A Smaller History of Rome Part 13

[Footnote 61: See p. 146.(Fifth paragraph of Chapter XX.--Transcriber)]

[Footnote 62: _Od._, i. 47.]

[Footnote 63: It must be recollected that the mob at Rome consisted chiefly of the four city tribes, and that slaves when manumitted could be enrolled in these four tribes alone.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Roman Trophy.]

CHAPTER XXII.

JUGURTHA AND HIS TIMES. B.C. 118-104.

The murder of C. Gracchus and his adherents left the n.o.bility undisputed masters of the state, till their scandalous conduct in the Jugurthan War provoked a reaction against them, and raised to power a more terrible opponent than the Gracchi had ever been. This man, who took such signal vengeance upon the n.o.bility, was the lowborn MARIUS. He was a native of Arpinum, and was said to have worked for wages as a common peasant before he entered the ranks of the army. He first served in Spain, and was present at the siege of Numantia in B.C. 134. Here he distinguished himself so much that he attracted the notice of Scipio Africa.n.u.s, and received from him many marks of honor. Scipio indeed admitted him to his table; and on a certain occasion, when one of the guests asked Scipio where the Roman people would find such another general after his death, he is said to have laid his hand on the shoulder of Marius, and said, "Perhaps here." The name of Marius does not occur again for many years, but he doubtless continued to serve in the army, and became so distinguished that he was at length raised to the Tribunate of the Plebs in B.C. 119, though not till he had attained the mature age of 38. Only two years had elapsed since the death of C. Gracchus; and the n.o.bles, flushed with victory, resolved to put down with a high hand the least invasion of their privileges and power. But Marius had the boldness to propose a law for the purpose of giving greater freedom at elections; and when the Senate attempted to overawe him, he ordered one of his officers to carry the Consul Metellus to prison. Marius now became a marked man. He lost his election to the aedileship, and with difficulty obtained the Praetorship (B.C. 115); but he added to his influence by his marriage with Julia, the sister of C. Julius Caesar, the father of the future ruler of Rome. His military abilities recommended him to the Consul Metellus (B.C. 100), who was anxious to restore discipline in the army and to retrieve the glory of the Roman name, which had been tarnished by the incapacity and corruption of the previous generals in the Jugurthan War, which now requires our attention.

Masinissa, the ruler of Numidia, and so long the faithful ally of the Romans, had died in B.C. 149, at the advanced age of 90, leaving three sons, Micipsa, Mastanabal, and Gulussa, among whom his kingdom was divided by Scipio Africa.n.u.s, according to the dying directions of the old king. Mastanabal and Gulussa dying in their brother's lifetime, Micipsa became sole king. Jugurtha was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d son of Mastanabal; but Micipsa brought him up with his own sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal.

Jugurtha distinguished himself so much that he began to excite the jealousy of Micipsa. In order to remove him to a distance, and not without a hope that he might perish in the war, Micipsa sent him, in B.C. 134, with an auxiliary force, to a.s.sist Scipio against Numantia; but this only proved to the young man a fresh occasion of distinction.

