Book 1
Vettius Cato defeated Sextus Julius, killed 2000 of his men, and marched against aesernia, which adhered to Rome. L. Scipio and L. Acilius, who were in command here, escaped in the disguise of slaves. The enemy, after a considerable time, reduced it by famine. Marius Egnatius captured Venafrum by treachery and slew two Roman cohorts there. Publius Presenteius defeated Perpenna, who had 10,000 men under his command, killed 4000 and captured the arms of the greater part of the others, for which reason the consul Rutilius deprived Perpenna of his command and gave his division of the army to Gaius Marius. Marcus Lamponius destroyed some 800 of the forces under Licinius Crassus and drove the remainder into the town of Grumentum.
Gaius Papius captured Nola by treachery and offered to the 2000 Roman soldiers in it the privilege of serving under him if they would change their allegiance. They did so, but as their officers refused the proposal the latter were taken prisoners and starved to death by Papius. In conjunction with Stabias he captured Minturnae, and Salernum, which was a Roman colony. The prisoners and the slaves from these places were taken into the military service. Then he plundered the entire country around Nuceria. The towns in the vicinity were struck with terror and submitted to him, and when he demanded military assistance they furnished him about 10,000 foot and 1000 horse. With these Papius laid siege to Acerrae. Sextus Caesar, with 10,000 Gallic foot and certain Numidian and Mauretanian horse and foot, advanced toward Acerrae. Papius took a son of Jugurtha, formerly king of Numidia, named Oxynta, who was under charge of a Roman guard at Venusia, led him out of that place, clothed him in royal purple, and showed him frequently to the Numidians who were in Caesar’s army. Many of them deserted, as if to their own king, so that Caesar was obliged to send the rest back to Africa, as they were not trustworthy. Papius attacked him rashly, and had already made a breach in his fortified camp when Caesar debouched with his horse through the other gates and slew about 6000 of his men, after which Caesar withdrew from Acerrae. Canusia and Venusia and many other towns in Apulia sided with Judacilius. Some that did not submit he besieged, and he put to death the principal Roman citizens in them, but the common people and the slaves he enrolled in his army.
The consul Rutilius and Gaius Marius built bridges over the river Liris at no great distance from each other. Vettius Cato pitched his camp opposite them, but nearer to the bridge of Marius, and placed an ambush by night in some ravines around the bridge of Rutilius. Early in the morning, after he had allowed Rutilius to cross the bridge, he started up from ambush and killed a large number of the enemy on the dry land and drove many into the river. In this fight Rutilius himself was wounded in the head by a missile and died soon afterward. Marius was on the other bridge and when he guessed, from the bodies floating down stream, what had happened, he pushed away those in his front, crossed the river, and captured the camp of Cato, which was guarded by only a small force, so that Cato was obliged to spend the night where he had won his victory, and to retreat in the morning for want of provisions. The body of Rutilius and those of many other patricians were brought to Rome for burial. The corpses of the consul and his numerous comrades made a piteous spectacle and the mourning lasted many days. The Senate decreed from this time on that those who were killed in war should be buried where they fell, lest others should be deterred by the spectacle from entering the army. When the enemy heard of this they made a similar decree for themselves.
There was no successor to Rutilius in the consulship for the remainder of the year, as Sextus Caesar did not have leisure to go to the city and hold the comitia. The Senate appointed G. Marius and Q. Caepio to command the forces of Rutilius in the field. The opposing general, Q. Pompaedius, fled as a pretended deserter to this Caepio. He brought with him and gave as a pledge two slave babies, clad with the purple-bordered garments of free-born children, pretending that they were his own sons. As further confirmation of his good faith he brought masses of lead plated with gold and silver. He urged Caepio to follow him in all haste with his army and capture the hostile army while destitute of a leader. Caepio was deceived and followed him. When they had arrived at a place where an ambush had been laid, Pompaedius ran up to the top of a hill as though he were searching for the enemy, and gave his own men a signal. The latter sprang out of their concealment and cut Caepio and most of his force in pieces. The Senate joined the rest of Caepio’s army to that of Marius.
While Sextus Caesar was passing through a rocky defile with 30,000 foot and 5000 horse Marius Egnatius suddenly fell upon him and defeated him in it. He retreated on a litter, as he was sick, to a certain stream where there was only one bridge, and there he lost the greater part of his force and the arms of the survivors. He escaped to Teanum with difficulty and there he armed the remainder of his men as best he could. Reënforcements were sent to him speedily and he marched to the relief of Acerrae, which was still besieged by Papius, but when their camps were pitched opposite each other neither of them dared to attack the other.
Cornelius Sulla and Gaius Marius defeated the Marsians, who had attacked them. They pursued the enemy vigorously as far as the walls enclosing their vineyards. The Marsians scaled these walls with loss, but Marius and Sulla did not deem it wise to follow them farther. Cornelius Sulla was encamped on the other side of these enclosures and when he knew what had happened he came out to meet the Marsians, as they tried to escape, and killed a great number. More than 6000 Marsians were slain that day, and the arms of a still greater number were captured by the Romans. The Marsians were rendered as furious as wild beasts by this disaster. They armed their forces again and prepared to march against the enemy, but did not dare to take the offensive or to begin a battle. They are a very warlike race, and it is said that no triumph was ever awarded for a victory over them except for this single disaster. There had been up to this time a saying, No triumph over Marsians or without Marsians.
