The more thoughtful Romans had foreseen the dangers with which Rome was menaced by the impoverishment of her free population, and the alarming increase in the number of slaves. It is said that Lælius, the friend of the elder Scipio Africanus, had at the close of the Second Punic War meditated some reforms to arrest the growing evil, but had given them up as impracticable. The Servile War in Sicily had lately revealed the extent of the peril to which the Republic was exposed. It must have been felt by many that the evil would never have reached its present height if the Livinian Law had been observed, if men had been appointed to watch over its execution, and if the newly-acquired public lands had from time to time been distributed among the people. But the nobles, from long possession, had come to regard the public land as their own; many had acquired their portions by purchase, inheritance, or marriage; and every one shrank from interfering with interests supported by long prescription and usage. Still, unless something was done, matters would become worse; the poor would become poorer, and the slaves more numerous, and the state would descend more rapidly into the yawning abyss beneath it. Under these circumstances, two young men, belonging to one of the noblest families in Rome, came forward to save the Republic, but perished in the attempt. Their violent death may be regarded as the beginning of the Civil Wars, which ended in the destruction of freedom, and the establishment of the despotism of the Empire.
Tiberius and Caius Gracchus were the sons of Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, whose prudent measures gave tranquillity to Spain for so many years.[60] They lost their father at an early age, but they were educated with the utmost care by their mother, Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus the elder, who had inherited from her father a love of literature, and united in her person the severe virtue of the ancient Roman matron with the superior knowledge and refinement which then prevailed in the higher classes at Rome. She engaged for her sons the most eminent Greek teachers; and it was mainly owing to the pains she took with their education that they surpassed all the Roman youths of their age. Tiberius was nine years older than his brother Caius. The latter had more ability, but Tiberius was the more amiable, and won all hearts by the simplicity of his demeanor and his graceful and persuasive eloquence. So highly was Tiberius esteemed, that as soon as he reached the age of manhood he was elected Augur, and at the banquet given at his installation Appius Claudius, then Chief of the Senate, offered him his daughter in marriage. When Appius returned home and informed his wife that he had just betrothed their daughter, she exclaimed, "Why in such a hurry, unless you have got Tib. Gracchus for her husband?" Sempronia, the only sister of Tiberius, was married to the younger Scipio Africanus. Tiberius was thus, by birth and marriage, connected with the noblest families in the Republic—the grandson of the conqueror of Hannibal—the son-in-law of the Chief of the Senate—and the brother-in-law of the destroyer of Carthage.
Tiberius served under his brother-in-law in Africa, and was the first who scaled the walls of Carthage. He was Quæstor in B.C. 137, and accompanied the Consul C. Hostilius to Spain, where he saved the army by obtaining a treaty with the Numantines, which the Senate refused to ratify.[61] In passing through Etruria, on his way to Spain, Tiberius had observed with grief and indignation the deserted state of that fertile country. Thousands of foreign slaves were tending the flocks and cultivating the soil of the wealthy landowners, while Roman citizens, thus thrown out of employment, could scarcely procure their daily bread, and had not a clod of earth to call their own. He now conceived the design of applying a remedy to this state of things, and with this view became a candidate for the Tribunate, and was elected for the year B.C. 133.
Tiberius, however, did not act with precipitation. The measure which he brought forward had previously received the approbation of some of the wisest and noblest men in the state; of his own father-in-law Appius Claudius; of P. Mucius Scævola, the great jurist, who was then Consul; and of Crassus, the Pontifex Maximus. It was proposed to re-enact the Licinian Law of B.C. 364—which had, in fact, never been repealed—but with some modifications and additions. As in the Licinian Law, no one was to be allowed to possess more than 500 jugera of public land; but, to relax the stringency of this rule, every possessor might hold in addition 250 jugera for each of his sons. All the rest of the public land was to be taken away from them and distributed among the poor citizens, who were not to be permitted to alienate these lots, in order that they might not be again absorbed into the estate of the wealthy. An indemnity was to be given from the public treasury for all buildings erected upon lands thus taken away. Three commissioners (Triumviri) were to be elected by the tribes in order to carry this law into execution.
