The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 05

by Unknown

CHAPTER XVI. THE JUGURTHINE AND OTHER WARS

[123-112 B.C.]

The cruel times which followed made the best men of both parties regret the untimely end of those who had sacrificed wealth, rank, tranquillity, in the hope of reforming the state by peaceful methods. But Marius was not the worst of the successors of the Gracchi. So savage were the party quarrels which followed, that good men shrank in despair from the cause of reform, and the conduct of the popular party was abandoned to needy demagogues. Such is the common course of revolutions. They begin with noble aspirations; they end in reckless violence. At length public spirit is lost, and all men, sighing for tranquillity, seek it in the strong rule of an armed soldier. It is a thrice-told tale.

As the murder of Tiberius had been avenged upon Nasica, so there was even now found a tribune bold enough to indict Opimius. The accuser bore the time-honoured name of Decius; the defender was that Carbo who was more than suspected of Scipio’s murder, and who was now consul (120 B.C.); his eloquence and the terror that prevailed procured an acquittal. But Carbo, though he earned the gratitude of the nobility by defending their champion, did not find his eloquence equally effectual in defending himself. It was at that time the practice of young Romans who aspired to distinction to attract public notice by indicting some great offender before the people. L. Licinius Crassus, son of Crassus the pontifex, and brother-in-law of C. Gracchus, though only one-and-twenty years of age, felt within him that power of speech which in later days gained him the appellation of the orator; and he singled out Carbo for attack. So fierce was the invective of the young accuser that Carbo put an end to his own life by poison.

The nobility probably cared little for the life of a worthless renegade. The best men in the senate, indeed, regretted what they considered the necessity of taking up arms against Gracchus. First among these was old Metellus Macedonicus, who died full of honours and years seven years after the death of C. Gracchus. He left four sons. Before his death three of them had been consuls; the fourth was candidate for the consulship at his father’s death; but his two nephews, sons of his brother Calvus, were more distinguished than his own offspring. Quintus the younger, under the title of Numidicus, shortly afterwards became the most eminent man in the ranks of the nobility. In the course of twenty years the Metelli enjoyed six consulships and four censorships, besides five triumphs. Such an aggregation of honours in one family was without example. The worst fault of the Metelli was pride; but if they were not beloved, they were at least respected by the people.

A person who plays a large part in the events of the next years was M. Æmilius Scaurus, a man of more dubious character. Horace names him with some of the greatest men of olden time; Sallust represents him as disgracing high qualities by an inordinate love for money. The facts we shall have to record will show that in his earlier days he was infected by the corruption of his compeers, while in later life his prudence was so great as to stand for principle. He was born in 163 B.C., so that at the fall of C. Gracchus he had reached that ripe age which was required for the consulship. Though he belonged to a great patrician gens, his family was so obscure that he was accounted a new man. His father had been a charcoal merchant, and left his son so poor that the future ruler of the empire had at one time contemplated following the trade of a money-changer. But he was encouraged to try the chances of political life, and in 115 B.C. he reached the consulate. By his ability and discretion he so won the confidence of the senate that at the first vacancy he was named princeps. He was a man less seen than felt. His oratory wanted fire; but his talents for business, and his dexterity in the management of parties, made him the most important person in the field of politics from the fall of Gracchus to the rise of Sulla.

The more prudent or more severe among the senators believed that reform in the state might be averted by a reformation of manners. But in vain. The business of Jugurtha brought into full light the venality and corruption of the dominant statesmen.

We have said little of the wars of Rome since the fall of Numantia and the termination of the Servile War. They were not considerable. The kingdom of Pergamus had formed the tenth province. The eldest son of old Metellus earned the title of Balearicus for subduing the Balearic Isles (121 B.C.); his eldest nephew that of Dalmaticus for putting down an outbreak of the Dalmatians (117 B.C.).

More attention was excited by wars in the south of Gaul, and more permanent effects followed. The success of Fulvius Flaccus, the friend of the Gracchi, in defending Marseilles, has been already noticed. C. Sextius, who succeeded Flaccus in 123 B.C., secured his conquests by founding the colony of Aquæ Sextiæ, which under the name of Aix still attracts visitors for the sake of its hot springs. These conquests brought the Romans in contact with the Allobrogians, between the Rhone and the Isère; and this people threw themselves on the protection of Bituitus, chief of the Arvernians (Auvergne). Q. Fabius, while Opimius was crushing C. Gracchus, crossed the Isère. A desperate battle ensued, in which the proconsul, with 30,000 men, is said to have so completely routed 200,000 Gauls that in the battle and pursuit no less than 130,000 fell. Fabius was suffering from a quartan ague, but in the heat of conflict shook off his disease. He assumed the title of Allobrogicus with better right than many who were decorated with these national surnames. The war was now carried into the Arvernian country, and the great triumphs of Cæsar might have been anticipated by some senatorial commander, when it was brought to a sudden end. An enemy, formidable alike to Romans and Gauls, well known a few years later under the dreaded names of Cimbrians and Teutones, had appeared on the northeastern frontier of Gaul, and threatened to overrun all southern Europe. But circumstances deferred for a time the conflict between Italy and those barbarous hordes, and for the present the dominion of Rome was firmly established in the southern angle of Gaul, between the Alps and Pyrenees, a district which still preserves its Roman name, “the province,” in the French Provence. The whole northern coast of the Mediterranean, from the Pillars of Hercules to Syria, now owned the sovereignty of Rome.[b]

THE JUGURTHINE WAR

The miserable inefficiency and complete worthlessness of the Roman government was especially noticeable in the Jugurthine War, which on that account, and not because of its magnitude or dangerous character, is of interest.

Masinissa, known to us as king of Numidia, died in the year 148 and left the government of his kingdom to be shared in common by his three sons, Micipsa, Gulussa, and Mastanabal. The death of the last two following soon after, Micipsa, the eldest, was left to reign alone. He was a feeble, peacefully inclined old man, who preferred devoting himself to Greek philosophy; and, as his two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, were not yet of age, he abandoned the administration to his nephew Jugurtha, an illegitimate son of Mastanabal. Jugurtha was a magnificent type of man, bold and full of talent, well versed in all the arts of war, and held in high esteem by the Numidians.

As leader of the Numidian auxiliary forces in the Numantian War, he had distinguished himself in Scipio’s army by his bravery, and had won many friends among the Romans of name. When he returned home he brought Micipsa a letter from Scipio, in which the latter congratulates Micipsa on his gallant nephew, who, he declares, has endeared himself to every Roman by his services. Micipsa now began to fear lest this youth, standing so high in the favour of both Romans and Numidians, might become dangerous to his own two sons. He therefore thought it best to propitiate him by benefits; he adopted him, and in his will provided that Jugurtha should share his kingdom with his sons.