Judacilius and T. Lafrenius and P. Ventidius united their forces near Mount Falerinus and defeated Gnaeus Pompeius and pursued him to the city of Firmum. Then they went different ways. Lafrenius besieged Pompeius, who had shut himself up in Firmum. The latter armed his remaining forces, but did not come to an engagement. Having learned that another army was approaching, he sent Sulpicius around to take Lafrenius in the rear while he made a sally in front. Battle was joined and both sides were having a doubtful fight when Sulpicius set fire to the enemy’s camp. When the latter saw this they fled to Asculum in disorder and without a general, for Lafrenius had fallen in the battle. Pompeius then advanced and laid siege to Asculum.
Asculum was the native town of Judacilius, and as he feared for its safety he hastened to its relief with eight cohorts. He sent word beforehand to the inhabitants that when they should see him advancing at a distance they should make a sally against the besiegers, so that the enemy should be attacked on both sides at once. The inhabitants were afraid to do so; nevertheless Judacilius forced his way into the city through the midst of the enemy with what followers he could get, and upbraided the citizens for their cowardice and disobedience. As he despaired of saving the city he first put to death all of his enemies, who had been at variance with him before and who, out of jealousy, had prevented the people from obeying his recent orders. Then he erected a funeral pile in the temple and placed a couch upon it, and had a feast with his friends, and while the drinking-bout was at its height he swallowed poison, threw himself on the pile, and ordered his friends to set fire to it. Thus perished Judacilius, a man who considered it glorious to die for his country. Sextus Caesar was invested with the consular power by the Senate after his term of office had expired. He attacked 20,000 of the enemy at some place while they were changing camping-places, killed about 8000 of them, and captured the arms of a much larger number. He died of a disease while pushing the long siege of Asculum; the Senate appointed Gaius Baebius his successor.
While these events were transpiring on the Adriatic side of Italy, the inhabitants of Etruria and Umbria and other neighboring peoples on the other side of Rome heard of them and all were excited to revolt. The Senate, fearing lest they should be surrounded by enemies for want of guards, garrisoned the sea-coast from Cumae to the city with freedmen, who were then for the first time enrolled in the army on account of the scarcity of soldiers. The Senate also voted that those Italians who had adhered to their alliance should be admitted to citizenship, which was the one thing they all desired most. They sent this decree around among the Etruscans, who gladly accepted the citizenship. By this favor the Senate made the faithful more faithful, confirmed the wavering, and mollified their enemies by the hope of similar treatment. The Romans did not enroll the new citizens in the thirty-five existing tribes, lest they should outvote the old ones in the elections, but incorporated them in ten new tribes, which voted last. So it often happened that their vote was useless, since a majority was obtained from the thirty-five tribes that voted first. This fact was either not noticed by the Italians at the time or they were satisfied with what they had gained, but it was observed later and became the source of a new conflict. Y.R. 665
The insurgents along the Adriatic coast, before they learned of the change of sentiment among the Etruscans, sent 15,000 men to their assistance by a long and difficult road. Gnaeus Pompeius, who was now consul, fell upon them and killed 5000 of them. The rest made their way homeward through a trackless region, in a severe winter, living on acorns; and half of them perished. The same winter Porcius Cato, the colleague of Pompeius, was killed while fighting with the Marsians. While Sulla was encamped near the Pompeiian mountains Lucius Cluentius pitched his camp in a contemptuous manner at a distance of only three stades from him, Sulla did not tolerate this insolence, but attacked Cluentius without waiting for his B.C. 89 own foragers to come in. He was worsted and put to flight, but when he was reënforced by his foragers he turned and defeated Cluentius. The latter then moved his camp to a greater distance. Having received certain Gallic reenforcements he again drew near to Sulla and just as the two armies were coming to an engagement a Gaul of enormous size advanced and challenged any Roman to single combat. A Mauritanian soldier of short stature accepted the challenge and killed him, whereupon the Gauls became panic-stricken and fled. Cluentius’ line of battle was thus broken and the remainder of his troops did not stand their ground, but fled, in disorder to Nola. Sulla followed them and killed 3000 in the pursuit, and as the inhabitants of Nola received them by only one gate, lest the enemy should rush in with them, he killed about 20,000 more outside the walls and among them Cluentius himself, who fell fighting bravely.
Then Sulla moved against the Hirpini and attacked the town of Aeculanum. The inhabitants, who expected aid from the Lucanians that very day, asked Sulla to give them time for consideration. He understood the trick and gave them one hour, and meanwhile piled fagots around their walls, which were made of wood, and at the expiration of the hour set them on fire. They were terrified and surrendered the town. Sulla plundered it because it had not been delivered up voluntarily but by necessity. He spared the other towns that gave themselves up, and in this way the entire population of the Hirpini was brought under subjection. Then Sulla moved against the Samnites, not where Mutilus, the Samnite general, guarded the roads, but by another circuitous route where his coming was not expected. He fell upon them suddenly, killed many, and scattered the rest in disorderly flight. Mutilus was wounded and took refuge with a few followers in Aesernia. Sulla destroyed his camp and moved against Bovianum, where the common council of the rebels was held. The city had three towers. While the inhabitants were looking at Sulla from one of these he ordered a detachment to capture whichever of the others they could, and to make a signal by means of smoke. When the smoke was seen he made an attack in front and, after a severe fight of three hours, took B.C. 90 the city. These were the successes of Sulla during that summer. When winter came he returned to Rome to solicit the consulship.