The Law affected only Public Lands, but it was no less a revolutionary measure. It is true that no prescription can, as a general rule, be pleaded against the rights of the state, but the possessors of the public lands had enjoyed them without question for so long a period that they had come to regard these lands as their private property. In many cases, as we have already said, they had been acquired by bonâ fide purchase, and the claim of the state, now advocated by Gracchus, was regarded as downright robbery. Attacks upon property have produced the greatest convulsions in all states, and the Roman landowners were ready to have recourse to any measures to defeat the law. But the thousands who would be benefited by it were determined to support Tiberius at any risk. He told them that "the wild beasts of Italy had their dens, and holes, and hiding-places, while the men who fought and bled in defense of Italy wandered about with their wives and children without a spot of ground to rest upon." It was evident that the law would be carried, and the landowners therefore resorted to the only means left to them. They persuaded M. Octavius, one of the Tribunes, to put his veto upon the measure of his colleague. This was a fatal and unexpected obstacle. In vain did Tiberius implore Octavius to withdraw his veto. The contest between the Tribunes continued for many days. Tiberius retaliated by forbidding the magistrates to exercise any of their functions, and by suspending, in fact, the entire administration of the government. But Octavius remained firm, and Tiberius therefore determined to depose him from his office. He summoned an Assembly of the People and put the question to the vote. Seventeen out of the thirty-five tribes had already voted for the deposition of Octavius, and the addition of one tribe would reduce him to a private condition, when Tiberius stopped the voting, anxious, at the last moment, to prevent the necessity of so desperate a measure. Octavius, however, would not yield. "Complete what you have begun," was his only answer to the entreaties of his colleague. The eighteenth tribe voted, and Tiberius ordered him to be dragged from the rostra. Octavius had only exercised his undoubted rights, and his deposition was clearly a violation of the Roman constitution. This gave the enemies of Gracchus the handle which they needed. They could now justly charge him not only with revolutionary measures, but with employing revolutionary means to carry them into effect.
The Agrarian Law was passed without farther opposition, and the three commissioners elected to put it in force were Tiberius himself, his father-in-law Appius Claudius, and his brother Caius, then a youth of twenty, serving under P. Scipio at Numantia. About the same time news arrived of the death of Attalus Philometor, king of Pergamus, who had bequeathed his kingdom and treasures to the Republic. Tiberius therefore proposed that these treasures should be distributed among the people who had received assignments of lands, to enable them to stock their farms and to assist them in their cultivation. He even went so far as to threaten to deprive the Senate of the regulation of the new province, and to bring the subject before the Assembly of the People. The exasperation of the Nobility was intense. They tried every means to blacken the character of the Tribune, and even spread a report that he had received, a diadem and a purple robe from the envoy from Pergamus, and that he meditated making himself King of Rome. It was evident that his life would be no longer safe when he ceased to be protected by the sanctity of the Tribune's office. Accordingly, he became a candidate for the Tribunate for the following year. The Tribunes did not enter upon their office till December, but the election took place in June, at which time the country people, on whom he chiefly relied, were engaged in getting in the harvest. Still, two tribes had already voted in his favor, when the nobility interrupted the election by maintaining that it was illegal, since no man could be chosen Tribune for two consecutive years. After a violent debate the Assembly was adjourned till the following day. Tiberius now became alarmed lest his enemies should get the upper hand, and he went round the forum with his child, appealing to the sympathy of the people and imploring their aid. They readily responded to his appeal, escorted him home, and a large crowd kept watch around his house all night.
Next day the adjourned Assembly met on the Capitol in the open space in front of the Temple of Jupiter. The Senate also assembled in the Temple of Faith close by. Scipio Nasica, the leader of the more violent party in the Senate, called upon the Consul Mucius Scævola to stop the re-election, but the Consul declined to interfere. Fulvius Flaccus, a Senator, and a friend of Tiberius, hastened to inform him of the speech of Nasica, and told him that his death was resolved upon. Thereupon the friends of Tiberius prepared to resist force by force; and as those at a distance could not hear him, on account of the tumult and confusion, the Tribune pointed with his hand to his head, to intimate that his life was in danger. His enemies exclaimed that he was asking for the crown. The news reached the Senate. Nasica appealed to the Consul to save the Republic, but as Scævola still refused to have recourse to violence, Nasica sprung up and exclaimed, "The Consul is betraying the Republic! let those who wish to save the state follow me." He then rushed out of the Senate-house, followed by many of the Senators. The people made way for them; and they, breaking up the benches, armed themselves with sticks, and rushed upon Tiberius and his friends. The tribune fled to the Temple of Jupiter, but the door had been barred by the priests, and in his flight he fell over a prostrate body. As he was rising he received the first blow from one of his colleagues, and was quickly dispatched. Upward of 300 of his partisans were slain on the same day. Their bodies were thrown into the Tiber. This was the first blood shed at Rome in civil strife since the expulsion of the kings.
