The Story of the Roman People Day 44

natives and treat them with such cruelty that they were ready to welcome the rule of Mithridates . Even the Greek cities of Asia were glad to throw aside their allegiance to Rome and claim him as a protector . Athens was so happy in the hope of freedom from Rome that she , too , yielded willingly to this Eastern potentate . When the Social War had come to an end , Mithridates knew that the Roman armies would soon be upon him . They shall find no friends and helpers here , he said to himself; and by his orders the Italians living in the country were murdered by his officials .

The Romans now made ready an army to punish Mithri dates . The senate gave the command to Lucius Cornelius Sul'la , one of the consuls. Sulla had served as lieutenant under Marius in the war against Jugurtha. He had shown a favor to Boc'chus , father - in - law of the usurper, and in return Bocchus had delivered up Jugurtha to the young lieutenant. The honor of the triumphal procession had of course been given to Marius as commander of the army ; but so many gave all the glory of the war to the young Sulla that Marius became intensely jealous of him . Sulla had a seal made repre senting Bocchus in the act of delivering up Jugurtha to him , and used it constantly to seal his letters. Even worse than that , whenever Marius went to the Capitol , he saw gilded figures representing the same scene , which had been presented by Bocchus .

In the Social War and the wars with the Cimbri and the Teutones , Rome had been in such danger that there was no room for jealousy , and both Marius and Sulla had done their but this war with Mithridates would bring to the com best;

128 STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE

manding general glory and wealth , and now to have the man agement of it given to his own former lieutenant was most ex asperating to Marius, and he was furiously angry. He was nearly seventy years old, but he went to the Campus Martius, or training ground, every day, and exercised with the young men to prove that he was equal to the toils of a campaign. He per suaded a tribune to propose a law . giving to him, instead of to Sulla, command of the army. Now Sulla's soldiers had some thing to say, for they were de voted to their general. The ( Often used in making an assault. From struggle between the law and Column of Trajan ) the army had begun . The army was victorious , for Sulla led his troops into Rome and drove Marius into exile . Then he set off for the war .

SCREEN OF SHIELDS

Marius took refuge on a little vessel and sailed down the coast . He was driven ashore by a storm , and had to hide in the woods to escape horsemen who were searching for him . He begged the sailors not to desert him . When I was a child , he said , " an eagle's nest with seven young ones in it once fell into my lap. The soothsayers declared this meant that I should be seven times consul. Six times I have held the office; the seventh will surely come, and those who have aided me will not fail of their reward ."

In spite of the story of the eagles , the sailors deserted him , and he wandered about through bogs and marshes till he came to a cottage. He begged the owner to save him , and the cottager hid him near a river and covered him with reeds. Soon he heard loud talking and the trampling of horses ' hoofs ; his enemies were again on his track . He threw off his clothes and plunged into the mud of the swamp . He was dis covered and carried into the nearest town . A proclamation had been sent out that he was to be put to death wherever he might be found, and the magistrates sent a man to kill him . The man came back without his weapon. He had rushed into the gloomy cell with drawn sword , but in the darkness he had seen the flash of the old general's eyes and heard a voice demanding solemnly, Do you dare to kill Marius ? He had thrown down his sword and fled .

Then the people cried out that the man who had saved Italy should be set free . They went to the shore with him and put him on board a vessel . He sailed for Africa and landed where Carthage had once stood ; but the Roman governor forbade him to set foot in Africa . Go and tell him ," said Marius, that you have seen the exile Marius sitting on the ruins of Carthage. A fishing boat was at hand . Marius went on board and fled to a little island off the coast of Africa. Here he heard some good news . The party of the people , led by the consul , Lucius

ROMAN SOLDIER

Cornelius Cin'na, were in power . Marius collected as many volunteers as he could in Africa and in Etruria and appeared at the mouth of the Tiber . He burned and plundered and destroyed . He got possession of the grain that was on its way to Rome , and the starving city was forced to yield .

Then the streets of Rome ran with the blood of her nobles . The heads of consul and senators were fixed to the rostrum, or orator's platform in the forum . Marius was taking a fear ful revenge for every insult, every slight. It is said that he walked through the streets with a band of soldiers, and that a they killed every man whose salutation he did not return .

The time for the annual election drew near, but Marius and Cinna had put themselves above the law . They did not wait for an election , but simply declared themselves consuls , and no one ventured to contradict them . This was Marius's seventh consulship . He had reached the height of his ambition , but it had brought him neither glory nor happiness . In his long life he should have won a position of honor and hosts of friends . He now held power , but not honor ; he had flatterers, but no friends . Sulla would soon return and with him would come a terrible vengeance . Marius was a wretched , miserable old man . He died only a few days after he had seized the consulship .

While Marius was ruling in Rome , his rival Sulla was carrying on the war with Mithridates . Sulla knew that no matter how powerful his enemies might become , yet if he should return from the war a successful general , with ships full of slaves and the treasures of conquered cities, and es corted by a devoted army , he could regain all that he might