By his zeal, courage, and ability he gained the favor not only of his commander, but of all the leading n.o.bles in the Roman camp, by many of whom he was secretly stimulated to nourish ambitious schemes for acquiring the sole sovereignty of Numidia; and notwithstanding the contrary advice of Scipio, the counsels seem to have sunk deep into the mind of Jugurtha. On his return he was received with every demonstration of honor by Micipsa; nor did he allow his ambitious projects to break forth during the lifetime of the old man. Micipsa, on his death-bed, though but too clearly foreseeing what would happen, commended the two young princes to the care of Jugurtha; but at the very first interview which took place between them after his decease (B.C. 118) their dissensions broke out with the utmost fierceness. Shortly afterward Jugurtha found an opportunity to surprise and a.s.sa.s.sinate Hiempsal; whereupon Adherbal and his partisans rushed to arms, but were defeated in battle by Jugurtha. Adherbal himself fled for refuge to the Roman province, from whence he hastened to Rome to lay his cause before the Senate. Jugurtha had now the opportunity, for the first time, of putting to the test that which he had learnt in the camp before Numantia of the venality and corruption of the Roman n.o.bility. He sent emba.s.sadors to Rome to counteract, by a lavish distribution of bribes, the effect of the just complaints of Adherbal, and by these means succeeded in averting the indignation of the Senate. A decree was, however, pa.s.sed for the division of the kingdom of Numidia between the two compet.i.tors, and a committee of Senators sent to enforce its execution; but as soon as these arrived in Africa, Jugurtha succeeded in gaining them over by the same unscrupulous methods, and obtained, in the part.i.tion of the kingdom, the western division adjacent to Mauritania, by far the larger and richer portion of the two (B.C. 117). But this advantage was far from contenting him, and shortly afterward he invaded the territories of his rival with a large army. Adherbal was defeated in the first engagement, his camp taken, and he himself with difficulty made his escape to the strong fortress of Cirta. Here he was closely blockaded by Jugurtha. The garrison surrendered on a promise of their lives being spared; but these conditions were shamefully violated by Jugurtha, who immediately put to death Adherbal and all his followers (B.C. 112).

Indignation was now loud at Rome against the Numidian king; yet so powerful was the influence of those whose favor he had gained by his gold, that he would probably have prevailed upon the Senate to overlook all his misdeeds, had not one of the Tribunes, C. Memmius, by bringing the matter before the people, compelled the Senators to give way. War was accordingly declared against him, and one of the Consuls, L.

Calpurnius Bestia, landed in Africa with a large army, and immediately proceeded to invade Numidia (B.C. 111). But Jugurtha easily bribed Bestia and M. Scaurus, who acted as his princ.i.p.al lieutenant, to grant him a favorable peace, on condition only of a pretended submission, together with the surrender of thirty elephants and a small sum of money. As soon as the tidings of this disgraceful transaction reached Rome, the indignation excited was so great that, on the proposition of C. Memmius, it was agreed to send the Praetor L. Ca.s.sius, a man of the highest integrity, to Numidia, in order to prevail on the king to repair in person to Rome, the popular party hoping to be able to convict the leaders of the n.o.bility by means of his evidence. The safe-conduct granted him by the state was religiously observed; but the scheme failed of its effect, for, as soon as Jugurtha was brought forward in the a.s.sembly of the people to make his statement, one of the Tribunes, who had been previously gained over by the friends of Scaurus and Bestia, forbade him to speak. He nevertheless remained at Rome for some time longer, and engaged in secret intrigues, which would probably have been ultimately crowned with success had he not in the mean time ventured to a.s.sa.s.sinate Ma.s.siva, son of Gulussa, who was putting in a claim to the Numidian throne. It was impossible to overlook so daring a crime, perpetrated under the very eyes of the Senate. Jugurtha was ordered to quit Italy without delay. It was on this occasion that he is said, when leaving Rome, to have uttered the memorable words, "A city for sale, and destined to perish quickly, if it can find a purchaser."

War was now inevitable; but the incapacity of Sp. Postumius Albinus, who arrived to conduct it (B.C. 110), and still more that of his brother Aulus, whom he left to command in his absence, when called away to hold the elections at Rome, proved as favorable to Jugurtha as the corruption of their predecessors. Aulus, having penetrated into the heart of Numidia, suffered himself to be surprised in his camp; great part of his army was cut to pieces, and the rest only escaped a similar fate by the ignominy of pa.s.sing under the yoke. But Jugurtha had little reason to rejoice in this success, great as it might at first appear; for the disgrace at once roused all the spirit of the Roman people; the treaty concluded by Aulus was instantly annulled, immense exertions made to raise troops, and one of the Consuls for the new year (B.C. 109), Q.