Notwithstanding their victory, the Nobles did not venture to propose the repeal of the Agrarian Law, and a new Commissioner was chosen in the place of Tiberius. The popular indignation was so strongly excited against Scipio Nasica that his friends advised him to withdraw from Italy, though he was Pontifex Maximus, and therefore ought not to have quitted the country. He died shortly afterward at Pergamus.
All eyes were now turned to Scipio Africanus, who returned to Rome in B.C. 132. When Scipio received at Numantia the news of the death of Tiberius, he is reported to have exclaimed in the verse of Homer[62]—
The people may have thought that the brother-in-law of Tiberius would show some sympathy with his reforms and some sorrow for his fate. They were, however, soon undeceived. Being asked in the Assembly of the Tribes by C. Papirius Carbo, the Tribune, who was now the leader of the popular party, what he thought of the death of Tiberius, he boldly replied that "he was justly slain." The people, who had probably expected a different answer, loudly expressed their disapprobation; whereupon Scipio, turning to the mob, bade them be silent, since Italy was only their step-mother.[63] The people did not forget this insult; but such was his influence and authority that the Nobility were able to defeat the bill of Carbo by which the Tribunes might be re-elected as often as the people pleased. Scipio was now regarded as the acknowledged leader of the Nobility, and the latter resolved to avail themselves of his powerful aid to prevent the Agrarian Law of Tiberius from being carried into effect. The Italians were alarmed at the prospect of losing some of their lands, and Scipio skillfully availed himself of the circumstance to propose in the Senate (B.C. 129) that all disputes respecting the lands of the Italians should be taken out of the hands of the Commissioners and transferred to the Consuls. This would have been equivalent to an abrogation of the law, and accordingly the three Commissioners offered the most vehement opposition to his proposal. In the forum he was attacked by Carbo, with the bitterest invectives, as the enemy of the people; and upon his again expressing his approval of the death of Tiberius, the people shouted out, "Down with the tyrant!" In the evening he went home accompanied by the Senate and a great number of the Italians. He retired to his sleeping-room with the intention of composing a speech for the following day. Next morning Rome was thrown into consternation by the news that Scipio was found dead in his room. The most contradictory rumors were circulated respecting his death, but it was the general opinion that he was murdered. Suspicion fell upon various persons, but Carbo was most generally believed to have been the murderer. There was no inquiry into the cause of his death (B.C. 129).
Scipio was only 56 at the time of his death. To the Republic his loss was irreparable. By his last act he had come forward as the patron of the Italians. Had he lived he might have incorporated them in the Roman state, and by forming a united Italy have saved Rome from many of the horrors and disasters which she afterward suffered.
The leaders of the popular party perceived the mistake they had made in alienating the Italians from their cause, and they now secured their adhesion by offering them the Roman citizenship if they would support the Agrarian Law. As Roman citizens they would, of course, be entitled to the benefits of the law, while they would, at the same time, obtain what they had so long desired—an equal share in political power. But the existing citizens, who saw that their own importance would be diminished by an increase in their numbers, viewed such a proposal with the utmost repugnance. So strong was their feeling that, when great numbers of the Italians had flocked to Rome in B.C. 126, the Tribune M. Junius Pennus carried a law that all aliens should quit the city. Caius Gracchus spoke against this law, and his friends still remained faithful to the cause of the Italians. In the following year (B.C. 125), M. Fulvius Flaccus, who was then Consul, brought forward a Reform Bill, granting the Roman citizenship to all the Italian allies. But it was evident that the Tribes would reject this law, and the Senate got rid of the proposer by sending him into Transalpine Gaul, where the Massilians had implored the assistance of Rome against the Salluvians. In the previous year Caius Gracchus had gone to Sardinia as Quæstor, so that the Senate had now removed from Rome two of their most troublesome opponents, and the Italians had lost their two most powerful patrons. Bitter was the disappointment of the Italians. Fregellæ, a town of Latium, and one of the eighteen Latin colonies which had remained faithful to Rome during the Second Punic War, took up arms, but its example was not followed, and it had to bear alone the brunt of the unequal contest. It was quickly reduced by the Prætor L. Opimius; the city was utterly destroyed; and the insurrection, which a slight success would have made universal, was thus nipped in its bud (B.C. 125).
Caius Gracchus had taken very little part in public affairs since his brother's death. He had spoken only twice in public: once in favor of the law of Carbo for the re-election of Tribunes, and a second time in opposition to the Alien Act of Junius Pennus, as already mentioned. But the eyes of the people were naturally turned toward him. His abilities were known, and the Senate dreaded his return to Rome. He had been already two years in Sardinia, and they now attempted to retain him there another year by sending fresh troops to the province, and by commanding the Proconsul to remain in the island. But Caius suddenly appeared at Rome, to the surprise of all parties (B.C. 124). His enemies brought him before the Censors to account for his conduct, but he defended himself so ably that not only was no stigma put upon him, but he was considered to have been very badly used. He showed that he had served in the army twelve years, though required to serve only ten; that he had acted as Quæstor two years, though the law demanded only one year's service; and he added that he was the only soldier who took out with him a full purse and brought it back empty.
