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<v Speaker 1>Section nine of the grochy Marius and Sulla by A. H. Beasley.

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<v Speaker 1>This librovox recording is in the public domain. Read by Pamelinagami,

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<v Speaker 1>Chapter nine Saturninus and Drusus. With such a weapon in

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<v Speaker 1>his hand, Marius came back to Rome intoxicated with success.

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<v Speaker 1>He thought his marches in two continents worthy to be

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<v Speaker 1>compared with the progresses of Bacchus, and had a cup

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<v Speaker 1>made on the model of that of the god. He

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<v Speaker 1>spoke badly. He was easily disconcerted by the disapproval of

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<v Speaker 1>an audience. He had no insight into the evils or

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<v Speaker 1>any project for the reformation of the state. But the

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<v Speaker 1>scorn of men like Metellus had made him throw himself

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<v Speaker 1>on the support of the people from whom he sprang,

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<v Speaker 1>and they idolizing him for his dazzling exploits as a soldier,

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<v Speaker 1>looked to him as their natural leader and the creator

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<v Speaker 1>of a new era. Indeed, it needed no stimulus from

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<v Speaker 1>without to what his ambitious cravings. That seventh consulship, which

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<v Speaker 1>superstition whispered, would be surely his. He had yet to win,

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<v Speaker 1>and in all his after conduct he seems to have

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<v Speaker 1>been guided by the most vulgar selfishness, which in the

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<v Speaker 1>end became murderous insanity. But while he hoped to use

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<v Speaker 1>all parties for his own advancement, a game in which he,

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<v Speaker 1>of all men was least qualified to succeed, other and

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<v Speaker 1>abler politicians were bent on using him for the overthrow

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<v Speaker 1>of the optimates. The harangues of Memmius had shown that

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<v Speaker 1>the spirit of the Gracchi were still alive in Rome,

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<v Speaker 1>and now Lucius Apulaeus Saturninus took up their revolutionary projects

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<v Speaker 1>with a violence to which they had been averse, but

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<v Speaker 1>for which the acts of their adversaries had become a

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<v Speaker 1>fatal precedent. Of Saturninus himself, we do not know much

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<v Speaker 1>more than that he was an eloquent speaker and the resolute,

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<v Speaker 1>though not over scrupulous man, at a time when to

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<v Speaker 1>be scrupulous was equivalent to self martyrdom or self effacement.

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<v Speaker 1>In something of the same relation in which Camille de

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<v Speaker 1>Moulin stood to Danto Gaius Servilius, Glaucia, a wit and

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<v Speaker 1>favored of the people, stood toward the somber and imperious Saturninus,

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<v Speaker 1>and both hoped to effect their aims by the aid

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<v Speaker 1>of Marius if they are to be judged by their

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<v Speaker 1>axe alone, we could hardly condemn them. They tried to

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<v Speaker 1>do what the Grocy had attempted before them, what Drusus

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<v Speaker 1>attempted after them, and what when they and Drusus had

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<v Speaker 1>fallen as the Groci had fallen, the social war finally effected.

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<v Speaker 1>No historian has given sufficient prominence to the fact that

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<v Speaker 1>it was primarily a country movement of which each of

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<v Speaker 1>these men was the leader, a movement of un broken continuity,

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<v Speaker 1>though each used his own means and had his own

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<v Speaker 1>special temperament. If this is kept in view, we shall

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<v Speaker 1>no longer consider, with some modern historians, that no event,

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps in Roman history, is so sudden, so unconnected, and

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<v Speaker 1>accordingly so obscure in its original causes as this revolt

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<v Speaker 1>or conspiracy of Saturninus. Like Caius Graccus, Saturninus represented rural

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<v Speaker 1>as opposed to urban interests, and the interests of the

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<v Speaker 1>provinces as opposed to those of the capital. Like Gaius too,

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<v Speaker 1>he endeavored to conciliate the Equitace, but they had all

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<v Speaker 1>the Roman prejudice against admitting Italians to a level with themselves,

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<v Speaker 1>and the attempt to play off party against party utterly failed.

