No More Learning

They embraced the political equalization of the new burgesses and the freedmen, as Sulpicius had proposed
and the restitution of those who had been banished in consequence of the Sulpician revolution to their former status. The new burgesses flocked en marr: to the capital, that along with the freedmen they might terrify, and in case of need force, their opponents into compliance. But the government party was determined not to yield consul stood against consul, Gnaeus Octavius against Lucius Cinna,
,
it,
l
can. rx CINNA AND SULLA
59
and tribune against tribune; both sides appeared in great
part armed on the day and at the place of voting. The
tribunes of the senatorial party interposed their veto ; when
swords were drawn against them even on the rostra, Octavius
employed force against force. His compact bands of armed Victory 0! men not only cleared the Via Sacra and the Forum, but gzxfifm'" also, disregarding the commands of their more gentle-minded
leader, exercised horrible atrocities against the assembled multitude. The Forum swam with blood on this “ Octavius’ day,” as it never did before or afterwards—the number of corpses was estimated at ten thousand. Cinna called on the slaves to purchase freedom for themselves by sharing in the struggle ; but his appeal was as unsuccessful as the like appeal of Marius in the previous year, and no course was left to the leaders of the movement but to take flight. The constitution supplied no means of proceeding farther against the chiefs of the conspiracy, so long as their year of oflice lasted. But a prophet presumably more loyal than pious had announced that the banishment of the consul Cinna and of the six tribunes of the people adhering to him would restore peace and tranquillity to the country; and, in con formity not with the constitution but with this counsel of the gods fortunately laid hold of by the custodiers of oracles, the consul Cinna was by decree of the senate deprived of his oflice, Lucius Cornelius Merula was chosen in his stead, and outlawry was pronounced against the chiefs who had fled. It seemed as if the whole crisis were about to end in a few additions to the number of the men who were exiles in Numidia.
Beyond doubt nothing further would have come of the movement, had not the senate on the one hand with its usual remissness omitted to compel the fugitives at least rapidly to quit Italy, and had the latter on the other hand been, as champions of the emancipation of the new bur gesses, in a position to renew to some extent in their own
The
1,, MIL
Lending of Marius.
6o CINNA AND SULLA BOOK 1'
favour the revolt of the Italians. Without obstruction they appeared in Tibur, in Praeneste, in all the important com munities of new burgesses in Latium and Campania, and asked and obtained everywhere money and men for the furtherance of the common cause. Thus supported, they made their appearance at the army besieging Nola. The armies of this period were democratic and revolutionary in their views, wherever the general did not attach them to himself by the weight of his personal influence; the speeches of the fugitive magistrates, some of whom, especially Cinna and Sertorius, were favourably remem bered by the soldiers in connection with the last campaigns, made a deep impression; the unconstitutional deposition of the popular consul and the interference of the senate with the rights of the sovereign people told on the common soldier, and the gold of the consul or rather of the new burgesses made the breach of the constitution clear to the oflicers. The Campanian army recognized Cinna as consul and swore the oath of fidelity to him man by man ; it be came a nucleus for the bands that flocked in from the new burgesses and even from the allied communities; a con
siderable army, though consisting mostly of recruits, soon moved from Campania towards the capital. Other bands approached it from the north. On the invitation of Cinna those who had been banished in the previous year had landed at Telamon on the Etruscan coast. There were not more than some 500 armed men, for the most part slaves of the refugees and enlisted Numidian horsemen; but, as Gaius Marius had in the previous year been willing to fraternize with the rabble of the capital, so he now ordered the ergartula in which the landholders of this region shut up their field-labourers during the night to be broken open, and the arms which he offered to these for the purpose of achieving their freedom were not despised. Reinforced by these men and the contingents of the new
can. I: CINNA AND SULLA 61
burgesses, as well as by the exiles who flocked to him with their partisans from all sides, he soon numbered 6000 men under his eagles and was able to man forty ships, which took their station before the mouth of the Tiber and gave chase to the com-ships sailing towards Rome. With these he placed himself at the disposal of the “consul” Cinna. The leaders of the Campanian army hesitated; the more sagacious, Sertorius in particular, seriously pointed out the danger of too closely connecting themselves with a man whose name would necessarily place him at the head of the movement, and who yet was notoriously incapable of any
statesmanlike action and haunted by an insane thirst for revenge; but Cinna disregarded these scruples, and con firmed Marius in the supreme command in Etruria and at sea with proconsular powers.
Thus the storm gathered around the capital, and the government could no longer delay bringing forward their troops to protect it. 1 But the forces of Metellus were detained by the Italians in Samnium and before Nola; Strabo alone was in a position to hasten to the help of the capital. He appeared and pitched his camp at the Colline gate: with his numerous and experienced army he might doubtless have rapidly and totally annihilated the still weak bands of insurgents; but this seemed to be no part of his design. On the contrary he allowed Rome to be actually invested by the insurgents. Cinna with his corps and that
Dubious attitude of Strabo.
of Carbo took post on the
to the Janiculum, Sertorius on the left bank confronting Pompeius over against the Servian wall. Marius with his band which had gradually increased to three legions, and in possession of a number of war-vessels, occupied one
l The whole of the representation that follows is based in substance on the recently discovered account of Licinianus, which communicates a number of facts previously unknown, and in particular enables us to per eeive the sequence and connection of thee events more clearly than was possible before.
The Cinnanl around
right
bank of the Tiber
opposite Rome.
Negotia tions of parties with the Italian.
63 CINNA AND SULLA 800K IV
place on the coast after another till at length even Ostia fell into his hands through treachery, and, by way of pre lude as it were to the approaching reign of terror, was abandoned by the general to the savage band for massacre and pillage. The capital was placed, even by the mere obstruction of traflic, in great danger; by command of the senate the walls and gates were put in a state of defence and the burgess-levy was ordered to the Janiculum. The inaction of Strabo excited among all classes alike surprise and indignation. The suspicion that he was negotiating secretly with Cinna was natural, but was probably without foundation. A serious conflict in which he engaged the band of Sertorius, and the support which he gave to the consul Octavius when Marius had by an understanding with one of the officers of the garrison penetrated into the Ianiculum, and by which in fact the insurgents were successfully beaten off again with much loss, showed that he was far from intending to unite with, or rather to place himself under, the leaders of the insurgents. It seems rather to have been his design to sell his assistance in sub— duing the insurrection to the alarmed government and citizens of the capital at the price of the consulship for the next year, and thereby to get the reins of government into his own hands.
