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diff --git a/10860-0.txt b/10860-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6279f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/10860-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6568 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10860 *** + +EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY + + * * * * * + + +THE GRACCHI MARIUS AND SULLA + +BY + +A.H. BEESLEY + +WITH MAPS + +1921 + + + + +PREFACE + + +It would be scarcely possible for anyone writing on the period +embraced in this volume, to perform his task adequately without making +himself familiar with Mr. Long's 'History of the Decline of the Roman +Republic' and Mommsen's 'History of Rome.' To do over again (as though +the work had never been attempted) what has been done once for all +accurately and well, would be mere prudery of punctiliousness. But +while I acknowledge my debt of gratitude to both these eminent +historians, I must add that for the whole period I have carefully +examined the original authorities, often coming to conclusions widely +differing from those of Mr. Long. And I venture to hope that from +the advantage I have had in being able to compare the works of two +writers, one of whom has well-nigh exhausted the theories as the +other has the facts of the subject, I have succeeded in giving a more +consistent and faithful account of the leaders and legislation of the +revolutionary era than has hitherto been written. Certainly there +could be no more instructive commentary on either history than the +study of the other, for each supplements the other and emphasizes +its defects. If Mommsen at times pushes conjecture to the verge of +invention, as in his account of the junction of the Helvetii and +Cimbri, Mr. Long, in his dogged determination never to swerve from +facts to inference, falls into the opposite extreme, resorting to +somewhat Cyclopean architecture in his detestation of stucco. But +my admiration for his history is but slightly qualified by such +considerations, and to any student who may be stimulated by the +volumes of this series to acquire what would virtually amount to an +acquaintance first-hand with the narratives of ancient writers, I +would say 'Read Mr. Long's history.' To do so is to learn not only +knowledge but a lesson in historical study generally. For the writings +of a man with whom style is not the first object are as refreshing as +his scorn for romancing history is wholesome, and the grave irony with +which he records its slips amusing. + +A.H.B. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +ANTECEDENTS OF THE REVOLUTION. + +Previous history of the Roman orders--The Ager Publicus--Previous +attempts at agrarian legislation--Roman slavery--The first Slave +War--The Nobiles, Optimates, Populares, Equites--Classification of the +component parts of the Roman State--State of the transmarine provinces + + +CHAPTER II. + +TIBERIUS GRACCHUS. + +Scipio Aemilianus--Tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus--His agrarian +proposals--Wisdom of them--Grievances of the possessors--Octavius +thwarts Gracchus--Conduct of Gracchus defended--His other intended +reforms--He stands again for the tribunate--His motives--His murder + + +CHAPTER III. + +CAIUS GRACCHUS. + +Blossius spared--The law of T. Gracchus carried out--Explanation +of Italian opposition to it--Attitude of Scipio Aemilianus--His +murder--Quaestorship of Caius Gracchus--The Alien Act of +Pennus--Flaccus proposes to give the Socii the franchise--Revolt and +extirpation of Fregellae--Tribunate of Caius Gracchus--Compared to +Tiberius--His aims--His Corn Law defended--His Lex Judiciaria--His law +concerning the taxation of Asia--His conciliation of the equites--His +colonies--He proposes to give the franchise to the Italians--Other +projects--Machinations of the nobles against him--M. Livius Drusus +outbids him--Stands again for the tribunate, but is rejected--His +murder--Some of his laws remain in force--The Maria Lex--Reactionary +legislation of the Senate--The Lex Thoria--All offices confined to a +close circle + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE JUGURTHINE WAR. + +Legacy of Attalus--Aristonicus usurps his kingdom--Settlement of +Asia--Jugurtha murders Hiempsal and attacks Adherbal--His intrigues +at Rome and the infamy of M. Aemilius Scaurus and the other Roman +nobles--Three commissions bribed by Jugurtha--Adherbal murdered--Rome +declares war and Jugurtha bribes the Roman generals, Bestia and +Scaurus--Memmius denounces them at Rome--Jugurtha summoned to Rome, +where he murders Massiva--He defeats Aulus Albinos--Metellus sent +against him Jugurtha defeated on the Muthul--Keeps up a guerilla +warfare--Marius stands for the consulship, and succeeds +Metellus--Bocchus betrays Jugurtha to Sulla--Settlement of Numidia + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES. + +Recommencement of the Social struggle at Rome--Marius the popular +hero--Incessant frontier-warfare of the Romans--The Cimbri defeat +Carbo and Silanus--Caepio and 'The Gold of Tolosa'--The Cimbri defeat +Scaurus and Caepio--Marius elected consul--The Cimbri march towards +Spain--Their nationality--Their plan of operations--Plan of +Marius--Battle of Aquae Sextiae--Battle of Vercellae + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE ROMAN ARMY. + +Second Slave War--Aquillius ends it--Changes in the Roman +army--Uniform equipment of the legionary--Mariani muli--The cohort +the tactical unit--The officers--Numbers of the legion--The pay--The +praetorian cohort--Dislike to service--The army becomes professional + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SATURNINUS AND DRUSUS. + +Saturninus takes up the Gracchan policy, in league with Glaucia and +Marius--The Lex Servilia meant to relieve the provincials, conciliate +the equites, and throw open the judicia to all citizens--Agrarian law +of Saturninus--His laws about grain and treason--Murder of Memmius, +Glaucia's rival--Saturninus is attacked and deserted by Marius--The +Lex Licinia Minucia heralds the Social War--Drusus attempts +reform--Obliged to tread in the steps of the Gracchi--His proposals +with regard to the Italians, the coinage, corn, colonies and the +equites--Opposed by Philippus and murdered + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SOCIAL WAR. + +Interests of Italian capitalists and small farmers opposed--The Social +War breaks out at Asculum--The insurgents choose Corfinium as their +capital--In the first year they gain everywhere--Then the Lex Julia is +passed and in the second year they lose everywhere--The star of Sulla +rises, that of Marius declines--The Lex Plautia Papiria--First year +of the war--The confederates defeat Perperna, Crassus, Caesar, +Lupus, Caepio, and take town after town--The Umbrians and Etruscans +Revolt--Second year--Pompeius triumphs in the north, Cosconius in +the south-east, Sulla in the south-west--Revolution at Rome--The +confederates courted by both parties--The rebellion smoulders on till +finally quenched by Sulla after the Mithridatic War + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SULPICIUS. + +Financial crisis at Rome--Sulpicius Rufus attempts to reform the +government, and complete the enfranchisement of the Italians--His laws +forcibly carried by the aid of Marius--Sulla driven from Rome flies to +the army at Nola, and marches at their head against Marius--Sulpicius +slain--Marius outlawed--Sulla leaves Italy after reorganizing the +Senate and the comitia + + +CHAPTER X. + +MARIUS AND CINNA. + +Flight of Marius--His romantic adventures at Circeii, Minturnae, +Carthage--Cinna takes up the Italian cause--Driven from Rome by +Octavius, he flies to the army in Campania and marches on Rome--Marius +lands in Etruria--Octavius summons Pompeius from Etruria and +their armies surround the city--Marius and Cinna enter Rome--The +proscriptions--Seventh consulship and death of Marius--Cinna supreme + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR. + +Sertorius in Spain--Cyrene bequeathed to Rome--Previous history of +Mithridates--His submission to Aquillius--Aquillius forces on a +war--He is defeated and killed by Mithridates--Massacre of Romans in +Asia--Mithridates repulsed at Rhodes + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SULLA IN GREECE AND ASIA. + +Aristion induces Athens to revolt--Sulla lands in Epirus, and besieges +Athens and the Piraeus--His difficulties--He takes Athens and the +Piraeus, and defeats Archelaus at Chaeroneia and Orchomenus--Terms +offered to Mithridates--Tyranny of the latter--Flaccus comes to Asia +and is murdered by Fimbria, who is soon afterwards put to death by +Sulla + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SULLA IN ITALY. + +Sulla lands at Brundisium and is joined by numerous adherents--Battle +of Mount Tifata--Sertorius goes to Spain--Sulla in 83 is master of +Picenum, Apulia, and Campania--Battle of Sacriportus--Sulla blockades +young Marius in Praeneste--Indecisive war in Picenum between Carbo +and Metellus--Repeated attempts to relieve Praeneste--Carbo flies +to Africa--His lieutenants threaten Rome--Sulla comes to the rescue +--Desperate attempt to take the city by Pontius--Battle of the +Colline Gate--Sulla's danger--Death of Carbo, of Domitius +Ahenobarbus--Exploits of Pompeius in Sicily and Africa--His +vanity--Murena provokes the second Mithridatic War--Sertorius in +Spain--His successes and ascendency over the natives + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PERSONAL RULE AND DEATH OF SULLA. + +The Sullan proscriptions--Sulla and Caesar--The Cornelii--Sulla's +horrible character--His death and splendid obsequies + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SULLA'S REACTIONARY MEASURES. + +The Leges Corneliae--Sulla remodels the Senate, the quaestorship, +the censorship, the tribunate, the comitia, the consulship, the +praetorship, the augurate and pontificate, the judicia--Minor laws +attributed to him--Effects of his legislation the best justification +of the Gracchi + + +LIST OF PHRASES + +INDEX + +MAPS. + +MARCH OF SULLA AND ARCHELAUS BEFORE CHAERONEIA + +BATTLE OF CHAERONEIA + + + + +THE + +GRACCHI, MARIUS AND SULLA. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ANTECEDENTS OF THE REVOLUTION. + + +During the last half of the second century before Christ Rome was +undisputed mistress of the civilised world. A brilliant period of +foreign conquest had succeeded the 300 years in which she had overcome +her neighbours and made herself supreme in Italy. In 146 B.C. she had +given the death-blow to her greatest rival, Carthage, and had annexed +Greece. In 140 treachery had rid her of Viriathus, the stubborn +guerilla who defied her generals and defeated her armies in Spain. +In 133 the terrible fate of Numantia, and in 132 the merciless +suppression of the Sicilian slave-revolt, warned all foes of the +Republic that the sword, which the incompetence of many generals had +made seem duller than of old, was still keen to smite; and except +where some slave-bands were in desperate rebellion, and in Pergamus, +where a pretender disputed with Rome the legacy of Attalus, every land +along the shores of the Mediterranean was subject to or at the mercy +of a town not half as large as the London of to-day. Almost exactly a +century afterwards the Government under which this gigantic empire had +been consolidated was no more. + +Foreign wars will have but secondary importance in the following +pages. [Sidenote: The history will not be one of military events.] The +interest of the narrative centres mainly in home politics; and though +the world did not cease to echo to the tramp of conquering legions, +and the victorious soldier became a more and more important factor in +the State, still military matters no longer, as in the Samnite and +Punic wars, absorb the attention, dwarfed as they are by the great +social struggle of which the metropolis was the arena. In treating of +the first half of those hundred years of revolution, which began +with the tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus and ended with the battle of +Actium, it is mainly the fall of the Republican and the foreshadowing +of the Imperial system of government which have to be described. +[Sidenote: In order to understand the times of the Gracchi it is +necessary to understand the history of the orders at Rome.] But, in +order to understand rightly the events of those fifty years, some +survey, however brief, of the previous history of the Roman orders is +indispensable. + +[Sidenote: The patres.] When the mists of legend clear away we see a +community which, if we do not take slaves into account, consisted +of two parts--the governing body, or patres, to whom alone the term +Populus Romanus strictly applied, and who constituted the Roman State, +and the governed class, or clientes, who were outside its pale. The +word patrician, more familiar to our ear than the substantive from +which it is formed, came to imply much more than its original meaning. +[Sidenote: The clients.] In its simplest and earliest sense it was +applied to a man who was sprung from a Roman marriage, who stood +towards his client on much the same footing which, in the mildest form +of slavery, a master occupies towards his slave. As the patronus was +to the libertus, when it became customary to liberate slaves, so in +some measure were the Fathers to their retainers, the Clients. That +the community was originally divided into these two sections is known. +What is not known is how, besides this primary division of patres and +clientes, there arose a second _political_ class in the State, namely +the plebs. The client as client had no political existence. [Sidenote: +The plebeians.] But as a plebeian he had. Whether the plebs was formed +of clients who had been released from their clientship, just as slaves +might be manumitted; or of foreigners, as soldiers, traders, or +artisans were admitted into the community; or partly of foreigners and +partly of clients, the latter being equalised by the patres with the +former in self-defence; and whether as a name it dated from or was +antecedent to the so-called Tullian organization is uncertain. But we +know that in one way or other a second political division in the State +arose and that the constitution, of which Servius Tullius was the +reputed author, made every freeman in Rome a citizen by giving him a +vote in the Comitia Centuriata. Yet though the plebeian was a citizen, +and as such acquired 'commercium,' or the right to hold and devise +property, it was only after a prolonged struggle that he achieved +political equality with the patres. [Sidenote: Gradual acquisition +by the plebs of political equality with the patres.] Step by step he +wrung from them the rights of intermarriage and of filling offices of +state; and the great engine by which this was brought about was the +tribunate, the historical importance of which dates from, even though +as a plebeian magistracy it may have existed before, the first +secession of the plebs in 494 B.C. [Sidenote: Character of the +tribunate.] The tribunate stood towards the freedom of the Roman +people in something of the same relation which the press of our time +occupies towards modern liberty: for its existence implied free +criticism of the executive, and out of free speech grew free action. +[Sidenote: The Roman government transformed from oligarchy into a +plutocracy.] + +Side by side with those external events which made Rome mistress first +of her neighbours, then, of Italy, and lastly of the world, there went +on a succession of internal changes, which first transformed a pure +oligarchy into a plutocracy, and secondly overthrew this modified form +of oligarchy, and substituted Caesarism. With the earlier of these +changes we are concerned here but little. The political revolution was +over when the social revolution which we have to record began. But the +roots of the social revolution were of deep growth, and were in fact +sometimes identical with those of the political revolution. [Sidenote: +Parallel between Roman and English history.] Englishmen can understand +such an intermixture the more readily from the analogies, more or less +close, which their own history supplies. They have had a monarchy. +They have been ruled by an oligarchy, which has first confronted and +then coalesced with the moneyed class, and the united orders have been +forced to yield theoretical equality to almost the entire nation, +while still retaining real authority in their own hands. They have +seen a middle class coquetting with a lower class in order to force +an upper class to share with it its privileges, and an upper class +resorting in its turn to the same alliance; and they may have noted +something more than a superficial resemblance between the tactics +of the patres and nobiles of Rome and our own magnates of birth and +commerce. Even now they are witnessing the displacement of political +by social questions, and, it is to be hoped, the successful solution +of problems which in the earlier stages of society have defied the +efforts of every statesman. Yet they know that, underlying all the +political struggles of their history, questions connected with +the rights and interests of rich and poor, capitalist and toiler, +land-owner and land-cultivator, have always been silently and +sometimes violently agitated. Political emancipation has enabled +social discontent to organize itself and find permanent utterance, and +we are to-day facing some of the demands to satisfy which the Gracchi +sacrificed their lives more than 2,000 years ago. [Sidenote: The +struggle between the orders chiefly agrarian.] With us indeed the +wages question is of more prominence than the land question, because +we are a manufacturing nation; but the principles at stake are much +the same. At Rome social agitation was generally agrarian, and the +first thing necessary towards understanding the Gracchan revolution is +to gain a clear conception of the history of the public land. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the Ager Publicus.] The ground round a town like +Rome was originally cultivated by the inhabitants, some of whom, as +more food and clothing were required, would settle on the soil. From +them the ranks of the army were recruited; and, thus doubly oppressed +by military service and by the land tax, which had to be paid in coin, +the small husbandman was forced to borrow from some richer man in the +town. Hence arose usury, and a class of debtors; and the sum of debt +must have been increased as well as the number of the debtors by the +very means adopted to relieve it. [Sidenote: Fourfold way of dealing +with conquered territory.] When Rome conquered a town she confiscated +a portion of its territory, and disposed of it in one of four ways. +[Sidenote: Colonies.] 1. After expelling the owners, she sent some of +her own citizens to settle upon it. They did not cease to be Romans, +and, being in historical times taken almost exclusively from the +plebs, must often have been but poorly furnished with the capital +necessary for cultivating the ground. [Sidenote: Sale.] 2. She sold +it; and, as with us, when a field is sold, a plan is made of its +dimensions and boundaries, so plans of the land thus sold were made on +tablets of bronze, and kept by the State. [Sidenote: Occupation.] 3. +She allowed private persons to 'occupy' it on payment of 'vectigal,' +or a portion of the produce; and, though not surrendering the title to +the land, permitted the possessors to use it as their private property +for purchase, sale, and succession. [Sidenote: Commons.] 4. A portion +was kept as common pasture land for those to whom the land had been +given or sold, or by whom it was occupied and those who used it paid +'scriptura,' or a tax of so much per head on the beasts, for whose +grazing they sent in a return. This irregular system was fruitful in +evil. It suited the patres with whom it originated, for they were +for a time the sole gainers by it. Without money it must have been +hopeless to occupy tracts distant from Rome. The poor man who did so +would either involve himself in debt, or be at the mercy of his richer +neighbours, whose flocks would overrun his fields, or who might oust +him altogether from them by force, and even seize him himself and +enroll him as a slave. The rich man, on the other hand, could use +such land for pasture, and leave the care of his flocks and herds +to clients and slaves. [Sidenote: This irregular system the germ of +latifundia.] So originated those 'latifundia,' or large farms, which +greatly contributed to the ruin of Rome and Italy. The tilled land +grew less and with it dwindled the free population and the recruiting +field for the army. Gangs of slaves became more numerous, and were +treated with increased brutality; and as men who do not work for their +own money are more profuse in spending it than those who do, the +extravagance of the Roman possessors helped to swell the tide of +luxury, which rose steadily with foreign conquest, and to create in +the capital a class free in name indeed, but more degraded, if less +miserable, than the very slaves, who were treated like beasts through +Italy. It is not certain whether anyone except a patrician could claim +'occupation' as a right; but, as the possessors could in any case +sell the land to plebeians, it fell into the hands of rich men, +to whichever class they belonged, both at Rome, and in the Roman +colonies, and the Municipia; and as it was never really their +property--'dominium'--but the property of the State, it was a constant +source of envy and discontent among the poor. + +[Sidenote: Why complaints about the Public Land became louder at the +close of the second century B.C.] As long as fresh assignations of +land and the plantations of colonies went on, this discontent could +be kept within bounds. But for a quarter of a century preceding our +period scarcely any fresh acquisitions of land had been made in Italy, +and, with no hope of new allotments from the territory of their +neighbours, the people began to clamour for the restitution of their +own. [Sidenote: Previous agrarian legislation. Spurius Cassius.] The +first attempt to wrest public land from possessors had been made long +before this by Spurius Cassius; and he had paid for his daring with +his life. [Sidenote: The Licinian Law.] More than a century later the +Licinian law forbade anyone to hold above 500 'jugera' of public land, +for which, moreover, a tenth of the arable and a fifth of the grazing +produce was to be paid to the State. The framers of the law are said +to have hoped that possessors of more than this amount would shrink +from making on oath a false return of the land which they occupied, +and that, as they would be liable to penalties for exceeding the +prescribed maximum, all land beyond the maximum would be sold at a +nominal price (if this interpretation of the [Greek: kat' oligon] of +Appian may be hazarded) to the poor. It is probable that they did not +quite know what they were aiming at, and certain that they did not +foresee the effects of their measure. In a confused way the law +may have been meant to comprise sumptuary, political, and agrarian +objects. It forbade anyone to keep more than a hundred large or five +hundred small beasts on the common pasture-land, and stipulated for +the employment of a certain proportion of free labour. The free +labourers were to give information of the crops produced, so that +the fifths and tenths might be duly paid; and it may have been +the breakdown of such an impossible institution which led to the +establishment of the 'publicani.' [Sidenote: Composite nature of the +Licinian law.] Nothing, indeed, is more likely than that Licinius and +Sextius should have attempted to remedy by one measure the specific +grievance of the poor plebeians, the political disabilities of the +rich plebeians and the general deterioration of public morals; but, +though their motives may have been patriotic, such a measure could no +more cure the body politic than a man who has a broken limb, is blind, +and in a consumption can be made sound at every point by the heal-all +of a quack. Accordingly the Licinian law was soon, except in its +political provisions, a dead letter. Licinius was the first man +prosecuted for its violation, and the economical desire of the nation +became intensified. [Sidenote: The Flaminian law.] In 232 B.C. +Flaminius carried a law for the distribution of land taken from the +Senones among the plebs. Though the law turned out no possessors, it +was opposed by the Senate and nobles. Nor is this surprising, for any +law distributing land was both actually and as a precedent a blow to +the interests of the class which practised occupation. What is at +first sight surprising is that small parcels of land, such as must +have been assigned in these distributions, should have been so +coveted. [Sidenote: Why small portions of land were so coveted.] The +explanation is probably fourfold. Those who clamoured for them were +wretched enough to clutch at any change; or did not realise to +themselves the dangers and drawbacks of what they desired; or intended +at once to sell their land to some richer neighbour; or, lastly, +longed to keep a slave or two, just as the primary object of the 'mean +white' in America used to be to keep his negro. [Sidenote: Failure +of previous legislation.] On the whole, it is clear that legislation +previous to this period had not diminished agrarian grievances, and it +is clear also why these grievances were so sorely felt. The general +tendency at Rome and throughout Italy was towards a division of +society into two classes--the very rich and the very poor, a tendency +which increased so fast that not many years later it was said that out +of some 400,000 men at Rome only 2,000 could, in spite of the city +being notoriously the centre to which the world's wealth gravitated, +be called really rich men. To any patriot the progressive extinction +of small land-owners must have seemed piteous in itself and menacing +to the life of the State. On the other hand, the poor had always one +glaring act of robbery to cast in the teeth of the rich. A sanguine +tribune might hope permanently to check a growing evil by fresh +supplies of free labour. His poor partisan again had a direct +pecuniary interest in getting the land. Selfish and philanthropic +motives therefore went hand in hand, and in advocating the +distribution of land a statesman would be sure of enlisting +the sympathies of needy Italians, even more than those of the +better-provided-for poor of Rome. + +[Sidenote: Roman slavery.] Incidental mention has been made of the +condition of the slaves in Italy. It was the sight of the slave-gangs +which partly at least roused Tiberius Gracchus to action, and some +remarks on Roman slavery follow naturally an enquiry into the nature +of the public land. The most terrible characteristic of slavery is +that it blights not only the unhappy slaves themselves, but their +owners and the land where they live. It is an absolutely unmitigated +evil. As Roman conquests multiplied and luxury increased, enormous +fortunes became more common, and the demand for slaves increased also. +Ten thousand are said to have been landed and sold at Delos in one +day. What proportion the slave population of Italy bore to the free at +the time of the Gracchi we cannot say. It has been placed as low as 4 +per cent., but the probability is that it was far greater. [Sidenote: +Slave labour universally employed.] In trades, mining, grazing, +levying of revenue, and every field of speculation, slave-labour +was universally employed. If it is certain that even unenfranchised +Italians, however poor, could be made to serve in the Roman army, it +was a proprietor's direct interest from that point of view to employ +slaves, of whose services he could not be deprived. + +[Sidenote: Whence the slaves came. Their treatment.] A vast impetus +had been given to the slave-trade at the time of the conquest of +Macedonia, about thirty-five years before our period. The +great slave-producing countries were those bordering on the +Mediterranean--Africa, Asia, Spain, &c. An organized system of +man-hunting supplied the Roman markets, and slave-dealers were part of +the ordinary retinue of a Roman army. When a batch of slaves reached +its destination they were kept in a pen till bought. Those bought +for domestic service would no doubt be best off, and the cunning, +mischievous rogue, the ally of the young against the old master of +whom we read in Roman comedy, if he does not come up to our ideal +of what a man should be, does not seem to have been physically very +wretched. Even here, however, we see how degraded a thing a slave was, +and the frequent threats of torture prove how utterly he was at the +mercy of a cruel master's caprice. We know, too, that when a master +was arraigned on a criminal charge, the first thing done to prove his +guilt was to torture his slaves. But just as in America the popular +figure of the oily, lazy, jocular negro, brimming over with grotesque +good-humour and screening himself in the weakness of an indulgent +master, merely served to brighten a picture of which the horrible +plantation system was the dark background; so at Rome no instances of +individual indulgence were a set-off against the monstrous barbarities +which in the end brought about their own punishment, and the ruin +of the Republic. [Sidenote: Dread inspired by the prospect of Roman +slavery.] Frequent stories attest the horrors of Roman slavery felt +by conquered nations. We read often of individuals, and sometimes of +whole towns, committing suicide sooner than fall into the conquerors' +hands. Sometimes slaves slew their dealers, sometimes one another. A +boy in Spain killed his three sisters and starved himself to avoid +slavery. Women killed their children with the same object. If, as it +is asserted, the plantation-system was not yet introduced into Italy, +such stories, and the desperate out-breaks, and almost incredibly +merciless suppression of slave revolts, prove that the condition of +the Roman slave was sufficiently miserable. [Sidenote: The horrors of +slavery culminated in Sicily.] But doubtless misery reached its climax +in Sicily, where that system was in full swing. Slaves not sold for +domestic service were there branded and often made to work in chains, +the strongest serving as shepherds. Badly fed and clothed, these +shepherds plundered whenever they found the chance. Such brigandage +was winked at, and sometimes positively encouraged, by the owners, +while the governors shrank from punishing the brigands for fear of +offending their masters. As the demand for slaves grew, slave-breeding +as well as slave-importation was practised. No doubt there were as +various theories as to the most profitable management of slaves then +as in America lately. Damophilus had the instincts of a Legree: a +Haley and a Cato would have held much the same sentiments as to the +rearing of infants. Some masters would breed and rear, and try to get +more work from the slave by kindness than harshness. Others would work +them off and buy afresh; and as this would be probably the cheapest +policy, no doubt it was the prevalent one. And what an appalling vista +of dumb suffering do such considerations open to us! Cold, hunger, +nakedness, torture, infamy, a foreign country, a strange climate, a +life so hard that it made the early death which was almost inevitable +a comparative blessing--such was the terrible lot of the Roman +slave. At last, almost simultaneously at various places in the Roman +dominions, he turned like a beast upon a brutal drover. [Sidenote: +Outbreaks in various quarters.] At Rome, at Minturnae, at Sinuessa, +at Delos, in Macedonia, and in Sicily insurrections or attempts at +insurrections broke out. They were everywhere mercilessly suppressed, +and by wholesale torture and crucifixion the conquerors tried to +clothe death, their last ally, with terror which even a slave dared +not encounter. In the year when Tiberius Gracchus was tribune (and the +coincidence is significant), it was found necessary to send a consul +to put down the first slave revolt in Sicily. It is not known when it +broke out. [Sidenote: Story of Damophilus.] Its proximate cause was +the brutality of Damophilus, of Enna, and his wife Megallis. His +slaves consulted a man named Eunous, a Syrian-Greek, who had long +foretold that he would be a king, and whom his master's guests had +been in the habit of jestingly asking to remember them when he came +to the throne. [Sidenote: The first Sicilian slave war.] Eunous led a +band of 400 against Enna. He could spout fire from his mouth, and his +juggling and prophesying inspired confidence in his followers. All the +men of Enna were slain except the armourers, who were fettered and +compelled to forge arms. Damophilus and Megallis were brought with +every insult into the theatre. He began to beg for his life with some +effect, but Hermeias and another cut him down; and his wife, after +being tortured by the women, was cast over a precipice. But their +daughter had been gentle to the slaves, and they not only did not harm +her, but sent her under an escort, of which this Hermeias was one, to +Catana. Eunous was now made king, and called himself Antiochus. He +made Achaeus his general, was joined by Cleon with 5,000 slaves, and +soon mustered 10,000 men. Four praetors (according to Florus) were +defeated; the number of the rebels rapidly increased to 200,000; and +the whole island except a few towns was at their mercy. In 134 the +consul Flaccus went to Sicily; but with what result is not known. +In 133 the consul L. Calpurnius Piso captured Messana, killed 8,000 +slaves, and crucified all his prisoners. In 132 P. Rupilius captured +the two strongholds of the slaves, Tauromenium and Enna (Taormina and +Castragiovanni). Both towns stood on the top ledges of precipices, and +were hardly accessible. Each was blockaded and each was eventually +surrendered by a traitor. But at Tauromenium the defenders held out, +it is said, till all food was gone, and they had eaten the children, +and the women, and some of the men. Cleon's brother Comanus was taken +here; all the prisoners were first tortured, and then thrown down the +rocks. At Enna Cleon made a gallant sally, and died of his wounds. +Eunous fled and was pulled out of a pit with his cook, his baker, his +bathman, and his fool. He is said to have died in prison of the same +disease as Sulla and Herod. Rupilius crucified over 20,000 slaves, and +so quenched with blood the last fires of rebellion. + +Besides the dangers threatening society from the discontent of the +poor, the aggressions of the rich, the multiplication and ferocious +treatment of slaves, and the social rivalries of the capital, the +condition of Italy and the general deterioration of public morality +imperatively demanded reform. It has been already said that we do +not know for certain how the plebs arose. But we know how it wrested +political equality from the patres, and, speaking roughly, we may date +the fusion of the two orders under he common title 'nobiles,' from +the Licinian laws. [Sidenote: The 'nobiles' at Rome.] It had been a +gradual change, peaceably brought about, and the larger number having +absorbed the smaller, the term 'nobiles,' which specifically meant +those who had themselves filled a curule office, or whose fathers had +done so, comprehended in common usage the old nobility and the new. +The new nobles rapidly drew aloof from the residuum of the plebs, and, +in the true _parvenu_ spirit, aped and outdid the arrogance of the old +patricians. Down to the time of the Gracchi, or thereabouts, the two +great State parties consisted of the plebs on the one hand, and these +nobiles on the other. [Sidenote: The 'optimates' and 'populares.'] +After that date new names come into use, though we can no more fix the +exact time when the terms optimates and populares superseded previous +party watchwords than we can when Tory gave place to Conservative, and +Whig to Liberal. Thus patricians and plebeians were obsolete terms, +and nobles and plebeians no longer had any political meaning, for each +was equal in the sight of the law; each had a vote; each was eligible +to every office. But when the fall of Carthage freed Rome from all +rivals, and conquest after conquest filled the treasury, increased +luxury made the means of ostentation more greedily sought. Office +meant plunder; and to gain office men bribed, and bribed every day +on a vaster scale. If we said that 'optimates' signified the men +who bribed and abused office under the banner of the Senate and its +connections, and that 'populares' meant men who bribed and abused +office with the interests of the people outside the senatorial pale +upon their lips, we might do injustice to many good men on both sides, +but should hardly be slandering the parties. Parties in fact they were +not. They were factions, and the fact that it is by no means easy +always to decide how far individuals were swayed by good or bad +motives, where good motives were so often paraded to mask base +actions, does not disguise their despicable character. Honest +optimates would wish to maintain the Senate's preponderance from +affection to it, and from belief in its being the mainstay of the +State. Honest populares, like the Gracchi, who saw the evils of +senatorial rule, tried to win the popular vote to compass its +overthrow. Dishonest politicians of either side advocated conservatism +or change simply from the most selfish personal ambition; and in time +of general moral laxity it is the dishonest politicians who give the +tone to a party. The most unscrupulous members of the ruling ring, the +most shameless panderers to mob prejudice, carry all before them. Both +seek one thing only--personal ascendency, and the State becomes the +bone over which the vilest curs wrangle. + +[Sidenote: Who the equites were.] In writing of the Gracchi reference +will be made to the Equites. The name had broadened from its original +meaning, and now merely denoted all non-senatorial rich men. An +individual eques would lean to the senatorial faction or the faction +of men too poor to keep a horse for cavalry service, just as his +connexions were chiefly with the one or the other. How, as a body, the +equites veered round alternately to each side, we shall see hereafter. +Instead of forming a sound middle class to check the excesses of both +parties, they were swayed chiefly by sordid motives, and backed up +the men who for the time seemed most willing or able to gratify their +greed. What went on at Rome must have been repeated over again with +more or less exactitude throughout Italy, and there, in addition to +this process of national disintegration, the clouds of a political +storm were gathering. The following table will show at a glance the +classification of the Roman State as constituted at the outbreak of +the Social War. + + _Cives Romani_: + 1. Rome + 2. Roman Colonies + 3. Municipia + + Roman Colonies and Municipia are Praefectura. + + _Peregrini_: + 1. Latini or Nomen Latinum + a. Old Latin towns except such as had been made Municipia + b. Colonies of old Latin towns + c. Joint colonies (if any) of Rome and old Latin towns + d. Colonies of Italians from all parts of Italy founded by Rome + under the name of Latin Colonies + 2. Socii, i.e. Free inhabitants of Italy + 3. Provincials, i.e. Free subjects of Rome out of Italy + +[Sidenote: Rights of Cives Romani.] The Cives Romani in and out of +Rome had the Jus Suffragii and the Jus Honorum, i.e. the right to vote +and the right to hold office. [Sidenote: The Roman Colony.] A _Roman +Colony_ was in its organization Rome in miniature, and the people +among whom it had been planted as a garrison may either have retained +their own political constitution, or have been governed by a +magistrate sent from Rome. They were not Roman citizens except as +being residents of a Roman city, but by irregular marriages with +Romans the line of demarcation between the two peoples may have grown +less clearly defined. [Sidenote: The Praefectura.] _Praefectura_ was +the generic name for Roman colonies and for all Municipia to which +prefects were sent annually to administer justice. [Sidenote: +Municipia] _Municipia_ are supposed to have been originally those +conquered Italian towns to which Connubium and Commercium, i.e. rights +of intermarriage and of trade, were given, but from whom Jus Suffragii +and Jus Honorum were withheld. These privileges, however, were +conferred on them before the Social War. Some were governed by Roman +magistrates and some were self-governed. They voted in the Roman +tribes, though probably only at important crises, such as the +agitation for an agrarian law. They were under the jurisdiction of the +Praetor Urbanus, but vicarious justice was administered among them by +an official called _Praefectus juri dicundo_, sent yearly from Rome. + +[Sidenote: The Latini.] The Latini had no vote at Rome, no right of +holding offices, and were practically Roman subjects. A Roman who +joined a Latin colony ceased to be a Roman citizen. Whether there was +any difference between the internal administration of a Latin colony +and an old Latin town is uncertain. The Latini may have had Commercium +and Connubium, or only the former. They certainly had not Jus +Suffragii or Jus Honorum, and they were in subjection to Rome. A Latin +could obtain the Roman franchise, but the mode of doing so at this +time is a disputed point. Livy mentions a law which enabled a Latin to +obtain the franchise by migrating to Rome and being enrolled in the +census, provided he left children behind him to fill his place. There +is no doubt that either legally or irregularly Latini did migrate to +Rome and did so obtain the citizenship, but we know no more. Others +say that the later right by which a Latin obtained the citizenship in +virtue of filling a magistracy in his native town existed already. + +[Sidenote: The Socii.] Of the Socii, all or many of them had treaties +defining their relations to Rome, and were therefore known as +Foederatae Civitates. They had internal self-government, but were +bound to supply Rome with soldiers, ships, and sailors. + +[Sidenote: Grievances of the Latins and allies.] At the time of the +Gracchi discontent was seething among the Latins and allies. There +were two classes among them--the rich landlords and capitalists, who +prospered as the rich at Rome prospered, and the poor who were weighed +down by debt or were pushed out of their farms by slave-labour, or +were hangers-on of the rich in the towns and eager for distributions +of land. The poor were oppressed no doubt by the rich men both of +their own cities and of Rome. The rich chafed at the intolerable +insolence of Roman officials. It was not that Rome interfered with +the local self-government she had granted by treaty, but the Italians +laboured under grievous disabilities and oppression. So late as the +Jugurthine war, Latin officers were executed by martial law, whereas +any Roman soldier could appeal to a civil tribunal. Again, while the +armies had formerly been recruited from the Romans and the allies +equally, now the severest service and the main weight of wars fell +on the latter, who furnished, moreover, two soldiers to every Roman. +Again, without a certain amount of property, a man at Rome could not +be enrolled in the army; but the rule seems not to have applied +to Italians. Nor was the civil less harsh than the military +administration. A consul's wife wished to use the men's bath at +Teanum; and because the bathers were not cleared out quickly enough, +and the baths were not clean enough, M. Marius, the chief magistrate +of the town, was stripped and scourged in the market-place. A free +herdsman asked in joke if it was a corpse that was in a litter passing +through Venusia, and which contained a young Roman. Though not even an +official, its occupant showed that, if lazy, he was at least alive, by +having the peasant whipped to death with the litter straps. In short, +the rich Italians would feel the need of the franchise as strongly as +the old plebeians had felt it, and all the more strongly because the +Romans had not only ceased to enfranchise whole communities, but were +chary of giving the citizenship even to individuals. The poor also had +the ordinary grievances against their own rich, and were so far likely +to favour the schemes of any man who assailed the capitalist class, +Roman or Italian, as a whole; but they none the less disliked Roman +supremacy, and would be easily persuaded to attribute to that +supremacy some of the hardships which it did not cause. + +[Sidenote: State of the transmarine provinces.] While such fires were +slowly coming to the surface in Italy, and were soon to flame out in +the Social War, the state of the provinces out of the peninsula was +not more reassuring. The struggle with Viriathus and the Numantine war +had revealed the fact that the last place to look for high martial +honour or heroic virtue was the Roman army. If a Scipio sustained the +traditions of Roman generalship, and a Gracchus those of republican +rectitude, other commanders would have stained the military annals +of any nation. [Sidenote: Deterioration of Roman generalship.] Roman +generals had come to wage war for themselves and not for the State. +They even waged it in defiance of the State's express orders. If they +found peace in the provinces, they found means to break it, hoping to +glut their avarice by pillage or by the receipt of bribes, which it +was now quite the exception not to accept, or to win sham laurels and +cheap triumphs from some miserable raid on half-armed barbarians. +Often these carpet-knights were disgracefully beaten, though infamy in +the provinces sometimes became fame at Rome, and then they resorted +to shameful trickery repeated again and again. [Sidenote: and of the +Army.] The State and the army were worthy of the commanders. The +former engaged in perhaps the worst wars that can be waged. Hounded on +by its mercantile class, it fought not for a dream of dominion, or +to beat back encroaching barbarism, but to exterminate a commercial +rival. The latter, which it was hard to recruit on account of the +growing effeminacy of the city, it was harder still to keep under +discipline. It was followed by trains of cooks, and actors, and the +viler appendages of oriental luxury, and was learning to be satisfied +with such victories as were won by the assassination of hostile +generals, or ratified by the massacre of men who had been guaranteed +their lives. The Roman fleet was even more inefficient than the army; +and pirates roved at will over the Mediterranean, pillaging this +island, waging open war with that, and carrying off the population as +slaves. A new empire was rising in the East, as Rome permitted the +Parthians to wrest Persia, Babylonia, and Media from the Syrian kings. +The selfish maxim, _Divide et impera_, assumed its meanest form as it +was now pursued. It is a poor and cowardly policy for a great nation +to pit against each other its semi-civilised dependencies, and to fan +their jealousies in order to prevent any common action on their part, +or to avoid drawing the sword for their suppression. Slave revolts, +constant petty wars, and piracy were preying on the unhappy +provincials, and in the Roman protectorate they found no aid. All +their harsh mistress did was to turn loose upon them hordes of +money-lenders and tax-farmers ('negotiatores,' and 'publicani'), who +cleared off what was left by those stronger creatures of prey, the +proconsuls. Thus the misery caused by a meddlesome and nerveless +national policy was enhanced by a domestic administration based on +turpitude and extortion. + +[Sidenote: Universal degeneracy of the Government, and decay of the +nation.] Everywhere Rome was failing in her duties as mistress of the +civilised world. Her own internal degeneracy was faithfully reflected +in the abnegation of her imperial duties. When in any country the +small-farmer class is being squeezed off the land; when its labourers +are slaves or serfs; when huge tracts are kept waste to minister to +pleasure; when the shibboleth of art is on every man's lips, but ideas +of true beauty in very few men's souls; when the business-sharper is +the greatest man in the city, and lords it even in the law courts; +when class-magistrates, bidding for high office, deal out justice +according to the rank of the criminal; when exchanges are turned into +great gambling-houses, and senators and men of title are the chief +gamblers; when, in short, 'corruption is universal, when there is +increasing audacity, increasing greed, increasing fraud, increasing +impurity, and these are fed by increasing indulgence and ostentation; +when a considerable number of trials in the courts of law bring out +the fact that the country in general is now regarded as a prey, upon +which any number of vultures, scenting it from afar, may safely +light and securely gorge themselves; when the foul tribe is amply +replenished by its congeners at home, and foreign invaders find any +number of men, bearing good names, ready to assist them in +robberies far more cruel and sweeping than those of the footpad or +burglar'--when such is the tone of society, and such the idols before +which it bends, a nation must be fast going down hill. + +A more repulsive picture can hardly be imagined. A mob, a moneyed +class, and an aristocracy almost equally worthless, hating each other, +and hated by the rest of the world; Italians bitterly jealous of +Romans, and only in better plight than the provinces beyond the sea; +more miserable than either, swarms of slaves beginning to brood +over revenge as a solace to their sufferings; the land going out of +cultivation; native industry swamped by slave-grown imports; the +population decreasing; the army degenerating; wars waged as a +speculation, but only against the weak; provinces subjected to +organized pillage; in the metropolis childish superstition, whole sale +luxury, and monstrous vice. The hour for reform was surely come. Who +was to be the man? + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +TIBERIUS GRACCHUS. + + +[Sidenote: Scipio Aemilianius.] General expectation would have pointed +to Scipio Aemilianus, the conqueror of Numantia and Carthage, and the +foremost man at Rome. He was well-meaning and more than ordinarily +able, strict and austere as a general, and as a citizen uniting Greek +culture with the old Roman simplicity of life. He was full of scorn of +the rabble, and did not scruple to express it. 