Caecilius Metellus, hastened to Numidia to retrieve the honor of the Roman arms. But this did not satisfy the people. The scandalous conduct of so many of the n.o.bles had given fresh life to the popular party; and the Tribune C. Mamilius carried a bill for the appointment of three Commissioners to inquire into the conduct of all of those who had received bribes from Jugurtha. Scaurus, though one of the most guilty, managed to be put upon the Commission. But he dared not shield his confederates. Many men of the highest rank were condemned, among whom were Bestia, Albinus, and Opimius. The last named was the Opimius who acted with such ferocity toward Caius Gracchus and his party. He died in exile at Dyrrhachium some years afterward, in great poverty.

The Consul Metellus, who was an able general and a man of the strictest integrity, landed in Africa, with Marius as his lieutenant, in B.C. 109.

As soon as Jugurtha discovered the character of the new commander he began to despair of success, and made overtures for submission in earnest. These were apparently entertained by Metellus, while he sought in fact to gain over the adherents of the king, and induce them to betray him to the Romans, at the same time that he continued to advance into the enemy's territories. Jugurtha, in his turn, detected his designs, attacked him suddenly on his march with a numerous force, but was, after a severe struggle, repulsed, and his army totally routed.

Metellus ravaged the greater part of the country, but failed in taking the important town of Zama before he withdrew into winter quarters. But he had produced such an effect upon the Numidian king, that Jugurtha was induced, in the course of the winter, to make offers of unqualified submission, and even surrendered all his elephants, with a number of arms and horses, and a large sum of money, to the Roman general; but when called upon to place himself personally in the power of Metellus, his courage failed him, he broke off the negotiation, and once more had recourse to arms. Marius had greatly distinguished himself in the preceding campaign. The readiness with which he shared the toils of the common soldiers, eating of the same food, and working at the same trenches with them, had endeared him to them, and through their letters to their friends at Rome his praises were in everybody's mouth. His increasing reputation and popularity induced him to aspire to the Consulship. His hopes were increased by a circ.u.mstance which happened to him at Utica. While sacrificing at this place the officiating priest told him that the victims predicted some great and wonderful events, and bade him execute whatever purpose he had in his mind. Marius thereupon applied to Metellus for leave of absence, that he might proceed to Rome and offer himself as a candidate. The Consul, who belonged to a family of the highest n.o.bility, at first tried to dissuade Marius from his presumptuous attempt, by pointing out the certainty of failure; and when he could not prevail upon him to abandon his design, he civilly evaded his request by pleading the exigencies of the public service, which required his presence and a.s.sistance. But, as Marius still continued to press him for leave of absence, Metellus said to him on one occasion, "You need not be in such a hurry to go to Rome; it will be quite time enough for you to apply for the Consulship along with my son." The latter, who was then serving with the army, was a youth of only twenty years of age, and could not, therefore, become a candidate for the Consulship for the next twenty years. This insult was never forgotten by Marius. He now began to intrigue against his general, and to represent that the war was purposely prolonged by Metellus to gratify his own vanity and love of military power. He openly declared that with one half of the army he would soon have Jugurtha in chains; and as all his remarks were carefully reported at Rome, the people began to regard him as the only person competent to finish the war. Metellus at last allowed him to leave Africa, but only twelve days before the election. Meeting with a favorable wind, he arrived at Rome in time, and was elected Consul with an enthusiasm which bore down all opposition. He received from the people the province of Numidia, although the Senate had previously decreed that Metellus should continue in his command. The exultation of Marius knew no bounds. In his speeches to the public, he gloried in his humble origin. He upbraided the n.o.bles with their effeminacy and licentiousness; he told them that he looked upon the Consulship as a trophy of his conquest over them; and he proudly compared his own wounds and military experience with their indolence and ignorance of war. It was a great triumph for the people and a great humiliation for the aristocracy, and Marius made them drink to the dregs the bitter cup. While engaged in these attacks upon the n.o.bility, he at the same time carried on a levy of troops with great activity, and enrolled any persons who chose to offer for the service, however poor and mean, instead of taking them from the five cla.s.ses according to ancient custom.[64]

