Part 13 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: Caius Marius.]
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES, B.C. 113-101.--SECOND SERVILE WAR IN SICILY, B.C. 103-101.
A greater danger than Rome had experienced since the time of Hannibal now threatened the state. Vast numbers of barbarians, such as spread over the south of Europe in the later times of the Roman Empire, had collected together on the northern side of the Alps, and were ready to pour down upon Italy. The two leading nations of which they consisted are called Cimbri and Teutones, of whom the former were probably Celts and the latter Germans, but the exact parts of Europe from which they came can not be ascertained. The whole host is said to have contained 300,000 fighting men, besides a much larger number of women and children. The alarm at Rome was still farther increased by the ill success which had hitherto attended the arms of the Republic against these barbarians. Army after army had fallen before them. The Cimbri were first heard of in B.C. 113, in Noric.u.m, whence they descended into Illyric.u.m, and defeated a Roman army under the command of Cn. Papirius Carbo. They then marched westward into Switzerland, where they were joined by the Tigurini and the Ambrones. They next poured over Gaul, which they plundered and ravaged in every direction. The Romans sent army after army to defend the southwestern part of the country, which was now a Roman province; but all in vain. In B.C. 109 the Consul M.
Junius Sila.n.u.s was defeated by the Cimbri; in B.C. 107 the Tigurini cut in pieces, near the Lake of Geneva, the army of the Consul L. Ca.s.sius Longinus, the colleague of Marias, who lost his life in the battle; and shortly afterward M. Aurelius Scaurus was also defeated and taken prisoner. But the most dreadful loss was still to come. In B.C. 105 two consular armies, commanded by the Consul Cn. Mallius Maximus and the Proconsul Cn. Servilius Caepio, consisting of 80,000 men, were completely annihilated by the barbarians: only two men are said to have escaped the slaughter.
These repeated disasters hushed all party quarrels. Every one at Rome felt that Marius was the only man capable of saving the state, and he was accordingly elected Consul by the unanimous votes of all parties while he was still absent in Africa. He entered Rome in triumph, as we have already said, on the 1st of January, B.C. 104, which was the first day of his second Consuls.h.i.+p. Meantime the threatened danger was for a while averted. Instead of crossing the Alps and pouring down upon Italy, as had been expected, the Cimbri marched into Spain, which they ravaged for the next two or three years. This interval was advantageously employed by Marius in training the new troops, and accustoming them to hards.h.i.+ps and toil. It was probably during this time that he introduced the various changes into the organization of the Roman army which are usually attributed to him. Notwithstanding the sternness and severity with which he punished the least breach of discipline, he was a favorite with his new soldiers, who learned to place implicit confidence in their general, and were delighted with the strict impartiality with which he visited the offenses of the officers as well as of the privates. As the enemy still continued in Spain, Marius was elected Consul a third time for the year B.C. 103, and also a fourth time for the following year, with Q. Lutatius Catulus as his colleague. It was in this year (B.C.
102) that the long-expected barbarians arrived. The Cimbri, who had returned from Spain, united their forces with the Teutones. Marius first took up his position in a fortified camp upon the Rhone, probably in the vicinity of the modern Arles; and as the entrance of the river was nearly blocked up by mud and sand, he employed his soldiers in digging a ca.n.a.l from the Rhone to the Mediterranean, that he might the more easily obtain his supplies from the sea.[65] Meantime the barbarians had divided their forces. The Cimbri marched round the northern foot of the Alps, in order to enter Italy by the northeast, crossing the Tyrolese Alps by the defiles of Tridentum (_Trent_). The Teutones and Ambrones, on the other hand, marched against Marius, intending, as it seems, to penetrate into Italy by Nice and the Riviera of Genoa. Marius, anxious to accustom his soldiers to the savage and strange appearance of the barbarians, would not give them battle at first. The latter resolved to attack the Roman camp; but as they were repulsed in this attempt, they pressed on at once for Italy. So great were their numbers, that they are said to have been six days in marching by the Roman camp. As soon as they had advanced a little way, Marius followed them; and thus the armies continued to march for a few days, the barbarians in the front and Marius behind, till they came to the neighborhood of Aquae s.e.xtiae (_Aix_). Here the decisive battle was fought. An ambush of 3000 soldiers, which Marius had stationed in the rear of the barbarians, and which fell upon them when they were already retreating, decided the fortune of the day. Attacked both in front and rear, and also dreadfully exhausted by the excessive heat of the weather, they at length broke their ranks and fled. The carnage was dreadful; the whole nation was annihilated, for those who escaped put an end to their lives, and their wives followed their example. Immediately after the battle, as Marius was in the act of setting fire to the vast heap of broken arms which was intended as an offering to the G.o.ds, hors.e.m.e.n rode up to him, and greeted him with the news of his being elected Consul for the fifth time.
