BOOK LXVIII.
Marcus Antonius, the prætor, [y. r. 649. b. c. 103,] attacked the pirates, and chased them into Cilicia. The consul, Caius Marius, when attacked by the Teutons and Ambrogians, with their utmost force, defended himself; and afterwards, in two battles, in the neighbourhood of Aquæ Sextiæ, utterly defeated them, with the loss, it is said, of two hundred thousand killed, and ninety thousand taken prisoners. Marius was elected consul, in his absence, a fifth time. A triumph was offered to him, which he deferred until he should have subdued the Cimbrians also. [y. r. 650. b. c. 102.] The Cimbrians, having driven Quintus Catulus, the proconsul, from the Alps, where he had possessed himself of the narrow passes, and erected a castle to command the river Athesis, which he abandoned, passed into Italy. Catulus and Marius, having effected a junction of their forces, fought and vanquished them: in this battle we are told that there fell one hundred and forty thousand of the enemy, and that sixty thousand were taken. Marius, on his return to Rome, was received with the highest honours, by the whole body of the citizens; two triumphs were offered him, but he contented himself with one. The principal men in the state, who were for some time extremely envious that such distinctions should be conferred upon a man of no family, now acknowledge him to have saved the commonwealth. [y. r. 651. b. c. 101.] Publicius Malleolus was executed for the murder of his mother; being the first that ever was sewn up in a sack and cast into the sea. The sacred shields are said to have shaken, with considerable noise, previous to the conclusion of the Cimbrian war. Wars between the kings of Syria.
BOOK LXIX.
Lucius Apuleius Saturninus, aided by Marius,—the soldiers having killed his competitor, Aulus Nonius,—having been forcibly elected prætor, exercised his office with a violence equal to that by which he obtained it. Having procured an Agrarian law, he summons Metellus Numidicus to stand his trial before the people, for refusing to swear to the observance of it. Metellus, notwithstanding he enjoyed the protection of all the best men in the state, yet, being unwilling to furnish matter of dispute, retires into voluntary exile, to Rhodes: there he passed his time entirely in study, and in receiving the visits of men of eminent character, [y. r. 652. b. c. 100.] Caius Marius, the chief promoter of the sedition, who had now purchased a fourth consulship, by openly distributing money among the tribes, pronounced sentence of banishment upon him after his departure. The same Appuleius Saturninus murders Caius Memmius, who was a candidate for the consulship, fearing lest he might have, in him, a strenuous opposer of his evil actions. By which conduct the senate was aroused, and Caius Marius, when he could no longer defend Saturninus, being a man of fickle and versatile disposition, who always suited his plans to circumstances, joined it. Saturninus, with Glaucias, and other participators of the same mad conduct, having been overpowered by force of arms, was killed in what may be considered a war. [y. r. 653. b. c. 99.] Quintus Cæcilius Metellus was recalled from banishment by the decided favour of the whole state. Marcus Aquilius, the proconsul put an end to the servile war in Sicily.
BOOK LXX.
Manius Aquilius, [y. r. 654. b. c. 98,] being accused of extortion, refused to implore the favour of the judges appointed to try him. Marcus Antonius, his advocate, cut open his vest, and showed the scars of his honourable wounds; upon sight of which he was clearly acquitted, [y. r. 655. b. c. 97.] This fact is related upon the authority of Cicero only. Titus Didius, the proconsul, fought successfully against the Celtiberians. [y. r. 656. b. c. 96.] Ptolemy, king of Cyrene, surnamed Apio, dying, bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people: and the senate decreed that the cities in that kingdom should be free. [y. r. 657. b. c. 95.] Ariobarzanes was restored to his kingdom of Cappadocia by Lucius Sylla. Ambassadors from Arsaces, king of Parthia, come to Sylla, to solicit the friendship of the Roman people, [y. r. 658. b. c. 94.] Publius Rutilius, a man of the strictest integrity, because he exerted himself, when lieutenant-general under Quintus Mucius, the proconsul, to protect the people of Asia from the oppression of the revenue farmers, became odious to the equestrian order, who had the cognizance of affairs of that nature, and being brought to trial, was condemned to exile, [y. r. 659. b. c. 93.] Caius Sentius, the prætor, fought unsuccessfully against the Thracians. [y. r. 660. b. c. 92.] The senate not being disposed to tolerate the inefficiency of the equestrian order in the exercise of their judicial functions, tried, by all its influence, to have those functions transferred to itself, and Marcus Livius Drusus, the plebeian tribune, promoting this design, stimulated the people, by the pernicious hope of bribes, to add their sanction. Moreover a commotion occurred among the kings of Syria.