[118-112 B.C.]

Micipsa died in the year 118. His eyes were scarcely closed when his two sons, grudging Jugurtha his share in the kingdom, fell out with him so that the idea of mutual government seemed no longer feasible.

But before a division of kingdom and treasure could be arranged, Jugurtha, who had been infuriated by irritating words which Hiempsal had uttered in a rage, caused Hiempsal to be set upon in his house and murdered. He then began war against Adherbal, intending to obtain mastery over the entire kingdom. Adherbal, driven from the kingdom, fled to Rome, where he laid his complaint before the senate, which had taken upon itself to carry out the provisions of Micipsa’s will. Jugurtha had taken the measure of the Romans before Numantia; he now sent an embassy with a quantity of money to Rome, and this soon convinced those who had just been pleading Adherbal’s cause of the injustice of his complaint.

Jugurtha was now pronounced blameless; Adherbal had himself commenced the war, and his brother had been murdered by his own followers because of his cruelties towards them. The Roman senate was quite willing to hand over the whole kingdom to the open-handed Jugurtha, but the evidence of bribery was somewhat too strong. So in order that the scandal might not become too flagrant, the leaders of the senate decided to send a commission of ten men to Numidia, who should divide that kingdom equally between the two pretenders. L. Opimius, the conqueror of C. Gracchus, was placed at the head of the commission, and neither he nor the others let slip the opportunity of turning the occasion to their own profits.

In exchange for Jugurtha’s money, it was arranged that the western half of Numidia, which was fertile and well populated, should be his portion; whilst to Adherbal was assigned the eastern part, chiefly consisting of sandy deserts. Jugurtha was not content with the half. Emboldened by his previous successes, he made inroads into Adherbal’s territory, seeking plunder and hoping that Adherbal by way of revenge would make an attack on him on his own ground, and so give him a pretext for taking his lands from him.

As, however, Adherbal contented himself with making complaints to Rome, he began the war without pretext. He invaded Adherbal’s territory at the head of a large force, and taking him by surprise in a night attack near Cirta (now Constantine) defeated him utterly. Adherbal with a few horsemen sought refuge in the capital. Whilst this was besieged by Jugurtha, and defended by the numerous Italians resident in the town, there appeared envoys from Rome who had been appointed to receive Adherbal’s first complaints. These demanded that Jugurtha should discontinue the war, and accept their mediation. The envoys were young men who made little impression on the king; he refused their demand and the siege was continued with redoubled vigour, without the Roman senate appearing to take any further interest in the matter.

It was only after five months of siege—when Adherbal had sent a fresh appeal to Rome imploring help in the most urgent manner, pointing out that Jugurtha’s aggression affected not only him but the Roman people also—that a decision was arrived at. They did not decide, however, as the honour of the state required, and the minority urged a declaration of war; but they sent a fresh embassy consisting of men of the highest consideration. At the head they sent M. Æmilius Scaurus, at that time the most honoured and influential man in Rome, but no better than the others, only possessed of more charm and experienced in the art of disguising his inward viciousness under the cloak of worth and dignity.

Jugurtha appeared in Utica at the summons of Scaurus; there were long consultations, and finally the embassy took its departure without gaining anything and without declaring war. The honourable Scaurus and his worthy companions had also permitted themselves to be bribed. The siege of Cirta was continued till Adherbal, urged by the Italian merchants who were settled in the town, and who believed their lives to be safe, surrendered on condition that his life and the lives of the garrison should be spared.

Scarcely was the surrender accomplished, when Jugurtha had Adherbal tortured to death, and the inhabitants, Africans and Italians, slaughtered. This monstrous crime of the barbarian king, which would not have been possible but for the laxity and infamous venality of the Roman government, raised a storm of indignation throughout Italy. In Rome the people clamoured for war, and were loud in their denunciation of the senate, which had so shamefully sacrificed the honour of the state and the lives of so many Italian citizens. Still the senate hesitated to yield to the anger of the populace and declare war against Jugurtha. It was only when C. Memmius—a man of action and eloquence, who was elected for the next year to the tribuneship of the people—threatened publicly that as tribune he would call the guilty to account, that the senate became frightened, yielded, and declared war (112).

[112-111 B.C.]

The consul L. Calpurnius Bestia undertook the direction of the war, and preparations were made with great ardour; Scaurus himself going with the force as legate. Bestia pressed forward into Numidia, and fortune favoured him, so that Jugurtha lost courage and asked for a suspension of hostilities. During the conference Jugurtha bribed Scaurus and through him the consul, so that the matter was arranged. Jugurtha was to throw himself on his conqueror’s mercy, and the Roman renegade, in exchange for an insignificant sum of money and some elephants, was to give him his freedom and to leave him in unrestricted possession of his kingdom.

When this bargain became known in Rome, C. Memmius, now tribune, insisted on a judicial inquiry and on Jugurtha being summoned before the assembly of the Roman people that he might give information as to the share taken by each of the different parties in the peace conference. “If the king really surrendered unconditionally,” said he, “he will not refuse to appear; if he refuses, you may learn from that fact the nature of this peace and this surrender, which has brought to Jugurtha amnesty for his crimes, to a small number of our nobles exceeding riches, and to our fatherland shame and disgrace.”[c] For this picturesque incident we may turn to Sallust, the original authority.

SALLUST’S ACCOUNT OF JUGURTHA AT ROME

[111-110 B.C.]

During the course of these proceedings at Rome, those whom Bestia had left in Numidia in command of the army, following the example of their general, had been guilty of many scandalous transactions. Some, seduced by gold, had restored Jugurtha his elephants; others had sold him his deserters; others had ravaged the lands of those at peace with us; so strong a spirit of rapacity, like the contagion of a pestilence, had pervaded the breasts of all.

Cassius, when the measure proposed by Memmius had been carried, and whilst all the nobility were in consternation, set out on his mission to Jugurtha, whom, alarmed as he was, and despairing of his fortune, from a sense of guilt, he admonished “that, since he had surrendered himself to the Romans, he had better make trial of their mercy than their power.” He also pledged his own word, which Jugurtha valued not less than that of the public, for his safety. Such at that period, was the reputation of Cassius.

Jugurtha, accordingly, accompanied Cassius to Rome, but without any mark of royalty, and in the garb, as much as possible, of a suppliant; and, though he felt great confidence on his own part, and was supported by all those through whose power or villainy he had accomplished his projects, he purchased, by a vast bribe, the aid of Caius Bæbius, a tribune of the people, by whose audacity he hoped to be protected against the law, and against all harm.

