A Smaller History of Rome Part 14

Turning round to those who surrounded him, he asked them, as he was dying, "Friends and neighbors, when will the Commonwealth have a citizen like me again?"

Even in the lifetime of Drusus the Senate had repealed all his laws.

After his death the Tribune Q. Varius brought forward a law declaring all persons guilty of high treason who had a.s.sisted the cause of the Allies. Many eminent men were condemned under this law. This measure, following the a.s.sa.s.sination of Drusus, roused the indignation of the Allies to the highest pitch. They clearly saw that the Roman people would yield nothing except upon compulsion.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Beneventum in Samnium.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Coin of the Eight Italian Nations taking the Oath of Federation.]

CHAPTER XXV.

THE SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR. B.C. 90-89.

Rome had never been exposed to greater danger than at this time. Those who had been her bravest defenders now rose against her; and she would probably have perished had the whole Italian people taken part in the war. But the insurrection was confined almost exclusively to the Sabellians and their kindred races. The Etruscans and Umbrians stood aloof, while the Sabines, Volscians, and other tribes who already possessed the Roman franchise, supported the Republic, and furnished the materials of her armies. The nations which composed the formidable conspiracy against Rome were eight in number--the Marsians, Pelignians, Marrucinians, Vestinians, Picentines, Samnites, Apulians, and Lucanians.

Of these the Marsians were particularly distinguished for their courage and skill in war; and from the prominent part which they took in the struggle, it was frequently termed the Marsic as well as the Social War.

The war broke out at Asculum in Picenum. The Proconsul Q. Servilius, who had the charge of this part of Italy, hearing that the inhabitants of Asculum were organizing a revolt, entered the town, and endeavored to persuade them to lay aside their hostile intentions. But he was murdered, together with his legate, by the exasperated citizens, and all the Romans in the place were likewise put to death. The insurrection now became general. The Allies entered upon the war with feelings of bitter hatred against their former rulers. They resolved to destroy Rome, and fixed upon Corfinium, a strong city of the Peligni, to which they gave the name of Italica, as the new capital of the Italian Confederation.

The government of the new Republic was borrowed from that of Rome. It was to have two Consuls, twelve Praetors, and a Senate of 500 members. Q.

Pompaedius Silo, a Marsian, one of the chief instigators of the war, and C. Papius Mutilus, a Samnite, who cherished the hereditary hatred of his countrymen against the Romans, were chosen Consuls. Under them were many able lieutenants, who had learned the art of war under the best Roman generals. The soldiers had also served, in the Roman armies, and were armed and disciplined in the same way, so that the contest partook of all the characters of a civil war. But the Romans had the great advantage which a single state always possesses over a confederation.

Of the details of the war our information is meagre and imperfect. But in the military operations we clearly see that the Allies formed two princ.i.p.al groups: the one composed of the Marsians, with their neighbors the Marrucinians, Pelignians, Vestinians, and Picentines; the other of the Samnites, with the Lucanians and Apulians. The two Consuls, L.

Julius Caesar and P. Rutilius Lupus, took the field with powerful armies, and under them served Marius, Sulla, and the most experienced generals of the time. The Romans were fully aware of the formidable nature of the struggle, which was one for existence, and not for victory. In the first campaign the advantage was on the side of the Allies. The Samnites, under their Consul Papius, overran Campania, took most of the towns, and laid siege to Acerrae, into which Caesar threw himself. Pompaedius Silo was still more successful. He defeated the Roman Consul P. Rutilius Lupus with great slaughter, Rutilius himself being slain in the battle. This disaster was to some extent repaired by Marius, who commanded a separate army in the neighborhood, and compelled the victorious Allies to retire.

The old general then intrenched himself in a fortified camp, and neither the stratagems nor the taunts of the Samnites could entice him from his advantageous position. "If you are a great general," said Pompaedius, "come down and fight;" to which the veteran replied, "Nay, do _you_, if you are a great general, compel me to fight against my will." The Romans considered that Marius was over-cautious and too slow; and Plutarch says that his age and corpulence rendered him incapable of enduring the fatigue of very active service. But it is more probable that he was not very willing to destroy the Allies, who had been among his most active partisans, and to whom he still looked for support in his future struggles with the n.o.bility.