The senate was not, however, inclined to throw itself into the arms of one usurper in order to escape from another, and sought help elsewhere. The franchise was by decree of the senate supplementarily conferred on all the Italian communities involved in the Social war, which had laid down their arms and had in consequence thereof forfeited their old alliance. 1 It seemed as it were their
1 iii. 527. That there was no confirmation by the comitia, is clear from Cic. Phil. xii. 11, 27. The senate seems to have made use of the form of simply prolonging the term of the Plautio-Papirian law (iii. 517), a course which by use and wont 409) was open to and practically amounted to conferring the franchise on all Italians.
(i.
it
can. or CINNA AND SULLA
63
intention oflicially to demonstrate that Rome in the war against the Italians had staked her existence for the sake not of a great object but of her own vanity: in the first momentary embarrassment, for the purpose of bringing into the field an additional thousand or two of soldiers, she sacrificed everything which had been gained at so terribly dear a cost in the Social war. In fact, troops arrived
from the communities who were benefited by this con cession ; but instead of the many legions promised, their contingent on the whole amounted to not more than, at most, ten thousand men. It would have been of more moment that an agreement should be come to with the Samnites and Nolans, so that the troops of the thoroughly trustworthy Metellus might be employed for the protection of the capital. But the Samnites made demands which recalled the yoke of Caudium—restitution of the spoil taken from the Samnites and of their prisoners and de serters, renunciation of the booty wrested by the Samnites from the Romans, the bestowal of the franchise on the Samnites themselves as well as on the Romans who had passed over to them. The senate rejected even in this emergency terms of peace so disgraceful, but instructed Metellus to leave behind a small division and to lead in person all the troops that could at all be dispensed with in southern Italy as quickly as possible to Rome. He obeyed. But the consequence was, that the Samnites attacked and defeated Plautius the legate left behind by Metellus and his weak band; that the garrison of Nola marched out and set on fire the neighbouring town of Abella in alliance with Rome; that Cinna and Marius, moreover, granted to the Samnites everything they asked —what mattered Roman honour to them ! —and a Samnite contingent reinforced the ranks of the insurgents. It was a severe loss also, when after a combat unfavourable to the troops of the government Ariminum was occupied by the
Death of Strabo.
Vacillation of the govern ment.
insurgents and thus the important communication between Rome and the valley of the Po, whence men and supplies were expected, was interrupted. Scarcity and famine set in. The large populous city numerously garrisoned with troops was but inadequately supplied with provisions; and Marius in particular took care to cut off its supplies more and more. He had already blocked up the Tiber by a bridge of ships ; now by the capture of Antium, Lanuvium, Aricia, and other townships he gained control over the means of land communication still open, and at the same time appeased temporarily his revenge by causing all the citizens, wherever resistance was offered, to be put to the sword with the exception of those who had possibly be trayed to him the town. Contagious diseases followed on the distress and committed dreadful ravages among the masses of soldiers densely crowded round the capital; of Strabo’s veteran army 1 1,000, and of the troops of Octavius 6000 are said to have fallen victims to them. Yet the government did not despair; and the sudden death of Strabo was a fortunate event for He died of the pestilence the masses, exasperated on many grounds against him, tore his corpse from the bier and dragged through the streets. The remnant of his troops was in corporated the consul Octavius with his army.
After the arrival of Metellus and the decease of Strabo the army of the government was again at least match for its antagonists, and was able to array itself for battle against the insurgents at the Alban Mount. But the minds of the soldiers of the government were deeply agitated when Cinna appeared in front of them, they received him with acclama tion as he were still their general and consul; Metellus
"Aqflatur . n'dere," as Livy (according to Obsequensv 56) expresses means "seized by the pestilence" (Patron. Sat. 2; Plin. H. N. ii. 41, 108; Liv. viii. 9, m), not "struck by lightning," as later writers
have misunderstood it.
64
CINNA AN D SULLA BOOK IV
it,
1
if
;
a
;1 by
it
it.
CHAP- 1x CINNA AND SULLA
65
deemed it advisable not to allow the battle to come on, but to lead back the troops to their camp. The Optimates themselves wavered, and fell at variance with each other. While one party, with the honourable but stubborn and shortsighted consul Octavius at their head, perseveringly opposed all concession, Metellus more experienced in war and more judicious attempted to bring about a compromise ; but his conference with Cinna excited the wrath of the extreme men on both sides : Cinna was called by Marius a weakling, Metellus was called by Octavius a traitor. The soldiers, unsettled otherwise and not without cause distrust ing the leadership of the untried Octavius, suggested to Metellus that he should assume the chief command, and, when he refused, began in crowds to throw away their arms or even to desert to the enemy. The temper of the bur gesses became daily more depressed and troublesome. On the proclamation of the heralds of Cinna guaranteeing
freedom to the slaves who should desert, these flocked in
troops from the capital to the enemy’s camp. But the proposal that the senate should guarantee freedom to the slaves willing to enter the army was decidedly resisted by Octavius. The government could not conceal from itself that it was defeated, and that nothing remained but to come to terms if possible with the leaders of the band, as the overpowered traveller comes to terms with the captain of banditti. Envoys went to Cinna ; but, while they foolishly made difliculties as to recognizing him as consul, and Cinna in the interval thus prolonged transferred his camp close to the city-gates, the desertion spread to so great an extent that it was no longer possible to settle any terms. The senate submitted itself unconditionally to the outlawed consul, adding only a request that he would refrain from bloodshed, Cinna promised this, but refused to ratify his promise by an oath; Marius, who kept by his side during the negotiations, maintained a sullen silence.
Reine caplmhm
voL. IV
I05
reign of tu'ror.
