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 CHAPTER LXXXIX

MARIUS CONQUERS THE TEUTONES

Soon after Marius had been chosen Consul for the fourth time, the Teutones, and the Ambrones, another of the fierce barbarian tribes which Rome had feared, did actually approach Italy.

So Marius marched toward the Rhone, and here, not far from the river, he set up his camp. His first work was to secure a safe passage to the sea, so that he could be sure of getting provisions for his army.

As the mouth of the Rhone was choked with huge banks of sand and mud, Marius ordered his soldiers to clear the bank away, and then set them to work to dig a great canal.

Now soldiers would usually rather fight than dig, and as the summer passed, and still their general did not lead them to battle, they began to grumble.

'Has Marius found us cowards,' they cried, 'that he should thus like women lock us up from encountering our enemies? Come on, let us show ourselves men, and ask him if he expects others to fight for Italy. Does he mean merely to employ us to dig trenches and cleanse places of mud and turn the course of the river?'

These complaints reached the ear of Marius, but they did not at all displease him. He wished that his soldiers should be eager to fight, and bade them wait but a little longer and he would lead them against the enemy.

The Teutones were encamped not far off, and they, seeing that the Romans did not attack them, began to wonder if