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<v Speaker 1>In Vain, Saturninus tried to defy opposition by enlisting the

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<v Speaker 1>support of the Marian veterans, the rich, the noble, and

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<v Speaker 1>the mob united against him, and when he seized the capital,

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<v Speaker 1>it was to defend himself against all three. In the

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<v Speaker 1>year one hundred BC, Marius was consul for the sixth time,

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<v Speaker 1>Glaucia was pritor, and Saturninus was a second time tribune.

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<v Speaker 1>A triumvirate so powerful might, if united, have overthrown the Constitution.

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<v Speaker 1>But the vanity and vacillation of Marius were the best

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<v Speaker 1>allies of the optimates. And it was no grown man

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<v Speaker 1>but Guius Julius Caesar, a child born in that same year,

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<v Speaker 1>who was destined to subvert their rule. Saturninus had been

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<v Speaker 1>instrumental in securing the election of Marius to his fifth

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<v Speaker 1>consulship in one o two, and it was about that

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<v Speaker 1>time that the Lex Servilia was carried. This law defined

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<v Speaker 1>the liability of Roman officials to trial for extortion in

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<v Speaker 1>the provinces, and by a process of elimination, four senators,

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<v Speaker 1>workers for hire, and others were expressly declared ineligible, practically

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<v Speaker 1>left to the equities. The jurisdiction in such trials. Whether

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<v Speaker 1>or no the law of Gracus had been repealed by

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<v Speaker 1>another civilian law, that of Quintus Servilius Kipio, we cannot

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<v Speaker 1>say for certain. If so the second civilian law repealed

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<v Speaker 1>the first, but whether it restored power to the equities

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<v Speaker 1>or only confirmed the minute. In theory, it left the

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<v Speaker 1>office of udex open to all citizens. For while it

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<v Speaker 1>excluded so many citizens that in practice that judicia was

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<v Speaker 1>close to all but the equestrian class, it did not

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<v Speaker 1>assign the office to any one class. In particular, it

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<v Speaker 1>also provided that any one not a citizen who won

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<v Speaker 1>his suit against an official should, by virtue of doing so,

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<v Speaker 1>obtain the citizenship. So that we may trace in this

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<v Speaker 1>law a threefold policy, an attempt One to relieve the

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<v Speaker 1>provincials by making prosecutions for extortion easy and even putting

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<v Speaker 1>a premium on them. Two to conciliate the equitase. Three

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<v Speaker 1>to pave the way for the overthrow of class jurisdiction

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<v Speaker 1>by nominally at least leaving the judicia open to all

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<v Speaker 1>who did not come under specified restrictions. Cicero, in Vags

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<v Speaker 1>against Glaucia, as a demagogue of the Hyperbolus stamp, But

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<v Speaker 1>there was more of the statesmen than the demagogue in

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<v Speaker 1>this law. When Saturninus was a candidate for the tribunate,

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<v Speaker 1>he and Glaucia are said to have set on men

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<v Speaker 1>to murder Nonius, another candidate who they feared might use

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<v Speaker 1>his veto to thwart their projects. Marius had been previously

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<v Speaker 1>elected consul and supported Saturninus in his candidature, as Saturninus

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<v Speaker 1>had supported him. Marius may have been induced to enter

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<v Speaker 1>into this alliance by the desire to gratify a personal

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<v Speaker 1>grudge for the rival candidate had been the man he

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<v Speaker 1>most detested, Quintus Metellus, and the first measure of Saturninus

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<v Speaker 1>was a compliment to him and a direct blow aimed

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<v Speaker 1>at Metellus. This was an agrarian law which would benefit

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<v Speaker 1>the Marian veterans, as it contained a proviso that any

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<v Speaker 1>senator refusing to swear to observe it within five days

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<v Speaker 1>should be expelled from the Senate. It would be sure