66 CINNA AND SULLA Book IV
The gates of the capital were opened. The consul marched in with his legions ; but Marius, scoflingly recalling the law of outlawry, refused to set foot in the city until the law allowed him to do so, and the burgesses hastily assembled in the Forum to pass the annulling decree. He then entered, and with him the reign of terror. It was deter mined not to select individual victims, but to have all the notable men of the Optimate party put to death and to confiscate their property. The gates were closed; for five days and five nights the slaughter continued without inter ruption ; even afterwards the execution of individuals who had escaped or been overlooked was of daily occurrence, and for months the bloody persecution went on throughout Italy. The consul Gnaeus Octavius was the first victim. True to his often-expressed principle, that he would rather suffer death than make the smallest concession to men acting illegally, he refused even now to take flight, and in his consular robes awaited at the Janiculum the assassin, who was not slow to appear. Among the slain were Lucius
90. Caesar (consul in 664) the celebrated victor of Acerrae (iii. 51 1); his brother Gaius, whose unseasonable ambition had provoked the Sulpician tumult (iii. 5 32), well known as an orator and poet and as an amiable companion; Marcus Antonius (consul in 655), after the death of Lucius Crassus beyond dispute the first pleader of his time ; Publius Crassus
97. (consul in 657) who had commanded with distinction in the Spanish and in the Social wars and also during the siege of Rome; and a multitude of the most considerable men of the government party, among whom the wealthy were traced out with especial zeal by the greedy executioners. Peculiarly sad seemed the death of Lucius Merula, who very much against his own wish had become Cinna’s successor, and who now, when criminally impeached on that account and cited before the comitia, in order to anticipate the inevitable condemnation opened his veins, and at the altar
can. 1! CINNA AND SULLA
67
of the Supreme Jupiter whose priest he was, after laying aside the priestly headband as the religious duty of the dying Flamen required, breathed his last; and still more
the death of Quintus Catulus (consul in 652), once in better 102. days the associate of the most glorious victory and triumph
of that same Marius who now had no other answer for the suppliant relatives of his aged colleague than the mono syllabic order, “he must die. ”
The originator of all these outrages was Gaius Marius. The last
He designated the victims and the executioners—only in exceptional cases, as in those of Merula and Catulus, was any form of law observed; not unfrequently a glance or the silence with which he received those who saluted him formed the sentence of death, which was always executed at once. His revenge was not satisfied even with the death of his victim; he forbade the burial of the dead bodies: he gave
orders—anticipated, it is true, in this respect by Sulla—that the heads of the senators slain should be fixed to the rostra in the Forum ; he ordered particular corpses to be dragged through the Forum, and that of Gaius Caesar to be stabbed afresh at the tomb of Quintus Varius, whom Caesar presum
ably had once impeached (iii. 516); he publicly embraced the man who delivered to him as he sat at table the head of Antonius, whom he had been with difliculty restrained from seeking out in his hiding-place, and slaying with‘ his own hand. His legions of slaves, and in particular a division of Ardyaeans (iii. 427), chiefly served as his executioners, and
did not neglect, amidst these Saturnalia of their new freedom, to plunder the houses of their former masters and to dis honour and murder all whom they met with there. His own associates were in despair at this insane fury ; Sertorius adjured the consul to put a stop to it at any price, and even Cinna was alarmed. But in times such as these were, mad ness itself becomes a power; man hurls himself into the abyss, to save himself from giddiness. It was not easy to
days of
58 CINNA AND SULLA BOOK rv
restrain the furious old man and his band, and least of all had Cinna the courage to do so ; on the contrary, he chose Marius as his colleague in the consulship for the next year. The reign of terror alarmed the more moderate of the victors not much less than the defeated party ; the capitalists alone were not displeased to see that another hand lent itself to the work of thoroughly humbling for once the
haughty oligarchs, and that at the same time, in consequence of the extensive confiscations and auctions, the best part of the spoil came to themselves—in these times of terror they
acquired from the people the surname of the “h0arders. " Fate had thus granted to the author of this reign of terror, the old Gaius Marius, his two chief wishes. He had
taken vengeance on the whole genteel pack that had em bittered his victories and envenomed his defeats; he had been enabled to retaliate for every sarcasm by a stroke of the dagger. Moreover he entered on the new year once more as consul; the vision of a seventh consulate, which the oracle had promised him, and which he had sought for thirteen years to grasp, had now been realized. The gods had granted to him what he wished ; but now too, as in the old legendary period, they practised the fatal irony of destroying man by the fulfilment of his wishes. In his early
consulates the pride, in his sixth the laughing-stock, of his fellow-citizens, he was now in his seventh loaded with the execration of all parties, with the hatred of the whole nation ; he, the originally upright, capable, gallant man, was branded as the crackbrained chief of a reckless band of robbers. He himself seemed to feel His days were passed as in delirium, and by night his couch denied him rest, so that be grasped the wine-cup in order merely to drown thought. A burning fever seized him after being stretched for seven days on a sick bed, in the wild fancies of which he was fighting on the fields of Asia Minor the battles of which the laurels were destined for Sulla, he expired on the 13th Jan.
;
it.
CHAP. Ix CINNA AND SULLA
69
668. He died, more than seventy years old, in full Death [86. possession of what he called power and honour, and in his °r Mums‘ bed ; but Nemesis assumes various shapes, and does not
always expiate blood with blood. Was there no sort of retaliation in the fact, that Rome and Italy now breathed
more freely on the news of the death of the famous saviour of the people than at the tidings of the battle on the
Raudine plain?
Even after his death individual incidents no doubt
occurred, which recalled that time of terror; Gaius Fimbria, for instance, who more than any other during the Marian butcheries had dipped his hand in blood, made an attempt at the very funeral of Marius to kill the universally revered
pontzfex maxr'mur Quintus Scaevola (consul in 659) who had been spared even by Marius, and then, when Scaevola recovered from the wound he had received, indicted him criminally on account of the offence, as Fimbria jestingly expressed of having not been willing to let himself be murdered. But the orgies of murder at any rate were over. Sertorius called together the Marian bandits, under pretext of giving them their pay, surrounded them with his trusty Celtic troops, and caused them to be cut down an mass-e to
the number, according to the lowest estimate, of 4000. Along with the reign of terror came the tyranm's. Cinna not only stood at the head of the state for four years in
succession (667-670) as consul, but he regularly nominated himself and his colleagues without consulting the people; seemed as these democrats set aside the sovereign popular assembly with intentional contempt. No other chief of the popular party, before or afterwards, possessed so perfectly absolute power in Italy and in the greater
part of the provinces for so long time almost undisturbed, as Cinna; but no one can be named, whose government was so utterly worthless and aimless. The law proposed by Sulpicius and thereafter Cinna himself, which
95.
Govern
32;? ‘
87-84.
by
a
if a
it
it,
7o
CINNA AND SULLA BOOK rv
promised to the new burgesses and the freedmen equality of suffrage with the old burgesses, was naturally revived; and it was formally confirmed by a decree of the senate as valid in law (6 7o). Censors were nominated (668) for the purpose of distributing all the Italians, in accordance with into the thirty-five burgess-districts—by conjuncture, in consequence of want of qualified candidates for the censorship the same Philippus, who when consul in
91. 66 had chiefly occasioned the miscarriage of the plan of Drusus for bestowing the franchise on the Italians (iii. 487), was now selected as censor to inscribe them in the burgess rolls. The reactionary institutions established Sulla in
88. 666 were of course overthrown. Some steps were taken to please the proletariate—for instance, the restrictions on the distribution of grain introduced some years ago (iii. 504), were probably now once more removed the design of Gaius Gracchus to found colony at Capua was in reality carried out in the spring of 671 on the proposal of the tribune of the people, Marcus Junius Brutus; Lucius Valerius Flaccus the younger introduced law as to debt, which reduced every private claim to the fourth part of its nominal amount and cancelled three-fourths in favour of the debtors. But these measures, the only positive ones during the whole Cinnan government, were without exception the dictates of the moment; they were based—and this
plan possibly erroneous, but on no political plan at all. The populace were caressed, and at the same time offended
in very unnecessary way by
' the constitutional arrangements for election. The capitalist
party might have furnished support, but was injured in
the most sensitive point by the law as to debt.