An assembly of the people being convoked, Memmius, although they were violently exasperated against Jugurtha (some demanding that he should be cast into prison, others that, unless he should name his accomplices in guilt, he should be put to death, according to the usage of their ancestors, as a public enemy), yet, regarding rather their character than their resentment, endeavoured to calm their turbulence and mitigate their rage; and assured them that, as far as depended on him, the public faith should not be broken. At length, when silence was obtained, he brought forward Jugurtha, and addressed them. He detailed the misdeeds of Jugurtha at Rome and in Numidia, and set forth his crimes towards his father and brothers; and admonished the prince, “that the Roman people, though they were well aware by whose support and agency he had acted, yet desired further testimony from himself; that, if he disclosed the truth, there was great hope for him in the honour and clemency of the Romans; but if he concealed it, he would certainly not save his accomplices, but ruin himself and his hopes forever.”

But when Memmius had concluded his speech, and Jugurtha was expected to give his answer, Caius Bæbius, the tribune of the people, whom I have just noticed as having been bribed, enjoined the prince to hold his peace; and though the multitude who formed the assembly were desperately enraged, and endeavoured to terrify the tribune by outcries, by angry looks, by violent gestures, and by every other act to which anger prompts, his audacity was at last triumphant. The people, mocked and set at naught, withdrew from the place of assembly; and the confidence of Jugurtha, Bestia, and the others whom this investigation had alarmed, was greatly augmented.

There was at this period in Rome a certain Numidian named Massiva, a son of Gulussa and grandson of Masinissa, who, from having been, in the dissensions among princes, opposed to Jugurtha, had been obliged, after the surrender of Cirta and the murder of Adherbal, to make his escape out of Africa. Spurius Albinus, who was consul with Quintus Minucius Rufus the year after Bestia, prevailed upon this man, as he was of the family of Masinissa, and as odium and terror hung over Jugurtha for his crimes, to petition the senate for the kingdom of Numidia. Albinus, being eager for the conduct of a war, was desirous that affairs should be disturbed, rather than sink into tranquillity; especially as, in the division of the provinces, Numidia had fallen to himself, and Macedonia to Minucius.

Goddess Roma

(After Hope)

When Massiva proceeded to carry these suggestions into execution, Jugurtha, finding that he had no sufficient support in his friends, as a sense of guilt deterred some and evil report or timidity others from coming forward in his behalf, directed Bomilcar, his most attached and faithful adherent, to procure by the aid of money, by which he had already effected so much, assassins to kill Massiva; and to do it secretly if he could, but if secrecy should be impossible, to cut him off in any way whatsoever. This commission Bomilcar soon found means to execute; and, by the agency of men versed in such service, ascertained the direction of his journeys, his hours of leaving home, and the times at which he resorted to particular places, and, when all was ready, placed his assassins in ambush. One of their number sprang upon Massiva, though with too little caution, and killed him; but being himself caught, he made at the instigation of many, and especially of Albinus the consul, a full confession. Bomilcar was accordingly committed for trial, though rather on the principles of reason and justice than in accordance with the law of nations, as he was in the retinue of one who had come to Rome on a pledge of the public faith for his safety. But Jugurtha, though clearly guilty of the crime, did not cease to struggle against the truth, until he perceived that the infamy of the deed was too strong for his interest or his money. For which reason, although at the commencement of the proceedings he had given fifty of his friends as bail for Bomilcar, yet thinking more of his kingdom than of the sureties, he sent him off privately into Numidia, for he feared that if such a man should be executed, his other subjects would be deterred from obeying him. A few days after, he himself departed, having been ordered by the senate to quit Italy. But, as he was going from Rome, he is said, after frequently looking back on it in silence, to have at last exclaimed that “it was a venal city, and would soon perish, if it could but find a purchaser!”[82][d]

A WAR OF BRIBERY

The war accordingly recommenced. Spurius Postumius Albinus took the command. But the African force was so demoralised that nothing was to be done with it, and moreover Albinus also allowed himself to be bribed. Nothing was done during the whole summer. When, however, the consul went to Rome, where the election of consuls for the ensuing year demanded his presence, and gave the command into the hands of his brother Aulus Postumius—the latter, a foolhardy and incompetent man, endeavoured to make use of this short interval for his own glory and enrichment. In the middle of winter he marched to the interior of Numidia, bent on surprising and overthrowing the inaccessible fortress of Suthul, where Jugurtha kept his treasures. All went well till he came in front of the town; but as he was not able to take it, he pursued Jugurtha, who drew him into unknown parts of the country, and suddenly, one stormy night, having won over some of the Roman officers and men by bribes, attacked him in his camp. The Romans fled, mostly unarmed, and took refuge on a neighbouring hill, where they were surrounded. Nothing remained to their leader but surrender, and under conditions dictated by Jugurtha as follows: “The Roman army to withdraw under the yoke, and to quit Numidia; the treaty of peace annulled by the senate to be again in force.”

The disgrace could not have been greater. In Rome the displeasure of the people could no longer be kept within bounds. In accordance with the proposal of the people’s tribune, C. Mamilius Limetamus, there was instituted a judicial examination of all those through whose fault Jugurtha had been able to defy the senate, and those generals and envoys who had taken money from him. An extraordinary commission of inquiry was convened, and Calpurnius Bestia, Spurius Albinus, L. Opimius—who was especially odious to the people—as well as several less celebrated men, were sentenced to exile.

That cunning scoundrel, Æmilius Scaurus, got off clear; he had indeed so managed that he was one of those chosen to act on the board of the commission of inquiry. The treaty of peace of Aulus Postumius was naturally declared inoperative, and the war was renewed. In order completely to put an end to the disgrace, the command was given to Q. Cæcilius Metellus, consul for the year 109, another, certainly, of the rigid and callous patricians, but one of the few men in the government inaccessible to bribes, and known to be an experienced and prudent general.

METELLUS IN COMMAND

[109 B.C.]

Accompanied by capable lieutenants such as C. Marius and P. Rutilius Rufus, he arrived in Africa in the year 109; but he found the army in such a state of demoralisation and confusion that he needed more time to restore it to discipline, and by dint of severe measures render it fit for service. When he entered Numidia, Jugurtha quickly recognised that the condition of affairs was changed, and he repeatedly proffered Metellus his submission, merely demanding a guarantee for his life. But Metellus intended the war to end in one way only—with the execution of Jugurtha, and he did not scruple during the negotiations to endeavour to induce the servants of the king to deliver their master dead or living into his hands. When Jugurtha realised the intentions of the Romans, he broke off negotiations and prepared himself for a desperate resistance.

