JUGURTHA AND HIS TIMES. B.C. 118-104.
The murder of C. Gracchus and his adherents left the Nobility undisputed
masters of the state, till their scandalous conduct in the Jugurthan War
provoked a reaction against them, and raised to power a more terrible
opponent than the Gracchi had ever been. This man, who took such signal
vengeance upon the Nobility, was the lowborn MARIUS. He was a native of
Arpinum, and was said to have worked for wages as a common peasant
before he entered the ranks of the army. He first served in Spain, and
was present at the siege of Numantia in B.C. 134. Here he distinguished
himself so much that he attracted the notice of Scipio Africanus, and
received from him many marks of honor. Scipio indeed admitted him to his
table; and on a certain occasion, when one of the guests asked Scipio
where the Roman people would find such another general after his death,
he is said to have laid his hand on the shoulder of Marius, and said,
"Perhaps here." The name of Marius does not occur again for many years,
but he doubtless continued to serve in the army, and became so
distinguished that he was at length raised to the Tribunate of the Plebs
in B.C. 119, though not till he had attained the mature age of 38. Only
two years had elapsed since the death of C. Gracchus; and the Nobles,
flushed with victory, resolved to put down with a high hand the least
invasion of their privileges and power. But Marius had the boldness to
propose a law for the purpose of giving greater freedom at elections;
and when the Senate attempted to overawe him, he ordered one of his
officers to carry the Consul Metellus to prison. Marius now became a
marked man. He lost his election to the Ædileship, and with difficulty
obtained the Prætorship (B.C. 115); but he added to his influence by his
marriage with Julia, the sister of C. Julius Cæsar, the father of the
future ruler of Rome. His military abilities recommended him to the
Consul Metellus (B.C. 100), who was anxious to restore discipline in the
army and to retrieve the glory of the Roman name, which had been
tarnished by the incapacity and corruption of the previous generals in
the Jugurthan War, which now requires our attention.
Masinissa, the ruler of Numidia, and so long the faithful ally of the
Romans, had died in B.C. 149, at the advanced age of 90, leaving three
sons, Micipsa, Mastanabal, and Gulussa, among whom his kingdom was
divided by Scipio Africanus, according to the dying directions of the
old king. Mastanabal and Gulussa dying in their brother's lifetime,
Micipsa became sole king. Jugurtha was a bastard son of Mastanabal; but
Micipsa brought him up with his own sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal.
Jugurtha distinguished himself so much that he began to excite the
jealousy of Micipsa. In order to remove him to a distance, and not
without a hope that he might perish in the war, Micipsa sent him, in
B.C. 134, with an auxiliary force, to assist Scipio against Numantia;
but this only proved to the young man a fresh occasion of distinction.
By his zeal, courage, and ability he gained the favor not only of his
commander, but of all the leading nobles in the Roman camp, by many of
whom he was secretly stimulated to nourish ambitious schemes for
acquiring the sole sovereignty of Numidia; and notwithstanding the
contrary advice of Scipio, the counsels seem to have sunk deep into the
mind of Jugurtha. On his return he was received with every demonstration
of honor by Micipsa; nor did he allow his ambitious projects to break
forth during the lifetime of the old man. Micipsa, on his death-bed,
though but too clearly foreseeing what would happen, commended the two
young princes to the care of Jugurtha; but at the very first interview
which took place between them after his decease (B.C. 118) their
dissensions broke out with the utmost fierceness. Shortly afterward
Jugurtha found an opportunity to surprise and assassinate Hiempsal;
whereupon Adherbal and his partisans rushed to arms, but were defeated
in battle by Jugurtha. Adherbal himself fled for refuge to the Roman
province, from whence he hastened to Rome to lay his cause before the
Senate. Jugurtha had now the opportunity, for the first time, of putting
to the test that which he had learnt in the camp before Numantia of the
venality and corruption of the Roman nobility. He sent embassadors to
Rome to counteract, by a lavish distribution of bribes, the effect of
the just complaints of Adherbal, and by these means succeeded in
averting the indignation of the Senate. A decree was, however, passed
for the division of the kingdom of Numidia between the two competitors,
and a committee of Senators sent to enforce its execution; but as soon
as these arrived in Africa, Jugurtha succeeded in gaining them over by
the same unscrupulous methods, and obtained, in the partition of the
kingdom, the western division adjacent to Mauritania, by far the larger
and richer portion of the two (B.C. 117). But this advantage was far
from contenting him, and shortly afterward he invaded the territories of
his rival with a large army. Adherbal was defeated in the first
engagement, his camp taken, and he himself with difficulty made his
escape to the strong fortress of Cirta. Here he was closely blockaded by
Jugurtha. The garrison surrendered on a promise of their lives being
spared; but these conditions were shamefully violated by Jugurtha, who
immediately put to death Adherbal and all his followers (B.C. 112).
