Speaker 1: Section twelve of the Grochy Marius and Sullaby A. H. Beesley.
Speaker 1: This librovox recording is in the public domain. Read by
Speaker 1: Pamela and Nagami, Chapter ten Marius and Sinna. Meanwhile, what
Speaker 1: had become of Marius already a halo of legend was
Speaker 1: gathering round his name, and all Italy was ringing with
Speaker 1: his adventures when he had fled from Rome. Not sorry,
Speaker 1: now we may be sure that he had gone through
Speaker 1: his late exhibitions in the campus marshes. He had sent
Speaker 1: his son to some of his father in law's farms
Speaker 1: to get necessary provisions. Young Marius was overtaken by daylight
Speaker 1: before he could get to his father in law's farm
Speaker 1: and pack the things up, and was nearly caught by
Speaker 1: those on his track. But the farm bailiff saw him
Speaker 1: in time, and, hiding him in a cartful of beans,
Speaker 1: yoked the team and drove him to Rome. There, young
Speaker 1: Marius went to his wife's house, and, getting what he wanted,
Speaker 1: set out at nightfall for Ostia and finding a ship
Speaker 1: starting for Africa. When aboard, his father had not waited
Speaker 1: for his return. He too, had embarked at Ostia for
Speaker 1: Africa with his son in law. But now in his
Speaker 1: old age, the sea was not so kind to him
Speaker 1: as when in his bold and confident youth he had
Speaker 1: sailed to Sue for his first consulship from the very
Speaker 1: land to which he was now flying. A storm came
Speaker 1: on and the ship was blown southwards along the coast.
Speaker 1: Marius begged the captain to keep clear of Tarracina, because Gminius,
Speaker 1: a leading man there, was his bitter foe. But the
Speaker 1: storm increased, Marius was sea sick, and they were forced
Speaker 1: to go to shore at kir k e E Monte Ciurchello.
Speaker 1: Some herdsmen told him that horsemen had just been there
Speaker 1: in pursuit. So they spent the night in a thick wood,
Speaker 1: hungry and tortured by anxiety. Next day they went to
Speaker 1: the coast again, and Marius implored the men to stand
Speaker 1: by him, telling them that when he was a child,
Speaker 1: an eagle's nest fell into his lap with seven young
Speaker 1: ones in it, and the soothsayers had said that it
Speaker 1: meant that he should attain to the highest honors seven times.
Speaker 1: About two miles and a half from MINTURNAEI, they spied
Speaker 1: some horsemen making toward them, and plunging into the sea,
Speaker 1: they swam towards some merchantmen near the shore. Two slaves
Speaker 1: swam with Marius keeping him up, and he got into
Speaker 1: one ship, and his son in law into the other.
Speaker 1: While the horsemen shouted to the crew to put ashore
Speaker 1: or throw Marius overboard. The captains consulted together in a
Speaker 1: terrible moment it must have been for the fugitives, but
Speaker 1: the spell of the Kimbric victories was potent still, and
Speaker 1: the captains replied that they would not give up Marius.
Speaker 1: So the soldiers rode off in a rage. But the sailors,
Speaker 1: having so far acted generously, were anxious to get rid
Speaker 1: of their dangerous guests, and, landing at the mouth of
Speaker 1: the Lerius, on pretense of waiting for a fair wind,
Speaker 1: told Marius to go ashore and get some rest, and
Speaker 1: while he was lying down, sailed away. Half stupefied. He
Speaker 1: scrambled through bogs and dikes and mud till he came
Speaker 1: to an old man's cottage and begged the owner to
Speaker 1: shelter a man who, if he escaped, would reward him
Speaker 1: Beyond his hopes. The man told him that he would
Speaker 1: hide him in a safer place than his cottage, and
Speaker 1: showing him a hole by the riverside, covered him up
Speaker 1: in it with some rushes, but he was soon rudely disturbed.
Speaker 1: Gaminius was on his trail, and Marius heard some of
Speaker 1: his emissaries loudly threatening the old man for hiding an outlaw.
