Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/113

 THE EXPANSION OF ROMAN DOMINION 101 won by the admission of the bulk of them to the Roman franchise. The brilliant soldier Sulla was now despatched to deal with Mithridates, who was threatening to make himself master of all Asia Minor. Encouraged by him half Greece rose Mithridatic in revolt against Rome. His armies poured into War- Greece to support the revolt. Sulla, however, crushed the resistance of the Greeks, defeated the generals of Mithridates at Chaeronea, and forced the king to come to terms. He had to resign all his conquests in Asia Minor, and Sulla returned to Italy to deal after his own fashion with the anarchy which was there raging. The demagogues had won the upper hand. Before Sulla's departure for the east the anarchy had broken out j an attempt had been made to remove him from his command and give it to Marius; but he had marched on Rome at the head of his army, shattered all opposition, and put to death a The number of his leading opponents. But on his Marians, departure the party of Marius again became predominant. There was a reign of terror; and though the old general him- self soon died, his colleague Cinna held the reins of power. As a statesman Marius had probably been at all times a mere tool of cleverer men. But he understood the business of soldiering; and for military purposes he, when in power as consul, had reorganised the military system in a fashion which produced re- markable political results. The Roman army was organised as a citizen army, in which all citizens were called upon to take their share of service. The organisation continued after the expan- sion, when the legions were required for service in The Marian distant regions. The reorganisation by Marius in Military effect provided for the establishment of a pro- System - fessional army of men, who were not required to desert their ordinary avocations to serve in the ranks, but whose ordinary avocation was service in the ranks. Thus there was a standing army in a new sense; and a general who had w r on popularity with his legions, and could command their adherence, was master of the situation if he chose to interfere in politics. This new fact was demonstrated by Sulla when he first marched on