The Romans now saw the necessity of making some concessions. The Lex Julia, proposed by the Consul Julius Caesar, granted the franchise to all the Latin colonies, and to those of the Allies who had remained faithful to Rome, or had laid down their arms. The effects of this concession were immediately seen. Several of the Allies hastened to avail themselves of it, and disunion and distrust were produced among the rest.

The next campaign (B.C. 89) was decidedly favorable to the Romans. The Consuls were Cn. Pompeius Strabo, the father of the celebrated Triumvir, and L. Porcius Cato. The latter, it is true, was slain at the commencement of the campaign; but his loss was more than compensated by his lieutenant Sulla obtaining, in consequence, the supreme command. He carried on the war with the utmost vigor, and completely eclipsed his old commander Marius. He drove the enemy out of Campania, subdued the Hirpini, and then penetrated into the very heart of Samnium. Here he defeated Papius Mutilus, the Samnite Consul, and followed up his victory by the capture of the strong town of Bovianum.

Meanwhile Pompeius Strabo had been equally successful in the north.

Asculum was reduced after a long and obstinate siege. The Marrucinians, Vestinians, Pelignians, and finally the Marsians, laid down their arms before the end of the year. Their submission was facilitated by the Lex Plautia Papiria, proposed by the Tribunes M. Plautius Silva.n.u.s and C.

Papirius Carbo (B.C. 89), which completed the arrangements of the Lex Julia, and granted, in fact, every thing which the Allies had demanded before the war. All citizens of a town in alliance with Rome could obtain, by this law, the Roman franchise, provided they were at the time resident in Italy, and registered their names with the Praetor within sixty days.[66]

The war was thus virtually brought to a conclusion within two years, but 300,000 men, the flower of Rome and Italy, perished in this short time.

The only nations remaining in arms were the Samnites and Lucanians, who still maintained a guerrilla warfare in their mountains, and continued to keep possession of the strong fortress of Nola, in Campania, from which all the efforts of Sulla failed to dislodge them.

It now remained to be settled in what way the new citizens were to be incorporated in the Roman state. If they were enrolled in the thirty-five tribes, they would outnumber the old citizens. It was therefore resolved to form ten new tribes, which should consist of the new citizens exclusively; but, before these arrangements could be completed, the Civil War broke out.

[Footnote 66: A law of the Consul Pompeius bestowed the Latin franchise upon all the citizens of the Gallic towns between the Po and the Alps, so that they now entered into the same relations with Rome as the Latins had formerly held.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Terracina.]

CHAPTER XXVI.

FIRST CIVIL WAR. B.C. 88-86.

One reason which induced the Senate to bring the Social War to a conclusion was the necessity of attacking Mithridates, king of Pontus, one of the ablest monarchs with whom Rome ever came into contact. The origin and history of this war will be narrated in the following chapter. The dispute between Marias and Sulla for the command against Mithridates was the occasion of the first Civil War. The ability which Sulla had displayed in the Social War, and his well-known attachment to the Senatorial party, naturally marked him out as the man to whom this important dignity was to be granted. He was accordingly elected Consul for the year 88 B.C., with Q. Pompeius Rufus as his colleague; and he forthwith received the command of the Mithridatic War. But Marius had long coveted this distinction; he quitted the magnificent villa which he had built at Misenum, and took up his residence at Rome; and in order to show that neither his age nor his corpulency had destroyed his vigor, he repaired daily to the Campus Martius, and went through the usual exercises with the young men. He was determined not to yield without a struggle to his hated rival. As he had formerly employed the Tribune Saturninus to carry out his designs, so now he found an able instrument for his purpose in the Tribune P. Sulpicius Rufus. Sulpicius was one of the greatest orators of the age, and had acquired great influence by his splendid talents. He was an intimate friend of the Tribune M. Livius Drusus, and had been himself elected Tribune for B.C. 88, through the influence of the Senatorial party, who placed great hopes in him; but, being overwhelmed with debt, he now sold himself to Marius, who promised him a liberal share of the spoils of the Mithridatic War. Accordingly, Sulpicius brought forward a law by which the Italians were to be distributed among the thirty-five tribes. As they far outnumbered the old Roman citizens, they would have an overwhelming majority in each tribe, and would certainly confer upon Marius the command of the Mithridatic War. To prevent the Tribune from putting these rogations to the vote, the Consuls declared a just.i.tium, during which no business could be legally transacted. But Sulpicius was resolved to carry his point; with an armed band of followers he entered the forum and called upon the Consuls to withdraw the just.i.tium; and upon their refusal to comply with his demand he ordered his satellites to draw their swords and fall upon them. Pompeius escaped, but his son Quintus, who was also the son-in-law of Sulla, was killed. Sulla himself took refuge in the house of Marius, which was close to the forum, and in order to save his life he was obliged to remove the just.i.tium.