Speaker 1: In his terror, Marius stripped and plunged into the river,
Speaker 1: and so betrayed himself to the pursuers, who hauled him out,
Speaker 1: naked and covered with mud, and gave him up to
Speaker 1: the magistrates of Minternei. By these he was placed under
Speaker 1: a strong guard in the house of a woman named Fania. She,
Speaker 1: like Gminius, had a personal grudge against him, for in
Speaker 1: his sixth consulship he had find her for Drachmas for
Speaker 1: ill conduct. But now when she saw his misery, she
Speaker 1: forgot her resentment and did her best to cheer him.
Speaker 1: Nor was this difficult, for the stout heart of Marius
Speaker 1: had never failed him. He told Fania that as he
Speaker 1: was coming to her house, an ass had come out
Speaker 1: to drink it a neighboring fountain, and, fixing its eyes
Speaker 1: steadily on him, had brayed aloud and frisked vivaciously. Whence
Speaker 1: he augured that he would find safety by sea. The magistrates, however,
Speaker 1: had resolved to kill him and sent a Cimbrian to
Speaker 1: do the deed, for no citizen would do it. The
Speaker 1: man went armed with a sword into the gloomy room
Speaker 1: where Marius lay, but soon he ran out, crying, I
Speaker 1: cannot slay Marius. He had seen eyes glaring in the darkness,
Speaker 1: and had heard a terrible voice say, darest thou slay
Speaker 1: Caius Marius. His heart had failed him. He had thrown
Speaker 1: down the sword and fled. Either the magistrates now changed
Speaker 1: their minds, or the people forced them to let Marius go,
Speaker 1: or perhaps Fania contrived his escape. Plutarch says that the
Speaker 1: people escorted him to the coast, and when they came
Speaker 1: to a sacred grove called the Mauritian Grove, which no
Speaker 1: man might enter, but which it would take a long
Speaker 1: time to go round, an old man had led the
Speaker 1: way into it, saying that no place was so sacred,
Speaker 1: but that it might be entered to save Marius. In
Speaker 1: some way. He reached the coast, where a friend had
Speaker 1: secured a vessel, and, being driven by the wind to
Speaker 1: ainaria Ischia. He there found his son in law and
Speaker 1: sailed for Africa. Want of water forced them to put
Speaker 1: in at Eriks on the northwest of Sicily, but the
Speaker 1: Roman christor there was on the lookout, and killing sixteen
Speaker 1: of the crew, nearly took Marius. Landing at Meninx Jerbah,
Speaker 1: the fugitive heard that his son was in Africa too,
Speaker 1: and had gone to Haempsal, king of Numidia, to ask
Speaker 1: for aid, upon which he set sail again and landed
Speaker 1: at Carthage. The Roman governor there sent to warn him
Speaker 1: off from Africa. Marius was dumb with indignation, but on
Speaker 1: being asked what answer he had to send, replied, so
Speaker 1: ran the story go and say you have seen Gaius
Speaker 1: Marius sitting on the ruins of Carthage. He am Sau meanwhile,
Speaker 1: had been keeping young Marius in the sort of honorable captivity, but,
Speaker 1: according to his story, similar to that told of Thomas
Speaker 1: A Beckett's father, a damsel of the country had fallen
Speaker 1: in love with his handsome face and helped him to escape.
Speaker 1: Father and son now retired to Kirkina Kerkenna, where news
Speaker 1: soon reached him which brought him back to Italy. Hardly
Speaker 1: had Sulla left Brundusium when the truce which he had
Speaker 1: patched up was broken. Sinna, being bribed, as was said,
Speaker 1: probably without foundation, with three hundred talents, had demanded that
Speaker 1: the Italians lately enfranchised should be enrolled in the old tribes.
Speaker 1: We do not know very much about Sinna, but we
Speaker 1: do seem to gather that he was bold, resolute, not
Speaker 1: ungenerous or bloodthirsty, and it cannot be too strongly insisted
Speaker 1: on that, like Saturninus and Sulpicius and Drusus, he was
Speaker 1: only demanding justice. Octavius opposed him, and, hearing that Sinna's
Speaker 1: partisans were threatening the tribunes in the Forum, he charged
Speaker 1: down the Via Sacra with a band of followers and
Speaker 1: dispersed them, and a great number of Sinna's followers were slain.