Exasperated by the persecution of the Senate, Caius determined to become a candidate for the Tribuneship, and to reform the Roman constitution. He was elected for the year B.C. 123, and lost no time in bringing forward a number of important measures which are known as the Sempronian Laws. His legislation was directed to two objects: the amelioration of the condition of the poor, and the weakening of the power of the Senate. Caius was the greatest orator of all his contemporaries; the contagion of his eloquence was irresistible, and the enthusiasm of the people enabled him to carry every thing before him.
I. His principal laws for improving the condition of the people were:
1. The extension of the Agrarian Law of his brother by planting new colonies in Italy and the provinces.
2. A state provision for the poor, enacting that corn should be sold to every citizen at a price much below its market value. This was the first of the Leges Frumentariæ, which were attended with the most injurious effects. They emptied the treasury, at the same time that they taught the poor to become state paupers, instead of depending upon their own exertions for a living.
3. Another law enacted that the soldiers should be equipped at the expense of the Republic, without the cost being deducted from their pay, as had hitherto been the case.
II. The most important laws designed to diminish the power of the Senate were:
1. The law by which the Judices were to be taken only from the Equites, and not from the Senators, as had been the custom hitherto. This was a very important enactment, and needs a little explanation. All offenses against the state were originally tried in the Popular Assembly; but when special enactments were passed for the trial of particular offenses, the practice was introduced of forming a body of Judices for the trial of these offenses. This was first done upon the passing of the Calpurnian Law (B.C., 149) for the punishment of provincial magistrates for extortion in their government (De Repetendis). Such offenses had to be tried before the Prætor and a jury of Senators; but as these very Senators either had been or hoped to be provincial magistrates, they were not disposed to visit with severity offenses of which they themselves either had been or were likely to be guilty. By depriving the Senators of this judicial power, and by transferring it to the Equites, Gracchus also made the latter a political order in the state apart from their military character. The name of Equites was now applied to all persons who were qualified by their fortune to act as Judices, whether they served in the army or not. From this time is dated the creation of an Ordo Equestris, whose interests were frequently opposed to those of the Senate, and who therefore served as a check upon the latter.
2. Another law was directed against the arbitrary proceedings of the Senate in the distribution of the provinces. Hitherto the Senate had assigned the provinces to the Consuls after their election, and thus had had it in their power to grant wealthy governments to their partisans, or unprofitable ones to those opposed to them. It was now enacted that, before the election of the Consuls, the Senate should determine the two provinces which the Consuls should have; and that they should, immediately after election, settle between themselves, by lot or otherwise, which province each should take.
These laws raised the popularity of Caius still higher, and he became for a time the absolute ruler of Rome. He was re-elected Tribune for the following year (B.C. 122), though he did not offer himself as a candidate. M. Fulvius Flaccus, who had been Consul in B.C. 125, was also chosen as one of his colleagues. Flaccus, it will be recollected, had proposed in his consulship to give the Roman franchise to the Italian allies, and it was now determined to bring forward a similar measure. Caius therefore brought in a bill conferring the citizenship upon all the Latin colonies, and making the Italian allies occupy the position which the Latins had previously held. This wise measure was equally disliked in the forum and the Senate. Neither the influence nor the eloquence of Gracchus could induce the people to view with satisfaction the admission of the Italian allies to equal rights and privileges with themselves. The Senate, perceiving that the popularity of Gracchus had been somewhat shaken by this measure, employed his colleague, M. Living Drusus—who was noble, well-educated, wealthy, and eloquent—to undermine his influence with the people. With the sanction of the Senate, Drusus now endeavored to outbid Gracchus. He played the part of a demagogue in order to supplant the true friend of the people. He gave to the Senate the credit of every popular law which he proposed, and gradually impressed the people with the belief that the Nobles were their best friends. Gracchus proposed to found two colonies at Tarentum and Capua, and named among the founders some of the most respectable citizens. Drusus introduced a law for establishing no fewer than twelve colonies, and for settling 3000 poor citizens in each. Gracchus, in the distribution of the public land, reserved a rent payable to the public treasury. Drusus abolished even this payment. He also gained the confidence of the people by asking no favor for himself; he took no part in the foundation of colonies, and left to others the management of business in which any money had to be expended. Gracchus, on the other hand, superintended every