Sulla quitted Rome and hastened to his army, then besieging Nola, which was still held by the Samnites (see p. 180)(Fifth paragraph of Chapter XXV.--Transcriber). The city was now in the hands of Sulpicius and Marius, and the rogations pa.s.sed into law without opposition, as well as a third, conferring upon Marius the command of the Mithridatic War.

Marius lost no time in sending some Tribunes to a.s.sume on his behalf the command of the army at Nola; but the soldiers, who loved Sulla, and who feared that Marius might lead another army to Asia, and thus deprive them of their antic.i.p.ated plunder, stoned his deputies to death. Sulla found his soldiers ready to respond to his wishes; they called upon him to lead them to Rome, and deliver the city from the tyrants. He therefore hesitated no longer, but at the head of six legions broke up from his encampment at Nola, and marched toward the city. His officers, however, refused to serve against their country, and all quitted him, with the exception of one Quaestor. This was the first time that a Roman had ever marched at the head of Roman troops against the city. Marius was taken by surprise. Such was the reverence that the Romans entertained for law, that it seems never to have occurred to him or to his party that Sulla would venture to draw his sword against the state.

Marius attempted to gain time for preparations by forbidding Sulla, in the name of the Republic, to advance any farther; but the Praetors who carried the command narrowly escaped being murdered by the soldiers; and Marius, as a last resource, offered liberty to the slaves who would join him. But it was all in vain. Sulla forced his way into the city, and Marius took to flight with his son and a few followers. Sulla used his victory with moderation. He protected the city from plunder; and only Marius, Sulpicius, and ten others of his bitterest enemies, were declared public enemies by the Senate. Sulpicius was betrayed by one of his slaves and put to death, but Marius and his son succeeded in making their escape. Marius himself embarked on board a ship at Ostia, with a few companions, and then sailed southward along the coast of Italy. At Circeii he and his companions were obliged to land on account of the violence of the wind and the want of provisions. After wandering about for a long time, they learned from some peasants that a number of hors.e.m.e.n had been in search of them; and they accordingly turned aside from the road, and pa.s.sed the night in a deep wood in great want. But the indomitable spirit of the old man did not fail him; and he consoled himself and encouraged his companions by the a.s.surance that he should still live to see his seventh Consulship, in accordance with a prediction that had been made to him in his youth. Shortly afterward, when they were near to Minturnae, they descried a party of hors.e.m.e.n galloping toward them. In great haste they hurried down to the sea, and swam off to two merchant vessels, which received them on board. The hors.e.m.e.n bade the crew bring the ship to land or throw Marius overboard; but, moved by his tears and entreaties, they refused to surrender him.

The sailors soon changed their minds; and, fearing to keep Marius, they cast anchor at the mouth of the Liris, where they persuaded him to disembark, and rest himself from his fatigues till a wind should rise; but they had no sooner landed him than they immediately sailed away.

