The Exile And Revenge Of Marius

Marius and Sulla, the heroes of the Jugurthine War, in later years led

in greater wars, in which they gained much fame. They ended their

careers in frightful massacres, in which they gained great infamy. Rome,

which had made the world its slaughter-house, was itself turned into a

slaughter-house by these cruel and revengeful rivals.



There was rarely any lack of work for the swords of Rome. While Marius

wa absent in Africa a frightful peril threatened the Roman state. A

vast horde of barbarians was sweeping downward from the north. The

Germans of Central Europe had ravaged Switzerland and invaded Gaul.

Every army sent against them had been defeated with great slaughter.

Italy was in immediate danger of invasion, Rome in imminent peril.

Marius was sadly needed, and on his return from Africa was hailed as the

only man who could save the state.



Instantly he gathered an army and set out for Gaul, Sulla going with him

as a subordinate officer. Two years were spent in marches and

counter-marches, and then (B.C. 102) he met the enemy and defeated them

with immense slaughter. Reserving the richest of the spoils, he devoted

the remainder to the gods, and, as he stood in a purple robe, torch in

hand, about to apply the flame to the costly funeral pile, horsemen

dashed at full speed through the open lines of the troops, and announced

that for a fifth time he had been elected consul of Rome.



In this war Sulla also showed valor and won fame. But he had grown

jealous of the glory of Marius, and left his army to join that of the

consul Catulus, who was being driven backward by another great horde of

barbarians. Marius, having beaten his own foes, hastened to the relief

of his associate; the flight was stopped, and a battle ensued in which

the invading army was swept from the face of the earth, and Rome freed

for centuries from danger of barbarian invasion.



Sulla and Catulus had their share in this victory, but the people gave

Marius the whole honor, called him the third founder of their city (as

Camillus had been the second), and gathered in rejoicing multitudes to

witness his triumph.



While this war was going on there was dreadful work at home. The slaves

had, for the second time, broken into insurrection. This servile war was

mainly in Sicily, where thousands of slaves were slain. Of the captives,

many were taken to Rome to fight with wild beasts in the arena, but they

disappointed the eager spectators by killing each other. This outbreak

only made slavery at Rome harder and harsher than before.



Years passed on, and then another war broke out. The Italian allies, who

had helped to make Rome great, claimed rights of citizenship and

suffrage. These were denied, and what is known as the Social War began.

Sulla and Marius took part in this conflict, which ended in favor of

Rome, though the franchise fought for was in large measure gained. It

was of little value, however, since all who held it were obliged to go

to the city of Rome to vote.





During these various conflicts the rivalry between Marius and Sulla grew

steadily more declared. The old plebeian, now seventy years of age, was

jealous of the honors which his aristocratic rival had gained in the

Social War, and a spirit of bitter hatred, which was to bear dire

results, arose in his heart.



Events to come were to blow this spark of hatred into a glowing flame. A

new war threatened Rome. Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, in Asia

Minor, was pursuing a career of conquest, and the Roman provinces in

Asia were in danger. War was determined on, and Sulla, who had already

held successful command in the East, claimed the command of the new

army. Marius, old as he was, wanted it, too, and by his influence with

the new citizens of Rome succeeded in defeating Sulla and gaining the

appointment of general in the war against Pontus.



This vote of the tribes precipitated a contest. The Social War was not

yet fully ended, and Sulla hastened to the camp where his soldiers were

besieging a Samnite town. It was his purpose to set sail for the East

before he could be superseded. He was too late. Officials from Rome

reached the camp almost as soon as he, bearing a commission from Marius

to assume the command. It was a critical moment. Sulla must either yield

or inaugurate a civil war.



He chose the latter. Calling the soldiers together, he told them that

he had been insulted and injured, and that, unless they supported him,

they would be left at home, and a new army raised by Marius would obtain

the spoils of the Mithridatic war. Stirred by this appeal to their

avarice, the legions stoned to death the officers sent by Marius, and

loudly demanded to be led to Rome.



Their coming took Marius by surprise, and threw the city into

consternation. No one had dreamed of such daring and audacity. To lead a

Roman army against Rome was unprecedented. The senate sent an embassy

asking Sulla to halt till the Fathers could come to some decision. He

promised to do so, but as soon as the envoys had gone he sent a force

that seized the Colline Gate and entered the city streets. Here their

progress was stopped by the people, who hurled tiles and stones upon

their heads from the house-tops.



