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Manius Aquillius was hastening to Asia to assume a command which might still be interpreted as a reality; the longer he allowed his predecessor to remain, the more unsubstantial would his own share in the enterprise become. A triumph would be the prize of the man who had finished the war, and perhaps even Aristonicus's capture need not be interpreted as its close.
The Domitian highway after long preparations furnished a secure land-route from Italy to Spain, and was closely connected with the founding of Aquae Sextiae and Narbo; the Gabinian and the Egnatian led from the principal places on the east coast of the Adriatic sea the former from Salona, the latter from Apollonia and Dyrrhachium into the interior; the network of roads laid out by Manius Aquillius immediately after the erection of the Asiatic province in 625 led from the capital Ephesus in different directions towards the frontier.
After two years of hard conflicts Aquillius is said to have fought in person with Athenion, and to have killed him in single combat the Roman general at length put down the desperate resistance, and vanquished the insurgents in their last retreats by famine.
This again was excelled by that of Aquillius on the Viminal, which for some time was the most splendid in Rome, until Lucullus occupied nearly the whole of the Pincian Hill with his gardens and galleries of art, which contained some of the chefs d'oeuvre of antiquity.
But Aquillius, who had once put up Phrygia to auction, knew what pickings there were for a senator when war was afoot in Asia, and perhaps may have had the honester notion that, as Mithridates was sure to go to war soon, it was for the public as well as for his private interest to act boldly and strike the first blow.
The chronology of the following events can only be determined approximately. IV. III. Character of the Constitution of Gaius Gracchus III. IX. Rupture between Antiochus and the Romans Retribution came upon the authors of the arrest and surrender of Aquillius twenty-five years afterwards, when after Mithradates' death his son Pharnaces handed them over to the Romans. IV. VII. Economic Crisis
The work of organisation had been begun even before that of pacification had been completed. The State had taken Perperna's success seriously enough to send with Aquillius ten commissioners for the regulation of the affairs of the new province, and they seem to have entered on their task from the date of their arrival.
In the Crimea even and the neighbouring countries the Pontic king had no thought of receding, but on the contrary carried his arms farther and farther. Aquillius Sent to Asia
Weak Counterpreparatons of the Romans However much it was in itself a political necessity for Rome to declare war against Mithradates, yet the particular moment was as unhappily chosen as possible; and for this reason it is very probable that Manius Aquillius brought about the rupture between Rome and Mithradates at this precise time primarily from regard to his own interests.
Let us reflect upon the trials which daily happen for assassinations, poisonings, embezzlement of public money, frauds in wills, against which we have a new law; then that action against the advisers or assisters of any theft; the many laws concerning frauds in guardianship, breaches of trust in partnerships and commissions in trade, and other violations of faith in buying, selling, borrowing, or lending; the public decree on a private affair by the Lætorian Law; and, lastly, that scourge of all dishonesty, the law against fraud, proposed by our friend Aquillius; that sort of fraud, he says, by which one thing is pretended and another done.
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