Marius was now quite alone amid the swamps and marshes through which the Liris flows. With difficulty he reached the hut of an old man, who concealed him in a hole near the river, and covered him with reeds; but hearing shortly afterward the noise of his pursuers, he crept out of his hiding-place and threw himself into the marsh. He was discovered, and dragged out of the water; and, covered with mud, and with a rope round his neck, was delivered up to the authorities of Minturnae. The magistrates then deliberated whether they should comply with the instruction that had been sent from Rome to all the munic.i.p.al towns to put Marius to death as soon as they found him. After some consultation they resolved to obey it, and sent a Cimbrian slave to carry out their orders. The room in which the old general was confined was dark; and, to the frightened barbarian, the eyes of Marius seemed to dart forth fire, and from the darkness a terrible voice shouted out, "Man! durst thou slay C. Marius?" The barbarian immediately threw down his sword, and rushed out of the house, exclaiming, "I can not kill C. Marius!"

Straightway there was a revulsion of feeling among the inhabitants of Minturnae. They repented of their ungrateful conduct toward a man who had saved Rome and Italy. They got ready a ship for his departure, provided him with every thing necessary for the voyage, and, with prayers and wishes for his safety, placed him on board. The wind carried him to the island of aenaria (now Ischia), where he found the rest of his friends; and from thence he set sail for Africa, which he reached in safety. He landed near the site of Carthage, but he had scarcely put his foot on sh.o.r.e before the Praetor s.e.xtilius sent an officer to bid him leave the country, or else he would carry into execution the decree of the Senate.

This last blow almost unmanned Marius: grief and indignation for a time deprived him of speech, and his only reply was, "Tell the Praetor that you have seen C. Marius a fugitive sitting on the ruins of Carthage."

Shortly afterward Marius was joined by his son, and they crossed over to the island of Cercina, where they remained unmolested.

Meantime a revolution had taken place at Rome, which prepared the way for the return of Marius to Italy. Sulla's soldiers were impatient for the plunder of Asia, and he therefore contented himself with repealing the Sulpician laws. He then sent forward his legions to Capua, that they might be ready to embark for Greece, but he himself remained in Rome till the Consuls were elected for the following year. The candidates whom he recommended were rejected, and the choice fell on Cn. Octavius, who belonged to the aristocratical party, but was a weak and irresolute man, and on L. Cinna, a professed champion of the popular side. Sulla did not attempt to oppose their election: to have recalled his legions to Rome would have been a dangerous experiment when the soldiers were so eager for the spoils of the East; and he only took the vain precaution of making Cinna promise that he would make no attempt to disturb the existing order of things. But as soon as Sulla had quitted Italy, Cinna brought forward again the law of Sulpicius for incorporating the new Italian citizens among the thirty-five tribes. The two Consuls had recourse to arms, Octavius to oppose and Cinna to carry the law. A dreadful conflict took place in the forum. The party of Octavius obtained the victory, and Cinna was driven out of the city with great slaughter. But Cinna, by means of the new citizens, whose cause he espoused, was soon at the head of a formidable army. As soon as Marius heard of these changes he set sail from Africa, and offered to serve under Cinna, who gladly accepted his proposal, and named him Proconsul; but Marius refused all marks of honor. The sufferings and privations he had endured had exasperated his proud and haughty spirit almost to madness, and nothing but the blood of his enemies could appease his resentment. He continued to wear a mean and humble dress, and his hair and beard had remained unshorn from the day he had been driven out of Rome. After joining Cinna, Marius prosecuted the war with great vigor.

He first captured the corn-ships, and thus cut off Rome from its usual supply of food. He next took Ostia and the other towns on the sea-coast, and, moving down the Tiber, encamped on the Janiculum. Famine began to rage in the city, and the Senate was obliged to yield. They sent a deputation to Cinna and Marius, inviting them into the city, but entreating them to spare the citizens. Cinna received the deputies sitting in his chair of office, and gave them a kind answer. Marius stood in silence by the side of the Consul, but his actions spoke louder than words. After the audience was over they entered the city. The most frightful scenes followed. The Consul Octavius was slain while seated in his curule chair. The streets ran with the n.o.blest blood of Rome. Every one whom Marius hated or feared was hunted out and put to death; and no consideration, either of rank, talent, or former friendship, induced him to spare the victims of his vengeance. The great orator M. Antonius fell by the hands of his a.s.sa.s.sins; and his former colleague, Q. Catulus, who had triumphed with him over the Cimbri, was obliged to put an end to his own life. Cinna was soon tired of the butchery; but the appet.i.te of Marius seemed only whetted by the slaughter, and daily required fresh victims for its gratification. Without going through the form of an election, Marius and Cinna named themselves Consuls for the following year (B.C. 86), and thus was fulfilled the prediction that Marius should be seven times Consul. But he did not long enjoy the honor: he was now in his seventy-first year; his body was worn out by the fatigues and sufferings he had recently undergone; and on the eighteenth day of his Consulship he died of an attack of pleurisy, after a few days' illness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mount Argaeus in Cappadocia.]