Gnaeus Pompeius brought the Marsians, the Marrucini, and the Vestini under subjection. Gaius Cosconius, another Roman praetor, advanced against and burned Salapia. He received the surrender of Cannae and laid siege to Canusium. He had a severe fight with the Samnites, who came to its relief. After great slaughter on both sides Cosconius was beaten and retreated to Cannae. A river separated the two armies, and Trebatius sent word to Cosconius either to come over to his side and fight him, or to withdraw and let him cross. Cosconius withdrew, and while Trebatius was crossing attacked him and got the better of him, and, while he was flying toward the stream, killed 15,000 of his men. The remainder took refuge with Trebatius in Canusium. Cosconius overran the territory of Larinum, Venusia, and Asculum, and invaded that of the Pœdiculi, and within two days received their surrender. Y.R. 666
Caecilius Metellus, his successor in the praetorship, B.C. 88 attacked the Apulians and overcame them in battle. Pompaedius, one of the rebel generals, here lost his life. The survivors joined Metellus separately. Such was the course of events throughout Italy as regards the Social War, which had raged with violence thus far and until the whole of Italy came into the Roman state except the Lucanians and the Samnites. These also seem to have obtained what they desired somewhat later. They were each enrolled in tribes of their own, like those who had been admitted to citizenship before, so that they might not, by being mingled with the old citizens, vote them down in the elections by force of numbers. Y.R. 665
About the same time dissensions arose in the city between debtors and creditors, since the latter exacted the money due them with interest, although an old law distinctly forbade lending on interest and imposed a penalty upon any one doing so. It seems that the ancient Romans, like the Greeks, abhorred the taking of interest on loans as something knavish, and hard on the poor, and leading to contention and enmity; and by the same kind of reasoning the Persians considered lending itself as having a tendency B.C. 89 to deceit and lying. But, since time had sanctioned the practice of taking interest, the creditors demanded it according to custom. The debtors, on the other hand, put off the payment by causing war and civil commotion. Some indeed threatened to visit the legal penalty on the interest-takers. The praetor Asellio, who had charge of these matters, as he was not able to compose their differences by persuasion, allowed them to proceed against each other in the courts, thus bringing the conflict of law and custom before the judges. The lenders, exasperated that the old law should be revived, killed the praetor in the following manner. He was offering sacrifice to Castor and Pollux in the forum, with a crowd standing around as was usual at such a ceremony. In the first place somebody threw a stone at him. He dropped the libation-bowl and ran toward the temple of Vesta. They got ahead of him and prevented him from reaching the temple, and after he had fled into a certain tavern they cut his throat. Many of his pursuers, thinking that he had taken refuge with the Vestal virgins, ran in there, where it was not lawful for men to go. Thus was Asellio, while serving as praetor, and pouring out the libation, and wearing the sacred gilded vestments customary in such ceremonies, slain at the second hour of the day, in the midst of the forum, by the side of the sacrificial offerings. The Senate offered a reward of money to any free person, and freedom to any slave, and impunity to any accomplice, who should give testimony leading to the conviction of the murderers of Asellio, but nobody gave any information. The money-lenders covered up everything.
Hitherto the murders and seditions had been merely intestine squabbles. Afterward the chiefs of factions assailed each other with great armies, according to the usage of war, and the country lay as a prize between them. The beginning and origin of these contentions came about directly after the Social War, in this wise. When Mithridates, king of Pontus and of other nations, invaded Bithynia and Phrygia and that part of Asia adjacent to those countries, as I have related in the preceding book, the consul Sulla was chosen by lot to the command of Asia and the Mithridatic war, but was still in Rome. Marius thought that this would be an easy and lucrative war and he desired the command of it. So he prevailed upon the tribune, Publius Sulpicius, by many promises, to help him obtain it. He also led the new Italian citizens, who had very little power in the elections, to hope that they should be distributed among all the tribes—not putting forward anything concerning his own advantage, but with the expectation of employing them as loyal servants in his every Y.R. 666 attempt. Sulpicius straightway brought forward a law for B.C. 88 this purpose. If it were enacted Marius and Sulpicius would have everything they wanted, because the new citizens far outnumbered the old ones. The old citizens saw this and opposed the new ones with all their might. They fought each other with sticks and stones, and the evil increased continually. The consuls, becoming apprehensive, as the day for voting on the law drew near, proclaimed a vacation of many days’ duration, such as was customary on festal occasions, in order to postpone the voting and the danger.
Sulpicius would not wait for the vacation’s end. He ordered his faction to come to the forum with concealed daggers and to do whatever the exigency might require, and not to spare the consuls themselves upon occasion. When everything was in readiness he denounced the vacation as illegal and ordered the consuls, Cornelius Sulla and Quintus Pompeius, to put an end to it at once, in order to proceed to the enactment of laws. A tumult arose, and those who had been armed drew their daggers and threatened to kill the consuls, who were making opposition. Finally Pompeius escaped secretly and Sulla withdrew on the pretext of taking advice. In the meantime the son of Pompeius, who was the son-in-law of Sulla, and who was speaking his mind rather freely, was killed by the Sulpicians. Presently Sulla returned and annulled the vacation, but hurried away to Capua, where his army was stationed, in order to cross over to Asia to take command of the war against Mithridates, for he knew nothing as yet of the designs against himself. As the vacation was annulled and Sulla had left the city, Sulpicius enacted his law, and Marius, for whose sake it was done, was forthwith chosen commander of the war against Mithridates in place of Sulla.