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<v Speaker 1>to drive Metellus from Rome. But if there was diplomacy

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<v Speaker 1>in this measure of Saturninus, there was sagacity also. What

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<v Speaker 1>discontent was seething in Italy? The social war soon proved,

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<v Speaker 1>and this was an attempt to appease it. Saturninus had

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<v Speaker 1>previously proposed allotments in Africa. Now he proposed to allot

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<v Speaker 1>lands in Transalpine Gaul, Sicily, Aecia and Macedonia, and supply

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<v Speaker 1>the colonists with an outfit from the treasure taken from

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<v Speaker 1>Tolosa Marius was have the allotment of the land. There

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<v Speaker 1>is a difficulty as to these colonies, which no history solves.

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<v Speaker 1>They were Roman colonies to which only Roman citizens were eligible,

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<v Speaker 1>and yet the Roman populace opposed the law. The Italians,

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<v Speaker 1>on the contrary, carried it by violence. Some have cut

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<v Speaker 1>the knot by supposing that though the colonies were Roman,

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<v Speaker 1>Italians were to be admitted to them, but there is

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<v Speaker 1>another possible explanation. It is certain that many Italians passed

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<v Speaker 1>as citizens at Rome in one eighty seven BC, twelve

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<v Speaker 1>thousand Latins passing as Roman citizens had been obliged to

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<v Speaker 1>quit Rome. In ninety five BC, there was another clearance

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<v Speaker 1>of aliens, which was one of the immediate causes of

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<v Speaker 1>the social war. Fictitious citizens might have found it easy

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<v Speaker 1>to obtain allotments from a consul whose ears if first

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<v Speaker 1>made deaf by the din of arms, had never since

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<v Speaker 1>recovered their hearing. However this may be. It was the

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<v Speaker 1>rural party which by violence procured a preponderance of votes

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<v Speaker 1>at the ballot boxes, and it was the town populace

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<v Speaker 1>which resisted what it felt to be an invasion of

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<v Speaker 1>their prerogative by the men from the country. Marius is

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<v Speaker 1>said to have got rid of Metellus by a trick.

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<v Speaker 1>He pretended that he would not take the oath which

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<v Speaker 1>the law demanded, but when Metellus had said the same thing,

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<v Speaker 1>told the Senate that he would swear to obey the

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<v Speaker 1>law as far as it was a law, in order

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<v Speaker 1>to induce the rural voters to leave Rome, and Metellus,

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<v Speaker 1>scorning such a subterfuge, went into exile. Another law of

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<v Speaker 1>Saturninus either renewed the corn law of Caius Gracus, or

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<v Speaker 1>went farther and made the price of grain merely nominal.

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<v Speaker 1>This law was, no doubt meant to recover the favor

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<v Speaker 1>of the city mob, which he had forfeited by his

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<v Speaker 1>agrarian law. But Cayphio, son probably of the Hero of Tolosa,

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<v Speaker 1>stopped the voting by force, and the law was not carried.

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<v Speaker 1>The third law of Saturninus was alex de Maastate, a

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<v Speaker 1>law by which anyone could be prosecuted for treason against

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<v Speaker 1>the state, and which was not improbably aimed specially at Kaipio,

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<v Speaker 1>who was impeached under it. It seems at any rate

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<v Speaker 1>certain that of these laws the agrarian was the chief

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<v Speaker 1>and the others subsidiary. In other words, that he and

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<v Speaker 1>Claucia were working together on an organized plan and striving

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<v Speaker 1>to admit the whole Roman world into a community of rites.

