themselves, to avoid the fate which was intended for them by Cinna, and
that still greater sinner, Marius. Q. Lutatius Catulus proceeded to the
temple, and getting into a corner among the statues of the gods, placing
himself opposite Pan, perished by the fumes of charcoal. Merula, the
Flamen of Jupiter, may be said to have snuffed himself out, or
extinguished his own vital spark; for, seating himself in the portico of
the Capitoline, he calmly made preparations for suicide, and took off
his flame-coloured cap, in which it was not lawful for him to expire.
Producing some surgical instruments from his pocket, he sat ruminating
over his case, and taking out a lancet, he showed that he was no longer
in the vein to live, but quite in the vein to die, for he opened an
artery. The tyrant himself took to drinking in his old age, and
frequently rolled about in a state of frenzy, under the impression that
he was commanding an army against Mithridates. He ultimately drove
himself to _delirium tremens_, and he contracted a constant shake of
the hands by his frequent use of cordials. He died after a short
illness, on the 15th of January, B.C. 86, without having devoted himself
to that sober reflection, which would have induced him to repent of his
numerous enormities. Such was the end of a man, whose faults have been
sometimes glossed over with the varnish of flattery, though at the hands
of truth they can only receive an appropriate coat of blacking.
[Illustration: Marius in his Old Age.]
FOOTNOTES:
[69] Some say that Just-in was just-out, on this occasion, for that no
comet appeared at the time stated. See Justin, xxxvii. 2, _et seq._
[70] "De rebus Mithridaticis."
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.
DEATH OF CINNA. RETURN OF SULLA TO ROME. C. PAPIRIUS CARBO. DICTATORSHIP
OF SULLA.
Liberty being now established on a republican basis, by the massacre of
all who had a word to say against the military usurper Cinna, that
individual began the task of consolidating his power. He nominated L.
Valerius Flaccus to the consulship; and those of the aristocracy who
wished for freedom, were free to leave Rome if they did not like living
under a tyrannical government. To speak openly in the forum or the
courts of justice, was prohibited; and the scantiness of the reports
that have come down to us of the events of the times, can be no matter
of surprise, when we consider that the reporters were not permitted to
give an account of actual occurrences.
It was necessary to amuse the masses by what are termed liberal
measures, and as an excess of liberality, it was proposed that every
debtor, paying one fourth of his debt, should be released from all
further liability to his creditor. This was sure to be a popular act in
a country already ruined by political agitation, and the despotism to
which it frequently leads; and, as the debtors were by far the most
numerous class, a sort of general Insolvent Act was hailed with
acclamations by a bankrupt community.
Sulla, who was still in Greece, refused his allegiance to the despot at
home, and L. Valerius Flaccus was sent to supersede him in the command
of the army. Flaccus was not popular with his soldiers, and as the head
of the Government had set the example of setting aside all law by a
_coup d'état_, an imitator was soon found in the person of one Flavius
Fimbria, a lieutenant, who, by a _coup de tête_, got rid of his
obnoxious general. Flaccus being thus disposed of, Fimbria promoted
himself to the chief command; but, cowardice and cruelty going hand in
hand, he took his own life on hearing that Sulla was setting out against
him. The soldiers of Fimbria, with the most revolting faithlessness,
revolted to Sulla, who was now master of Asia. He called upon the
conquered nation for 20,000 talents, and as the subdued people had not
so large a sum by them, they were obliged to borrow it with one hand at
enormous interest, in order to pay it with the other. The Roman
capitalists lent the cash, and the Roman soldiers assisted them with
their swords to draw a ruinous per-centage from the unfortunate
borrowers. Sulla now prepared to march upon Rome, where Cinna had
re-elected himself as Consul, in conjunction with one Papirius Carbo, a
political incendiary, who acted like so much touch-paper and coal upon
the flame of discord. Intending to meet their rival, they proceeded
with an army into Italy; but the soldiers no sooner found themselves on
the Italian soil, than they declared their determination to remain
there. Cinna called them together, and endeavoured to persuade them to
go forward, but even when he gave the word of command there was no
advance on his bidding. From passive resistance they proceeded to active
insubordination, and, denouncing him as a tyrant whom it was high time
to see through, they perforated him with their swords in several places.