Speaker 1: On this Sinna left Rome, and, joined by Sertorius, whom
Speaker 1: we shall hear of again, went round the towns mustering
Speaker 1: his friends. The Senate declared his consulship to be void
Speaker 1: and elected Lucius Cornelius Marilla in his place. Sinna, with
Speaker 1: characteristic audacity, instantly hastened to the army in Campania, and
Speaker 1: rending his clothes and throwing himself on the ground so
Speaker 1: worked on the pity of the soldiers that they lifted
Speaker 1: him up and told him he was consul still and
Speaker 1: might lead them where he pleased. Then, visiting the Italian towns,
Speaker 1: he obtained many recruits, and, hearing that Marius had landed
Speaker 1: in Etruria, perhaps on his invitation, he agreed to act
Speaker 1: in concert with him in spite of the opposition of Sertorius. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Octavius and Merolla had fortified the city, had sent for
Speaker 1: troops from sis Alpine Gaul, and had summoned the proconsul
Speaker 1: Pompeius from Piquenum. Pompeius came and halted at the Colline gate.
Speaker 1: It was suspected that he was waiting to join the
Speaker 1: successful side. With him was his son, afterwards called the Great,
Speaker 1: who now showed of what stuff he was made by
Speaker 1: putting down a mutiny against his father and baffling a
Speaker 1: plot for his own assassination. Marius, with a band of
Speaker 1: moors and the slaves whom he had collected from the
Speaker 1: Etrurian field gangs, was admitted by treachery into Ostia and
Speaker 1: sacked the town. Sinna marched to the right bank of
Speaker 1: the Tiber, opposite the Juniculum. Sirtorius held the river above
Speaker 1: the city, and a corps was sent to Ariminum to
Speaker 1: prevent any help coming from North Italy. At this crisis,
Speaker 1: the tenant sent Metellus and tried to obtain the aid
Speaker 1: of the Samnites, who, as we have seen, joined Marius
Speaker 1: and Sinna. The treachery of a tribune in command of
Speaker 1: the Juniculum gave the Marians admission to the city, but
Speaker 1: they were driven out again, and might even have been
Speaker 1: dislodged from the Juniculum, had not Pompeius persuaded Octavius to
Speaker 1: check the pursuit. Pompeius was playing a waiting game, ready
Speaker 1: to join the strongest or crush both parties as he
Speaker 1: saw his chance, and now within the city starvation set
Speaker 1: in and a pestilence spread. Marius had blocked up the
Speaker 1: Tiber and occupied the outlying towns on which the communications
Speaker 1: of the capital depended. Nor could the Senate trust its
Speaker 1: own troops. Pompeius was killed by a thunderbolt not less
Speaker 1: suspicious than that which slew Romulus, and his body had
Speaker 1: been torn from the bier and dragged through the streets
Speaker 1: by the people. The soldiers of Octavius, cheered Sinna when
Speaker 1: he marshaled his troops opposite them near the Alban Mount. Moreover,
Speaker 1: the leaders themselves were at variance. Octavius, seeing the humor
Speaker 1: of his men, was afraid to fight, but would concede nothing.