Indignation was now loud at Rome against the Numidian king; yet so
powerful was the influence of those whose favor he had gained by his
gold, that he would probably have prevailed upon the Senate to overlook
all his misdeeds, had not one of the Tribunes, C. Memmius, by bringing
the matter before the people, compelled the Senators to give way. War
was accordingly declared against him, and one of the Consuls, L.
Calpurnius Bestia, landed in Africa with a large army, and immediately
proceeded to invade Numidia (B.C. 111). But Jugurtha easily bribed
Bestia and M. Scaurus, who acted as his principal lieutenant, to grant
him a favorable peace, on condition only of a pretended submission,
together with the surrender of thirty elephants and a small sum of
money. As soon as the tidings of this disgraceful transaction reached
Rome, the indignation excited was so great that, on the proposition of
C. Memmius, it was agreed to send the Prætor L. Cassius, a man of the
highest integrity, to Numidia, in order to prevail on the king to
repair in person to Rome, the popular party hoping to be able to convict
the leaders of the Nobility by means of his evidence. The safe-conduct
granted him by the state was religiously observed; but the scheme failed
of its effect, for, as soon as Jugurtha was brought forward in the
assembly of the people to make his statement, one of the Tribunes, who
had been previously gained over by the friends of Scaurus and Bestia,
forbade him to speak. He nevertheless remained at Rome for some time
longer, and engaged in secret intrigues, which would probably have been
ultimately crowned with success had he not in the mean time ventured to
assassinate Massiva, son of Gulussa, who was putting in a claim to the
Numidian throne. It was impossible to overlook so daring a crime,
perpetrated under the very eyes of the Senate. Jugurtha was ordered to
quit Italy without delay. It was on this occasion that he is said, when
leaving Rome, to have uttered the memorable words, "A city for sale, and
destined to perish quickly, if it can find a purchaser."
War was now inevitable; but the incapacity of Sp. Postumius Albinus, who
arrived to conduct it (B.C. 110), and still more that of his brother
Aulus, whom he left to command in his absence, when called away to hold
the elections at Rome, proved as favorable to Jugurtha as the corruption
of their predecessors. Aulus, having penetrated into the heart of
Numidia, suffered himself to be surprised in his camp; great part of his
army was cut to pieces, and the rest only escaped a similar fate by the
ignominy of passing under the yoke. But Jugurtha had little reason to
rejoice in this success, great as it might at first appear; for the
disgrace at once roused all the spirit of the Roman people; the treaty
concluded by Aulus was instantly annulled, immense exertions made to
raise troops, and one of the Consuls for the new year (B.C. 109), Q.
Cæcilius Metellus, hastened to Numidia to retrieve the honor of the
Roman arms. But this did not satisfy the people. The scandalous conduct
of so many of the Nobles had given fresh life to the popular party; and
the Tribune C. Mamilius carried a bill for the appointment of three
Commissioners to inquire into the conduct of all of those who had
received bribes from Jugurtha. Scaurus, though one of the most guilty,
managed to be put upon the Commission. But he dared not shield his
confederates. Many men of the highest rank were condemned, among whom
were Bestia, Albinus, and Opimius. The last named was the Opimius who
acted with such ferocity toward Caius Gracchus and his party. He died in
exile at Dyrrhachium some years afterward, in great poverty.
The Consul Metellus, who was an able general and a man of the strictest
integrity, landed in Africa, with Marius as his lieutenant, in B.C. 109.