mainstay of the government was—whol1y without any co operation on its part—the new burgesses their assistance was acquiesced in, but nothing was done to regulate the
meaningless disregard of
singular
perhaps the most shocking feature in this whole catastrophe—not on
The true
;
it
a
a
a
a
3
it,
a
is
a a
;
by a
can. IX CINNA AND SULLA 7r
of the Samnites, who were now nominally Roman citizens, but evidently regarded their country’s
independence as practically the real object and prize of the struggle and remained in arms to defend it against all and sundry. Illustrious senators were struck down like mad dogs; but not the smallest step was taken to reorganize the senate in the interest of the government, or even per manently to terrify it; so that the government was by no means sure of its aid. Gaius Gracchus had not understood the fall of the oligarchy as implying that the new master might conduct himself on his self-created throne, as legiti mate cipher-kings think proper to do. But this . Cinna had been elevated to power not by his will, but by pure acci
dent; was there any wonder that he remained where the storm-wave of revolution had washed him up, till a second wave came to sweep him away again i‘
The same union of the mightiest plenitude of power with the most utter impotence and incapacity in those who held
was apparent in the warfare waged by the revolutionary government against the oligarchy—a warfare on which withal its existence primarily depended. In Italy ruled with absolute sway. Of the old burgesses very large portion were on principle favourable to democratic views, and the still greater mass of quiet people, while disapproving the Marian horrors, saw in an oligarchic restoration simply the commencement of second reign of terror by the opposite party. The impression of the outrages of 667 on the nation at large had been comparatively slight, as they had chiefly affected the mere aristocracy of the capital; and was moreover somewhat efi‘aeed by the three years of tolerably peaceful government that ensued. Lastly the whole mass of the new burgesses—three-fifths perhaps of the Italians—were decidedly, not favourable to the present government, yet opposed to the oligarchy.
Like Italy, most of the provinces adhered to the oligarchy
strange position
Cinna and Sulla.
Italy and the pro vinces in favour of the govern menl.
87.
if
it
a
a
it
it,
Measurel Sullm
O6.
11
CINNA AND SULLA BOOK 1v
—Sicily, Sardinia, the two Gauls, the two Spains. In Africa Quintus Metellus, who had fortunately escaped the mur derers, made an attempt to hold that province for the Optimates ; Marcus Crassus, the youngest son of the Publius Crassus who had perished in the Marian massacre, resorted to him from Spain, and reinforced him by a band which he had collected there. But on their quarrelling with each other they were obliged to yield to Gaius Fabius Hadrianus, the governor appointed by the revolutionary government. Asia was in the hands of Mithradates ; consequently the province of Macedonia, so far as it was in the power of Sulla, remained the only asylum of the exiled oligarchy. Sulla’s wife and children who had with difliculty escaped death, and not a few senators who had made their escape, sought refuge there, so that a sort of senate was soon formed at his head-quarters.
The government did not fail to issue decrees against the oligarchic proconsul. Sulla was deprived by the comitia of his command and of his other honours and dignities and outlawed, as was also the case with Metellus, Appius Claudius, and other refugees of note; his house in Rome was razed, his country estates were laid waste. But such proceedings did not settle the matter. Had Gaius Marius lived longer, he would doubtless have marched in person against Sulla to those fields whither the fevered visions of his death-bed drew him; the measures which the government took after his death have been stated already. Lucius Valerius Flaccus the younger,1 who after Marius’
1 Lucius Valerius Flaccus, whom the Fasti name as consul in 668, was 100. not the consul of 6 54, but a younger man of the same name, perhaps son of the preceding. For, first, the law which prohibited re-election to the 151. 81. consulship remained legally in full force from c. 603 (iii. 299) to 673, and
it is not probable that what was done in the case of Scipio Aemilianus and Marius was done also for Flaccus. Secondly, there is no mention any where, when either Flaccus is named, of a double consulship, not even where it was necessary as in Cic. pro Flace. 32, 77. Thirdly, the Lucius
85. Valerius Flaccus who was active in Rome in 669 as prime)r muztur and consequently of consular rank (Liv. 83), cannot have been the consul of
can. ix CINNA AND SULLA
73
death was invested with the consulship and the command
in the east (668), was neither soldier nor oflicer; Gaius 35, Fimbria who accompanied him was not without ability, but insubordinate; the army assigned to them was even in numbers three times weaker than the army of Sulla. Tidings successively arrived, that Flaccus, in order not to
be crushed by Sulla, had marched past him onward to Asia (668); that Fimbria had set him aside and installed himself 85, in his room (beg. of 669) ; that Sulla had concluded peace 85, with Mithradates (669-670). Hitherto Sulla had been 85-84. silent so far as the authorities ruling in the capital were concerned. Now a letter from him reached the senate, in which he reported the termination of the war and announced
his return to Italy; he stated that he would respect the
rights conferred on the new burgesses, and that, while
penal measures were inevitable, they would light not on the masses, but on the authors of the mischief. This announcement frightened Cinna out of his inaction: while he had hitherto taken no step against Sulla except the placing some men under arms and collecting a numberof vessels in the Adriatic, he now resolved to cross in all haste to Greece.
On the other hand Sulla’s letter, which in the circum- Attempt: stances might be called extremely moderate, awakened in 21:13:" the middle-party hopes of a peaceful adjustment. The
majority of the senate resolved, on the proposal of the
elder Flaccus, to set on foot an attempt at reconciliation, and with that view to summon Sulla to come under the guarantee of a safe-conduct to Italy, and to suggest to the
668, for the latter had already at that time departed for Asia and was 86.
probably already dead. The consul of 654, censor in 657, is the person whom Cicero (ad Att. viii.
3, 6) mentions among the consulars present in Rome in 667 ; he was in 669 beyond doubt the oldest of the old censors living and thus fitted to be prime)r . renalur; he was also the interrex and the magirter eyuitum of 672. On the other hand, the consul of 668, who perished at Nicomeclia (p. 47). was the father of the Lucius Flaccus defended by Cicero (pro Fla“. :5, 6r, comp. 23, 55. 32, 77).
100. 97. 87. 85. 82. 86.