The whole army soon followed, and Sulla entered the city with two

legions at his back. The people again opposed their march, but Sulla

seized a torch and threatened to burn the city if any hostility were

shown. This ended all opposition, except that made by Marius, who

retreated to the Capitol, where he proclaimed liberty to all slaves who

would join his banner. This did him much more harm than good; his

adherents dispersed; he and his chief supporters were forced to seek

safety in flight.



And now we have a story of striking interest to tell. It would need the

powers of invention of a romancer to devise a series of adventures as

remarkable as those which befell old Marius in his flight. It is one of

the strangest stories in all the annals of history, a marked

illustration of the saying that fact is often stranger than fiction.



Marius fled to Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, in company with

Granius, his son-in-law, and five slaves. He proposed to take ship there

for Africa, where his influence was great. His son followed him by a

different route, and arrived at Ostia to find that his father had put to

sea. There was another vessel about to sail, which the son took, and in

which he succeeded in reaching Africa.



The older fugitive had no such good fortune. The elements pronounced

against him, and a storm drove the vessel ashore near Circeii. Here the

party wandered in distress along the desolate coast, in imminent danger

of capture, for emissaries of Sulla were scouring the shores of Italy in

his pursuit. Fortunately for the old general, he was recognized by some

herdsmen, who warned him that a troop of cavalry was approaching. Not

knowing who they were, and fearing their purpose, the fugitives hastily

left the road and sought shelter in the forest that there came down near

to the coast.



Here the night was miserably passed, the fugitives suffering for want of

food and shelter. When the dawn of the next day broke, their forlorn

walk was resumed, there being no enemy in sight. By this time the whole

party, with the exception of Marius, was greatly depressed. He alone

kept up his spirits, telling his followers that he had been six times

consul of Rome, and that a seventh consulship would yet be his.



There seemed little hope of such a turn of fortune as the hungry

fugitives dragged wearily onward. For two days they kept on, making

about forty miles of distance. At the end of that time peril of capture

came frightfully near. A body of horsemen was visible at a distance,

coming rapidly on. No friendly forest here offered shelter. The only

hope of escape lay in two merchant vessels, which were moving slowly

close in shore.



Calling loudly for aid, Marius and those with him plunged into the water

and swam for these vessels. Granius reached one of them. Marius was so

exhausted that he could not swim, and was supported with difficulty

above the water by two slaves till the seamen of the other vessel drew

him on board.



He had barely reached the deck when the troop of horsemen rode to the

water's edge, and their leader called to the captain of the vessel,

telling him that it was the proscribed Marius he had rescued, and

bidding him at once to deliver him up.



What to do the captain did not know. The officer on shore threatened him

with the vengeance of Sulla if he failed to yield the fugitive. Marius,

with tears in his eyes, earnestly begged for protection from the captain

and crew. The captain wavered in purpose, but finally yielded to Marius

and sailed on. But he did so in doubt and fear, and on reaching the

mouth of the river Liris he persuaded Marius to go ashore, saying that

the vessel must lie to till the land-wind rose. The instant the boat

returned the faithless captain sailed away, leaving the aged fugitive

absolutely alone on the beach.



Walking wearily to the sorry hut of an old peasant, which stood near,

Marius told him who he was, and begged for shelter. The old man hid him

in a hole near the river, and covered him with reeds. While he lay there

the horsemen, who had followed the vessel along the shore, came up, and

asked the tenant of the hut where Marius was.



The shivering fugitive, in fear of being betrayed, rose hastily from his

hiding-place and dashed into the stream. Some of the horsemen saw him,

he was pursued, and, covered with mud and nearly naked, the old

conqueror was dragged from the river, placed on a horse, and carried as

a captive to the neighboring town of Miturnae. Here he was confined in

the house of a woman named Fannia till his fate could be determined.



A circular letter had been received by the magistrates from the consuls

at Rome, ordering them to put Marius to death if he should fall into

their hands. This was more than they cared to do on their own

responsibility, and they called a meeting of the town council to decide

the momentous question. The council decided that Marius should die, and

sent a Gaulish slave to put him to death.



It was dark when the executioner entered the house of Fannia. The slave,

little relishing the task committed to his hands, entered the room where

Marius lay. All the trembling wretch could see in the darkness were the

glaring eyes of the old man fixed fiercely on him, while a deep voice

came from the couch, "Fellow, darest thou slay Caius Marius?"



Throwing down his sword, the Gaul fled in terror from those accusing

eyes, crying out, loudly, "I cannot slay Caius Marius!"