'Silence,' he cried, +when he was hissed for what he said about his brother-in-law's death, +'you step-children of Italy!' and when this enraged them still more, +he went on: 'Do you think I shall fear you whom I brought to Italy +in fetters now that you are loose?' He showed equal scorn for such +pursuits as at Rome at least were associated with effeminacy and vice, +and expressed in lively language his dislike of singing and dancing. +'Our children are taught disgraceful tricks. They go to actors' +schools with sambucas and psalteries. They learn to sing--a thing +which our ancestors considered to be a disgrace to freeborn children. +When I was told this I could not believe that men of noble rank +allowed their children to be taught such things. But being taken to a +dancing school I saw--I did upon my honour--more than fifty boys and +girls in the school; and among them one boy, quite a child, about +twelve years of age, the son of a man who was at that time a candidate +for office. And what I saw made me pity the Commonwealth. I saw the +child dancing to the castanets, and it was a dance which one of our +wretched, shameless slaves would not have danced.' On another occasion +he showed a power of quick retort. As censor he had degraded a man +named Asellus, whom Mummius afterwards restored to the equites. +Asellus impeached Scipio, and taunted him with the unluckiness of his +censorship--its mortality, &c. 'No wonder,' said Scipio, 'for the man +who inaugurated it rehabilitated you.' + +Such anecdotes show that he was a vigorous speaker. He was of a +healthy constitution, temperate, brave, and honest in money matters; +for he led a simple life, and with all his opportunities for extortion +did not die rich. Polybius, the historian, Panaetius, the philosopher, +Terence and Lucilius, the poets, and the orator and politician +Laelius were his friends. From his position, his talents, and his +associations, he seemed marked out as the one man who could and +would desire to step forth as the saviour of his country. But such +self-sacrifice is not exhibited by men of Scipio's type. Too able to +be blind to the signs of the times, they are swayed by instincts too +strong for their convictions. An aristocrat of aristocrats, Scipio was +a reformer only so far as he thought reform might prolong the reign of +his order. From any more radical measures he shrank with dislike, +if not with fear. The weak spot often to be found in those cultured +aristocrats who coquet with liberalism was fatal to his chance of +being a hero. He was a trimmer to the core, who, without intentional +dishonesty, stood facing both ways till the hour came when he was +forced to range himself on one side or the other, and then he took the +side which he must have known to be the wrong one. Palliation of the +errors of a man placed in so terribly difficult a position is only +just; but laudation of his statesmanship seems absurd. As a statesman +he carried not one great measure, and if one was conceived in his +circle, he cordially approved of its abandonment. To those who claim +for him that he saw the impossibility of those changes which his +brother-in-law advocated, it is sufficient to reply that Rome did +not rest till those changes had been adopted, and that the hearty +co-operation of himself and his friends would have gone far to turn +failure into success. But his mind was too narrow to break through the +associations which had environed him from his childhood. When Tiberius +Gracchus, a nobler man than himself, had suffered martyrdom for the +cause with which he had only dallied, he was base enough to quote from +Homer [Greek: os apoloito kai allos hotis toiaita ge hoezoi]--'So +perish all who do the like again.' + +[Sidenote: Tiberius Gracchus.] But the splendid peril which Scipio +shrank from encountering, his brother-in-law courted with the fire +and passion of youth. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was, according to +Plutarch, not quite thirty when he was murdered. Plutarch may have +been mistaken, and possibly he was thirty-five. His father, whose +name he bore, had been a magnificent aristocrat, and his mother +was Cornelia, daughter of Hannibal's conqueror, the first Scipio +Africanus, and one of the comparatively few women whose names are +famous in history. He had much in common with Scipio Aemilianus, whom +he resembled in rank and refinement, in valour, in his familiarity +with Hellenic culture, and in the style of his speeches. Diophanes, of +Mitylene, taught him oratory. The philosopher, Blossius, of Cumae, was +his friend. He belonged to the most distinguished circle at Rome. He +had married the daughter of Appius, and his brother had married the +daughter of Mucianus. He had served under Scipio, and displayed +striking bravery at Carthage; and, as quaestor of the incompetent +Mancinus, had by his character for probity saved a Roman army from +destruction; for the Numantines would not treat with the consul, but +only with Gracchus. No man had a more brilliant career open to him +at Rome, had he been content only to shut his eyes to the fate that +threatened his country. But he had not only insight but a conscience, +and cheerfully risked his life to avert the ruin which he foresaw. +His character has been as much debated as his measures, and the most +opposite conclusions have been formed about both, so that his name +is a synonym for patriot with some, for demagogue with others. Even +historians of our own day are still at variance as to the nature of +his legislation. But from a comparison of their researches, and an +independent examination of the authorities on which they are based, +something like a clear conception of the plans of Gracchus seems +possible. What has never, perhaps, as yet been made sufficiently plain +is, who it was that Gracchus especially meant to benefit. Much of the +public land previously described lay in the north and south of Italy +from the frontier rivers Rubicon and Macra to Apulia. It formed, as +Appian says, the largest portion of the land taken from conquered +towns by Rome. [Sidenote: Agrarian proposals of Gracchus.] What +Gracchus proposed was to take from the rich and give to the poor some +of this land. It was, in fact, merely the Licinian law over again with +certain modifications, and the existence of that law would make the +necessity for a repetition of it inexplicable had it not been a +curious principle with the Romans that a law which had fallen into +desuetude ceased to be binding. But it actually fell short of the law +of Licinius, for it provided that he who surrendered what he held over +and above 500 jugera should be guaranteed in the permanent possession +of that quantity, and moreover might retain 250 jugera in addition for +each of his sons. Some writers conjecture that altogether an occupier +might not hold more than 1,000 jugera. + +Now the first thing to remark about the law is that it was by no +means a demagogue's sop tossed to the city mob which he was courting. +Gracchus saw slave labour ruining free labour, and the manhood +and soil of Italy and the Roman army proportionately depreciated. +[Sidenote: Nothing demagogic about the proposal.] To fill the vacuum +he proposed to distribute to the poor not only of Rome but of the +Municipia, of the Roman colonies, and, it is to be presumed, of the +Socii also, land taken from the rich members of those four component +parts of the Roman State. This consideration alone destroys at once +the absurd imputation of his being actuated merely by demagogic +motives; but in no history is it adequately enforced. No demagogue at +that epoch would have spread his nets so wide. At the same time it +gives the key to the subsequent manoeuvres by which his enemies strove +to divide his partisans. Broadly, then, we may say that Gracchus +struck boldly at the very root of the decadence of the whole +peninsula, and that if his remedy could not cure it nothing else +could. [Sidenote: The Socii--land-owners.] How the Socii became +possessors of the public land we do not know. Probably they bought it +from Cives Romani, its authorised occupiers, with the connivance of +the State. We now see from whom the land was to be taken, namely, the +rich all over Italy, and to whom it was to be given, the poor all over +Italy; and also the object with which it was to be given, namely, +to re-create a peasantry and stop the increase of the slave-plague. +[Sidenote: Provision against evasions of the law.] In order to prevent +the law becoming a dead letter like that of Licinius, owing to poor +men selling their land as soon as they got it, he proposed that the +new land-owners should not have the right to dispose of their land to +others, and for this, though it would have been hard to carry out, we +cannot see what other proviso could have been substituted. Lastly, as +death and other causes would constantly render changes in the holdings +inevitable, he proposed that a permanent board should have the +superintendence of them, and this too was a wise and necessary +measure. + +[Sidenote: Provision for the administration of the law.] We can +understand so much of the law of Gracchus, but it is hard thoroughly +to understand more. It has been urged as a difficulty not easily +explained that few people, after retaining 500 jugera for themselves +and 250 for each of their sons, would have had much left to surrender. +But this difficulty is imaginary rather than real; for Appian says +that the public land was 'the greater part' of the land taken by Rome +from conquered states, and the great families may have had vast +tracts of it as pasture land. [Sidenote: Things about the law hard to +understand.] There are, however, other things which with our meagre +knowledge of the law we cannot explain. For instance, was a hard +and fast line drawn at 500 jugera as compensation whether a man +surrendered 2 jugera or 2,000 beyond that amount? Again, considering +the outcry made, it is hard to imagine that only those possessing +above 500 jugera were interfered with. But this perhaps may be +accounted for by recollecting that in such matters men fight bravely +against what they feel to be the thin end of the wedge, even if they +are themselves concerned only sympathetically. What Gracchus meant to +do with the slaves displaced by free labour, or how he meant to decide +what was public and what was private land after inextricable confusion +between the two in many parts for so many years, we cannot even +conjecture. The statesmanlike comprehensiveness, however, of his main +propositions justifies us in believing that he had not overlooked such +obvious stumbling-blocks in his way. [Sidenote: Appian's criticism of +the law.] When Appian says he was eager to accomplish what he thought +to be a good thing, we concur in the testimony Appian thus gives to +Gracchus having been a good man. But when he goes on to say he was so +eager that he never even thought of the difficulty, we prefer to judge +Gracchus by his own acts rather than by Appian's criticism or the +similar criticisms of modern writers. [Sidenote: Speeches of Gracchus +explaining his motives.] The speeches ascribed to him, which are +apparently genuine, seem to show that he knew well enough what he was +about. 'The wild beasts of Italy,' he said, 'have their dens to retire +to, but the brave men who spill their blood in her cause have nothing +left but air and light. Without homes, without settled habitations, +they wander from place to place with their wives and children; and +their generals do but mock them when at the head of their armies they +exhort their men to fight for their sepulchres and the gods of their +hearths, for among such numbers perhaps there is not one Roman who has +an altar that has belonged to his ancestors or a sepulchre in which +their ashes rest. The private soldiers fight and die to advance the +wealth and luxury of the great, and they are called masters of the +world without having a sod to call their own.' Again, he asked, 'Is +it not just that what belongs to the people should be shared by the +people? Is a man with no capacity for fighting more useful to his +country than a soldier? Is a citizen inferior to a slave? Is an alien +or one who owns some of his country's soil the best patriot? You have +won by war most of your possessions, and hope to acquire the rest of +the habitable globe. But now it is but a hazard whether you gain the +rest by bravery or whether by your weakness and discords you are +robbed of what you have by your foes. Wherefore, in prospect of such +acquisitions, you should if need be spontaneously and of your own free +will yield up these lands to those who will rear children for the +service of the State. Do not sacrifice a great thing while striving +for a small, especially as you are to receive no contemptible +compensation for your expenditure on the land, in free ownership of +500 jugera secure for ever, and in case you have sons, of 250 more for +each of them. + +The striking point in the last extract is his remark about a 'small +thing.' It is likely, enough that the losses of the proprietors as a +body would not be overwhelming, and that the opposition was rendered +furious almost as much by the principle of restitution, and +interference with long-recognised ownership, as by the value of what +they were called on to disgorge. Five hundred jugera of slave-tended +pasture-land could not have been of very great importance to a rich +Roman, who, however, might well have been alarmed by the warning of +Gracchus with regard to the army, for in foreign service, and not in +grazing or ploughing, the fine gentleman of the day found a royal road +to wealth. [Sidenote: Grievances of the possessors.] On the other hand +it is quite comprehensible both that the possessors imagined that they +had a great grievance, and that they had some ground for their belief. +A possessor, for instance, who had purchased from another in the full +faith that his title would never be disturbed, had more right to be +indignant than a proprietor of Indian stock would have, if in case of +the bankruptcy of the Indian Government the British Government should +refuse to refund his money. There must have been numbers of such cases +with every possible complexity of title; and even if the class that +would be actually affected was not large, it was powerful, and every +landowner with a defective title would, however small his holding +(provided it was over 30 jugera, the proposed allotment), take the +alarm and help to swell the cry against the Tribune as a demagogue and +a robber. This is what we can state about the agrarian law of Tiberius +Gracchus. It remains to be told how it was carried. + +[Sidenote: How the law was carried.] Gracchus had a colleague named +Octavius, who is said to have been his personal friend. Octavius had +land himself to lose if the law were carried, and he opposed it. +Gracchus offered to pay him the value of the land out of his own +purse; but Octavius was not to be so won over, and as Tribune +interposed his veto to prevent the bill being read to the people that +they might vote on it. Tiberius retorted by using his power to suspend +public business and public payments. One day, when the people were +going to vote, the other side seized the voting urns, and then +Tiberius and the rest of the Tribunes agreed to take the opinion of +the Senate. The result was that he came away more hopeless of success +by constitutional means, and doubtless irritated by insult. He then +proposed to Octavius that the people should vote whether he or +Octavius should lose office--a weak proposal perhaps, but the proposal +of an honest, generous man, whose aim was not self-aggrandisement but +the public weal. Octavius naturally refused. Tiberius called together +the thirty-five tribes, to vote whether or no Octavius should +be deprived of his office. [Sidenote: Octavius deprived of the +Tribunate.] The first tribe voted in the affirmative, and Gracchus +implored Octavius even now to give way, but in vain. The next sixteen +tribes recorded the same vote, and once more Gracchus interceded with +his old friend. But he spoke to deaf ears. The voting went on, and +when Octavius, on his Tribunate being taken from him, would not go +away, Plutarch says that Tiberius ordered one of his freedmen to drag +him from the Rostra. + +These acts of Tiberius Gracchus are commonly said to have been the +beginning of revolution at Rome; and the guilt of it is accordingly +laid at his door. And there can be no doubt that he was guilty in the +sense that a man is guilty who introduces a light into some chamber +filled with explosive vapour, which the stupidity or malice of others +has suffered to accumulate. But, after all, too much is made of this +violation of constitutional forms and the sanctity of the Tribunate. +[Sidenote: Defence of the conduct of Gracchus.] The first were effete, +and all regular means of renovating the Republic seemed to be closed +to the despairing patriot, by stolid obstinacy sheltering itself +under the garb of law and order. The second was no longer what it had +been--the recognised refuge and defence of the poor. The rich, as +Tiberius in effect argued, had found out how to use it also. If all +men who set the example of forcible infringement of law are criminals, +Gracchus was a criminal. But in the world's annals he sins in good +company; and when men condemn him, they should condemn Washington +also. Perhaps his failure has had most to do with his condemnation. +Success justifies, failure condemns, most revolutions in most men's +eyes. But if ever a revolution was excusable this was; for it +was carried not by a small party for small aims, but by national +acclamation, by the voices of Italians who flocked to Rome either to +vote, or, if they had not votes themselves, to overawe those who had. +How far Gracchus saw the inevitable effect of his acts is open to +dispute. [Sidenote: Gracchus not a weak sentimentalist.] But probably +he saw it as clearly as any man can see the future. Because he was +generous and enthusiastic, it is assumed that he was sentimental and +weak, and that his policy was guided by impulse rather than reason. +There seems little to sustain such a judgment other than the desire of +writers to emphasise a comparison between him and his brother. If +his character had been what some say that it was, his speeches would +hardly have been described by Cicero as acute and sensible, but not +rhetorical enough. All his conduct was consistent. He strove hard +and to the last to procure his end by peaceable means. Driven into +a corner by the tactics of his opponents, he broke through the +constitution, and once having done so, went the way on which his acts +led him, without turning to the right hand or the left. There seems +to be not a sign of his having drifted into revolution. Because a +portrait is drawn in neutral tints, it does not follow that it is +therefore faithful, and those writers who seem to think they must +reconcile the fact of Tiberius having been so good a man with his +having been, as they assert, so bad a citizen, have blurred the +likeness in their anxiety about the chiaroscuro. No one would affirm +that Tiberius committed no errors; but that he was a wise as well as +a good man is far more in accordance with the facts than a more +qualified verdict would be. + +[Sidenote: Mean behaviour of the Senate.] The Senate showed its spite +against the successful Tribune by petty annoyances, such as allowing +him only about a shilling a day for his official expenditure, and, as +rumour said, by the assassination of one of his friends. But, while +men like P. Scipio Nasica busied themselves with such miserable +tactics, Tiberius brought forward another great proposal supplementary +to his agrarian law. [Sidenote: Proposal of Gracchus to distribute the +legacy of Attalus.] Attalus, the last king of Pergamus, had just died +and left his kingdom to Rome. Gracchus wished to divide his treasures +among the new settlers, and expressed some other intention of +transferring the settlement of the country from the Senate to the +people. As to the second of these propositions it would be unsafe +as well as unfair to Gracchus to pronounce judgment on it without +a knowledge of its details. The first was both just and wise and +necessary, for previous experience had shown that the first temptation +of a pauper land-owner was to sell his land to the rich, and, as the +law of Gracchus forbade this, he was bound to give the settler a fair +start on his farm. [Sidenote: Retort of the Senate.] The Senate took +fresh alarm, and it found vent again in characteristically mean +devices. One senator said that a diadem and a purple robe had been +brought to Gracchus from Pergamus. Another assailed him because men +with torches escorted him home at night. Another twitted him with the +deposition of Octavius. To this last attack, less contemptible than +the others, he replied in a bold and able speech, which practically +asserted that the spirit of the constitution was binding on a citizen, +but that its letter under some circumstances was not. + +[Sidenote: Other intended reforms of Gracchus.] He was also engaged in +meditating other important reforms, all directed against the Senate's +power. Plutarch says that they comprised abridgment of the soldier's +term of service, an appeal to the people from the judices, and the +equal partition between the Senate and equites of the privilege of +serving as judices, which hitherto belonged only to the former. +According to Velleius, Tiberius also promised the franchise to all +Italians south of the Rubicon and the Macra, which, if true, is +another proof of his far-seeing statesmanship. To carry out such +extensive changes it was necessary to procure prolongation of office +for himself, and he became a candidate for the next year's tribunate. +[Sidenote: Gracchus stands again for the Tribunate. His motives.] To +say that considerations of personal safety dictated his candidature +is a very easy and specious insinuation, but is nothing more. It is +indeed a good deal less, for it is utterly inconsistent with the other +acts of an unselfish, dauntless career. At election-time the first +two tribes voted for Tiberius. Then the aristocracy declared his +candidature to be illegal because he could not hold office two years +running. It may have been so, or the law may have been so violated +as to be no more valid than the Licinian law, which, though never +abrogated, had never much force. [Sidenote: Tactics of the Senate.] +To fasten on some technical flaw in his procedure was precisely in +keeping with the rest of the acts of the opposition. But those writers +who accuse Tiberius of being guilty of another illegal act in standing +fail to observe the force of the fact, that it was not till the first +two tribes had voted that the aristocracy interfered. This shows that +their objection was a last resort to an invalid statute, and a deed +of which they were themselves ashamed. However, the president of the +tribunes, Rubrius, hesitated to let the other tribes vote; and when +Mummius, Octavius's substitute, asked Rubrius to yield to him the +presidency, others objected that the post must be filled by lot, and +so the election was adjourned till the next day. + +It was clear enough to what end things were tending, and Tiberius, +putting on mourning committed his young son to the protection of the +people. It need hardly be said that the father's affection and the +statesman's bitter dismay at finding the dearest object of his life +about to be snatched from him by violence need not have been tinged +with one particle of personal fear. A man of tried bravery like +Gracchus might guard his own life indeed, but only as be regarded it +as indispensable to a great cause. That evening he told his partisans +he would give them a sign next day if he should think it necessary to +use force at his election. It has been assumed that this proves he was +meditating treason. But it proves no more than that he meant to repel +force forcibly if, as was only too certain, force should be used, and +this is not treason. No other course was open to him. The one weak +spot in his policy was that he had no material strength at his back. +Even Sulla would have been a lost man at a later time, if he had not +had an army at hand to which he could flee for refuge, just as without +the army Cromwell would have been powerless. But it was harvest-time +now, and the rural allies of Gracchus were away from home in the +fields. [Sidenote: Murder of Gracchus.] The next day dawned, and with +it occurred omens full of meaning to the superstitious Romans. The +sacred fowls would not feed. Tiberius stumbled at the doorway of his +house and broke the nail of his great toe. Some crows fought on the +roof of a house on the left hand, and one dislodged a tile, which +fell at his feet. But Blossius was at his side encouraging him, and +Gracchus went on to the Capitol and was greeted with a great cheer +by his partisans. [Sidenote: Different accounts given by Appian and +Plutarch.] Appian says that when the rich would not allow the election +to proceed, Tiberius gave the signal. Plutarch tells us that Fulvius +Flaccus came and told him that his foes had resolved to slay him, and, +having failed to induce the consul Scaevola to act, were arming their +friends and slaves, and that Gracchus gave the signal then. As Appian +agrees with Plutarch in his account of Nasica's conduct in the Senate, +the last is the more probable version of what occurred. Nasica called +on Scaevola to put down the tyrant. Scaevola replied that he would not +be the first to use force. Then Nasica, calling on the senators to +follow him, mounted the Capitol to a position above that of Gracchus. +Arming themselves with clubs and legs of benches, his followers +charged down and dispersed the crowd. Gracchus stumbled over some +prostrate bodies, and was slain either by a blow from P. Satyreius, a +fellow-tribune, or from L. Rufus, for both claimed the distinction. So +died a genuine patriot and martyr; and so foul a murder fitly heralded +the long years of bloodshed and violence which were in store for the +country which he died to save. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CAIUS GRACCHUS. + + +[Sidenote: Revenge of the aristocracy.] Over three hundred of the +people were killed and thrown into the Tiber, and the aristocracy +followed up their triumph as harshly as they dared. They banished +some, and slew others of the tribune's partisans. Plutarch says that +they fastened up one in a chest with vipers. When Blossius was brought +before his judges he avowed that he would have burned the Capitol if +Gracchus had told him to do it, so confident was he in his leader's +patriotism--an answer testifying not only to the nobleness of the two +friends, but to the strong character of one of them. Philosophers are +not so impressed by weak, impulsive men. Blossius was spared, probably +because he had connexions with some of the nobles rather than because +his reply inspired respect. But while the aristocracy was making war +on individuals, the work of the dead man went on, as if even from the +grave he was destined to bring into sharper relief the pettiness of +their projects by the grandeur of his own. + +[Sidenote: The law of Gracchus remains in force.] The allotment of +land was vigorously carried out; and when Appius Claudius and Mucianus +died, the commissioners were partisans of Tiberius--his brother Caius, +M. Fulvius Flaccus, and C. Papirius Carbo. [Sidenote: Its beneficial +effects.] In the year 125, instead of another decrease in the +able-bodied population, we find an increase of nearly 80,000. It seems +probable that this increase was solely in consequence of what the +allotment commissioners did for the Roman burgesses. Nor, if the +Proletarii and Capite Censi were not included in the register of those +classed for military service, is the increase remarkable, for it would +be to members of those classes that the allotments would be chiefly +assigned. Moreover, the poor whom the rich expelled from their lands +did not give in their names to the censors, and did not attend to the +education of their children. These men would, on receiving allotments, +enrol themselves. The consul of the year 132 inscribed on a public +monument that he was the first who had turned the shepherds out of +the domains, and installed farmers in their stead; and these farmers +became, as Gracchus intended, a strong reinforcement to the Roman +soldier-class, as well as a check to slave labour. What was done at +Rome was done also, it is said, throughout Italy, and if on the same +scale, it must have been a really enormous measure of relief to the +poor, and a vast stride towards a return to a healthier tenure of the +land. [Sidenote: Difficulties and hardships in enforcing it.] But it +is not hard to imagine what heart-burnings the commissioners must have +aroused. Some men were thrust out of tilled land on to waste land. +Some who thought that their property was private property found to +their cost that it was the State's. Some had encroached, and their +encroachments were now exposed. Some of the Socii had bought parcels +of the land, and found out now that they had no title. Lastly, some +land had been by special decrees assigned to individual states, and +the commissioners at length proceeded to stretch out their hands +towards it. + +Historians, while recording such things, have failed to explain why +the chief opposition to the commissioners arose from the country which +had furnished the chief supporters of Tiberius, and what was the exact +attitude assumed by Scipio Aemilianus. It is lost sight of that as at +Rome there were two classes, so there were two classes in Italy. It +is absurd constantly to put prominently forward the sharp division of +interests in the capital, and then speak of the country classes as +if they were all one body, and their interests the same. [Sidenote: +Divisions in Italy similar to those in Rome.] The natural and +apparently the only way of explaining what at first sight seems the +inconsistency of the country class is to conclude, that the men who +supported Tiberius were the poor of the Italian towns and the small +farmers of the country, while the men who called on Scipio to save +them from the commissioners were the capitalists of the towns and the +richer farmers--some of them voters, some of them non-voters--with +their forces swollen, it may be, by not a few who, having clamoured +for more land, found now that the title to what they already had was +called in question. Though this cannot be stated as a certainty, it at +least accounts for what historians, after many pages on the subject, +have left absolutely unexplained, and it presents the conduct of +Scipio Aemilianus in quite a different light from the one in which it +has commonly been regarded. He is usually extolled as a patriot who +would not stir to humour a Roman rabble, but who, when downtrodden +honest farmers, his comrades in the wars, appealed to him, at once +stepped into the arena as their champion. [Sidenote: Attitude of +Scipio Aemilianus.] In reality he was a reactionist who, when the +inevitable results of those liberal ideas which had been broached in +his own circle stared him in the face, seized the first available +means of stifling them. The world had moved too fast for him. As +censor, instead of beseeching the gods to increase the glory of the +State, he begged them to preserve it. And no doubt he would have +greatly preferred that the gods should act without his intervention. +Brave as a man, he was a pusillanimous statesman; and when confronted +by the revolutionary spirit which he and his friends had helped to +evoke, he determined at all costs to prop up the senatorial power. +[Sidenote: His unpopularity with the Senate.] But the Senate hated +him, partly as a trimmer, and partly because by his personal character +he rebuked their baseness. He had just impeached Aurelius Cotta, a +senator, and the judices, from spite against him, had refused to +convict. So he turned to the Italian land-owners, and became +the mouthpiece of their selfishness, for a selfish or at best a +narrow-minded end. The nobles must have, at heart, disliked his +allies; but they cheered him in the Senate, and he succeeded in +practically strangling the commission by procuring the transfer of its +jurisdiction to the consuls. The consul for the time being immediately +found a pretext for leaving Rome, and a short time afterwards Scipio +was found one morning dead in his bed. [Sidenote: His death.] He had +gone to his chamber the night before to think over what he should say +next day to the people about the position of the country class, and, +if he was murdered, it is almost as probable that he was murdered by +some rancorous foe in the Senate as by Carbo or any other Gracchan. It +was well for his reputation that he died just then. Without Sulla's +personal vices he might have played Sulla's part as a politician, and +his atrocities in Spain as well as his remark on the death of Tiberius +Gracchus--words breathing the very essence of a narrow swordsman's +nature--showed that from bloodshed at all events he would not have +shrunk. It is hard to respect such a man in spite of all his good +qualities. Fortune gave him the opportunity of playing a great part, +and he shrank from it. When the crop sprang up which he had himself +helped to sow, he blighted it. But because he was personally +respectable, and because he held a middle course between contemporary +parties, he has found favour with historians, who are too apt to +forget that there is in politics, as in other things, a right course +and a wrong, and that to attempt to walk along both at once proves a +man to be a weak statesman, and does not prove him to be a great or +good man. + +[Sidenote: The early career of Caius Gracchus.] In B.C. 126 Caius +Gracchus, seven years after he had been made one of the commissioners +for the allotment of public land, was elected quaestor. Sardinia was +at that time in rebellion, and it fell by lot to Caius to go there as +quaestor to the consul Orestes. It is said that he kept quiet when +Tiberius was killed, and intended to steer clear of politics. But +one of those splendid bursts of oratory, with which he had already +electrified the people, remains to show over what he was for ever +brooding. 'They slew him,' he cried, 'these scoundrels slew Tiberius, +my noble brother! Ah, they are all of one pattern.' He said this in +advocating the Lex Papiria, which proposed to make the re-election of +a tribune legal. But Scipio opposed the law, and it was defeated then, +to be carried, however, a few years later. Again, in the year of his +quaestorship, he spoke against the law of M. Junius Pennus, which +aimed at expelling all Peregrini from Rome. They were the very men by +whose help Tiberius had carried his agrarian law, and when Caius spoke +for them he was clearly treading in his brother's steps. At a later +time he declared that he dreamt Tiberius came to him and said, 'Why do +you hesitate? You cannot escape your doom and mine--to live for the +people and die for them.' Such a story would be effective in a speech, +and particularly effective when told to a superstitious audience; but +his day-dreams we may be sure were the cause and not the consequence +of his visions of the night. For there can be no doubt that the +younger brother had already one purpose and one only--to avenge the +death of Tiberius and carry out his designs. + +Such omens as Roman credulity fastened on when the political air was +heavy with coming storm abounded now. With grave irony the historian +records: 'Besides showers of oil and milk in the neighbourhood of +Veii, a fact of which some people may doubt, an owl, it is said, was +seen on the Capitol, which may have been true.' Fulvius Flaccus, the +friend of Gracchus, made the first move. [Sidenote: Proposition of +Fulvius Flaccus. Its significance.] In order to buy off the opposition +of the Socii to the agrarian law, he proposed to give them the +franchise, just as Licinius, when he had offered the poor plebeians a +material boon, offered the rich ones a political one, so as to secure +the united support of the whole body. The proposal was significant, +and it was made at a critical time. The poor Italians were chafing, no +doubt, at the suspension of the agrarian law. The rich were indignant +at the carrying of the law of Pennus. Other and deeper causes of +irritation have been mentioned above. In the year of the proposal of +Flaccus, and very likely in consequence of its rejection, Fregellae--a +Latin colony--revolted. [Sidenote: Revolt and punishment of +Fregellae.] The revolt was punished with the ferocity of panic. The +town was destroyed; a Roman colony, Fabrateria, was planted near its +site; and for the moment Italian discontent was awed into sullen +silence. No wonder the Senate was panic-stricken. Here was a real +omen, not conjured up by superstition, that one of those towns, which +through Rome's darkest fortunes in the second Punic War had remained +faithful to her, should single-handed and in time of peace raise the +standard of rebellion. Was Fregellae indeed single-handed? The Senate +suspected not, and turned furiously on the Gracchan party, and, it is +alleged, accused Caius of complicity with the revolt. [Sidenote: Caius +Gracchus accused of treason. He stands for the tribunate.] It was rash +provocation to give to such a man at such a time. If he was accused, +he was acquitted, and he at once stood for the tribunate. Thus the +party which had slain his brother found itself again at death-grips +with an even abler and more implacable foe. + +[Sidenote: Prominence of Gracchus at home and abroad.] There is no +doubt that for some time past Caius Gracchus, young as he was, and +having as yet filled none of the regular high offices, had had the +first place in all men's thoughts. His first speech had been received +by the people with wild delight. He was already the greatest orator in +Rome. His importance is shown by the Senate's actually prolonging the +consul's command, in order to keep his quaestor longer abroad. But his +friends were consoled for his absence by the stories they heard of +the respect shown to him by foreign nations. The Sardinians would not +grant supplies to Orestes, and the Senate approved their refusal. But +Gracchus interposed, and they voluntarily gave what they had before +appealed against. Micipsa, son of Masinissa, also sent corn to +Orestes, but averred that it was out of respect to Gracchus. The +Senate's fears and the esteem of foreigners were equally just. What +the life of Gracchus was in Sardinia he has himself told us; and from +the implied contrast we may judge what was the life of the nobles of +the time. [Sidenote: His description of the life of a noble.] 'My +life,' he said to the people, 'in the province was not planned to suit +my ambition, but your interests. There was no gormandising with me, +no handsome slaves in waiting, and at my table your sons saw more +seemliness than at head-quarters. No man can say without lying that +I ever took a farthing as a present or put anyone to expense. I was +there two years; and if a single courtesan ever crossed my doors, or +if proposals from me were ever made to anyone's slave-pet, set me down +for the vilest and most infamous of men. And if I was so scrupulous +towards slaves, you may judge what my life must have been with your +sons. And, citizens, here is the fruit of such a life. I left Rome +with a full purse and have brought it back empty. Others took out +their wine jars full of wine, and brought them back full of money.' + +Such was the man who now came back to Rome to demand from the +aristocracy a reckoning for which he had been yearning with undying +passion for nearly ten years. An exaggerated contrast between him and +Tiberius at the expense of the latter has been previously condemned. +The man who originates is always so far greater than the man who +imitates, and Caius only followed where his brother led. He was not +greater than but only like his brother in his bravery, in his culture, +in the faculty of inspiring in his friends strong enthusiasm and +devotion, in his unswerving pursuit of a definite object, and, as his +sending the son of Fulvius Flaccus to the Senate just before his +death proves in the teeth of all assertions to the contrary, in his +willingness to use his personal influence in order to avoid civil +bloodshed. [Sidenote: Caius compared with Tiberius.] The very dream +which Caius told to the people shows that his brother's spell was +still on him, and his telling it, together with his impetuous oratory +and his avowed fatalism, militates against the theory that Tiberius +was swayed by impulse and sentiment, and he by calculation and reason. +But no doubt he profited by experience of the past. He had learned how +to bide his time, and to think generosity wasted on the murderous crew +whom he had sworn to punish. Pure in life, perfectly prepared for a +death to which he considered himself foredoomed, glowing with one +fervent passion, he took up his brother's cause with a double portion +of his brother's spirit, because he had thought more before action, +because he had greater natural eloquence, and because being forewarned +he was forearmed. + +In spite of the labours of recent historians, the legislation of Caius +Gracchus is still hard to understand. Where the original authorities +contradict each other, as they often do, probable conjecture is the +most which can be attained, and no attempt will be made here to +specify what were the measures of the first tribunate of Caius and +what of the second. [Sidenote: The general purpose of the legislation +of Caius.] The general scope and tendency of his legislation is clear +enough. It was to overthrow the senatorial government, and in the +new government to give the chief share of the executive power to the +mercantile class, and the chief share of the legislative power to the +country class. These were his immediate aims. Probably he meant to +keep all the strings he thus set in motion in his own hands, so as to +be practically monarch of Rome. But whether he definitely conceived +the idea of monarchy, and, looking beyond his own requirements, +pictured to himself a successor at some future time inheriting the +authority which he had established, no one can say. In such vast +schemes there must have been much that was merely tentative. But had +he lived and retained his influence we may be sure that the Empire +would have been established a century earlier than it was. + +[Sidenote: Date of the tribunate of Caius, December 10, B.C. 124.] +Rome was thronged to overflowing by the country class, and the nobles +strained every nerve in opposition when Caius was elected tribune. He +was only fourth on the list out of ten, and entered on his office on +December 10, B.C. 124. With a fixed presentiment of his own fate, he +felt that, even if he wished to remain passive, the people would not +permit him to be so. He might, he said, have pleaded that he and his +young child were the last representatives of a noble line--of P. +Africanus and Tiberius Gracchus--and that he had lost a brother in the +people's cause; but the people would not have listened to the plea. It +has been said that his mother dissuaded him from his intentions. But +the fragments on which the statement is based are as likely as not +spurious; and Cornelia's fortitude after she had lost both her sons +would hardly have been shown by one capable of subordinating public to +private interests. + +[Sidenote: Story of his mother's sentiments.] It is far more likely +that when in his stirring speeches he spoke of his home as no place +for him to visit, while his mother was weeping and in despair, he was +influenced by her adjurations to avenge his brother, and not by any +craven warnings against sharing his fate. However this may have been, +no timid influences could be traced in the fiery passion of his first +speeches. [Sidenote: Story of the means by which he modulated his +voice when speaking.] He was, in fact, so carried away by his feelings +that he had to resort to a curious device in order to keep his voice +under control. A man with a musical instrument used, it is said, to +stand near him, and warn him by a note at times if he was pitching his +voice too high or too low. It was now that he told his stories of the +flogging of the magistrate of Teanum and the murder of the Venusian +herdsman, and we can imagine how they would incense his hearers +against the nobles. Against one of them, Octavius, he specially +directed a law, making it illegal for any magistrate previously +deposed by the people to be elected to office; but this, at Cornelia's +suggestion it is said, he withdrew. Another law also had special +reference to the fate of Tiberius. It made illegal the trial of any +citizen for an offence which involved the loss of his civic rights +without the consent of the people. [Sidenote: Caius procures the +banishment of Popillius Laenas.] This law, if in force, would have +prevented the ferocity with which Popillius Laenas hunted down the +partisans of Tiberius; and Caius followed it up according to the +oration De Domo, by procuring against Popillius a sentence of +outlawry. One of the fragments from his speeches was probably spoken +at this time. In it he told the people that they now had the chance +they had so long and so passionately desired; and that, if they did +not avail themselves of it, they would lay themselves open to the +charge of caprice or of ungoverned temper. Popillius anticipated the +sentence by voluntary retirement from Rome. + +[Sidenote: His Lex Frumentaria.] Having satisfied his conscience by +the performance of what no doubt seemed to him sacred duties, Caius +at once set to work to build up his new constitution. It is commonly +represented that in order to gain over the people to his side he +cynically bribed them by his Lex Frumentaria. Now if this were true, +and Caius were as clear-sighted as the same writers who insist on the +badness of the law describe him to have been, it is hard to see how +they can in the same breath eulogise his goodness and nobleness. To +gain his ends he would have been using vile means, and would have been +a vile man. [Sidenote: The common criticism on it unjust.] Looking, +however, more closely into the law, we are led to doubt whether it was +bad, or, at all events, even granting that eventually it led to evil, +whether it would have appeared likely to do so to Caius. The public +land, it must be remembered, was liable to an impost called vectigal. +This vectigal went into the Aerarium, which the nobles had at their +disposal. Now the law of Caius appears to have fixed a nominal price +for corn to all Roman citizens, and if the market price was above this +price the difference would have to be made good from the Aerarium. We +at once see the object of Caius, and how the justice of it might have +blinded him to the demoralising effects of his measure. 