When Sulla heard of this he resolved to decide the question by war. He called the army together in a conference. They were eager for the war against Mithridates because it promised much plunder, and they feared that Marius would enlist other soldiers instead of themselves. Sulla spoke of the indignity put upon him by Sulpicius and Marius, and while he did not openly allude to anything else (for he did not dare as yet to mention this kind of a war), he urged them to be ready to obey his orders. They understood what he meant, and as they feared lest they should miss the campaign they spoke boldly what Sulla had in his mind, and told him to be of good courage, and to lead them to Rome. Sulla was overjoyed and led six legions thither forthwith, but all of his superior officers, except one quaestor, left him and hastened to the city, because they would not submit to the idea of leading an army against their country. Envoys met him on the road and asked him why he was marching with armed forces against his country. To deliver her from her tyrants, he replied. He gave the same answer to a second and a third embassy that came to him, one after another, but he announced to them finally that the Senate and Marius and Sulpicius might meet him in the Campus Martius if they liked, and that he would do whatever might be agreed upon after consultation. As he was approaching, his colleague, Pompeius, came to meet him and praised him for what he had done, for Pompeius was delighted, and coöperated with him in every way. As Marius and Sulpicius needed some short interval for preparation, they sent other messengers, in the guise of envoys from the Senate, directing him not to move his camp nearer than forty stades from the city until they could consider of the business in hand. Sulla and Pompeius understood their game perfectly and promised to comply, but as soon as the envoys were returning they followed them.
Sulla took possession of the Cœlian gate and of the adjoining wall with one legion of soldiers, and Pompeius occupied the Colline gate with another. A third advanced to the Sublician bridge, and a fourth remained on guard in front of the walls. With the remainder Sulla entered the city, being in appearance and in fact an enemy. The inhabitants round about tried to fight him off by hurling missiles from the roofs until he threatened to burn the houses; then they desisted. Marius and Sulpicius went, with some forces they had hastily armed, to meet the invaders near the Aesquiline forum, and here a battle took place between the contending parties, the first that was regularly fought in Rome with trumpet and signal under the rules of war, and not at all in the similitude of a faction fight. To such extremity of evil had the recklessness of party strife progressed among them. Sulla’s forces were beginning to waver when Sulla seized a standard and exposed himself to danger in the foremost ranks. Out of regard for their general and fear of ignominy if they should abandon their standard, they rallied at once. Sulla ordered up fresh troops from his camp and sent others around by the socalled Suburran road to take the enemy in the rear. The Marians fought feebly against these new-comers, and as they feared lest they should be surrounded they called to their aid the other citizens who were still fighting from the houses, and proclaimed freedom to slaves who would share their labors. As nobody came forward they fell into utter despair and fled at once out of the city, together with those of the nobility who had coöperated with them.
Sulla advanced to the so-called Via Sacra and there, in sight of everybody, punished certain soldiers who had plundered persons on the road. He stationed guards at intervals throughout the city, he and Pompeius keeping watch by night. Each kept moving about his own command to see that no calamity was brought about either by the frightened people or by the victorious troops: They summoned the people to an assembly at daybreak and lamented the condition of the republic, which had been so long given over to demagogues, and said that they had done what they had done as a matter of necessity. They proposed that no question should ever again be brought before the people which had not been previously considered by the Senate, an ancient practice which had been abandoned long ago. Also that the voting should not be by tribes, but by centuries, as King Servius Tullius had ordained. They thought that by these two measures—namely, that no law should be brought before the people unless it had been previously before the Senate, and that the voting should be controlled by the well-to-do and sober-minded rather than by the pauper and reckless classes—there would no longer be any starting-point for civil discord. They proposed many other measures for curtailing the power of the tribunes, which had become extremely tyrannical. They enrolled 300 of the best citizens at once in the list of senators, who had been reduced at that time to a very small number and had fallen into contempt for that reason. They annulled all the acts performed by Sulpicius after the vacation had been proclaimed by the consuls, as being illegal.
Thus the seditions proceeded from strife and contention to murder, and from murder to open war, and now the first army of her own citizens had invaded Rome as a hostile country.This is what Mommsen aptly terms the interference of the sabre with the constitutional rule of the bludgeon. From this time the civil dissensions were decided only by the arbitrament of arms. There were frequent attacks upon the city and battles before the walls and other calamities incident to war. Henceforth there was no restraint upon violence either from the sense of shame, or regard for law, institutions, or country. Now Sulpicius, who still held the office of tribune, together with Marius, who had been consul six times, and his son Marius, also Publius Cethegus, Junius Brutus, Gnaeus and Quintus Granius, Publius Albinovanus, Marcus Laetorius, and others with them, about twelve in number, fled from Rome, because they had stirred up the sedition, had borne arms against the consuls, had incited slaves to insurrection, had been voted enemies of the Roman people, and anybody meeting them had been authorized to kill them with impunity or to drag them before the consuls, and their goods had been confiscated. Detectives were in pursuit of these men. They caught Sulpicius and killed him.
Marius escaped them and fled to Minturnae without a companion or a servant. While he was resting in a secluded house the magistrates of the city, whose fears were excited by the proclamation of the Roman people, but who hesitated to be the murderers of a man who had been six times consul and had performed so many brilliant exploits, sent a Gaul who was living there to kill him with a sword. It is said that as the Gaul was approaching the pallet of Marius in the dusk he thought he saw the gleam and flash of fire darting from his eyes, and that Marius rose from his bed and shouted to him in a thundering voice, Do you dare to kill Gaius Marius? The Gaul turned and fled out of doors like a madman, exclaiming, I cannot kill Gaius Marius. As the magistrates had come to their previous decision with reluctance, so now a kind of religious awe came over them as they remembered the prophecy uttered while he was a boy, that he should be consul seven times. It was said that while he was a boy seven young eaglets alighted on his breast, and that the soothsayers predicted that he would attain the highest office seven times.