thing in person; and the people, always jealous in pecuniary matters, began to suspect his motives. During his absence in Africa, whither he had gone as one of the three Commissioners for founding a colony upon the ruins of Carthage, Drusus was able to weaken his popularity still farther. On his return he endeavored in vain to reorganize his party and recover his power. Both he and Flaccus failed in being re-elected Tribunes; while L. Opimius and Q. Fabius, two personal enemies of Gracchus, were raised to the Consulship. The two new Consuls had no sooner entered upon office (B.C. 121) than they resolved to drive matters to extremities. One of the first measures of Opimius was a proposal to repeal the law for colonizing Carthage, because it had been established upon the site which Scipio had cursed. It was evident that a pretext was only sought for taking the life of Gracchus, and Flaccus urged him to repel violence by force. Caius shrunk from this step, but an accident gave his enemies the pretext which they longed for. The tribes had assembled at the Capitol to decide upon the colony at Carthage, when a servant of the Consul Opimius, pushing against Gracchus, insolently cried out, "Make way for honest men, you rascals." Gracchus turned round to him with an angry look, and the man was immediately stabbed by an unknown hand. The assembly immediately broke up, and Gracchus returned home, foreseeing the advantage which this unfortunate occurrence would give to his enemies. The Senate declared Gracchus and Flaccus public enemies, and invested the Consuls with dictatorial powers. During the night Opimius took possession of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, which overlooked the forum; summoned a meeting of the Senate for the following morning, and ordered all the partisans of the Senate to be present, each with two armed slaves. Flaccus seized the Temple of Diana on the Aventine, and distributed arms to his followers: here he was joined by Gracchus. Civil war was thus declared. After some fruitless attempts at negotiation, the Consul proceeded to attack the Aventine. Little or no resistance was made, and Flaccus and Gracchus took to flight, and crossed the Tiber by the Sublician bridge. Gracchus escaped to the Grove of the Furies, accompanied only by a single slave. When the pursuers reached the spot they found both of them dead. The slave had first killed his master and then himself. The head of Gracchus was cut off, and carried to Opimius, who gave to the person who brought it its weight in gold. Flaccus was also put to death, together with numbers of his party. Their corpses were thrown into the Tiber, their houses demolished, and their property confiscated. Even their widows were forbidden to wear mourning. After the bloody work had been finished, the Consul, by order of the Senate, dedicated a temple to Concord!
At a later time statues of the two Gracchi were set up in public places, and the spots on which they fell were declared holy ground; but for the present no one dared to show any sympathy for their fate. Their mother Cornelia retired to Misenum, where she was visited by the most distinguished men. She loved to recount to her guests the story of her noble sons, and narrated their death without showing sorrow or shedding tears, as if she had been speaking of heroes of the olden time.
The murder of C. Gracchus and his adherents left the Nobility undisputed masters of the state, till their scandalous conduct in the Jugurthan War provoked a reaction against them, and raised to power a more terrible opponent than the Gracchi had ever been. This man, who took such signal vengeance upon the Nobility, was the lowborn MARIUS. He was a native of Arpinum, and was said to have worked for wages as a common peasant before he entered the ranks of the army. He first served in Spain, and was present at the siege of Numantia in B.C. 134. Here he distinguished himself so much that he attracted the notice of Scipio Africanus, and received from him many marks of honor. Scipio indeed admitted him to his table; and on a certain occasion, when one of the guests asked Scipio where the Roman people would find such another general after his death, he is said to have laid his hand on the shoulder of Marius, and said, "Perhaps here." The name of Marius does not occur again for many years, but he doubtless continued to serve in the army, and became so distinguished that he was at length raised to the Tribunate of the Plebs in B.C. 119, though not till he had attained the mature age of 38. Only two years had elapsed since the death of C. Gracchus; and the Nobles, flushed with victory, resolved to put down with a high hand the least invasion of their privileges and power. But Marius had the boldness to propose a law for the purpose of giving greater freedom at elections; and when the Senate attempted to overawe him, he ordered one of his officers to carry the Consul Metellus to prison. Marius now became a marked man. He lost his election to the Ædileship, and with difficulty obtained the Prætorship (B.C. 115); but he added to his influence by his marriage with Julia, the sister of C. Julius Cæsar, the father of the future ruler of Rome. His military abilities recommended him to the Consul Metellus (B.C. 100), who was anxious to restore discipline in the army and to retrieve the glory of the Roman name, which had been tarnished by the incapacity and corruption of the previous generals in the Jugurthan War, which now requires our attention.