'The public +land,' he said in effect, 'belongs to all Romans and so does the +vectigal. If you take that to which you have no right, you shall give +it back again in cheap corn.' In short, it was a clever device for +partially neutralising the long misappropriation of the State's +property by the nobles, and for giving to the people what belonged +to the people--to each man, as it were, so many ears of corn from +whatever fraction would be his own share of the land. [Sidenote: +Contrast between the just proposal of Caius and the demagogy of +Drusus.] When Drusus was afterwards set up to outbid Caius, he +proposed that the vectigal should be remitted, and that the land that +had been assigned might be sold by the occupier. How this would catch +the farmer's fancy is as obvious as is its odious dishonesty. It was +dishonest to the State because it was only fair that each occupier +should contribute to its funds, and because it did away with the +hope of filling Italy with free husbandmen. It was dishonest to the +occupier himself, because it put in his way the worst temptation to +unthriftiness. When Caius renewed his brother's laws he purposely +charged the land distributed to the poor with a yearly vectigal. +How different was this from the mere demagogic trick of Drusus! +It appears, then, that the Lex Frumentaria of Caius is not the +indefensible measure which modern writers, filled with modern notions, +have called it. It has, moreover, been well said that it was a kind +of poor-law; and, even if bad in itself, may have been the least bad +remedy for the pauperism which not Caius, but senatorial misgovernment +had brought about. No doubt it conferred popularity on Caius, and no +doubt his popularity was acceptable to him; but there is no ground for +believing that his noble nature deliberately stooped to demoralise the +mob for selfish motives. + +[Sidenote: His Lex Judiciaria.] One great party, however, he had thus +won over to his side. The Lex Judiciaria gained over the equites +also. It has been before explained that the equites at this time were +non-senatorial rich men. Senators were forbidden by law to mix in +commerce, though no doubt they evaded the law. Between the senatorial +and moneyed class there was a natural ill-will, which Caius proceeded +to use and increase. His exact procedure we do not know for certain. +According to some authorities he made the judices eligible from the +equites only, instead of from the Senate. In the epitome of Livy it is +stated that 600 of the equites were to be added to the number of the +senators, so that the equites should have twice as much power as the +Senate itself. This at first sight seems nonsense. But Caius may have +proposed that for judicial purposes 600 equites should form, as it +were, a second chamber, which, being twice as numerous, would permit +two judices for every senatorial judex. In form he may have devised +that 'counter-senate,' which, as it has been shown, he in fact +created. [Sidenote: The effects of it. The Senate abased, the equites +exalted.] But whether Caius provided that all the judices or only +two-thirds of them should be chosen from the equites, and in whatever +way he did so, he did succeed in exalting the moneyed class and +abasing the Senate. In civil processes, and in the permanent and +temporary commissions for the administration of justice, the equites +were henceforth supreme. Even the senators themselves depended on +their verdict for acquittal or condemnation, and the chief power in +the State had changed hands. Of course the change would not be felt +at once to the full; but this was the most trenchant stroke which +Gracchus aimed at the Senate's power. Here, again, it is customary to +write of his actions as if they were governed solely by feeling, quite +apart from all considerations of right and wrong. But Cicero declares +that for nearly fifty years, while the equites discharged this office, +there was not even the slightest suspicion of a single eques being +bribed in his capacity as judex; and after every allowance has been +made for Ciceronian exaggeration, the statement may at least warrant +us in believing that Gracchus had some reason for hoping that his +change would be a change for the better, even if, as Appian declares, +it turned out in the end just the opposite. Indeed, it is beyond +question that, as the provinces were governed by the senatorial class, +judices who had to decide cases like those of Cotta would be more +fairly chosen from the equites than from the class to which Cotta +belonged. + +[Sidenote: The taxation of Asia.] We know little of the arrangements +for the taxation of Asia made by Gracchus. He provided that the taxes +should be let by auction at Rome, which would undoubtedly be a boon +to the Roman capitalists and a check to provincial competition. He is +said also to have substituted the whole system of direct and indirect +taxes for the previously existing system of fixed payments by the +various states. There was a certain narrowness about the conceptions +of both the Gracchi with regard to the transmarine world, which was +common to all Romans; to which, for instance, Tiberius gave expression +when he spoke of the conquest of the whole world as a thing which his +audience had a right to expect; and this sentiment may have in this +instance influenced Caius to use harshness. [Sidenote: The common +criticism on the measure of Caius unjust.] But even here to condemn +without more knowledge of his measures would be unjust. Fixed payments +it must be remembered were not always preferable to tithes of the +produce. In a sterile year the payers of vectigalia would be best off. +Again, if a rich province like Asia did not pay tribute in proportion +to other provinces, a re-adjustment of its taxes would not seem to the +Romans unfair; and perhaps auction at Rome would after all be less +mischievous than a hole-and-corner arrangement in the provinces. If +the sheep were to be fleeced, they would not be shorn closest in the +capital. [Sidenote: Measure for the relief of publicani.] To another +of his provisions at all events no one could object--the one which +gave relief to such publicani as had suffered loss in collecting the +revenue. + +[Sidenote: Alleged privileges conferred on the equites.] Gracchus had +thus raised the equites above the Senate at Rome in the courts of +justice, and opened a golden harvest to them in the provinces. It +is conjectured that he also gave them the distinction of a golden +finger-ring and reserved seats at the public spectacles. Two classes +were thus gratified, the city poor and the city rich. [Sidenote: +Caius attempts to conciliate the farmer class and the Italians.] But +Gracchus had to deal also with those of the country class in whose +favour his brother's agrarian law had been passed, and with those +who had resented the law. To provide for the former he renewed the +operation of his brother's law, which had been suspended by Scipio's +intervention, and probably took away its administrations from +the consuls and restored it to triumvirs; and as that might be +insufficient, he began the establishment of many colonies in various +parts of the peninsula; and even beyond it at Carthage, to which he +invited colonists from all parts of Italy. To compensate and benefit +the latter he proposed to give them the franchise, so as to secure +them from such outrages as that of Teanum. For though such of them +as belonged to Roman colonies or municipia possessed the franchise +already, the mass of the Latins and Italians did not possess it. There +are different accounts of this measure; but Appian says that he wished +to give the Latini the Jus Suffragii and Jus Honorum, and to the rest +of the Italians the Jus Suffragii only. But here he reckoned without +his host. [Sidenote: Feeling at Rome.] The boons of colonies and cheap +bread, and the prospect of a slice out of the public land occupied by +Italians, were all not strong enough to overcome the deep, ingrained +prejudice against extending the franchise. Rich and poor Romans met +here on the common ground of narrow pride, and the offence caused by +this wise project probably paved the way for the tribune's fall. + +In speaking of the motives which induced Tiberius to seek the +tribunate a second time (p. 33) it has been said that he was not +influenced by personal considerations, but wanted time to carry out +his measures. This view is confirmed by what Appian says about Caius, +namely, that he was elected a second time; for already a law had been +enacted to this effect, that if a tribune could not find time for +executing in his tribunate what he had promised, the people might give +the office to him again in preference to anyone else. This has been +pronounced to be a blunder on Appian's part, but without adequate +reason. It was in fact the natural and inevitable law which Caius +would insist on first, and he would plead for it precisely on the +grounds which Appian states. It is also clear that such a law once +passed made virtual monarchy at Rome possible. [Sidenote: Other +measures of Caius.] In fact the other measures of Caius were both +worthy of a great and wise monarch, and might with good reason +be thought to be designed to lead to monarchy. [Sidenote: Roads. +Granaries. Soldiers' uniform. Age for service.] He constructed +magnificent roads--along which, it would be whispered, his voters +might come more easily to Rome. He built public granaries. He gave +the soldiers clothing at the cost of the State. He made seventeen the +minimum age for service in the army. He himself superintended the +plantation of his own colonies. Everywhere he made his finger felt; +but whether this was of set purpose or only from his constitutional +energy it is hard to decide. His chief object, however, was to +overthrow the Senate; and we have not yet exhausted the list of his +assaults upon it. [Sidenote: Change in nomination to provinces.] +Hitherto it had been the custom for the Senate to name the consular +provinces for the next year after the election of the consuls, which +meant that if a favourite was consul a rich province was given to him, +and if not, a poor one. Caius enacted that the consular provinces +should be named before the election of the consuls. By way, perhaps, +of softening this restriction he took away from the tribunes their +veto on the naming of the consular provinces. [Sidenote: Alleged +change in the order of voting.] He is further supposed, though on +slender evidence, to have changed the order of voting in the Comitia +Centuriata. Formerly the first class voted first. Now the order of +voting first was to be settled by lot, and so the influence of the +rich would be diminished. + +[Sidenote: General criticism of his schemes.] Such, in outline, was +the grand scheme of Caius Gracchus. If he was less single-minded in +his aims than his brother, he could hardly help being so; and, having +to reconcile so many conflicting interests, he may have swerved from +what would have been his own ideal. But that his main purpose was to +break down a rotten system, and establish a sound one on its ruins, +and that no petty motive of expediency guided him, but only the one +principle, 'salus populi suprema lex,' is incontrovertible. When we +think of him so eloquent, resolute, and energetic, conceiving such +great projects and executing them in person, making the regeneration +of his country his lodestar in spite of his ever-present belief that +he would, in the end, fall by the same fate as his brother, we think +of him as one of the noblest figures in history--a purer and less +selfish Julius Caesar. + +[Sidenote: Machinations of the nobles.] As the petty acts of the +nobles had brought out into relief the large policy of Tiberius, so +it was now. They resorted to even lower tricks than accusations of +tyranny, and found in the fatuity or dishonesty of Drusus a tool even +more effective than Nasica's brutality. The plantation of a colony at +Carthage was looked at askance by many Romans. It was the first +colony planted out of Italy, and the superstitious were filled with +forebodings which the Senate eagerly exaggerated. Such colonies had +repeatedly out-grown and overtopped the parent state. The ground had +been solemnly cursed, and the restoration of the town forbidden. When +the first standard was set up by the colonists a blast of wind, it is +said, blew it down, and scattered the flesh of the victims; and wolves +had torn up the stakes that marked out the site. Such malicious +stories met with readier credence, because, if it is true that Caius +had called for colonists from all Italy, and Junonia was to be a Roman +colony, he was evading the decree of the people against extending the +franchise; and he was thus admitting to it, by a side-wind, those to +whom it had just in the harshest manner been refused. For, when the +vote had been taken, every man not having a vote had been expelled +from the city, and forbidden to come within five miles of it till the +voting was over. Caius had come to live in the Forum instead of on the +Palatine when he returned to Rome, among his friends as he thought; +and still even in little matters he stood forward as the champion of +the poor against the rich. There was going to be a show of gladiators +in the Forum, and the magistrates had enclosed the arena with benches, +which they meant to hire out. Caius asked them to remove the benches, +and, on their refusal, went the night before the show and took them +all away. Anyone who has witnessed modern athletic sports, and +observed how a crowd will hem in the competitors so that only a few +spectators can see, although an equally good view can be obtained by +a great number if the ring is enlarged, will perceive Caius's object, +and be slow to admit that he spoiled the show. But though such acts +pleased the people, all of them had not forgiven him the proposition +about the franchise; and his popularity was on the wane. [Sidenote: +Drusus outbids Caius.] The Senate had suborned one of his colleagues, +M. Livius Drusus, to outbid him. Either Drusus thought he was guiding +the Senate into a larger policy when he was himself merely the +Senate's puppet, and this his son's career makes probable, or he was +cynically dishonest and unscrupulous. + +Caius had meditated, it may be, many colonies, but, according to +Plutarch, had at this time only actually settled two. Drusus proposed +to plant twelve, each of 3,000 citizens. Caius had superintended +the settlement himself, and employed his friends. With virtuous +self-denial Drusus washed his hands of all such patronage. Caius had +imposed a yearly tax on those to whom he gave land; Drusus proposed to +remit it. Caius had wished to give the Latins the franchise; Drusus +replied by a comparatively ridiculous favour, which, however, might +appeal more directly to the lower class of Latins. No Latin, he said, +should be liable to be flogged even when serving in the army. Drusus +could afford to be liberal. His colonies were sham colonies. His +remission of the vectigal was a thin-coated poison. His promise to the +Latins was at best a cheap one, and was not carried out. But none the +less his treachery or imbecility served its purpose, and the greedier +and baser of the partisans of Gracchus began to look coldly on their +leader. [Sidenote: Caius rejected for the tribunate.] It is stated, +indeed, that on his standing for the tribunate a third time he was +rejected by fraud, his colleagues having made a false return of the +names of the candidates. In any case he was not elected, and one of +the consuls for the year 121 was L. Opimius, his mortal foe. + +The end was drawing near. Sadly Caius must have recognised that his +presentiments would soon be fulfilled, and that he must share his +brother's fate. [Sidenote: Preparations for civil strife.] His foes +proposed to repeal the law for the settlement of Junonia, and, +according to Plutarch, others of his laws also. Warned by the past, +his friends armed. Men came disguised as reapers to defend him. It is +likely enough that they were really reapers, who would remember why +Tiberius lost his life, and that their support would have saved him. +Fulvius was addressing the people about the law when Caius, attended +by some of his partisans, came to the Capitol. He did not join the +meeting, but began walking up and down under a colonnade to wait its +issue. Here a man named Antyllus, who was sacrificing, probably in +behalf of Opimius the consul, either insulted the Gracchans and was +stabbed by them, or caught hold of Caius's hand, or by some other +familiarity or importunity provoked some hasty word or gesture from +him, upon which he was stabbed by a servant. As soon as the deed +was done the people ran away, and Caius hastened to the assembly to +explain the affair. But it began to rain heavily; and for this, and +because of the murder, the assembly was adjourned. Caius and Fulvius +went home; but that night the people thronged the Forum, expecting +that some violence would be done at daybreak. Opimius was not slow to +seize the opportunity. He convoked the Senate, and occupied the temple +of Castor and Pollux with armed men. The body of Antyllus was placed +on a bier, and with loud lamentations borne along the Forum; and as +it passed by the senators came out and hypocritically expressed their +anger at the deed. Then, going indoors, they authorised the consul, +by the usual formula, to resort to arms. He summoned the senators and +equites to arm, and each eques was to bring two armed slaves. The +equites owed much to Gracchus, but they basely deserted him now. +Fulvius, on his side, armed and prepared for a struggle. All the night +the friends of Caius guarded his door, watching and sleeping by turns. +[Sidenote: Fighting in Rome.] The house of Fulvius was also surrounded +by men, who drank and bragged of what they would do on the morrow, and +Fulvius is said to have set them the example. At daybreak he and his +men, to whom he distributed the arms which he had when consul taken +from the Gauls, rushed shouting up to the Aventine and seized it. +Caius said good-bye to his wife and little child, and followed, in his +toga, and unarmed. He knew he was going to his death, but + + For his country felt alone, + And prized her blood beyond his own. + +One effort he made to avert the struggle. He induced Fulvius to send +his young son to the Senate to ask for terms. The messenger returned +with the Senate's reply that they must lay down their arms, and the +two leaders must come and answer for their acts. Caius was ready to +go. But Fulvius was too deeply committed, and sent his son back again, +upon which Opimius seized him, and at once marched to the Aventine. +There was a fight, in which Fulvius was beaten, and with another son +fled and hid himself in a bath or workshop. His pursuers threatened +to burn all that quarter if he was not given up; so the man who had +admitted him told another man to betray him, and father and son were +slain. + +[Sidenote: Murder of Caius.] Meanwhile Caius, who had neither armed +nor fought, was about to kill himself in the temple of Diana, when his +two friends implored him to try and save himself for happier +times. Then it is said he invoked a curse on the people for their +ingratitude, and fled across the Tiber. He was nearly overtaken; but +his two staunch friends, Pomponius and Laetorius, gave their lives for +their leader--Pomponius at the Porta Trigemina below the Aventine, +Laetorius in guarding the bridge which was the scene of the feat of +Horatius Cocles. As Caius passed people cheered him on, as if it was +a race in the games. He called for help, but no one helped him--for a +horse, but there was none at hand. One slave still kept up with him, +named Philocrates or Euporus. Hard pressed by their pursuers the two +entered the grove of Furina, and there the slave first slew Caius +and then himself. A wretch named Septimuleius cut off the head of +Gracchus; for a proclamation had been made that whosoever brought +the heads of the two leaders should receive their weight in gold. +Septimuleius, it is said, took out the brains and filled the cavity +with lead; but if he cheated Opimius, Opimius in his turn cheated +those who brought the head of Fulvius, for as they were of the lower +class he would pay them nothing. The story may be false; but Opimius +was subsequently convicted of selling his country's interests to +Jugurtha for money, so that with equal likelihood it may be true. In +the fight and afterwards he put to death 3,000 men, many of whom were +innocent, but whom he would not allow to speak in their defence. The +houses of Caius and Fulvius were sacked, and the property of the slain +was confiscated. Then the city was purified, and the ferocious knave +Opimius raised a temple to Concord, on which one night was found +written 'The work of Discord makes the temple of Concord.' That year +there was a famous vintage, and nearly two centuries afterwards there +was some wine which had been made at the time that Caius Gracchus +died. The wine, says the elder Pliny, tasted like and had the +consistency of bitterish honey. But the memory of the great tribune +has lasted longer than the wine, and will be honoured for ever by all +those who revere patriotism and admire genius. He for whom at the +last extremity friend and slave give their lives does not fall +ingloriously. Even for a life so noble such deaths are a sufficient +crown. + +[Sidenote: The mother of the Gracchi.] The child of Caius did not long +survive him. The son of Tiberius died while a boy. Only Cornelia, the +worthy mother of the heroic brothers, remained. She could (according +to the purport of Plutarch's pathetic narrative) speak of them without +a sigh or tear; and those who concluded from this that her mind was +clouded by age or misfortune, were too dull themselves to comprehend +how a noble nature and noble training can support sorrow, for though +fate may often frustrate virtue, yet 'to bear is to conquer our fate.' + +[Sidenote: Position of the nobles after the murder. Lex Maria.] The +nobles no doubt thought that, having got rid of Gracchus, they had +renewed their own lease of power. But they had only placed themselves +at the mercy of meaner men. The murderous scenes just related happened +in 121 B.C., and in 119 we read of a Lex Maria, the first law, that is +to say, promulgated by the destined scourge of the Roman aristocracy. +Every Roman could vote, and voted by ballot, and was eligible to +every office. The first law of Marius was to protect voters from the +solicitations of candidates for office. It is significant that the +nobles opposed it, though in the end it was carried. Stealthy intrigue +was now their safest weapon, but their power was tottering to its +fall. Too jealous of each other to submit to the supremacy of one, it +only remained for them to be overthrown by some leader of the popular +party, and the Republic was no more. Yet, as if smitten by judicial +blindness, they proceeded to hasten on their own ruin by reactionary +provocations to their opponents. [Sidenote: Gracchan laws remain in +force.] They dared not interfere with the corn law of Caius, for now +that every man had a vote, which he could give by ballot, they were +dependent on the suffrages of the mob. Neither dared they till +seventeen years later make an attempt to interfere with the selection +of the judices from the equestrian order, and even then the attempt +failed. The scheme of taxation in the province of Asia was also left +untouched. But what they dared to do they did. They prosecuted the +adherents of Gracchus. They recalled Popillius from exile. When +Opimius was arraigned for 'perduellio,' or misuse of his official +power to compass the death of a citizen, they procured his acquittal. +But when Carbo was accused of the same crime, they remembered that he +had been a partisan of Tiberius, though since a renegade, and would +not help him. So while Opimius got off, the champion of Opimius was +driven to commit suicide--a fitting close to a contemptible career. + +[Sidenote: Reactionary legislation.] But they soon assailed measures +as well as men. The Lex Baebia appears to have secured those who had +actually established themselves at Carthage in their allotments; but +the Senate annulled the colonies which Caius had planned in Italy, +and, with one exception, Neptunia, broke up those already settled. +[Sidenote: The agrarian law annulled.] Then by three successive +enactments it got rid of the agrarian law, and plunged Italy again +into the decline from which by the help of that law she was emerging. +1. The occupiers were allowed again to sell their land. Tiberius had +expressly forbidden this, and now the rich at once began to buy out +the small owners, whom they often evicted by means more or less +foul. 2. A tribune named Borius, or Thorius, prohibited any further +distribution of land, thus knocking on the head the permanent +commission. These two laws were tantamount to handing over to the +rich in the city and the country the greater part of the public +land, giving them a legal title to it instead of the possession on +sufferance with which the Gracchi had interfered. The mouths of the +farmers were stopped by the pernicious but tempting permission to sell +their land. The people were cajoled by the vectigalia, which Drusus +had abolished, being reimposed, and the proceeds divided among +them. 3. Encouraged by the general acquiescence in these insidious +aggressions they induced a tribune, whose name is conjectured to have +been C. Baebius, to do away with the vectigalia altogether. [Sidenote: +Lex Thoria.] The date of this law, usually called the Thorian law, was +111 B.C. The real Thorian law was probably carried in 118 B.C. Between +these dates the rich would have been getting back the land from the +poor occupiers, and so, when the Senate abolished the vectigalia, +it was really pocketing them, and once for all and by a legal form +turning the public into private land. This law, which is here called +the Baebian law, Cicero ascribes to Spurius Thorius, who, he says, +freed the land from the vectigal. But as Appian says that Spurius +Borius imposed the vectigal, it is assumed that Cicero confused names, +that the Spurius Borius of Appian was Spurius Thorius, and that the +tribune whom Cicero calls Thorius was really quite another person. +However that may be, the law would benefit the rich, because the rich +would be owners of the land. Certain provisions of it were directly +meant to prevent opposition in the country. For if many of the poor +farmers would grumble at being ousted from their land, the land which +had been specially assigned to Latin towns, and of which Tiberius +Gracchus had threatened to dispossess them, was left in the same state +as before his legislation; that is to say, the Senate did not give +the occupiers an indefeasible title, but it did not meddle with +them. Moreover, it amply indemnified the Socii and Latini who had +surrendered land for the colonies of Caius, while some compensation +was given to poor farmers by a clause, that in future a man might only +graze ten large and fifty smaller beasts on the pastures of what still +remained public land. By this law the jurisdiction over land which had +been assigned by the triumvirs was given to the consuls, censors, +and praetors, the jurisdiction over cases in which disputes with the +publicani required settlement being granted to the consuls, praetors, +and, as such cases would occur chiefly in the provinces which were +mostly under propraetors, to propraetors also. + +[Sidenote: Pernicious results of the reaction.] The results of this +reactionary legislation are partly summed up by Appian, when he +attributes to it a dearth of citizens, soldiers, and revenue. To our +eyes its effects are clearer still. Slave labour and slave-discontent, +'latifundia,' decrease of population, depreciation of the land, +received a fresh impetus, and the triumphant optimates pushed the +State step by step further down the road to ruin. For the end for +which they struggled was not the good of Italy, much less of the +world, but the supremacy of Rome in Italy, and of themselves in Rome. +Wealth and office were shared by an ever narrowing circle. Ten years +after the passing of the Baebian law, it was said that among all the +citizens there were only 2,000 wealthy families. And between the +years 123 and 109 B.C. four sons and probably two nephews of Quintus +Metellus gained the consulship, five of the six gained triumphs, and +one was censor, while he himself had filled all the highest offices +of the State. Thus, as Sallust says, the nobles passed on the chief +dignities from hand to hand. + +There must have been many of the Gracchan party, now left without a +head, who burned for deliverance from such despicable masters. But +they were for the time disorganized and cowed. [Sidenote: Caius +Marius.] There was one man whom Scipio Aemilianus was said to have +pointed out in the Numantine war as capable, if he himself died, of +taking his place; and the rough soldier had already come forward as a +politician, on the one hand checking the optimates by protecting the +secrecy and efficiency of the ballot, and on the other defying the mob +by opposing a distribution of corn; but for the present no one could +tell how far he would or could go, and though he had already been made +praetor, the Metelli could as yet afford to despise him. The death of +Caius prolonged the Senate's misrule for twenty years. Twenty years +of shame at home and abroad--the turpitude of the Jugurthine war--a +second and more stubborn slave revolt in Sicily--the apparition of +the Northern hordes inflicting disaster after disaster upon the Roman +armies, which in 105 B.C. culminated in another and more appalling +Cannae--these things had yet to come about before the cup of the +Senate's infamy was full, and before those who had drawn the sword +against the Gracchi perished by the sword of Marius, impotent, +unpitied, and despised. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE JUGURTHINE WAR. + + +[Sidenote: Attalus of Pergamus.] Attalus III., the last of that +supple dynasty which had managed to thrive on the jealous and often +treacherous patronage of Rome, left his dominions at his death to +the Republic. He had begun his reign by massacring all his father's +friends and their families, and ended it as an amateur gardener and +dilettante modeller in wax; so perhaps the malice of insanity had +something to do with the bequest, if indeed it was not a forgery. +Aristonicus, a natural son of a previous king, Eumenes II., set it at +naught and aspired to the throne. + +[Sidenote: Aristonicus usurps the kingdom of Pergamus.] Attalus died +in 133, the year of the tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus, when Scipio +was besieging Numantia, and the first slave revolt was raging in +Sicily. The Romans had their hands full, and Aristonicus might have +so established himself as to give them trouble, had not some of the +Asiatic cities headed by Ephesus, and aided by the kings of Cappadocia +and Bithynia, opposed him. He seized Leucae (the modern Lefke) and +was expelled by the Ephesians. But when the Senate found time to send +commissioners, he was already in possession of Thyatira, Apollonia, +Myndus, Colophon, and Samos. Blossius, the friend of Gracchus, had +come to him, and the civil strife at Rome must have raised his +hopes. [Sidenote: Conduct of Crassus, illustrating Roman rule in the +province.] But in the year 131 P. Licinius Crassus Mucianus, the +father-in-law of Caius Gracchus, was consul, and was sent to Asia. He +was Pontifex Maximus, rich, high-born, eloquent, and of great legal +knowledge; and from his intimacy with the Gracchi and Scipio he must +have been an unusually favourable specimen of the aristocrat of the +day. And this is what he did in Asia. He was going to besiege Leucae, +and having seen two pieces of timber at Elaea, sent for the larger +of them to make a battering ram. The builder, who was the chief +magistrate of the town, sent him the smaller piece as being the most +suitable, and Crassus had him stripped and scourged. Next year he was +surprised by the enemy near Leucae. Apparently he could have got off +if he had not been laden with his collections in Asia, to procure +which he had intrigued to prevent his colleague Flaccus getting that +province. Unable to escape, he provoked his captor to kill him by +thrusting a stick into his eye. His death was a striking comment on +the Senate's government. Cruelty and culture, personal bravery and. +incompetence--such an alloy was now the best metal which its most +respectable representatives could supply. + +[Sidenote: End of Aristonicus and settlement of the kingdom.] +Aristonicus was now the more formidable because he had roused the +slaves, among whom the spirit of revolt, in sympathy with the rest of +their kind throughout the Roman world, was then working. But in the +year 130 M. Perperna surprised him, and carried him to Rome. Blossius +committed suicide. The pretender was strangled in prison. Part of his +territory was given to the kings who had helped the consul, one of +whom was the father of the great Mithridates. Phrygia was the share +assigned to him; but the Senate took it back from his successor, +saying that the consul Aquillius had been bribed to give it. The +consul may have been base or the Senate mean, or, what is more +probable, the baseness of the one was used as a welcome plea by the +other's meanness. The European part was added to the province of +Macedonia. The Lycian confederacy received Telmissus. The rest was +formed into a province, which was called Asia--the name being at once +an incentive to and a nucleus for future annexation. Such a nucleus +they already possessed in the province of Africa, and there also war +was kindled by the ambition of a bastard. + +[Sidenote: Jugurtha.] Jugurtha was the illegitimate son of Mastanabal, +Micipsa's brother. He had served at Numantia under Scipio, along with +his future conqueror Marius. There he had begun to intrigue with +influential Romans for the succession to the Numidian kingdom, and +had been rebuked by Scipio, who told him he should cultivate the +friendship, not of individual Romans, but of the State. But in +Jugurtha's heart a noble sentiment found no echo. Brave, treacherous, +restless, an able commander, a crafty politician, adroit in discerning +and profiting by other men's bad qualities, wading to the throne +through the blood of three kinsmen, he in some respects resembles +Shakspeare's Richard III.,--his 'prime of manhood daring, bold, and +venturous,' his 'age confirmed, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody.' +[Sidenote: Micipsa's will.] Micipsa had shared the kingdom with his +two brothers, who died before him; and as this, which was Scipio's +arrangement, had not worked badly in his own case, he in his turn left +his kingdom between Adherbal, Hiempsal, and Jugurtha. Adherbal was +weak and pusillanimous, Hiempsal hot-tempered and rash. Jugurtha, ten +or fifteen years older than either, was the favourite of the nation, +his handsome, martial figure and his reputation as a soldier according +with the notions of a race of riders as to what a king should be. +Hiempsal soon provoked him by refusing to yield the place of honour to +him at their first meeting; and when Jugurtha said that Micipsa's acts +during the last five years of his life should be held as null because +of his impaired faculties, Hiempsal retorted that he agreed with him, +for it was within three years that he had adopted Jugurtha. [Sidenote: +Jugurtha gets rid of Hiempsal.] Hiempsal went to a town called +Thirmida, to the house of a man who had been in Jugurtha's service. +This man Jugurtha bribed to procure a model of the town keys, which +were taken to Hiempsal each evening. Then his men, getting into +Thirmida one night, cut off Hiempsal's head and took it to their +master. He then proceeded to seize town after town; all the best +warriors rallied to his standard, and in a pitched battle he defeated +Adherbal, who fled to Rome, whither he had previously sent ambassadors +imploring aid. Jugurtha also sent envoys with plenty of money, to be +given first to his old comrades, and then to men likely to be useful. +At once the indignation which the wrongs of the brothers had roused +at Rome cooled down. [Sidenote: M. Aemilius Scaurus.] But M. Aemilius +Scaurus, the chief of the aristocracy, seems to have been bidding for +a higher price than was at first offered him, and by his influence ten +commissioners were appointed to divide the kingdom. Scaurus had in his +youth thought of becoming a money-lender, a trade in which he would +certainly have excelled; and he may very likely have hoped to make +something out of the commission, as the exemplary Opimius, murderer of +Caius Gracchus, did. [Sidenote: Jugurtha bribes the commissioners.] +This man, whom Cicero extols as a most excellent citizen, had opposed +Jugurtha at Rome but being in consequence treated by the king in +Numidia with marked deference, joined the majority of his colleagues +in swallowing the bribes offered to them. So Adherbal received the +eastern half which, though it contained the capital Cirta and better +harbours and towns, consisted mostly of barren sand, while the more +fertile portion was assigned to his rival. + +[Sidenote: Jugurtha assails Adherbal, who appeals to the Senate.] This +took place in the year 117 B.C. Scarcely had the commissioners left +the province when the successful villain again took up arms. Adherbal, +after much long-suffering and sending a complaint to Rome, was driven +to do the same in self-defence. But he was defeated between Cirta and +the sea, and would have been taken in Cirta had not the colony of +Italians resident there beaten off the horsemen in pursuit. [Sidenote: +A second commission, hoaxed or bribed by Jugurtha.] Meanwhile +Adherbal's message had reached Rome, and the Senate, with its +high sense of responsibility, sent ten young men to Numidia as +adjudicators. Perhaps, indeed, it was not mere carelessness which sent +these young hopefuls to the best school of bribery in the world. They +were bidden to insist simply on the war ceasing, and the two kings +settling their disputes by law. And yet the news of the battle and the +siege of Cirta had reached Rome. Jugurtha came to them, and said that +his merits had won Scipio's approval, and that, conscious of right, +he could not submit to wrong; he then gravely charged Adherbal with +plotting against his life, and promised to send ambassadors to Rome. +Then the ten young men without even seeing Adherbal, left Africa, not +we may conjecture so lightly laden as they came there. + +The town of Cirta stood on the promontory of a peninsula formed by a +loop of the river Ampsaga, and was almost impregnable. Modern writers +represent it as a square spur, thrust out into a gorge which runs +between two mountain-ranges, this gorge being spanned by a bridge at +one corner of the square. The town, now known as Constantina, and +distant 48 miles from the sea and 200 from Algiers, has been described +as occupying a bold and commanding situation on a steep, rocky hill, +with the river Rummel flowing on three sides of its base, the country +around being a high terrace between the chains of the maritime and +central Atlas. [Sidenote: Adherbal blockaded in Cirta.] Such being +the strength of the place, Jugurtha could only hope to reduce it by +blockade, and it was only after four months that two of Adherbal's men +got out and carried a piteous appeal from their master to the Senate, +adjuring them, not indeed to give him back his kingdom, but to save +his life. [Sidenote: A third commission.] Some of the Senate were for +sending an army to Africa at once, but in those days honest men +were always in the minority, and three commissioners were sent +instead--Scaurus, the man who had so lively an appreciation of his +own value, at their head. [Sidenote: Jugurtha is admonished by it.] +Jugurtha, after a desperate attempt to storm Cirta before they +arrived, came to them at Utica, where he was admonished at great +length. Then this precious trio left Africa, as the ten young men had +done; and the surrender of Cirta followed, either because despair led +its defenders to hope that submission, as it would save the enemy +trouble, might conciliate him, or perhaps because water or food +ran short. [Sidenote: Cirta taken and Adherbal murdered.] Jugurtha +immediately tortured Adherbal to death, and put every Numidian and +Italian in the place to the sword. + +[Sidenote: Genuine indignation at Rome.] Then at last a thrill of +genuine anger went through Rome. The honour of the State had been +sorely wounded, but gold had been thus far a pleasant salve. Now, +however, the equites were touched in their hearts at the fate probably +of some of their own kinsmen, and almost certainly in an even more +sensitive part--their purses. For no doubt there were commercial +relations between the Italian community at Cirta and the Roman +merchants, and here their gains were confiscated at one stroke by a +savage. The senators, on the other hand, who had taken Numidian money, +tried to quash discussion, and would have succeeded if the tribune, +Caius Memmius, had not overawed them by his harangues. [Sidenote: War +declared. Bestia sails to Africa.] Fresh envoys, who had been sent by +Jugurtha with a fresh bribery fund, were ordered to leave Italy in ten +days; and Bestia sailed for Africa, taking with him as his second +in command Scaurus, who felt, no doubt, that a patriot was at last +rewarded. [Sidenote: Jugurtha bribes the generals.] There was some +fighting, and then the money from which Roman virtue had shrunk in +Italy could be resisted no longer. The itching palm of Scaurus was at +length filled as full as he thought mere decency demanded. Bestia +was also gratified, Jugurtha's submission was accepted, hostilities +ceased, and the consul sailed home to superintend the next year's +elections. + +[Sidenote: Harangues of the tribune Memmius.] But Memmius, justly +incensed, now took a bolder tone. We cannot tell how far Sallust +reports what he really said, or how far he drew on his own invention. +But if he has given us Memmius's own words, they must have rung in the +ears of many an honest Roman like the trumpet-notes of that still more +eloquent tribune whose body, ten years before, had been hurled +into the Tiber. For he cast in the teeth of his audience their +pusillanimity in suffering their champions to be murdered, and +allowing so worthless a crew to lord it over them. It had been +shameful enough that they had witnessed in silence the plunder of the +treasury, the monopoly of all high office, and kings and free states +cringing to a handful of nobles; but now a worse thing had been done, +and the honour of the Republic trafficked away. And the men who had +done this felt neither shame nor sorrow, but strutted about with a +parade of triumphs, consulships, and priesthoods, as if they were men +of honour and not thieves. After these and similar home-thrusts, he +called upon the people to insist on Jugurtha being brought to Rome, +for so they would test the reality of his surrender. The tribune's +eloquence prevailed. The praetor Cassius was sent to bring Jugurtha +under a promise of safe-conduct. Jugurtha hesitated. Bestia's officers +were treading in their general's steps, taking bribes, selling as +slaves the Numidians who had deserted to them, and pillaging the +country. Jugurtha was fast becoming the national hero instead of the +chief of a faction, and might have even then dreamt of defying Rome. +However, he yielded and, as it was not in his nature to do things by +halves, came in the mean dress which was assumed to excite compassion. +He did more. This was the year of the so-called Thorian law. +[Sidenote: Jugurtha comes to Rome, and bribes the tribune Baebius.] +Caius Baebius, who may have been the author of that law, was tribune, +and not of the stamp of Memmius. He took Jugurtha's bribes, and when +the king was being cross-questioned by Memmius, interposed his veto, +and forbade him to reply. Thus once again, though the people were +furious, the old plan seemed to be working well. + +[Sidenote: Murder of Massiva.] But now a cousin of the king, named +Massiva, a grandson of Masinissa, at the instigation of the consul +Albinus, claimed the Numidian crown. In the present state of parties +he was sure of support, so Jugurtha had recourse to the second +weapon which he always used when the first was useless. He had him +assassinated by his adherent Bomilcar, and assisted the latter to +escape from Italy. At last his savage audacity had overstepped even +the forbearance of the rogues in his pay. [Sidenote: Jugurtha expelled +from Rome.] He was ordered to leave Rome, and, as he went, uttered +the famous epigram, 'A city for sale, and when the first buyer comes, +doomed to ruin!' [Sidenote: Futile campaign of Albinus.] It is +possible that Spurius Albinus, who was next sent against him, was +playing the game of Scaurus and Bestia over again; for he effected +nothing in his campaign in 110. Nor does his brother's rashness +exonerate him. Left as propraetor in charge of the army, this man, in +January 109, determined to try and carry off Jugurtha's treasures by +a _coup de main_. To do this he marched against Suthul, where the +treasures were kept, at a season when the heavy rains turn the land +into water. [Sidenote: Jugurtha overthrows Aulus Albinus.] Jugurtha +retreated into the interior, enticing Aulus Albinus by hopes of coming +to terms, and meanwhile tampering with his officers. Then, on a +dark night, he surrounded the army. The traitors whom he had bribed +deserted their posts. The soldiers threw away their arms, and next day +Jugurtha forced Aulus to agree to go under the yoke, to make peace, +and, perhaps, in mockery of the Senate's treatment of the Numidian +envoys, to leave Numidia in ten days. Of course the Senate would not +acknowledge the treaty. Nor did they even go through the farce of +surrendering the man who had made it. The chivalry of the era of +Regulus would have seemed quixotic to cynics like Scaurus. The other +Albinus, hastening to Africa, found the troops mutinous, and could +effect nothing. Another tribune now stepped forward to impeach all, +whether soldiers or civilians, who had assisted Jugurtha to the +prejudice of the State. In spite of the aid of the rich Latins, who +had just been gratified by the remission of the vectigal, the +senators were beaten and the bill passed. Triumvirs were appointed to +investigate the matter; but one of them was Scaurus, sure to float +most buoyantly where the scum of scoundrelism was thickest. [Sidenote: +Banishment of Romans who had taken Jugurtha's bribes.] The judices +were equites, and among those condemned were Bestia, Sp. Albinus, +Opimius, and Caius Cato, the grandson of Cato the censor. Opimius died +at Dyrrhachium, a poor man; and probably no harder punishment could +have befallen him. + +The history of the Jugurthine war has been thus far related at greater +length than the space at command would warrant if it was merely a +history of military details. But it is a striking commentary on the +politics of the time and the vices of the government. The state of +society could not be more succinctly summed up than in the words with +which Jugurtha quitted Rome. What was it which made the nobles so +greedy of money as to be lost to all shame in hunting for it? A speech +supposed to have been delivered that very year partly answers the +question: 'Gourmands say that a meal is not all that it ought to be +unless, precisely when you are relishing most what you are eating, +your plate is removed and another, and better, and richer one is +put in its place. Your exquisite, who makes extravagance and +fastidiousness pass for wit, calls that the "bloom of a meal." "The +only bird," says he, "which you should eat whole is the becafico. Of +every other bird, wild or tame, nothing, unless your host be a mean +fellow, but the hinder parts will be served, and enough of them to +satisfy everybody. People who eat the fore parts have no palate." If +luxury goes on at this rate there will soon be nothing left but for +them to have their meats nibbled at for them by some one else, to save +them the toil of eating. Already the couches of some men are decorated +more lavishly with silver and purple and gold than those of the +immortal gods.' + +If the war up to this stage had revealed the hopeless depravity of the +senatorial government, its subsequent course revealed what shape +the revolution about to engulf that government would assume. The +consulship of Marius, won in spite of Metellus, signified really the +fall of the Republic and the rise of monarchy, while the rivalry of +Marius and Sulla showed that supreme authority would be competed for, +not in the forum but the camp. The law of Manilius necessitated an +earnest prosecution of the war. [Sidenote: Metellus appointed to the +command against Jugurtha. His character.] Quintus Caecilius Metellus +was elected consul for the year 109, and received Numidia as his +province. He was a stern, proud man; but if in his childish hauteur he +had a double portion of the foible of his order, he was free from many +of its vices. He set to work at once to rediscipline the army; and +his punishment of deserters, abominable in itself, was no doubt an +effective warning that the new general was not a man with whom it was +safe to trifle. The Romans were never gentle to the deserter unless he +deserted to them. They threw him to wild beasts, or cut off his hands. +Metellus did more. He buried 3,000 men to their waists, made the +soldiers use them as targets, and finally burned them. + +[Sidenote: Battle on the Muthul.] Jugurtha was alarmed, and sent to +offer terms, asking only a guarantee for his life. Metellus returned +evasive answers, and secretly intrigued with the messengers for the +surrender or assassination of the king. But though assassination had +become one of the recognised weapons of a Roman noble, Metellus was a +novice in the art by the side of Jugurtha, who determined to die hard +now he was at bay. The Romans had to cross a range of mountains, after +which they descended into a plain through which the river Muthul +(probably a branch of the modern Mejerda) ran eighteen miles off. +Between them and the river was hilly ground--probably a spur from +the range. On this hilly ground the king posted Bomilcar, with the +infantry and elephants. He himself, with the best of the foot and the +cavalry, waited nearer the mountains. Metellus saw the snare, but was +obliged to get water, and in making for the river was surrounded. But +the new discipline told. Though isolated, each Roman division fought +bravely. Metellus and Marius carried the hills. Rufus dispersed the +picked infantry, and killed or captured all the elephants. Jugurtha's +plan was masterly, but it had failed. [Sidenote: Jugurtha