Bearing these things in mind and believing that the Gaul had been inspired with fear by divine influence, the magistrates of Minturnae sent Marius out of the town forthwith, to seek safety wherever he could. As he knew that Sulla was searching for him and that horsemen were pursuing him, he moved toward the sea by unfrequented roads and came to a hut where he rested, covering himself up with leaves. Hearing a noise, he concealed himself more carefully with the leaves. Hearing a somewhat louder noise, he rushed to the boat of an old fisherman, overpowered him, leaped into it, and, although a storm was raging, he cut the rope, spread the sail, and committed himself to chance. He was driven to an island where he found a ship navigated by his own friends, and sailed thence to Africa. He was prohibited from landing there by the governor, Sextius, because he was an enemy, and he passed the winter in his ship a little beyond the province of Africa, along the shore of Numidia. While he was sailing thither he was joined by Cethegus, Granius, Albinovanus, Laetorius, and others, including the son of Marius himself, who had gained tidings of his approach. They had fled from Rome to Hiempsal, prince of Numidia, and now they had run away from him, fearing lest they should be delivered up. They were ready to do just as Sulla had done, that is, to master their country by force, but as they had no army they waited for some opportunity.
In Rome Sulla, who had been the first one to seize the city by force of arms, and was now able perhaps to wield supreme power, having rid himself of his enemies, desisted from violence of his own accord. He sent his army forward to Capua and resumed his functions as consul. The faction under banishment, especially the rich ones, and many wealthy women, who now found a respite from the terror of arms, bestirred themselves for the return of their male relatives from exile. They spared neither pains nor expense to this end, even conspiring against the persons of the consuls when they thought they could not secure the recall of their friends while the consuls survived. Sulla’s army furnished ample protection for himself even after he should cease to be consul, since he had been voted commander of the war against Mithridates. The people commiserated the fears of the other consul, Quintus Pompeius, for his personal safety, and gave him the command of Italy and of the army appertaining to it, which was then under Gnaeus Pompeius. When the latter learned this fact he was greatly displeased. Nevertheless he received Quintus in the camp, and, after transacting the necessary business with him the following day, withdrew for a short time as a private person, but a little later a crowd that had collected around the consul under pretence of listening to him killed him. After the guilty ones had fled, Gnaeus came to the camp in a high state of indignation over the killing of a consul contrary to law. Notwithstanding his displeasure he forthwith resumed his command over them.The Epitome of Livy (lxxvii.) says that Gnaeus Pompeius the proconsul procured the murder of Quintus Pompeius the consul, when the latter came to supersede him.
When the murder of Pompeius became known in B.C. the city, Sulla became apprehensive for his own safety and was surrounded by friends wherever he went, and had them Y.R. 667 with him even by night. He did not remain long in the B.C. 87 city, but went to the army at Capua and from thence to Asia. The friends of the exiles, encouraged by Cinna, Sulla’s successor in the consulship, excited the new citizens in favor of the scheme of Marius, that they should be distributed among the old tribes, so that they should not be powerless by reason of voting last. This was preliminary to the recall of Marius and his friends. Although the old citizens resisted with all their might, Cinna coöperated with the new ones. It was supposed that he had been bribed with 300 talents to do this. The other consul, Octavius, sided with the old citizens. The partisans of Cinna took possession of the forum with concealed daggers, and with loud cries demanded that they should be distributed among all the tribes. The more reputable part of the plebeians adhered to Octavius, and they also carried daggers. While Octavius was still at home awaiting the result, the news was brought to him that the majority of the tribunes had vetoed the proposed action, but that the new citizens had started a riot, drawn their daggers on the street, and assaulted the opposing tribunes on the rostra. When Octavius heard this he ran down through the Via Sacra with a very dense mass of men, burst into the forum like a torrent, pushed through the midst of the crowd, and separated them. He struck terror into them, pushed on to the temple of Castor and Pollux, and drove Cinna away. His companions fell upon the new citizens without orders, killed many of them, put the rest to flight, and pursued them to the city gates.
Cinna, who had been emboldened by the numbers of the new citizens to think that he should conquer, seeing the victory won contrary to his expectation by the bravery of the few, ran through the city calling the slaves to his assistance by an offer of freedom. As none responded he hastened to the towns near by, which had lately been admitted to Roman citizenship, Tibur, Praeneste, and the rest as far as Nola, inciting them all to revolution and collecting money for the purposes of war. While Cinna was making these preparations and plans, certain senators of his party joined him, among them Gaius Milo, Quintus Sertorius, and Gaius Marius the younger. The Senate decreed that since Cinna had left the city in danger while holding the office of consul, and had offered freedom to the slaves, he should no longer be consul, or even a citizen, and elected in his stead Lucius Merula, the priest of Jupiter (flamen Dialis). It is said that this priest alone wore the flamen’s cap at all times, the others wearing it only during sacrifices. Cinna proceeded to Capua, where there was another Roman army, the officers of which, and the senators who were present, he courted. He went to meet them as consul in an assembly, where he laid down the fasces as though he were a private citizen, and shedding tears, said, From you, citizens, I received this authority. The people voted it to me; the Senate has taken it away from me without your consent. Although I am the sufferer by this wrong I grieve amid my own troubles equally for your sakes. What need is there that we should solicit the favor of the tribes in the elections hereafter? What need have we of you? Where will be your power in the assemblies, in the elections, in the choice of consuls? If you do not confirm what you bestow, you will be robbed whenever you give your decision.