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<v Speaker 1>With Rome. They thought that with the Marian soldiers at

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<v Speaker 1>their back, they would be safer than Gracus with his

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<v Speaker 1>bands of reapers, and so they may have taken the

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<v Speaker 1>initiative in violence, from which, both by past events and

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<v Speaker 1>the acts of men like Kaipio, it was certain that

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<v Speaker 1>the Optimists would not shrink. It is difficult to apportion

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<v Speaker 1>the blame in such cases. But when Glaucias stood for

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<v Speaker 1>the consulship of ninety nine and his rival Memius, a

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<v Speaker 1>favorite with the people, was murdered, an attack was made

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<v Speaker 1>on Saturninus, who hastily sent for aid to his rural

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<v Speaker 1>supporters and seized the capital. He found then that in

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<v Speaker 1>reckoning on Marius, he had made a fatal blunder. That

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<v Speaker 1>selfish intriguer had been alarmed by the popular favor shown

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<v Speaker 1>to an impostor named Equitius, who gave out that he

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<v Speaker 1>was the son of Tiberius Gracus, and who, being imprisoned

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<v Speaker 1>by Marius, was released by the people an elected tribune.

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<v Speaker 1>He may have been jealous too of the popularity of

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<v Speaker 1>Saturninus with his own veterans, and at the same time

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<v Speaker 1>anxious to curry favor with the foes of Saturninus, the

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<v Speaker 1>urban populace. So instead of boldly joining his late ally,

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<v Speaker 1>he became the general of the opposite party, drove Saturninus

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<v Speaker 1>and his friends from the forum, and when they had surrendered,

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<v Speaker 1>suffered them to be pelted to death in the Curia Hostilia,

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<v Speaker 1>where he had placed them. Saturninus, it is said, had

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<v Speaker 1>been proclaimed king before his death. If so, he had

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<v Speaker 1>at least struck for a crown consistently and boldly, and

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<v Speaker 1>even if his attempt for the moment united the senatorial

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<v Speaker 1>party and the Equitaise while the city mob stood wavering

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<v Speaker 1>or hostile, he might nevertheless have forestalled the empire by

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<v Speaker 1>a century. Had Marius only had half his enterprise or nerve.

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<v Speaker 1>In an epoch of revolution, it is idle to judge

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<v Speaker 1>men by an ordinary standard, how far personal ambition and

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<v Speaker 1>how far a noble ideal animated Saturninus. No man can say,

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<v Speaker 1>those who condemn him must condemn Cromwell too. For the

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<v Speaker 1>moment the power of the optimates seemed restored, the specter

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<v Speaker 1>of monarchy had made the men of riches coalesce with

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<v Speaker 1>their old rivals, the men of rank, and the mob,

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<v Speaker 1>ungrateful for an unexecuted corn law, chafed at Italian pretensions.

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<v Speaker 1>Metellus the aristocrat was recalled to Rome amid the enthusiasm

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<v Speaker 1>of the anti Italian mob, and Publius, furious, was torn

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<v Speaker 1>to pieces for having opposed his return. Marius slunk away

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<v Speaker 1>to the east, finding that his treachery had only isolated

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<v Speaker 1>him and brought him into contempt. And there it is

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<v Speaker 1>said he tried to incite Mithridatees to war sextstitious indeed

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<v Speaker 1>brought forward an agrarian law in ninety nine b c.

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<v Speaker 1>But he was opposed by his colleagues and driven into exile.

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<v Speaker 1>Two events soon happened which showed not only the embittered

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<v Speaker 1>feelings existing between the urban and rural population, but also

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<v Speaker 1>the sympathy with the provincials felt by the better Romans,

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<v Speaker 1>and as an inference, the miserable condition of the provincials themselves.

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<v Speaker 1>The first was the enactment in ninety five b c.