keeps up a +guerilla warfare.] His army dispersed, as such armies do upon defeat, +and he was reduced to carrying on a guerilla warfare, spoiling the +springs where Metellus was marching, and cutting off stragglers. +Metellus split his army into two columns; Marius commanded one and he +the other, and so they marched, ravaging the country and capturing the +towns, ready to form a junction whenever it was necessary. At last +they came to Zama; and, while Metellus was attempting to storm the +town, Jugurtha surprised his camp. Though beaten off in this assault +he attacked the Romans again next day, and Metellus was obliged to +give up his enterprise. [Sidenote: Metellus tampers with Bomilcar.] +After garrisoning the towns which he had taken, he went into winter +quarters, probably at Utica, where he proceeded to tamper with +Bomilcar. That traitor urged Jugurtha to surrender, and the king gave +up his elephants, the deserters, and a large sum of money. But when it +came to giving up himself his heart failed him, and, having discovered +Bomilcar's treachery, he slew him, and once more resolved to fight. + +[Sidenote: Marius stands for the consulship, 107 B.C.] The preceding +military operations are supposed to have taken place in the year 108 +B.C. Marius went to Rome to stand for the consulship, and while he was +away, in 107, Metellus retained the command. Jugurtha's cause even now +was not hopeless. The Numidians adored him, and were smarting under +the Roman devastations. [Sidenote: Revolt of Vaga.] The chief town +occupied by the Romans, Vaga--the modern Baja--revolted in the winter, +and the commander, Turpilius, a Latin, rightly or wrongly was executed +by Metellus for collusion with the enemy. But Metellus was eager to +end the war, and pressed the king hard. Jugurtha lost another battle, +and fled to Thala; but Metellus marched fifty miles across the desert, +and forced him to flee by night out of the town, which was taken after +a siege of forty days. But now a new enemy confronted the Romans. +[Sidenote: Bocchus joins Jugurtha.] Bocchus, king of Mauretania, +formed an alliance with his son-in-law, Jugurtha, and was induced by +him to march against Cirta, which was in the possession of the Romans. +About the same time Metellus heard that Marius was coming to supersede +him. The proud man shed tears of rage, and would not move further for +fear of hazarding his own reputation, or lessening the difficulties of +his successor. + +[Sidenote: Marius succeeds to the command.] The African war now +promised hard work and little glory or profit to the soldiers, and +Jugurtha's bribing days were over. Hence it was hard to recruit the +legions, and Marius took men from the Proletarii and Capite Censi, +classes usually exempt from service. With these troops, who would be +more easily satisfied and more manageable, he filled up the gaps in +the legions in Africa, and set to work, as Metellus had done, taking +towns and forts and plundering the country. Bocchus had separated from +Jugurtha, for they hoped that the Romans having two foes to chase +would be the more easily harassed. But Marius was always on his guard, +and beat, though he could never capture, Jugurtha whenever he came +across him. [Sidenote: Capture of Capsa.] There is an oasis in the +south of Tunis, and a town, Gafsa, in it, which in those days was +called Capsa. This town Marius captured after a laborious march +of nine or ten days, and, though the inhabitants surrendered, he +ruthlessly massacred every adult Numidian in it, and sold the rest as +slaves. One other exploit of his is told by Sallust, but with +such blunders of geography as render identification of the place +impossible. Carrying fire and sword through the land, Marius reached +a fort in which the king's treasures were. It stood on a precipice, +which was considered inaccessible on all sides but one. For many days +he strove in vain to gain the walls by this road, and only an accident +saved him from failure in the end. A Ligurian in the army, while +gathering snails, unconsciously got nearly to the top of the hill. +Finding this out he clambered further and got a full view of the town. +[Sidenote: Capture of another stronghold.] Next day Marius sent ten +men with horns and trumpets and the Ligurian as guide, while he +himself assailed the town by the road. As soon as they were at the +top he ordered an assault on the walls. The men marched up with their +shields locked over their heads, and at the same moment the Roman +trumpets were heard at the side of the town over the precipice. The +Numidians fled and the fort was won. + +[Sidenote: Marius marches for Cirta.] Here, wherever the place was, +Marius was joined by Sulla with some cavalry; and having gained his +end, he marched eastward towards Cirta, intending to winter his men in +the maritime towns. [Sidenote: Attempts of Jugurtha to surprise +his march.] But the Numidian king had nerved himself for one last +desperate effort. By the promise of a third of his kingdom he bribed +Bocchus to join him, and one night at dusk surprised the retiring +army. Only discipline saved it. Like the English at Inkermann, the +Romans fought in small detached groups, till Marius was able to +concentrate his men on a hill, while Sulla by his orders occupied +another hard by. The barbarians surrounded them and kept up a revel +all night, deeming their prey secure. But at dawn Marius bade the +horns strike up, and with a shout the soldiers charged down and +dispersed the enemy with ease. Then the march went on till they were +near Cirta. Again Jugurtha attempted to cut off the retreat. Volux, +son of Bocchus, had brought him some fresh infantry. While the cavalry +engaged Sulla, Bocchus led these men round to attack the rear. +Jugurtha, who was fighting against Masinissa in the front, rode also +to the rear, and, holding up a bloody head, cried out that he had +slain Marius. The Romans began to give way, when Sulla, like Cromwell +at Marston Moor, having done his own work charged the troops of +Bocchus on the flank. Still Jugurtha fought on, and fled only when +all around him were slain. The result of this battle was that Bocchus +became anxious to come to terms. Sulla was sent to arrange them. +But Bocchus hated the Romans, while he feared them; and fresh +solicitations from Jugurtha made him again waver. [Sidenote: +Negotiations of Bocchus with Rome.] Soon afterwards, by permission +of Marius, he sent an embassy to Rome. The Senate replied that they +excused his past errors, and that he should have the friendship and +alliance of Rome when he had earned it. Then ensued intrigue upon +intrigue. [Sidenote: Sulla persuades Bocchus to betray Jugurtha.] +Sulla daringly visited Bocchus, and after some days' hesitation, +during which Sulla pressed him to betray Jugurtha, and Jugurtha +pressed him to betray Sulla, the Moorish king at last decided on which +side his interests lay. The Roman devised a trap. The arch-traitor was +ensnared, and was carried in chains to Rome, where he was led in his +royal robes by the triumphal car of Marius, and, it is said, lost his +senses as he walked along. One wonders with what relish Scaurus and +his tribe, after gazing at the spectacle, sat down to their becaficoes +that day. Then he was thrust into prison, and as they hasted to strip +him, some tore the clothes off his back, while others in wrenching out +his earrings pulled off the tips of his ears with them. And so he was +thrust down naked into the Tullianum. 'Hercules, what a cold bath!' he +cried, with the wild smile of idiocy, as they cast him in. [Sidenote: +Death of Jugurtha.] For six days he endured the torments of +starvation, and then died. [Sidenote: Division of the Numidian +kingdom.] The most westerly portion of his kingdom, corresponding to +the modern province of Algiers, was given to Bocchus, the rest of it +to Gauda, Jugurtha's half-brother. The Romans did not care to turn +into a province a country of which the frontiers were so hard to +guard. But they received some Gaetulian tribes in the interior into +free alliance, so that they had plenty of opportunities for meddling +if they wished to do so. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES. + + +The Jugurthine war ended in 105 B.C. In one way it had been of real +service to Rome. A terrible crisis was at hand, and this war had given +her both soldiers and a general worthy of the name. Before, however, +the story of the struggle with the Cimbri is told, something must be +said about what had been going on at Rome, about the man who had now +most influence there, and about his rivals. [Sidenote: Recommencement +of the social struggle at Rome.] The great social struggle had +recommenced. The personal rivalry between Marius and Sulla had begun +before the Cimbric war. During that war men held as it were their +breath in terror, but nevertheless it was as if only an interlude in +that deadly civil strife, for which each of the contending parties was +already arrayed. C. Marius was now fifty years old. Cato, the censor, +was of opinion that no man can endure so much as he who has turned the +soil and reaped the harvest. Marius was such a man. His family were +clients of the Herennii. His father was a day-labourer of Cereatae, +called today Casamare, after his illustrious son, and he himself +served in the ranks in Spain. [Sidenote: Previous career and present +position of Marius.] Soon made an officer, he won Scipio's favour as a +brave, frugal, incorruptible, and trusty soldier, who never quarrelled +with his general's orders, even when they ran as counter to his own +inclinations as the expulsion of all soothsayers from the camp before +Numantia. On coming home he was lucky enough to marry the aunt of +Julius Caesar, whose high birth and wealth opened the door to State +honours, which to a man of his origin was at this time otherwise +virtually closed. In 119 B.C. he was tribune, and had by the measures +previously noticed won the reputation of an upright and patriotic +politician, who would truckle neither to the nobles nor the mob. From +this time, however, the feud with the Metelli began; for he ordered L. +Caecilius Metellus, the consul, to be cast into prison for resisting +his ballot-law, though, as the Senate yielded, the order was not +carried into effect. In 115 he gained the praetorship, and an +absurd charge of bribery trumped up against him indicated a rising +disposition among the nobles to snub the aspiring plebeian. He was +propraetor in Spain the next year, and showed his usual vigour there +in putting down brigandage. With the soldiers he was as popular as Ney +was with Napoleon's armies, for he was one of them, rough-spoken as +they were, fond of a cup of wine, and never scorning to share their +toils. While he was with Metellus at Utica, a soothsayer prophesied +that the gods had great things in store for him, and he asked Metellus +for leave to go to Rome and stand for the consulship. Metellus replied +that when his own son stood for it it would be time enough for Marius. +The man at whom he sneered resented sneers. There is evidence that the +simple nature of the rough soldier was becoming already spoiled by +constant success. He was burning with ambition, and would ascribe +the favours of heaven to his own merits. He at once set to work +to undermine the credit of his commander with the army, the Roman +merchants, and Gauda, saying that he himself would soon bring the war +to an end if he were general. Metellus can hardly have been a popular +man anywhere, and his strictness must have made him many enemies. Thus +he scornfully refused Gauda a seat at his side, and an escort of Roman +horse. Gauda and the rest wrote to Rome, urging that Marius should +have the army. Metellus with the worst grace let him go just twelve +days before the election. But the favourite of the gods had a fair +wind, and travelled night and day. The artisans of the city and +the country class from which he sprang thronged to hear him abuse +Metellus, and boast how soon he would capture or kill Jugurtha, and he +was triumphantly elected consul for the year 107. + +How his after achievements turned his head we shall see. Already there +were drops of bitterness in the sweet cup of success. It was Metellus +who was called Numidicus, not he, and it was Sulla whose dare-devil +knavery had entrapped the king. The substantial work had been done +by the former. The _coup de théâtre_ which completed it revealed +the latter as a rival. Marius fumed at the credit gained by +these aristocrats; and when Bocchus dedicated on the Capitol a +representation of Sulla receiving Jugurtha's surrender, he could not +conceal his wrath. [Sidenote: L. Cornelius Sulla.] In Sulla he perhaps +already recognised by instinct one who would outrival him in the end. +He was the very antipodes of Marius in everything except bravery and +good generalship, and faith in his star. He was an aristocrat. He was +dissolute. He was an admirer of Hellenic literature. War was not his +all in all as a profession. If he had a lion's courage, the fox in him +was even more to be feared. He, like Marius, owed his rise partly to a +woman, but, characteristically, to a mistress, not a wife, who helped +him as Charles II.'s sultana helped the young Churchill. If the +boorish nature of the one degenerated with age into bloodthirsty +brutality, the other was from the first cynically destitute of +feeling. He would send men to death with a jest, and the cold-blooded, +calculating, remorseless infamy of his entire career excites a +repulsion which we feel for no other great figure in history, not even +for the first Napoleon. Sulla's whole soul must have recoiled from the +coarse manners of the man under whom he first won distinction, and, +while he scorned his motives, he must, as he saw him gradually +floundering into villainy, have felt the serene superiority of a +natural genius for vice. But at present it was not his game to show +his animosity. Though Marius had given fresh umbrage to the optimates +by coming from his triumph (Jan. 1, 104 B.C.) into the Senate wearing +his triumphal robes, with the people he was the hero of the hour, and +when the storm in the North broke, it was the safest course for Sulla +to follow the fortunes of his old commander, who in his turn could not +dispense with so able a subordinate. + +[Sidenote: Frontier wars of Rome previous to the Cimbric invasion.] +The Romans were constantly at war on the frontiers. Besides the +natural quarrels which would arise between them and lawless +barbarians, it was the interest of their generals to make small wars +in order to gain sounding names and triumphs. Such wars, however, by +no means always ended in Roman victories; and while in the last thirty +years of the second century before the Christian era there were +many wars, there were also many defeats. [Sidenote: The Iapydes.] +Sempronius Tuditanus had a triumph for victories over the Iapydes, +an Illyrian nation; but he was first beaten by them. [Sidenote: The +Salyes.] In 125 the Salyes, a Ligurian people, who stretched from +Marseilles westwards to the Rhone and northwards to the Durance, +attacked Marseilles. Flaccus went to its aid, and triumphed over the +Salyes in 123. [Sidenote: The Balearic Islands.] Quintus Caecilius +Metellus subdued the Balearic Islands in the same year, and relieved +Spain from the descents of pirates, who either lived in those islands +or used them as a rendezvous. The Salyes again gave trouble in 122, +and Calvinus took their capital, which was most probably the modern +Aix, establishing there the colony of Aquae Sextiae. This colony was +the _point d'appui_ for further conquests. The most powerful nations +of Gaul were the Aedui and Arverni, whose territory was separated by +the Elaver, the modern Allier. The Arverni were rivals of the Aedui +and friends of the Allobroges, a tribe in the same latitude, but on +the east of the Rhone. The Romans made an alliance with the Aedui, and +the proconsul Domitius Ahenobarbus, in 122 or 121 B.C., charged the +Allobroges with violating Aeduan territory, and with harbouring the +king of the Salyes. [Sidenote: The Allobroges.] The Allobroges were +helped by the Arverni, and Domitius defeated their united forces near +Avignon, with the loss of 20,000 men. Fabius succeeded Domitius, and +marched northwards across the Isara. [Sidenote: The Arverni.] Near its +junction with the Rhone, on August 8, 121, he defeated with tremendous +carnage the Arverni who had crossed to help the Allobroges. [Sidenote: +Defeat of the Arverni, B.C. 121.] The number of the slain amounted, it +is said, to 120,000 or 150,000. The king of the Arverni was caught and +sent to Rome, and the Allobroges became Roman subjects. It was the +year of the death of Caius Gracchus, of the famous vintage, and of a +great eruption of Mount Etna. [Sidenote: The Staeni.] In 118 B.C. M. +Marcius Rex annihilated the Staeni, probably a Ligurian tribe of the +Maritime Alps, who were in the line of the Roman approach to South +Gaul, and for this success he gained a triumph. In the same year it +was resolved, in spite of the opposition of the Senate, to colonise +Narbo, which was the key to the valley of the Garonne, and was on +the route to the province of Tarraconensis. Thus was established the +province named from the time of Augustus the Narbonensis, embracing +the country between the Cevennes and the Alps, as far north-east as +Geneva; and a road, called Via Domitia, was laid down from the Rhone +to the Pyrenees. [Sidenote: The Dalmatae.] In 117 B.C. L. Caecilius +Metellus triumphed over the Illyrian Dalmatae whom he had attacked +without cause, or never attacked at all, as it was said, for which he +was surnamed Dalmaticus. [Sidenote: The Karni.] In 115 M. Aemilius +Scaurus, whose name we have met with before, triumphed over the Karni, +a tribe to the north of the Adriatic. C. Porcius Cato, consul in 114, +was not so lucky. [Sidenote: The Scordisci.] He lost his army in +defending the Macedonian frontier against a tribe of Gauls called +Scordisci, who were in their turn defeated by M. Livius Drusus in 112, +and M. Minucius Rufus in 109 B.C. The year between their first victory +and first defeat was remarkable, not, indeed, because one Metellus +triumphed for what he had done in Sardinia, and another for what he +had done in Thrace; but in that year the Cimbri came in collision with +Rome. [Sidenote: First collision with Cimbri.] Cn. Papirius Carbo, the +consul, was sent against them as they had crossed or were expected to +cross the Roman frontiers. Some were in Noricum, and to them he sent +to say that they were invading a people who were the friends of Rome. +They agreed to evacuate the country; but Carbo treacherously attacked +them, and was disgracefully beaten at a place called Noreia. +[Sidenote: Defeat of Silanus.] Four years later, in the year 109, M. +Junius Silanus, colleague of Marius, met the same barbarians, who had +now crossed the Rhine, in the new province of South Gaul, and was in +his turn defeated. + +[Sidenote: The Cimbri rouse the Helvetii.] The movements of the Cimbri +made the Helvetii restless. [Sidenote: Defeat of Longinus.] One of +their clans, the Tiguroni, which dwelt between the Jura, the Rhone, +and the lake of Geneva, defeated and slew the consul Longinus in 107 +B.C., and forced his lieutenant, Popillius Laenas, to go under the +yoke. Tolosa thereupon rose against the Romans, and put the troops +which garrisoned it in chains. By treachery Q. Servilius Caepio +recovered the town, and sent off its treasures to Marseilles. +[Sidenote: The gold of Tolosa.] The ill-gotten gold, however, was +seized on the way by robbers, whom Caepio himself was accused of +employing. His name was destined, however, to be linked with a great +disaster as well as a thievish trick. The Cimbri, who had hitherto +petitioned the Romans for lands to settle on, were now meditating a +raid into Italy. On the left bank of the Rhone, in 105, they overthrew +M. Aurelius Scaurus, whom they took prisoner and put to death. Cnaeus +Mallius Maximus commanded the main force on that side of the river, +and he told Caepio, who as consul was in command on the right bank, to +cross and effect a junction. But Caepio was as wilful as Minucius had +shown himself towards another Maximus in the Second Punic War. When +his superior began to negotiate with the Cimbri, he thought it was +a device to rob him of the honour of conquering them, and in his +irritation rashly provoked a battle, in which he was beaten and lost +his camp. [Sidenote: Defeat of Caepio and Maximus.] The place of his +defeat his camp is not known. Maximus was also defeated, and the +Romans were reported to have lost 80,000 men and 20,000 camp +followers. There was terrible dismay at Rome. The Gaul seemed again +to be at its gates. [Sidenote: Consternation at Rome. Marius elected +consul for 104.] The time of mourning for the dead was abridged. Every +man fit for service had to swear not to leave Italy, and the captains +in Italian ports took an oath not to receive any such man on board. +Marius also was elected consul for 104. + +[Sidenote: The Cimbri move off towards Spain.] But fortune helped the +Romans more than all these precautions. The Cimbri, after wilfully +destroying every vestige of the spoils they had taken, in fulfilment, +probably, of some vow, wandered westward on a plundering raid towards +the Pyrenees, the road thither having been lately provided, as it +were, for them by Domitius. [Sidenote: Beaten back by Celtiberi, they +are joined by the Teutones in South Gaul.] In the Celtiberi they met +with foes who sold too dearly the little they had to lose, and again +they surged back into South Gaul, where they were joined by the +Teutones, and once more threatened Italy. [Sidenote: How the Romans +had been occupied meanwhile.] But meantime the generals of the +Republic had not been idle. Rutilius Rufus, the old comrade of Marius, +had been diligently drilling troops, having engaged gladiators to +teach them fencing. Probably Marius was engaged in the same work at +the beginning of 104, and then went to South Gaul, where, as we +hear of Sulla capturing the king of the Tectosages, he was no doubt +collecting supplies and men, and suppressing all disaffection in the +province. He also cut a canal from the Rhone, about a mile above +its mouth, to a lake supposed to be now the Étang de l'Estouma; for +alluvial deposits had made access to the river difficult, and he +wanted the Rhone as a highway for his troops and commissariat. +[Sidenote: Marius consul in 103 and 102 B.C.] In 103 he was made +consul for the third time, and again in 102. And now he was ready to +meet the invaders. + +[Sidenote: Nationality of the Cimbri.] Who these invaders were has +been a matter of hot dispute. Were they Celts? Were they Teutons? Did +they come from the Baltic shores, or the shores of the Sea of Azof; or +were they the Homeric Cimmerii who dwelt between the Dnieper and the +Don? Or did their name indicate their personal qualities, and not +their previous habitation? The following seems the most probable +conjecture. In the great plain which runs along the Atlantic and the +southern shore of the Baltic, from the Pyrenees to the Volga, there +had been in pre-historic times a movement constantly going on among +the barbarous inhabitants like the ebb and flow of a great sea. The +Celts had reached Spain and Italy on the south, and Germany and the +Danube on the east. Then, making the Rhine their frontier, they had +settled down into semi-civilised life. Now the Teutonic tribes were +in their turn going through the same process of flux and reflux; and +impelled probably at this time by some invasion of other tribes, or +possibly, as Strabo says, by some great inundation of the sea, these +invading nations, for they were not armies but whole nations, came +roaming southwards in search of a new home. Celts there were among +them, for the Helvetii had joined them, and therefore Helvetic chiefs. +But the names still exist in modern Denmark and near the Baltic. +Caesar did not think they were Celts. The light hair and blue eyes of +the warriors, and the hair of old age on the heads of children, +which excited the astonishment of the Romans, are not Celtic +characteristics. We may therefore set them down as Teutonic by race. +The name Cimbri is probably derived from some word of their own, +Kaemper, meaning champions or spoilers, and their last emigration was +from the country between the Rhine, the Danube, and the Baltic. They +were a tall, fierce race, who fought with great swords and narrow +shields, and wore copper helmets and mail. [Sidenote: Their mode +of fighting, etc.] The men in their front ranks were often linked +together so as to make retreat impossible. Their priestesses cheered +them on in battle, and, when prisoners were taken, cut their throats +over a great bowl, and then, ripping them up, drew auguries from their +entrails. + +[Sidenote: Plan of the invaders.] The plan of the invaders was that +one body, consisting of the Teutones, Ambrones, and Tugeni, should +descend into Italy on the west, the Cimbri on the east. Whence the +Teutones had come to join the Cimbri we do not know. They joined them +in South Gaul. [Sidenote: The Ambrones.] The Ambrones may have been a +clan of the Helvetii, as the Tugeni were. [Sidenote: Plan of Marius.] +Marius waited for the western division at the confluence of the Isara +and the Rhone, near the spot where Fabius had defeated the Arverni, +his object being to command the two main roads into Italy, over the +Little St. Bernard and along the coast. He did not follow the example +of his old commander Scipio Aemilianus, in expelling soothsayers +from his camp; for he had a Syrian woman, named Martha, with him to +foretell the future. The soldiers had their own pet superstitions. +They had caught two vultures, put rings on their necks and let them +go, and so knew them again as they hovered over the army. When the +barbarians reached the camp they tried to storm it. But they were +beaten back, and then for six days they filed past with taunting +questions, whether the Romans had any messages to send their wives. +Marius cautiously followed, fortifying his camp nightly. They were +making for the coast-road; and as they could not have taken their +wagons along it, they were marching, as Marius had seen, to their own +destruction. His strategy was masterly, for he was winning without +fighting; but accident brought on an engagement. [Sidenote: Scene of +the battle of Aquae Sextiae.] East of Aquae Sextiae (the modern Aix) +Marius had occupied a range of hills, one of which is to this day +called Sainte Victoire. The Arc flowed below. The soldiers wanted +water, and Marius told his men that they might get it there if they +wanted it, for he wished to accustom them to the barbarians' mode of +fighting. Some of the barbarians were bathing; and on their giving the +alarm, others came up, and a battle began. The first shock was between +the Ambrones and Ligurians. The Romans supported the latter, and the +Ambrones fled across the Arc to the wagons, where the women, assailing +both pursuers and pursued with yells and blows, were slain with the +men. So ended the first day's fight. + +All night and next day the barbarians prepared for a final struggle. +Marius planted an ambuscade of mounted camp-followers, headed by a +few foot and horse in some ravines on the enemy's rear. [Sidenote: +Circumstances of the battle.] He drew the legions up in front of the +camp, and the cavalry went ahead to the plain. The barbarians charged +up the hill, but were met by a shower of 'pila,' which the legionaries +followed up by coming to close quarters with their swords. The enemy +were rolled back down the hill, and at the same time with loud cries +the ambuscade attacked them from behind. Then the battle became a +butchery, in which, it was said, 200,000 men were slain, and among +them Teutoboduus, their king. Others, however, say that he was taken +prisoner, and became the chief ornament of Marius's triumph. Much of +the spoil was gathered together to be burnt, and Marius, as the army +stood round, was just lighting the heap, when men came riding at full +speed and told him he was elected consul for the fifth time. The +soldiers set up a joyful cheer, and his officers crowned him with +a chaplet of bay. The name of the village of Pourrières (Campus de +Putridis) and the hill of Sainte Victoire commemorate this great fight +to our day, and till the French Revolution a procession used to be +made by the neighbouring villagers every year to the hill, where a +bonfire was lit, round which they paraded, crowned with flowers, and +shouting 'Victoire, Victoire!' + +[Sidenote: The Cimbri.] Meanwhile Catulus was waiting for the Cimbri +on the east. A son of M. Aemilius Scaurus fled before them in the pass +of Tridentum, and in 102 B.C., about the time of the battle of Aquae +Sextiae, they poured down the valley on the east of the Athesis +(Adige). [Sidenote: Catulus on the Adige.] Catulus was posted just +below Verona on the west bank, with a bridge connecting him with a +smaller force on the other side. When the foe appeared his men took to +flight; but the detachment on the east side stood its ground, and kept +the enemy from crossing the bridge in pursuit. The Cimbri admired +their bravery, and when they had forced the bridge let its defenders +go. Pursuing Catulus, they cut him off from a river for which he was +making, probably the Ticinus, though according to some, the Po. He +then pretended to encamp on a hill as if for a long stay. The Cimbri +dispersed over the country, and Catulus immediately came down, +assaulted their camp and crossed the river, where he was joined by +the victorious army of Gaul and by Marius, who had been to Rome. +[Sidenote: Battle with the Cimbri, July 30, 101 B.C.] The village +festival on the hill of Sainte Victoire was held in May. The battle +with the Cimbri was fought on July 30, 101. More than a year therefore +had elapsed since the Teutones were defeated. But it was the +barbarians' custom not to fight in winter, and they were in a rich +country which had not been invaded for a century, where they were +revelling in unwonted comforts. So they spread themselves over the +land as far as the Sesia; and when Marius came, they sent, it is +said, and asked for land for the Teutones whom they were awaiting. +[Sidenote: Story of the Cimbric embassy to Marius.] Marius replied +that their brothers had all the land they wanted already. Upon which +they requested him to name a field and a day for battle. Marius +answered that Romans never consulted their foes on such points, but he +would humour them, and named the Campi Raudii, near Vercellae. Such a +story bears falsehood on the face of it. It is absurd to suppose that +the Cimbri had not heard of the defeat of the Teutones, which had +taken place more than a year before. Very likely they asked for land, +and finding that they would only get hard blows, determined to bring +matters to a crisis at once. Sulla's memoirs were Plutarch's authority +for what followed, and Sulla hated Marius. [Sidenote: Story of +Marius's jealousy of Catulus.] He said that Marius, expecting that the +fighting would be on the wings, posted his own men there, that they +might gain the glory, but that the brunt of the battle was borne by +Catulus in the centre; and that such a dust rose that Marius was for a +long time out of the battle, and knew not where he was. It seems that +the barbarian cavalry feigned a flight, hoping to turn and take the +Romans between themselves and their infantry. But the Romans drove +back the cavalry on the infantry. [Sidenote: Circumstances of the +battle.] However this may be, Marius had shown his usual good +generalship. He had fed his men before the battle, and so manoeuvred +that sun, wind, and dust were in the enemy's faces. His own men were +in perfect training, and in the burning heat did not turn a hair. But +the Northmen were fresh from high living, and could not bear up long. +When they gave way, the same scenes as at Aquae Sextiae took place +among the women. One hundred and twenty thousand men, it is said, were +killed--among them the gallant Boiorix, their king--and 60,000 taken +prisoners. Disputes rose as to who had really won the day. Marius +generously insisted on Catulus sharing his triumph. But it was to him +that the popular voice ascribed the victory, and there can be little +doubt that the popular voice was right. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE ROMAN ARMY. + + +While Rome was trembling for the issue of the war with the Cimbri, she +was forced to send an army elsewhere. [Sidenote: Slave revolts.] There +was at this time another general stir among the slave population. +There were risings at Nuceria, at Capua, in the silver mines of +Attica, and at Thurii, and the last was headed by a Roman eques, named +Minucius or Vettius. He wanted to buy a female slave; and, failing to +raise the money which was her price, armed his own slaves, was joined +by others, assumed the state and title of king, and fortified a camp, +being at the head of 3,500 men. Lucullus, the praetor, marched against +him with 4,400 men; but though superior in numbers, he preferred +Jugurthine tactics, and bribed a Greek to betray Vettius, who +anticipated a worse fate by suicide. [Sidenote: Second slave rebellion +in Sicily.] But, as before, the fiercest outbreak was in Sicily. +Marius had applied for men for his levies to Nicomedes, king of +Bithynia, who replied that he had none to send, because the Roman +publicani had carried off most of his subjects and sold them as +slaves. Thereupon the Senate issued orders that no free member of an +allied state should be kept as a slave in a Roman province. [Sidenote: +Weakness of Licinius Nerva.] P. Licinius Nerva, governor of Sicily, in +accordance with these orders, set free a number of Sicilian slaves; +but, worked on by the indignation of the proprietors, he backed out of +what he had begun to do, and, having raised the hopes of the slaves, +caused an insurrection by disappointing them. He suppressed the first +rebels by treachery. But he was a weak man, and delayed so long in +attacking another body near Heraclea, that when he sent a lieutenant +to attack them with 600 men they were strong enough to beat him. +[Sidenote: Salvius elected king.] By this success they supplied +themselves with arms, and then elected Salvius as their king, who +found himself at the head of 20,000 infantry and 2,000 horse. With +these troops he attacked Morgantia, and, on the governor coming to +relieve it, turned on him and routed him; and by proclaiming that +anyone who threw down his arms should be spared, he got a fresh supply +for his men. [Sidenote: Athenion heads the slaves in the west.] Then +the slaves of the west rose near Lilybaeum, headed by Athenion, a +Cilician robber-captain before he was a slave, and a man of great +courage and capacity, who pretended to be a magician and was elected +king. [Sidenote: Salvius takes the name of Tryphon.] Salvius took the +name of Tryphon, a usurper of the Syrian throne in 149. Athenion, +deferring to his authority, became his general, and Triocala, supposed +to be near the modern Calata Bellotta, was their head-quarters. In +some respects this second slave revolt was a repetition of the first. +As the Cilician Cleon submitted to the impostor Eunous, who called +himself Antiochus, so now the Cilician Athenion submitted to the +impostor Salvius, who called himself Tryphon. [Sidenote: Lucullus sent +to Sicily, 103 B.C.] The outbreak had probably begun in 105, but it +was not till 103 that Lucullus, who had put down Vettius, was sent +to Sicily with 1,600 or 1,700 men. [Sidenote: Battle of Scirthaea.] +Tryphon, distrusting Athenion, had put him in prison. But he released +him now, and at Scirthaea a great battle was fought, in which 20,000 +slaves were slain, and Athenion was left for dead. Lucullus, however, +delayed to attack Triocala, and did nothing more, unless he destroyed +his own military stores in order to injure his successor C. Servilius. +To say that if he did so, such mean treason could only happen in +a government where place depends on a popular vote, is a random +criticism, for, though nominally open to all, the consulship was +virtually closed, except to a few families, which retained now, as +they had always done, the high offices in their own hands, and, when +Marius forced this close circle, Metellus is said to have acted much +as Lucullus did. + +Servilius was incapable. Athenion, who at Tryphon's death became +king, surprised his camp, and nearly captured Messana. [Sidenote: M'. +Aquilius ends the war.] But, in 101, M'. Aquilius was sent out, and +defeated Athenion and slew him with his own hand. A batch of 1,000 +still remained under arms, but surrendered to Aquilius. He sent them +to Rome to fight with wild beasts in the arena. They preferred to die +by each other's swords there. Satyrus and one other were left last, +and Satyrus after killing his comrade slew himself. The misery caused +in Sicily by this long war, which ended in 100 B.C., may be estimated +by the fact that, whereas Sicily usually supplied Rome with corn, it +was now desolated by famine, and its towns had to be supplied with +grain from Rome. + +After this narration of the military events of the period to the +beginning of the second century B.C., it is natural to consider the +changes which Marius had effected in the army--the instrument of his +late conquests. [Sidenote: Changes in the Roman army.] We cannot tell +how many of the innovations now introduced were initiated by him, but +they were introduced about this date. Before his time the Hastati, +Principes, and Triarii, ranked according to length of service, +had superseded the Servian classes. From his time this second +classification also ceased. [Sidenote: Arms of the legionary.] Every +legionary was armed alike with the heavy pilum--an iron-headed javelin +6 feet 9 inches long, the light pilum, a sword, and a coat of armour. +Besides these he had to carry food and other burdens, which would vary +according to the length and object of the march, such as stakes for +encampment, tools, &c. [Sidenote: The 'Marian mules.'] Marius invented +what were called 'Mariani muli' to ease the soldier--forked sticks, +with a board at the end to bear the bundle, carried over the +shoulders. Before his time the army had ceased to be recruited solely +from Roman citizens. Not only had Italians been drafted into it, +but foreign mercenaries were employed, such as Thracians, Africans, +Ligurians, and Balearians. [Sidenote: The light troops auxiliaries.] +After his time the Velites are not mentioned, and all the light-armed +troop were auxiliaries. [Sidenote: The cohort the tactical unit.] +Before his time the maniple had been the tactical unit. Now it was the +cohort. [Sidenote: Composition of the legion.] A legion consisted of +ten cohorts, each cohort containing three maniples, and each maniple +two centuries. The legion's standard was the eagle, borne by the +oldest centurion of the first cohort. Each cohort had its 'signum,' +or ensign. [Sidenote: Standards.] Each maniple had its 'vexillum,' or +standard. [Sidenote: Officers.] There were two centurions for each +maniple, one commanding the first and the other the second century, +and taking rank according to the cohort to which they belonged, which +might be from the first to the tenth. The youngest centurion officered +the second century of the third maniple of the tenth cohort. The +oldest officered the first century of the first maniple of the first +cohort, and was called 'primus-pilus,' and the 'primi ordines,' or +first class of centurions, consisted of the six centurions of the +first cohort. These corresponded to our non-commissioned officers, +were taken from the lower classes of society, and were seldom made +tribunes. [Sidenote: The tribunes.] The tribunes were six to each +legion, were taken from the upper class, and after being attached +to the general's suite, received the rank of tribune, if they were +supposed to be qualified for it. The tribunes were originally +appointed by the consuls. Afterwards they had been elected, partly by +the people and partly by the consuls. Caesar superseded the tribunes +by 'legati' of his own, to one of whom he would entrust a legion, and +appointed some, but probably not all, of the tribunes, and Marius, it +seems likely, did the same. [Sidenote: Numbers of the legion.] The +normal number of a legion had been 4,200 men and 300 horse, but was +often larger. [Sidenote: The pay.] The pay of a legionary was in +the time of Polybius two obols a day for the private, four for a +centurion, and six for a horse soldier, besides an allowance of corn. +But deductions were made for clothing, arms, and food. Hence the law +of Caius Gracchus (cf. p. 51); but from the first book of the Annals +of Tacitus we find that such deductions long continued to be the +soldier's grievance. Auxiliary troops received an allowance of corn, +but no pay from Rome. [Sidenote: The engineers.] The engineers of the +army were called Fabri, under a 'praefectus,' the 'Fabri Lignarii' +having the woodwork, and the 'Fabri Ferrarii' the ironwork of the +enginery under their special charge, [Sidenote: The staff.] and all +were attached to the staff of the army, which consisted of the general +and certain officers, such as the legati, or generals of division, and +the quaestors, or managers of the commissariat. [Sidenote: The Cohors +Praetoria.] One of the most significant changes that had sprung up +of late years was one which was introduced by Scipio Aemilianus at +Numantia--the institution of a body-guard, or Cohors Praetoria. It +consisted of young men of rank, who went with the general to learn +their profession, or as volunteers of troops specially enlisted for +the post, who would often be veterans from his former armies. The term +Evocati was applied to such veterans strictly, but also to any men +specially enlisted for the purpose. [Sidenote: The equites.] It is +probable that the equites no longer formed the cavalry of a legion, +but only served in the general's body-guard, as tribunes and +praefects, or on extraordinary commissions. The cavalry in Caesar's +time appears to have consisted entirely of auxiliaries. + +[Sidenote: Disinclination for service at Rome.] There had been for a +long time among the wealthier classes a growing disinclination for +service, and as the middle class was rapidly disappearing, there +had been great difficulty in filling the ranks. The speeches of the +Gracchi alluded to this, and it had been experienced in the wars with +Viriathus, with Jugurtha, with Tryphon, and with the Cimbri. One +device for avoiding it we have seen, by the orders issued to the +captains of ships in Italian ports. Among Roman citizens, if not +among the allies, some property qualification had been required in a +soldier. [Sidenote: Marius enrols the Capite Censi.] Marius tapped a +lower stratum, and allowed the Capite Censi to volunteer. To such men +the prospect of plunder would be an object, and they would be far more +at the bidding of individual generals than soldiers of the old stamp. +Thus though obligation to service was not abolished, volunteering was +allowed, and became the practice; and the army, with a new drill, and +no longer consisting of Romans or even Italians, but of men of all +nations, became as effective as of old, if not more so, and at the +same time a body detached from the State. [Sidenote: The army ceases +to be a citizen army.] The citizen was lost in the professional, and +patriotism was superseded by the personal attachment of soldiers of +fortune, who knew no will but that of their favourite commander or +their own selfishness. Their general could reward them with money, and +extort land for them from the State; and when Marius after Vercellae +gave the franchise to two Italian cohorts, saying that he could not +hear the laws in the din of arms, he was giving to what was becoming a +standing army privileges which could not be conferred by a consul, but +only by a king. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SATURNINUS AND DRUSUS. + + +[Sidenote: Attitude of Marius.] With such a weapon in his hand Marius +came back to Rome, intoxicated with success. He thought his marches in +two continents worthy to be compared with the progresses of Bacchus, +and had a cup made on the model of that of the god. He spoke badly; he +was easily disconcerted by the disapproval of an audience; he had no +insight into the evils, or any project for the reformation, of the +State. But the scorn of men like Metellus had made him throw himself +on the support of the people from whom he sprang; and they, idolising +him for his dazzling exploits as a soldier, looked to him as their +natural leader, and the creator of a new era. Indeed it needed no +stimulus from without to whet his ambitious cravings. That seventh +consulship which superstition whispered would be surely his he had yet +to win; and in all his after conduct he seems to have been guided +by the most vulgar selfishness, which in the end became murderous +insanity. But while he hoped to use all parties for his own +advancement--a game in which he of all men was least qualified to +succeed--other and abler politicians were bent on using him for the +overthrow of the optimates. + +[Sidenote: Saturninus.] The harangues of Memmius had shown that the +spirit of the Gracchi was still alive in Rome; and now Lucius Apuleius +Saturninus took up their revolutionary projects with a violence +to which they had been averse, but for which the acts of their +adversaries had become a fatal precedent. Of Saturninus himself we +do not know much more than that he was an eloquent speaker, and +a resolute though not over-scrupulous man at a time when to be +scrupulous was equivalent to self-martyrdom or self-effacement. +[Sidenote: Glaucia.] In something of the same relation in which +Camille Desmoulins stood to Danton, Caius Servilius Glaucia, a wit +and favourite of the people, stood towards the sombre and imperious +Saturninus, and both hoped to effect their aims by the aid of Marius. +If they are to be judged by their acts alone we can hardly condemn +them. [Sidenote: Defence of their policy.] They tried to do what the +Gracchi had attempted before them, what Drusus attempted after them, +and what, when they and Drusus had fallen, as the Gracchi had fallen, +the Social War finally effected. No historian has given sufficient +prominence to the fact that it was primarily a country movement +of which each of these men was the leader; a movement of unbroken +continuity, though each used his own means and had his own special +temperament. If this is kept in view, we shall no longer consider with +some modern historians that no event perhaps in Roman history is so +sudden, so unconnected, and accordingly so obscure in its original +causes as this revolt or conspiracy of Saturninus. + +Like Caius Gracchus, Saturninus represented rural as opposed to urban +interests, and the interests of the provinces as opposed to those +of the capital. Like Caius, too, he endeavoured to conciliate the +equites; but they had all the Roman prejudice against admitting +Italians to a level with themselves, and the attempt to play off +party against party utterly failed. In vain Saturninus tried to defy +opposition by enlisting the support of the Marian veterans. The rich, +the noble, and the city mob united against him; and when he seized the +Capitol, it was to defend himself against all three. In the year 100 +B.C. Marius was consul for the sixth time, Glaucia was praetor, and +Saturninus was a second time tribune. A triumvirate so powerful might, +if united, have overthrown the Constitution. But the vanity and +vacillation of Marius were the best allies of the optimates; and it +was no grown man, but Caius Julius Caesar, a child born in that same +year, who was destined to subvert their rule. [Sidenote: The +Lex Servilia. The equites and the judicia.] Saturninus had been +instrumental in securing the election of Marius to his fifth +consulship in 102, and it was about that time that the Lex Servilia +was carried. This law defined the liability of Roman officials to +trial for extortion in the provinces, and, by a process of elimination +(for senators, workers for hire, and others were expressly declared +ineligible), practically left to the equites the jurisdiction in such +trials. Whether or no the law of Gracchus had been repealed by another +Servilian law--that of Q. Servilius Caepio--we cannot say for certain. +If so, the second Servilian law repealed the first. But, whether it +restored power to the equites or only confirmed them in it, in theory +it left the office of judex open to all citizens, for, while it +excluded so many citizens that in practice the judicia were closed to +all but the equestrian class, it did not assign the office to any one +class in particular. It also provided that anyone not a citizen who +won his suit against an official should by virtue of doing so obtain +the citizenship. [Sidenote: Threefold purpose of the Lex Servilia.] So +that we may trace in this law a threefold policy--an attempt (1) to +relieve the provincials, by making prosecutions for extortion easy, +and even putting a premium on them; (2) to conciliate the equites; (3) +to pave the way for the overthrow of class jurisdiction by, nominally +at least, leaving the judicia open to all who did not come under +specified restrictions. Cicero inveighs against Glaucia as a demagogue +of the Hyperbolus stamp. But there was more of the statesman than the +demagogue in this law. + +When Saturninus was a candidate for the tribunate, he and Glaucia are +said to have set on men to murder Nonius, another candidate, who they +feared might use his veto to thwart their projects. Marius had +been previously elected consul, and supported Saturninus in his +candidature, as Saturninus had supported him. [Sidenote: Personal +reasons for Marius joining Saturninus.] Marius may have been induced +to enter into this alliance by the desire to gratify a personal +grudge, for the rival candidate had been the man he most detested, Q. +Metellus; and the first measure of Saturninus was a compliment to +him and a direct blow aimed at Metellus. [Sidenote: Agrarian law of +Saturninus.] This was an agrarian law which would benefit the Marian +veterans; and as it contained a proviso that any senator refusing +to swear to observe it within five days should be expelled from the +Senate, it would be sure to drive Metellus from Rome. But if there was +diplomacy in this measure of Saturninus, there was sagacity also. What +discontent was seething in Italy the Social War soon proved, and this +was an attempt to appease it. Saturninus had previously proposed +allotments in Africa; now he proposed to allot lands in Transalpine +Gaul, Sicily, Achaia, and Macedonia, and to supply the colonists with +an outfit from the treasure taken from Tolosa. Marius was to have the +allotment of the land. [Sidenote: Difficulty about this agrarian law.] +There is a difficulty as to these colonies which no history solves. +They were Roman colonies to which only Roman citizens were eligible, +and yet the Roman populace opposed the law. The Italians, on the +contrary, carried it by violence. Some have cut the knot by supposing +that, though the colonies were Roman, Italians were to be admitted to +them. But there is another possible explanation. It is certain that +many Italians passed as citizens at Rome. In 187 B.C. 12,000 Latins, +passing as Roman citizens, had been obliged to quit Rome. In 95 B.C. +there was another clearance of aliens, which was one of the immediate +causes of the Social War. Fictitious citizens might have found it easy +to obtain allotments from a consul whose ears, if first made deaf by +the din of arms, had never since recovered their hearing. However +this may be, it was the rural party which by violence procured a +preponderance of votes at the ballot-boxes, and it was the town +populace which resisted what it felt to be an invasion of its +prerogative by the men from the country. [Sidenote: Exile of +Metellus.] Marius is said to have got rid of Metellus by a trick. He +pretended that he would not take the oath which the law demanded, but, +when Metellus had said the same thing, told the Senate that he would +swear to obey the law as far as it was a law, in order to induce the +rural voters to leave Rome, and Metellus, scorning such a subterfuge, +went into exile. + +[Sidenote: Corn-law of Saturninus.] Another law of Saturninus either +renewed the corn-law of Caius Gracchus, or went farther and made the +price of grain merely nominal. This law was no doubt meant to recover +the favour of the city mob, which he had forfeited by his agrarian +law. But Caepio, son, probably, of the hero of Tolosa, stopped +the voting by force, and the law was not carried. [Sidenote: Law of +treason.] The third law of Saturninus was a Lex de Majestate, a law by +which anyone could be prosecuted for treason against the State, and +which was not improbably aimed specially at Caepio, who was impeached +under it. It seems at any rate certain that of these laws the agrarian +was the chief, and the others subsidiary; in other words, that he and +Glaucia were working together on an organized plan, and striving to +admit the whole Roman world into a community of rights with Rome. They +thought that with the Marian soldiers at their back they would be +safer than Gracchus with his bands of reapers; and so they may have +taken the initiative in violence from which, both by past events and +the acts of men like Caepio, it was certain that the optimates would +not shrink. It is difficult to apportion the blame in such cases. +[Sidenote: Civil strife. Saturninus seizes the Capitol.] But when +Glaucia stood for the consulship of 99, and his rival Memmius, a +favourite with the people, was murdered, an attack was made on +Saturninus, who hastily sent for aid to his rural supporters and +seized the Capitol. He found then that in reckoning on Marius he had +made a fatal blunder. That selfish intriguer had been alarmed by the +popular favour shown to an impostor named Equitius, who gave out that +he was the son of Tiberius Gracchus, and who, being imprisoned by +Marius, was released by the people and elected tribune. He may +have been jealous too of the popularity of Saturninus with his own +veterans, and at the same time anxious to curry favour with the foes +of Saturninus--the urban populace. [Sidenote: Marius turns on his +friends.] So, instead of boldly joining his late ally, he became the +general of the opposite party, drove Saturninus and his friends from +the Forum, and, when they had surrendered, suffered them to be pelted +to death in the Curia Hostilia where he had placed them. [Sidenote: +Death of Saturninus and Glaucia.] Saturninus, it is said, had been +proclaimed king before his death. If so he had at least struck for a +crown consistently and boldly; and even if his attempt for the moment +united the senatorial party and the equites, while the city mob stood +wavering or hostile, he might nevertheless have forestalled the empire +by a century had Marius only had half his enterprise or nerve. In an +epoch of revolution it is idle to judge men by an ordinary standard. +How far personal ambition and how far a nobler ideal animated +Saturninus no man can say. Those who condemn him must condemn Cromwell +too. + +For the moment the power of the optimates seemed restored. The spectre +of monarchy had made the men of riches coalesce with their old rivals +the men of rank; and the mob, ungrateful for an unexecuted corn-law, +chafed at Italian pretensions. Metellus, the aristocrat, was recalled +to Rome amid the enthusiasm of the anti-Italian mob, and P. Furius was +torn to pieces for having opposed his return. [Sidenote: Marius falls +into disrepute.] Marius slunk away to the East, finding that his +treachery had only isolated him and brought him into contempt; and +there, it is said, he tried to incite Mithridates to war. Sextus +Titius indeed brought forward an agrarian law in 99 B.C. But he was +opposed by his colleagues and driven into exile. Two events soon +happened which showed not only the embittered feelings existing +between the urban and rural population, but also the sympathy with +the provincials felt by the better Romans, and, as an inference, the +miserable condition of the provincials themselves. [Sidenote: The Lex +Licinia Minucia.] The first was the enactment, in 95 B.C., of the Lex +Licinia Minucia, which ordered Latins and Italians resident at Rome +to leave the city. [Sidenote: and the prosecution of Rutilius Rufus +foreshadow the Social War.] The second was the prosecution and +conviction of Publius Rutilius Rufus, nominally for extortion, but +really because, by his just administration of the province of Asia, he +had rebuked extortion and the equestrian courts which connived at it. +Though most of the senators were as guilty as the equites, the mass, +like M. Scaurus, who was himself impeached for extortion, would ill +brook being forced to appear before their courts, and be eager to take +hold of their maladministration of justice as a pretext for abrogating +the Servilian law. + +[Sidenote: Drusus attempts a reform.] One more attempt at reform was +to be made, this time by one of the Senate's own members, but only to +be once more defeated by rancorous party-spirit and besotted urban +pride. Marcus Livius Drusus was son of the man whom the Senate had put +forward to outbid Caius Gracchus. He was a haughty, upright man, of +an impetuous temper--such a man as often becomes the tool of less +courageous but more dexterous intriguers. M. Scaurus had been +impeached for taking bribes in Asia, and it is said that in his +disgust he egged on Drusus to restore the judicia to the Senate. +Drusus was probably one of those men whom an aristocracy in its +decadence not rarely produces. [Sidenote: Attitude of Drusus.] He +disliked the preponderance of the moneyed class. He could not feel the +vulgar Roman's antipathy to giving Italians the franchise, for he saw +it exercised by men who were in his eyes infinitely more contemptible. +He disliked also and despised the vices of his own order. Mistaking +the crafty suggestions of Scaurus for a genuine appeal to high +motives, flattered by it, and by the confidence of the Italians, he +thought that he could educate his party, and by his personal influence +induce it to do justice to Italy. But this conservative advocate of +reform was not wily enough tactician for the times in which he lived, +or the changes which he meditated. His attempts to improve on the +devices of Saturninus and Gracchus were miserable failures; and the +senators who used him, or were influenced by him, shrank from his side +when they saw him follow to their logical issue the principles which +they had advocated either for selfish objects or only theoretically. + +[Sidenote: Main object of Drusus to aid the Italians.] Whether this is +the true view of the character and position of Drusus or not, we may +feel sure that he was in earnest in his advocacy of Italian interests, +and that this was the main object of his reforms. [Sidenote: Sops to +the mob: Depreciation of the coinage. Colonies. Corn-law.] To silence +the mob at Rome, he slightly depreciated the coinage so as to relieve +debtors, established some colonies--perhaps those promised by his +father--and carried some law for distributing cheap grain. [Sidenote: +Sop to the senate and equites.] Senators like Scaurus he courted by +handing over the judicia once more to the Senate, while, by admitting +300 equites to the Senate, he hoped to compensate them for the wound +which he thus inflicted on their material interests and their pride. +The body thus composed was to try cases of judices accused of taking +bribes. But the Senate scorned and yet feared the threatened invasion +by which it would be severed into two antagonistic halves. The +equites left behind were jealous of the equites promoted; and where +Drusus hoped to conciliate both classes, he only drew down their +united animosity upon himself. Even in Italy his plans were not +unanimously approved. Occupiers of the public land, who had never +yet been disturbed in their occupation--such as those who held the +Campanian domain land--were alarmed by this plan of colonisation, +which not only called in question once more their right of tenure, +but even appropriated their land. But though the large land-owners +were adverse to him, the great mass of the Italians was on his side; +and it was by their help that he carried the first three of his laws, +which he shrewdly included in one measure. Thus those who wanted land +or grain were constrained to vote for the changes in the judicia +also. But, as there was a law expressly forbidding this admixture of +different measures in one bill, he left an opening for his opponents +of which they soon took advantage. [Sidenote: Philippus opposes +Drusus.] Chief of these opponents was the consul Philippus. When the +Italians crowded into Rome to support Drusus, which they would do by +overawing voters at the ballot-boxes, by recording fictitious votes, +and by escorting Drusus about, so as to lend him the support which an +apparent majority always confers, Philippus came forward as the +champion of the opposite side. He seems to have been a turncoat, with +a fluent tongue and few principles. He had no sympathy with the +generous, if flighty, liberalism of the party of Drusus. No doubt it +seemed to him weak sentimentalism; and he openly said that he must +take counsel with other people, as he could not carry on the +government with such a Senate. Accordingly he appealed to the worst +Roman prejudices, viz. the selfishness of large occupiers and the +anti-Italian sentiments of the mob. This explains his being numbered +among the popular party, with which the Italian party was not now +identical. Drusus, when his subsidiary measures had proved abortive, +grew desperate. As his influence in the Senate waned he entered +into closer alliance with the Italians, who, on their part, bound +themselves by an oath to treat as their friend or enemy each friend +or enemy of Drusus; and it is conjectured, from a fragment of +Diodorus, that 10,000 of them, led by Pompaedius Silo, armed with +daggers, set out for Rome to demand the franchise, but were persuaded +to desist from their undertaking. [Sidenote: Drusus almost monarch.] +Monarchy seemed once more imminent; and now, as in the case of +Gracchus, it is impossible to say whether the attitude of the +champion of reform was due to the force of circumstances or to +settled design. But Philippus was equal to the occasion. He induced +the Senate to annul the laws of Drusus already carried, and summoned +the occupiers of the public land whom that law affected, to come and +confront the Italians in Rome. [Sidenote: Assassination of Drusus.] +A battle in the streets would have no doubt ensued; but it was +prevented by the assassination of Drusus, who was one evening stabbed +mortally in his own house. It is said that when dying he ejaculated +that it would be long before the State had another citizen like him. +He seems to have had much of the disinterested spirit of Caius +Gracchus, though with far inferior ability; and, like him, he left a +mother Cornelia, to do honour by her fortitude to the memory of her +son. That year the presentiment of coming political convulsions found +expression in reports of supernatural prodigies, while 'signs both on +the earth and in the heavens portended war and bloodshed, the tramp +of hostile armies, and the devastation of the peninsula.' + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SOCIAL WAR + + +In a previous chapter the relations now existing between Rome and her +dependents have been described. For two centuries the Italians had +remained faithful to Rome through repeated temptations, and even +through the fiery trial of Hannibal's victorious occupation. But the +loyalty, which no external or sudden shock could snap, had been slowly +eaten away by corrosives, which the arrogance or negligence of the +government supplied. [Sidenote: Interests of Italian capitalists and +Italian farmers opposed.] It is clear from the episode of Drusus +that there was as wide a breach between Italian capitalists and +cultivators, as there had been between Roman occupiers and the first +clamourers for agrarian laws. So, at the outbreak of the war, Umbria +and Etruria, whence Philippus had summoned his supporters, because the +farmer class had been annihilated and large land-owners held the +soil, remained faithful to Rome. But where the farmer class still +flourished, as among the Marsi, Marrucini, and the adjacent districts, +discontent had been gathering volume for many years. No doubt the +demoralisation of the metropolis contributed to this result; and, as +intercourse with Rome became more and more common, familiarity with +the vices of their masters would breed indignation in the minds of the +hardier dependents. Who, they would ask themselves, were these Scauri, +these Philippi, men fit only to murder patriots and sell their country +and themselves for gold, that they should lord it over Italians? Why +should a Roman soldier have the right of appeal to a civil tribunal, +and an Italian soldier be at the mercy of martial law? Why should two +Italians for every one Roman be forced to fight Rome's battles? Why +should insolent young Romans and the fine ladies of the metropolis +insult Italian magistrates and murder Italians of humbler rank? This +was the reward of their long fidelity. If here and there a statesman +was willing to yield them the franchise, the flower of the +aristocracy, the Scaevolae and the Crassi, expelled them by an +Alien Act from Rome. They had tried all parties, and by all been +disappointed, for Roman factions were united on one point, and one +only--in obstinate refusal to give Italians justice. The two glorious +brothers had been slain because they pitied their wrongs. So had +Scipio. So had the fearless Saturninus. And now their last friend, +this second Scipio, Drusus, had been struck down by the same cowardly +hands. Surely it was time to act for themselves and avenge their +benefactors. They were more numerous, they were hardier than their +tyrants; and if not so well organized, still by their union with +Drusus they were in some sort welded together, and now or never was +the time to strike. For the friends of Drusus were marked men. Let +them remain passive, and either individual Italians would perish by +the dagger which had slain Drusus, or individual communities by the +sentence of the Senate which had exterminated Fregellae. + +[Sidenote: Outbreak of the Social War.] The revolt broke out at +Asculum. Various towns were exchanging hostages to secure mutual +fidelity. Caius Servilius, the Roman praetor, hearing that this was +going on at Asculum, went there and sharply censured the people in the +theatre. He and his escort were torn to pieces, the gates were shut, +every Roman in the town was slain, and the Marsi, Peligni, Marrucini, +Frentani, Vestini, Picentini, Hirpini, the people of Pompeii and +Venusia, the Iapyges, the Lucani, and the Samnites, and all the people +from the Liris to the Adriatic, flew to arms; [Sidenote: The allies +who remained faithful to Rome.] and though here and there a town like +Pinna of the Vestini, or a partisan like Minutius Magius of Aeclanum, +remained loyal to Rome, all the centre and south of Italy was soon in +insurrection. Perhaps at Pinna the large land-owners or capitalists +were supreme, as in Umbria and Etruria, which sided with Rome, as also +did most of the Latin towns, the Greek towns Neapolis and Rhegium, and +most of Campania, where Capua became an important Roman post during +the war. [Sidenote: The rebels demand the franchise.] The insurgents, +emboldened by the swift spread of the rebellion, sent to demand the +franchise as the price of submission. But the old dogged spirit which +extremity of danger had ever aroused at Rome was not dead. [Sidenote: +Rage of the equites. The law of Varius.] The offer was sternly +rejected, and the equites turned furiously on the optimates, or the +Italianising section of the optimates, to whose folly they felt that +the war was due. With war the hope of their gains was gone; and, +enraged at this, they took advantage of the outbreak to repay the +Senate for its complicity in the attempt of Drusus to deprive them of +the judicia. Under a law of Varius, who is said by Cicero to have been +the assassin of Drusus and Metellus, Italian sympathisers were brought +to trial, and either convicted and banished, or overawed into silence. +Among the accused was Scaurus. But now, as ever, that shifty man +emerged triumphant from his intrigues. He aped the defence of Scipio, +and retired not only safe, but with a dignity so well studied that but +for his antecedents it might have seemed sincere. A Spaniard accused +him, he said, and Scaurus, chief of the Senate, denied the accusation. +Whether of the twain should the Romans believe? + +[Sidenote: Perils of the crisis.] For such prosecutions there was +indeed some excuse, for the prospect was threatening. Mithridates +might at any moment stop the supplies from Asia. The soldiers of the +enemy were men who had fought in Roman armies and been trained to +Roman discipline; they were led by able captains, and were more +numerous than the forces opposed to them. And yet the war must be a +war of detachments, where numbers were all-important. It was no time +for hesitation about purging out all traitors or waverers. But +the courts that tried other cases were closed for the time. The +distributions of grain were curtailed. The walls were put in order. +Arms were prepared as fast as possible. A fleet was collected from +the free cities of Greece and Asia Minor. Levies were raised from +the citizens, from Africa, and from Gaul. Lastly, in view of the +inevitably scattered form which the fighting would take, each consul +was to have five lieutenants. [Sidenote: Generals of Rome.] Lupus was +to command in the northern district, from Picenum to Campania. Among +the generals who acted under him were the father of Pompeius Magnus, +and Marius. Samnium, Campania, and the southern district fell to +Lucius Julius Caesar, and among the five officers who went with him +were also two men of mark, Publius Licinius Crassus and Sulla. We +shall see how by an exhaustive process the Romans, after a series of +defeats, were at last driven to employ as generals-in-chief the two +rivals who were now subordinates and were thus carefully kept aloof. + +[Sidenote: Corfinium the capital of the confederates.] The +confederates on their part were equally energetic. They had chosen as +their capital Corfinium, on the river Aternus (Pescara), because of +its central position with reference to the insurrection, and soon made +it evident that the Roman franchise was no longer the limit to their +aspirations, but that they aimed at the conquest of Rome herself. +[Sidenote: Measures of the confederates.] They called their capital +Italica. In it they built a forum, and fortified its walls. They +issued a new coinage. They chose two consuls, twelve praetors, and a +senate of five hundred, and gave the franchise to every community +in arms on their side. They mustered an army of 100,000 men, and +entrusted the command against Lupus in the north and west to +Pompaedius Silo, with six lieutenants under him; the command against +Caesar in the south and east was given to a noted Samnite, named Caius +Papius Mutilus. + +It is easier to get a general idea of the war than of its details, +though the latter are not without interest. The results of the first +year were, in spite of some victories, most unfavourable to Rome. The +insurgents were encouraged. The insurrection had spread to Umbria and +Etruria, and the Romans had at one time almost despaired. [Sidenote: +General survey of the war.] But in council they retrieved what they +had lost in the camp. A most politic concession of the franchise +checked all further disaffection in the very nick of time. The revolt +in Umbria and Etruria was speedily suppressed, and at the close of the +second year of the war, B.C. 89, the insurrection itself was virtually +at an end. For, though the Sulpician revolution at Rome prevented its +absolute extinction, and some embers of it still lingered for five +years more, and though Roman forces were still required after 89 B.C. +among the Sabines in Samnium, in Lucania, and at Nola, the war as +a war ended in that year. [Sidenote: Twofold division of the war.] +Consequently we may divide it into two periods, each well defined and +each consisting of a year, the first in which the confederate cause +triumphed and Marius lost credit; the second in which the cause of +Rome triumphed, and Sulla enhanced his reputation and became the +foremost man at Rome. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 90. First year of the war. Attempt on Asculum by +Pompeius.] The war began, as was natural, with an attempt to take +Asculum. But the townsmen, manning the walls with the old men past +service, surprised Cnaeus Pompeius by a sally, and defeated him. +[Sidenote: Pompeius defeated and driven into Firmum.] Subsequently he +was again defeated at Faleria and driven into Firmum, a Latin colony +which held out for Rome. There he stayed till Servius Sulpicius came +to his help. [Sidenote: Pompeius, relieved by Sulpicius, besieges +Asculum.] On the approach of Sulpicius he sallied out. The enemy, +taken in front and rear, was routed, and Pompeius began the siege of +Asculum. It was not taken till the next year, 89, and only after a +desperate battle before its walls. Judacilius, who had come to relieve +the town of which he was a native, though the day was lost, forced his +way inside the walls, and held out for several months longer. Finally, +when it was impossible to protract the defence, he had a pile of wood +made, and a table placed on it at which he feasted with friends. Then, +taking poison, he had the pile fired. When the Romans got in they +took fearful vengeance, slaying all the officers and men of position, +expelling the rest of the inhabitants, and confiscating their +property. Such was the fate of the ringleaders of the rebellion. + +[Sidenote: The confederates assail the towns which cling to Rome.] As +Asculum was the first object of Roman vengeance, so the confederates +directed their first efforts against the towns in their neighbourhood +which refused to join them. Silo assailed Alba and Mutilus Aesernia. +The consul Caesar, sending ahead Marcellus and Crassus into Samnium +and Lucania, followed in person as soon as he could. Put he was beaten +by Vettius Scato in Samnium with the loss of 2,000 men. [Sidenote: +They take Aesernia and are joined by Venafrum.] Venafrum thereupon +revolted; and, though one account says that Sulla relieved Aesernia, +it was at best only a partial or a temporary relief, for it +capitulated before the close of the year. How the siege of Alba +ended we do not know. Defeat after defeat was now announced at Rome. +[Sidenote: Perperna defeated.] Perperna lost 4,000 men, and most of +his other soldiers threw away their arms on the battlefield. For this +Lupus deprived him of his command and attached his troops to those +of Marius. [Sidenote: Crassus defeated. Grumentum taken by the +confederates.] Crassus was beaten in Lucania and shut up in Grumentum, +which was besieged and taken. [Sidenote: Story of the generosity of +some slaves.] A pleasant story is told about some slaves of this +town. They had deserted to the confederates, and when the town was +taken made straight for the house where they had lived and dragged +their mistress away, telling people they were going to have their +revenge on her at last. And so they saved her. [Sidenote: Nola taken +by the confederates.] While the troops of Crassus were cooped up in +Grumentum Mutilus descended into Campania and obtained possession of +Nola by treason. Two thousand soldiers also went over to him. The +officers remained loyal and were starved to death. [Sidenote: Town +after town won by the confederates.] Stabiae, Salernum, Pompeii, +Herculaneum, and probably Nuceria were taken in quick succession; +and, with his army swollen by deserters and recruits from the +neighbourhood, Mutilus laid siege to Acerrae. Caesar hastened to +relieve it. But Canusium and Venusia had joined the insurgents, and +in Venusia Oxyntas, son of Jugurtha, had been kept prisoner by the +Romans. Mutilus now put royal robes on him, and the Numidians in +Caesar's army, when they saw him, deserted in troops, so that Caesar +was forced to send the whole corps home. + +[Sidenote: Caesar gains the first success for Rome; but is afterwards +defeated.] But out of this misfortune came the first gleam of success +which had as yet shone on the Roman arms. Mutilus ventured to attack +Caesar's camp, was driven back; and in the retreat the Roman cavalry +cut down 6,000 of his men. Though Marius Egnatius soon afterwards +defeated Caesar, this victory in some sort dissipated the gloom of +the capital; and while the two armies settled again into their old +position at Acerrae, the garb of mourning was laid aside at Rome for +the first time since the war began. Lupus and Marius meanwhile had +marched against the Marsi. Marius, in accordance with his old tactics +against the Cimbri, advised Lupus not to hazard a battle. But Lupus +thought that Marius wanted to get the consulship next year and reserve +for himself the honours of the war. So he hastened to fight, and, +throwing two bridges over the Tolenus, crossed by one himself, leaving +Marius to cross by the other. [Sidenote: Lupus defeated by the Marsi.] +As soon as the consul had reached the opposite bank, an ambuscade set +by Vettius Scato attacked him, and slew him and 8,000 of his men. +Their bodies, floating down the river, told Marius what had happened. +Like the good soldier that he was, he promptly crossed and seized the +enemy's camp. This disaster happened June 11, B.C. 90, and caused +great consternation in Rome. But at Rome small merit was now discerned +in any success gained by the veteran general, and Caepio, who had +opposed Drusus and was therefore a favourite with the equites, was +made joint commander in the north. It was a foolish choice. The +prudence of Marius and a victory over the Peligni gained by Sulpicius +were neutralised by the new general's rashness. Pompaedius Silo, who +must have been a thoroughly gallant man, came in person to the Roman +camp, bringing two young slaves whom he passed off as his own children +and offered as hostages for the sincerity of the offer he made, which +was to place his camp in Caepio's hands. [Sidenote: Caepio defeated +and slain by Silo.] Caepio went with him, and Pompaedius, running up a +hill to look out, as he said, for the enemy, gave a signal to men whom +he had placed in ambush. Caepio and many of his men were slain, and at +last Marius was sole commander. He advanced steadily but warily into +the Marsian country. Silo tauntingly told him to come down and fight, +if he was a great general. [Sidenote: Prudence of Marius.] 'Nay,' +replied Marius, 'if you are a great general, do you make me.' At +length he did fight; and, as he always did, won the day. In another +battle the Marrucinian leader, and 6,000 of the Marsi were slain. +[Sidenote: Success of Sulla.] But Sulla was at that time co-operating +with Marius, having apparently, when the Romans evacuated most of +Campania, marched north to form a junction with him; and beside his +star that of Marius always paled. Marius had shrunk from following the +enemy into a vineyard. Sulla, on the other side of it, cut them off. +Not that Marius was always over-cautious. Once in this war he said +to his men, 'I don't know which are the greatest cowards, you or +the enemy, for they dare not face your backs, nor you theirs.' But +everything he now did was distrusted at home; and while some men +disparaged his successes, and said that he was grown old and clumsy, +others were more afraid of him than of the enemy, with whom indeed +there was some reason to think that he had too good an understanding. +[Sidenote: A secret understanding, possibly, between Marius and the +confederates.] For once, when his army and Silo's were near each +other, both generals and men conversed, cursing the war, and with +mutual embraces adjuring each other to desist from it. If the story be +true, it is a sufficient reason for the Senate's conduct, inexplicable +except by political reasons, in not employing Marius at all in the +following year. + +[Sidenote: Revolt of the Umbrians and Etruscans.] It was probably at +the close of this year that the revolt of the Umbrians and Etruscans +took place, and that Plotius defeated the Umbrians, and Porcius Cato +the Etruscans. On a general review of this piecemeal campaign it is +plain that the Romans had been worsted. On the main scene of war, +Campania, they had been decisively defeated, and the country was in +the enemy's power. In Picenum and the Marsian territory the balance +was more even; but Lupus and Caepio had been slain, Perperna and +Pompeius had been defeated, and on the whole the confederates had +carried off the honours of the war. [Sidenote: Results of the first +year of the war.] Now Umbria was in insurrection, Mithridates was +astir in Asia, and there were symptoms of revolt in Transalpine Gaul. +A selfish intriguer like Marius might very likely have thought of +throwing in his lot with the Italians, for theirs seemed to be the +winning side. But on honester men such considerations produced quite +another effect. [Sidenote: The party of Drusus revives.] The party of +Drusus took heart again, and appealed to the results of the war as +a proof of his patriotic foresight and of the moderation of his +counsels. They got the administration of the Varian Law into their own +hands, and turned it against its authors, Varius himself being exiled. +The consul Caesar had personal reasons for being disquieted with +the war, if the story of Orosius be true, that, when he asked for a +triumph for his victory at Acerrae, the Senate sent him a mourning +robe as a sign of what they thought of his request. [Sidenote: The Lex +Julia.] In any case he was the author of that Lex Julia which really +terminated the Social War. [Sidenote: Various accounts of the law.] +There are different accounts given of this law. According to Gellius +it enfranchised all Latium, by which he must mean to include all the +Latin colonies. According to Cicero it enfranchised all Italy except +Cisalpine Gaul. According to Appian it enfranchised all the Italians +still faithful. In any case those enfranchised were not to be enrolled +in the old tribes lest they should swamp them by their votes, but in +eight new ones, which were to vote only after the others. [Sidenote: +The Lex Plautia Papiria.] The Lex Julia was immediately followed by +the Lex Plautia Papiria, framed by the tribunes M. Plautius Silvanus +and C. Papirius Carbo. This law seems to have been meant to supplement +the other. The Lex Julia rewarded the Italians who had remained +faithful. The Lex Plautia Papiria held out the olive branch to the +Italians who had rebelled. It enfranchised any citizen of an allied +town who at the date of the law was dwelling in Italy, and made a +declaration to the praetor within sixty days. In the same year, and in +connexion no doubt with these measures, the Jus Latii was conferred on +a number of towns north of the Po, by which every magistrate in his +town might, if he chose, claim the franchise. Some of the free allies +of Rome did not look upon the Lex Julia as a boon. Heracleia and +Neapolis hesitated to accept it, the latter having special privileges, +such as exemption from service by land, which it valued above the +franchise. Probably these towns and Rhegium made a special bargain, +and, while accepting the franchise, retained their own language and +institutions. [Sidenote: Effects of these laws.] The general result +of the legislation was this. All Italy and all Latin colonies in +Cisalpine Gaul, together with all allied communities in Cisalpine Gaul +south of the Po, received the franchise. All the other Cisalpine towns +north of the Po received the Jus Latii. A general amnesty was in +fact offered; and though the provisions as to the new tribes were +unsatisfactory, its effect was soon apparent. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 89 The second year of the war.] [Sidenote: Successes +of Pompeius in the north.] The consuls for 89 were Lucius Porcius +Cato, who took command of the army in the Marian district, and Cnaeus +Pompeius, who retained the command in Picenum. Caesar was succeeded +in Campania by Sulla. Flushed with hope, the confederates opened the +campaign by despatching 15,000 men across the Apennines to join the +Etruscan insurgents. But Pompeius intercepted and slew 5,000 of them, +and dispersed the rest, who, even if they had reached Etruria, would +have found that they had come on a bootless errand. He followed up +this success by blow after blow. One of his lieutenants, Sulpicius, +crushed the Marrucini at Teate. Another, Q. Metellus Piso, subdued the +Marsi. Pompeius in person fought a great battle before Asculum, as +before related, and captured the town; and in the following year +the Peligni and Vestini submitted to him. + +[Sidenote: Successes of Cosconius in the south-east.] In the +south-east of Italy, Cosconius, the praetor, burnt Salapia in Apulia, +received the submission of Cannae, and besieged Canusium. Marius +Egnatius came to its aid; but though he at first drove back Cosconius +to Cannae, he or his successor was defeated and slain in another +fight, and Cosconius became master of all Apulia and the Iapygian +peninsula, which he laid waste with fire and sword. + +[Sidenote: Successes of Sulla in the south-west.] While the Roman +supremacy was thus re-established all along the east coast, Sulla, in +Campania, was equally triumphant. He recovered Stabiae in April, and +his lieutenant, T. Didius, took Herculaneum in June. Didius, however, +lost his life in the assault. Sulla next besieged Pompeii, defeated +Cluentius who came to its aid, again defeated him between Pompeii +and Nola, and a third time at the gates of Nola, where Cluentius was +slain. About this time Aulus Postumius Albinus, while in charge of +the fleet, was murdered by his own men, recruits probably whom he was +bringing from Rome to Sulla's army. Sulla pardoned the mutineers, +saying that he knew they would wipe out their crime by their bravery, +and they did so in the fights with Cluentius. By such politic clemency +and never-varying good fortune Sulla bound the army to his own +interests. + +Leaving Nola behind him, he crossed the Hirpinian frontier and marched +on Aeclanum. The townsmen, who were expecting a Lucanian reinforcement +that day, asked for time to deliberate. Sulla gave them an hour, and +occupied the hour in heaping vine osiers round the wooden walls. Not +choosing to be burnt the townsmen surrendered, and Sulla sacked the +place. He then marched northwards into Samnium. The mountain-passes +were held by Mutilus, who hemmed in Sulla near Aesernia. Sulla +pretended to treat for peace, and, when the enemy were off their +guard, marched away in the night, leaving a trumpeter to sound all +the watches as if the army was still in position. He seems to have +defeated Mutilus after this, and, leaving Aesernia behind as he had +left Nola, finally, before going home to sue for the consulship of 88 +B.C., stormed Bovianum. He had managed the campaign in a bold and able +way, where less daring generalship might have failed. + +[Sidenote: First Bovianum, and then Aesernia, becomes the confederate +capital.] As the insurrection was thus being stamped out on either +coast, Bovianum had become the capital of the insurgents instead of +Corfinium. Now Bovianum was taken, and Aesernia became its centre. The +occupation of the Hirpinian territory cut off the Samnites from the +South of Italy, where the Lucanians and Bruttians remained in arms. +Except for some trifling operations, which Pompeius had to carry out +in order to complete the pacification of his district, all that was +now left for the commanders of 88 was to crush the rebels in these two +isolated divisions, and the war would be at an end. [Sidenote: B.C. +88. Desperation of the confederates.] The rebels indeed prepared for a +desperate resistance. Five generals were appointed, Pompaedius Silo, +the Marsian, at their head; and, by enrolling slaves and calling out +fresh levies, the Samnites mustered an army of 50,000 men. Once more, +almost single-handed, they prepared to strive with their old enemy for +the sovereignty of Italy. The gallant Silo signalised his appointment +by recovering Bovianum, but he was soon afterwards slain. He is said +to have been defeated in a great battle by Mamercus Aemilius, and to +have fallen in it. Appian says that Metellus defeated him in Iapygia; +Orosius, that Sulpicius defeated him in Apulia. However that may be, +with him the last gleam of hope for the Samnite cause faded away. They +made, it is said, a treaty with Mithridates; but long before that king +could have reached Italy, if he had been able to make the attempt, +there would have been no allies to support him. In Lucania Aulus +Gabinius, made rash by some successes, assaulted the confederate camp, +but was repulsed and slain. Lamponius, the Lucanian general, remained +master of the country, and attempted to take Rhegium, with the view +of crossing over to Sicily and renewing the rebellion there. But the +attempt failed. [Sidenote: Revolution at Rome, and the part taken by +the insurgents in it.] Nola, however, still held out in Campania; and +now there occurred a revolution at Rome which postponed the final +subjugation of the insurgents till after the battle of the Colline +Gate. For convenience and clearness the part taken by them in this +revolution may be here summarised. Sulla, as consul, was besieging +Nola when he was recalled to Rome by the Sulpician revolution and his +election to the command against Mithridates. A Samnite army had come +to relieve it, but had been defeated by Sulla. Three Roman corps +still remained to keep the Samnites in check and besiege Nola, under +Claudius, Metellus, and Plotius. It was to Nola that Cinna came, and +seduced a large portion of the besiegers to follow him to Rome. Upon +this the insurgents suddenly found themselves, instead of hunted +desperadoes, courted as allies by two parties. The Senate again +offered the terms of the Lex Plautia Papiria to all in arms, and some +accepted them. But the Nolans, when Metellus was recalled and the long +siege was then raised in 87 B.C., marched out and burnt Abella. +The Samnites demanded, as the price of their assistance, that the +prisoners, spoils, and deserters should be restored, and that they +and the Romans who had joined them should receive the franchise. The +Senate refused, and the Samnites at once joined Cinna and Marius, who +were pledged not only to give the franchise, but also to enrol all +the new voters in the old tribes; a measure which was ratified by the +Senate in the year of Cinna's last consulship, 84 B.C. On Sulla's +return to Italy they with the Lucanians, who had meanwhile been +practically independent, were the most eager supporters of Marius's +son. [Sidenote: Pontius of Telesia.] In 82 Pontius of Telesia, at the +head of a Samnite force, with the desperate hardihood inspired by +centuries of hatred, marched straight on Rome, and the city was saved +only by Sulla's victory at the Colline Gate. Three days after the +battle Sulla massacred all his prisoners. He knew that death alone +could disarm such implacable foes. The Samnite name, he said, with +his cold ferocity, must be erased from the earth, or Rome could never +rest. The Samnites evacuated Nola in the year 80 B.C., and then their +last great leader, C. Papius Mutilus, having fled in disguise to his +wife at Teanum, was disowned by her and slew himself. [Sidenote: +Fate of Samnium.] Sulla carried his threats into effect. He captured +Aesernia, and spread a desolation all around, from which the country +has never recovered to this day. Then, and not till then, the stubborn +resistance of the most relentless foes of Rome was finally suppressed. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SULPICIUS. + + +The terrible disintegration which the Social War had brought on Italy +was faithfully reproduced in Rome. There, too, every man's hand was +against his neighbour. Creditor and debtor, tribune and consul, Senate +and anti-Senate, fiercely confronted each other. Personal interests +had become so much more prominent, and old party-divisions were so +confused by the schemes of Italianising politicians, aristocratic in +their connexions, but cleaving to part at least of the traditional +democratic programme, that it is very hard to see where the views of +one faction blended with those of another and where they clashed. +[Sidenote: The Sulpician revolution difficult to understand.] Still +harder is it to dissect the character of individuals; to decide, for +instance, how far a man like Sulpicius was swayed by disinterested +principles, and how far he fought for his own hand. We need not make +too much of the fact that he appealed to force, because violence +was the order of the day, and submission to the law simply meant +submission to the law of force. But there are some parts of his career +apparently so inconsistent as almost to defy explanation which in any +case can be little more than guesswork. + +[Sidenote: Sulpicius.] Publius Sulpicius Rufus was now in the prime of +life, having been born in 124 B.C. He was an aristocrat, an orator of +great force and fire, and a friend of Drusus, whose views he shared +and inherited. Cicero speaks of him in no grudging terms. 'Of all the +speakers I have heard Sulpicius was the grandest, and, so to speak, +most tragic. Besides being powerful, his voice was sweet and resonant. +His gestures and movements, elegant though they were, had nothing +theatrical about them, and his oratory, though quick and fluent, was +neither redundant nor verbose.' [Sidenote: Financial crisis at Rome.] +The year before his tribunate had been a turbulent one at Rome. The +Social War and Asiatic disturbances had brought about a financial +crisis. Debtors, hard pressed by their creditors, invoked obsolete +penalties against usury in their defence, and the creditors, because +the praetor Asellio attempted to submit the question to trial, +murdered him in the open Forum. The debtors responded by a cry for +_tabulae novae_, or a sweeping remission of all debts. Of these +debtors many doubtless would belong to the lower orders; but, from a +proposal of Sulpicius made the next year, it appears probable that +some were found in the ranks of the Senate. War had made money +'tight,' to use the phraseology of our modern Stock Exchange, and +reckless extravagance could no longer be supported by borrowing. + +[Sidenote: Sulpicius the successor of Drusus.] Sulpicius inherited the +policy of Drusus, which was to reconstruct the Senatorial Government +on an Italian basis. Like Drusus he had to conciliate prejudices in +order to carry out his design. Plutarch says that he went about with +600 men of the equestrian order, whom he called his anti-Senate. No +doubt it was to please these equites, who would belong to the party of +creditors, that he proposed that no one should be a senator who owed +more than 2,000 denarii. No doubt, too, he would have filled the +vacancies thus created by the expulsion of reckless anti-Italian +optimates, from the ranks of these equites, just as Drusus had done. +[Sidenote: He attempts to remodel the government.] Just like Drusus, +too, he had to court the proletariate, and this he did by proposing to +enrol freedmen in the tribes. This, as they were generally dependent +on men of his own order, he could do without prejudice to the +new-modelled aristocracy which he was attempting to organize. He also +proposed to grant an amnesty to those who had been exiled by the Lex +Varia, hoping, no doubt, to gain more by the adherents who would +return to Rome than he would lose by the return of men like Varius +himself. He had opposed such an amnesty before; but on such a point he +might have easily changed his views, especially if a strong cry was +being raised by the friends of the exiles. He had a personal feud with +the Julian family, because he had opposed Caesar's illegal candidature +for the consulship; but, having fortified himself by such alliances, +he proceeded to carry out the main design of Drusus, namely, the +complete enfranchisement of the Italians. [Sidenote: Pro-Italian +measure of Sulpicius.] This, perhaps, would be especially distasteful +to the Julii, as superseding the Lex Julia and the Lex Plautia +Papiria, which to them, no doubt, seemed ample and more than ample +concessions. Sulpicius, on the other hand, and the minority of the +Senate which sided with him, saw that under the cover of clemency a +grievous wrong was being done. For not only were the Italians who had +submitted since the terms of the Lex Plautia took effect without the +franchise, but from the fact of their rebellion they had lost their +old privileges as allied States. Even those who had benefited by these +concessions had benefited only in name. As they voted in new tribes, +their votes were valueless, and often would not be recorded at all; +for a majority on most questions would be assured long before it came +to their turn to vote. To a statesman imbued with the views of Drusus +such a distribution of the franchise must have seemed impolitic +trickery; and, like Drusus, Sulpicius resorted to questionable means +in order to gain the end on which he had set his heart. + +Rome was thus broken up into two camps, not as of yore broadly marked +off by palpable distinctions of rank, property, or privilege, but each +containing adherents of all sorts and conditions, though in the Senate +the opponents of Sulpicius had the majority. When Sulpicius proposed +to enrol the Italians in the old tribes, the consuls proclaimed a +justitium, or suspension of all public business for some religious +observances. It is said by some modern writers that the object of +Sulpicius in proposing to enrol the Italians in the old tribes was to +secure the election of Marius to the command against Mithridates. It +is certain, indeed, that Marius longed for it. [Sidenote: Attitude of +Marius.] Daily he was to be seen in the Campus Martius exercising with +the young men, and, though old and fat, showing himself nimble in +arms and active on horseback--conduct which excited some men's +good-humoured sympathy, but shocked others, who thought he had much +better go to Baiae for the baths there, and that such an exhibition +was contemptible in one of his years. Sulpicius may have thought +Marius quite fit for the command, and was warranted in thinking so +by the events of the Social War; but there is no more ground for +supposing that the election of Marius was his primary object than for +considering Plutarch's diatribe a fair estimate of his character. +[Sidenote: Connection of Marius and Sulpicius explained.] He was the +friend and successor of Drusus, and his alliance with Marius was a +means to the end which in common with Drusus he had in view, and +not the end itself. This consideration is essential to a true +understanding of the politics of the time, and just makes the +difference whether Sulpicius was a petty-minded adventurer or +deliberately following in the lines laid down for him by a succession +of statesmen. [Sidenote: Street-fighting.] To the manoeuvre of the +consul he replied by a violent protest that it was illegal. Rome was +being paraded by his partisans--3,000 armed men, and there was a +tumult in which the lives of the consuls were in danger. One, Pompeius +Rufus, escaped, but his son was killed. The other, Sulla, annulled +the justitium, but is said to have got off with his life only because +Marius generously gave him shelter in his own house. In these +occurrences it is impossible not to see that the consuls were the +first to act unfairly. Sulpicius had been intending to bring forward +his laws in the regular fashion. They thwarted him by a trick. Whether +he in anger gave the signal for violence, or whether, as is quite as +likely, his Italian partisans did not wait for his bidding, the blame +of the tumult lay at the door of the other side. In such cases he is +not guiltiest who strikes the first blow, but he who has made blows +inevitable. + +[Sidenote: The Sulpician laws carried by force.] The laws of Sulpicius +were carried. [Sidenote: Sulla flies to the army, which marches on +Rome.] Sulla fled to the army; and, perhaps, it was only now that +Sulpicius, knowing or thinking that he knew that Sulla would march on +Rome, carried a resolution in the popular assembly for making Marius +commander in the east. Two tribunes were accordingly sent to the camp +at Nola to take the army from Sulla. His soldiers immediately slew +them; and, burning for the booty of Asia and attached to their +fortunate leader, they, when without venturing to hint at the means +by which he could avenge it, he complained of the wrong done to him, +clamorously called on him to lead them to Rome. All his officers, +except one quaestor, left him; but he set out with six legions and was +joined by Pompeius on the way. Two praetors met him and forbade his +advance. They escaped with their lives, but the soldiers broke their +fasces and tore off their senatorial robes. A second and a third time +the Senate sent to ask his intentions. 