During his march to the interior of Numidia, Metellus crossed a range of barren mountains, on the other side of which flowed the river Muthul, in a wide plain, a few miles distant from the mountains; from the mountains to the river a low chain of partly wooded hills traversed the plain obliquely. On these hills Jugurtha had stationed his troops, in two divisions, in order to surprise the Romans. One under Bomilcar waited near the river, but the larger division, under Jugurtha himself, was ambushed nearer the mountains.

The choice of the place and the way in which he drew up his forces proved the king’s military talent. Metellus could not remain stationary on the mountains; he must try to reach the river across the waterless plain. He therefore sent a portion of his force under the legate Rufus in a straight line to the river, there to pitch their camp; he himself marched with the remainder of his army across the plain toward the line of hills on the right, intending to drive the foe from their position. But he had scarcely descended to the plain, when he was attacked on all sides by Jugurtha’s men and prevented from advancing. At the same time Bomilcar threw himself upon the force under Rufus. In both places the Romans were sorely harassed, and the event long remained doubtful; at last the ability and endurance of the Roman foot soldiers conquered. When Metellus and Marius with part of their force reached the foot of the chain of hills and set themselves to storm the heights held by the enemy, the latter fled, making scarcely any resistance. Meanwhile Rufus likewise came off conqueror; and so, late that evening, the two divisions of the Roman army met in the glory of victory.

After this encounter at Muthul, Jugurtha dismissed the greater part of his troops, and confined himself to guerilla warfare. Skirmishing round Numidia, wherever the Romans were devastating the country and destroying towns, he harassed and annoyed them in every possible way. As winter approached, and Metellus, in order to facilitate the collection of supplies, withdrew his troops into the Roman provinces, Jugurtha again made overtures of peace. Metellus declared himself inclined to come to terms. First of all he demanded the surrender of the elephants, some of the horses and weapons and three hundred hostages; also that of the Roman deserters, three thousand in number, who were to be executed. Next he demanded two hundred thousand pounds of silver, and his demand was agreed to by the king; but when finally Metellus demanded that the king himself should become his prisoner, Jugurtha broke off the negotiations.

At the same time Bomilcar, Jugurtha’s most trusted friend, who took an active part in the negotiations, was secretly suborned by Metellus to deliver the king into his hands dead or alive. Bomilcar might have feared that, in the case of peace being again concluded, Jugurtha would denounce him to the Romans as the murderer of Massiva; and was therefore ready to betray his master, if Metellus guaranteed him his own safety. But Jugurtha discovered the plot and had Bomilcar executed. The war still continued.

[109-108 B.C.]

Jugurtha, though weakened, was not at the end of his resources. In that country—furrowed with deserts, as well as surrounded by them—he could long maintain the war, more particularly as not only his own subjects but the free neighbouring races were his enthusiastic followers, adoring the hero who so bravely and with such success had defended his native country against its hated enemies.

When in the year 108 Metellus again opened the campaign and engaged Jugurtha in a pitched battle, Jugurtha fled far to the south, to the confines of the great desert, where in an oasis was a fortified town called Thala. Here he retired with his children, his treasure, and his best troops; an arid desert, ten miles broad, was between him and the pursuing enemy. Still Metellus marched through the desert, taking water for his men in skins, and after forty days’ siege he took Thala. But he failed to catch Jugurtha; at the critical moment he had escaped with his children and his treasure. He fled through the district south of Mount Atlas—to the Belidulgerid of to-day—and called on the hordes that dwelt there to take arms against the national enemy.

He returned to his kingdom with a force composed of Gætulians, and still further strengthened by a new ally—King Bocchus of Mauretania, his father-in-law, who, after long hesitation, had finally decided to make common cause with him against the Romans. The two monarchs led their troops to the neighbourhood of Cirta, then in the hands of the Romans, and Metellus advanced to meet them. But nothing decisive happened; for meanwhile Metellus had heard from Rome that Marius, his former lieutenant, had been chosen consul for the year 107, and had been given the chief command in Africa by the people, and so all operations were suspended.

MARIUS APPEARS AS COMMANDER

[108-107 B.C.]

Caius Marius, who in the next few years was to play so conspicuous a part in Roman history, was a man of low birth, the son of a Latin peasant from the village of Cereatæ, near Arpinum. He was lacking in all higher culture. He was essentially a soldier, with the inborn faculty for war. When only twenty-two, he distinguished himself in the army of Scipio Æmilianus in Numantia by his bravery and by his soldierly bearing. Ambition drove him into the service of the state. In 119, supported by the powerful Metellus, he became a tribune of the people, and at that time, with much determination and military impetuosity, he carried through a law directed against the nobles, dealing with bribery and the fraudulent acquisition of office. When the consul Cotta prevailed upon the senate to oppose the law and to call Marius to account, the latter appeared in the senate and threatened to imprison Cotta by force, if he did not abandon his resolve. Cotta appealed to his fellow consul, L. Cæcilius Metellus; and when the latter agreed with Cotta, Marius ordered his servant to conduct Metellus to prison. As no tribune would intercede on Metellus’ behalf, the senate gave way and the law took its course.

From that time Marius was established in the favour of the people; but the nobility worked against the ambitious aspirant where they could, and they succeeded in defeating him when he stood for the curule chair, and again when he sought the plebeian ædileship. The prætorship he succeeded in obtaining in the year 115, but with the greatest difficulty.

Marius remained legate to Q. Metellus in the Jugurthine War because of the opportunities offered for showing military activity. He helped Metellus to re-establish military discipline and to win victory for the Roman standard. His courage and knowledge of warfare, his cunning and intrepidity, and strict military discipline, were everywhere celebrated; he gained the affections of the common soldiers by sharing with them all their hardships and privations. After the battle of Muthul, where he especially distinguished himself, his praise was in every mouth; and the soldiers wrote home that there would be no end to the war unless Marius was made consul and commander-in-chief. This was vexatious to Metellus, and there seems to have been considerable friction between these two proud men. When Marius asked for furlough from the commander-in-chief that he might go to Rome and make application for the consulship, Metellus with the pride of rank annoyed him with the question, “Will you not be content if you become consul with my son?” Metellus’ son was then twenty-two years old.

Metellus only granted Marius leave of absence twelve days before the election to the consulship took place; but Marius travelled the whole way from the camp to Utica in two days and one night, and from Utica he arrived in Rome within four days. On his application for the consulship he did not scruple to disparage Metellus’ conduct of the war, and hinted that he was purposely protracting the struggle so as to remain longer in command; and he promised that with even half the troops he would in a short time deliver Jugurtha, dead or alive, into the hands of the Romans. The people treated the election as a party question, and Marius as one of themselves was chosen consul by unanimous acclamation, and the conduct of the African War transferred into his hands. This was, after a long interval, another case in which a homo novus attained to the consulate—naturally to the great annoyance of the nobility, who however could do nothing against the will of the people, excited as they were at the idea that after long oppression they had found in Marius a chief and a leader of their own.