Meantime Metellus had been carrying on the war in Africa as Proconsul (B.C. 108). But the campaign was not productive of such decisive results as might have been expected. Jugurtha avoided any general action, and eluded the pursuit of Metellus by the rapidity of his movements. Even when driven from Thala, a strong-hold which he had deemed inaccessible from its position in the midst of arid deserts, he only retired among the Gaetulians, and quickly succeeded in raising among those wild tribes a fresh army, with which he once more penetrated into the heart of Numidia. A still more important accession was that of Bocchus, king of Mauritania, who had been prevailed upon to raise an army, and advance to the support of Jugurtha. Metellus, however, having now relaxed his own efforts, from disgust at hearing that C. Marius had been appointed to succeed him in the command, remained on the defensive, while he sought to amuse the Moorish king by negotiation. The arrival of Marius (B.C.

107) infused fresh vigor into the Roman arms. He quickly reduced in succession almost all the strong-holds that still remained to Jugurtha, in some of which the king had deposited his princ.i.p.al treasures; and the latter, seeing himself thus deprived step by step of all his dominions, at length determined on a desperate attempt to retrieve his fortunes by one grand effort. He with difficulty prevailed on the wavering Bocchus, by the most extensive promises in case of success, to co-operate with him in this enterprise; and the two kings, with their united forces, attacked Marius on his march, when he was about to retire into winter quarters. Though the Roman general was taken by surprise for a moment, his consummate skill and the discipline of his troops proved again triumphant; the Numidians were repulsed, and their army, as usual with them in case of a defeat, dispersed in all directions. Jugurtha himself, after displaying the greatest courage in the action, cut his way almost alone through a body of Roman cavalry, and escaped from the field of battle. He quickly again gathered round him a body of Numidian horse; but his only hope of continuing the war now rested on Bocchus.

The latter was for some time uncertain what course to adopt, but was at length gained over by Sulla, the Quaestor of Marius, to the Roman cause, and joined in a plan for seizing the person of the Numidian king.

Jugurtha fell into the snare; he was induced, under pretense of a conference, to repair with only a few followers to meet Bocchus, when he was instantly surrounded, his attendants cut to pieces, and he himself made prisoner, and delivered in chains to Sulla, by whom he was conveyed directly to the camp of Marius. This occurred early in the year B.C.

106.

L. Cornelius Sulla, the Quaestor of Marius, who afterward plays such a distinguished part in Roman history, was descended from a Patrician family which had been reduced to great obscurity. But his means were sufficient to secure him a good education. He studied the Greek and Roman writers with diligence and success, and early imbibed that love of literature and art by which he was distinguished throughout his life.

But he was also fond of pleasure, and was conspicuous even among the Romans for licentiousness and debauchery. He was in every respect a contrast to Marius. He possessed all the accomplishments and all the vices which the old Cato had been most accustomed to denounce, and he was one of those advocates of Greek literature and of Greek profligacy who had since Cato's time become more and more common among the Roman n.o.bles. But Sulla's love of pleasure did not absorb all his time, nor enfeeble his mind; for no Roman during the latter days of the Republic, with the exception of Julius Caesar, had a clearer judgment, a keener discrimination of character, or a firmer will. Upon his arrival in Africa, Marius was not well pleased that a Quaestor had been a.s.signed to him who was only known for his profligacy, and who had had no experience in war; but the zeal and energy with which Sulla attended to his new duties soon rendered him a useful and skillful officer, and gained for him the unqualified approbation of his commander, notwithstanding his previous prejudices against him. He was equally successful in winning the affections of the soldiers. He always addressed them with the greatest kindness, seized every opportunity of conferring favors upon them, was ever ready to take part in all the jests of the camp, and at the same time never shrank from sharing in all their labors and dangers. It is a curious circ.u.mstance that Marius gave to his future enemy and the destroyer of his family and party the first opportunity of distinguishing himself. The enemies of Marius claimed for Sulla the glory of the betrayal of Jugurtha, and Sulla himself took the credit of it by always wearing a signet ring representing the scene of the surrender.

