Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/971

Rh niAiiius. which Marius felt a,t lof,ing his influence in the state was still further exasperated by the growing popularity and power of Sulla ; and when Bocchus erected in the capitol gilded figures, representing the surrender of Jugurtha to Sulla, Marius was so inflamed with rage, that he resolved to pull them down by force. Sulla was making preparations to resist him ; and both parties would probably have come to open violence, had not the Social War broken out just at that time (b. c. 90). This war required all the services of all the generals that Rome possessed, and, accordingly, both Marius and Sulla were actively employed in it. But although Marius showed great military abilities in the manner in .vhich he conducted his share of the war, yet he was considered to be over cautious and too slow ; and his achievements were thrown into the shade by the superior energy and activity of Sulla. Marius was now in his sixty-seventh year : his body had grown stout and unwieldy, and he was incapable of enduring the fatigue of very active service. He served as the legate of the consul P. Rutilius Lupus ; and after the latter had fallen in battle [Lupus, Rutilius], the chief command of the northern scene of the war devolved upon Marius. He defeated the Marsi in two successive battles, after which he gave up the com- mand, and returned to Rome, on the ground that his weakness rendered him unable to endure the toils of the campaign. His services, however, had been most important, for he had defeated the most warlike and the most dangerous of all the allies. An anecdote preserved by Plutarch respecting the conduct of Marius in this campaign is characteristic of the veteran general. Marius had strongly in- trenched himself in a fortified camp, and neither the stratagems nor the taunts of tlie enemy could entice him from his favourable position. At length Pompaedius Silo, the leader of the Marsi, endea- voured to draw him out by appealing to his military pride. " If you are a great general, Marius, come down and fight ; " to which the veteran replied, " Nay, do you, if you are a great general, compel me to fight against my will."" In B. c. 88 the ambition of Marius at length in- volved Rome in a civil war, which was attended with the most frightful horrors. Insatiably fond of power and distinction, Marius was anxious to obtain the command of the war against Mithridates; and as he was supposed to be incapable of enduring the fatigues of a campaign, he actually went daily to the Campus Martins, to go through the usual exercises with the young men. It was a melan- choly sight to see the old man so lost to all true dignity and greatness ; and the wiser part, says Plutarch, " lamented to witness his greediness after gain and distinction ; and they pitied a man, who, having risen from poverty to enormous wealth, and to the highest station from a low degree, knew not when to put bounds to his good fortune, and was not satisfied with being an object of admiration, and quietly enjoying what he had; but as if he was in want of every thing, after his triumphs and his honours was setting out to Cappadocia and the Euxine to oppose himself in his old age to Arche- laus and Neoptolemus, the satraps of Mithridates." But all his efforts were in vain : his great enemy Sulla obtained the consulship (b. c. 88), and the senate gave him the command of the war against Mithridates. Thereupon Marius resolved to make a desperate attempt to deprive his rival of this op- MARTUS. 957 portunity for distinction, and obtain it for himself. He got the tribune, P. Sulpicius Rufus, to bring forward a law for distributing the Italian allies, who had just obtained the Roman franchise, among all the tribes ; and as they greatly exceeded the old citizens in number, they would of course be able to carry whatever they pleased in the co- mitia. If this law were passed, they would of course, out of gratitude to Marius, annul the re- solution of the senate, and give the comnand of the Mithridatic war to their benefactor. This law met with the most vehement opposition from the old citizens ; and the consuls, to prevent it from being carried, declared a justitium, during which no business could be legally transacted. But Ma- rius and Sulpicius were resolved to have recourse to the last extremities sooner than lose their point. They entered the forum with an armed force, and called upon the consuls to withdraw the justitium : in the tumult which followed the young son of Pompeius, the colleague of Sulla, Avas murdered, and Sulla himself only escaped by taking refuge in tlie house of Mai'ins, which was close to the forum. To save their lives the consuls were obliged to withdraw the justitium : the law of Sulpicius wis carried ; and the tribes, in which the new citizens now had the majority, appointed Marius to the command of the war against Mithridates. Marius had now gained the great object of his ambition ; but it was hardly to be expected that a power which had been violently obtained should be peacefully surrendered. The anny destined for the Mithridatic war was stationed at Nola, and thither Marius sent two military tribunes, to take the command of the troops and bring them to him. But Sulla, who had previously joined the anny, encouraged the soldiers to disobey the orders: they murdered the tribunes whom Marius had sent ; and when Sulla declared his intention of marching to the city, and of putting down force by force, they readily responded to his call. Marius had not expected this daring step, and was not prepared to meet it. Sulla was marching at the head of six legions ; and in order to obtain troops to oppose the latter, Marius attempted to raise a force by the abominable expedient of offering freedom to all slaves who would join him. But it was all in vain. Sulla entered the city without mujh difficulty, and Marius, with his son and a few companions, were obliged to take to flight. Sulla used his victory with comparative moderation. Marius, Sulpicius, and a few others, were declared enemies of the state, and condemned to death ; tlieir property was confiscated, and a price set upon their heads ; but no attempt was made against the lives of any others. Marius and his son left Rome together, but after- wards separated, and the latter escaped in safety to Africa. Marius with his stepson Granius em- barked on board ship at Ostia, and thence sailed southward along the coast of Italy, exposed to the greatest dangers, and enduring the greatest hard- ships. At Circeii Marius and his companions were obliged to land, on account of the violence of the wind and the want of provisions ; but they could obtain nothing to eat, and after wandering about for a long time, they learnt from some pea- sants that a number of horsemen had been in search of them, and they accordingly turned aside from the road, and passed the night in a deep wood in great suffering and want. But the indomitable spirit of the old man did not fail him ; and he