On the death of Cinna, legal authority began to raise its humbled head,
and Carbo was summoned to hold a Comitia at Rome; but on the day
appointed, the attendance of voters not promising a satisfactory result,
the augurs declared the auspices unfavourable, and dissolved the
meeting.
A deputation had been sent to Sulla to endeavour to make terms, but the
members of the deputation were forced to return without any terms having
been agreed upon. Sulla did not march immediately upon Italy, but went
to Ædepsus, in Eubœa, for the benefit of the hot baths, though he did
not limit himself to the waters, for he addicted himself to the spirits
abounding in the neighbourhood. He amused himself in the society of
those who are sometimes said to live upon their wits, though their
existence is really derived from the want of wit in others. Sulla,
however, had a counterpoise to any demerits of his own, in the still
greater demerits of those who were opposed to him.
The new Consuls were L. Cornelius Scipio, a highly respectable man, and
C. Julius Norbanus, a mere creature of Carbo. Against these leaders
Sulla marched from Greece in the rudest health and the most exuberant
spirits. His pockets, however, were as light as his heart; but this
signified little, for the troops were so devoted to him that there was
not an officer unattached; and so far from making any difficulty about
their pay, they undertook to raise money among themselves, if necessary,
for the use of their leader.
The expedition landed at Brundusium, where the inhabitants received
Sulla with open arms, or rather without any arms at all, for they
permitted him to occupy the place without opposition. Passing through
Calabria and Apulia, he approached the encampment of Norbanus, in the
neighbourhood of Capua, and sent ambassadors to treat; but their
treatment was anything but courteous. They were insulted by all kinds of
abuse, and it is said that they had a great deal more thrown in their
face than mere reproaches. When Sulla heard of their reception, or
rather their rejection at the enemy's camp, he fell upon it with such
force that everything fell under him.
He next turned his attention to L. Scipio, whose army went over in a
body to the side of Sulla, while Scipio and his son were sitting
together, talking over general matters in the tent of the general. L.
Scipio had despatched his son with directions for the right division,
when the youth returned to say, that of the right division, there was
not one man left; and when Scipio himself went to look after his men,
he found there was not one remaining, even for the look of the thing,
to mount guard at the tent of their commander. He, of course, proposed a
series of strong resolutions, seconded by his son, that all those who
had joined Sulla were enemies to the state; but the state in which he
then was, rendered his denunciations idle, if not ridiculous. The
position of Sulla was becoming rather alarming to the party of Carbo,
who caused himself to be appointed Consul, for the year B.C. 82, in
conjunction with young C. Marius, who, as the heir of his father, had
inherited a large stock of wickedness. Cn. Pompeius had already sent in
his adhesion to Sulla, who had received him as a very promising young
man, for he had a fair share of popularity, and a good amount of
property. Young Pompey was opposed to old Carbo, and the former so
harassed the latter, that his temper, always sour, became equal to
carbonic acid in its inflammable tendency.
Sulla took young Marius in hand, and followed him up to a place called
Sacriportus, where, in consequence of a dream--for the ancients were
addicted to taking advice with their eyes shut--an attack by the former
on the latter was resolved upon. Sulla ordered his soldiers to advance,
but they were so fatigued that they fell asleep on the road, and caused
their leader to wonder what they could possibly be dreaming of. Instead
of their being equipped in the arms of the warrior, they were stretched
in the arms of Somnus, and Sulla, though reluctant to go counter to his
dream, perceived the folly of marching to battle with a somnambulist
army. He gave orders, therefore, to halt, and the men had commenced
digging the foundations for a camp, when the cavalry of Marius rode up
for the purpose of annoying them. Irritated by the conduct of the
enemy's horse, the soldiers of Sulla kicked against it, and even while
engaged in their work, picked out, with their pickaxes, a few of the
foremost of the Marian army. This led to a general engagement, in which
Sulla's forces forgot their fatigue, and pursued the enemy to the
neighbouring town of Præneste, the gates of which were shut in such
haste, that all the fugitives had not time to get in, and Marius himself
was pulled up by a rope over the wall, together with a few immediate
hangers-on, who had tied themselves to his fortunes. Sulla is said to
have slain 20,000 men, and to have taken 8000 prisoners, while he lost
only twenty-three; but as he is his own authority for the statement,[71]
we must take in a purely figurative sense many of his figures.