[107-104 B.C.]

Marius made use of the time before his departure for the seat of war to irritate the people in every way against the rule of the nobility. “The haughty nobles,” said he, “passed their youth in luxury and revelling; then, when elected to the post of general, they would hasten to glean from Greek books some information on the subject of the art of war. Let the people leave them to their revels, and choose their generals from men who are inured to heat and cold, and every hardship, who, instead of pictures of ancestors, have honourable wounds and marks of conflict to display.”

When levying the troops he was to lead to Africa, he chose his men contrary to the prevailing system—from the lowest orders of the people, the so-called proletariat. Through this innovation he gained at any rate a number of devoted adherents; but he degraded the tone of the army by putting swords into the hands of people without homes or property, who would seek profit in warfare and be more eager to serve their general than their country.

When Marius came to Africa, he received his army from the hands of the legate Rufus; Metellus, infuriated, had already left, in order to avoid the rival who was to supplant him. He continued the war and was favoured by fortune, though he did not end it immediately, as he had pledged himself to do.

He plundered and devastated the whole Numidian country, and those towns not yet garrisoned he forced to submission; he overshadowed the expedition Metellus had led against Thala by a still bolder and more skilfully conducted campaign against Capsa, a fortified town further south; took a rocky fortress on the river, Mulucha on the borders of Numidia and Mauretania and conquered the two kings opposed to him one after the other in sanguinary battles. But the end of the war was not to be thought of till the person of Jugurtha should be in the hands of the Romans. That was at last compassed in the early part of the year 106.

Roman General

King Bocchus, discouraged by the defeats he had suffered, had visions of peace and friendship with Rome, and in secret negotiations he treacherously promised to deliver his son-in-law Jugurtha to Marius. He desired that L. Sulla, the quæstor of Marius, and a favourite with him, should be deputed to work with him and capture Jugurtha; and Sulla had courage and determination enough to trust himself with this unknown person, whose intentions were not yet understood.

Accompanied by a son of Bocchus, he undertook the dangerous journey and rode boldly right through the camp of Jugurtha. He had to persuade Bocchus by definite and detailed proposals to decide upon a treaty with Rome. Jugurtha was enticed by Bocchus into ambush and taken prisoner, under the pretext of taking him out of the way of Sulla. “So fell the great traitor by the treachery of those nearest to him.” He was carried with his children to the camp of Marius; and thus the war came to an end.

Marius remained till the following year in Africa, to inaugurate the new order of things there. Numidia was still reckoned a kingdom; but the new king Gauda, a half brother of Jugurtha, and the last descendant of Masinissa, was compelled to relinquish the western portion to Bocchus. Numidia was not converted into a Roman province, because the protection of the border against the hordes of the deserts would always have required a considerable standing army of Roman soldiers.[c]

Ihne[e] says that the Romans were “as ungenerous and as unjust to him as to Hannibal and Perseus and all their great foes. On the whole he inspires less abhorrence than Metellus or Marius or Sulla, or the wretches who took his bribes.”

Plutarch describes the last days of Jugurtha with terrible vigour.

PLUTARCH ON JUGURTHA’S DEATH

“Marius, bringing home his army again out of Libya into Italy, took possession of his consulship the first day of January (on which day the Romans begin their [second] year) 104, and therewithal made his triumph into the city of Rome, shewing that to the Romans, which they thought never to have seen: and that was, King Jugurtha prisoner, who was so subtile a man, and could so well frame himself unto his fortune, and with his craft and subtlety was of so great courage besides, that none of his enemies ever hoped to have had him alive. But it is said, that after he was led in triumph, he fell mad straight upon it. And the pomp of triumph being ended, he was carried into prison, where the sergeants for haste to have the spoil of him, tore his apparel by force from off his back: and because they would take away his rich gold earrings that hung at his ears, they pulled away with them the tip of his ear, and then cast him naked to the bottom of a deep dungeon, his wits being altogether troubled. Yet when they did throw him down, laughing he said: O Hercules, how cold are your stoves! He lived there yet six days, fighting with hunger, and desiring always to prolong his miserable life unto the last hour: the which was a just deserved punishment for his wicked life.”[f]

THE CIMBRIANS AND THE TEUTONS

[113-105 B.C.]

Whilst in distant Africa the Romans were engaged in making war upon the various savage hordes of the desert, from the forests of Germany a new danger threatened them on the borders of their empire. For reasons unknown, the Cimbrians (i.e., “the combatants”), a Teutonic tribe, had forsaken their home by the Baltic, and withdrawn to the northern Alpine countries to seek new abiding places. Here they adopted a nomadic form of existence, wandering hither and thither, taking their wives and children and all their possessions with them wherever they went. That they and the other Teutonic tribes afterwards united to them are to be classed as Germans, and not, as the Romans formerly thought, as Celts, is proved by their names, their stature, and others of their characteristics, and further by the fact that still later we find mention of the Cimbrians in the Danish or Cimbrian peninsula, and the Teutons in northeast Germany in the vicinity of the Baltic, together no doubt constituting the last remains of this tribe. But in the course of its long wandering there had been added to this German nucleus not only other German-speaking rovers in search of booty, but also numerous Celtic hordes, so that we even find leaders with Celtic names at the head of the Cimbrians. The Cimbrians and Teutons are described as tall and slightly built men with blue eyes and auburn hair—strong, wild, warlike figures. In battle they fought with impetuous bravery. After a victory they gave themselves up to the lust of cruelty; there was a general destruction and the prisoners were either hanged or butchered to make sacrifices for their gods. From the blood which flowed from the sacrifices, the priestesses, old gray-haired women in white linen garments, foretold the future.