74 CINNA AND SULLA BOOK XV
consuls Cinna and Carbo that they should suspend their preparations till the arrival of Sulla’s answer. Sulla did not absolutely reject the proposals. Of course he did not come in person, but he sent a message that he asked nothing but the restoration of the banished to their former status and the judicial punishment of the crimes that had been perpetrated, and moreover that he did not
security to be provided for himself, but proposed to bring it to those who were at home. His envoys found the state of things in Italy essentially altered. Cinna had, without concerning himself further about that decree of the senate, immediately after the termination of its sitting proceeded to the army and urged its embarkation. The summons to trust themselves to the sea at that unfavourable season of the year provoked among the already dissatisfied troops in the head-quarters at Ancona a mutiny, to which Cinna fell a victim (beg. of 670); whereupon his colleague Carbo found himself compelled to bring back the divisions that had already crossed and, abandoning the idea of taking up the war in Greece, to enter into winter-quarters in
Ariminum. But Sulla’s ofl‘ers met no better reception on that account; the senate rejected his proposals without even allowing the envoys to enter Rome, and enjoined him summarily to lay down arms. It was not the coterie of the Marians which primarily brought about this resolute attitude. That faction was obliged to abandon its hitherto usurped occupation of the supreme magistracy at the very time when it was of moment, and again to institute consular elections for the decisive year 67 r. The suffrages on this occasion were united not in favour of the former consul Carbo or of any of the able oflicers of the hitherto ruling clique, such as Quintus Sertorius or Gaius Marius the younger, but in favour of Lucius Scipio and Gaius Norbanus, two incapables, neither of whom knew how to fight and Scipio not even how to speak; the former of these recommended himself
desire
Death of Cinna. [84. Carbo and the new burgesses am against Sulla.
88.
can. u: CINNA AND SULLA
75
to the multitude only as the great-grandson of the conqueror of Antiochus, and the latter as a political opponent of the oligarchy (iii. 478). The Marians were not so much ab horred for their misdeeds as despised for their incapacity; but if the nation would have nothing to do with these, the great majority of it would have still less to do with Sulla and an oligarchic restoration. Earnest measures of self defence were contemplated. While Sulla crossed to Asia and induced such defection in the army of Fimbria that its leader fell by his own hand, the government in Italy
the further interval of a year granted to it by these steps of Sulla in energetic preparations; it is said that at Sulla’s landing 100,000 men, and afterwards even double that number of troops, were arrayed in arms against him.
Against this Italian force Sulla had nothing to place in the scale except his five legions, which, even including some contingents levied in Macedonia and the Pelo
employed
amounted to scarce 40,000 men. It is true that this army had been, during its seven years’ conflicts in Italy, Greece, and Asia, weaned from politics,
and adhered to its general—who pardoned everything in his soldiers, debauchery, brutality, even mutiny against their oflicers, required nothing but valour and fidelity towards their general, and set before them the prospect of the most extravagant rewards in the event of victory—with all that soldierly enthusiasm, which is the more powerful that the noblest and the meanest passions often combine to produce it in the same breast. The soldiers of Sulla voluntarily according to the Roman custom swore mutual oaths that they would stand firmly by each other, and each voluntarily brought to the general his savings as a contribu tion to the costs of the war. But considerable as was the weight of this solid and select body of troops in comparison with the masses of the enemy, Sulla saw very well that Italy
ponnesus, probably
Dificult position of Sulla.
His mode ration.
could not be subdued with five legions if it remained united in resolute resistance. To settle accounts with the popular party and their incapable autocrats would not have been difficult; but he saw opposed to him and united with that party the whole mass of those who desired no oligarchic restoration with its terrors, and above all the whole body of new burgesses—both those who had been withheld by the Julian law from taking part in the insur rection, and those whose revolt a few years before had brought Rome to the brink of ruin.
Sulla fully surveyed the situation of affairs, and was far removed from the blind exasperation and the obstinate rigour which characterized the majority of his party. While the edifice of the state was in flames, while his friends were being murdered, his houses destroyed, his family driven into exile, he had remained undisturbed at his post till the public foe was conquered and the Roman frontier was secured. He now treated Italian affairs in the same spirit of patriotic and judicious moderation, and did whatever he could to pacify the moderate party and the new burgesses, and to prevent the civil war from assuming the far more dangerous form of a fresh war between the Old Romans and the Italian allies. The first letter which Sulla addressed to the senate had asked nothing but what was right and just, and had expressly disclaimed a reign of terror. In harmony with its terms, he now presented the prospect of unconditional pardon to all those who should even now break off from the revolutionary govern ment, and caused his soldiers man by man to swear that they would meet the Italians thoroughly as friends and fellow-citizens. The most binding declarations secured to the new burgesses the political rights which they had acquired; so that Carbo, for that reason, wished hostages to be furnished to him by every civic community in Italy, but the proposal broke down under general indignation
16
CINNA AND SULLA BOOK IV
CHAP. Ix CINNA AND SULLA
77
and under the opposition of the senate. The chief difli- culty in the position of Sulla really consisted in the fact, that in consequence of the faithlessness and perfidy which prevailed the new burgesses had every reason, if not to. suspect his personal designs, to doubt at any rate whether he would be able to induce his party to keep their word after the victory.
In the spring of 671 Sulla landed with his legions in Sulla [88. the port of Brundisium. The senate, on receiving the lands in
Italy, news, declared the commonwealth in danger, and com
mitted to the consuls unlimited powers; but these incapable leaders had not looked before them, and were surprised by a landing which had nevertheless been foreseen for years. The army was still at Ariminum, the ports were not garri soned, and—what is almost incredible—there was not a man under arms at all along the whole south-eastern coast. The consequences were soon apparent. Brundisium itself, a considerable community of new burgesses, at once opened its gates without resistance to the oligarchic general, and all Messapia and Apulia followed its example. The army marched through these regions as through a friendly country, and mindful of its oath uniformly maintained the strictest discipline. From all sides the scattered remnant of the Optimate party flocked to the camp of Sulla.
and is reinforced by parti sans and deserters.
Quintus Metellus came from the mountain ravines of Liguria,
whither he had made his escape from Africa, and resumed, as colleague of Sulla, the proconsular command committed to him in 667 (iii. 547), and withdrawn from him by the revolution. Marcus Crassus in like manner appeared from Africa with a small band of armed men. Most of the Optimates, indeed, came as emigrants of quality with great pretensions and small desire for fighting, so that they had to listen to bitter language from Sulla himself regarding the noble lords who wished to have themselves preserved for the good of the state and could not even be brought to
87.
