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After he had in some degree compensated his soldiers for the fatigues which they had undergone by luxurious winter-quarters in the rich west of Asia Minor, he in the spring of 671 transferred them in 1600 vessels from Ephesus to the Piraeeus and thence by the land route to Patrae, where the vessels again lay ready to convey the troops to Brundisium.

Next day, the gates having at first been shut, and afterwards suddenly thrown open, in consequence of a body of Attalus's troops from Aegina, and the Romans from Piraeeus, having entered the city, the king removed his camp to the distance of about three miles.

The prison, too, was forced open by the Rhodians, and those prisoners whom Philip had shut up there, as in the safest custody, were set at liberty. They next pulled down and mutilated the statues of the king; and then, on a signal being given for a retreat, re-embarked and returned to Piraeeus, from whence they had set out.

While the rest of the ships took their station for the winter at Corcyra, a division under Gaius Claudius Cento proceeded to the Piraeeus to render assistance to the hard-pressed Athenians.

Caius Claudius, and the Roman triremes which had been sent to Athens from the fleet that was laid up at Corcyra, as was mentioned above, arriving at Piraeeus, greatly revived the hopes of their allies, who were beginning to give way to despair.

His successor Taxiles now appeared , driving before him the Roman corps stationed in Thessaly, with an army of, it is said, 100,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry at Thermopylae. Dromichaetes joined him. Archelaus also compelled, apparently, not so much by Sulla's arms as by his master's orders evacuated the Piraeeus first partially and then entirely, and joined the Pontic main army in Boeotia.

Sulla, after the Piraeeus with all its greatly-admired fortifications had been by his orders destroyed, followed the Pontic army, in the hope of being able to fight a pitched battle before the arrival of Flaccus. In vain Archelaus advised that they should avoid such a battle, but should keep the sea and the coast occupied and the enemy in suspense.

In vain he tried to induce the Achaeans to take up arms in his behalf; and equally fruitless were his attacks on Eleusis and the Piraeeus, as well as a second attempt on Athens itself. Nothing remained for him but to gratify his natural exasperation in an unworthy manner by laying waste the country and destroying the trees of Academus, and then to return to the north.

The weak Macedonian fleet under Heraclides remained inactive at Heraclea, and did not venture to dispute the possession of the sea with the enemy. The latter went early to winter quarters, the Romans proceeding to the Piraeeus and Corcyra, the Rhodians and Pergamenes going home. Philip might on the whole congratulate himself upon the results of this campaign.

So the ex-philosopher became a despot who, supported by his bands of Pontic mercenaries, commenced an infamous and bloody rule; and the Piraeeus was converted into a Pontic harbour. As soon as the troops of Mithradates gained a footing on the Greek continent, most of the small free states the Achaeans, Laconians, Boeotians as far as Thessaly joined them.