CHAPTER XXVII.

FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR. B.C. 88-84.

The kingdom of Pontus, which derived its name from being on the coast of the Pontus Euxinus, or Black Sea, was originally a satrapy of the Persian empire, extending from the River Halys on the west to the frontiers of Colchis on the east. Even under the later Persian kings the rulers of Pontus were really independent, and in the wars of the successors of Alexander the Great it became a separate kingdom. Most of its kings bore the name of Mithridates; and the fifth monarch of this name formed an alliance with the Romans, and was rewarded with the province of Phrygia for the services he had rendered them in the war against Aristonicus. He was a.s.sa.s.sinated about B.C. 120, and was succeeded by his son Mithridates VI., commonly called the Great, who was then only about twelve years of age. His youth was remarkable, but much that has been transmitted to us respecting this period of his life wears a very suspicious aspect; it is certain, however, that when he attained to manhood he was not only endowed with consummate skill in all martial exercises, and possessed of a bodily frame inured to all hardships, but his naturally vigorous intellect had been improved by careful culture.

As a boy he had been brought up at Sinope, where he had probably received the elements of a Greek education, and so powerful was his memory that he is said to have learned not less than twenty-five languages, and to have been able in the days of his greatest power to transact business with the deputies of every tribe subject to his rule in their own peculiar dialect. As soon as he was firmly established on the throne he began to turn his arms against the neighboring nations. On the west his progress was hemmed in by the power of Rome, and the minor sovereigns of Bithynia and Cappadocia enjoyed the all-powerful protection of the Republic. But on the east his ambition found free scope. He subdued the barbarian tribes between the Euxine and the confines of Armenia, including the whole of Colchis and the province called Lesser Armenia; and he even added to his dominions the Tauric Chersonesus, now called the _Crimea_. The Greek kingdom of Bosphorus, which formed a portion of the Chersonesus, likewise submitted to his sway. Moreover, he formed alliances with Tigranes, king of Armenia, to whom he gave his daughter Cleopatra in marriage, as well as with the warlike nations of the Parthians and Iberians. He thus found himself in possession of such great power and extensive resources, that he began to deem himself equal to a contest with Rome itself. Many causes of dissension had already arisen between them. Shortly after his accession, the Romans had taken advantage of his minority to wrest from him the province of Phrygia. In B.C. 93 they resisted his attempt to place upon the throne of Cappadocia one of his own nephews, and appointed a Cappadocian named Ariobarzanes to be king of that country. For a time Mithridates submitted; but the death of Nicomedes II., king of Bithynia, shortly afterward, at length brought matters to a crisis. That monarch was succeeded by his eldest son, Nicomedes III.; but Mithridates took the opportunity to set up a rival claimant, whose pretensions he supported with an army, and quickly drove Nicomedes out of Bithynia (B.C. 90). About the same time he openly invaded Cappadocia, and expelled Ariobarzanes from his kingdom, establishing his own son Ariarathes in his place. Both the fugitive princes had recourse to Rome, where they found ready support; a decree was pa.s.sed that Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes should be restored to their respective kingdoms, and the execution of it was confided to M. Aquillius and L. Ca.s.sius.

Mithridates again yielded, and the two fugitive kings were restored to their dominions; but no sooner was Nicomedes replaced on the throne of Bithynia than he was urged by the Roman legates to invade the territories of Mithridates, into which he made a predatory incursion.