As soon as Jugurtha discovered the character of the new commander he
began to despair of success, and made overtures for submission in
earnest. These were apparently entertained by Metellus, while he sought
in fact to gain over the adherents of the king, and induce them to
betray him to the Romans, at the same time that he continued to advance
into the enemy's territories. Jugurtha, in his turn, detected his
designs, attacked him suddenly on his march with a numerous force, but
was, after a severe struggle, repulsed, and his army totally routed.
Metellus ravaged the greater part of the country, but failed in taking
the important town of Zama before he withdrew into winter quarters. But
he had produced such an effect upon the Numidian king, that Jugurtha was
induced, in the course of the winter, to make offers of unqualified
submission, and even surrendered all his elephants, with a number of
arms and horses, and a large sum of money, to the Roman general; but
when called upon to place himself personally in the power of Metellus,
his courage failed him, he broke off the negotiation, and once more had
recourse to arms. Marius had greatly distinguished himself in the
preceding campaign. The readiness with which he shared the toils of the
common soldiers, eating of the same food, and working at the same
trenches with them, had endeared him to them, and through their letters
to their friends at Rome his praises were in everybody's mouth. His
increasing reputation and popularity induced him to aspire to the
Consulship. His hopes were increased by a circumstance which happened to
him at Utica. While sacrificing at this place the officiating priest
told him that the victims predicted some great and wonderful events, and
bade him execute whatever purpose he had in his mind. Marius thereupon
applied to Metellus for leave of absence, that he might proceed to Rome
and offer himself as a candidate. The Consul, who belonged to a family
of the highest nobility, at first tried to dissuade Marius from his
presumptuous attempt, by pointing out the certainty of failure; and when
he could not prevail upon him to abandon his design, he civilly evaded
his request by pleading the exigencies of the public service, which
required his presence and assistance. But, as Marius still continued to
press him for leave of absence, Metellus said to him on one occasion,
"You need not be in such a hurry to go to Rome; it will be quite time
enough for you to apply for the Consulship along with my son." The
latter, who was then serving with the army, was a youth of only twenty
years of age, and could not, therefore, become a candidate for the
Consulship for the next twenty years. This insult was never forgotten by
Marius. He now began to intrigue against his general, and to represent
that the war was purposely prolonged by Metellus to gratify his own
vanity and love of military power. He openly declared that with one half
of the army he would soon have Jugurtha in chains; and as all his
remarks were carefully reported at Rome, the people began to regard him
as the only person competent to finish the war. Metellus at last allowed
him to leave Africa, but only twelve days before the election. Meeting
with a favorable wind, he arrived at Rome in time, and was elected
Consul with an enthusiasm which bore down all opposition. He received
from the people the province of Numidia, although the Senate had
previously decreed that Metellus should continue in his command. The
exultation of Marius knew no bounds. In his speeches to the public, he
gloried in his humble origin. He upbraided the Nobles with their
effeminacy and licentiousness; he told them that he looked upon the
Consulship as a trophy of his conquest over them; and he proudly
compared his own wounds and military experience with their indolence and
ignorance of war. It was a great triumph for the people and a great
humiliation for the aristocracy, and Marius made them drink to the dregs
the bitter cup. While engaged in these attacks upon the Nobility, he at
the same time carried on a levy of troops with great activity, and
enrolled any persons who chose to offer for the service, however poor
and mean, instead of taking them from the five classes according to
ancient custom.[64]
Meantime Metellus had been carrying on the war in Africa as Proconsul
(B.C. 108). But the campaign was not productive of such decisive results
as might have been expected. Jugurtha avoided any general action, and
eluded the pursuit of Metellus by the rapidity of his movements. Even
when driven from Thala, a strong-hold which he had deemed inaccessible
from its position in the midst of arid deserts, he only retired among
the Gætulians, and quickly succeeded in raising among those wild tribes
a fresh army, with which he once more penetrated into the heart of
Numidia. A still more important accession was that of Bocchus, king of
Mauritania, who had been prevailed upon to raise an army, and advance to
the support of Jugurtha. Metellus, however, having now relaxed his own
efforts, from disgust at hearing that C. Marius had been appointed to
succeed him in the command, remained on the defensive, while he sought
to amuse the Moorish king by negotiation. The arrival of Marius (B.C.