He said this to stir them up, and after exciting much pity for himself he rent his garments, leaped down from the rostra, and threw himself on the ground before them, where he lay a long time. With tears in their eyes they raised him up; they restored him to the curule chair; they lifted up the fasces and bade him be of good cheer, as he was consul still, and lead them wherever he would. At their instance the officers came forward and took the military oath to support Cinna, and administered it each to the soldiers under him. When he had been confirmed in this way he traversed the allied cities and stirred them up also, because it was on their account chiefly that this misfortune had happened to him. They furnished him both money and soldiers; and many others, even of the aristocratic party in Rome, to whom a stable form of government was irksome, came and joined him. While Cinna was thus occupied, the consuls, Octavius and Merula, fortified the city with trenches, repaired the walls, and planted engines on them. To raise an army they sent around to the towns that were still faithful and also to the neighboring Gauls. They also summoned Gnaeus Pompeius, the proconsul who commanded the army on the Adriatic, to come in haste to the aid of his country.
Pompeius came and encamped before the Colline gate. Cinna advanced against him and encamped near him. When Gaius Marius heard of these transactions he sailed to Etruria with his fellow-exiles and about 500 slaves who had joined their masters from Rome. Filthy and longhaired, he marched through the towns presenting a pitiable appearance, descanting on his battles, his victories over the Cimbri, and his six consulships; and what was extremely pleasing to them, promising, and also seeming, to be faithful to their interests in the matter of the voting. In this way he collected 6000 Etruscans and joined Cinna, who received him gladly by reason of their common interest in the present enterprise. After their armies were joined they encamped on the banks of the Tiber and divided their forces in three parts: Cinna and Carbo opposite the city, Sertorius above it, and Marius toward the sea. The two latter threw bridges across the river in order to cut off the city’s food-supply. Marius captured Ostia and plundered it. Cinna sent a force and captured Ariminum in order to prevent an army coming to the city from the subject Gauls.
The consuls were alarmed. They needed more troops, but they were unable to call Sulla because he had already crossed over to Asia. They ordered Caecilius Metellus, who was carrying on the remainder of the Social War against the Samnites, to make peace on the best terms he could, and come to the rescue of his beleaguered country. Metellus would not agree to what the Samnites demanded, and when Marius heard of this he made an engagement with them to grant all that they asked from Metellus. In this way the Samnites became allies of Marius. Appius Claudius, a military tribune, who had command of the defences of Rome at the hill called the Janiculum, had once received a favor from Marius which the latter now reminded him of, in consequence of which he admitted him into the city, opening a gate for him at about daybreak. Then Marius admitted Cinna. They were thrust out by Octavius and Pompeius, who attacked them together, but a severe thunder-storm broke upon the camp of Pompeius, and he was killed by lightning together with others of the nobility.
After Marius had stopped the passage of food-supplies from the sea, or by way of the river above, he hastened to attack the neighboring towns where grain was stored for the Romans. He fell upon their garrisons unexpectedly and captured Antium, Aricia, Lanuvium, and others. There were some also that were delivered up to him by treachery. Having cut off their supplies by land in this manner, he advanced boldly against Rome, by the so-called Appian Way, before any other supplies were brought to them by another route. He and Cinna, and their lieutenant-generals, Carbo and Sertorius, halted at a distance of 100 stades from the city and went into camp. Octavius, Crassus, and Metellus had taken position against them at the Alban Mount, where they observed the enemy’s movements. Although they considered themselves superior in bravery and numbers, they hesitated to risk hastily their country’s fate on the hazard of a single battle. Cinna sent heralds around the city to offer freedom to slaves who would desert to him, and forthwith a large number did desert. The Senate was alarmed. Anticipating the most serious consequences from the people if the scarcity of corn should be protracted, it changed its mind and sent envoys to Cinna to treat for peace. The latter asked them whether they had come to see him as a consul or as a private citizen. They were at a loss for an answer and went back to the city; and now a large number of freemen flocked to Cinna, some from fear of famine and others because they had been previously favorable to his party and had been waiting to see which way the scales would turn.
Now Cinna began to despise his enemies and drew near to the wall, halting at the distance of a stone’s throw, where he encamped. Octavius and his party were undecided and fearful, and hesitated to attack him on account of the desertions and the negotiations. The Senate was greatly perplexed and considered it a dreadful thing to depose Lucius Merula, the priest of Jupiter, who had been chosen consul in place of Cinna, and who had done nothing wrong in his office. Yet on account of the impending danger it reluctantly sent envoys to Cinna again, and this time as consul. They no longer expected favorable terms, so they only asked that Cinna should swear to them that he would abstain from bloodshed. He refused to take the oath, but he promised nevertheless that he would not willingly be the cause of anybody’s death. He directed, however, that Octavius, who had gone around and entered the city by another gate, should keep away from the forum lest anything should befall him against Cinna’s will. This answer he delivered to the envoys from a high platform in his character as consul. Marius stood beside the curule chair silent, but showed by the asperity of his countenance how much murder he would commit. When the Senate had accepted these terms and had invited Cinna and Marius to enter (for it was understood that all the things that Cinna had subscribed to were the doings of Marius), the latter said with a scornful smile that it was not lawful for the banished to enter. Forthwith the tribunes voted to repeal the decree of banishment against him and all the others who were expelled under the consulship of Sulla.
