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uous voice and gesture, to the friends of Gracchus and Fulvius,-" Make way there, ye worthless citizens, for honest men!" The provoked bystanders instantly assaulted the insolent lictor, and slew him with the pins of their tablebooks.

This imprudence afforded Opimius the opportunity he had so eagerly desired; the senate hastily assembled, and passed a vote investing him with dictatorial power.* Gracchus, with his most zealous followers, took possession of Mount Aventine: here he was soon attacked by the sanguinary Opimius; three thousand of his followers were slain, and their bodies thrown into the Tiber; and Caius himself chose to fall by the hands of a faithful slave, rather than glut his cruel enemies by his tortures (B. c. 120). With the Gracchi perished the freedom of the Roman republic; henceforth the supreme power of the state was wielded by a corrupt, avaricious, and insolent aristocracy, from whose avarice and oppression even the worst tyranny of the worst of the emperors would have been a desirable relief.

THE JUGURTHINE WAR.

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HE profligacy and corruption of the senate, now that the check of popular control was removed, soon became manifest by their conduct in the Jugurthine war. Micipsa, king of Numidia, the

son of Massinissa, divided his monarchy, on his death-bed, between his two sons Hiempsal and Adherbal, and his nephew Jugurtha, though the latter was of illegitimate birth. Jugurtha resolved to obtain possession of the

The vote by which absolute power, in cases of emergency, was given to the consuls, consisted in the following formula:-"Ut darent operam consules ne repub lica quid detrimenti caperet."

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entire inheritance, procured the murder of Hiempsal, and compelled Adherbal to seek refuge at Rome. The senate at first seemed disposed to punish the usurper; but, soon won over by his bribes, they actually voted him a reward for his crimes, decreeing that the kingdom of Numidia should be divided equally between him and Adherbal. Impunity only stimulated Jugurtha to fresh iniquities; he declared war against his cousin, gained possession of his person by a capitulation, and, in violation of the terms, put him to death. Even this atrocity failed to rouse the senate; and Jugurtha would have escaped unpunished, had not Memmius, one of the tribunes, exposed the profligate venality of the aristocracy in a general assembly of the people, and persuaded them to send Cassius, the prætor, into Africa, to bring Jugurtha thence to Rome, on the public faith, in order that those who had taken bribes might be convicted by the king's evidence.

Jugurtha, being brought before the assembly, was interrogated by Memmius; but Bæbius, another tribune, who had been bribed for the purpose, forbade the king to make any reply. The Numidian, however, soon added to his former crimes, by procuring the murder of his cousin Massiva in Rome, suspecting that he was likely to be raised to the throne of Numidia by a party in the senate. Such an insult could not be borne; Jugurtha was instantly ordered to quit Italy (B. c. 109), and an army raised against him was intrusted to the command of the consul Albinus. Instead of prosecuting the war, Albinus left his brother Aulus, a vain, avaricious man, in command of the army, and returned to Italy. Aulus invaded Numidia, hoping that Jugurtha would purchase his forbearance by a large sum; but he was surrounded, betrayed, and forced to capitulate on the most disgraceful terms. The Roman people were roused to exertion by this infamy; a commission was issued for inquiring into the criminality of those who had received bribes; several of the leading nobles, among whom was Opimius, the murderer of Caius Gracchus, were convicted on the clearest evidence,

and sentenced to different degrees of punishment. Finally, the conduct of the war was intrusted to Quintus Metellus, a strenuous partisan of the aristocracy, but an able general, and an incorruptible statesman. When Metellus had almost completed the conquest of Numidia, he was supplanted by his lieutenant Caius Marius, a man of the lowest birth, but whom valour, talent, and a zealous devotion to the popular cause, had elevated to fame and fortune. Raised to the consulship, and intrusted with the conduct of the war against Jugurtha, by the favour of the people, Marius showed little respect for the vote of the senate that had continued Metellus in command. He raised fresh levies, and passed over into Africa just when Jugurtha had been forced to seek refuge with Bocchus, king of Mauritania (B. c. 106). The principal cities and fortresses of Numidia were speedily subdued, and the united army of Jugurtha and Bocchus routed with great slaughter. The Moorish king, terrified by his losses, was at length prevailed upon to betray Jugurtha to Sylla, a young nobleman who held the important office of quæstor in the army of Marius; and this wicked usurper, after having been exhibited in the conqueror's triumph, was starved to death in prison.

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MARIUS AND SYLLA.

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N the mean time, the barbarous hordes of the Cimbri and Teutones were devastating Transalpine Gaul, and had defeated the Roman armies sent to check their ravages. At length their total defeat of Cæpio's army, and slaughter of

eighty thousand men, spread such general consternation, that the senate and people combined to raise Marius to the consulate a second time, contrary to law. It was not, however, until his fourth consulship (B. c. 100), that Marius brought the Teutones to a decisive engagement at Aquæ Lutiæ. The annals of war scarcely record a more complete victory; more than one hundred thousand of the invaders having been slain or made prisoners. He was no less fortunate in a second engagement with the Cimbrians; but or this occasion his old quæstor, but now his rival, Lucius Sylla, had fair grounds for claiming a large share in the honours of the day. About the same time, a second servile war in Sicily was terminated: so cruelly was the revolt of these unhappy men punished, that more than a million of the insurgents are said to have perished in the field, or been exposed to wild beasts in the arena.

A much more dangerous war, called the Marsic, the Social, or the Italic, was provoked by the injustice with which the Romans treated their Italian ailies. The different states having in vain sought a redress of grievances from the senate and people, entered into a secret conspiracy, which soon extended from the Liris eastwards to the extremity of ancient Italy. The Marsi, long renowned for their bravery, were foremost in the revolt, and hence their name is frequently given to the war. After a tedious contest of three years, in which half a million of men are supposed to have

perished, the Romans granted the freedom of their city to the states that laid down their arms (B. c. 87), and tranquillity was restored in Italy.

But the Roman power was exposed almost to equal danger in Asia by the rising greatness of Mithridates, the celebrated king of Pontus, who, in a short time, made himself master of all the towns and islands in Asia Minor, with the single exception of Rhodes. Marius and Sylla eagerly contended for the chief command in this important war; the latter prevailed, and procured the banishment of his rival, who very narrowly escaped with his life. Sylla departed with his army to Asia; but, during his absence, the consul Cinna recalled Marius, and Italy was involved in all the horrors of civil war (B. c. 86). After a severe struggle the aged exile, having every where defeated the partisans of the nobles, made his triumphant entry into Rome, and filled the entire city with slaughter. Having caused the murder of most of the leading senators and knights that had joined in procuring his banishment, he declared himself consul without going through the formality of an election, and died soon af ter, in the seventy-first year of his age.

In the mean time Sylla defeated the armies of Mithridates in Greece, took Athens by storm, slaughtered its citizens without mercy or compunction, and compelled the king of Pontus to solicit peace. Sylla willingly consented; for he had neither ships nor money to carry on the war; and he longed impatiently to be in Italy, that he might revenge himself on his enemies, who were so cruelly persecuting his partisans.

On the news of the approach of Sylla with a victorious army (B. c. 83), the consuls Cinna and Carbo made every preparation for the impending war; but the former was murdered by his mutinous troops, and the latter, though aided by the younger Marius, did not possess abilities adequate to the crisis. After a severe struggle, Sylla prevailed, and became master of Rome. He surpassed even the cruelties of Marius, slaughtering without mercy not merely his political opponents, but all whom he suspected of discontent at his

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