78
CINNA AND SULLA BOOK IV
arm their slaves. It was of more importance, that deserters already made their appearance from the democratic camp --for instance, the refined and respected Lucius Philippus, who was, along with one or two notoriously incapable persons, the only consular that had come to terms with the revolutionary government and accepted oflices under
He met with the most gracious reception from Sulla, and obtained the honourable and easy charge of occupying for him the province of Sardinia. Quintus Lucretius Ofella and other serviceable oflicers were likewise received and
at once employed; even Publius Cethegus, one of the senators banished after the Sulpician émeute by Sulla, obtained pardon and position in the army.
“Still more important than these individual accessions was‘the gain of the district of Picenum, which was sub
stantially due to the son of Strabo, the young Gnaeus Pompeius. The latter, like his father originally no ad herent of the oligarchy, had acknowledged the revolutionary
government and even taken service in Cinna’s army; but in his case the fact was not forgotten, that his father had borne arms against the revolution; he found himself assailed in various forms and even threatened with the loss of his very considerable wealth an indictment charging him to give up the booty which was, or was alleged to have been, embezzled by his father after the‘ capture of Asculumlljl‘he protection of the consul Carbo, who was personally attached to him, still more than the eloquence of the consular Lucius Philippus and of the young Quintus Hortensius, averted from him financial ruin; but the dissatisfaction remained. On the news of Sulla’s landing he went to Picenum, where he had extensive possessions and the best municipal connections derived from his father and the Social war, and set up the standard of the Optimate party in Auximum
(Osirno). The district, which was mostly inhabited by old burgesses,
by
a
it.
can. 1x CINNA AND SULLA
79
joined him; the young men, many of whom had served with him under his father, readily ranged themselves under the courageous leader who, not yet twenty-three years of age, was as much soldier as general, sprang to the front of his cavalry in combat, and vigorously assailed the enemy along with them. The corps of Picenian volunteers soon grew to three legions; divisions under Cloelius, Gaius
Carrinas, Lucius Iunius Brutus Damasippus,1 were de spatched from the capital to put down the Picenian insurrection, but the extemporized general, dexterously taking advantage of the dissensions that arose among them, had the skill to evade them or to beat them in detail and to effect his junction with the main army of Sulla, apparently in Apulia. Sulla saluted him as imperator, that
as an oflicer commanding in his own name and not subordinate but co-ordinate, and distinguished the youth by marks of honour such as he showed to none of his noble clients—presumably not without the collateral design of thereby administering an indirect rebuke to the lack of energetic character among his own partisans.
Reinforced thus considerably both in moral and
material point of view, Sulla and Metellus marched from
Apulia through the still insurgent Samnite districts towards
Campania. The main force of the enemy also proceeded and Scipio. thither, and seemed as the matter could not but there
be brought to decision. The army of the consul Gaius
Norbanus was already at Capua, where the new colony had just established itself with all democratic pomp; the second consular army was likewise advancing along the Appian
road. But, before arrived, Sulla was in front of Norbanus.
A last attempt at mediation, which Sulla made, led only Sulla gains to the arrest of his envoys. With fresh indignation his a victory
Norbanus
We can only suppose this to be the Brutus referred to, since Marcus at Mount Brutus the father of the so-called Liberator was tribune of the people in Tifata. 67:, and therefore could not command in the field.
Sulla In Campanln opposed by Norbanul
over
1
is,
it
if
it a
a
Detection 13? ").
8o CINNA AND SULLA soox IV
veteran troops threw themselves on the enemy; their vehement charge down from Mount Tifata at the first onset broke the enemy drawn up in the plain; with the remnant of his force Norbanus threw himself into the revolutionary colony of Capua and -the new-burgess town of Neapolis, and allowed himself to be blockaded there. Sulla’s troops, hitherto not without apprehension as they compared their weak numbers with the masses of the enemy, had by this victory gained a full conviction of their military superiority; instead of pausing to besiege the remains of the defeated army, Sulla left the towns where they took shelter to be invested, and advanced along the Appian highway against Teanum, where Scipio was posted. To him also, before beginning battle, he made fresh proposals for peace; apparently in good earnest. Scipio, weak as he was, entered into them; an armistice was concluded; between Cales and Teanum the two generals, both members of the same noble gem, both men of culture and refinement and for many years colleagues in the senate, met in personal conference ; they entered upon the several questions; they had already made such progress, that Scipio despatched a messenger to Capua to procure the opinion of his colleague. Meanwhile the soldiers of the two camps mingled; the Sullans, copiously furnished with money by their general, had no great difliculty in
the recruits—not too eager for warfare-over their cups that it was better to have them as comrades than as foes; in vain Sertorius warned the general to put a stop to this dangerous intercourse. The agreement, which had seemed so near, was not effected; it was Scipio who denounced the armistice. But Sulla maintained that it was too late and that the agreement had been already concluded; whereupon Scipio’s soldiers, under the pretext that their general had wrongfully denounced the armistice, passed over en name to the rafis of the enemy. The
persuading
can. 1x CINNA AND SULLA 5 8|
scene closed with an universal embracing, at which the commanding oflicers of the revolutionary army had to look on. Sulla gave orders that the consul should be summoned to resign his office—which he did-—-and should along with his staff be escorted by his cavalry to whatever point they desired; but Scipio was hardly set at liberty when he resumed the insignia of his dignity and began afresh to collect troops, without however executing anything further of moment. Sulla and Metellus took up winter-quarters in Campania and, after the failure of a second attempt to come to terms with Norbanus, maintained the blockade of Capua during the winter.
The results of the first campaign in favour of Sulla were Prepare the submission of Apulia, Picenum, and Campania, the dis- 2232,05“ solution of the one, and the vanquishing and blockading of
the other, consular army. The Italian communities, com
pelled severally to choose between their twofold oppressors,
in numerous instances entered into negotiations with him, and caused the political rights, which had been won from the opposition party, to be guaranteed to them by formal separate treaties on the part of the general of the
already
Sulla cherished the distinct expectation, and intentionally made boast of that he would overthrow the revolutionary government in the next campaign and again march into Rome.