The Cimbri, in the mean time, had forced their way into Italy. The colleague of Marius, Q. Lutatius Catulus, despairing of defending the pa.s.ses of the Tyrol, had taken up a strong position on the Athesis (Adige); but, in consequence of the terror of his soldiers at the approach of the barbarians, he was obliged to retreat even beyond the Po, thus leaving the whole of the rich plain of Lombardy exposed to their ravages. Marius was therefore recalled to Rome. The Senate offered him a triumph for his victory over the Teutones, which he declined while the Cimbri were in Italy, and proceeded to join Catulus, who now commanded as Proconsul (B.C. 101). The united armies of the Consul and Proconsul crossed the Po, and hastened in search of the Cimbri, whom they found to the westward of Milan, near Vercellae, searching for the Teutones, of whose destruction they had not yet heard. The Cimbri met with the same fate as the Teutones; the whole nation was annihilated; and the women, like those of the Tentones, put an end to their lives.
Marius was hailed as the savior of the state; his name was coupled with the G.o.ds in the libations and at banquets; and he received the t.i.tle of third founder of Rome. He celebrated his victories by a brilliant triumph, in which, however, he allowed Catulus to share.
During the brilliant campaigns of Marius, Sicily had been exposed to the horrors of a second Servile War. The insurrection broke out in the east of the island, where the slaves elected as their king one Salvius, a soothsayer. He displayed considerable abilities, and in a short time collected a force of 20,000 foot and 2000 horse. After defeating a Roman army he a.s.sumed all the pomp of royalty, and took the surname of Tryphon, which had been borne by a usurper to the Syrian throne. The success of Salvius led to an insurrection in the western part of the island, where the slaves chose as their leader a Cilician named Athenio, who joined Tryphon, and acknowledged his sovereignty. Upon the death of Tryphon, Athenio became king. The insurrection had now a.s.sumed such a formidable aspect that, in B.C. 101, the Senate sent the Consul M.
Aquillius into Sicily. He succeeded in subduing the insurgents, and killed Athenio with his own hand. The survivors were sent to Rome, and condemned to fight with wild beasts; but they disdained to minister to the pleasures of their oppressors, and slew each other with their own hands in the amphitheatre.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fasces. (From the original in the Capitol at Rome.)]
[Footnote 65: This ca.n.a.l continued to exist long afterward, and bore the name of _Fossa Mariana_.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Tomb of Metella Caecilia.]
CHAPTER XXIV.
INTERNAL HISTORY OF ROME FROM THE DEFEAT OF THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES TO THE SOCIAL WAR. B.C. 100-91.
The career of Marius had hitherto been a glorious one, and it would have been fortunate for him if he had died on the day of his triumph. The remainder of his life is full of horrors, and brings out into prominent relief the worst features of his character. As the time for the consular elections approached, Marius became again a candidate for the Consuls.h.i.+p. He wished to be first in peace as well as in war, and to rule the state as well as the army. But he did not possess the qualities requisite for a popular leader at Rome; he had no power of oratory, and lost his presence of mind in the noise and shouts of the popular a.s.semblies. In order to secure his election, he entered into close connection with two of the worst demagogues that ever appeared at Rome, Saturninus and Glaucia. The former was a candidate for the Tribunate, and the latter for the Praetors.h.i.+p; and by their means, as well as by bribing the Tribes, Marius secured his election to the Consuls.h.i.+p for the sixth time. Glaucia also obtained the Praetors.h.i.+p, but Saturninus was not equally successful. He lost his election chiefly through the exertions of A. Nonius, who was chosen in his stead. But Nonius paid dearly for the honor, for on the evening of his election he was murdered by the emissaries of Saturninus and Glaucia, and next morning, at an early hour, before the forum was full, Saturninus was chosen to fill up the vacancy.
As soon as Saturninus had entered upon his office (B.C. 100) he brought forward an Agrarian Law for dividing among the soldiers of Marius the lands in Gaul which had been lately occupied by the Cimbri. He added to the law a clause that, if it was enacted by the people, every Senator should swear obedience to it within five days, and that whoever refused to do so should be expelled from the Senate, and pay a fine of twenty talents. This clause was specially aimed at Metellus, who, it was well known, would refuse to obey the requisition. In order to insure a refusal on the part of Metellus, Marius rose in the Senate, and declared that he would never take the oath, and Metellus made the same declaration; but when the law had been pa.s.sed, and Saturninus summoned the Senators to the rostra to comply with the demands of the law, Marius, to the astonishment of all, immediately took the oath, and advised the Senate to follow his example. Metellus alone refused compliance; and on the following day Saturninus sent his beadle to drag him out of the Senate-house. Not content with this victory, Saturninus brought forward a bill to punish him with exile. The friends of Metellus were ready to take up arms in his defense; but he declined their a.s.sistance, and withdrew privately from the city. Saturninus brought forward other popular measures, of which our information is very scanty.