We have no means of ascertaining for how long the Cimbrians wandered through the north and east of Europe, nor do we know which roads they traversed. From what is now Bohemia they wandered southward to Noricum—the Carinthia and Carniola of to-day. Here, on the borders of the Roman Empire, they appeared in the year 113. On being informed of this, the Romans sent out the consul Cn. Papirius Carbo, the son of that Carbo who was a marked figure of the Gracchian period, with an army to guard the Alpine passes of that neighbourhood. When Carbo, approaching from Aquileia, entered Noricum, the Cimbrians, who had heard of the great power of the Romans, sent them envoys, who explained that they, the Cimbrians, desired to be allowed to settle amongst the Noricans, and had no desire to go to war with them. Carbo replied that the Roman people were bound to the Noricans by bonds of hereditary hospitality, and that he had not the right to grant the Cimbrians permission to settle in Noricum. The Cimbrians decided to proceed farther. Carbo gave them guides who were to lead them out of the country; but by his instructions these guides brought them to a place in the neighbourhood of Noreia (now Görz), near which he and his men were ambushed, and as the Cimbrians passed they attacked them. But this piece of treachery recoiled upon the perpetrator. Carbo’s force was beaten and would have been completely destroyed had not a tremendous storm hindered the Cimbrians from pursuit. It was now in the power of the Cimbrians to enter Italy by these Alpine passes, but they preferred to cross the northern Alps and wander westward towards Gaul. In this direction they persuaded two tribes of Helvetia, the Tigurini and Tugeni, to join them, or at any rate to travel the same route. Since the conquests made in western Gaul in the year 125 by Fulvius Flaccus, the friend of C. Gracchus, the Romans had founded a new province between the Alps and the Pyrenees, bounded by the Cevennes and the Mediterranean, with a principal town, Narbo. This was now threatened by the Cimbrians and other wandering tribes, and so in 109 the Romans sent the consul M. Junius Silanus there at the head of an army.

The Cimbrians appealed to him to show them in what part of the country they might be allowed to settle; but instead of answering, he attacked them. He suffered a terrible defeat. Instead of following up their victory, the Cimbrians despatched an embassy to Rome with an appeal to be allowed to settle in that country, and turned to do battle with the neighbouring Celtic tribes. Meanwhile in the year 107 the above-mentioned Helvetian tribes invaded the Roman province under the leadership of Divico, and springing upon the consul, Cassius Longinus, from an ambush, utterly defeated him. The consul himself was killed, and his legate C. Popilius, who had fled into camp with the remainder of the force, could only save his men by a disgraceful treaty. He gave hostages, resigned half his baggage, and withdrew under the yoke.

The position of the Romans in Gaul was so shaken by these numerous defeats that the town of Tolosa (Toulouse) revolted and took the Roman garrison prisoners. As, however, neither the Cimbrians nor the Helvetians troubled the province further, Q. Servilius Cæpio, who was the consul there in the year 106, was able to regain possession of the town by a trick. He took advantage of this opportunity to rifle completely the temple of the Gallic god of healing, called by the Romans Apollo; but when the booty—alleged to be about 100,000 pounds of gold and 110,000 pounds of silver—was sent to Massilia, the convoy was attacked on the road by bandits, who overpowered a weak resistance, and took away gold and silver, at the instigation, it is said, of Cæpio and his officers, who took their share of the plunder.

[105-103 B.C.]

In the next year, 105, the Cimbrians again appeared in the province, under their king, Boiorix, this time with the serious intention of going on into Italy. In the province, besides the troops under the proconsul Cæpio, there was now a second force under the consul Cn. Mallius Maximus; this occupied the right bank of the Rhone, the other force the left bank, both being drawn up to await the enemy, without either section paying much attention to the movements of the other. When, however, a corps under the legate M. Aurelius Scaurus was attacked and completely defeated by the Cimbrians, the consul ordered the proconsul to lead his force over the Rhone and unite with his own men. Cæpio, who had a personal enmity against Mallius, and plumed himself on his superior birth, obeyed with reluctance, but could not bring himself to make common cause with Mallius against the enemy and discuss operations with him.

Meantime, the imposing forces of the Romans had induced the Cimbrians to enter into negotiations. Cæpio, seeing the consul in negotiation with the delegates of the barbarians, and thinking that he was desirous of keeping all the honours of victory for himself, attacked them without delay. As a result his troops were entirely destroyed and his camp was taken. After this the Cimbrians engaged in battle with the troop under Mallius and utterly defeated them. The Romans suffered this terrible reverse near the town of Arausio (Orange). On the Roman side eighty thousand soldiers and forty thousand men belonging to the commissariat are said to have been killed, only ten men being saved, amongst whom was Cæpio.

The earlier defeats had already so terrified the Italians that the raising of fresh soldiers presented difficulties; but now, after the defeat of Arausio the “Cimbrian panic” reached its height. Besides panic, the people also felt a burning rage, particularly against the corrupt government of the nobility which had jeopardised the state. Against certain individuals their indignation was extreme, particularly against Cæpio, whose insubordination had been the main cause of the defeat. By decision of the people he was now deposed from the proconsulate, and his property was confiscated; by a second decision of the people he was driven from the senate, and when, long after, in consequence of the malversation and high treason practised in Gaul, a court of judicial inquiry was convened, on the instigation of several of the people’s tribunes, Cæpio narrowly escaped the death sentence. He was banished, and went to Smyrna. Mallius Maximus and several other men of distinction were tried at the same time. The senate and their generals had lost all confidence; only one man seemed to be able to save the state in these perilous times—C. Marius, he who at the end of the Jugurthine War was regarded as the greatest general of his time. Whilst he was still in Africa he was chosen consul for the year 104, although it was against the rule to elect any one who was absent, or any one who had already been a consul at any time during the previous ten years. On the same day—January 1—on which Marius celebrated his triumph over Jugurtha, he entered upon his second consulate; and the same office was conferred upon him every succeeding year until the Cimbrian danger was over.

[103-102 B.C.]

When Marius with his force reached the Rhone, the Cimbrians, always hasty in their movements, had wandered off through southern Gaul towards the west and had entered Spain. Marius accordingly spent some time restoring the disorganised and disintegrated Gallic peoples to a sense of their duty; he raised auxiliary troops from the allied states and by dint of unswerving severity and unremitting exertions made his troops once more fit for action. Once let a soldier under Marius be accustomed to his severity of mien, his rough voice and wild looks, once let him learn never to fail in his duty, never to be insubordinate, and his fear of Marius would be changed into confidence; the man of terror would seem formidable only to his enemies. But his chief attraction for his men was his strict justice and impartiality. It was probably in the year 103, that the Cimbrians returned to Gaul from Spain, where they had encountered a stout resistance from the Celtiberians. They marched through the country along the Atlantic coast to the Seine on the borders of Belgium. Here they were joined by Teuton tribes of the same family under their king Teutobodus, tribes which, driven like the Cimbrians from their home on the Baltic, were moving aimlessly about the world. Notwithstanding their united forces they met with such resistance from the brave Belgians that they gave way, and finally decided to go to Italy. They again divided, perhaps for convenience in obtaining supplies, into two hosts. The Cimbrians, with the Helvetian Tigurini, who seem only recently to have joined them, went back to Noricum in order to enter Italy at the same point as before. The Teutones with the Ambrones, probably a Celtic people, proceeded towards the Rhone, in order to go from thence over the western Alps.

