 Complete the following phrase:  Although Sulla was then appointed to deal with Mithridates, events moved very slowly. However, worse was to come later in 88 BC. the Asiatic or Ephesian Vespers, was the slaughter of tens of thousands of Romans and Italians ordered by Mithridates. Having cleansed Asia Minor of Romans, Mithridates looked further afield, his next victim that year being Rhodes, but it held out, and he moved on to the Aegean islands, taking Delos. A number of mainland Greek states welcomed the advance of the Pontian monarch, Sulla not having set out for Greece from Italy until 87 BC. Meanwhile, Mithridates had overcome the Roman army in Macedonia. When the two armies finally met, Sulla inflicted two defeats on the Pontic forces at the battles of Chaeronea 86 BC and 