Chapter 41

Elated by this success and confident that his wishes for Caesar’s defeat would be granted, Pharnaces seized Pontus with all his forces. There he played the role of victor and utterly ruthless tyrant and, promising himself his father’s fortune though with a happier ending, he took many towns by storm, plundered the property of Roman and Pontic citizens, and decreed for those who in respect of youth and beauty had anything to commend them such punishments as proved more pitiful than death. Thus he held unchallenged sway over Pontus, boasting that he had recovered the kingdom of his father.