But despair seemed to furnish the revolution with fresh energies. The consulship was committed to two of its most decided leaders, to Carbo for the third time and to Gaius Marius the younger; the circumstance that the latter, wh: was just twenty years of age, could not legally be invested with the consulship, was as little heeded as any other point of the constitution. Quintus Sertorius, who in this and other matters proved an inconvenient critic, was ordered to proceed to Etruria with view to procure new levies, and thence to his province Hither Spain. To
you. rv r06
oligarchy.
a
it,
8a CINNA AND SULLA BOOK iv
replenish the treasury, the senate was obliged to decree the melting down of the gold and silver vessels of the temples in the capital; how considerable the produce was, is clear from the fact that after several months’ warfare there was still on hand nearly £600,000 (14,000 pounds of gold and 6000 pounds of silver). In the considerable portion of Italy, which still voluntarily or under compulsion adhered to the revolution, warlike preparations were prosecuted with vigour. Newly-formed divisions of some strength came from Etruria, where the communities of new burgesses were very numerous, and from the region of the P0. The veterans of Marius in great numbers ranged themselves under the standards at the call of his son. But nowhere were preparations made for the struggle against Sulla with such eagerness as in the insurgent Samnium and some districts of Lucania. It was owing to anything but devotion towards the revolutionary Roman government, that numerous contingents from the Oscan districts rein forced their armies; but it was well understood there that an oligarchy restored by Sulla would not acquiesce, like the lax Cinnan government, in the independence of these lands as now de facto subsisting; and therefore the primitive rivalry between the Sabellians and the Latins was roused afresh in the struggle against Sulla. For Samnium and Latium this war was as much a national struggle as the wars of the fifth century; they strove not for a greater or less amount of political rights, but for the purpose of appeasing long-suppressed hate by the annihilation of their antagonist. It was no wonder, therefore, that the war in
‘this region bore a character altogether different from the ‘conflicts elsewhere, that no compromise was attempted 'there, that no quarter was given or taken, and that the
’pursuit was continued to the very uttermost.
Thus the campaign of 672 was begun on both sides
‘2. ,
with augmented military resources and increased animosity.
can. lx CINNA AND SULLA
83
The revolution in particular threw away the scabbard: at the suggestion of Carbo the Roman comitia outlawed all the senators that should be found in Sulla’s camp. Sulla was silent ; he probably thought that they were pronouncing sentence beforehand on themselves.
The army of the Optimates was divided. The pro Sulla pro
consul Metellus undertook, resting on the support of the ceeds to Latium to
Picenian insurrection, to advance to Upper Italy, while oppose the Sulla marched from Campania straight against the capital. younger
Marius. Carbo threw himself in the way of the former; Marius
would encounter the main army of the enemy in Latium. Advancing along the Via Latina, Sulla fell in with the enemy not far from Signia; they retired before him as far as the so-called “Port of Sacer,” between Signia and the chief stronghold of the Marians, the strong Praeneste.
There Marius drew up his force for battle. His army was His victory
about 40,000 strong, and he was in savage fury and personal bravery the true son of his father ; but his troops were not the well-trained bands with which the latter had fought his battles, and still less might this inexperienced young man bear comparison with the old master of war.
His troops soon gave way; the defection of a division even during the battle accelerated the defeat. More than the half of the Marians were dead or prisoners; the remnant, unable either to keep the field or to gain the other bank of the Tiber, was compelled to seek protection in the neighbouring fortresses ; the capital, which they had neglected to provision, was irrecoverably lost. In con sequence of this Marius gave orders to Lucius Brutus
Damasippus, the praetor commanding there, to evacuate but before doing so to put to death all the esteemed
men, hitherto spared, of the opposite party. This in junction, by which the son even outdid the proscriptions of his father, was carried into effect; Damasippus made a pretext for convoking the senate, and the marked men
at Sacri portus.
Demo cratic massacre: in Rome.
it,
Siege of Pneneste.
Occupation of Rome.
were struck down partly in the sitting itself, partly on their flight from the senate-house. Notwithstanding the thorough clearance previously effected, there were still found several victims of note. Such were the former aedile Publius Antistius, the father-in-law of Gnaeus Pompeius, and the former praetor Gaius Carbo, son of the well-known friend and subsequent opponent of the Gracchi (iii. 37:), since the death of so many men of more distinguished talent the two best orators in the judicial courts of the desolated Forum ; the consular Lucius Domitius, and above all the venerable pontzfizx maximur Quintus Scaevola, who had escaped the dagger of Fimbria only to bleed to death during these last throes of the revolution in the vestibule of the temple of Vesta entrusted to his guardianship. With speech less horror the multitude saw the corpses of these last victims of the reign of terror dragged through the streets, and thrown into the river.
The broken bands of Marius threw themselves into the
neighbouring and strong cities of new burgesses Norba and Praeneste : Marius in person with the treasure and the greater part of the fugitives entered the latter. Sulla left an able oflicer, Quintus Ofella, before Praeneste just as he had done in the previous year before Capua, with instructions not to expend his strength in the siege of the strong town, but to enclose it with an extended line of blockade and starve it into surrender. He himself advanced from different sides upon the capital, which as well as the whole surrounding district he found abandoned by the enemy, and occupied without resistance. He barely took time to compose the minds of the people by an address and to make the most necessary arrangements, and im mediately passed on to Etruria, that in concert with Metellus he might dislodge his antagonists from Northern
Italy.
Metellus had meanwhile encountered and defeated
l4
CINNA AND SULLA BOOK IV
CHAP. XX CINNA AND SULLA
85
Carbo’s lieutenant Carrinas at the river Aesis (Esino between Ancona and Sinigaglia), which separated the district of Picenum from the Gallic province ; when Carbo in person came up with his superior army, Metellus had been obliged to abstain from any farther advance. But on the news of the battle at Sacriportus, Carbo, anxious about his communications, had retreated to the Flaminian road, with a view to take up his headquarters at the meeting point of Ariminum, and. from that point to hold the passes of the Apennines on the one hand and the valley of the Po on the other. In this retrograde movement different divisions fell into the hands of the enemy, and not only
Metellus against Carbo in Northern Italy.
so, but Sena Gallica was stormed andliflarbo’s rearguard Carbo
l \
was broken in a brilliant cavalry engagement by nevertheless Carbo attained on the whole his object. T e consular Norbanus took the command in the valley of the Po; Carbo himself proceeded to Etruria. But the march of Sulla with his victorious legions to Etruria altered the position of affairs; soon three Sullan armies from Gaul, Umbria, and Rome established ‘communications with each other. Metellus with the fleet went 'past. Ariminum to Ravenna, and at Faventia cut off the communication between Ariminum and the valley of the Po, into which he sent forward a division along the great road to Placentia under Marcus Lucullus, the quaestor of Sulla and brother of his admiral in the Mithradatic war. The young Pompeius and his contemporary and rival Crassus penetrated from
Picenum by mountaimpaths into Umbria and gained the Flaminian road at Spoletium, where they defeated Carbo’s legate Carrinas and shut him up in the town; he succeeded, however, in escaping from it on a rainy night and making his way, though not without loss, to the army of Carbo. Sulla himself marched from Rome into Etruria with his army in two divisions, one of which advancing along the coast defeated the corps opposed to it at Saturnia (between
assailed on three sides of Etruria.
Pompeité?