Masinissa, the ruler of Numidia, and so long the faithful ally of the Romans, had died in B.C. 149, at the advanced age of 90, leaving three sons, Micipsa, Mastanabal, and Gulussa, among whom his kingdom was divided by Scipio Africanus, according to the dying directions of the old king. Mastanabal and Gulussa dying in their brother's lifetime, Micipsa became sole king. Jugurtha was a bastard son of Mastanabal; but Micipsa brought him up with his own sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal. Jugurtha distinguished himself so much that he began to excite the jealousy of Micipsa. In order to remove him to a distance, and not without a hope that he might perish in the war, Micipsa sent him, in B.C. 134, with an auxiliary force, to assist Scipio against Numantia; but this only proved to the young man a fresh occasion of distinction. By his zeal, courage, and ability he gained the favor not only of his commander, but of all the leading nobles in the Roman camp, by many of whom he was secretly stimulated to nourish ambitious schemes for acquiring the sole sovereignty of Numidia; and notwithstanding the contrary advice of Scipio, the counsels seem to have sunk deep into the mind of Jugurtha. On his return he was received with every demonstration of honor by Micipsa; nor did he allow his ambitious projects to break forth during the lifetime of the old man. Micipsa, on his death-bed, though but too clearly foreseeing what would happen, commended the two young princes to the care of Jugurtha; but at the very first interview which took place between them after his decease (B.C. 118) their dissensions broke out with the utmost fierceness. Shortly afterward Jugurtha found an opportunity to surprise and assassinate Hiempsal; whereupon Adherbal and his partisans rushed to arms, but were defeated in battle by Jugurtha. Adherbal himself fled for refuge to the Roman province, from whence he hastened to Rome to lay his cause before the Senate. Jugurtha had now the opportunity, for the first time, of putting to the test that which he had learnt in the camp before Numantia of the venality and corruption of the Roman nobility. He sent embassadors to Rome to counteract, by a lavish distribution of bribes, the effect of the just complaints of Adherbal, and by these means succeeded in averting the indignation of the Senate. A decree was, however, passed for the division of the kingdom of Numidia between the two competitors, and a committee of Senators sent to enforce its execution; but as soon as these arrived in Africa, Jugurtha succeeded in gaining them over by the same unscrupulous methods, and obtained, in the partition of the kingdom, the western division adjacent to Mauritania, by far the larger and richer portion of the two (B.C. 117). But this advantage was far from contenting him, and shortly afterward he invaded the territories of his rival with a large army. Adherbal was defeated in the first engagement, his camp taken, and he himself with difficulty made his escape to the strong fortress of Cirta. Here he was closely blockaded by Jugurtha. The garrison surrendered on a promise of their lives being spared; but these conditions were shamefully violated by Jugurtha, who immediately put to death Adherbal and all his followers (B.C. 112).
Indignation was now loud at Rome against the Numidian king; yet so powerful was the influence of those whose favor he had gained by his gold, that he would probably have prevailed upon the Senate to overlook all his misdeeds, had not one of the Tribunes, C. Memmius, by bringing the matter before the people, compelled the Senators to give way. War was accordingly declared against him, and one of the Consuls, L. Calpurnius Bestia, landed in Africa with a large army, and immediately proceeded to invade Numidia (B.C. 111). But Jugurtha easily bribed Bestia and M. Scaurus, who acted as his principal lieutenant, to grant him a favorable peace, on condition only of a pretended submission, together with the surrender of thirty elephants and a small sum of money. As soon as the tidings of this disgraceful transaction reached Rome, the indignation excited was so great that, on the proposition of C. Memmius, it was agreed to send the Prætor L. Cassius, a man of the highest integrity, to Numidia, in order to prevail on the king to repair in person to Rome, the popular party hoping to be able to convict the leaders of the Nobility by means of his evidence. The safe-conduct granted him by the state was religiously observed; but the scheme failed of its effect, for, as soon as Jugurtha was brought forward in the assembly of the people to make his statement, one of the Tribunes, who had been previously gained over by the friends of Scaurus and Bestia, forbade him to speak. He nevertheless remained at Rome for some time longer, and engaged in secret intrigues, which would probably have been ultimately crowned with success had he not in the mean time ventured to assassinate Massiva, son of Gulussa, who was putting in a claim to the Numidian throne. It was impossible to overlook so daring a crime, perpetrated under the very eyes of the Senate. Jugurtha was ordered to quit Italy without delay. It was on this occasion that he is said, when leaving Rome, to have uttered the memorable words, "A city for sale, and destined to perish quickly, if it can find a purchaser."