The magistrates made no further effort to put their prisoner to death.

They managed that he should escape, and he made his way to the island of

Ischia, which Granius had already reached. Here a friendly ship took

them on board, and they sailed for Africa.



But the perils of the fugitive were not yet at an end. The ship was

forced to stop at Erycina, in Sicily, for water. Here a Roman official

recognized Marius, fell upon the party with a company of soldiers, and

slew sixteen of them. Marius was nearly taken, but managed to escape,

the vessel hastily setting sail. He now reached Africa without further

adventure.



His son and other friends had arrived earlier, and, encouraging news

being told him, he landed near the site of ancient Carthage. The praetor,

learning of his presence, and advised of the revolution at Rome, sent

him word to quit the province without delay. As the messenger spoke

Marius looked at him with silent indignation.



"What answer shall I take back to the praetor?" asked the man.



"Tell him," said the old general, with impressive dignity, "that you

have seen Caius Marius sitting among the ruins of Carthage."



Meanwhile his son had reached Numidia, where he was outwardly well

received by the king, yet held in captivity. He was at length enabled

to escape by the aid of the king's daughter, and joined his father.

Marius was not further molested.



Yet it would have been well for the fame of Caius Marius had his life

ended here. He would nave escaped the infamy of his later years, and the

flood of blood and vengeance in which his career reached its end. He had

friends still in Rome. Sulla had made many foes by his capture of the

city. Among the new consuls elected was Cornelius Cinna, who quickly

made trouble for the ruler of Rome. Sulla, finding his power abating,

and fearing assassination by friends of Marius, concluded to let the

senate fight its own battles, and shipped his troops for Greece, leaving

Rome to its own devices, while he occupied himself with fighting its

enemy in the East.



No sooner had he gone than civil war began. Fighting took place in the

streets of Rome. Cinna moved in the senate that Marius should be

restored to his rights. Failing in this, he gathered an army and

threatened his enemies in Rome.



News of all this soon reached old Marius in Africa. At the head of a

thousand desperate men he took ship and landed in Etruria. Here he

proclaimed liberty to all slaves who would join him, and soon had a

large force. He also gained a small fleet. He and Cinna now joined

forces and marched on Rome.



The senate, which stood for Sulla, had meanwhile been gathering an army

for the defence of the city. But few of those ordered from afar reached

the gates, and of the principal force the greater part deserted to

Marius. The city was soon invested on all sides. The ships of Marius

captured the corn-vessels from Sicily and Africa. A plague broke out in

the city, which decimated the army of the senate. In the end beleaguered

Rome was forced to open its gates to a new conqueror.



All the senate asked for was that Cinna would not permit a general

massacre. This he promised. But behind his chair, in which he sat in

state as consul, stood old Marius, whose face threatened disaster. He

was dressed in mean attire; his hair and beard hung down rough and long,

for neither had been cut since the day he fled from Rome; on his brow

was a sullen frown that boded only evil to his foes.



Evil it was, evil without stint. Rome was treated as a conquered city.

The slaves and desperadoes who followed Marius were let loose to plunder

at their will. Octavius, the consul who had supported the senate, was

slain in his consular chair. A series of horrible butcheries followed.

Marius was bent on dire vengeance, and his enemies fell in multitudes.

Followed by a band of ruffians known as the Bardiaei, the remorseless old

man roamed in search of victims through the city streets, and any man of

rank whom he passed without a salute was at once struck dead.



The senators who had opposed his recall from exile fell first. Others

followed in multitudes. Those who had private wrongs to revenge followed

the example of their chief. The slaves of the army killed at will all

whom they wished to plunder. So great became the licentious outrages of

these slaves that in the end Cinna, who had taken no part in the

massacres, fell upon them with a body of troops and slew several

thousands. This reprisal in some measure restored order in Rome.



Sulla, meanwhile, was winning victories in the East, and the news of

them somewhat disturbed the ruthless conquerors. But for the present

they were absolute, and the saturnalia of blood went on. It ended at

length in the death of Marius.



Since his return he had given himself to wine and riotous living. This,

after the privations and hardships he had recently suffered, sapped his

iron constitution. He was elected to the seventh consulship, which he

had predicted while wandering as a fugitive on the south Italian shores.

But he fell now into an inflammatory fever, and in two weeks after his

election he ceased to breathe. Great and successful soldier as he had

been, his late conduct had won him wide-spread detestation, and he died

hated by his enemies and feared even by his friends.