Speaker 1: Metellus wished for a compromise. Both armies were now outside
Speaker 1: the city, the pestilence probably having driven the Marians to withdraw,
Speaker 1: but Marius had command of the Via Appia, the Tiber
Speaker 1: and most of the neighborhood, and the famine became soreer
Speaker 1: in Rome. The soldiers wished Metellus to take the command
Speaker 1: from Octavius, and on his refusal, deserted in crowds to
Speaker 1: the enemy. So also did the slaves, to whom Octavius
Speaker 1: would not promise freedom, as Sinna gladly did. At last,
Speaker 1: the Senate sent to make terms with Sinna, but while
Speaker 1: they were stickling about acknowledging his title of consul, he
Speaker 1: advanced to the gates. Then they surrendered at discretion, only
Speaker 1: begging him to swear to shed no blood. Sinna, refusing
Speaker 1: to be bound by this condition, promised that he would
Speaker 1: not voluntarily do so, for he saw by his side
Speaker 1: the grim figure of the man to whom he had
Speaker 1: given proconsular powers, who had already taunted him with weakness
Speaker 1: for conferring with the Senate at all, and in whose sullen,
Speaker 1: unshorn face he read a craving for vengeance which nothing
Speaker 1: but blood would satisfy. When Sinna entered the city, Marius,
Speaker 1: with savage irony, said that an outlaw had no business
Speaker 1: within the walls, and he would not come in till
Speaker 1: the sentence had been formerly rescinded by a meeting of
Speaker 1: the people in the forum. But the gates, when once
Speaker 1: he had passed them, were closed, and for five days
Speaker 1: and five nights Rome became a shambles. Appian says that
Speaker 1: Marius and Sinna had both sworn to spare the life
Speaker 1: of Octavius, but Marius was never a liar, and the
Speaker 1: story is false on the face of it. For just
Speaker 1: before this, Appian relates how when Sinna had promised to
Speaker 1: be merciful, Marius would make no sign. Octavius is said
Speaker 1: to have seated himself in his official chair, dressed in
Speaker 1: his official robes, on the guiniculum, and to have awaited
Speaker 1: the assassins there. His head was fastened up in front
Speaker 1: of the rostra in emulation of the ghastly precedent set
Speaker 1: by Sullah. He was an obstinate, dull man, and if
Speaker 1: this burlesque of the conduct of the senators when the
Speaker 1: Gauls took Rome was really enacted, the theatrical display must
Speaker 1: have been cold comfort for those of his party on
Speaker 1: whom his incapacity brought ruin. Among the latter were the
Speaker 1: brother Caesar Gaius, who had sought to be consol before
Speaker 1: he was brighter and had been denounced for it by
Speaker 1: Sulpicious and Lucius, the conqueror at a care and author
Speaker 1: of the Julian Law. Publius Crassus, consul in ninety seven
Speaker 1: and one of Caesar's lieutenants in the social war, fled
Speaker 1: with his son, and when overtaken, first stabbed his son
Speaker 1: and then himself. Marcus Antonius, the great forensic orator, was
Speaker 1: so odious to Marius that the latter, on hearing that
Speaker 1: he was taken, wished, so the story runs, to go
Speaker 1: kill him with his own hand. Antonius was in hiding
Speaker 1: and was betrayed by the indiscretion of a slave who,
Speaker 1: being questioned by the wine cellar why he was buying
Speaker 1: more or better wine than usual, whispered to him that
Speaker 1: it was for Marcus Antonius, on the soldier's coming to
Speaker 1: kill him. He pleaded so eloquently for his life that
Speaker 1: they wept and would not touch him. But their officer,
Speaker 1: who was waiting below, impatiently came up and cut off
Speaker 1: his head with his own hand. Lucius Merola opened his
Speaker 1: veins and so bled to death. His crime was that
Speaker 1: he had been made console when Sinna was deposed. His
Speaker 1: last act seems odd to us, but pathetically bespoke the
Speaker 1: man's piety and recalls the last scene in the life
Speaker 1: of Demosthenes. He wrote on a tablet that he had
Speaker 1: taken off his official cap when opening his veins, so
Speaker 1: as to avoid the sacrilege of a flomen of Jupiter
Speaker 1: dying with it on his head. Marius had behaved generously
Speaker 1: once to Quintus Lutatious Catullus, his old colleague against the Kimbri,
Speaker 1: but Catullus had helped to drive him into exile, and
Speaker 1: there was to be no second mistake of that sort.
Speaker 1: He must die, he said, when the relatives of Catullus
Speaker 1: pleaded for his life. It is not unlikely that disease
Speaker 1: and drinking, and his late hardships had made the old
Speaker 1: man insane. He had been occasionally good natured in former days.
Speaker 1: Now he sees to gloat in carnage for every sneer
Speaker 1: casted him, for every wrong done to him in past years.
Speaker 1: He took a horrible revenge. When Sinna had summoned him,
Speaker 1: he had said that he would settle the question of
Speaker 1: enrollment in the tribes once for all. He wished not
Speaker 1: to select victims, but to massacre all the leading Optimists.
