This struggle became still more fierce when Caius Gracchus, ten years after the death of his brother, claimed and obtained the tribuneship, and then took up that brother’s work. The agitation for the agrarian law was renewed, an enactment was made for a monthly distribution of corn to the city poor, and various other reforms were proposed by him. After holding the tribuneship for two years, however, he lost the office through the intrigues of his opponents. The nobles were determined to crush Gracchus; accordingly, at one of the public assemblies they attacked the partisans of the popular leader, and there ensued a bloody combat (121 B. C.) in which three thousand of his adherents were slain. Gracchus himself fled into a wood across the Tiber; but, being pursued, he chose to die by the hands of a faithful slave rather than fall into the power of his enemies.
RISE OF MARIUS
AND SULLA
The ill-will between the nobles and the people continued just as bitter after the death of Gracchus; and matters finally shaped themselves in such a way that the nobles, or senatorial party, came to be represented by a leader named Sulla, and the democracy, or Commons, by another, called Marius. These men came to prominence in the course of two or three wars in which Rome was engaged for twenty-five or thirty years after the time of which we have been speaking; and finally they acquired such power as to bring on a civil strife that deluged Italy with blood.
The wars just referred to were: the Jugurthine war (111-106 B. C.), the war against the Cimbri (113-101 B. C.), and the Social war (90-89 B. C.), with the details of which we need not concern ourselves; but the fourth contest was of more moment, and needs notice here. This was the Mithridatic war.
BOLD DESIGN OF MITHRIDATES
AGAINST ROME
Mithridates, king of Pontus, a bold and able soldier, formed the design of uniting the Asiatic states and Greece in a vast confederacy against the Roman dominion. He began by causing about eighty thousand Romans who dwelt in the cities of Asia Minor to be massacred in one day (88 B. C.). He then invaded Greece.
The command in this important war was eagerly sought by both Marius and Sulla. Sulla prevailed; he was elected consul and put in command. Marius, being chagrined at this, succeeded in having the popular party set aside Sulla. But the aristocratic general marched to Rome and compelled Marius to flee into Africa. Sulla then set out for Greece, all of which submitted to him, the army of Mithridates being defeated (86-84 B. C.)
HORRIBLE MASSACRES ATTEND THE STRUGGLE
BETWEEN MARIUS AND SULLA
During the absence of Sulla, Marius returned to Italy. Entering Rome in 86 B. C., he filled the entire city with slaughter, and in particular he caused the murder of the leading senators that had supported his rival. Marius then caused himself to be proclaimed consul without going through an election; but a fortnight later he died.
Notwithstanding the death of Marius, the Marian party still continued in power. Sulla, hearing of their successes, hastily concluded a peace with Mithridates, and hurried to Italy (83 B. C.). After a severe struggle, Sulla utterly overthrew the Marians. The blood of [395] massacre then flowed a second time,—in a yet greater stream. Lists of proscribed persons, embracing all who belonged to the people’s party, were published every day, and the porch of Sulla’s house was full of heads.