "Advance a little, Lucullus; for Autolykus is come, and wishes
to meet with you." On waking, Lucullus could not conjecture what was
the meaning of the vision; but he took the city on that day, and,
while pursuing the Cilicians, who were escaping in their ships, he saw
a statue lying on the beach, which the Cilicians had not had time to
put on board; and the statue was the work of Sthenis,[392] one of his
good performances. Now, somebody told Lucullus that it was the statue
of Autolykus, the founder of Sinope. Autolykus is said to have been
one of those who joined Herakles from Thessalia, in his expedition
against the Amazons, and a son of Deimachus. In his voyage home, in
company with Demoleon and Phlogius, he lost his ship, which was
wrecked at the place called Pedalium, in the Chersonesus:[393] but he
escaped with his arms and companions to Sinope, which he took from the
Syrians: for Sinope was in possession of the Syrians, who were
descended from Syrus, the son of Apollo, according to the story, and
Sinope, the daughter of Asopus. On hearing this, Lucullus called to
mind the advice of Sulla, who in his 'Memoirs' advised to consider
nothing so trustworthy and safe as that which is signified in dreams.
Lucullus was now apprised that Mithridates and Tigranes were on the
point of entering Lycaonia and Cilicia, with the intention of
anticipating hostilities by an invasion of Asia, and he was surprised
that the Armenian, if he really intended to attack the Romans, did not
avail himself of the aid of Mithridates, in the war when he was at