not yet forgotten; and while the state paid due honours to the merits of Metellus, his lieutenant became the favourite of the people, who looked upon him as the future consul. The same thought possessed the mind of Marius the more ardently as he felt that his want of nobility was the only obstacle to his success. He was close upon his fiftieth year, having been born in B.c. 157 at Arpinum, the same small town among the Latin hills, near the banks of the Liris, that was the birthplace of Cicero just half a century later. But proud as the orator was of his fellow-townsman, their characters and trainings were as opposite as their careers. The child of poor parents, who were clients of the Herennii, a plebeian house which had attained the honours of nobility, Marius had neither the opportunity, nor had he the natural taste, to acquire Hellenic culture, legal lore, or forensic eloquence; he was simply a hardy soldier. He entered the army as soon as he reached the military age; at the siege of Numantia he is said to have been noticed by Scipio as a man destined to attain high distinction (B.c. 134);* and his election by the people as military tribune was a decisive testimony to the reputation he had won. In B.C. 119, at the age of 38, he was tribune of the Plebs; and we have seen the boldness with which he espoused the popular cause. His canvass for the curule ædileship had so little prospect of success, that, Plutarch tells us, he changed about, and became a candidate for the plebeian ædileship; but in this also he failed. He gained the prætorship, but he was the lowest on the poll of the six who were chosen. He was prosecuted for bribery, and only acquitted by the equal division of the jury. He gained no distinction in this office (B.c. 115), and his proprætorship in Further Spain seems to have afforded Marius no better employment than to put down the robbery which was still the chief occupation of the ruder tribes (B.c. 114). It was probably about this time that he married into the high patrician house of the Julii, A well-known passage of Juvenal preserves a tradition, that Marius worked for hire at the plough before he suffered the severities of military discipline. After an allusion to Cicero's birth at Arpinum, he says (Sat. viii. 245):— "Arpinas alius Volscorum in monte solebat On which Mr. Long observes-"His parents may have been poor, but it was not the fashion for free men to work for wages at that time; nor would it have been necessary for a youth of Marius's temper to do it when the Romans were always wanting soldiers." who traced their mythical descent from Iülus, the son of Æneas, and were said to have been removed from Alba on its destruction. by Tullus Hostilius. Their chief family, the CESARS, had made but little figure before this age, when we find them taking the aristocratic side in the first civil war. C. Julius Cæsar, whose sister Marius espoused, was the father of the renowned dictator; and this connection was a main element in determining the political course of the latter. The marriage proves that a successful soldier, however humble his origin, might aspire to the highest alliances in the state; but it does not seem to have hastened the political advancement of Marius, who was already several years past the legal age for the consulship, when the fame he had earned in Africa encouraged him to aspire to the supreme magistracy. Marius was offering a sacrifice in his winter quarters at Utica, when the seer (haruspex), on inspecting the entrails of the victim, perceived signs of a wondrous destiny, and bade him trust to the gods and do what he was thinking of, for it would turn out well. Like every Italian, Marius was a believer in omens, and the voice of heaven echoed the call of the people and the promptings of his ambition. But his request for leave of absence to stand for the election roused all the aristocratic pride of Metellus. In the tone of that friendship which had hitherto done both so much honour, the proconsul remonstrated with his legate for aspiring to an honour so much above his position, and, instead of being content with what he had won, asking for that which the people would certainly deny him. Still he promised to grant the request when the public service would permit. But he showed no haste in fulfilling this promise, and when Marius at last became importunate, Metellus gave vent to his scorn by telling him that it would be time enough, when his son became a candidate, for Marius to stand with him. The young Metellus, whose presence as a youth in the African army made the insult sharper, was about twenty years old, and would be of the legal age for the consulship in about twenty years more, when Marius would be just seventy! The cruel taunt gained Metellus an enemy for life; and its effect was soon felt. The court which Marius paid more assiduously than ever to the common soldiers and to the Italian merchants at Utica was now mingled with boasts of how soon he would end the war, if he had only half the army of Metellus. The knights, always jealous of the nobility, added their desires to those of the common soldiers and the merchants, in the letters which were constantly arriving at Rome. To these influences Marius contrived to add another in the representations of Gauda, the legitimate son of Jugurtha's father Mastanabal, who, having been named in the will of Micipsa as reversionary heir to the crown, might be supposed to represent the family of Masinissa and the wishes of the Numidian people. So that at last, when Marius obtained leave of absence from Metellus only twelve days before the consular election, his success was the more assured by the obstacles that had been raised to his canvass. Received with enthusiasm by the people, he joined in the harangues of the tribunes against Metellus, and promised either to kill Jugurtha, or bring him a prisoner to Rome. The prescription which had long confined the consulship to a few noble families was broken through by the vehement current of popular feeling. Marius was elected consul with L. Cassius Longinus, and was appointed to the province of Numidia and the conduct of the war with Jugurtha. The Senate had intended to prorogue the command of Metellus for another year, but the tribune Manlius Mancinus carried a rogation which placed the allotment of the provinces for the coming year in the hands of the people (B.c. 108). Metellus meanwhile renewed his efforts to finish the war, and avoid the humiliation of handing it over to the plebeian successor whom he had insulted. Jugurtha, deserted by all his friends, was suddenly attacked by the Romans, with the usual result. The Numidian infantry were scattered before the legions, but the king vanished from the field with