Marius continued more than a year in Africa after the capture of Jugurtha. He entered Rome on the first of January, B.C. 104, leading Jugurtha in triumph. The Numidian king was then thrown into a dungeon, and there starved to death. Marius, during his absence, had been elected Consul a second time, and he entered upon his office on the day of his triumph. The reason of this unprecedented honor will be related in the following chapter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Soldiers blowing Tubae and Cornua. (From Column of Trajan.)]

[Footnote 64: On this important change in the Roman army, see p. 124.

(The end of Chapter XVII.--Transcriber)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Caius Marius.]

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES, B.C. 113-101.--SECOND SERVILE WAR IN SICILY, B.C. 103-101.

A greater danger than Rome had experienced since the time of Hannibal now threatened the state. Vast numbers of barbarians, such as spread over the south of Europe in the later times of the Roman Empire, had collected together on the northern side of the Alps, and were ready to pour down upon Italy. The two leading nations of which they consisted are called Cimbri and Teutones, of whom the former were probably Celts and the latter Germans, but the exact parts of Europe from which they came can not be ascertained. The whole host is said to have contained 300,000 fighting men, besides a much larger number of women and children. The alarm at Rome was still farther increased by the ill success which had hitherto attended the arms of the Republic against these barbarians. Army after army had fallen before them. The Cimbri were first heard of in B.C. 113, in Noric.u.m, whence they descended into Illyric.u.m, and defeated a Roman army under the command of Cn. Papirius Carbo. They then marched westward into Switzerland, where they were joined by the Tigurini and the Ambrones. They next poured over Gaul, which they plundered and ravaged in every direction. The Romans sent army after army to defend the southwestern part of the country, which was now a Roman province; but all in vain. In B.C. 109 the Consul M.

Junius Sila.n.u.s was defeated by the Cimbri; in B.C. 107 the Tigurini cut in pieces, near the Lake of Geneva, the army of the Consul L. Ca.s.sius Longinus, the colleague of Marias, who lost his life in the battle; and shortly afterward M. Aurelius Scaurus was also defeated and taken prisoner. But the most dreadful loss was still to come. In B.C. 105 two consular armies, commanded by the Consul Cn. Mallius Maximus and the Proconsul Cn. Servilius Caepio, consisting of 80,000 men, were completely annihilated by the barbarians: only two men are said to have escaped the slaughter.

These repeated disasters hushed all party quarrels. Every one at Rome felt that Marius was the only man capable of saving the state, and he was accordingly elected Consul by the unanimous votes of all parties while he was still absent in Africa. He entered Rome in triumph, as we have already said, on the 1st of January, B.C. 104, which was the first day of his second Consulship. Meantime the threatened danger was for a while averted. Instead of crossing the Alps and pouring down upon Italy, as had been expected, the Cimbri marched into Spain, which they ravaged for the next two or three years. This interval was advantageously employed by Marius in training the new troops, and accustoming them to hardships and toil. It was probably during this time that he introduced the various changes into the organization of the Roman army which are usually attributed to him. Notwithstanding the sternness and severity with which he punished the least breach of discipline, he was a favorite with his new soldiers, who learned to place implicit confidence in their general, and were delighted with the strict impartiality with which he visited the offenses of the officers as well as of the privates. As the enemy still continued in Spain, Marius was elected Consul a third time for the year B.C. 103, and also a fourth time for the following year, with Q. Lutatius Catulus as his colleague. It was in this year (B.C.

