in
tents. Strabo (p. 747) speaks of them thus: "The parts of Mesopotamia
which are towards the south and at some distance from the mountains,
and are waterless and sterile, are occupied by the Skenite Arabs, who
are robbers and shepherds, and readily remove to other parts when the
pastures fail and booty is scarce," &c.]

[Footnote 387: The embassy of Appius to Tigranes was in B.C. 71. See
c. 14, notes.]

[Footnote 388: Compare Appian, _Mithridat. War_, c. 82.]

[Footnote 389: He is often mentioned by Cicero, _De Orat._ ii. 88, 90;
and elsewhere. He was celebrated for his powerful memory, and he is
said to have perfected a certain artificial system which was began by
Simonides.]

[Footnote 390: Though Amphikrates intended to say that Seleukeia was
small, it was in fact a large city. This Seleukeia on the Tigris was
built by Seleukus Nikator. It was about 300 stadia or 36 miles from
Babylon, which declined after the foundation of Seleukeia. In Strabo's
time, Babylon was nearly deserted and Seleukeia was a large city.]

[Footnote 391: Bacchides, according to Strabo, commanded in the city.
Sinope is described by Strabo (p. 545) as one of the chief towns of
Asia in his day. It was a Milesian colony. It was the birth-place of
this Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, who made it his capital. It was
situated on an isthmus which joined the mainland to the Chersonesus
(peninsula) which is mentioned by Plutarch in this chapter. There were
harbours and stations for ships on each side of the isthmus. The
present condition of the town is described by Hamilton (_Researches_,
i. 306, &c.): "The population and prosperity of Sinope are not such as
might be expected in a place affording such a safe harbour between
Constantinople and Trebizond. I observed also a general appearance of
poverty and privation throughout the peninsula."

In Strabo's time Sinope had received a Roman colony, and the colonists
had part of the city and of the territory. The word Colonia in Greek
([Greek: koloneia]) appears on a sarcophagus which was seen by
Hamilton in a small village near Sinope.]

[Footnote 392: Sthenis was a native of Olynthus and a contemporary of
Alexander the Great. He is mentioned by Plinius (34, c. 19) and by
Pausanias (vi. 17). Strabo says that Lucullus left everything to the
Sinopians except the statue of Autolykus and a sphere, the work of
Billarus, which he carried to Rome.]

[Footnote 393: This is the word which the Greeks use f