The Marian party, fearing that the successes of Sulla might encourage
resistance to the despotism still prevailing at Rome, determined on
getting rid of the principal politicians of the day, the heads of the
National Assembly of the period. The modern practice might have been to
have shut up the place of meeting, and prevent the members, by armed
force, from going in--slaughtering them, of course, in case of their
perseverance; but the Marian policy was to summon them to the Curia
Hostilia, and having got them in, to butcher those who attempted to go
out again.
The prætor, L. Damasippus, was entrusted with this sanguinary business;
and every eminent politician, who was suspected of having an independent
opinion of his own, was at once massacred. This step was declared to be
necessary to give strength to the Government, and to insure the
unanimity of the nation, by cutting the throats of all who ventured to
be of a way of thinking contrary to that of the ruling power.
Unfortunately, some of the best and wisest men of the day were blind to
the virtues of the chief of the republic; and the whole of these,
including Q. Mucius Scævola, the eminent jurist, were unceremoniously
sacrificed.
The news of the success of Sulla at Sacriportus, caused a panic among
those who had been combining the butcher's business with that of
government at Rome, and the perpetrators tried to fly when they heard
the enemy was approaching the city. Sulla, leaving Lucretius Ofella to
keep watch at the gates of Præneste, lest Marius should attempt to creep
out, marched in person on the capital. Directing his steps towards the
Colline gate, he found there an army of those same Samnites, who had
been previously cut into so many pieces, and who were ready to be cut
into so many more, should occasion require the alarming sacrifice. Their
general, Pontius Telesinus, rode in front of them, entreating them to
come and be killed for positively the last time; and the dux had
sufficient influence to induce them to rush like a flock of geese on
their own destruction. The victory of Sulla was complete; and Pontius
Telesinus having been overlooked by the foe in the heat of battle,
supplied the omission in the business of the day by making away with
himself--after the usual cowardly fashion of the heroes of antiquity.
Sulla's success seemed only to have effected a change of tyrants; and
his conduct proved that the monster grievance of Rome was the series of
inhuman monsters who had got hold of the government. The atrocities
attributed to Sulla are, however, so enormous, as almost to border on
the burlesque; and it is comfortable to feel in the exaggeration a
ground for hope that in the account furnished by the historians, much
may fall under the head of "Errors excepted."
It is said that 3000 of the enemy at Antennæ implored his mercy, which
he granted, on the understanding that they were to assassinate their
associates--a service that was performed with brutal eagerness. When the
3000 claimed their own pardon as a reward, they were, according to
Plutarch, conveyed to Rome, and butchered with a few thousand others,
who had the misfortune to differ in opinion with the chief of a
republican government.
It was found so extremely embarrassing to heads of families and others
who were liable every day or hour to be cut off, that it was at length
proposed, as a matter of convenience, that Sulla should save time by
publishing a short list, containing the few names of those whom he did
not intend to sacrifice. He replied, by bringing out a very long list of
those he did, which he stated to be merely the first number of a serial
work, which he did not pledge himself to complete within any particular
period. As every copyright is liable to be infringed, the work of Sulla
was the subject of numerous imitations; and there were many who made
lists of their own, containing names disagreeable to themselves; so that
no man could walk the streets without the chance of reading his own
death-warrant on the walls of the capital. Sulla, in many instances,
offered rewards for the heads of his victims, and his doors were beset
from morning till night with the cry of, "Butcher!" by those who called
for the sums they had earned as slaughtermen. Assassinations proceeded
to such a fearful degree, that Q. Catulus asked Sulla, in confidence,
whether it was the intention of the latter to spare any human being at
all? for there seemed a chance of his having no one left to rule over
but himself; and such a man was likely to find self-government
exceedingly difficult.