Accordingly Cinna and Marius entered the city and everybody received them with fear. Straightway they began to plunder without restraint the goods of those who were supposed to be of the opposite party. Cinna and Marius had sworn to Octavius, and the augurs and soothsayers had predicted, that he would suffer no harm, yet his friends advised him to fly. He replied that he would never desert the city while he was consul. So he withdrew from the forum to the Janiculum with the nobility and what was left of his army, where he occupied the curule chair and wore his robes of office, attended by lictors as a consul. Here he was attacked by Censorinus with a body of horse, and again his friends and the soldiers who stood by him urged him to fly and brought him a horse, but he disdained even to arise, and awaited death. Censorinus cut off his head and carried it to Cinna, and it was suspended in the forum in front of the rostra, the first head of a consul that was so exposed. After him the heads of others who were slain were suspended there. This shocking custom, which began with Octavius, was not discontinued, but was handed down to subsequent intestine massacres. Now the victors sent out spies to search for their enemies of the senatorial and equestrian orders. After the knights were killed no further attention was paid to them, but all the heads of senators were exposed in front of the rostra. Neither reverence for the gods, nor the indignation of men, nor the fear of odium for their acts existed any longer among them. After committing savage deeds they turned to hideous sights. They killed remorselessly and severed the necks of men already dead, and they paraded these horrors before the public eye, either to inspire fear and terror, or for a monstrous spectacle.
Gaius Julius and Lucius Julius, two brothers, Atilius Serranus, Publius Lentulus, Gaius Numatorius, and Marcus Baebius were arrested in the street and killed. Crassus was pursued with his son. He anticipated the pursuers by killing his son, but was himself killed by them. Marcus Antonius, the orator, fled to a certain country place, where he was concealed and entertained by the farmer, who sent his slave to a tavern for wine of a better quality than he was in the habit of buying. The innkeeper asked him why he wanted the better quality. The slave whispered the reason to him, bought the wine, and went back. The seller ran and told Marius. When Marius heard this he sprang up with joy as though he would rush to do the deed himself, but he was restrained by his friends. A tribune was despatched to the house, who sent some soldiers upstairs, whom Antonius, a delightful speaker, entertained with a long discourse. He moved their pity by recounting many and various things, until the tribune, who was at a loss to know what had happened, rushed into the house and, finding his soldiers listening to Antonius, killed him while he was still addressing them, and sent his head to Marius.
Cornutus concealed himself in a hut and was saved by his slaves in an ingenious way. They found a dead body and placed it on a funeral pile, and when the searchers came they set fire to it and said that they were burning the body of their master, who had hanged himself. In this way he was saved by his slaves. Quintus Ancharius watched his opportunity till Marius was about to offer sacrifice in the Capitol, hoping that the temple would be a more propitious place for him. But when he approached and saluted Marius, the latter, who was just beginning the sacrifice, ordered the guards to kill him in the Capitol forthwith; and his head, with that of the orator Antonius, and those of others who had been consuls and praetors, was exposed in the forum. Burial was not permitted to any of the slain. The bodies of such men as these were torn in pieces by birds and dogs. There was also much private and irresponsible murder committed by the factions upon each other. There were banishments, and confiscations of property, and depositions from office, and a repeal of the laws enacted during Sulla’s consulship. All of Sulla’s friends were put to death, his house was razed to the ground, his property confiscated, and himself voted a public enemy. Search was made for his wife and children, but they escaped. Altogether no sort of calamity was wanting, either general or particular.
In addition to the foregoing and under the similitude of legal authority, and after so many had been put to death without trial, accusers were suborned to make false charges against Merula, the priest of Jupiter, who was hated because he had been the successor of Cinna in the consulship, although he had committed no other fault. Accusation was also brought against Lutatius Catulus, who had been the colleague of Marius in the war against the Cimbri, and whose life Marius once saved. It was charged that he had been very ungrateful to Marius and was bitter against him when he was banished. These men were put under secret surveillance, and when the day for holding court arrived were summoned to trial (the proper way was to put the accused under arrest after they had been cited four times at certain fixed intervals), but Merula had opened his own veins, and a tablet lying at his side showed that when he cut his veins he had removed his flamen’s cap, for it was accounted a sin for the priest to wear it at his death. Catulus suffocated himself with burning charcoal in a chamber newly plastered and still moist. So these two men perished. The slaves who had joined Cinna in answer to his proclamation and had thereupon been freed and were at this time enrolled in the army by Cinna himself, broke into and plundered houses, and killed persons whom they met on the street. Some of them attacked their own masters particularly. After Cinna had forbidden this several times, but without avail, he surrounded them with his Gallic soldiery one night while they were taking their rest, and killed them all. Thus did the slaves receive fit punishment for their repeated treachery to their masters. Y.R. 668
The following year Cinna was chosen consul for the B.C. 86 second time, and Marius for the seventh time; to whom, notwithstanding his banishment and proscription, the augury of the seven young eaglets was yet fulfilled. But he died in the first month of his consulship, while forming all sorts of terrible designs against Sulla. Cinna caused Valerius Flaccus to be chosen in his place and sent him to Asia, and when Flaccus lost his life Cinna chose Carbo as his successor.