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<v Speaker 1>Of the Lex Lacinia Minutia, which ordered Latins and Italian's

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<v Speaker 1>resident at Rome to leave the city. The second was

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<v Speaker 1>the prosecution and conviction of Publius Rutilius Rufus, nominally for extortion,

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<v Speaker 1>but really because by his just administration of the province

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<v Speaker 1>of Asia, he had rebuked extortion and the equestrian courts

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<v Speaker 1>which connived it. It. Though most of the senators were

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<v Speaker 1>as guilty as the equitas, the mass like Marcus Scaurus,

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<v Speaker 1>who was himself impeached for extortion, would ill brook being

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<v Speaker 1>forced to appear before their courts and be eager to

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<v Speaker 1>take hold of their maladministration of justice as a pretext

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<v Speaker 1>for abrogating the Servilian law. One more attempt at reform

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<v Speaker 1>was to be made, this time by one of the

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<v Speaker 1>Senate's own members, but only to be once more defeated

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<v Speaker 1>by rancorous party spirit and besotted urban pride. Marcus Livius

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<v Speaker 1>Drusus was son of the man whom the Senate had

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<v Speaker 1>put forward to outbid Gaius Gracus. He he was a haughty,

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<v Speaker 1>upright man of an impetuous temper, such a man as

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<v Speaker 1>often becomes the tool of less courageous but more dexterous intriguers.

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<v Speaker 1>Marcus Scourus had been impeached for taking bribes in Asia,

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<v Speaker 1>and it is said that in his disgust, he egged

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<v Speaker 1>on Drusus to restore the Judicia to the Senate. Jusus

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<v Speaker 1>was probably one of those men whom in aristocracy, in

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<v Speaker 1>its decadence, not rarely produces. He disliked the preponderance of

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<v Speaker 1>the moneyed class. He could not feel the vulgar Roman's

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<v Speaker 1>antipathy to giving Italians the franchise, for he saw it

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<v Speaker 1>exercised by men who were, in his eyes, infinitely more contemptible.

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<v Speaker 1>He disliked also and despised the vices of his own order,

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<v Speaker 1>mistaking the crafty suggestions of scours for a genuine appeal

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<v Speaker 1>to high motives. Flattered by it and by the confidence

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<v Speaker 1>of the Italians, he thought that he could educate his party,

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<v Speaker 1>and by his personal influence, induce it to do justice

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<v Speaker 1>to Italy. But this conservative advocate of reform was not

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<v Speaker 1>widely enough tactician for the times in which he lived

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<v Speaker 1>were the changes which he meditated. His attempts to improve

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<v Speaker 1>on the devices of Saturninus and Gracus were miserable failures,

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<v Speaker 1>and the senators who used him or were influenced by him,

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<v Speaker 1>shrank from his side when they saw him follow to

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<v Speaker 1>their logical issue the principles which they had advocated, either

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<v Speaker 1>for selfish objects or only theoretically. Whether this is the

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<v Speaker 1>true view of the character and position of Drusus or not,

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<v Speaker 1>we may feel sure that he was in earnest in

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<v Speaker 1>his advocacy of Italian interests, and that this was the

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<v Speaker 1>main object of his reforms. To silence the mob at Rome,

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<v Speaker 1>he slightly depreciated the coinage so as to relieve debtors,

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<v Speaker 1>established some colonies, perhaps those promised by his father, and

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<v Speaker 1>carried some law for distributing cheap grains. Senators like scours.

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<v Speaker 1>He courted by handing over the judicia once more to

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<v Speaker 1>the Senate, while by admitting three hundred equitas to the Senate,

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<v Speaker 1>he hoped to compensate them for the wound which he

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<v Speaker 1>thus inflicted on their material interests and their pride. The

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<v Speaker 1>body thus composed was to try cases of uticase accused

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<v Speaker 1>of taking bribes, But the Senate scorned and yet feared

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<v Speaker 1>the threatened invasion by which it would be severed into

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<v Speaker 1>two antagonistic halves. The equitas left behind were jealous of

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<v Speaker 1>the equitase promoted, and where Drusus hoped to conciliate both classes,

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<v Speaker 1>he only drew down their united animosity upon himself. Even

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<v Speaker 1>in Italy, his plans were not unanimously approved. Occupiers of

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<v Speaker 1>the public land who had never yet been disturbed in

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<v Speaker 1>their occupation, such as those who held the Campanian domainland,

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<v Speaker 1>were alarmed by this plan of colonization, which not only

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<v Speaker 1>called in question and once more their right of tenure,