107) infused fresh vigor into the Roman arms. He quickly reduced in
succession almost all the strong-holds that still remained to Jugurtha,
in some of which the king had deposited his principal treasures; and
the latter, seeing himself thus deprived step by step of all his
dominions, at length determined on a desperate attempt to retrieve his
fortunes by one grand effort. He with difficulty prevailed on the
wavering Bocchus, by the most extensive promises in case of success, to
co-operate with him in this enterprise; and the two kings, with their
united forces, attacked Marius on his march, when he was about to retire
into winter quarters. Though the Roman general was taken by surprise for
a moment, his consummate skill and the discipline of his troops proved
again triumphant; the Numidians were repulsed, and their army, as usual
with them in case of a defeat, dispersed in all directions. Jugurtha
himself, after displaying the greatest courage in the action, cut his
way almost alone through a body of Roman cavalry, and escaped from the
field of battle. He quickly again gathered round him a body of Numidian
horse; but his only hope of continuing the war now rested on Bocchus.
The latter was for some time uncertain what course to adopt, but was at
length gained over by Sulla, the Quæstor of Marius, to the Roman cause,
and joined in a plan for seizing the person of the Numidian king.
Jugurtha fell into the snare; he was induced, under pretense of a
conference, to repair with only a few followers to meet Bocchus, when he
was instantly surrounded, his attendants cut to pieces, and he himself
made prisoner, and delivered in chains to Sulla, by whom he was conveyed
directly to the camp of Marius. This occurred early in the year B.C.
106.
L. Cornelius Sulla, the Quæstor of Marius, who afterward plays such a
distinguished part in Roman history, was descended from a Patrician
family which had been reduced to great obscurity. But his means were
sufficient to secure him a good education. He studied the Greek and
Roman writers with diligence and success, and early imbibed that love of
literature and art by which he was distinguished throughout his life.
But he was also fond of pleasure, and was conspicuous even among the
Romans for licentiousness and debauchery. He was in every respect a
contrast to Marius. He possessed all the accomplishments and all the
vices which the old Cato had been most accustomed to denounce, and he
was one of those advocates of Greek literature and of Greek profligacy
who had since Cato's time become more and more common among the Roman
Nobles. But Sulla's love of pleasure did not absorb all his time, nor
enfeeble his mind; for no Roman during the latter days of the Republic,
with the exception of Julius Cæsar, had a clearer judgment, a keener
discrimination of character, or a firmer will. Upon his arrival in
Africa, Marius was not well pleased that a Quæstor had been assigned to
him who was only known for his profligacy, and who had had no
experience in war; but the zeal and energy with which Sulla attended to
his new duties soon rendered him a useful and skillful officer, and
gained for him the unqualified approbation of his commander,
notwithstanding his previous prejudices against him. He was equally
successful in winning the affections of the soldiers. He always
addressed them with the greatest kindness, seized every opportunity of
conferring favors upon them, was ever ready to take part in all the
jests of the camp, and at the same time never shrank from sharing in all
their labors and dangers. It is a curious circumstance that Marius gave
to his future enemy and the destroyer of his family and party the first
opportunity of distinguishing himself. The enemies of Marius claimed for
Sulla the glory of the betrayal of Jugurtha, and Sulla himself took the
credit of it by always wearing a signet ring representing the scene of
the surrender.
Marius continued more than a year in Africa after the capture of
Jugurtha. He entered Rome on the first of January, B.C. 104, leading
Jugurtha in triumph. The Numidian king was then thrown into a dungeon,
and there starved to death. Marius, during his absence, had been elected
Consul a second time, and he entered upon his office on the day of his
triumph. The reason of this unprecedented honor will be related in the
following chapter.
[Illustration: Soldiers blowing Tubæ and Cornua. (From Column of
Trajan.)]
[Footnote 64: On this important change in the Roman army, see p. 124.
(The end of Chapter XVII.--Transcriber)]
[Illustration: Caius Marius.]