Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/950

938 and Apulia, and he formed separate treaties with many of the Italian towns, by which he secured to them all the rights and privileges of Roman citizens which they then enjoyed. Among the Italians the Samnites continued to be the most formidable enemies of Sulla. They had not yet received the Roman franchise, because they had continued in arms down to this time, and they now joined the Marian party, not simply with the design of se- curing the supremacy for the latter, but with the hope of conquering Rome by their means, and then destroying for ever their hated oppressor. Thus this civil war became merely another phase of the Marsic war, and the struggle between Rome and Samnium for the supremacy of the peninsula was renewed after the subjection of the latter for more than two hundred years.

Sulla marched from Apulia into Campania without meeting with any resistance. It was in the latter country that he gained his first victory over the consul Norbanus, who was defeated with great loss, and obliged to take refuge in Capua. His colleague Scipio, who was at no great distance, willingly accepted a truce which Sulla offered him, although Sertorius warned him against entering into any negotiations, and his caution was justified by the event. By means of his emissaries Sulla seduced the troops of Scipio, who at length found himself deserted by all his soldiers, and was taken prisoner in his tent. Sulla, however, dismissed him uninjured. On hearing of this Carbo is said to have observed "that he had to contend in Sulla both with a lion and a fox, but that the fox gave him more trouble." Many distinguished Romans meantime had taken up arms on behalf of Sulla. Cn. Pompey had levied three legions for him in Picenum and the surrounding districts; and Q. Metellus Pius, M. Crassus, M. Lucullus, and several others offered their services as legates. It was not, however, till the following year, 82, that the struggle was brought to a decisive issue. The consuls of this year were Cn. Papirius Carbo and the younger Marius; the former of whom was entrusted with the protection of Etruria and Umbria, while the latter had to guard Rome and Latium. Sulla appears to have passed the winter at Campania. At the commencement of spring he advanced against the younger Marius, who had concentrated all his forces at Sacriportus, and defeated him with great loss. Marius took refuge in Praeneste, where he had previously deposited his military stores, and a great quantity of gold and silver which he had brought from the Capitol and other temples at Rome. Sulla followed him to Praeneste, and after leaving Q. Lucretius Ofella with a large force to blockade the town and compel it to a surrender by famine, he marched with the main body of his army to Rome. Marius was resolved not to perish unavenged, and accordingly before Sulla could reach Rome, he sent orders to L. Damasippus, the praetor, to put to death all his leading opponents. His orders were faithfully obeyed, Q. Mucins Scaevola, the pontifex maximus and jurist, P. Antistius, L, Domitius, and many other distingished men were butchered and their corpses thrown into the Tiber. Sulla entered the city without opposition; Damasippus and his adherents had previously withdrawn, and repaired to Carbo in Etruria. Sulla marched against Carbo, who had been previously opposed by Pompeius and Metellus. The history of this part of the war is involved in great obscurity. Carbo made two efforts to relieve Praeneste, but failed in each; and after fighting with various fortune against Pompey, Metellus, and Sulla, he at length embarked for Africa, despairing of further success in Italy. [For details see .] Meantime Rome had nearly fallen into the hands of the enemy. The Samnites and Lucanians under Pontius Telesinus and L. Lamponius, after attempting to relieve Praeneste, resolved to march straight upon Rome, which had been left without any army for its protection. Sulla barely arrived in time to save the city. The battle was fought before the Colline gate; it was long and obstinately contested; the contest was not simply for the supremacy of a party; the very existence of Rome was at stake, for Telesinus had declared that he would raze the city to the ground. The left wing where Sulla commanded in person was driven off the field by the vehemence of the enemy's charge; but the success of the right wing, which was commanded by Crassus, enabled Sulla to restore the battle, and at length gain a complete victory. Fifty thousand men are said to have fallen on each side (Appian, B. C. i, 93). All the most distinguished leaders of the enemy either perished in the engagement or were taken prisoners and put to death. Among these was the brave Samnite Pontius Telesinus, whose head was cut off and carried under the walls of Praeneste, thereby announcing to the younger Marius that his last hope of succour was gone. To the Samnite prisoners Sulla showed no mercy. He was resolved to root out of the peninsula those heroic enemies of Rome. On the third day after the battle he collected all the Samnite and Lucanian prisoners in the Campus Martins, and ordered his soldiers to cut them down. The dying shrieks of so many victims frightened the senators, who had been assembled at the same time by Sulla in the temple of Bellona; but he bade them attend to what he was saying and not mind what was taking place outside, as he was only chastising some rebels, and he then quietly proceeded to finish his discourse. Praeneste surrendered soon afterwards. The Romans in the town were pardoned; but all the Samnites and Praenestines were massacred without mercy. The younger Marius put an end to his own life []. The war in Italy was now virtually at an end, for the few towns which still held out had no prospect of offering any effectual opposition, and were reduced soon afterwards. In other parts of the Roman world the war continued still longer, and Sulla did not live to see its completion. The armies of the Marian party in Sicily and Africa were subdued by Pompey in the course of 82 ; but Sertorius in Spain continued to defy all the attempts of the senate to crush him, till his cowardly assassination by Perperna in  72. [.]

Sulla was now master of Rome. He had not commenced the civil war, but had been driven to it by the mad ambition of Marius. His enemies had attempted to deprive him of the command in the Mithridatic war which had been legally conferred upon him by the senate; and while he was fighting the battles of the republic they had declared him a public enemy, confiscated his property, and murdered the most distinguished of his friends and adherents. For all these wrongs, Sulla had threatened to take the most ample vengeance; and he more than redeemed his word. 