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<v Speaker 1>but even appropriated their land. But though the large landowners

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<v Speaker 1>were adverse to him, the great mass of the Italians

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<v Speaker 1>was on his side, and it was by their help

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<v Speaker 1>that he carried the first three of his laws, which

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<v Speaker 1>he shrewdly included in one measure. Thus, those who wanted

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<v Speaker 1>land or grain were constrained to vote for the changes

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<v Speaker 1>in the Judicia also, But as there was a law

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<v Speaker 1>expressly forbidding this admixture of different measures in one bill,

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<v Speaker 1>he left an opening for his opponents by which they

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<v Speaker 1>soon took advantage. Chief of these opponents was the consul Philippus.

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<v Speaker 1>When the Italians crowded into Rome to support Drusus, which

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<v Speaker 1>they would do by overawing voters at the ballot boxes,

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<v Speaker 1>by recording fictitious votes, and by escorting Drusus about so

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<v Speaker 1>as to lend him the support which an apparent majority

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<v Speaker 1>always confers, Philippus came forward as the champion of the

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<v Speaker 1>opposite side. He seems to have been a turncoat, with

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<v Speaker 1>a fluent tongue and few principles. He had no sympathy

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<v Speaker 1>with the generous, if lighty liberalism of the party of Drusus,

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<v Speaker 1>no doubt, it seemed to him weak sentimentalism, and he

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<v Speaker 1>openly said that he must take counsel with other people,

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<v Speaker 1>as he could not carry on the government with such

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<v Speaker 1>a senate. Accordingly, he appealed to the worst Roman prejudices,

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<v Speaker 1>namely the selfishness of large occupiers and the anti Italian

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<v Speaker 1>sentiments of the mob. This explains his being numbered among

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<v Speaker 1>the popular party, with which the Italian Party was not

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<v Speaker 1>now identical. Drusus, when his subsidiary measures had proved abortive

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<v Speaker 1>grew desperate as his influence in the Senate waned, he

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<v Speaker 1>entered into closer alliance with the Italians, who, on their part,

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<v Speaker 1>bound themselves by an oath to treat as their friend

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<v Speaker 1>or enemy each friend or enemy of Drusus. And it

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<v Speaker 1>is conjectured from a fragment of Deardorus, that ten thousand

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<v Speaker 1>of them, led by pompidi Asilo, armed with daggers, set

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<v Speaker 1>out for Rome to demand the franchise, but were persuaded

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<v Speaker 1>to desist from their undertaking. Monarchy seemed once more imminent,

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<v Speaker 1>and now, as in the case of Gracus, it is

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<v Speaker 1>impossible to say whether the attitude of the champion of

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<v Speaker 1>reform was due to the force of circumstances or to

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<v Speaker 1>settle design. But Philippus was equal to the occasion. He

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<v Speaker 1>induced the Senate to annul the laws of Drusus, already

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<v Speaker 1>carried and summoned the occupiers of the public land whom

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<v Speaker 1>that law affected, to come and confront the Italians in Rome.

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<v Speaker 1>A battle in the streets would have no doubt ensued,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was prevented by the assassination of Drusus, who

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<v Speaker 1>was one evening stabbed mortally in his own house. It

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<v Speaker 1>is said that, when dying, he ejaculated that it would

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<v Speaker 1>be long before the state had another citizen like him.

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<v Speaker 1>He seems to have had much of the disinterested spirit

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<v Speaker 1>of Gaius Gracus, though with far inferiorability, and like him,

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<v Speaker 1>he left a mother, Cornelia, to do honor by her

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<v Speaker 1>fortitude to the memory of her son. That year, the

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<v Speaker 1>presentiment of coming political convulsions found expression in reports of

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<v Speaker 1>supernatural prodigies, while signs both on the earth and in

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<v Speaker 1>the heavens portended war and bloodshed, the tramp of hostile armies,

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<v Speaker 1>and the devastation of the peninsula, and of Section nine