102) that the long-expected barbarians arrived. The Cimbri, who had returned from Spain, united their forces with the Teutones. Marius first took up his position in a fortified camp upon the Rhone, probably in the vicinity of the modern Arles; and as the entrance of the river was nearly blocked up by mud and sand, he employed his soldiers in digging a ca.n.a.l from the Rhone to the Mediterranean, that he might the more easily obtain his supplies from the sea.[65] Meantime the barbarians had divided their forces. The Cimbri marched round the northern foot of the Alps, in order to enter Italy by the northeast, crossing the Tyrolese Alps by the defiles of Tridentum (_Trent_). The Teutones and Ambrones, on the other hand, marched against Marius, intending, as it seems, to penetrate into Italy by Nice and the Riviera of Genoa. Marius, anxious to accustom his soldiers to the savage and strange appearance of the barbarians, would not give them battle at first. The latter resolved to attack the Roman camp; but as they were repulsed in this attempt, they pressed on at once for Italy. So great were their numbers, that they are said to have been six days in marching by the Roman camp. As soon as they had advanced a little way, Marius followed them; and thus the armies continued to march for a few days, the barbarians in the front and Marius behind, till they came to the neighborhood of Aquae s.e.xtiae (_Aix_). Here the decisive battle was fought. An ambush of 3000 soldiers, which Marius had stationed in the rear of the barbarians, and which fell upon them when they were already retreating, decided the fortune of the day. Attacked both in front and rear, and also dreadfully exhausted by the excessive heat of the weather, they at length broke their ranks and fled. The carnage was dreadful; the whole nation was annihilated, for those who escaped put an end to their lives, and their wives followed their example. Immediately after the battle, as Marius was in the act of setting fire to the vast heap of broken arms which was intended as an offering to the G.o.ds, hors.e.m.e.n rode up to him, and greeted him with the news of his being elected Consul for the fifth time.

The Cimbri, in the mean time, had forced their way into Italy. The colleague of Marius, Q. Lutatius Catulus, despairing of defending the pa.s.ses of the Tyrol, had taken up a strong position on the Athesis (Adige); but, in consequence of the terror of his soldiers at the approach of the barbarians, he was obliged to retreat even beyond the Po, thus leaving the whole of the rich plain of Lombardy exposed to their ravages. Marius was therefore recalled to Rome. The Senate offered him a triumph for his victory over the Teutones, which he declined while the Cimbri were in Italy, and proceeded to join Catulus, who now commanded as Proconsul (B.C. 101). The united armies of the Consul and Proconsul crossed the Po, and hastened in search of the Cimbri, whom they found to the westward of Milan, near Vercellae, searching for the Teutones, of whose destruction they had not yet heard. The Cimbri met with the same fate as the Teutones; the whole nation was annihilated; and the women, like those of the Tentones, put an end to their lives.

Marius was hailed as the savior of the state; his name was coupled with the G.o.ds in the libations and at banquets; and he received the t.i.tle of third founder of Rome. He celebrated his victories by a brilliant triumph, in which, however, he allowed Catulus to share.

During the brilliant campaigns of Marius, Sicily had been exposed to the horrors of a second Servile War. The insurrection broke out in the east of the island, where the slaves elected as their king one Salvius, a soothsayer. He displayed considerable abilities, and in a short time collected a force of 20,000 foot and 2000 horse. After defeating a Roman army he a.s.sumed all the pomp of royalty, and took the surname of Tryphon, which had been borne by a usurper to the Syrian throne. The success of Salvius led to an insurrection in the western part of the island, where the slaves chose as their leader a Cilician named Athenio, who joined Tryphon, and acknowledged his sovereignty. Upon the death of Tryphon, Athenio became king. The insurrection had now a.s.sumed such a formidable aspect that, in B.C. 101, the Senate sent the Consul M.

Aquillius into Sicily. He succeeded in subduing the insurgents, and killed Athenio with his own hand. The survivors were sent to Rome, and condemned to fight with wild beasts; but they disdained to minister to the pleasures of their oppressors, and slew each other with their own hands in the amphitheatre.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fasces. (From the original in the Capitol at Rome.)]