Sulla now hastened his return to meet his enemies, having quickly finished all his business with Mithridates, as I have already related. Within less than three years he had killed 160,000 men, recovered Greece, Macedonia, Ionia, Asia, and many other countries that Mithridates had previously occupied, taken the king’s fleet away from him, and from such vast possessions restricted him to his paternal kingdom alone. He returned with a large and well-disciplined army, devoted to him and elated by its exploits. B.C. 85 He had abundance of ships, money, and apparatus suitable for all emergencies, and was an object of terror to his enemies. Carbo and Cinna were in such fear of him that they despatched emissaries to all parts of Italy to collect money, soldiers, and supplies. They took their leading citizens into friendly intercourse and appealed especially to the newly created citizens of the towns, pretending that it was on their account that they were threatened with the present danger. They hastily repaired the ships, and recalled those that were in Sicily, guarded the coast, and, with fear and trembling, made rapid preparations in every way.
Sulla wrote to the Senate in a tone of superiority concerning himself. He recounted what he had done in Africa in the Jugurthine war while he was still quaestor, what he had done as lieutenant in the Cimbric war, as praetor in Cilicia and in the Social war, and as consul. Most of all he dwelt upon his recent victories in the Mithridatic war, enumerating to them the many nations that had been under Mithridates and that he had recovered for the Romans. Of nothing did he make more account than that those who had been banished from Rome by Cinna had fled to him, and that he had received the helpless ones and supported them in their affliction. In return for which he said that he had been declared a public enemy by his foes, his house had been destroyed, his friends put to death, and his wife and children had with difficulty made their escape to him. He would be there presently to take vengeance, for them and for the entire city, upon the guilty ones. He assured the other citizens, and the new citizens, that he made no complaint against them. When the contents of the letters became known fear fell upon all, and they began sending messengers to reconcile him with his enemies and to tell him in advance that if he wanted any security he should write to the Senate at once. They ordered Cinna and Carbo to cease recruiting soldiers until Sulla’s answer should be received. They promised to do so, but as soon as the messengers had gone they proclaimed themselves consuls for the ensuing year so that they need not come back to the city directly to hold the election. They traversed Italy, collecting soldiers whom they carried across by detachments on shipboard to Liburnia,On the northern coast of Illyria. as they expected to meet Sulla there. Y.R. 670
The first detachment had a prosperous voyage. The B.C. 84 next one encountered a storm and those who reached land went home immediately, as they did not relish the prospect of fighting their fellow-citizens. When the rest learned this they refused to cross to Liburnia. Cinna was angry and called them to an assembly in order to coerce them. They, angry also and ready to defend themselves, assembled. One of the lictors, who was clearing the road for Cinna, struck somebody who was in the way and one of the soldiers struck the lictor. Cinna ordered the arrest of the offender, whereupon a clamor rose on all sides, stones were thrown at him, and those who were near him drew their swords and stabbed him. So Cinna also perished during his consulship. Carbo recalled those who had been sent over by ship to Liburnia. As he was solicitous about the present state of things, he did not go back to the city, although the tribunes summoned him with urgency to hold an election for the choice of a colleague. When they threatened to reduce him to the rank of a private citizen he came back and ordered the holding of the consular election, but as the omens were unfavorable he postponed it to another day. When that day came lightning struck the temples of Luna and of Ceres; so the augurs prorogued the comitia beyond the summer solstice, and Carbo remained the sole consul.
Sulla answered those who came to him from the Senate, saying that he would never be on friendly terms with the men who had committed such crimes. Still he would not prevent the city from extending clemency to them. As for security he said that, as he had a devoted army, he could better furnish lasting security to them, and to those who had fled to his camp, than they to him; whereby it was made plain in a single sentence that he would not disband his army, but was contemplating the exercise of supreme power. He demanded of them his former dignity, his property, and the sacerdotal office, and that they should restore to him in full measure whatever other honors he had previously held. He sent some of his own men with the Senate’s messengers to confer about these matters. As soon as they learned from the Brundusians that Cinna was dead and that Rome was in an unsettled state, they went back to Sulla without transacting their business. Y.R. 671 He started with five legions of Italian troops and B.C. 83 6000 horse, to whom he added some other forces from the Peloponnesus and Macedonia, in all about 40,000 men. He led them from the Piraeus to Patrae, and then sailed from Patrae to Brundusium in 1600 ships. The Brundusians received him without a fight, for which favor he afterward gave them exemption from customs-duties, which they enjoy to this day. Then he put his army in motion and went forward.
He was met on the road by Caecilius Metellus Pius, who had been chosen some time before to finish up the Social War, but who did not return to the. city for fear of Cinna and Marius. He had been awaiting the turn of events in Liguria, and now offered himself as a volunteer ally with the force under his command, as he was still a proconsul; for those who have been chosen to this office retain it till they come back to Rome. After Metellus, came Pompey, who not long afterward was surnamed the Great, son of the Pompeius who was killed by lightning and who was supposed to be unfriendly to Sulla. The son removed this suspicion by coming with a legion which he had collected from the territory of Picenum on the reputation of his father, who had been very influential there. A little later he recruited two more legions and became Sulla’s most useful right-hand man in these affairs. So Sulla held him in honor, though still very young; and they say he rose at the entrance of none other than this youth. After the war was finished Sulla sent him to Africa to drive out the party of Carbo and to restore Hiempsal (who had been expelled by the Numidians) to his kingdom. For this service Sulla allowed him a triumph over the Numidians, although he was under age, and was still in the equestrian order. He took his start to greatness from this beginning, and was sent against Sertorius in Spain and later against Mithridates in Pontus. Cethegus also joined Sulla, although with Cinna and Marius he had been violently hostile to him and had been driven out of the city with them. He was now a suppliant, and offered his services to Sulla in any capacity he might desire.