The island of Crete was regarded by the ancients as difficult of access; most of its harbours were exposed to the wind; but as it was easy for ships to sail out of them, when the wind was moderate and favourable, they were convenient for commerce to almost any part of the then commercial world.  The ancients, according to Strabo, reckoned that ships which sailed from the eastern part of Crete would arrive in Egypt in three or four days; and, according to Diodorus Siculus, in ten days they would arrive at the Pulus Maeotis.  The principal seaports were Bithynia, which had a very convenient haven; and Heracles, the seaport of the Gnossians.  To these, merchants from all parts of the world resorted.  There were, besides, a great many creeks and bays.  This island would have been much more commercial and flourishing than it actually was, considering its favourable situation, &c., had it not been divided into a great number of independent states, who were jealous of each other’s prosperity, and almost constantly at war amongst themselves.  In very early times, when the whole island was subject to one sovereign, the Cretans were powerful at sea; they had subjected even before the Trojan war, some of the islands in the Egean Sea, and formed colonies and commercial establishments on the coasts of Asia Minor and Europe.  At the breaking out of the Trojan war, they sent eighty ships to the assistance of the Greeks.  But as soon as the island was divided into independent republics, their navigation and commerce seem to have declined.  Their piratical expeditions were conducted with so much boldness and success, especially at the time when the Romans were engaged in hostilities with Mithridates, that they determined to curb them.  Anthony, the father of Marc Anthony, was appointed to execute their vengeance; but, too confident of success, he was beaten by the Cretans in a sea-battle.  This naturally encouraged them to carry on their piracies on a greater scale, and with more boldness; but their triumph was of short duration, for Metellus, the proconsul, having defeated their forces, united with those of the Cilician pirates, landed on the island, and subdued the whole of it.

In the meantime, Mithridates, who had been very instrumental in encouraging the pirates to commit depredations on the Roman vessels and coasts, was vigorously preparing for war with the republic.  His naval force, formed partly of his own ships, and partly from those of most of the maritime states, all of whom were jealous and afraid of the Romans, and regarded Mithridates as their protector and deliverer, insulted even the coasts of Italy.  We have already noticed his unsuccessful sea-fight with the Rhodians, almost the only people who continued faithful to the Romans.  The latter, at length, were fully sensible of the absolute necessity of forming such a fleet as would enable them successfully to oppose Mithridates, who was master, not only of Asia, but of all Greece, and the adjacent islands,