[Footnote 65: This ca.n.a.l continued to exist long afterward, and bore the name of _Fossa Mariana_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tomb of Metella Caecilia.]

CHAPTER XXIV.

INTERNAL HISTORY OF ROME FROM THE DEFEAT OF THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES TO THE SOCIAL WAR. B.C. 100-91.

The career of Marius had hitherto been a glorious one, and it would have been fortunate for him if he had died on the day of his triumph. The remainder of his life is full of horrors, and brings out into prominent relief the worst features of his character. As the time for the consular elections approached, Marius became again a candidate for the Consulship. He wished to be first in peace as well as in war, and to rule the state as well as the army. But he did not possess the qualities requisite for a popular leader at Rome; he had no power of oratory, and lost his presence of mind in the noise and shouts of the popular a.s.semblies. In order to secure his election, he entered into close connection with two of the worst demagogues that ever appeared at Rome, Saturninus and Glaucia. The former was a candidate for the Tribunate, and the latter for the Praetorship; and by their means, as well as by bribing the Tribes, Marius secured his election to the Consulship for the sixth time. Glaucia also obtained the Praetorship, but Saturninus was not equally successful. He lost his election chiefly through the exertions of A. Nonius, who was chosen in his stead. But Nonius paid dearly for the honor, for on the evening of his election he was murdered by the emissaries of Saturninus and Glaucia, and next morning, at an early hour, before the forum was full, Saturninus was chosen to fill up the vacancy.

As soon as Saturninus had entered upon his office (B.C. 100) he brought forward an Agrarian Law for dividing among the soldiers of Marius the lands in Gaul which had been lately occupied by the Cimbri. He added to the law a clause that, if it was enacted by the people, every Senator should swear obedience to it within five days, and that whoever refused to do so should be expelled from the Senate, and pay a fine of twenty talents. This clause was specially aimed at Metellus, who, it was well known, would refuse to obey the requisition. In order to insure a refusal on the part of Metellus, Marius rose in the Senate, and declared that he would never take the oath, and Metellus made the same declaration; but when the law had been pa.s.sed, and Saturninus summoned the Senators to the rostra to comply with the demands of the law, Marius, to the astonishment of all, immediately took the oath, and advised the Senate to follow his example. Metellus alone refused compliance; and on the following day Saturninus sent his beadle to drag him out of the Senate-house. Not content with this victory, Saturninus brought forward a bill to punish him with exile. The friends of Metellus were ready to take up arms in his defense; but he declined their a.s.sistance, and withdrew privately from the city. Saturninus brought forward other popular measures, of which our information is very scanty.

He proposed a _Lex Frumentaria_, by which the state was to sell corn to the people at a very low price; and also a law for founding new colonies in Sicily, Achaia, and Macedonia. In the election of the magistrates for the following year Saturninus was again chosen Tribune. Glaucia was at the same time a candidate for the Consulship, the two other candidates being M. Antonius and C. Memmius. The election of Antonius was certain, and the struggle lay between Glaucia and Memmius. As the latter seemed likely to carry his election, Saturninus and Glaucia hired some ruffians, who murdered him openly in the comitia. All sensible people had previously become alarmed at the mad conduct of Saturninus and his partisans, and this last act produced a complete reaction against them.

The Senate felt themselves now sufficiently strong to declare them public enemies, and invested the Consuls with dictatorial power. Marius was unwilling to act against his a.s.sociates, but he had no alternative, and his backwardness was compensated by the zeal of others. Driven out of the forum, Saturninus, Glaucia, and the Quaestor Saufeius took refuge in the Capitol, but the partisans of the Senate cut off the pipes which supplied the citadel with water before Marius began to move against them. Unable to hold out any longer, they surrendered to Marius. The latter did all he could to save their lives: as soon as they descended from the Capitol, he placed them, for security, in the Curia Hostilia; but the mob pulled off the tiles of the Senate-house, and pelted them till they died. The Senate gave their sanction to the proceeding by rewarding with the citizenship a slave of the name of Scaeva, who claimed the honor of having killed Saturninus.

