except Rhodes.  Sylla was employed against him; but as he had very few ships, he sent Lucullus to Syria, Egypt, Lybia, and Cyprus, to collect a fleet.  From Ptolemy, who was afraid of the power of Mithridates, and, perhaps, jealous of the Romans, he received no vessels; but from the other quarters he received considerable supplies of ships and experienced mariners.  It is probable, however, that by sea the Romans would not have been able to cope with Mithridates, had not that monarch been beaten by land, and had not his admiral, Archelaus, delivered up the fleet under his command to Sylla.  In the meantime, Mithridates was blocked up in Pitane, a city near Troy, from which he could not have escaped, if Lucullus had brought his fleet against it; this, however, out of jealousy to the Roman general Fimbria, he refused to do, contenting himself with naval operations.  In these he was successful, gaining two victories over Mithridates’s fleet, near the coast of Troy.  These defeats, and the treachery of Archelaus, nearly annihilated the maritime force of Mithridates.  But this monarch was not easily dispirited; in a short time he collected another fleet, and invaded Bithynia.  It was therefore necessary for the Romans to send a fleet thither, which they did, under the command of Cotta.  This fleet, however, was far inferior to that of the king, which consisted of 400 ships of thirty oars, besides a great many smaller vessels.  On learning this, Lucullus, who had the chief command, ordered Cotta to remain in the harbour of Chalcedon; but Mithridates, relying on his strength, sailed into the very harbour, and burnt the Roman fleet.  The loss of the Romans consisted of sixty ships, and 8000 of their mariners slain, besides 4500 taken prisoners.  As this success of Mithridates encouraged the cities of Asia to revolt, Lucullus resolved, if possible, to counterbalance it with still more decisive success on his part by land; he accordingly besieged him in his camp.  Being reduced to great straits, Mithridates was forced to escape by sea towards Byzantium; but on his voyage he was overtaken by a violent storm, in which sixty of his ships were sunk; he himself must have perished, if he had not been rescued by a pirate, who landed him safe in Pontus.  Mithridates still had a small float of fifty ships, on board of which were 10,000 land forces.  These were at sea; but with what object does not appear:  they were met, however, near Lemnos, by a Roman squadron, and entirely defeated; thirty-two of them being captured, and the rest sunk.  On receiving information of this victory, the Roman senate ordered Lucullus to be paid 3000 talents to repair and augment his fleet; but he refused them, answering, “that with the succours he could get from their allies, he should be able to gain the dominion of the sea, and conquer Mithridates:”  at the same time he sent to Rome 110 galleys, armed with beaks.  Mithridates, however, was still formidable at sea, and continued so, till the Romans gained another victory over him, near the island of Tenedos, in which they took and sunk sixty ships:  after this, he was not able to fit out another fleet.  As the remainder of the war between him and the Romans was entirely confined to land operations, we shall pass it by, and proceed to the other naval enterprizes of the Romans about this period.