He proposed a _Lex Frumentaria_, by which the state was to sell corn to the people at a very low price; and also a law for founding new colonies in Sicily, Achaia, and Macedonia. In the election of the magistrates for the following year Saturninus was again chosen Tribune. Glaucia was at the same time a candidate for the Consuls.h.i.+p, the two other candidates being M. Antonius and C. Memmius. The election of Antonius was certain, and the struggle lay between Glaucia and Memmius. As the latter seemed likely to carry his election, Saturninus and Glaucia hired some ruffians, who murdered him openly in the comitia. All sensible people had previously become alarmed at the mad conduct of Saturninus and his partisans, and this last act produced a complete reaction against them.
The Senate felt themselves now sufficiently strong to declare them public enemies, and invested the Consuls with dictatorial power. Marius was unwilling to act against his a.s.sociates, but he had no alternative, and his backwardness was compensated by the zeal of others. Driven out of the forum, Saturninus, Glaucia, and the Quaestor Saufeius took refuge in the Capitol, but the partisans of the Senate cut off the pipes which supplied the citadel with water before Marius began to move against them. Unable to hold out any longer, they surrendered to Marius. The latter did all he could to save their lives: as soon as they descended from the Capitol, he placed them, for security, in the Curia Hostilia; but the mob pulled off the tiles of the Senate-house, and pelted them till they died. The Senate gave their sanction to the proceeding by rewarding with the citizens.h.i.+p a slave of the name of Scaeva, who claimed the honor of having killed Saturninus.
Marius had lost all influence in the state by allying himself with such unprincipled adventurers. In the following year (B.C. 99) he left Rome, in order that he might not witness the return of Metellus from exile, a measure which he had been unable to prevent. He set sail for Cappadocia and Galatia under the pretense of offering sacrifices which he had vowed to the Great Mother. He had, however, a deeper purpose in visiting these countries. Finding that he was losing his popularity while the Republic was at peace, he was anxious to recover his lost ground by gaining fresh victories in war, and accordingly repaired to the court of Mithridates, in hopes of rousing him to attack the Romans.
The mad scheme of Saturninus, and the discredit into which Marius had fallen, had given new strength to the Senate. They judged the opportunity favorable for depriving the Equites of the judicial power which they had enjoyed, with only a temporary cessation, since the time of C. Gracchus. The Equites had abused their power, as the Senate had done before them. They were the capitalists who farmed the public revenues in the provinces, where they committed peculation and extortion with habitual impunity. When accused, they were tried by accomplices and partisans. Their unjust condemnation of Rutilius Rufus had shown how unfit they were to be intrusted with judicial duties. Rutilius was a man of spotless integrity, and while acting as lieutenant to Q. Mucius Scaevola, Proconsul of Asia in B.C. 95, he displayed so much honesty and firmness in repressing the extortions of the farmers of the taxes, that he became an object of fear and hatred to the whole body. Accordingly, on his return to Rome, a charge of malversation was trumped up against him, he was found guilty, and compelled to withdraw into banishment (B.C. 92).
The following year (B.C. 91) witnessed the memorable Tribunate of M.
Livius Drusus. He was the son of the celebrated opponent of C. Gracchus.
He was a man of boundless activity and extraordinary ability. Like his father, he was an advocate of the party of the n.o.bles. He took up arms against Saturninus, and supported the Senate in the dispute for the possession of the judicial power. His election to the Tribunate was hailed by the n.o.bles with delight, and for a time he possessed their unlimited confidence. He gained over the people to the party of the Senate by various popular measures, such as the distribution of corn at a low price, and the establishment of colonies in Italy and Sicily. He was thus enabled to carry his measures for the reform of the judicia, which were, that the Senate should be increased from 300 to 600 by the addition of an equal number of Equites, and that the Judices should be taken from the Senate thus doubled in numbers. Drusus seems to have been actuated by a single-minded desire to do justice to all, but the measure was acceptable to neither party. The Senators viewed with dislike the elevation to their own rank of 300 Equites, while the Equites had no desire to transfer to a select few of their own order the profitable share in the administration of justice which they all enjoyed.
Another measure of Drusus rendered him equally unpopular with the people. He had held out to the Latins and the Italian allies the promise of the Roman franchise. Some of the most eminent men of Rome had long been convinced of the necessity of this reform. It had been meditated by the younger Scipio Africa.n.u.s, and proposed by C. Gracchus. The Roman people, however, always offered it the most violent opposition. But Drusus still had many partisans. The Italian allies looked up to him as their leader, and loudly demanded the rights which had been promised them. It was too late to retreat; and, in order to oppose the formidable coalition against him, Drusus had recourse to sedition and conspiracy. A secret society was formed, in which the members bound themselves by a solemn oath to have the same friends and foes with Drusus, and to obey all his commands. The ferment soon became so great that the public peace was more than once threatened. The Allies were ready to take up arms at the first movement. The Consuls, looking upon Drusus as a conspirator, resolved to meet his plots by counterplots. But he knew his danger, and whenever he went into the city kept a strong body-guard of attendants close to his person. The end could not much longer be postponed; and the civil war was on the point of breaking out, when one evening Drusus was a.s.sa.s.sinated in his own house, while dismissing the crowds who were attending him. A leather-cutter's knife was found sticking in his loins.
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