Marius had lost all influence in the state by allying himself with such unprincipled adventurers. In the following year (B.C. 99) he left Rome, in order that he might not witness the return of Metellus from exile, a measure which he had been unable to prevent. He set sail for Cappadocia and Galatia under the pretense of offering sacrifices which he had vowed to the Great Mother. He had, however, a deeper purpose in visiting these countries. Finding that he was losing his popularity while the Republic was at peace, he was anxious to recover his lost ground by gaining fresh victories in war, and accordingly repaired to the court of Mithridates, in hopes of rousing him to attack the Romans.

The mad scheme of Saturninus, and the discredit into which Marius had fallen, had given new strength to the Senate. They judged the opportunity favorable for depriving the Equites of the judicial power which they had enjoyed, with only a temporary cessation, since the time of C. Gracchus. The Equites had abused their power, as the Senate had done before them. They were the capitalists who farmed the public revenues in the provinces, where they committed peculation and extortion with habitual impunity. When accused, they were tried by accomplices and partisans. Their unjust condemnation of Rutilius Rufus had shown how unfit they were to be intrusted with judicial duties. Rutilius was a man of spotless integrity, and while acting as lieutenant to Q. Mucius Scaevola, Proconsul of Asia in B.C. 95, he displayed so much honesty and firmness in repressing the extortions of the farmers of the taxes, that he became an object of fear and hatred to the whole body. Accordingly, on his return to Rome, a charge of malversation was trumped up against him, he was found guilty, and compelled to withdraw into banishment (B.C. 92).

The following year (B.C. 91) witnessed the memorable Tribunate of M.

Livius Drusus. He was the son of the celebrated opponent of C. Gracchus.

He was a man of boundless activity and extraordinary ability. Like his father, he was an advocate of the party of the n.o.bles. He took up arms against Saturninus, and supported the Senate in the dispute for the possession of the judicial power. His election to the Tribunate was hailed by the n.o.bles with delight, and for a time he possessed their unlimited confidence. He gained over the people to the party of the Senate by various popular measures, such as the distribution of corn at a low price, and the establishment of colonies in Italy and Sicily. He was thus enabled to carry his measures for the reform of the judicia, which were, that the Senate should be increased from 300 to 600 by the addition of an equal number of Equites, and that the Judices should be taken from the Senate thus doubled in numbers. Drusus seems to have been actuated by a single-minded desire to do justice to all, but the measure was acceptable to neither party. The Senators viewed with dislike the elevation to their own rank of 300 Equites, while the Equites had no desire to transfer to a select few of their own order the profitable share in the administration of justice which they all enjoyed.

Another measure of Drusus rendered him equally unpopular with the people. He had held out to the Latins and the Italian allies the promise of the Roman franchise. Some of the most eminent men of Rome had long been convinced of the necessity of this reform. It had been meditated by the younger Scipio Africa.n.u.s, and proposed by C. Gracchus. The Roman people, however, always offered it the most violent opposition. But Drusus still had many partisans. The Italian allies looked up to him as their leader, and loudly demanded the rights which had been promised them. It was too late to retreat; and, in order to oppose the formidable coalition against him, Drusus had recourse to sedition and conspiracy. A secret society was formed, in which the members bound themselves by a solemn oath to have the same friends and foes with Drusus, and to obey all his commands. The ferment soon became so great that the public peace was more than once threatened. The Allies were ready to take up arms at the first movement. The Consuls, looking upon Drusus as a conspirator, resolved to meet his plots by counterplots. But he knew his danger, and whenever he went into the city kept a strong body-guard of attendants close to his person. The end could not much longer be postponed; and the civil war was on the point of breaking out, when one evening Drusus was a.s.sa.s.sinated in his own house, while dismissing the crowds who were attending him. A leather-cutter's knife was found sticking in his loins.