In the summer of 102 the Teutones crossed the Rhone and proceeded down the left bank to meet the army of Marius, which was encamped in a strong position at the junction of the Isère and the Rhone and was well provisioned. Here he was barring both the highroads which at that time led to Italy, the route over the Little St. Bernard, and the route along the coast. The barbarians encamped in countless numbers on the wide plain in front of Marius’ camp and challenged him to battle. He, however, following the plan of remaining strictly on the defensive, stayed quietly in camp and let them spend their strength in daily attempts to storm the Roman fortifications. In vain; their impetuosity was wrecked by the arts of war as practised by the Romans and by the prudence of Marius. At last they drew off in the direction of the south, in order to march into Italy by the road along the coast. They were six days marching past the Roman camp in enormous crowds with numberless heavily-laden carts. The Romans from their walls jeered at them as they passed, asking if they had no commands for their wives. When the procession had gone by, Marius followed with his force, and camped always close beside them, but behind strong entrenchments and in favourable positions, so that he was protected against night surprises and could not be forced into an engagement against his will. In this way they travelled until they came to Aquæ Sextiæ (now Aix in Provence); from here it was only a little way to the Alps, and Marius was compelled to consider the question of a decisive battle. He pitched his camp at a place where there was no spring of water, and when his soldiers grumbled and asked him where they could get it, he pointed downwards to the river Canus (now the Arc) which flowed near the enemy’s camp. They demanded that he should at once lead them against the enemy, whilst they had still blood to spend. He answered coolly: “First we must fortify the camp.”

Whilst the soldiers were fortifying the camp Marius sent his camp-followers to the river to fetch water. For their defence they carried hatchets and axes, swords and lances. Soon a scuffle arose on the banks with the roving bands of the Ambrones who, separated from the Teutones, covered the rear of the whole army on the march. As new combatants constantly hurried to the assistance of both sides, the Ambrones at last played their full strength, thirty thousand men, and Marius was no longer able to restrain his men. In crossing the river, the Ambrones fell into disorder and the Romans, in a rush down from the heights attacked them in the rear with such force, that having suffered great loss, they fled back to their camp and barricade of wagons. Here the fight was renewed after a strange fashion, for the wives of the Ambrones, armed with swords and hatchets, rushed with wild cries to meet them as they fled, forcing them back towards the enemy, and those who saw that all was lost, fell into a frenzy and threw themselves into the midst of the combat, letting themselves be cut and hacked to pieces.

The Romans felt encouraged by this victory, but dared not give themselves over to the joy of triumph, for by far the greater number of the enemy had not yet been engaged. The great plain was still covered with myriads of Teutones, who filled the air all night with threatening cries and occupied themselves all the following day preparing for a further encounter. It was not till three days later that the fight recommenced. By break of day, Marius and his men had ranged themselves on the hill in front of the camp in order for battle. As soon as the barbarians saw them they attacked the hill with fury. The Romans waited quietly till they came within range, then threw their lances and seized their swords. There was a long and obstinate fight lasting till midday; then the Germans, weakened by their own impetuosity and the heat of the southern sun, began to give way: as they reached the plain and were in the act of reorganising their front ranks which had fallen into disarray three thousand men under Claudius Marcellus fell on them from an ambush in the rear. That decided the issue; startled at the double attack the barbarians broke up their lines and fled in wild confusion.

[102-101 B.C.]

According to Plutarch,[f] over one hundred thousand men were either killed or taken prisoner. Livy[h] gives the numbers in the two battles as two hundred thousand dead and ninety thousand prisoners. Among the prisoners was the gigantic King Teutobodus, among the slain a number of women, some of whom met their death on the wagons in a desperate resistance, others killed themselves to avoid slavery and a life of shame. The battle-field of Aquæ Sextiæ is said to have been so fertilised by the amount of blood and corpses, that in the following summer it bore an utterly disproportionate crop of fruit; the neighbouring Massiliots fenced their vineyards with the enormous bones of the slain.

Meanwhile the Cimbrians had arrived in Noricum without hindrance and crossed into Italy through the Alpine passes. Q. Lutatius Catulus, the second consul of the year 102, had at first held the Alpine passes, but when the enemy appeared in great numbers he withdrew to the Adige and entrenched himself there on the west bank which the enemy was approaching, at the same time securing a retreat to the other side by means of a bridge. Here, too, he was not able to hold his position long. When the Roman soldiers saw these giant barbarians hurling rocks and trunks of trees into the river to make a dam, whilst others amused themselves by sliding down the glacier on their shields as if they were sleighs, when they saw some using great trees as battering-rams against the supports of the bridges whilst others threw themselves into the river and swam across, they were seized with such a panic of terror, that heedless of their general, they fled, abandoning their camp. In order to avoid what was becoming a shameful flight, Catulus raised the standard, and hurrying to the front himself led the men over the bridge. He was, however, obliged to leave a contingent behind in the camp on the left bank. The barbarians seized the camp, but with great generosity they permitted the garrison who had fought for their native country to depart unharmed.

Catulus retreated along the southern bank of the river Po, and left the Cimbrians to plunder and devastate the country north of the river. No actual battle took place; for Catulus was waiting for the approach of Marius, the Cimbrians for the approach of the Teutones.

After Marius, named consul for the fifth time in the year 101, had waited a short time in Rome, whither he had been summoned from Aquæ Sextiæ by the senate, he betook himself to Catulus in upper Italy, and left his own troops to follow him there from Gaul in the spring of 101. After their arrival, he and Catulus together led their troops over the Po and drew near to the enemy. The Cimbrians desired to postpone further fighting till the arrival of the Teutones, and sent envoys to Marius with the demand that he should grant them and their brothers the country and towns they might ask for. Marius asked who their “brothers” might be, and when they named the Teutones, all present laughed, and Marius replied with scorn: “Have no care for your brothers, we have already given them land to dwell in, and they shall keep it forever.”

The envoys, not understanding the jest, threatened him with instant revenge from the Cimbrians, and from the Teutones as soon as they arrived.

“They are already here,” answered Marius, “and it would not be proper that you should go without having greeted your brothers.” And with these words he commanded that King Teutobodus and the other captive leaders of the Teutones should be brought before him.