'To release Rome from her +tyrants,' was the grim reply. Then he vouchsafed an offer that the +Senate, Marius, and Sulpicius should meet him in the Campus Martius to +come to terms. If this meant that he would come with his army at his +back, it was an absurd proposal. If it meant that he would come alone, +it was a falsehood. In either case it was a device to fritter away +time. [Sidenote: Sulla's astuteness and superstition.] For all the +while that he was bandying meaningless messages he continued his +onward march. He had sacrificed, and the soothsayer Postumius, when he +saw the entrails, had stretched out his hands to him, and offered to +be kept in chains for punishment after the battle if it was not a +victory. He, too, had himself seen a vision of good omen. Bellona, or +another goddess, had, he dreamed, put a thunderbolt in his hands, and, +naming his enemies one by one, bidden him strike them, and they were +consumed to ashes. + +Again envoys came from the Senate forbidding him to come within five +miles of Rome. Perhaps they still felt as secure in the immemorial +freedom of the city from military rule as the English Parliament did +before Cromwell's _coup d'état_. Again he amused them, and no doubt +himself also, with a falsehood, and, professing compliance, followed +close upon their heels. With one legion he occupied the Caelian Gate, +with another under Pompeius the Colline Gate, with a third the Pons +Sublicius, while a fourth was posted outside as a reserve. Thus, for +the first time, a consul commanded an army in the city, and soldiers +were masters of Rome. [Sidenote: Street-fighting.] Marius and +Sulpicius met them on the Esquiline and, pouring down tiles from the +housetops, at first beat them back. But Sulla, waving a burning torch, +bade his men shoot fiery arrows at the houses, and drove the Marians +from the Esquiline Forum. Then he sent for the legion in reserve, and +ordered a detachment to go round by the Subura and take the enemy in +the rear. In vain Marius made another stand at the temple of Tellus. +In vain he offered liberty to any slaves that would join him. He +was beaten and fled from the city. Thus Sulla, having by injustice +provoked disorder, quelled it by the sword, and began the civil war. +Sulpicius, Marius, and ten others were proscribed, and Sulla is said +to have still further stimulated the pursuit of Marius by setting a +price on his head. [Sidenote: Sulpicius slain.] Sulpicius was killed +at Laurentum, and, according to Velleius Paterculus, Sulla fixed up +the eloquent orator's head at the Rostra, a thing not unlikely to have +been done by a man to whose nature such grim irony was thoroughly +congenial. [Sidenote: Stories of Sulla.] He evinced it on this +occasion in another way, which may have suggested to Victor Hugo his +episode of Lantenac and the gunner. He gave the slave who betrayed +Sulpicius his freedom, and then had him hurled from the Tarpeian Rock. +After this he set to work to restore such order as would enable him to +hasten to the east. + +[Sidenote: Why Sulla left Italy.] Various explanations have been +offered to account for his moderation at this conjuncture, and for his +leaving Italy precisely when his enemies were again gathering for an +attack. But the true one has never yet, perhaps, been suggested. Who +was it that had made him supreme at Rome? The army. What had been the +bribe which had won it over? A campaign in Asia under the fortunate +Sulla. Without that army he was powerless, nay, he was a dead man. +Therefore it was absolutely necessary to execute his pledge to the +army, which would have no keen desire to encounter its countrymen in +Italy. No doubt he coveted the glory and spoil of the Asiatic command; +but it is absurd to suppose that he would have quitted Italy now of +his own free will. He had no choice in the matter. He was bound hand +and foot by his promises to the soldiers; and all that he could do was +by plausible moderation to win as many friends, conciliate as many +foes, as possible, throw on Cinna, whom he could not hope to keep +quiet, the guilt of perjury, and trust to fortune for the rest. This +is a probable and consistent view of what now took place at Rome; and +every other account makes out Sulla to have been either inconsistent, +which he never was, for he was always uniformly selfish; or patriotic, +which he never was, if patriotism consists in sacrificing private to +public considerations; or indifferent, which he was in principle but +never in practice, unless where his own interests were not threatened +and only the suffering of others involved. + +[Sidenote: Sulla's measures.] His first measure was to annul the +Sulpician laws. Secondly, to relieve the debtors, some colonies were +established, and a law was passed about interest, the terms of which +we do not know. Thirdly, the Senate, thinned by the Social War and +the Varian law, was recruited by 300 optimates. Fourthly, because +Sulpicius had resisted the proclamation of a justitium--that device by +which the Senate had virtually, though not legally, retained in its +own hands the power of discussing any measure before it was submitted +to the people--therefore for the future no measure was to be submitted +to the people till it had been previously discussed by the Senate. In +other words, the Senate was now confirmed by law in a privilege +which it had hitherto only exercised by the employment of a fiction. +Fifthly, the votes were to be taken, not in the Comitia Tributa, but +in the Comitia of Centuries. Sixthly, the five classes were no longer +to have an equal voice, but the first class was, as in the Servian +constitution, to have nearly half the votes. As the first class +consisted of those who had an estate of 100,000 sesterces, this +ordinance changed the democracy into a timocracy, transferring the +power from the people generally to the wealthier classes: but, +considering how voting had been manipulated of late, it was perhaps a +measure due to the Senate quite as much as to Sulla. On the whole he +legislated as little as he could and proscribed as few as he could. +[Sidenote: Opposition to Sulla.] But he tried to get two of his +partisans, Servius and Nonius, elected consuls for the year 87. +Instead of them, however, L. Cornelius Cinna, a determined leader of +the populares, was elected; and though Cnaeus Octavius, his colleague, +was one of the optimates, he was not Sulla's creature. In another +quarter his arrangements were thwarted even more unpleasantly. He had +got a decree framed by the people, giving the army of the north to his +friend Q. Pompeius Rufus, and recalling Cn. Pompeius Strabo. But the +latter procured the assassination of the former, and remained at the +head of the army. Still Sulla showed no resentment. A tribune named +Virginius was threatening to prosecute him. But he contented himself +with making Cinna ascend the Capitol with a stone in his hand, and, +throwing it down before a number of spectators, solemnly swear to +observe the new constitution. Then, leaving Metellus in Samnium +and Appius Claudius at Nola, he hurried to Capua, and embarking at +Brundusium felt, no doubt, that if he must pay his debt to the army +before the army would commit fresh treasons for him, it was not +unpleasant now to be forced away from the wasps' nest which he had +stirred up round him at home. And so, making a virtue of a necessity, +he sailed with a light heart from the chance of assassination at Rome +to fame and fortune in the East. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MARIUS AND CINNA. + + +[Sidenote: Flight of Marius.] Meanwhile what had become of Marius? +Already a halo of legend was gathering round his name, and all Italy +was ringing with his adventures. When he had fled from Rome (not sorry +now, we may be sure, that he had gone through his late exhibitions +in the Campus Martius), he had sent his son to some of his +father-in-law's farms to get necessary provisions. Young Marius was +overtaken by daylight, before he could get to his father-in-law's +farm, and pack the things up, and was nearly caught by those on his +track. But the farm-bailiff saw them in time, and, hiding him in a +cart full of beans, yoked the teams, and drove him to Rome. [Sidenote: +Ostia.] There young Marius went to his wife's house, and, getting +what he wanted, set out at nightfall for Ostia, and finding a ship +starting for Africa, went aboard. His father had not waited for his +return. He too had embarked at Ostia for Africa with his son-in-law. +But now in his old age the sea was not so kind to him as when, in +his bold and confident youth, he had sailed to sue for his first +consulship from the very land to which he was now flying. A storm came +on, and the ship was blown southwards along the coast. Marius begged +the captain to keep clear of Tarracina, because Geminius, a leading +man there, was his bitter foe. [Sidenote: Circeii.] But the storm +increased; Marius was sea-sick, and they were forced to go ashore at +Circeii (Monte Circello). Some herdsmen told them that horsemen had +just been there in pursuit; so they spent the night in a thick wood, +hungry, and tortured by anxiety. Next day they went to the coast +again, and Marius implored the men to stand by him, telling them that +when he was a child an eagle's nest fell into his lap, with seven +young ones in it, and the soothsayers had said that it meant that +he should attain to the highest honours seven times. [Sidenote: +Minturnae.] About two miles and a half from Minturnae they spied some +horsemen making towards them; and, plunging into the sea, they swam +towards some merchantmen near the shore. Two slaves swam with Marius, +keeping him up, and he got into one ship, and his son-in-law into the +other, while the horsemen shouted to the crew to put ashore, or throw +Marius overboard. The captains consulted together, and a terrible +moment it must have been for the fugitives. But the spell of the +Cimbric victories was potent still, and the captains replied that they +would not give up Marius. So the soldiers rode off in a rage. But the +sailors, having so far acted generously, were anxious to get rid of +their dangerous guest, and, landing at the mouth of the Liris, on +pretence of waiting for a fair wind, told Marius to go ashore and get +some rest, and, while he was lying down, sailed away. Half stupified, +he scrambled through bogs, and dykes, and mud, till he came to an +old man's cottage, and begged the owner to shelter a man who, if he +escaped, would reward him beyond his hopes. The man told him that he +could hide him in a safer place than his cottage; and, showing him a +hole by the riverside, covered him up in it with some rushes. But he +was soon rudely disturbed. Geminius was on his trail, and Marius heard +some of his emissaries loudly threatening the old man for hiding an +outlaw. In his terror Marius stripped and plunged into the river, and +so betrayed himself to the pursuers, who hauled him out naked and +covered with mud, and gave him up to the magistrates of Minturnae. By +these he was placed under a strong guard in the house of a woman named +Fannia. She, like Geminius, had a personal grudge against him, for in +his sixth consulship he had fined her four drachmas for ill-conduct. +But now when she saw his misery she forgot her resentment, and did +her best to cheer him. Nor was this difficult, for the stout heart of +Marius had never failed him. He told Fannia that, as he was coming to +her house, an ass had come out to drink at a neighbouring fountain, +and, fixing its eyes steadily on him, had brayed aloud and frisked +vivaciously, whence he augured that he would find safety by sea. The +magistrates, however, had resolved to kill him, and sent a Cimbrian +to do the deed, for no citizen would do it. The man went armed with +a sword into the gloomy room where Marius lay. But soon he ran out +crying, 'I cannot slay Marius.' He had seen eyes glaring in the +darkness, and had heard a terrible voice say, 'Darest thou slay Caius +Marius?' His heart had failed him; he had thrown down the sword and +fled. Either the magistrates now changed their minds, or the people +forced them to let Marius go, or perhaps Fannia connived at his +escape. Plutarch says that the people escorted him to the coast, and, +when they came to a sacred grove, called the Marician Grove, which no +man might enter, but which it would take a long time to go round, an +old man had led the way into it, saying that no place was so sacred +but that it might be entered to save Marius. [Sidenote: Aenaria.] In +some way he reached the coast where a friend had secured a vessel, +and being driven by the wind to Aenaria (Ischia), he there found his +son-in-law and sailed for Africa. + +[Sidenote: Eryx.] Want of water forced them to put in at Eryx on the +N.W. of Sicily; but the Roman quaestor there was on the look-out, and +killing sixteen of the crew nearly took Marius. Landing at Meninx +(Jerbah), the fugitive heard that his son was in Africa too, and had +gone to Hiempsal, King of Numidia, to ask for aid, upon which he set +sail again and landed at Carthage. [Sidenote: Carthage.] The Roman +governor there sent to warn him off from Africa. Marius was dumb with +indignation, but on being asked what answer he had to send, replied, +so ran the story, 'Go and say you have seen Caius Marius sitting on +the ruins of Carthage.' + +Hiempsal meanwhile had been keeping young Marius in a sort of +honourable captivity. But, according to a story similar to that told +of Thomas à Becket's father, a damsel of the country had fallen in love +with his handsome face, and helped him to escape. [Sidenote: Circina.] +Father and son now retired to Circina (Kerkennah), where news soon +reached him which brought him back to Italy. + +[Sidenote: Counter-revolutions at Rome.] Hardly had Sulla left +Brundusium when the truce which he had patched up was broken. Cinna +being bribed, as was said probably without foundation, with 300 +talents, had demanded that the Italians lately enfranchised should be +enrolled in the old tribes. [Sidenote: Cinna.] We do not know very +much about Cinna, but we do seem to gather that he was bold, resolute, +not ungenerous or bloodthirsty; and it cannot be too strongly insisted +on that, like Saturninus, and Sulpicius, and Drusus, he was only +demanding justice. [Sidenote: Street-fighting. Cinna driven from +Rome.] Octavius opposed him, and, hearing that Cinna's partisans were +threatening the tribunes in the Forum, he charged down the Via Sacra +with a band of followers, and dispersed them, and a great number of +Cinna's followers were slain. On this Cinna left Rome, and, joined by +Sertorius, whom we shall hear of again, went round the towns mustering +his friends. The Senate declared his consulship to be void, and +elected L. Cornelius Merula in his place. [Sidenote: His cause +espoused by the Campanian army.] Cinna, with characteristic audacity, +instantly hastened to the army in Campania; and, rending his clothes +and throwing himself on the ground, so worked on the pity of the +soldiers that they lifted him up, and told him he was consul still, +and might lead them where he pleased. [Sidenote: Marius lands in +Etruria.] Then, visiting the Italian towns, he obtained many recruits; +and, hearing that Marius had landed in Etruria (perhaps on his +invitation), he agreed to act in concert with him, in spite of the +opposition of Sertorius. + +[Sidenote: The Senate summons Pompeius from Picenum.] Meanwhile +Octavius and Merula had fortified the city, had sent for troops from +Cisalpine Gaul, and had summoned the proconsul Pompeius from Picenum. +Pompeius came and halted at the Colline Gate. It was suspected that +he was waiting to join the successful side. With him was his son, +afterwards called 'the Great,' who now showed of what stuff he was +made by putting down a mutiny against his father and baffling a plot +for his own assassination. [Sidenote: Marius sacks Ostia, and he, +Sertorius, and Cinna hem Rome in.] Marius, with a band of Moors, and +the slaves whom he had collected from the Etrurian field-gangs, was +admitted by treachery into Ostia and sacked the town. Cinna marched to +the right bank of the Tiber, opposite the Janiculum. Sertorius held +the river above the city, and a corps was sent to Ariminum to prevent +any help coming from North Italy. [Sidenote: The Senate summons +Metellus, and courts the alliance of the Samnites.] At this crisis the +Senate sent for Metellus and tried to obtain the aid of the Samnites, +who, as we have seen, joined Marius and Cinna. The treachery of a +tribune in command of the Janiculum gave the Marians admission to +the city. But they were driven out again, and might even have been +dislodged from the Janiculum had not Pompeius persuaded Octavius to +check the pursuit. Pompeius was playing a waiting game, ready to join +the strongest, or crush both parties, as he saw his chance. And now +within the city starvation set in, and a pestilence spread. Marius had +blocked up the Tiber, and occupied the outlying towns on which the +communications of the capital depended. Nor could the Senate trust its +own troops. [Sidenote: Death of Pompeius.] Pompeius was killed by a +thunder-bolt--not less suspicious than that which slew Romulus--and +his body had been torn from the bier, and dragged through the streets +by the people. [Sidenote: Disaffection in the Senate's troops.] The +soldiers of Octavius cheered Cinna when he marshalled his troops +opposite them near the Alban Mount. Moreover the leaders themselves +were at variance. Octavius, seeing the humour of his men, was afraid +to fight, but would concede nothing. Metellus wished for a compromise. +Both armies were now outside the city, the pestilence probably having +driven the Marians to withdraw. But Marius had command of the Via +Appia, the Tiber, and most of the neighbourhood; and the famine became +sorer in Rome. [Sidenote: Incompetence of Octavius and Metellus.] The +soldiers wished Metellus to take the command from Octavius, and, on +his refusal, deserted in crowds to the enemy. So also did the slaves, +to whom Octavius would not promise freedom, as Cinna gladly did. +[Sidenote: The Senate submits to Cinna.] At last the Senate sent +to make terms with Cinna; but while they were stickling about +acknowledging his title of consul, he advanced to the gates. Then they +surrendered at discretion, only begging him to swear to shed no blood. +Cinna, refusing to be bound by this condition, promised that he would +not voluntarily do so. For he saw by his side the grim figure of the +man to whom he had given pro-consular powers, who had already taunted +him with weakness for conferring with the Senate at all, and in whose +sullen, unshorn face he read a craving for vengeance which nothing but +blood would satisfy. + +[Sidenote: A massacre at Rome.] When Cinna entered the city, Marius, +with savage irony, said that an outlaw had no business within the +walls, and he would not come in till the sentence had been formally +rescinded by a meeting of the people in the Forum. But the gates, +when once he had passed them, were closed, and for five days and five +nights Rome became a shambles. Appian says that Marius and Cinna had +both sworn to spare the life of Octavius. But Marius was never a liar, +and the story is false on the face of it; for just before this Appian +relates how, when Cinna had promised to be merciful, Marius would +make no sign. [Sidenote: Death of Octavius.] Octavius is said to have +seated himself in his official chair, dressed in his official robes, +on the Janiculum, and to have awaited the assassins there. His head +was fastened up in front of the Rostra in emulation of the ghastly +precedent set by Sulla. He was an obstinate, dull man; and if this +burlesque of the conduct of the senators when the Gauls took Rome was +really enacted, the theatrical display must have been cold comfort for +those of his party on whom his incapacity brought ruin. [Sidenote: +Chief victims of the massacre.] [Sidenote: The Caesars.] Among the +latter were the brothers Caesar, Caius, who had sought to be consul +before he was praetor, and had been denounced for it by Sulpicius, +and Lucius, the conqueror at Acerrae and author of the Julian law. +[Sidenote: Publius Crassus.] Publius Crassus, consul in 97, and one of +Caesar's lieutenants in the Social War, fled with his son, and when +overtaken first stabbed his son and then himself. [Sidenote: Marcus +Antonius.] Marcus Antonius, the great forensic orator, was so odious +to Marius that the latter, on hearing that he was taken, wished, so +the story runs, to go and kill him with his own hand. Antonius was in +hiding, and was betrayed by the indiscretion of a slave, who, being +questioned by a wine-seller why he was buying more or better wine +than usual, whispered to him that it was for Marcus Antonius. On the +soldiers coming to kill him, he pleaded so eloquently for his life +that they wept and would not touch him. But their officer, who was +waiting below, impatiently came up and cut off his head with his own +hand. Lucius Merula opened his veins, and so bled to death. His crime +was that he had been made consul when Cinna was deposed. His last act +seems odd to us, but pathetically bespoke the man's piety and recalls +the last scene in the life of Demosthenes. He wrote on a tablet that +he had taken off his official cap when opening his veins, so as to +avoid the sacrilege of a flamen of Jupiter dying with it on his head. +[Sidenote: Catulus.] Marius had behaved generously once to Q. Lutatius +Catulus, his old colleague against the Cimbri; but Catulus had helped +to drive him into exile, and there was to be no second mistake of that +sort. 'He must die,' he said, when the relatives of Catulus pleaded +for his life. It is not unlikely that disease, and drinking, and his +late hardships had made the old man insane. He had been occasionally +good-natured in former days; now he seemed to gloat in carnage. For +every sneer cast at him, for every wrong done to him in past years, he +took a horrible revenge. When Cinna had summoned him, he had said that +he would settle the question of enrolment in the tribes once for all. +He wished not to select victims, but to massacre all the leading +optimates. Sertorius begged Cinna to check the slaughter. Cinna did +try to curb the outrages of the slave bands; but he dared not break +with Marius, whom he named as joint consul with himself for the year +86. But as soon as his colleague was dead, he and Sertorius surrounded +the ruffians and killed them to a man. + +[Sidenote: Death of Marius.] Marius did not live much longer. He had +had his revenge. He had gained his seventh consulship. It is said +that, telling his friends that after such vicissitudes it would be +wrong to tempt fate further, he took to his bed and after seven days +died. He drank hard, was seized with pleurisy, and in his last hours +became delirious. He fancied that he was in Asia, and by shouts and +gestures cheered on the army of his dreams, and with 'such a stern and +iron-clashing close' died January 13 or 17. He was more than seventy +years old, and had enjoyed his seventh consulship for either thirteen +or seventeen days. + +Lucius Valerius Flaccus succeeded Marius as consul, and passed a +law making one-fourth of a debt legal tender for payment of it; and +probably in the same year the denarius was restored to its standard +value. A census was also held, which would include the new Italian +citizens, and Philippus, whose opposition to Drusus on this very +question had helped to kindle the Social War, was censor. [Sidenote: +Settlement of Italian disabilities by Cinna.] Cinna, as he was pledged +to do so, must have carried some measure for enrolling the Italians +in the old tribes; but we can only conjecture what was actually done. +Sulpicius had already carried such a measure, but it had been probably +revoked by Sulla before he left Italy. In 84, just before his return, +the Senate, it is said, gave the Italians the right of voting, and +distributed the libertini, or freed slaves, among the thirty-five +tribes. Perhaps this was a formal ratification of what had been passed +before under Cinna's coercion. + +[Sidenote: Cinna's supremacy.] Cinna was now all-powerful at Rome. +For four successive years, 87 to 84 B.C., he was consul; and with the +exception of Asia, Macedonia, Greece, and Africa, where Metellus had +escaped and was in arms, the whole Roman world was at his feet. But +he did not know how to use his power. He may have removed the +restrictions on grain, and did proclaim Sulla and Metellus outlaws; +but, though he should have bent every energy to hinder Sulla's return, +he did worse than nothing, and, instead of Sertorius, sent the +incapable Flaccus and the ruffian Fimbria against the general who had +just taken Athens and defeated Archelaus. The miscarriage of their +enterprise will be told in the next chapter. When Cinna suddenly +became alive to the fact that the avenger was at hand, and that either +he must act promptly or Sulla would be in Rome, he hastened to Ancona, +where he sent one division of the army across to the opposite coast. +But the second division was driven back by a storm; and the soldiers +then dispersed, saying that they would not fight against their own +countrymen. On this the rest of the army refused to embark. Cinna went +to harangue them, and one of his lictors in clearing a way struck +a soldier. Another soldier struck him. [Sidenote: Cinna slain at +Ancona.] Cinna told his lictors to seize this second mutineer, and in +the tumult that arose Cinna was slain. Plutarch says that the troops +murdered him because he was suspected of having killed Pompeius, and +that, when he tried to bribe a centurion with a signet-ring to spare +him, the centurion replied that he was not going to seal a bond but +slay a tyrant. But Cinna probably died as he lived, a brave man, and +one who could not have held ascendency for so long, and over men like +Sertorius, had he not been an able as well as a brave man. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR. + + +Events have been anticipated in order to relate the close of Cinna's +career. But it is time now to say what Sulla had been doing, and who +that Mithridates was whose name for so long had been formidable at +Rome. + +[Sidenote: Foreign events after the second slave war.] After the +defeat of the northern hordes and the suppression of the second slave +revolt, there was a war with the Celtiberi in Spain, in 97, in +which Sertorius showed himself already an adroit and bold officer. +[Sidenote: Sertorius in command against the Celtiberi.] He was in +winter quarters at Castulo (Cazlona), and his men were so disorderly +that the Spaniards were emboldened to attack them in the town; +Sertorius escaped, rallied those soldiers who had also escaped, +marched back, and after putting those in the town to the sword, +dressed his troops in the dead men's clothes, and so obtained +admission to another town which had helped the enemy. But the hero of +the campaign was Titus Didius, afterwards Caesar's lieutenant in the +Social War. He had some hard fighting and captured Termesus, the chief +town of the Arevaci, and Colenda.--He earned his triumph by other +means also. There was a town near Colenda, the inhabitants of which +the Romans wished to destroy. Didius told them that he would give them +the lands of Colenda, and they came to receive their allotments. As +soon as they were within his lines, his soldiers set on them and slew +them all. + +[Sidenote: Africa.] In 96 B.C. Ptolemaus Apion bequeathed Cyrene--a +narrow strip of terraced land on the north coast of Africa, situated +between the Libyan deserts and the Mediterranean--to Rome. The Romans +did not refuse the legacy; but they took no trouble to govern the +country. The cities of Cyrene were declared to be free. In other +words, while nominally subject to Rome, so that she might interfere +when she pleased, they were left to govern themselves. Such government +was no government; but it was in accordance with the deliberate policy +of the senatorial party. + +[Sidenote: Crimes and intrigues of Mithridates.] It was in the same +year that Mithridates committed the first of the series of crimes +which eventually brought him into collision with Rome. His sister +had married the King of Cappadocia. Mithridates assassinated him. +Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, seized Cappadocia and married the widowed +sister of Mithridates. Having slain one brother-in-law, Mithridates +expelled the other, and set on the throne his sister's son. But when +his nephew refused to welcome home Gordius, the man who had murdered +his father, Mithridates marched against and assassinated him. Then he +set on the throne his own son, to whom he gave his nephew's name, and +made Gordius his guardian. Him the Cappadocians expelled, and raised +to the throne another nephew of Mithridates; but Mithridates instantly +drove him from power. Nicomedes now appealed to the Senate, and +produced, as he asserted, a third nephew of Mithridates as a claimant +for the crown. To support his assertion he sent his wife to Rome to +swear she had had three sons. Mithridates, as if in burlesque of the +imposture, sent Gordius to swear that the youth on the throne was son +of a Cappadocian king who had died more than thirty years before. The +Senate decided as a lion might between two jackals quarrelling over +a carcase. It took Cappadocia from Mithridates and Paphlagonia from +Nicomedes, and declared both countries free. But the Cappadocians +clamoured for a king, and so, in 93, the Senate appointed Ariobarzanes +I. Mithridates then stirred up Tigranes, King of Armenia, to expel +Ariobarzanes, who fled to Rome. Sulla was sent to restore him, and +did so in 92, after defeating the Cappadocians under Gordius and the +Armenians. [Sidenote: The Romans come in contact with the Parthians.] +It was when he was on this mission that the Romans and Parthians +confronted each other for the first time. The Parthians sent an +embassy to ask for the alliance of Rome. Three chairs were set for +Ariobarzanes, Sulla, and Orobazus; and Sulla, who was only propraetor, +took the central seat. This incensed the Parthian king; and he +revenged himself not on Sulla, but on the unfortunate Orobazus, whom +he put to death. A Chaldean in the Parthian's suite, after studying +Sulla's face, predicted great things for him; which pleased Sulla as +much as it would have done Marius, for he believed in his luck just as +his rival did in his seventh consulship. But when he came home he was +impeached for taking bribes from Ariobarzanes, and no doubt he had +made his trip which was so gratifying to his pride not less profitable +also, and had had his appetite whetted for a second taste of eastern +treasures. Mithridates, meanwhile, was brooding over his humiliation +and meditating revenge. He went on a journey incognito through the +Roman province of Asia and Bithynia, intending to attack both if he +found himself strong enough. When he came back he found that his wife, +who was also his sister, had been unfaithful to him, and he put her to +death. He had now murdered a wife, a sister, a brother, and a nephew. +He had also imprisoned his mother, and was equally merciless to his +sons, his daughters, and his concubines. At his death, it is said, a +paper was found in which he had foredoomed his most trusted servants, +and he slew all the inmates of his harem in order to hinder them from +falling into his enemies' hands. + +[Sidenote: Early years of Mithridates.] His whole history is in +fact one long record of sensuality, treachery, and murder. From +his earliest years he had breathed, as it were, an atmosphere of +assassination. His father had been assassinated when he was eleven +years old. His guardians and even his own mother had then plotted to +assassinate him. They placed him on a wild horse, and made him perform +exercises with the javelin on it. When his precocious vigour defeated +their hopes, they tried to poison him. But by studying antidotes he +made his body poison-proof, or at least was reputed to have done so, +and, flying from his enemies, lived for seven years through all the +hardships of a wild and wandering life, in which he never slept under +a roof, and hunted and fought with wild beasts, to emerge in manhood a +very tiger himself for strength, and beauty of body, and ferocity of +disposition, a tyrant who spared neither man in his ambition nor +woman in his lust. [Sidenote: His physical vigour.] His stature +was gigantic, his strength and activity such as took captive the +imagination of the East. He could, it was believed, outrun the deer; +out-eat and out-drink everyone at the banquet; strike down flying +game unerringly; tame the wildest steed, and ride 120 miles in a day. +Twenty-two nations obeyed him, and he could speak the dialect of +each. A veneer of Greek refinement was spread thinly over the savage +animalism of the man. [Sidenote: Pseudo-civilisation of his court.] He +was a virtuoso, and had a wonderful collection of rings. He maintained +Greek poets and historians, and offered prizes for singing. He had +shrewdness enough to employ Greek generals, but not enough to keep him +from being grossly superstitious. + +[Sidenote: His kingdom and how it was acquired.] For twenty years +(110-90 B.C.) he had been with never-resting activity extending his +empire, before the Romans assailed him. He had inherited from his +ancestors the kingdom of Pontus, or Cappadocia on the Pontus, which +had been one of the two satrapies into which Cappadocia was divided +at the time of the Macedonian conquest. Mithridates IV. had married a +princess of the Greek race, the sister of Seleucus, King of Syria. +His grandfather had conquered Sinope and Paphlagonia, as far as the +Bithynian frontier. His father had helped the Romans in the third +Punic War, had been styled the friend of Rome, and had been rewarded +with the province of Phrygia nominally for his services against +Aristonicus, the pretender to the kingdom of Attalus, but had been +deprived of it afterwards when it was found out that really it had +been put up for auction by Manius Aquillius, who was completing the +subjugation of the adherents of the pretender. The boundaries of +Pontus at his accession cannot be strictly defined. On the east it +stretched towards the Caucasus and the sources of the Euphrates, +Lesser Armenia being dependent on it. On the south and south-west +its frontiers were Cappadocia and Galatia. On the west nominally +Paphlagonia was the frontier, for the grandfather of Mithridates had +been induced by the Romans to promise to evacuate his conquests. +But Sinope was then, and continued to be, the capital of the Pontic +kingdom, and both Paphlagonia and Galatia were virtually dependent. +This was the territory to which Mithridates was heir, and which, true +to the policy of his father and grandfather, he constantly strove by +force or fraud to extend. [Sidenote: Mithridates extends his kingdom.] +To the east of the Black Sea he conquered Colchis on the Phasis, +and converted it into a satrapy. To the north he was hailed as the +deliverer of the Greek towns on that coast and in the region now +known as the Crimea, which from the constant exaction of tribute by +barbarous tribes were, in the absence of any protectorate like that of +Athens, falling into decay. By sea, and perhaps across the Caucasus by +land, Mithridates sent his troops under the Greek generals Neoptolemus +and Diophantus. Neoptolemus won a victory over the Tauric Scythians at +Panticapaeum (Kertch), and the kingdom of Bosporus in the Crimea was +ceded to his master by its grateful king. Diophantus marched westwards +as far as the Tyras (Dneister), and in a great battle almost +annihilated an army of the Roxolani, a nomadic people who roamed +between the Borysthenes (Dneiper) and the Tanais (Don). By these +conquests Mithridates acquired a tribute of 200 talents (48,000_l_.), +and 270,000 bushels of grain, and a rich recruiting ground for his +armies. [Sidenote: His alliance with Tigranes.] On the east he annexed +Lesser Armenia, and entered into the closest alliance with Tigranes, +King of Greater Armenia, which had lately become a powerful kingdom, +giving him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage. If the allies had any +defined scheme of conquest, it was that Mithridates should occupy Asia +Minor and the coast of the Black Sea, and Tigranes the interior and +Syria. How the King intrigued and meddled in Cappadocia and Bithynia +has been previously related; and when he had marched into Cappadocia +it was at the head of 80,000 foot, 10,000 horse, and 600 scythed +chariots. + +Such was the history, the power, and the character of the great +potentate who had yielded to the demands of Sulla, the propraetor, +but who now awaited the attack of Sulla, the proconsul, with proud +disdain. Much, indeed, had happened since the year 92 to justify such +feelings. Hardly had Sulla reinstated Ariobarzanes when Tigranes drove +him out again, and restored the son of Mithridates; while in Bithynia +the younger son of Nicomedes, Socrates, appeared in arms against his +elder brother, Nicomedes II., who on his father's death had been +acknowledged as king by Rome. Socrates had soldiers from Pontus with +him; but Mithridates, though his hand was plain in these disturbances, +outwardly stood aloof; and the Senate, sending Manius Aquillius to +restore the two kings, ordered Mithridates to aid him with troops if +they were wanted. [Sidenote: Mithridates submits to Aquillius.] The +king submitted as before, not, indeed, sending troops, but without +resisting, and as a proof of his complacency put Socrates to death. +This happened in the year 90, when Rome was pressed hardest by the +Italians, and at first sight it seems astonishing that he should not +have seized on so favourable a moment. But in those days news would +travel from the west of Italy to Sinope but slowly and uncertainly, +and Mithridates would have the fate of Antiochus in mind to warn him +how the foes of the great republic fared, and the history of Pergamus +to testify to the prosperity of those who remained its friends. +Sulla's proud tone in 92 would not have lessened this impression; +and, before he appealed to force, the crafty king hoped to make his +position securer by fraud. Partly, therefore, from real awe, partly +because he was not yet ready, he obeyed Aquillius as he had obeyed +Sulla. But Aquillius, who had once put up Phrygia to auction, knew +what pickings there were for a senator when war was afoot in Asia, and +perhaps may have had the honester notion that, as Mithridates was sure +to go to war soon, it was for the public as well as for his private +interest to act boldly and strike the first blow. So he forced the +reluctant Bithynian king to declare war, and to ravage with an army +the country round Amastris while his fleet shut up the Bosporus. Still +Mithridates did not stir; all that he did was to lodge a complaint +with the Romans, and solicit their mediation or their permission to +defend himself. [Sidenote: Aquillius forces on a war.] Aquillius +replied that he must in no case make war on Nicomedes. It is easy to +conceive how such an answer affected a man of the king's temper. He +instantly sent his son with an army into Cappadocia. But once more he +tried diplomacy. [Sidenote: Ultimatum of Mithridates.] Pelopidas, his +envoy, came to Aquillius, and said that his master was willing to aid +the Romans against the Italians if the Romans would forbid Nicomedes +to attack him, their ally. If not, he wished the alliance to be +formally dissolved. Or there was yet another alternative. Let the +commissioners and himself appeal to the Senate to decide between them. +The commissioners treated the message as an insult. Mithridates, +they said, must not attack Nicomedes, and they intended to restore +Ariobarzanes. Possibly the conduct of Aquillius was due to his having +been heavily bribed by Nicomedes, who must have felt that when the +Romans were gone he would be like a mouse awaiting the cat's spring; +for it is difficult to imagine the foolhardiness which without some +such tangible stimulus would at that moment have plunged him into war. + +[Sidenote: War begun. Energy of Mithridates.] But when once the die +was cast, Mithridates threw himself into the war with the energy of +long-suppressed rage. He sent to court the alliance of Egypt and the +Cretan league, to whom he represented himself as the champion of +Greece against her tyrant. He tried to stir up revolts in Thrace and +Macedonia. He arranged with Tigranes that an Armenian army should +co-operate with him, leaving him the land it occupied, but carrying +off the plunder. He gave the word, and a swarm of pirate ships swept +the Mediterranean under his colours. He summoned an army of 250,000 +foot, 40,000 horse, and 130 scythed chariots, a fleet of 300 decked +vessels, and 100 other ships called 'Dicrota' with a double bank of +oars. He formed and armed in Roman fashion a foreign contingent, in +which many Romans and Italians enlisted; and he placed able Greek +generals, Archelaus and Neoptolemus, over his troops. [Sidenote: +Forces of Rome.] To meet this formidable array the Romans had a fleet +off Byzantium, the army of Nicomedes, which was still between Sinope +and Amastris, and three corps, each of 40,000 men, but composed for +the most part of hastily organized Asiatics; one under Cassius between +Bithynia and Galatia, another under Aquillius between Bithynia and +Pontus, and a third under Oppius in Cappadocia. The war was decided +almost in a single battle. [Sidenote: Victory of Mithridates over +Nicomedes.] Neoptolemus and Archelaus routed the Bithynian army on +the river Amnias, and captured the camp and military chest. It was a +fierce and for some time a doubtful fight, and seems to have been +decided by the scythed chariots, which spread terror in the Bithynian +ranks. [Sidenote: Victory over Aquillius.] Nicomedes fled to +Aquillius, who was defeated by Archelaus near Mount Scorobas, and fled +with the king across the Sangarius to Pergamus, whence he attempted to +reach Rhodes. Cassius retreated to Phrygia, and tried to discipline +his raw levies. But, finding this impossible; he broke up the army and +led the Roman troops with him to Apameia. The fleet in the Black Sea +was surrendered by its commander. + +[Sidenote: Mithridates' progress through Phrygia, Mysia and Asia.] +Thus, triumphant by sea and land, Mithridates, after settling +Bithynia, marched through Phrygia and Mysia into the Roman province +Asia, and was hailed everywhere as a deliverer, for after his +victories he had sent home all his Asiatic prisoners with presents. +Then he sent messengers into Lycia and Pamphylia to seek the alliance +of those countries. Oppius was in Laodicea, on the Lycus. The king +offered the townsmen immunity if they surrendered him, and, when they +did so, carried him about as a show. [Sidenote: Fate of Aquillius.] +Aquillius was also given up by the Mytileneans and made to ride in +chains on an ass, calling out who he was wherever he went. At Pergamus +Mithridates slew him by pouring molten gold down his throat--a savage +punishment, which, however, confirms the impression that it was Roman +avarice which forced on the war. Magnesia on the Maeander, Ephesus, +and Mitylene welcomed the king joyfully, and Stratoniceia, in Caria, +was captured. He then attacked Magnesia near Mount Sipylus, prepared +to invade Rhodes, and issued a hideous order for an exterminating +massacre of every Roman and Italian in Asia on an appointed day. +Punishments were proclaimed for anyone who should hide one of the +proscribed or bury his body; rewards were promised for all who killed +or denounced them. Slaves who slew their masters were to be freed. The +murder of a creditor was to be taken as payment by a debtor of half +his debt. [Massacre of Romans and Italians.] There were dreadful +scenes on the fatal day--the thirtieth after the order was issued--in +the Asiatic cities. In Pergamus the victims fled to the temple of +Aesculapius, and were shot down as they clung to the statues. At +Ephesus they were dragged out from the temple of Artemis and slain. At +Adramyttium they swam out to sea, but were brought back and killed, +and their children were drowned. At Cos alone was any mercy shown. +There those who had taken refuge in the temple of Aesculapius were +spared. The number of the slain was said to be 80,000 or even 120,000, +which must have been, however, an incredible exaggeration. [Sidenote: +Objects of the massacre.] By this fiendish crime Mithridates must, +though he was mistaken, have felt that he cut himself off for +ever from all reconciliation with Rome. But no doubt he acted on +calculation. For not only did he get rid of men who might have +recruited the Roman armies; not only did he gratify the long-hoarded +hatred of the farmers and peasants of whom Roman publicans and Roman +slave-masters had so long made a prey; not only did he oblige the +debtors by wiping out their debts and even the very memory of them +in their creditors' blood, but he might well count on putting his +accomplices also beyond the pale of Roman mercy, and so linking them +to his own fortunes. Moreover, vengeance seemed remote. For Sulla had +just marched on Rome instead of to the east, and a civil war in +Italy might make Mithridates permanently supreme in Asia. [Sidenote: +Mithridates' settlement of his new acquisitions.] So he made Pergamus +his capital, leaving Sinope to his son as vice-regent, while +Cappadocia, Phrygia, and Bithynia were turned into satrapies. All +arrears of taxes were remitted; and so wealthy had his spoils made him +that exemption for five years to come was promised to the towns that +had obeyed his orders. + +[Sidenote: Reverses of Mithridates. He retires to Pergamus.] But +the tide was already on the turn. In Paphlagonia there was still +resistance. Archelaus was repulsed and wounded at Magnesia. +Mithridates in person was forced to abandon the siege of Rhodes. His +revenge was sated; he was tired of the hardships of a war which he +meant his generals to conduct in future; and with a new wife he went +back to Pergamus, to his rings, and his music, and debaucheries, at +the very time that a shudder had gone through Italy at the tidings of +the massacre, and when Sulla was on his way to avenge it. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SULLA IN GREECE AND ASIA. + + +[Sidenote: Aristion at Athens.] A citizen of Athens, named Aristion, +whose mother was an Egyptian slave, and who was the son or adopted +son of one Athenion, had been sent by the Athenians as ambassador to +Mithridates. He had been a schoolmaster and teacher of rhetoric, +and professed the philosophy of Epicurus. He gained the ear of +Mithridates, and sent home flaming accounts of the king's power, and +of his intention of restoring the democracy at Athens. The Athenians +sent some ships of war to bring him home from Euboea, with a present +of a silver-footed litter; and in this, clothed in purple, and with +a fine ring on his finger, which he had got probably from his friend +Mithridates, he came back to Athens with much parade. [Sidenote: +Revolt of Athens from Rome.] In a set speech he dilated on the king's +splendid successes, and advised the people to declare themselves +independent and elect him their general. They did so, and he very soon +massacred his opponents and made himself despot. Thus Athens and +the Piraeus passed into the hands of Mithridates. The spirit of +disaffection to Rome spread rapidly. [Sidenote: Revolt of the +Achaeans, Laconians, and Boeotians.] When Archelaus appeared in +Greece, the Achaeans, Laconians, and Boeotians, with the exception of +Thespiae, joined him, while the Pontic fleet seized Euboea and +Demetrias, a town at the head of the gulf of Pagasae. + +Sura was sent by the Roman governor of Macedonia to make head against +the invaders. He won a naval battle and captured Sciathus, where all +the spoils of the enemy were stored. [Sidenote: Conflicts between the +Romans and the forces of Mithridates in Boeotia.] Then he marched into +Boeotia, and, after a three days' engagement with the combined forces +of Archelaus and Aristion, pushed Archelaus back to the coast. The +war, perhaps, might have been ended here; but at this moment Lucullus +came to announce the approach of Sulla, and to warn Sura that the war +had been entrusted to him. So Sura retired to Macedonia. [Sidenote: +Sulla lands in Epirus, 87 B.C., and marches on Athens.] Sulla had left +Brundusium in 87, and, landing on the coast of Epirus, gathered what +supplies he could from Aetolia and Thessaly, and marched straight +for Athens. It was soon seen that the foundations of the empire of +Mithridates were based on sand. The Boeotians at once submitted, +including Thebes, which had joined the king. [Sidenote: Siege of the +Piraeus and Athens.] Sulla then began two sieges, that of the Piraeus +where Archelaus was, and that of Athens defended by Aristion. +Archelaus had before shown himself an intrepid soldier, and he baffled +all Sulla's efforts with equal ingenuity and courage. After an +unsuccessful attempt to storm the walls, Sulla retired to Eleusis +and Megara, thus keeping up his communications with Thebes and the +Peloponnese, and set to work constructing catapults and other engines, +and preparing an earthwork from which he meant to attack the wall with +them. For these purposes he cut down the trees of the Academia and the +Lyceum. He was kept informed of intended sallies by two slaves inside +the town, who threw out leaden balls with words cut on them. But +as fast as the earthwork rose Archelaus built towers on the walls +opposite to it, and thence harassed the besiegers. [Sidenote: Battle +at the Piraeus. Archelaus nearly taken.] He was also reinforced by +Mithridates, and then came out and fought a battle which was for some +time doubtful; but he was forced to retire at length with the loss of +2,000 men. He himself remained till the last. The gates were shut and +he had to be drawn up by a rope over the wall. + +[Sidenote: Sulla's difficulties.] The affairs of Sulla, however, were +in no flourishing condition. He had come to Greece with only 30,000 +men, with no fleet, and little money. He was forced to plunder the +shrines of Epidaurus, Olympia, and Delphi. His messenger to Delphi +came back saying that he had heard the sound of a lute in the temple, +and dared not commit the sacrilege. But Sulla sent him back, saying +that he was sure the sound was a note of welcome, and that the god +meant him to have the treasure. He promised to pay it back some day, +and he kept his word, for he confiscated half the land of Thebes and +applied the proceeds to reimbursing the sacred funds. In his worst +straits he was always ready with some such mockery. [Sidenote: Sulla +sends Lucullus to Egypt.] Winter was now at hand, and Sulla despatched +Lucullus to Egypt to get ships. The refusal of the King of Egypt shows +what was now thought of the Roman power. Sulla then formed a camp +at Eleusis and continued the siege, and so shook the great tower of +Archelaus by a simultaneous discharge of twelve leaden balls from +his catapults that it had to be drawn back. [Sidenote: Blockade of +Athens.] By means of the two slaves he was also able to frustrate the +attempts of Archelaus to throw supplies into Athens, which was now +suffering from hunger, for Sulla had surrounded it with forts and +turned the siege into a blockade. Mithridates now sent his son into +Macedonia with an army, before which the small Roman force there had +to retire. After this success the prince marched towards Athens, but +died on the way. [Sidenote: Desperate defence of the Piraeus.] At the +Piraeus scenes occurred which were afterwards repeated at the siege of +Jerusalem. Archelaus undermined the earthwork and Sulla made another +determined attempt to take the wall by storm. He battered down part +of it, fired the props of his mine and so brought down more, and sent +troops by relays to escalade the breach. But Archelaus, like the +Plataeans in the Peloponnesian war, built an inner crescent-shaped +wall, from which he took the assailants in front and on both flanks +when they tried to advance. [Sidenote: Sulla turns the siege into a +blockade.] At last, wearied by this dogged resistance, Sulla turned +the siege of the Piraeus also into a blockade, which meant simply that +he hindered Archelaus from helping Athens, for he could not prevent +the influx of supplies from the sea. + +[Sidenote: Athens taken March 1, B.C. 86.] Athens meanwhile was in +dreadful straits. Wheat was selling at nearly 3_l_. 10_s_. a gallon, +and the inhabitants were feeding on old leather bottles, shoes, and +the bodies of the dead. A deputation came out, but Sulla sent them +back because they began an harangue on the deeds of their ancestors, +put into their mouths, no doubt, by the rhetorician Aristion. Sulla +told them they were the scum of nations, not descended from the old +Athenians at all, and that instead of listening to their rhetoric he +meant to punish their rebellion. On the night of March 1, 86 B.C., he +broke into the town amid the blare of trumpets and the shouts of his +troops. He told his men to give no quarter, and the blood, it was +said, ran down through the gates into the suburbs. [Sidenote: Aristion +slain.] Aristion fled to the Acropolis. Hunger forced him in the end +to capitulate, and he was killed. Sulla meanwhile had forced on the +siege of Piraeus still more vigorously. He got past the crescent wall, +only to find other walls similarly constructed behind it; but he +gradually drove Archelaus into Munychia, or the peninsular part of +Piraeus, and as he had no ships he could do nothing more. [Sidenote: +Archelaus sails from Piraeus, and joins Taxiles, sent by Mithridates +with reinforcements.] Either before or after the capture of the +Acropolis Archelaus sailed away, in obedience to a summons from +Taxiles, a new general whom Mithridates had sent with an army of +100,000 foot, 10,000 horse, and ninety scythed chariots into Greece. +With these forces and the troops previously sent with his master's +son he formed a junction at Thermopylae, marched into Phocis down the +valley of the Cephissus, attempted but failed to take Elateia, and +came up with Sulla near Chaeroneia. [Sidenote: Sulla forms a +junction with Hortensius.] Sulla had marched into Boeotia and joined +Hortensius, who had a brought some troops from Thessaly. But he is +said by Appian to have had not a third of the enemy's numbers, while +Plutarch affirms that he had only 15,000 foot and 1,500 horse. + +[Illustration: Map to illustrate the March of SULLA and ARCHELAUS +before Chaeroneia.] + +[Sidenote: Position of the two armies.] Sulla was on the west bank of +the Cephissus, on an eminence named Philoboeotus, and Archelaus on the +other side of the river not far off. Sulla's soldiers were alarmed by +the numbers and splendour of the enemy, for the brass and steel +of their armour 'kindled the air with an awful flame like that of +lightning.' [Sidenote: Manoeuvres of Sulla and Archelaus.] Archelaus, +marching down the valley of the Cephissus, tried to seize a strong +position called the Acropolis of the Parapotamii, situated on the +Assus, which joined the Cephissus to the south of both armies. But +Sulla, who had wearied out his men by drudgery in dyke-making, and +made them eager for a fight, crossed the Cephissus, seized the +position first, and then, crossing the Assus, took up his position +under Mount Edylium. Here he encamped opposite Archelaus, who, having +also crossed the Assus, was now at a place called Assia, which was +nearer Lake Copais. Thence Archelaus made an attempt on Chaeroneia; +but Sulla was again beforehand with him, and garrisoned the place +with one legion. South of Chaeroneia was a hill called Thurium. This +Archelaus seized. Sulla then brought the rest of his troops across +the Cephissus, to form a junction with the legion in Chaeroneia and +dislodge the enemy from Thurium. He left Murena on the north of the +Cephissus to keep the enemy in check at Assia. Archelaus, however, +also brought his main army across the Cephissus after Sulla. Murena +followed him, and Sulla drew up his army with his cavalry on each +wing, himself commanding the right and Murena the left. The armies +were now opposite each other, Sulla to the south, then Archelaus, then +the Cephissus. + +[Sidenote: Battle of Chaeroneia.] Sulla sent some troops round Thurium +to the hills behind Chaeroneia, and in the enemy's rear. The enemy ran +down in confusion from Thurium, where they were met by Murena with +Sulla's left wing, and were either destroyed or driven back upon the +centre of the line of Archelaus, which they threw into disorder. Sulla +on the right advanced so quickly as to prevent the scythed chariots +from getting any impetus, by which they were rendered useless, for the +soldiers easily eluded them when driven at a slow pace, and as soon as +they had passed killed the horses and drivers. Archelaus now extended +his right wing in order to surround Murena. Hortensius, whom Sulla had +posted on some hills to the left of his left wing on purpose to defeat +this manoeuvre, immediately pressed forward to attack this body on its +left flank. But Archelaus drove him back with some cavalry, and nearly +surrounded Hortensius. + +[Illustration: First position of the two armies at CHAERONEIA.] +[Illustration: Second position of the two armies at CHAERONEIA.] + +Sulla hastened to his aid, and Archelaus, seeing him coming, instantly +counter-marched and attacked Sulla's right in his absence, while +Taxiles assailed Murena on the left. But Sulla hastened back, too, +after leaving Hortensius to support Murena, and, when he appeared, the +right wing drove back Archelaus to the Cephissus. Murena was equally +triumphant on the left wing, and the barbarians fled pell-mell to the +Cephissus, only 10,000 of them reaching Chalcis in Euboea. [Sidenote: +Sulla's falsehood about the battle.] Appian says the Romans lost only +thirteen men, while Plutarch, on the authority of Sulla's Memoirs, +says that they lost four. This is absurd. Sulla seems to have told +some startling lies in his Memoirs, perhaps to prove that he had been +the favourite of fortune, which was a mania of his. + +[Sidenote: Dorylaus reinforces Archelaus.] Mithridates, when he heard +of the defeat of Archelaus, sent Dorylaus with 8,000 men to Euboea, +where he joined the remnant of the army of Archelaus, and crossing +to the mainland met Sulla at Orchomenus. Sulla was in Phthiotis, to +confront L. Valerius Flaccus who had come to supersede him, but he +returned as soon as he heard that Dorylaus had landed. Orchomenus is +just north of the Cephissus where it runs into Lake Copais, and a +stream called Melas, rising on the east of Orchomenus, joined the +Cephissus near its mouth, the neighbouring ground being a marsh. +[Sidenote: Battle of Orchomenus. Disposition of Archelaus' army.] +Archelaus did not want to fight, but Dorylaus hinted at treachery and +had, no doubt, been ordered by Mithridates to avenge Chaeroneia. +Near Mount Tilphossium, however, to the south of Lake Copais, he was +worsted by Sulla in a skirmish, and thinking better of the advice of +Archelaus tried to prolong the war. Archelaus, indeed, seems to have +commanded in the battle, for Mithridates was shrewd enough to know +when he had a good general. He drew up his army in four lines, the +scythed chariots in front, behind them the Macedonian phalanx, then +his auxiliaries, including Italian deserters, and, lastly, his +light-armed troops. On each flank he posted his cavalry. [Sidenote: +Sulla's arrangements.] Sulla, who was weak in cavalry, dug two ditches +guarded by forts, one on each flank, so as to keep off the enemy's +horse. Then he drew up his infantry in three lines, leaving gaps in +them for the light troops and cavalry to come through from the rear +when needed. To the second line stakes were given, with orders to +plant them so as to form a palisade; and the first line, when the +chariots charged, retired behind the palisade, while the light troops +advanced through the gaps and hurled missiles at the horses and +drivers. The chariots turned and threw the phalanx into confusion, and +when Archelaus ordered up his cavalry, Sulla sent round his to take +them in the rear. At one time, however, the contest was doubtful, and +the Romans wavered, till they were put to shame by their general, who, +seizing a standard and advancing towards the foe, cried out, 'When +those at home ask where it was you abandoned your leader, say, it was +at Orchomenus.' This great victory, in which Sulla showed generalship +of a high order, ended the first Mithridatic war. The date is not +quite certain. Probably it happened in 86. + +[Sidenote: Sulla winters in Thessaly.] After the battle Sulla wintered +in Thessaly, where he built a fleet, being tired of waiting for +Lucullus. [Sidenote: He confers with Archelaus at Delium.] At Delium +he met Archelaus and each urged the other to turn traitor, Archelaus +promising that Mithridates would aid Sulla against Cinna; Sulla +advising Archelaus to dethrone Mithridates. It was a curious way of +showing the respect which they entertained for each other's ability; +but Sulla was too scornful of Asiatic aid, and Archelaus too loyal +to listen to such suggestions. However, when Archelaus fell ill +afterwards, Sulla was so attentive to him, besides giving him land +in Euboea and styling him friend of the Roman people, that it was +suspected that Archelaus had been playing into his hands all along. It +was a most unlikely suspicion; for nothing was more natural than that +now, when Sulla was making terms with Mithridates and going to meet +Fimbria, he should wish to make Archelaus his friend. For after all he +had resolved to forget the Asiatic massacre and not push Mithridates +to desperation. [Sidenote: Terms offered by Sulla to Mithridates.] The +terms agreed upon were these: Mithridates was to surrender Cappadocia, +Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Asia, and the islands, eighty ships of war, all +prisoners and deserters; he was to give pay and provisions to Sulla's +men, and provide a war indemnity of 3,000 talents (732,000_l_.); to +restore to their homes the refugees from Macedonia, and those whom, as +will be related hereafter, he had carried off from Chios; and to hand +over more of his ships of war to such states as Rhodes in alliance +with Rome. Mithridates was then to be recognised as the ally of Rome. +He chafed at the terms, the proposal of which indeed brought out the +long-headed intrepidity of Sulla's character in the strongest light. +Walking, as it were, on the razor-edge of two precipices, he never +faltered once. The Romans could not charge him with not having carried +into effect the original purpose of the war--the restoration of +Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes--nor could Mithridates fail in the end to +listen to the voice of Archelaus. When he at first rejected the terms, +Sulla advanced towards Asia, plundering some of the barbarous tribes +on the frontiers of Macedonia, and reducing that province to order. +But Mithridates did not hesitate long. [Sidenote: Tyranny and +difficulties of Mithridates.] He, too, was in a difficult position. +The inhabitants of Asia Minor soon found that in yielding to him they +had exchanged whips for scorpions. He suspected that the defeat of +Archelaus at Chaeroneia would excite rebellion, and he seized as many +of the Galatian chiefs as he could, and slew them with their wives and +children. The consequence was that the surviving chiefs expelled the +man whom he had sent as satrap. He suspected the Chians also, and +made them give up their arms and the children of their chief men +as hostages. Then he made a requisition on them for 2,000 talents +(488,000_l_.), and because they could not raise the money, or because +the tyrant pretended that there was a deficiency, the citizens were +shipped off to the east of the Black Sea, and the island was occupied +by colonists. The man who had managed the affair of Chios was sent to +play the same game at Ephesus. But the people were on their guard, +slew him, and raised the standard of rebellion. Tralles, Hypaepa, +Metropolis, Sardis, Smyrna, and other towns followed their example. +Mithridates tried to buoy up his sinking cause, attracting debtors by +the remission of debts, resident aliens by the gift of the citizenship +of the towns which they inhabited, and slaves by the promise of +freedom--devices of a desperate man. A plot was laid against his life +which was betrayed, and in his fury he launched out into yet more +savage excesses. He sent a set of men to collect depositions, and they +slew indiscriminately those who were denounced, 1600, it is said, in +all. + +[Sidenote: Fimbria mutinies against and murders Flaccus.] These events +must have occurred in the winter of 86-85 B.C., when Flaccus was on +his march from the Adriatic coast through Macedonia and Thrace +for Asia. Flaccus had quarrelled with his lieutenant Fimbria, and +superseded him. The latter, when Flaccus had crossed from Byzantium +to Chalcedon, induced the troops, who hated their general, to mutiny. +Flaccus returned in haste; but, learning what had happened, fled back +to Chalcedon and thence to Nicomedia. Here Fimbria, finding him hidden +in a well, murdered him, and threw his head into the sea. [Sidenote: +He defeats the son of Mithridates and pursues the king.] Then, +attacking the king's son, he defeated him at the river Rhyndacus, and +pursued the king himself to Pergamus and Pitane, where he would have +taken him but that he crossed over to Mitylene, while Fimbria had no +ships and was thus baulked of his prey. Another event had happened to +aggravate his irritation. [Sidenote: Lucullus off the coast of Asia +Minor. Overtures of Fimbria to him.] Lucullus, sent by Sulla to +collect a fleet, had, as has been related (p. 153), failed in Egypt. +But he had procured ships from Syria and Rhodes, induced Cos and +Cnidus to revolt, and driven out the Pontic partisans from Chios and +Colophon. He was now in the neighbourhood, when Mithridates was at +Pitane. [Sidenote: Mithridates meets Sulla and thy come to terms.] +But, he turned a deaf ear to Fimbria's request for aid, and after +defeating Neoptolemus, the king's admiral, met Sulla in the Thracian +Chersonese, and conveyed him across to Dardanus, in the Troad, where +Mithridates came to meet him. Each had one feeling in common--dread +lest the other should make terms with Fimbria; and the bargain was +soon struck in spite of Sulla's soldiers, who were thus after all +baulked of the long-looked-for Asiatic campaign and their desire to +take revenge for the great massacre. But Sulla, as we have seen (p. +153), got some money to quiet them; and they were in his power in Asia +almost as much as he had been in theirs at Rome. He at once led them +against Fimbria, who was near Thyatira, in Lydia. [Sidenote: Fimbria's +men desert to Sulla. Fimbria commits suicide.] He summoned that leader +to hand over his army, and the soldiers began to desert to him. +Fimbria tried to force them to swear obedience to him, and slew the +first who refused. Then he sent a slave to assassinate Sulla; and the +discovery of this attempt so maddened Sulla's soldiers that Fimbria +dared not trust even Sulla's promised safe-conduct and slew himself. +[Sidenote: Sulla's measures.] Sulla incorporated his troops with his +own army, and proceeded to regulate the affairs of Asia. Those towns +which had remained faithful to Rome or had sided with him were +liberally rewarded. All slaves who refused to return to their masters +were slain. The towns that resisted were punished and their walls +destroyed. The ringleaders in the massacre were put to death. The +taxpayers were forced to pay at once the previous five years' arrears +and a fine of 20,000 talents (4,880,000_l_.), and Lucullus was left +to collect it. In order to raise this sum the unhappy Asiatics +were obliged to mortgage their public buildings to the Italian +money-lenders; but Sulla got the whole of it, and scarcely was he +gone when pirates, hounded on by Mithridates, came, like flocks of +vultures, to devour what the eagles had left. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SULLA IN ITALY. + + +[Sidenote: Sulla sets out homewards.] Leaving Murena in Asia with +Fimbria's legions, Sulla, in 84 B.C., with his soldiers in good +humour, and with full coffers, at last set out homewards. Three days +after sailing from Ephesus he reached the Piraeus. Thence he wrote to +the Senate in a different style from that in which he had communicated +his victory over Fimbria, when he had not mentioned his own outlawry. +He now recounted the Senate all that he had done, and contrasted it +with what had been done to him at Rome, how his house had been +destroyed, his friends murdered, and his wife and children forced to +fly for their lives. He was on his way, he said, to punish his enemies +and those who had wronged him. Other men, including the +newly-enfranchised Italians, need be under no apprehension. We do not +know much of what had been going on at Rome beyond what has been +related in a previous chapter. Cinna and Carbo, the consuls, were +making what preparations they could when the letter arrived. But it +struck a cold chill of dread into many of the Senate, and Cinna and +Carbo were told to desist for a time, while an embassy was sent to +Sulla to try and arrange terms, and to ask, if he wished to be assured +of his own safety, what were his demands. But when the ambassadors +were gone, Cinna and Carbo proclaimed themselves consuls for 83, so +that they might not have to come back to Rome to hold the elections; +and Cinna was soon afterwards murdered at Ancona. The tribunes then +compelled Carbo to come back and hold the elections in the regular +manner; and Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus and Caius Norbanus were +elected. + +Meanwhile the ambassadors had found Sulla in Greece, and had received +his answer. [Sidenote: Sulla's response to an embassy from Rome.] +He said that he would never be reconciled to such criminals as his +enemies, though the Romans might, if they chose; and that, as for his +own safety, he had an army devoted to him, and should prefer to secure +the safety of the Senate and his own adherents. He sent back with the +ambassadors some friends to represent him before the Senate, and, +embarking his army at the Piraeus, ordered it to go round the coast to +Patrae in Achaia, and thence to the shores opposite Brundisium. He, +himself, having a fit of gout, went to Euboea, to try the springs of +Aedepsus. [Sidenote: Story of Sulla and some fishermen.] One day, +says Plutarch, while he was walking on the shore there some fishermen +brought him some fine fish. He was much pleased, but when they told +him that they were citizens of Halae, a town which he had destroyed +after the battle of Orchomenos, he said in his grim way, 'What! is +there a man of Halae still alive?' But then he told the men to take +heart, for the fish had pleaded eloquently for them. From Euboea he +crossed to the mainland to rejoin his troops. They were about 40,000 +in number, and more than 200,000 men were, he said, in arms against +him in Italy. [Sidenote: Devotion of Sulla's troops to him.] But +Sulla, who had connived at their mutinies, their vices, and their +breaches of discipline, who had always led them to victory, and +had never yet thrown aside that mask of moderation which veiled an +inflexible determination to be revenged--Sulla who had been so long +the sole representative of authority, and to whom they had learned to +look for their ultimate reward, was their hero and hope. They offered +him their money, and of their own accord swore not to disperse or to +ravage the country. Sulla refused their money. Indeed he must have had +plenty of his own. But now, when slowly and still very cautiously he +was unfolding his designs, such devotion must have been very welcome. + +[Sidenote: Sulla lands at Brundisium, B.C. 83.] Early in 83 he sailed +from Dyrrhachium to Brundisium, and was at once received by the town. +He was particularly anxious not to rouse against himself the Italians, +with whom his name was anything but popular, and he solemnly swore to +respect their lately-acquired rights. Adherents soon flocked to him. +[Sidenote: He is joined by Crassus;] Marcus Licinius Crassus came from +Africa, and was sent to raise troops among the Marsi. He asked for an +escort, for he had to go through territory occupied by the enemy. 'I +give thee,' said Sulla hotly, 'thy father, thy brother, thy friends +and thy kinsmen, who were cut off by violence and lawlessness, and +whose murderers I am now hunting down.' [Sidenote: by Metellus Pius;] +Quintus Metellus Pius came from Liguria, whither he had escaped from +Africa, after holding out there against the Marians as long as he +could. [Sidenote: by Ofella;] Quintus Lucretius Ofella also came, soon +to find to his cost that he had chosen a master who could as readily +forget as accept timely service. [Sidenote: by Cn. Pompeius;] Most +welcome of all was Cneius Pompeius, welcome not only for his talents, +energy, and popularity, but because he did not come empty-handed. He +had taken service under Cinna, but had been looked on with distrust, +and an action had been brought against him to make him surrender +plunder which his father, Cneius Pompeius Strabo, was said to have +appropriated when he took Auximum. Carbo had pleaded for him, and he +had been acquitted. But, as soon as Sulla was gaining ground in Italy, +he went to Picenum where he had estates, and expelled from Auximum the +adherents of Carbo, and then passing from town to town won them one by +one from his late protector's interests, and got together a corps of +three legions, with all the proper equipment and munitions of war. +Three officers were sent against him at the head of three divisions; +but they quarrelled, and Pompeius, who is said to have slain with his +own hand the strongest horseman in the enemy's ranks, defeated one of +them and effected a junction with Sulla somewhere in Apulia. Sulla's +soldierly eye was pleased at the sight of troops thus successful, and +in good martial trim; and when Pompeius addressed him as Imperator, +he hailed him by the same title in return. Or, perhaps, he was only +playing on the youth's vanity, for Pompeius, who was for his courage +and good looks the darling of the soldiers and the women, was very +vain, and flattery was a potion which it seems to have been one +of Sulla's cynical maxims always to administer in strong doses. +[Sidenote: by Philippus;] Later on he was joined by Philippus, the foe +of Drusus, who for shifty and successful knavery seems to have been +another Marcus Scaurus; [Sidenote: by Cethegus;] by Cethegus, who +had been one of his bitterest enemies, which to a man of Sulla's +business-like disposition would not be an objection, so long as he +could make himself useful at the time; [Sidenote: by Verres.] and by +Caius Verres, a late quaestor of Carbo, who had embezzled the public +money in that capacity, and thus began by tergiversation and theft a +notorious career. + +Sulla marched northwards through Apulia, gaining friends by committing +no devastation, and sending proposals of peace to the consul Norbanus, +which were as hypocritical as was his abstinence from ravaging the +country. He meant to deal with these Samnites through whose country he +was marching at some other time. At present it was most politic not to +provoke them. According to Appian, he met the consul at Canusium, on +the Aufidus. [Sidenote: Battle of Mount Tifata. Defeat of Norbanus.] +But it is probable that this is a mistake, and that the first battle +was fought at Mount Tifata, a spur of the Apennines, near Capua. +Norbanus had seized Sulla's envoys, and this so enraged the soldiers +of the latter that they charged down the hill with irresistible +impetuosity, and killed 6000 of the foe. Norbanus fled to Capua. Only +seventy of the Sullans were killed. Sulla now crossed the Volturnus, +and marching along the Appian Road met the other consul, Scipio, at +Teanum, with whom he opened negotiations. Scipio sent Sertorius to +Norbanus, who was blockaded in Capua, to consult him on the terms +proposed. Sertorius, who had guessed what was coming and hoped to +prevent it by something more efficacious than the advice of Norbanus, +went out of his way and seized Suessa. This would interrupt Sulla's +immediate communications with the sea, of which he was master. Sulla +complained; but all the while he was, as Sertorius had warned Scipio, +corrupting the Consul's troops. [Sidenote: Scipio's troops desert to +Sulla.] They murmured when Scipio returned the hostages which Sulla +had given; and, when the latter on their invitation approached their +lines they went over to him in a body. On hearing of this Carbo said, +that in contending with Sulla he had to contend with a lion and a fox, +and that the fox gave him most trouble. + +It may be noted here that Sulla, whose calculated moderation was +paying him well--the more pleasantly because he knew that he could +wreak his revenge afterwards at his leisure--never scrupled to employ +every kind of subterfuge and lie. [Sidenote: Sulla's mendacity.] He +tricked and lied on his march to Rome in 88. He lied foully to the +Samnites after the battle of the Colline Gate. And he lied in his +Memoirs, when he said that he only lost four at Chaeroneia, and +twenty-three at Sacriportus, where he also said that he killed 20,000 +of the foe. Absurd assertions like these may have been dictated as a +sort of lavish acknowledgment paid to fortune, of whom he liked to be +thought the favourite--lies that no one believed or was expected to +believe, but keeping up a fiction of which it was his foible to be +proud. [Sidenote: His success due greatly to desertions.] Another +thing we may note is, that this was only the first of a long series +of treasons to which, as much almost as to his own generalship, Sulla +owed his final success. Five cohorts deserted at Sacriportus. Five +more went over from Carbo to Metellus. Two hundred and seventy cavalry +went over from Carbo to Sulla in Etruria. A whole legion, despatched +by Carbo to relieve Praeneste, joined Pompeius. At the battle of +Faventia 6000 deserted, and a Lucanian legion did the same directly +afterwards. Naples and Narbo were both banded over by treachery. We +hear also of commanders deserting. On the other hand, nothing is said +of anyone deserting from Sulla, so that from the very beginning the +contest could never have been really considered doubtful. + +[Sidenote: Sertorius sent to Spain. No capable man left to oppose +Sulla.] After this signal success at Teanum Sertorius was sent to +Spain, either because, as is likely, he made bitter comments on the +consul's incompetence, or because it was important to hold Spain as a +place for retreat. Carbo hastened to Rome to and at his instigation +the Senate outlawed all the senators who had joined Sulla--a suicidal +step, which would contrast fatally with Sulla's crafty moderation. +[Sidenote: Burning of the Capitol.] It was about this time that the +Capitol, and in it the Sibylline books, were burnt. Some people said +that Carbo burnt it, though what his motive could be is difficult to +conjecture. Sulla very likely regretted the loss of the Sibylline +books as much as any man. [Sidenote: Sulla's situation at the close of +83 B.C.] With this the first year of the civil war ended. Sulla was +master of Picenum, Apulia, and Campania; had disposed of two consuls +and their armies; and had, by conciliation and swearing to respect +their rights, made friends of some of the newly-enfranchised Italian +towns. + +The consuls for the next year (82) were Carbo and young Marius. The +Marian governor in Africa was suspected of wishing to raise the slaves +and to make himself absolute in the province. Consequently the Roman +merchants stirred up a tumult, in which he was burnt alive in his +house. In Sardinia the renegade Philippus did some service by +defeating the Marian praetor, and so securing for Sulla the corn +supply of the islands. In the spring Sulla seized Setia, a strong +position on the west of the Volscian Mountains. Marius was in the same +neighbourhood, and he retreated to Sacriportus on the east of the same +range. [Sidenote: Battle of Sacriportus.] Sulla followed him, his aim +being to get to Rome. A battle took place at Sacriportus. Marius was +getting the worst of it on the left wing, when five cohorts and two +companies of cavalry deserted him. The rest fled with great slaughter, +and Sulla pressed so hard on them that the gates of Praeneste were +shut, to hinder him getting in with the fugitives. Marius was thus +left outside, and, like Archelaus at Piraeus, had to be hoisted over +the walls by ropes. [Sidenote: Sulla wins the battle and besieges +Praeneste.] Sulla captured 8000 Samnites in the battle, and now, for +the first time, when the road to Rome was opened and victory seemed +secure, showed himself in his true colours, and slew all of them to a +man. [Sidenote: Massacre at Rome by order of young Marius.] An equally +savage butchery had been going on in Rome, where Marius, before he was +blockaded in Praeneste, had given orders to massacre the leaders of +the opposite faction. The Senate was assembled as if to despatch +business in the Curia Hostilia, and there Carbo's cousin and the +father-in-law of Pompeius were assassinated. The wife of the latter +killed herself on hearing the news. Quintus Mucius Scaevola, the chief +pontiff, and the first jurist who attempted to systematise Roman law, +fled to the temple of Vesta, and was there slain. The corpses of those +who had been killed were thrown into the Tiber, and Marius had the +ferocious satisfaction of feeling that his enemies would not be able +to exult over his own imminent ruin. [Sidenote: Sulla comes to Rome.] +Sulla, leaving Ofella to blockade Praeneste, hastened to Rome, but +there was no one on whom to take vengeance, for his foes had fled. +He confiscated their property, and tried to quiet apprehensions by +telling the people that he would soon re-establish the State. But he +could not stay long in the city, for matters looked threatening in the +north. + +[Sidenote: Metellus and Carbo in the north.] In this quarter the +contest was more stubborn, because the newly enfranchised towns were +stronger partisans of Marius. Metellus had fought a battle on the +Aesis, the frontier river of Picenum, against Carrinas, one of Carbo's +lieutenants, and after a hard fight had beaten him and occupied the +adjacent country. This brought Carbo against him with a superior army, +and Metellus could do nothing till the news of Sacriportus frightened +Carbo into retreating to Ariminum, that he might secure his +communications and get supplies from the rich valley of the Po. +Metellus immediately resumed the offensive. He defeated in person one +division of Carbo, five of whose cohorts deserted in the battle. His +lieutenant, Pompeius, defeated Censorinus at Sena and sacked the town. +Pompeius is also said to have crossed the Po and taken Mediolanum +(Milan), where his soldiers massacred the senate. Metellus, meanwhile, +had gone by sea along the east coast north of Ariminum, and had thus +cut off Carbo's communications with the valley of the Po. This drove +Carbo from his position, and he marched into Etruria, where he fought +a battle near Clusium with Sulla, who had just arrived from Rome. In a +cavalry fight near the Clanis, 270 of Carbo's Spanish horse went +over to Sulla, and Carbo killed the rest. There was another fight +at Saturnia, on the Albegna, and there, too, Sulla was victorious. +[Sidenote: Indecisive combats.] He was less fortunate in a general +engagement near Clusium, which after a whole day's fighting ended +indecisively. Carbo was, however, now reduced to great straits. +Carrinas was defeated by Pompeius and Crassus near Spoletum, and +retired into the town. Carbo sent a detachment to his aid; but it was +cut to pieces by an ambuscade laid by Sulla. Bad news, too, reached +him from the south, where Marius was beginning to starve in Praeneste. +[Sidenote: Carbo attempts to relieve Praeneste.] He sent a strong +force of eight legions to raise the siege; but Pompeius waylaid and +routed them, and surrounded their officer who had retreated to a hill. +But the latter, leaving his fires alight, marched off by night, +and returned to Carbo with only seven cohorts; for his troops had +mutinied, one legion going off to Ariminum and many men dispersing to +their homes. [Sidenote: A second attempt also fails.] A second attempt +to relieve Praeneste was now made from the south. Lamponius from +Lucania, whom we last heard of in the Social War (p. 120), and Pontius +Telesinus from Samnium, marched at the head of 70,000 men into Latium. +This movement drew Sulla from Etruria. He threw himself between Rome +and the enemy, and occupied a gorge through which they had to pass +before they could get to Praeneste. The Latin Road branches off near +Anagnia, one route leading straight to Rome, the other making a detour +through Praeneste. [Sidenote: The dead lock at Praeneste.] It was +somewhere here that Sulla took his stand; and neither could the +southern army break through his lines, nor Marius break through those +of Ofella, though he made determined attempts to do so. + +Meanwhile Carbo and Norbanus, released from the pressure of Sulla's +army, struck across the Apennines to overwhelm Metellus; but their +imprudence ruined them. [Sidenote: Overthrow of Carbo by Metellus.] +Coming on Metellus at Faventia (Faenza) when their troops were weary +after a day's march, they attacked him in the evening, hoping to +surprise him. But the tired men were defeated. Ten thousand were +killed; 6000 surrendered or deserted. The rest fled, and only 1000 +effected an orderly retreat to Arretium. Nor did the disaster end +here. A Lucanian legion, coming to join Carbo, deserted to Metellus on +hearing the result of the battle, and the commander sent to offer his +submission to Sulla. Sulla characteristically replied that he must +earn his pardon, and the other, nothing loth, asked Norbanus and his +officers to a banquet and murdered all who came. Norbanus refused the +invitation and escaped to Rhodes; but when Sulla sent to demand that +he should be given up he committed suicide. [Sidenote: Third attempt +to relive Praeneste.] Carbo had still more than 30,000 men at Clusium, +and he made a third attempt to relieve Praeneste by sending Damasippus +with two legions to co-operate from the north with the Samnites on the +south. [Sidenote: Carbo flies to Africa.] But Sulla found means to +hold them in check, and Carbo, on the news of other disasters--at +Fidentia, where Marcus Lucullus defeated one of his lieutenants, and +at Tuder, which Marcus Crassus took and pillaged--lost heart and fled +to Africa. Plutarch says that Lucullus, having less than a third of +the numbers of the enemy, was in doubt whether to fight. But just then +a gentle breeze blew the flowers from a neighbouring field, which fell +on the shields and helmets of the soldiers in such a manner that they +seemed to be crowned with garlands, and this so cheered them that they +won an easy victory. After Carbo's flight his army was defeated by +Pompeius near Clusium. [Sidenote: Carbo's lieutenants threaten Rome.] +The rest of it, under Carrinas and Censorinus, joined Damasippus, and, +taking up a position twelve miles from Rome in the Alban territory, +threatened the capital and forced Sulla to break up his quarters, +where he had been barring the roads to Praeneste and Rome. [Sidenote: +Sulla comes to the rescue.] The sequel is uncertain; but it is +probable that when the three commanders marched into Latium, Sulla was +obliged to detach cavalry to harass them, and soon afterwards to march +with all his forces to prevent Rome being taken. Why Carrinas did not +assault Rome at once as he came south, we cannot say. Probably the +relief of Praeneste was the most urgent necessity, and he hoped, after +setting Marius free, to overwhelm Sulla first, then Pompeius, and then +to take Rome. But, if these were his plans, the furious impetuosity of +the Samnites disarranged them. [Sidenote: Desperate attempt of Pontius +Telesinus.] Pontius, as soon as he saw Sulla's troops weakened, in +order to oppose Carrinas, forced his way by night along the Latin +Road, gathered up the troops of Carrinas on the march, and at daybreak +was within a few miles of Rome. Sulla instantly followed, but by the +Praenestine Road, which was somewhat longer; and when he got to Rome +about midday, fighting had already taken place, and the Roman cavalry +had been beaten under the walls of the city. + +[Sidenote: Battle of the Colline Gate.] It was November, B.C. 82. +Sunset was near and Sulla's men were weary, but he was determined or +was compelled to fight. Giving his men some hasty refreshment, he at +once formed the line of battle before the Colline Gate, and the last +and most desperate conflict of the civil war began. Sulla's left wing +was driven back to the city walls, and fugitives brought word to +Ofella at Praeneste that the battle was lost. [Sidenote: Danger of +Sulla.] Sulla himself was nearly slain. He was on a spirited white +horse, cheering on his men. Two javelins were hurled at him at once. +He did not see them, but his groom did, and he lashed Sulla's horse so +as to make it leap forward, and the javelins grazed its tail. Sulla +wore in his bosom a small golden image of Apollo, which he brought +from Delphi. He now kissed it with devotion, and prayed aloud to +the god not to allow him to fall ingloriously by the hands of his +fellow-citizens, after leading him safe through so many perils to the +threshold of the city. But neither courage nor superstition availed +him against the fury of the Samnite onset. For the first time in his +life Sulla was beaten, and either retreated into Rome or maintained a +desperate struggle close to the walls during the night. On the right +wing, however, Crassus had gained the day, had chased the foe to +Antemnae, and halting there sent to Sulla for a supply of food. Thus +apprised of his good fortune, he hastened to join Crassus. That +division of the enemy which had beaten him had doubtless heard the +same news, and must have dispersed or joined the rest of their forces +at Antemnae. But in any case they were full of despair. Three thousand +offered to surrender. But Sulla never gave mercy, though he often sold +it for an explicit or tacit consideration. He swore to spare them if +they turned on their own comrades. They did so, and Sulla, taking them +to Rome with four or five thousand other prisoners, placed them in +the Circus Flaminius and had them all slain. [Sidenote: Sulla's +cold-blooded ferocity.] He was haranguing the Senate in the temple of +Bellona, and the cries of the poor wretches alarmed his audience; but +he told them to attend to what he was saying, for the noise they heard +was only made by some malefactors, whom he had ordered to be +chastised. This last blind rush of the Sabellian bull on the lair of +the wolves, which Pontius had told his followers they must destroy, +had failed only by a hair's breadth, and since the days of the Gauls +Rome had never been in such peril. But now at last Sulla had +triumphed, and could afford to gratify his pent-up passion for +vengeance. This butchery in the Circus was but the beginning of what +he meant to do. [Sidenote: Executions.] The four leaders, Pontius, +Carrinas, Damasippus, and Censorinus, were all beheaded; and, in the +same ghastly fashion in which, it was said, Hannibal had learnt the +death of Hasdrubal, so those blockaded in Praeneste learnt the fate of +the relieving army and their own fate also by seeing four heads stuck +on poles outside the town walls. They were half starving and could +resist no longer. Marius and a younger brother of Pontius killed each +other before the surrender. Ofella sent the head of Marius to Sulla, +who had it fixed up before the Rostra, and jeered at it in his +pitiless fashion, quoting from Aristophanes the line, + + You should have worked at the oar before trying to handle the helm. + +[Sidenote: Massacre at Praeneste.] Then he went to Praeneste, and made +all the inhabitants come outside and lay down their arms. The Roman +senators who had been in the place had been already slain by Ofella. +Three groups were made of the rest, consisting of Samnites, Romans, +and Praenestines. The Romans, the women, and the children were spared. +All the others, 12,000 in number, were massacred, and Praeneste was +given over to pillage. + +[Sidenote: Fate of Norba.] So ruthless an example provoked a desperate +resistance at Norba. It was betrayed to Lepidus by night; but the +citizens stabbed and hung themselves or each other, and some locking +themselves inside their houses, set them in flames. A wind was blowing +and the town was consumed. So at Norba there was neither pillage nor +execution. Nola was not taken till two years afterwards, and we have +seen (p. 121) what became of Mutilus on its surrender. [Sidenote: +Sulla's vengeance in Samnium.] Aesernia, the last Samnite capital in +the Social War, was captured in the same year (80), and Sulla did his +best to fulfil his threat of extirpating the Samnite name. In Etruria +Populonium held out longer, and in Strabo's time was still deserted--a +proof of the punishment which it received. Volaterrae was the last +town to submit. In 79 its garrison surrendered, on condition of their +lives being spared. But the soldiers of the besieging force raised a +cry of treason and stoned their general, and a troop of cavalry sent +from Rome cut the garrison to pieces. + +[Sidenote: Fate of Carbo. Pompeius in Sicily.] In the provinces there +was still much to be done. Pompeius was sent to Sicily, and on his +arrival Perperna, the Marian governor, left the island. Carbo had +come over from Africa to Cossura, and was taken and brought before +Pompeius. Pompeius condemned the man who had once been his advocate, +and sent his head to Sulla. It is said that Carbo met his death in a +craven way, begging for a respite. Whether this is true or not, he +seems to have been a selfish and incapable man. But if it be true that +Pompeius, while he had Carbo's companions instantly slain, purposely +spared Carbo himself in order to have the satisfaction of trying him, +he was less to be envied than the man he tried. He divorced his wife +at this time in order to marry Sulla's step-daughter, who was also +divorced from her husband for the purpose. From Sicily Pompeius +was sent to Africa, where Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was in arms. +Crossing offer with 120 ships and 800 transports he landed some of his +troops at Utica and some at Carthage. + +[Sidenote: Decay of discipline in Roman armies.] The decay of +discipline in the Roman armies is illustrated by an incident which +occurred at Carthage. One soldier found some treasure, and the rest +would not stir for several days till they were convinced that there +was nothing more to be found. Pompeius looked on and laughed at them. +Sulla's way of treating his soldiers was already bearing fruit, and +was one of the worst of the evils which he brought on Italy; for he +who goes about scattering smiles and smooth words in order to win a +name, for good-nature will always find others to run him a race in +such meanness, and so discipline becomes subverted and states are +ruined. + +[Sidenote: Domitius Ahenobarbus conquered and slain by Pompeius in +Africa.] Pompeius found Domitius strongly posted behind a ravine. +Taking advantage of a tempest, he crossed it and routed the enemy. His +men hailed him Imperator: but he said he would not take the title till +they had taken the camp. The camp was then stormed and Domitius slain. +Pompeius also captured the towns held by the partisans of Domitius, +and defeated and took prisoner the Marian usurper who had expelled +Hiempsal, King of Numidia. Hiempsal was restored and his rival put +to death. On returning to Utica Pompeius found a message from Sulla, +telling him to disband his troops except one legion and wait till his +successor came. [Sidenote: Vanity of Pompeius.] The men mutinied, +for they liked Pompeius, and Sulla was told that Pompeius was in +rebellion. He remarked that 'in his old age it was his fate to fight +with boys'--a saying to which Pompeius's speech, 'that more men +worshipped the rising than the setting sun,' may have been intended +as a rejoinder. But soon he was relieved by hearing that the politic +Pompeius had appeased the mutiny. Sulla had the art of yielding with +a good grace when it was necessary, and, seeing how popular Pompeius +was, he went out to meet him on his return and greeted him by the name +'Magnus.' The vain young man asked for a triumph. His forty days' +campaign had indeed been brilliant; but he was not even a praetor, the +lowest official to whom a triumph was granted, nor a senator, but +only an eques. Sulla at first was astonished at the request, but +contemptuously replied, 'Let him triumph; let him have his triumph.' + +[Sidenote: Sulla has Ofella slain.] Two other officials of Sulla gave +him trouble. One, Ofella, stood for the consulship against his wishes, +and went about with a crowd of friends in the Forum. But with a man +like Sulla it was foolish to presume on past services. He had no +notion of allowing street-riots again, and sent a centurion who cut +Ofella down. The people brought the centurion to him, demanding +justice. [Sidenote: Sulla's parables.] Sulla told them the man had +done what he ordered, and then spoke a grim parable to them. A rustic, +he said, was so bitten by lice that twice he took off his coat and +shook it. But as they went on biting him he burnt it. And so those +who had twice been humbled had better not provoke him to use fire the +third time. [Sidenote: Murena provokes the second Mithridatic war.] +The other officer was Murena, who had been left in Asia. He raised +troops besides the legions left with him, forced Miletus and other +Asiatic towns to supply a fleet, and then stirred up the second +Mithridatic war. The Colchians had revolted, and Mithridates suspected +his son of fostering the revolt in order to be set over them. So he +invited him to come to his court, put him there in chains of gold, and +soon killed him. He had also, it seems, threatened Archelaus, who fled +from him and represented to the ready ears of Murena, that Mithridates +still held part of Cappadocia, and was collecting a powerful army. +Murena advanced into Cappadocia, took Comana, and pillaged its temple. +Mithridates appealed to the treaty; but Murena asked where it was, +for the terms had never been reduced to a written form. [Sidenote: +Mithridates appeals to the Senate.] The king then sent to the Senate. +Murena crossed the Halys, and retired into Phrygia and Galatia with +rich spoil. [Sidenote: Murena defeated.] Disregarding a prohibition +of the Senate, he again attacked the king, who at last sent Gordius +against him, and soon after, coming up in person, defeated Murena +twice and drove him into Phrygia. For this success Mithridates lit on +a high mountain a bonfire, which, it is said, was seen more than a +hundred miles away by sailors in the Black Sea. [Sidenote: Sulla puts +a stop to the war.] Sulla sent orders to Murena to fight nor more; and +Mithridates, on condition of being reconciled to Ariobarzanes, was +allowed to keep as much of Cappadocia as was in his possession. He +gave a great banquet in honour of the occasion; and Murena went home, +where he had a triumph. Sulla probably granted it to him after his +defeats with more pleasure than he granted it to Pompeius for his +victories. + +[Sidenote: Sertorius in Spain.] The ablest of the Marian generals was, +it has been seen, virtually unemployed in the Civil War. Sertorius, +when sent to Spain, seized the passes of the Pyrenees. Sulla, in 81, +sent against him, Q. Annius Luscus, who found one of the lieutenants +of Sertorius so strongly posted that he could not get past him. +However this lieutenant was assassinated by one of his own men, +and his troops abandoned their position. [Sidenote: He flies to +Mauretania. At Pityussa.] Sertorius had few men, and fled to New +Carthage, and thence to Mauretania. Here he was attacked by the +barbarians, and re-embarking, was on his way back to Spain, when he +fell in with some Cilician pirates with whom he attacked Pityussa +(Iviza) and expelled the Roman garrison. [Sidenote: At Gades.] Annius +hastened to the rescue and worsted him in a fight, after which +Sertorius sailed away through the Straits of Gibraltar to Gades +(Cadiz). Here some sailors told him of two islands which the Spaniards +believed to be the Islands of the Blest, with a pleasant climate and a +fruitful soil. In these islands--probably Madeira--Sertorius wished +to settle. [Sidenote: In Mauretania.] But, when his Cilician allies +sailed to Mauretania to restore some prince to his throne, he went +there too and fought on the other side. Sulla sent help to the prince, +but Sertorius defeated the commander and was joined by the troops. +[Sidenote: Invited to Spain.] Now, when once more at the head of +a Roman army, he was invited to Spain by the Lusitani, who were +preparing to revolt against Rome. With 2,600 Romans and 700 Africans +he crossed the sea, gaining a victory over the Roman cruisers on his +way, and set to work organizing and drilling the Lusitani in Roman +fashion. [Sidenote: His white fawn.] One of them gave him a white +fawn, and Sertorius declared that it had been given him by Diana. +After this, when he obtained any secret intelligence he said that the +fawn had told him, and brought it out crowned with flowers, if it was +some officer's success of which he had heard. By such means, and by +introducing a gay and martial uniform among his troops, he made his +army both well-disciplined and devoted to him personally, and defeated +one governor of Further Spain on the Baetis (Guadalquiver). [Sidenote: +Defeats Metellus Pius.] Gaining afterwards a series of successes over +Q. Metellus Pius, who had been sent against him, he was still in arms +and master of a considerable part of Spain when Sulla died. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE PERSONAL RULE AND DEATH OF SULLA. + + +Sulla was to all intents and purposes a king in Rome. He harangued +the people on what he had achieved, and told them that if they were +obedient he would make things better for them, but that he would not +spare his enemies, and would punish everyone who had sided with them +since Scipio violated his covenant. [Sidenote: Reign of terror in +Rome.] Then began a reign of terror. Not only did he kill his enemies, +but gave over to his creatures men against whom he had no complaint to +make. At last a young noble, Caius Metellus, asked him in the Senate, +'Tell us, Sulla, when there is to be an end of our calamities. We do +not ask thee to spare those whom those hast marked out for punishment, +but to relieve the suspense of those whom thou hast determined to +save.' Sulla replied that he did not yet know. 'Then,' said Metellus, +'let us know whom thou intendest to destroy.' [Sidenote: Sulla's +proscriptions.] Sulla answered by issuing a first proscription list, +including eighty names. People murmured at the illegality of this, and +in two days, as if to rebuke their presumption, he issued a second of +220, and as many more the next day. Then he told the people from the +rostrum that he had now proscribed all that he remembered, and those +whom he had forgotten must come into some future proscription. Such +a speech would seem incredible if put into the mouth of any other +character it history; but it is in keeping with Sulla's passionless +and nonchalant brutality. The ashes of Marius he ordered to be dug up +and scattered in the Anio, the only unpractical act we ever read of +him committing. Death was ordained for every one who should harbour or +save a proscribed person, even his own brother, son, or parent. But +he who killed a proscribed man, even if it was a slave who slew his +master or a son his father, was to receive two talents. Even the son +and grandson of those proscribed were deprived of the privileges of +citizenship, and their property was confiscated. Not only in Rome but +in all the cities of Italy this went on. Lists were posted everywhere, +and it was a common saying among the ruffianly executioners, 'His fine +home was the death of such an one, his gardens of another, his hot +baths of a third,' for they hunted down men for their wealth more than +from revenge. [Sidenote: Story illustrative of the time.] One day a +quiet citizen came into the Forum, and out of mere curiosity read the +proscription list. To his horror he saw his own name. 'Wretch,' he +cried, 'that I am, my Alban villa pursues me!' and he had not gone far +when a ruffian came up and killed him. [Sidenote: Sulla and Julius +Caesar.] The famous Julius Caesar was one of those in danger. He would +not divorce his wife at the bidding of Sulla, who confiscated her +property if not his as well, being so far merciful for some reason +which we do not know. [Sidenote: Story of Roscius.] One case has been +made memorable by the fact that Cicero was the counsel for one of the +sufferers. Two men named Roscius procured the assassination of a +third of the same name by Sulla's favourite freedman, Chrysogonus, +who then got the name of Roscius put on the proscription list, and, +seizing on his property, expelled the man's son from it. He having +friends at Rome fled to them, and made the assassins fear that they +might be compelled to disgorge. So they suddenly charged the son with +having killed his father. The most frightful circumstance about the +case is not the piteous injustice suffered by the son, but the abject +way in which Cicero speaks of Sulla, comparing him to Jupiter who, +despite his universal beneficence, sometimes permits destruction, not +on purpose but because his sway is so world-wide, and scouting the +idea of its being possible for him to share personally in such wrongs. +It has been well said, 'We almost touch the tyrant with our finger.' +Cicero soon afterwards left Rome, probably from fear of Sulla. + +[Sidenote: Wholesale punishment of towns.] It is said that the names +of 4,700 persons were entered on the public records as having fallen +in the proscriptions, besides many more who were assassinated for +private reasons. Whole towns were put up for auction, says one writer, +such as Spoletum, Praeneste, Interamna, and Florentia. By this we may +understand that they lost all their land, their privileges, and +public buildings, perhaps even the houses themselves. Others, such as +Volaterrae and Arretium, were deprived of all privileges except that +of Commercium or the right of trade. + +[Sidenote: Sulla rewards his soldiers and establishes a permanent +party.] Sulla's friends attended such auctions and made large +fortunes. One of his centurions, named Luscius, bought an estate for +10,000,000 sesterces, or 88,540_l_. of our money. One of his freedmen +bought for 20_l_. 12_s_. an estate worth 61,000_l_. Crassus, Verres, +and Sulla's wife, Metella, became in this way infamously rich. In +spite of such nominal prices, the sale of confiscated estates produced +350,000,000 sesterces, or nearly 3,000,000_l_. of our money. Sulla +approved of such purchases, for they bound the buyers to his +interests, and ensured their wishing to uphold his acts after his +death. With the same view of creating a permanent Sullan party in +Italy, and at the same time to fulfil his pledges to the soldiers, he +allotted to them all public lands in Italy hitherto undistributed, +and all confiscated land not otherwise disposed of. In this way he +punished and rewarded at a stroke. No fewer than 120,000 allotments +were made and twenty-three legions provided for. There was in it a +plausible mimicry of the democratic scheme of colonies which Sulla +must have thoroughly enjoyed. Thus in Italy he provided a standing +army to support his new constitution. [Sidenote: The Cornelii.] In +Rome itself, by enfranchising 10,000 slaves whose owners had been +slain, he formed a strong body of partisans ever ready to do his +bidding; these were all named Cornelii. A man is known by his +adherents, and the worst men were Sulla's _protégés_. + +[Sidenote: Catiline.] Catiline's name rose into notoriety amid these +horrors. He was said not only to have murdered his own brother, but, +to requite Sulla for legalising the murder by including this brother's +name in the list of the proscribed, to have committed the most +horrible act of the Civil War--the torture of Marcus Marius +Gratidianus. This man, because he was cousin of Marius, was offered +up as a victim to the manes of Catulus, of whom the elder Marius had +said, 'He must die.' This poor wretch was scourged, had his limbs +broken, his nose and hands cut off, and his eyes gouged out of their +sockets. Finally his head was cut off, and Cicero's brother writes +that Catiline carried it in his hands streaming with blood. But no one +would attach much importance to what the Ciceros said of Catiline, and +two circumstances combine to point to his innocence of such extreme +enormities. One is that it was the son of Catulus who begged as a boon +from Sulla the death of this Marius, and his name was very likely +confused with Catiline's in the street rumours of the time; and the +other and more direct piece of evidence is, that Catiline was tried in +the year 64 for murders committed at this time, and was acquitted. It +is a curious thing that the obloquy which has clung to Catiline's name +on such dubious reports has never attached in the same measure to the +undoubted horrors and abominations of Sulla's career. + +Sulla, though he meant above all to have his own way, had no objection +to use constitutional forms where they could be conveniently employed. +He made the Senate pass a resolution approving his acts, and, as there +were no consuls in 82, after the death of Marius and Carbo, he retired +from Rome for a while and told the Senate to elect an Interrex, in +conformity with the prescribed usage under such circumstances. Then +he wrote to the Interrex and recommended that a Dictator should be +appointed, not for a limited time, but till he had restored quiet in +the Roman world, and, with a touch of that irony which he could not +resist displaying in and out of season, went on to say that he thought +himself the best man for the post. [Sidenote: Sulla's power.] Thus, +in November 82, he was formally invested with despotic power over +the lives and property of his fellow-citizens, could contract or +extend the frontiers of the State, could change as he pleased the +constitution of the Italian towns and the provinces, could legislate +for the future, could nominate proconsuls and propraetors, and could +retain his absolute power as long as he liked. He might have dispensed +with consuls altogether. But he did not care to do this. The consuls +whom he allowed to be elected for 81 were of course possessed of +merely nominal power. Twenty-four lictors preceded him in the streets. +He told the people to hail him as 'Felix,' declared that his +least deliberate were his most successful actions, signed himself +'Epaphroditus' when he wrote to Greeks, named his son and daughter +Faustus and Fausta, boasted that the gods held converse with him +in dreams, and sent a golden crown and axe to the goddess whom +he believed to be his patroness. Like Wallenstein, he mingled +indifference to bloodshed with extreme superstition and boundless +self-confidence. But, as the historian remarks, 'a man who is +superstitious is capable of any crime, for he believes that his gods +can be conciliated by prayers and presents. The greatest crimes have +not been committed by men who have no religious belief.' No doubt +to his mind there was a sort of judicial retribution in all this +bloodshed; and, as he tried to make himself out the favourite of the +gods, so by formally announcing the close of the proscription lists +for June 1, 81 B.C., he spread some veil of legality over his +shameless violence. [Sidenote: Peculiarly horrible nature of Sulla's +acts.] There is something particularly revolting in the business-like +and systematic way in which he went about his murderous work, +appointing a fixed time for it to end, a fixed list of the victims; a +fixed price to be paid per head, a fixed exemption for the murderers +from his own law 'De Sicariis.' Modern idolaters of a policy of blood +and iron may profane history by their glorification of human monsters; +but no sophistry can blind an independent reader to the real nature of +Sulla's character and acts. He organized murder, and filled Italy with +idle soldiers instead of honest husbandmen. He did so in the interests +of a class--a class whose incapacity for government he had discovered; +and yet, knowing that his re-establishment of this class could only +be temporary, he fortified it by every means in his power, and then, +after a theatrical finale, returned to the gross debaucheries in which +he revelled. Anything more selfish or cynical cannot be conceived, and +those who call vile acts by their plain names will not feel inclined +to become Sulla's apologists. + +When he died he left behind him, it is said, what he may have meant as +his epitaph, an inscription containing the purport of three lines in +the 'Medea'-- + + Let no man deem me weak or womanly, + Or nerveless, but of quite another mood, + A scourge to foes, beneficent to friends. + +Pompeius, the only man who had successfully bearded him, was the only +friend not mentioned in his will. If anything could palliate his +remorseless selfishness it is the candour with which he confessed it. +He had made a vast private fortune out of his countrymen's misery. +When he surrendered his dictatorship he offered a tenth of his +property to Hercules, and gave a banquet to the people on so profuse a +scale that great quantities of food were daily thrown into the Tiber. +Some of the wine was forty years old, perhaps wine of that vintage +which was gathered in when Caius Gracchus died. [Sidenote: He divorces +Metella and marries again.] In the middle of the banquet his wife +Metella sickened, and in order that, as Pontifex, he might prevent +his home being polluted by death he divorced her, and removed her to +another house while still alive. Soon afterwards he married another +wife, who at a gladiatorial show came and plucked his sleeve, in +order, as she said, to obtain some of his good fortune. [Sidenote: His +abdication.] The rest of his life was spent, near Cumae, in hunting, +writing his memoirs, amusing himself with actors, and practising all +sorts of debauchery. Ten days before he died he settled the affairs +of the people of Puteoli at their request, and was busy in collecting +funds to restore the Capitol up to the last. [Sidenote: His death.] +Some say he died of the disease which destroyed Herod. Some say that +there is no such disease. Others say that he broke a blood-vessel when +in a rage. He is described as having blue eyes, and a pale face so +blotched over that it was likened to a mulberry sprinkled with meal. + +[Sidenote: Rivalry of Lepidus and Pompeius.] His death, 78 B.C., was +the signal for that break-up of his political institutions to which +he had wilfully shut his eyes. The great men at Rome began to wrangle +over his very body before it was cold. Lepidus, whom Pompeius, against +Sulla's wishes, had helped to the consulship, opposed a public +funeral. The other consul supported it. Sulla had with his usual +shrewdness divined the character of Lepidus, and told Pompeius that he +was only making a rival powerful. Pompeius opposed Lepidus now, for he +knew that the partisans of Sulla would insist on doing honour to his +memory. [Sidenote: Funeral of Sulla.] Appian describes the funeral at +length. 'The body was borne on a litter, adorned with gold and other +royal array, amid the flourish of trumpets, and with an escort of +cavalry. After them followed a concourse of armed men, his old +soldiers, who had thronged from all parts and fell in with the +procession as each came up. Besides these there was as vast a crowd of +other men as was ever seen at any funeral. In front were carried the +axes and the other symbols of office which had belonged to him as +dictator. But it was not till the procession reached Rome that the +full splendour of the ceremonial was seen. More than 2,000 crowns of +gold were borne in front, gifts from towns, from his old comrades in +arms, and his personal friends. In every other respect, too, the pomp +and circumstance of the funeral was past description. In awe of the +veterans all the priests of all the sacred fraternities were there in +full robes, with the Vestal Virgins, and all the senators, and all +the magistrates, each in his garb of office. Next, in array that +contrasted with theirs, came the knights of Rome in column; then all +the men whom Sulla had commanded in his wars, and who had vied +with each other in hastening there, carrying gilded standards +and silver-plated shields. There was also a countless host of +flute-players, making now most tender, now most wailing music. A cry +of benediction, raised by the senators, was taken up by the knights +and the soldiers, and re-echoed by the people, for some mourned his +loss in reality, and others feared the soldiers and dreaded him +in death as much as in life, the present scene recalling dreadful +memories. That he had been a friend to his friends they could not but +admit; but to the rest, even when dead, he was still terrible. The +body was exhibited before the rostra, and the greatest orator of the +time spoke the funeral oration; for Faustus, Sulla's son, was too +young to do so. Then some strong senators took up the litter on their +shoulders and bore it to the Campus Martius, where kings only were +wont to be buried. There it was placed on the funeral pyre; and the +knights and all the army circled round it in solemn procession. And +that was Sulla's ending.' + +To the student of history the story of such a funeral seems like +the prostration of a nation of barbarians before the car of some +demon-god. If the strong personality of the man--with all that +dauntless bravery, that unerring sagacity, that trenchant +tongue--still after two thousand years fascinates attention, if we are +forced to own that for sheer power of will and intellect he stands in +the very foremost rank of men, yet we feel also that in the case of +such superhuman wickedness tyrannicide would, if it ever could, cease +to be a crime. + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SULLA'S REACTIONARY MEASURES. + + +It is difficult to say about part of the legislation of this period +whether it was directly due to Sulla or not, just as some of the +changes in the army may or may not have been due to Marius, but were +certainly made about his time. The method of gathering together all +the changes made within certain dates, attributing them to one man, +and basing an estimate of his character on them, has a simplicity +about it which enables the writer to be graphic and spares the reader +trouble, but is an unsatisfactory way of presenting history. Enough, +however, is known of Sulla's own measures to make their general +tendency perfectly plain. [Sidenote: Main object of Sulla's laws.] His +main object was to restore the authority of the Senate, and to do more +than restore it, to give it such power as might, if it was true to +itself, secure it from mob-rule on the one hand and tyranny on the +other. Though he foresaw that his efforts would be futile, he was none +the less energetic in making them, and may reasonably have hoped that +they would at all events last his time, and enable him to enjoy +himself in Campania, undisturbed by another revolution. Our +acquaintance with his laws is only second-hand, for none of them +survive in their original form. They are known as Leges Corneliae, a +term which, though applicable to some other laws, is usually applied +to those of his making. + +The Senate had originally been an advising council. Then it had +acquired superior authority, and issued commands to the magistrates. +It was placed by Sulla in a still higher position. [Sidenote: He +reconstitutes the Senate;] To fill up its exhausted ranks he admitted +to it 300 of the equestrian order; and, though it is not certain what +its numbers were to be, it is probable that they were fixed at about +500. Then he provided for keeping the list full for the future. +[Sidenote: fills it up from the quaestors;] Hitherto a man had become +a senator either at the censor's summons (of which he was practically +certain if he had been tribune or quaestor), or, if he had been +consul, praetor or aedile. [Sidenote: increases the number of the +quaestors;] Sulla made the quaestorship instead of the aedileship the +regular stepping-stone, and increased the number of the quaestors +to twenty. [Sidenote: degrades the censorship.] He also, in all +probability, though it is not certain, took away from the censors +their right of conferring or taking away senatorial rank. 'Once a +senator, always a senator,' was therefore now the rule; and as the +quaestors, who were the main source of supply, were nominated by the +Comitia Tributa, the Senate became a more representative as well as a +more permanent body than before, and independent of the magistrates. + +[Sidenote: Legislative initiative given to the Senate.] Secondly, we +have seen that Sulla had given to the Senate by law the power which it +had previously exercised only by custom, of deliberating on a measure +before it was submitted to the vote of the Comitia. This was one +security against any measure being carried against its interests. +Before this the practice had been either for the Senate through the +tribunes to submit a measure to the vote, or for the tribunes to +submit a measure of their own after obtaining the Senate's authority +to do so. Saturninus, as we have seen, had overridden this custom, and +the only way in which the Senate could maintain its old privileges +would have been either by proclaiming a justitium, as it did on that +occasion, or by picking out some technical informality in the passing +of the plebiscitum, had not Sulla thus made its previous authorisation +absolutely indispensable. [Sidenote: Curtailment of the tribunes' +prerogative.] The tribunes, being deprived of the power of proposing a +measure at will to the Comitia Tributa, would also lose the power of +prosecuting anyone before it, and probably lost the right of convening +meetings in order to address the people. Sulla, too, provided that +those who had been tribunes should be ineligible to other offices, +and, though the right of veto seems to have been left to them, it is +not clear that it was left without restrictions, while the abuse of it +was made a heavily punishable offence. It is likely also that he made +senators the only persons eligible to the tribunate. Positively, +therefore, by making the Senate's previous consent to a law necessary, +and negatively by these limitations of the prerogative of the +tribunes, legislative power was placed wholly in the Senate's hands. + +[Sidenote: Changes in the Comitia.] Thirdly, the balance in the +Comitia themselves was so adjusted that the voting would be mostly in +the Senate's interests. Something has already been said of Sulla's +changes on this head, in reverting to the Servian mode of voting (p. +129). Some explanation of what this means may be given here. Sulla did +not abolish the Comitia Tributa; but the measures just mentioned, as +they left the practical power of legislation with the Senate, left the +formal power with the Comitia Centuriata. [Sidenote: History of the +Comitia Tributa and Centuriata.] We know the origin of the Comitia +Centuriata. We do not know the origin of the Comitia Tributa. But +we do know that by degrees the latter obtained legislative power +co-ordinate with that of the former, and that the Plebiscitum became +as binding on the nation as the Lex. There were in short two parallel +bodies in which the people could make laws--ranged in the one by +tribes, and voting on measures submitted to them by their tribunes; +ranged in the other by centuries, and voting on measures submitted to +them by the consul. But as the State became more and more democratic, +the Comitia Tributa was more used than the Comitia Centuriata, in +which legislation was gradually confined to special matters assigned +to them by law or custom. Besides these functions the Comitia Tributa +decided on war or peace, elected the tribunes, aediles, and lesser +magistrates, and also usurped judicial power, arraigning magistrates +for their conduct in office, &c. The functions of the Comitia +Centuriata were, as we have, seen, also legislative. They elected to +the higher magistracies and exercised jurisdiction in capital cases, a +function which grew out of the Roman citizen's right to appeal. Each +century had one vote; and as by the Servian arrangement the first +class, though containing fewest voters, had nevertheless, owing to its +highest assessment, most votes, it could by itself outvote the other +classes. At some time or other this classification was altered; and a +new system, based partly on centuries and partly on tribes, came into +use. Each tribe was divided into ten centuries, five of seniors and +five of juniors. The first class consisted of one of each of these +from each tribe, so that, as there were thirty-five tribes, each class +would consist of seventy centuries. It is said by some that the first +class included also thirty-five centuries, or eighteen centuries of +equites. If this be true, the first class would still have retained +the preponderance of votes. In any case it had the best of the voting, +for even if it was decided by lot which century of all the centuries +should vote first, still the first class voted second, and the moral +effect of the wealthier and weightier citizens voting one way or other +would naturally influence the votes of the other centuries. Moreover +some say that the lot was confined to the centuries of the first +class. Such then was the original and such the modified constitution +of the Comitia Centuriata. [Sidenote: Sulla's legislation about the +Comitia.] Appian expressly states that Sulla reverted to the original +mode of voting. But he may be confusing things, and only mean that +Sulla took the voting power from the Comitia Tributa and vested it in +the Comitia Centuriata. And this probably is what Sulla did. + +[Sidenote: Curtailment of the power of the consuls and praetors.] +Fourthly, as Sulla weakened the censorship in order to exalt the +Senate's authority at its expense, so, to prevent any individual again +obtaining undue influence, he ordained that no man should be consul +till he had been first quaestor and then praetor, and that no man +should be re-eligible to a curule office till after an interval of ten +years. This, however, was not enough. It was his object to curtail the +powers of every magistrate. And therefore, though the consulate was +not dangerous to the Senate in the sense that the tribunate was, he +laid hands both on it and on the praetorship. [Sidenote: Previous +powers of the two offices.] The functions of the consuls and praetors +had hitherto been these. The consuls had the general superintendence +of all except judicial matters at home, and the military +superintendence in all the provinces except Sicily, Sardinia, and the +two Spains, in which they only occasionally exercised their imperium. +One praetor, the Praetor Urbanus, presided over civil suits between +Roman citizens. Another, the Praetor Peregrinus, superintended such +suits between a citizen and an alien or between two aliens. The other +four were over the four above-mentioned provinces. In case of need +one man could do the work both of the Praetor Urbanus and the Praetor +Peregrinus, leaving his colleague free for a military command. Or the +consul or praetor might have his term of office extended, being bound +to continue in his command till a successor arrived. Or one consul +might manage the ordinary functions of both, and the other be +similarly left free for some special employment. The Senate could in +any given year assign, as business to be superintended by a consul or +a praetor, some military command or judicial commission, and then the +consuls or praetors had to settle by lot or by agreement who should +undertake it. As the State grew greater these special assignations had +to be made oftener. [Sidenote: The new scheme.] There had been eight +officials for eight offices; now five new superintendents had to be +provided for Asia, Africa, Macedonia, Narbo, and Cilicia, as well as +one for the Quaestio de Repetundis. To enable eight men to do the work +of fourteen the Senate made prolongation of office for a second year +the rule, and the officials confined by the nature of these duties to +the city during these years of office were generally sent at the end +of it to the transmarine provinces where most money was to be made. +Sulla increased the six praetors to eight, and made the two years' +term of office the legal term. But if this added to their power in +appearance, he diminished it in reality by separating the civil from +the military functions altogether. The consuls and praetors were to +manage the civil business of Rome. The proconsuls and propraetors were +to command the army. In the first year of office the two consuls +had the general administration of Rome, and two of the praetors its +judicial administration. The other six presided over the various +courts. In the second the ten exercised the imperium in Sicily, +Sardinia, the two Spains, Asia, Africa, Macedonia, Cilicia, and the +two Gauls, and none of them might stay in his province beyond thirty +days after his successor's arrival; or, under penalties for treason, +might leave his province during his term; or attack a foreign power +without express leave from home. [Sidenote: Effect of the new scheme.] +The effect of all this is plain. Whereas formerly the magistrates, +directly elected in the Comitia, might combine civil and military +authority, now the military authority could only be held by those +whose term of office was prolonged by the Senate's pleasure; for, +though the practice became invariable, it remained at the Senate's +discretion to break through it when it chose. + +[Sidenote: Co-optation restored to the colleges.] Fifthly, having thus +lessened the power of the censors, consuls, praetors, and tribunes, he +by way of compensation--a serio-comic compensation it must have +seemed to his shrewd yet superstitious mind--restored the right +of co-optation to the sacred colleges of augurs and pontiffs, and +increased their numbers, thus multiplying harmless objects of rivalry +analogous to the ribands and garters of modern courts. + +Sixthly, he took away from the equites and restored to the Senate the +judicia. + +[Sidenote: Restoration of the Judicia to the Senate.] The judicia have +been often mentioned, and something maybe said about them here. In +civil suits the praetor, as we have seen, had the superintendence. +Sometimes he decided a case at once. Sometimes, if he thought the case +should be tried, he appointed a judex, giving him certain instructions +by which after the investigation he must decide the case. His action +here would be something like one of our judge's charges, but given +before hearing the evidence. There is nothing to prove that a judex of +this kind was at this time taken from any special class, or that +Sulla interfered with the established mode of procedure. [Sidenote: +Organisation of criminal courts.] It was about the constitution of the +criminal courts that the long struggle had raged between the Senate +and equites and here he made great changes. He found some permanent +criminal courts (e.g. the Quaestio de Repetundis, or court for +investigating cases of extortion in the provinces) already in +existence. He instituted or settled others; but it cannot be +ascertained how many of the following, which were in existence after +his time, were due to him. There were at least nine of these permanent +courts (Quaestiones Perpetuae): the Quaestio Majestatis; de vi; de +sicariis &c; de veneficiis; de parricidio; de falso; de repetundis; +peculatus; ambitus; or courts for trying cases of treason, violence, +assassination, poisoning, parricide, forgery, extortion, embezzlement, +and bribery. And there may have been more, e.g. de adulteriis and de +plagiis, for trying cases of adultery and the enslavement of freemen. +[Sidenote: Procedure in the courts.] His object in consolidating them +was to take from the Comitia the settlement of criminal cases, and to +obviate the necessity for appointing special commissions. For there +was no appeal from the quaestio, and a special commission was seldom +requisite when so many courts were available. + +To preside in these courts there were six praetors; but, as there were +more courts than praetors, a senator, called judex quaestionis, was +appointed annually for each court where a president was wanting, +something after the fashion by which one of our judges sometimes in +press of business appoints a barrister as his deputy to clear off the +cases. The praetor, or judex quaestionis, presided over the judices in +each court, and the judices returned a verdict by a majority of votes, +sometimes given by ballot, sometimes openly. In choosing these judices +this was the process. The whole number available was, it is said, 300, +divided into three decuriae. In any given case the praetor named the +decuria from which the jurymen were to be taken, and then drew from an +urn containing their names the number assigned by law for the case to +be decided. Each side could then challenge a certain number, and fresh +names were drawn from the urn in place of those challenged. What Sulla +did was to supply these decuriae from the senators instead of the +equites. + +One of the permanent courts found by Sulla already existing was that +of the Centumviri, who had jurisdiction over disputed inheritances. +The members of it were elected by the tribes, three by each tribe, +105 in all. Though it was directly elected by the people, Sulla could +apprehend no danger from such a court, and did not meddle with it. + +[Sidenote: Other measures attributed to Sulla.] Other measures are +attributed to Sulla on evidence more or less probable, such as the +suppression of gratuitous distributions of corn; the abolition of the +right of freedmen to vote, and of the reserved seats appropriated to +the equites at public festivals; the re-establishment in Asia of fixed +taxes instead of the farming system; the extension of Italy proper +from the Aesis to the Rubicon, and the conversion of Cisalpine Gaul +into a province. It may be considered certain that he did all that +he could to humiliate the equites; but the settlement of Italy was +probably not due to him. + +[Sidenote: His minor measures.] Other minor laws of which he was the +author dealt with specific criminal offences or social matters. One, +as we have seen (p. 196) specified the penalties for all sorts of +assassination and poisoning. Another dealt with forgery, another with +violence to the person or property, another with marriage and probably +adultery. Another was a sumptuary law, which is said to have limited +the price of certain luxuries. If this was the case it was even +sillier than other sumptuary laws, for it would have encouraged +instead of checking gluttony. Lastly, there was a law for the +settlement of his colonies through Italy, and at Aleria in Corsica. + +[Sidenote: Effects of Sulla's legislation.] Sulla had for the moment +undone by his legislation the work of ages. He gagged free speech by +the disabilities attached to the tribunate. He kept the government +within a close circle by his process of recruiting the Senate. He made +the magistrates subordinate to the Senate. He filled Italy and Rome +with his own partisans, and therefore with those of the Senate, and +he gave back to the Senate that coveted possession of the judicia for +which it had struggled so long with the equites. But a system which +could endure only by the repression not only of hostile interests but +of the ambition of its own adherents carried in itself the seeds +of early dissolution. Almost before the reaction was complete a +counter-reaction had begun. Abdication only revealed monarchy, and the +broad road which Sulla had laid over the breakers and quicksands of +revolution in reality paved the way to a throne. + +[Sidenote: Sulla's abdication a farce.] When be abdicated, he offered +to render account to anyone for his acts, and there is a story that +one young man thereupon followed him to his home loading him with +abuse, which Sulla listened to with meekness. If the story be true, +the incident was probably a pre-arranged part of the ceremony of +abdication, which in everything, except the fact that Sulla slipped +off the cares of government, was of course a farce. His funeral showed +what his real power continued to be, and, if another anecdote be true, +just before his death he had a magistrate of Puteoli strangled +because he had not collected in time his town's subscription to the +restoration of the Capitol. He had in fact done mischievously what the +Gracchi would have done beneficently; and greedy swordsmen occupied +the soil which the tribunes would have divided peaceably among +peaceable men. [Sidenote: The policy of the Gracchi justified by after +events.] The civil wars and the triumvirates are the best vindication +of the policy of the Gracchi, unless we can bring ourselves to fancy +that the Gracchi created, instead of attempting wisely to satisfy, +the demands of the age. By an orderly intermixture of Italians and +foreigners with the corrupt body of Roman citizens new life might have +been infused into the old system, and something foreshadowing modern +representative government have been established, without proscription +or praetorian rule. As it was, the vices of society only became +aggravated at an era of violence, and the sharpest remedies failed to +stay the creeping paralysis by which it was assailed. + +The gradual depopulation of Italy has already been described. In spite +of Sulla's colonies the ruin of the country must have been vastly +accelerated by his civil wars and those which followed them. And, +while the honest country class was dying out, the town class was ever +plunging deeper into frivolity and voluptuousness. To defray the cost +of the sumptuous life of the capital the fashionable spendthrift was +forced to resort to extortion in the provinces, which, as we have +seen, became so crying an evil that a permanent court existed for +dealing with it before the time of Sulla. The greedy throve on usury, +or involved the State in war, to fill their own purses. The fortunes +amassed by an Aquillius, a Verres, a Lucullus, spoke as eloquently of +Rome's rapacity abroad as did those of Crassus or Sulla in Italy. Such +being the state of things under the government which Sulla strove +to perpetuate, his character as a statesman deserves as strong +reprobation as his conduct as a man. To lay down power from a sense of +duty is one thing. Cynically to shrink from responsibility is another. +The misery of the following half-century must be laid chiefly at +Sulla's door. The inevitable goal to which everything was tending was +as patent in his time as in the time of Augustus. Whatever may have +been for the interest of the Roman aristocracy, monarchy was by this +time for the interest of the Roman world. + + + + +LIST OF PHRASES + + +_It has been suggested that the following List of Phrases occurring in +the History may be useful. But the definitions are only approximately +precise._ + +_Aerarium_. The State treasury. + +_Capite Censi_. Roman citizens rated by the head only, as having no +property. + +_Cives Romani_. Citizens of Rome, a Roman colony, or a Municipium. + +_Clientes_. Dependents of the Patres. Free, but not Cives Romani. + +_Comitia Centuriata_. The subdivisions (193 or 194 in number) of the +six classes into which the Romans were divided, according to property, +were called Centuries, and the assembly of them Comitia Centuriata. + +_Comitia Tributa_. The assembly in which the people voted according to +the tribes or territorial divisions. + +_Dominium_. Ownership. + +_Equites_. Originally the men rich enough to maintain war-horses; +afterwards the rich class corresponding to our city men. + +_Flamen_. A priest of some particular god. + +_Frumentaria_. Lex. A law for cheapening corn. + +_Imperator_. The title given on the battle-field to a successful +general by his soldiers. + +_Imperium_. The power given by the State to an individual who was to +command an army. + +_Interrex_. An official appointed to hold an election of consuls when +the regular mode of election had not been followed. + +_Judicia_. Bodies of jurymen (judices) who tried criminal cases. + +_Jugerum_. A measure of surface 240 feet long, 120 broad. + +_Justitium_. A suspension of public business for some religious +observance. + +_Latifundia_. Large estates cultivated by slave-labour. + +_Latini_. See p. 16. + +_Legati_. Officers of the general's suite corresponding to our +generals of division. + +_Libertini_. The class of freedmen known as Liberti, with reference to +freeborn men, Libertini with reference to each other. + +_Municipia_. Conquered Italian towns having the right of acquiring +property in the Roman State (Commercium), and marrying the daughter of +a Roman citizen (Connubium), but unable to acquire the honours of the +State (Jus Honoris), or to vote at Rome (Jus Suffragii). + +_Negotiatores_. Money-lenders. + +_Nobiles_. The offspring of men who had held a curule office. + +_Optimates_. The senatorial party at and after the era of the Gracchi. + +_Patres_. 1. Originally Cives Romani, the governing body at Rome. 2. +Afterwards the Senate. + +_Patronus_. A Pater with reference to a Client. A Dominus with +reference to a Libertus. + +_Perduellio_. Abuse of official position injurious to the State. + +_Pilum_. A wooden shaft 4 feet long, with an iron head 2 feet 3 inches +long. There was also a lighter kind. + +_Plebiscitum_. 1. A resolution of the people. 2. Equivalent to lex. + +_Plebs_. Originally the free citizens of Rome who had no political +privileges. + +_Populares_. The anti-senatorial party at and after the time of the +Gracchi. + +_Possessor_. An occupier of public land. + +_Praefectura_. A Roman colony, or Municipium, in which a Roman +Praefectus administered justice. + +_Proletarii_. Roman citizens rated at less than 1,500 asses. + +_Publicani_. Farmers of the revenue. + +_Rostra_. A name given to the stage in the Forum where speakers +addressed the people. So called because ornamented with beaks of ships +captured from the enemy. + +_Scriptura_. A tax paid to the State on cattle grazing on public land. + +_Socii_. Free inhabitants of Italy. See p. 16. + +_Vectigal_. 1. A tax of 1/10th of the year's crops. 2. The revenue +produced by the Scriptura. + + + + +INDEX + + +Adherbal. +Aedui, the. +Ager Publicus. +Agrarian law, the first. +Ahenobarbus, Domitius. +Albinus, Aulus. +Albinus, Sp. +Allobroges, the. +Ambrones, the. + +Antyllus. +Aquae Sextiae. +Archelaus. +Aristion. +Aristonicus. +Army, the Roman. +Arverni, the. +Asculum. +Asia, taxation of. +Athenion. +Athens, siege of. +Attalus of Pergamus. + +Baebius. +Bestia. +Blossius. +Bocchus. +Bomilcar. + +Caepio, Q. Servilius. +Calvinus. +Capsa. +Carbo. +Cassius, Sp. +Catiline. +Catulus. +Centumviri, the. +Chaeroneia, battle of. +Cimbri. +Cinna, L. Cornelius. +Cirta. +Cives Romani, the. +Cleon. +Clientes. +Colline Gate, battle of the. +Colony, a Roman. +Comitia Centuriata. +Comitia Tribunata. +Commercium. +Connubium. +Cornelia. +Crassus, P. Licinius. + +Damophilus. +Domitia, Via. +Drusus, M. Livius. + +England, history of Rome compared to that of. +Equites, the. +Equitius. +Eunous. + +Fimbria. +Flaccus, Fulvius. +Fregellae, revolt of. + +Gauda. +Geminus. +Glaucia, C. Servilius. +Gordius. +Gracchus, C. +Gracchus, T. + +Helvetii, the. +Hortensius. + +Jugurtha. +Jus Honorum. +--Suffragii. + +Laenas Popilius. +Lamponius. +Lex Baebia. +--Cassia. +--Flaminia. +--Frumentaria of C. Gracchus. +--Judiciaria of C. Gracchus. +--Julia. +--Junia de Peregrinis. +--Licinia. +--Maria. +--Papiria. +--Plautia Papiria. +--Servilia. +--Thoria. +Lucullus,(1); (2). +Lupus. +Luxury at Rome. + +M. Antonius. +M'. Aquillius. +Mariani Muli. +Marius, C.(1); (2). +Massiva. +Megallis. +Memmius. +Merula, L. +Metellus, Q. Caecilius. +Mithridates. +Municipium. +Murena. +Mutilus, C. Papius. + +Nobiles. +Norbanus. + +Octavius. +Ofella. +Opimius. +Optimates. + +Orchomenus. +Oxyntas. + +Patres. +Perduellio. +Peregrini, the. +Philippus. +Piraeus, siege of. +Plebeians. +Pompeius, Cn.(1); (2). + +Pontius, C. +Populares. +Praefectura. +Proscriptions of Marius and Cinna. + +Provincials. + +Quaestio. + +Rhone, canal cut from, by Marius. +Roscius. +Rubrius. +Rufus Rutilius. +Rupillius. + +Sacriportus, battle of. +Salvius. + +Salyes, the +Saturninus, +Satyreius, P. +Satyrus. +Scaevola. +Scaurus, M. Aemilius. +Scipio Aemilianus. +Scipio Nasica. +Septimuleius. +Sertorius. +Silo, Pompaedius. +Slavery, Roman. +Slave War, the first. +-- -- the second. +Social War, The. +Society, deterioration of Roman. + +Sulla, L. Cornelius. +Sulla's laws. + +Sulpician laws, the. +Sulpicius. + +Taxiles. +Teanum, story of Roman cruelty at. +Teutones, the. +Thala. +Tifata, battle of. +Tigranes. +Tiguroni, the. +Tolosa, the gold of. +Tribunate. +Tuditanus, Sempronius. +Tugeni, the. +Turpilius. + +Vaga. +Venusia, story of a herdsman at. +Vercellae. +Verres. +Vettius. +Vettius Scato. +Volux. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Gracchi Marius and Sulla, by A.H. Beesley + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10860 *** |