Mithridates offered no resistance, but sent to the Romans to demand satisfaction, and it was not until his emba.s.sador was dismissed with an evasive answer that he prepared for immediate hostilities (B.C. 88). His first step was to invade Cappadocia, from which he easily expelled Ariobarzanes once more. His generals drove Nicomedes out of Bithynia, and defeated Aquillius. Mithridates, following up his advantage, not only made himself master of Phrygia and Galatia, but invaded the Roman province of Asia. Here the universal discontent of the inhabitants, caused by the oppression of the Roman governors, enabled him to overrun the whole province almost without opposition. The Roman officers, who had imprudently brought this danger upon themselves, were unable to collect any forces to oppose his progress; and Aquillius himself, the chief author of the war, fell into the hands of the King of Pontus.

Mithridates took up his winter quarters at Pergamus, where he issued the sanguinary order to all the cities of Asia to put to death on the same day all the Roman and Italian citizens who were to be found within their walls. So hateful had the Romans rendered themselves during the short period of their dominion, that these commands were obeyed with alacrity by almost all the cities of Asia. Eighty thousand persons are said to have perished in this fearful ma.s.sacre.

The success of Mithridates encouraged the Athenians to declare against Rome, and the king accordingly sent his general Archelaus with a large army and fleet into Greece. Most of the Grecian states now declared in favor of Mithridates. Such was the position of affairs when Sulla landed in Epirus in B.C. 87. He immediately marched southward, and laid siege to Athens and the Piraeus. But for many months these towns resisted all his attacks. Athens was first taken in the spring of the following year; and Archelaus, despairing of defending the Piraeus any longer, withdrew into Boeotia, where he received some powerful re-enforcements from Mithridates. Piraeus now fell into the hands of Sulla, and both this place and Athens were treated with the utmost barbarity. The soldiers were indulged in indiscriminate slaughter and plunder. Having thus wreaked his vengeance upon the unfortunate Athenians, Sulla directed his arms against Archelaus in Boeotia, and defeated him with enormous loss at Chaeronea. Out of the 110,000 men of which the Pontic army consisted, Archelaus a.s.sembled only 10,000 at Chalcis, in Euboea, where he had taken refuge. Mithridates, on receiving news of this great disaster, immediately set about raising fresh troops, and was soon able to send another army of 80,000 men to Euboea. But he now found himself threatened with danger from a new and unexpected quarter. While Sulla was still occupied in Greece, the party of Marius at Rome had sent a fresh army to Asia under the Consul L. Valerius Flaccus to carry on the war at once against their foreign and domestic enemies. Flaccus was murdered by his troops at the instigation of Fimbria, who now a.s.sumed the command, and gained several victories over Mithridates and his generals in Asia (B.C. 85). About the same time the new army, which the king had sent to Archelaus in Greece, was defeated by Sulla in the neighborhood of Orchomenus. These repeated disasters made Mithridates anxious for peace, but it was not granted by Sulla till the following year (B.C. 84), when he had crossed the h.e.l.lespont in order to carry on the war in Asia. The terms of peace were definitely settled at an interview which the Roman general and the Pontic king had at Darda.n.u.s, in the Troad. Mithridates consented to abandon all his conquests in Asia, to restrict himself to the dominions which he held before the commencement of the war, or pay a sum of 5000 talents, and surrender to the Romans a fleet of seventy ships fully equipped. Thus terminated the First Mithridatic War.

Sulla was now at liberty to turn his aims against Fimbria, who was with his army at Thyatira. The name of Sulla carried victory with it. The troops of Fimbria deserted their general, who put an end to his own life. Sulla now prepared to return to Italy. After exacting enormous sums from the wealthy cities of Asia, he left his legate, L. Licinius Murena, in command of that province, with two legions, and set sail with his own army to Athens. While preparing for his deadly struggle in Italy, he did not lose his interest in literature. He carried with him from Athens to Rome the valuable library of Apellicon of Teos, which contained most of the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Coin of Nicomedes III., king of Bithynia.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Brundisium.]

CHAPTER XXVIII.

SECOND CIVIL WAR.--SULLA'S DICTATORSHIP, LEGISLATION, AND DEATH, B.C.

83-78.