War was now inevitable; but the incapacity of Sp. Postumius Albinus, who arrived to conduct it (B.C. 110), and still more that of his brother Aulus, whom he left to command in his absence, when called away to hold the elections at Rome, proved as favorable to Jugurtha as the corruption of their predecessors. Aulus, having penetrated into the heart of Numidia, suffered himself to be surprised in his camp; great part of his army was cut to pieces, and the rest only escaped a similar fate by the ignominy of passing under the yoke. But Jugurtha had little reason to rejoice in this success, great as it might at first appear; for the disgrace at once roused all the spirit of the Roman people; the treaty concluded by Aulus was instantly annulled, immense exertions made to raise troops, and one of the Consuls for the new year (B.C. 109), Q. Cæcilius Metellus, hastened to Numidia to retrieve the honor of the Roman arms. But this did not satisfy the people. The scandalous conduct of so many of the Nobles had given fresh life to the popular party; and the Tribune C. Mamilius carried a bill for the appointment of three Commissioners to inquire into the conduct of all of those who had received bribes from Jugurtha. Scaurus, though one of the most guilty, managed to be put upon the Commission. But he dared not shield his confederates. Many men of the highest rank were condemned, among whom were Bestia, Albinus, and Opimius. The last named was the Opimius who acted with such ferocity toward Caius Gracchus and his party. He died in exile at Dyrrhachium some years afterward, in great poverty.
The Consul Metellus, who was an able general and a man of the strictest integrity, landed in Africa, with Marius as his lieutenant, in B.C. 109. As soon as Jugurtha discovered the character of the new commander he began to despair of success, and made overtures for submission in earnest. These were apparently entertained by Metellus, while he sought in fact to gain over the adherents of the king, and induce them to betray him to the Romans, at the same time that he continued to advance into the enemy's territories. Jugurtha, in his turn, detected his designs, attacked him suddenly on his march with a numerous force, but was, after a severe struggle, repulsed, and his army totally routed. Metellus ravaged the greater part of the country, but failed in taking the important town of Zama before he withdrew into winter quarters. But he had produced such an effect upon the Numidian king, that Jugurtha was induced, in the course of the winter, to make offers of unqualified submission, and even surrendered all his elephants, with a number of arms and horses, and a large sum of money, to the Roman general; but when called upon to place himself personally in the power of Metellus, his courage failed him, he broke off the negotiation, and once more had recourse to arms. Marius had greatly distinguished himself in the preceding campaign. The readiness with which he shared the toils of the common soldiers, eating of the same food, and working at the same trenches with them, had endeared him to them, and through their letters to their friends at Rome his praises were in everybody's mouth. His increasing reputation and popularity induced him to aspire to the Consulship. His hopes were increased by a circumstance which happened to him at Utica. While sacrificing at this place the officiating priest told him that the victims predicted some great and wonderful events, and bade him execute whatever purpose he had in his mind. Marius thereupon applied to Metellus for leave of absence, that he might proceed to Rome and offer himself as a candidate. The Consul, who belonged to a family of the highest nobility, at first tried to dissuade Marius from his presumptuous attempt, by pointing out the certainty of failure; and when he could not prevail upon him to abandon his design, he civilly evaded his request by pleading the exigencies of the public service, which required his presence and assistance. But, as Marius still continued to press him for leave of absence, Metellus said to him on one occasion, "You need not be in such a hurry to go to Rome; it will be quite time enough for you to apply for the Consulship along with my son." The latter, who was then serving with the army, was a youth of only twenty years of age, and could not, therefore, become a candidate for the Consulship for the next twenty years. This insult was never forgotten by Marius. He now began to intrigue against his general, and to represent that the war was purposely prolonged by Metellus to gratify his own vanity and love of military power. He openly declared that with one half of the army he would soon have Jugurtha in chains; and as all his remarks were carefully reported at Rome, the people began to regard him as the only person competent to finish the war. Metellus at last allowed him to leave Africa, but only twelve days before the election. Meeting with a favorable wind, he arrived at Rome in time, and was elected Consul with an enthusiasm which bore down all opposition. He received from the people the province of Numidia, although the Senate had previously decreed that Metellus should continue in his command. The exultation of Marius knew no bounds. In his speeches to the public, he gloried in his humble origin. He upbraided the Nobles with their effeminacy and licentiousness; he told them that he looked upon the Consulship as a trophy of his conquest over them; and he proudly compared his own wounds and military experience with their indolence and ignorance of war. It was a great triumph for the people and a great humiliation for the aristocracy, and Marius made them drink to the dregs the bitter cup. While engaged in these attacks upon the Nobility, he at the same time carried on a levy of troops with great activity, and enrolled any persons who chose to offer for the service, however poor and mean, instead of taking them from the five classes according to ancient custom.[64]
