The ill-will between the nobles and the people continued just as bitter
after the death of Gracchus; and matters finally shaped themselves in
such a way that the nobles, or senatorial party, came to be represented
by a leader named Sulla, and the democracy, or Commons, by another,
called Marius. These men came to prominence in the course of two or
three wars in which Rome was engaged for twenty-five or thirty years
after the time of which we have been speaking; and finally they acquired
such power as to bring on a civil strife that deluged Italy with blood.
The wars just referred to were: the Jugurthine war (111-106 B. C.), the
war against the Cimbri (113-101 B. C.), and the Social war (90-89 B.
C.), with the details of which we need not concern ourselves; but the
fourth contest was of more moment, and needs notice here. This was the
Mithridatic war.