Speaker 1: Sertorius begged Sinna to check the slaughter. Sinna did try
Speaker 1: to curb the outrages of the slave fans, but he
Speaker 1: dared not break with Marius, whom he named his joint
Speaker 1: council with himself for the year eighty six. But as
Speaker 1: soon as his colleague was dead, he and Sertorius surrounded
Speaker 1: the Ruffians and killed them to a man. Marius did
Speaker 1: not live much longer. He had had his revenge. He
Speaker 1: had gained his seventh consulship. It is said that telling
Speaker 1: his friends that after such vicissitudes, it would be wrong
Speaker 1: to tempt fate further, he took to his bed, and
Speaker 1: after seven days died. He drank hard, was seized with pleurisy,
Speaker 1: and in his last hours became delirious. He fancied that
Speaker 1: he was in Asia, and by shouts and gestures, cheered
Speaker 1: on the army of his dreams, and with such a
Speaker 1: stern and iron clashing clothes. Died January thirteenth or seventeenth.
Speaker 1: He was more than seventy years old, and had enjoyed
Speaker 1: his seventh consulship for either thirteen or seventeen days. Lucius
Speaker 1: Valerius Floccus succeeded Marius as consul and passed a law
Speaker 1: making one fourth of a debt legal tender for payment
Speaker 1: of it, and probably in the same year, the denarius
Speaker 1: was restored to its standard value. A census was also held,
Speaker 1: which would include the new Italian citizens and Philippus, whose
Speaker 1: opposition to Drusus on this very question had helped to
Speaker 1: kindle the social war with Cansoor Sinna. As he was
Speaker 1: pledged to do so, must have carried some measure for
Speaker 1: enrolling the Italians in the old tribes, but we can
Speaker 1: only conjecture what was actually done. Sulpicius had already carried
Speaker 1: such a measure, but it had been probably revoked by
Speaker 1: Sulla before he left Italy in eighty four just before
Speaker 1: his return, the Senate, it is said, gave the Italians
Speaker 1: the right of voting and distributed the libertini or freed
Speaker 1: slaves among the thirty five tribes. Perhaps this was a
Speaker 1: formal ratification of what had been passed before under Cinna's coercion.
Speaker 1: Sinna was now all powerful at Rome. For four successive
Speaker 1: years eighty seven to eighty four BC he was consul,
Speaker 1: and with the exception of Asia, Macedonia, Greece and Africa,
Speaker 1: where Mattellus had escaped and was in arms, the whole
Speaker 1: Roman world was at his feet. But he did not
Speaker 1: know how to use his power. He may have removed
Speaker 1: the restrictions on grain and did proclaim Sullah and Mattellus outlaws,
Speaker 1: But though he should have bent every energy to hinder
Speaker 1: Sullah's return, he did worse than nothing, and instead of
Speaker 1: Sertorius sent the incapable Flaccus and the ruffian Fimbria against
Speaker 1: the general who had just taken Athens and defeated Archelaus.
Speaker 1: The miscarriage of their enterprise will be told in the
Speaker 1: next chapter. When Sinna suddenly became alive to the fact
Speaker 1: that the avenger was at hand, and that either he
Speaker 1: must act promptly or Sullah would be in Rome. He
Speaker 1: hastened to Ancona, where he sent one division of the
Speaker 1: army across to the opposite coast, But the second division
Speaker 1: was driven back by a storm, and the soldiers then dispersed,
Speaker 1: saying that they would not fight against their own countrymen.
Speaker 1: On this the rest of the army refused to embark.
Speaker 1: Sinna went to harangue them, and one of his lictors,
Speaker 1: in clearing away struck a soldier. Another soldier struck him.
Speaker 1: Sinna told his lictors to seize this second mutineer, and
Speaker 1: in the tumult that arose, Sinna was slain. Plutarch says
Speaker 1: that the troops murdered him because he was suspected of
Speaker 1: having killed Pompeius, and that when he tried to bribe
Speaker 1: a centurion with a signet ring to spare him, the
Speaker 1: centurion replied that he was not going to seal a bond,
Speaker 1: but slay a tyrant. But Sinna probably died as he
Speaker 1: lived a brave man, and one who could not have
Speaker 1: held ascendancy for so long and over men like Sertorius,
Speaker 1: had he not been an able as well as a
Speaker 1: brave Man. End of section twelve,