his chosen cavalry. He fled far inland to the strong city of Thala,* where he kept his chief treasure, and where his children were brought up. By incredible exertions, and favoured by an opportune fall of rain, Metellus crossed the fifty miles of waterless desert, and came so unexpectedly upon Thala, that Jugurtha had barely time to escape with his family and a part of his treasures. The city, however, withstood a siege of forty days, chiefly through the desperation of the Roman deserters, who, when they found further defence hopeless, collected all the gold and silver and other valuables into the *The site of this place is doubtful. Shaw is clearly wrong in identifying it with Thelepte (now Ferianch). Davis places it at Ain-Thala, the large ruins of which have no mark of identification but the name, and its site cannot be reconciled with Sallust's description. Pellissier finds another Thala in the south-eastern part of Tunis, to reach which from Utica, Metellus must have passed through a district of the Regency of which Pellissier says that "the worst part of Algeria is an Eden compared with this horrible country." This position would agree also with the embassy which Metellus received from Leptis Magna. (See Long, Decline &c., vol. i. pp. 450-454.) royal palace, which they burnt over their heads after feasting and getting drunk together.* The region of the Tripolis was made secure by a garrison which Metellus sent to the friendly port of Leptis Magna; while Jugurtha, so fearful of treachery that he dared not trust himself for more than a single night in any city, fled westward into the country of the Gætulians, the sandy region between the Atlas and the Sahara, which the Arabs call the Land of Palms (Beled-el-Jerid) from the Oases interspersed amidst its wastes. The Gætulians, who were as yet strangers to the Romans, furnished Jugurtha with fresh forces, and his movement to the west brought him near Mauretania. Bocchus, whom the tribes of the Mauri acknowledged as their king, was the father-in-law of Jugurtha; but this relation was a weak bond of union among a people who practised polygamy. The Mauretanian king found stronger motives for aiding Jugurtha in the former rejection of his overtures by the Romans, and in the prospect of being himself soon attacked; and Jugurtha plied the Moorish counsellors with gold. The alliance was cemented by a personal interview, and the two kings marched together against Cirta, hoping to seize the stores, booty, and prisoners placed there, before Metellus could arrive to the relief of the city. The proconsul had advanced to meet them, and was entrenched in a camp near Cirta, when letters from Rome brought the news that Marius had gained the consulship and the province of Numidia. Metellus was more vexed, says Sallust, at the honour given to Marius than at the slight put upon himself, nor did a Roman's ideas of manliness forbid his venting his indignation in tears. Instead of risking his reputation against an untried enemy, Metellus sent envoys to warn Bocchus against plunging into a war with Rome.† The Mauretanian replied with friendly assurances, and tried to make stipulations in favour of Jugurtha. Without as yet, probably, contemplating treachery, he felt the advantage of holding the person of Jugurtha. Thus repeated * Sallust tells us that Metellus gained great glory by the capture of Thala. Mr. Long points out the marks of Sallust's inaccurate rhetoric in his description of the siege. Though Metellus had compelled his men to take with them nothing but ten days' supply of food, we find the army provided with all the military engines required for a regular siege. + Mr. Long says of the arguments which the historian ascribes to Metellus :-" He gave this Mauretanian excellent advice about the danger and uncertainty of war. His best remarks were probably derived from the wise speech of Archidamus in the first book of Thucydides, which every statesman should read before he resolves upon war. If Metellus did not take his excellent precepts from the Greek historian, Sallust perhaps did it for him." embassies passed to and fro without result, till it was time for Metellus to leave the province. Marius was meanwhile enjoying his triumph over the Roman nobility, and openly calling his consulship the spoils of their conquest. The Senate are said to have ordered a new levy the more readily as a means of emperilling the consul's popularity. But volunteers came forward in abundance from the bravest men of Italy, secure of fame and booty under such a leader. When all was ready for the enrolment, Marius called an assembly of the people, and harangued them, not certainly in the words which Sallust puts into his mouth, but in the blunt speech of a rude soldier,-on his own merits as illustrating the virtues of the people from whom he had sprung,on the vices and corruption of the nobles, as proving the degeneracy of their race. So consistently did he adhere to these principles, that in selecting his recruits from all who were willing to serve, without regard to the classes of Servius Tullius, he even gave a preference to the "Capite Censi," who were usually called out only to ward off a pressing danger from the city. This statement, when divested of Sallust's rhetoric, seems to imply, as Mr. Long observes, "that many of the better sort were not very eager for an African campaign, and would gladly let others have the labour and profit of it. If Marius cleared Rome of her rabble, he did the state good service in two ways. As to making his recruits into soldiers, he had no doubt about that." In the end, he led over a greater number than had been fixed by the Senate to Africa, whither his legate A. Manlius had preceded him with money, material, and arms. Metellus, with the shame of wounded pride, left his legate to hand over the command, and returned to Rome to enjoy a triumph, with the new title of Numidicus, and to inveigh against the tribunes who had espoused the cause of Marius in the bitterest language of aristocratic scorn (B.c. 107). Marius, on arriving in his province, led his army into the fertile regions of Numidia, at once to exercise his new recruits and to gratify their desire for plunder. By Jugurtha's advice, the two kings divided their forces, in the hope of surprising detached bodies of the Romans. Bocchus held aloof, sending friendly messages to Marius, while Jugurtha led his Gætulians on a predatory incursion into the province of Africa. In order to put an end to this desultory warfare, and to rival the fame which Metellus had acquired by the capture of Thala, Marius planned an expedition against Capsa (Ghafsa), a hill fortress in an oasis still further within the Tunisian desert. The details of his opera |