Heavy Marching Order of Roman Infantry

The Cimbrians now knew the fate of their brothers and they at once attacked Marius, but he merely defended his camp. Then Boiorix, king of the Cimbrians, with a few attendants came and demanded that Marius should fix a day and hour for battle. Marius chose the third day from then (it was the 30th of July, 101), and named for the place of battle the fields near Vercellæ where the superior horsemanship of the Romans would have free play. Early in the morning of the day appointed the Cimbrian foot-soldiers drew up in a square that was over three miles in breadth and depth. In the front rank the combatants were linked together by chains fastened to their belts that their ranks might not be broken.[83] Their riders, fifteen thousand in number, were, according to Plutarch’s description, armed in most striking fashion. Their helmets were made in the likeness of the jaws of animals or the heads of monsters; and their great height was still further increased by feathers, which were made to soar upwards like enormous wings. They were besides decorated with iron coats of mail and carried shields which dazzled by their whiteness. As missiles, each carried a spear with two barbs, and in fighting hand-to-hand they used great heavy swords. The Roman force, fifty thousand men in all, was so placed by Marius that the sun and the dust came full in the faces of the enemy. Marius’ troops formed the two wings, those under Catulus took the centre.

Captives passing under the Yoke

The Cimbrians sent their cavalry in advance of their foot-soldiers; in the thick fog of the early morning they suddenly fell upon the Roman cavalry and drew them away from their foot. The battle was carried on in some cases with great bravery, but in spite of the numbers and strength of the barbarians the superior knowledge and endurance of the Romans conquered. The greater part of the Cimbrians were killed on the field, Boiorix among the number. Several put an end to their own lives. The scenes of Aquæ Sextiæ were repeated, the women rushed with swords and axes into the midst of the enemy and let themselves be hewn down; they killed those they saw flying, their children and at last themselves. The Cimbrians were destroyed, root and branch; those who were not killed, in number over sixty thousand, were sold as slaves. The Tigurini, who had accompanied the Cimbrians, had remained waiting on the spurs of the Alps; when they saw their friends defeated they fled towards their own homes.

After the battle the two parties in Rome quarrelled as to which of the two leaders could really claim the honours of the victory of Vercellæ. The aristocrats maintained that Catulus, the man of their party, had decided the battle in the centre, he had captured thirty-one standards, whilst Marius had only brought away two; to him therefore the wreath of victory. On the other hand, the people claimed for Marius the great man who had risen from their ranks, that he was the one and only subduer of the Cimbrians and Teutones, and called him the third founder of the city, for the danger which he had averted had been as great as the Gallic peril which Camillus, the “second founder of Rome,” had stamped out. The people judged aright, for Marius fought the battle of Vercellæ as consul, whilst Catulus was only proconsul, and so Marius was the commander-in-chief; and further it is certain that he greatly excelled Catulus in military ability. But most of all it must not be forgotten that but for the victory of Aquæ Sextiæ the victory of Vercellæ could never have been.

On his return to Rome, Marius was accorded a well-deserved triumph, in which he nevertheless insisted that Catulus should share.[c]

THE SECOND SLAVE WAR

[102-101 B.C.]

While the arms of the republic were thus triumphant in averting external peril, the fertile province of Sicily was again a prey to the desolating horrors of a slave war.

After the former war had been happily concluded by Piso and Rupilius, several indications of similar troubles appeared in Italy itself. At Capua, a spendthrift knight armed four thousand slaves and assumed the diadem. But by prompt measures the insurrection was put down.

The rising in Sicily might have been checked with no less ease. It originated thus: Marius had been commissioned by the senate to raise troops in foreign countries to meet the difficulties of the Cimbrian War. He applied to the king of Bithynia, among other persons; but the king answered that he had no soldiers, the Roman tax-gatherers had made slaves of them all. The senate, glad to have an opportunity of censuring the equites, passed a decree that all persons unduly detained in slavery should be set free. In Sicily the number of such persons was so large that the prætor suspended the execution of the decree. Great disappointment followed. A body of slaves rose in insurrection near Agrigentum, and beat off the prætor. Their numbers swelled to twenty thousand, and they chose one Salvius, a soothsayer, to be their king. This man showed himself fit to command. He divided his followers into three bodies, regularly officered. He enforced strict discipline. To restrain his men from wine and debauchery, he kept them in the field. He contrived to provide two thousand with horses. When his men seemed sufficiently trained, he laid siege to the city of Murgantia. But the slave-masters of Morgantium offered freedom to all slaves who would remain faithful, and Salvius saw himself compelled to retire. The promise, however, was not kept, and numbers of the deceived men flocked to the insurgent camp.

This success in the east of Sicily gave birth to a similar rising in the west, which was headed by a Cilician slave named Athenion, who pretended to read the future in the stars. He soon found himself at the head of ten thousand soldiers, well found with arms and provisions. He gave out that the stars declared his sovereignty: he therefore forbade all robbery; for, said he, “the property of our masters is now ours.” He now rashly laid siege to the impregnable fortress of Lilybæum; but finding its capture impossible, he drew off, alleging that an impending danger had been revealed to him.

Meanwhile Salvius, who had assumed the name of Tryphon, fixed the seat of his sovereignty at the fortress of Triocala, which had fallen into his hands, and sent orders to Athenion to repair in person to that place. Athenion obeyed the orders of King Tryphon, and appeared at Triocala with three thousand men. The king now occupied himself with adding to the strength of his new capital. He chose a senate out of his followers. On public occasions he wore the toga prætexta of a Roman magistrate, and was attended by the due number of lictors.

The Romans seemed unable to make head against the insurgents, till, in 101 B.C., M. Aquillius, the colleague of Marius in his fifth consulship, took the command. Meanwhile, Tryphon had died, and Athenion had become chief of the insurgents. Aquillius brought them to an engagement, in which he encountered the brave Athenion hand to hand. The consul was severely wounded, but the slave leader was killed. Aquillius remained as proconsul in Sicily for another year, in the course of which time he crushed the last embers of the war. After the fall of Athenion, the insurgents dwindled away to a band of one thousand desperate men commanded by one Satyrus, who at length surrendered to Aquillius, and were by him sent to Rome to serve as gladiators. The story of their end is very touching. Being brought out into the arena to fight with wild beasts, they slew one another at the foot of the altars which stood there; and Satyrus, being left alone, fell upon his own sword.

It is manifest, from the humanity and discipline observed by these unhappy men in their power, that their chiefs must have been originally men of station and education, reduced to slavery by the horrid practice of ancient warfare. The story of their death presents a picture not flattering to Roman civilisation.

Strict measures were adopted in Sicily to prevent a recurrence of these perils. It was made a standing order, confirmed by every successive prætor, that no slave should have a weapon in his possession. Nor was the ordinance suffered to remain a dead letter. Soon after, the prætor L. Domitius received a fine boar as a present. He inquired who had killed it. Finding that it was a slave employed as a shepherd, he summoned the man to his presence. The poor fellow came with alacrity, expecting a reward. The prætor asked him with what he had killed the animal; and finding that it was with a hunting-spear, he ordered the unfortunate wretch to be crucified. Such were the laws by which the masters of the world were obliged to maintain their power.[b]