Conflicts about Praeneste.
checked.
In the vicinity of Rome also events appeared to assume
a more favourable turn for the revolutionary party, and the war seemed as if it would again be drawn chiefly towards this region. For, while the oligarchic party were concen trating all their energies on Etruria, the democracy every where put forth the utmost efforts to break the blockade of Praeneste. Even the governor of Sicily Marcus Perpenna set out for that purpose ; it does not appear, however, that he reached Praeneste. Nor was the very considerable corps under Marcius, detached by Carbo, more successful in this ; assailed and defeated by the troops of the enemy which were at Spoletium, demoralized by disorder, want of supplies, and mutiny, one portion went back to Carbo, another to Ariminum; the rest dispersed. Help in earnest on the other hand came from Southern Italy. There the Samnites under Pontius of Telesia, and the Lucanians under their experienced general Marcus Lamponius, set out without its
86 CINNA AND SULLA
IOOK rv
the rivers Ombrone and Albegna) ; the second led by Sulla in person fell in with the army of Carbo in the valley of the Clanis, and sustained a successful conflict with his Spanish cavalry. But the pitched battle which was fought between Carbo and Sulla in the region of Chiusi, although it ended without being properly decisive, was so far at any rate in favour of Carbo that Sulla’s victorious
being possible Campania
behind a corps against Carbo, returned to Latium and took up a well-chosen position in the defiles in front of Praeneste, where he barred the route of the In vain the garrison attempted to break
himself, leaving
relieving army. 1
1 It a stated, that Sulla occupied the defile by which alone Praenate was accessible (App. 1, 9o) ; and the further events showed that the road
advance was
to prevent their departure, were joined in where Capua still held out by a division of the garrison under Gutta, and thus to the number, it was said, of 70,000 marched upon Praeneste. Thereupon Sulla
can. rx CINNA AND SULLA
37
through the lines of Ofella, in vain the relieving army
to dislodge Sulla ; both remained immoveable in their strong positions, even after Damasippus, sent by Carbo, had reinforced the relieving army with two legions.
attempted
But while the war stood still in Etruria and in Latium, matters came to a decision in the valley of the Po. There
the general of the democracy, Gaius Norbanus, had hitherto Upper maintained the upper hand, had attacked Marcus Lucullus Italy. the legate of Metellus with superior force and compelled
him to shut himself up in Placentia, and had at length
turned against Metellus in person. He encountered the
latter at Faventia, and immediately made his attack late in
the afternoon with his troops fatigued by their march; the consequence was a complete defeat and the total breaking
up of his corps, of which only about 1000 men returned to Etruria. On the news of this battle Lucullus sallied from Placentia, and defeated the division left behind to oppose
him at Fidentia (between Piacenza and Parma). The Lucanian troops of Albinovanus deserted in a body : their
leader made up for his hesitation at first by inviting the
chief oflicers of the revolutionary army to banquet with
him and causing them to be put to death; in general
every one, who at all could, now concluded his peace. Ariminum with all its stores and treasures fell into the
power of Metellus ; Norbanus embarked for Rhodes; the
whole land between the Alps and Apennines acknowledged
the government of the Optimates. The troops hitherto Etrurla
employed
Etruria, the last province where their antagonists still kept Sullans. the field. When Carbo received this news in the camp
to Rome was open to him as well as to the relieving army. Beyond doubt Sulla posted himself on the cross road which turns off from the Via Latina, along which the Samnites advanced, at Valmontone towards Palestrina ; in this case Sulla communicated with the capital by the
Praenestine, and the enemy by the Latin or Labican, road
Successes of the Sullans in
there were enabled to turn to the attack of occupied by the
The Samnites and democrats attack Rome.
B8 CINNA AND SULLA BOOK IV
at Clusium, he lost his self-command; although he had still a considerable body of troops under his orders, he secretly escaped from his headquarters and embarked for Africa. Part of his abandoned troops followed the
which their general had set, and went home; part of them were destroyed by Pompeius : Carrinas gathered together the remainder and led them to Latium to join the army of Praeneste. There no change had in the meanwhile taken place; and the final decision drew nigh. The troops of Carrinas were not numerous enough to shake Sulla’s position; the vanguard of the army of the oligarchic party, hitherto employed in Etruria, was approaching under Pompeius ; in a'few days the net would be drawn tight around the army of the democrats and the Samnites.
Its leaders then determined to desist from the relief of Praeneste and to throw themselves with all their united strength on Rome, which was only a good day’s march distant. By so doing they were, in a military point of view, ruined; their line of retreat, the Latin road, would by such a movement fall into Sulla’s hands; and, even if they got possession of Rome, they would be infallibly crushed there, enclosed within a city by no means fitted for defence, and wedged in between the far superior armies of Metellus and
Sulla. Safety, however, was no longer thought of; revenge alone dictated this march to Rome, the last outbreak of fury in the passionate revolutionists and especially in the despair ing Sabellian nation. Pontius of Telesia was in earnest, when he called out to his followers that, in order to get rid of the wolves which had robbed Italy of freedom, the forest in which they harboured must be destroyed. Never was Rome in a more fearful peril than on the rst November
example
82. 672, when Pontius, Lamponius, Carrinas, Damasippus ad- vanced along the Latin road towards Rome, and encamped about a mile from the Colline gate. It was threatened with
CHAP. IX ClNNA AND SULLA
89
a day like the zoth July 365 u. c. or the 15th June 455 889. A. D. —tl16 days of the Celts and the Vandals. The time
was gone by when a coup de main against Rome was a foolish enterprise, and the assailants could have no want of connections in the capital. The band of volunteers which sallied from the city, mostly youths of quality, was scattered
like chaff before the immense superiority of force. The
only hope of safety rested on Sulla. The latter, on receiv Battle at
ing accounts of the departure of the Samnite army in the direction of Rome, had likewise set out in all haste to the assistance of the capital. The appearance of his foremost horsemen under Balbus in the course of the morning revived the sinking courage of the citizens; about midday he appeared in person with his main force, and immediately drew up his ranks for battle at the temple of the Erycine Aphrodite before the Colline gate (not far from Porta Pia). His lieutenants adjured him not to send the troops exhausted
‘by the forced march at once into action; but Sulla took into consideration what the night might bring on Rome, and, late as it was in the afternoon, ordered the attack. The battle was obstinately contested and bloody. The left wing of Sulla, which he led in person, gave way as far as the city wall, so that it became necessary to close the city gates; stragglers even brought accounts to Ofella that the battle was lost. But on the right wing Marcus Crassus overthrew the enemy and pursued him as far as Antemnae ; this somewhat relieved the left wing also, and an hour after sunset it in turn began to advance.