Meantime Metellus had been carrying on the war in Africa as Proconsul (B.C. 108). But the campaign was not productive of such decisive results as might have been expected. Jugurtha avoided any general action, and eluded the pursuit of Metellus by the rapidity of his movements. Even when driven from Thala, a strong-hold which he had deemed inaccessible from its position in the midst of arid deserts, he only retired among the Gætulians, and quickly succeeded in raising among those wild tribes a fresh army, with which he once more penetrated into the heart of Numidia. A still more important accession was that of Bocchus, king of Mauritania, who had been prevailed upon to raise an army, and advance to the support of Jugurtha. Metellus, however, having now relaxed his own efforts, from disgust at hearing that C. Marius had been appointed to succeed him in the command, remained on the defensive, while he sought to amuse the Moorish king by negotiation. The arrival of Marius (B.C. 107) infused fresh vigor into the Roman arms. He quickly reduced in succession almost all the strong-holds that still remained to Jugurtha, in some of which the king had deposited his principal treasures; and the latter, seeing himself thus deprived step by step of all his dominions, at length determined on a desperate attempt to retrieve his fortunes by one grand effort. He with difficulty prevailed on the wavering Bocchus, by the most extensive promises in case of success, to co-operate with him in this enterprise; and the two kings, with their united forces, attacked Marius on his march, when he was about to retire into winter quarters. Though the Roman general was taken by surprise for a moment, his consummate skill and the discipline of his troops proved again triumphant; the Numidians were repulsed, and their army, as usual with them in case of a defeat, dispersed in all directions. Jugurtha himself, after displaying the greatest courage in the action, cut his way almost alone through a body of Roman cavalry, and escaped from the field of battle. He quickly again gathered round him a body of Numidian horse; but his only hope of continuing the war now rested on Bocchus. The latter was for some time uncertain what course to adopt, but was at length gained over by Sulla, the Quæstor of Marius, to the Roman cause, and joined in a plan for seizing the person of the Numidian king. Jugurtha fell into the snare; he was induced, under pretense of a conference, to repair with only a few followers to meet Bocchus, when he was instantly surrounded, his attendants cut to pieces, and he himself made prisoner, and delivered in chains to Sulla, by whom he was conveyed directly to the camp of Marius. This occurred early in the year B.C. 106.
L. Cornelius Sulla, the Quæstor of Marius, who afterward plays such a distinguished part in Roman history, was descended from a Patrician family which had been reduced to great obscurity. But his means were sufficient to secure him a good education. He studied the Greek and Roman writers with diligence and success, and early imbibed that love of literature and art by which he was distinguished throughout his life. But he was also fond of pleasure, and was conspicuous even among the Romans for licentiousness and debauchery. He was in every respect a contrast to Marius. He possessed all the accomplishments and all the vices which the old Cato had been most accustomed to denounce, and he was one of those advocates of Greek literature and of Greek profligacy who had since Cato's time become more and more common among the Roman Nobles. But Sulla's love of pleasure did not absorb all his time, nor enfeeble his mind; for no Roman during the latter days of the Republic, with the exception of Julius Cæsar, had a clearer judgment, a keener discrimination of character, or a firmer will. Upon his arrival in Africa, Marius was not well pleased that a Quæstor had been assigned to him who was only known for his profligacy, and who had had no experience in war; but the zeal and energy with which Sulla attended to his new duties soon rendered him a useful and skillful officer, and gained for him the unqualified approbation of his commander, notwithstanding his previous prejudices against him. He was equally successful in winning the affections of the soldiers. He always addressed them with the greatest kindness, seized every opportunity of conferring favors upon them, was ever ready to take part in all the jests of the camp, and at the same time never shrank from sharing in all their labors and dangers. It is a curious circumstance that Marius gave to his future enemy and the destroyer of his family and party the first opportunity of distinguishing himself. The enemies of Marius claimed for Sulla the glory of the betrayal of Jugurtha, and Sulla himself took the credit of it by always wearing a signet ring representing the scene of the surrender.
Marius continued more than a year in Africa after the capture of Jugurtha. He entered Rome on the first of January, B.C. 104, leading Jugurtha in triumph. The Numidian king was then thrown into a dungeon, and there starved to death. Marius, during his absence, had been elected Consul a second time, and he entered upon his office on the day of his triumph. The reason of this unprecedented honor will be related in the following chapter.