While these things were going on at Rome, Marius was besieged in
Præneste, from which he tried to make his escape through the common
sewer; a mode of insuring his life that was far from dignified. He,
however, was espied through an iron aperture, which was so grating to
his feelings, that he called upon his slave to run him through; when the
faithful fellow immediately bored him to death with a trusty and rusty
weapon.
Sulla, the perpetrator of all the acts of despotism and cruelty which
are above described, was without any legal authority, and had no more
right than the meanest subject of the republic to the power which he
exercised. His reign was a reign of terror, supported by the swords of a
sordid soldiery. Of the two Consuls, Marius was already dead; and Carbo,
being taken prisoner, was condemned to death; so that Carbo--the
blackness of whose conduct justified his title of the coal--was soon
reduced to ashes.
The senate, which had been cut down by assassination to suit the views
of Sulla, elected L. Valerius Flaccus as interrex, who immediately
caused Sulla to be invested with the power of doing whatever he liked,
as long as he liked; or, to use the official phraseology, made him
dictator for an unlimited period.
On receiving his appointment, the first measure of Sulla was to reward
the tools who had assisted him, and L. Valerius Flaccus was immediately
made master of the horse, while the military murderers, who had acted as
executioners in the execution of his plans, received grants of land in
the places which had been unfavourable to the tyrant. He courted a
certain sort of popularity by extending the suffrage to some 10,000
emancipated slaves, who retained enough of their slavishness to cause
them to vote as their master desired. He affected to reconstitute the
legislative body which he had illegally destroyed, and he sent into it a
quantity of that noxious scum which, in the troubled waters of
revolution, is frequently cast up to the surface of society.
Having established his position through the brutality of one part of the
people, and the cowardice of the other, he set about the business of a
reformer; and, though he did much harm, the little good that he
accomplished must not be denied to him. Being a despot by nature, he
limited, as far as he could, the popular element in the constitution, by
curtailing the power of the tribunes; and he increased the government
patronage by adding to the number of pontiffs and augurs, so that he
might have the privilege of appointment to lucrative, but useless,
offices. His changes in the criminal code were, however, really
beneficial, for he made murder, whether committed by poison or violence,
a crime by law; and, indeed, it was necessary that the point should be
clearly defined, for military murders at the hands of the executive had
been so numerous that it was reasonably doubted whether human life was
henceforth to be protected at all by the government. Many old laws were
re-enacted, though they had never been repealed; but the usurpers of
power had so thoroughly trampled on every legal form, that it was
impossible to know which of the laws were to be regarded as imperative
on the people.
Sulla, and his friends, boasted that his firmness had given tranquillity
to Rome; but tranquillity can scarcely be a desirable condition to one
whose quietude is the result of a gag in the mouth, a sword suspended
over the head, and chains on every part of the body. The repose, or
rather, the stillness thus obtained, was no less costly than
inconvenient, for there was a wholesale confiscation of the property of
all who were supposed to entertain views different from those of the
government. The iniquities of the master will often be followed by the
man, and, in conformity with this rule, a fellow, named Chrysogonus, one
of Sulla's creatures, caused the murder of Roscius of Armenia, in order
to get the opportunity of robbing him. The property of Roscius was
knocked down at a mock auction to a bad lot of ruffians, who were there
to intimidate the auctioneer into doing their smallest bidding.
Everything went for positively nothing, and Chrysogonus was understood
to have got nearly the whole of it at a ludicrously low figure.
The laws made by Sulla, though perhaps plain enough in their purport,
had an ambiguity in their application which was extremely inconvenient.
Though binding at some times, in some places, upon some persons, they
were not so at other times, in other places, upon others. He had laid it
down as a rule that no one could be elected consul until he had been
prætor; though, in the case of his own adherents, Sulla was not at all
particular. When, however, L. Ofella, the commander at Præneste, who had
never been prætor, put up for the consulship, Sulla declared such
conduct was not to be put up with at all, and had him killed in the
middle of a morning's canvass. The people were rather angry at the
outrage, when Sulla, walking among a group with a sword in his hand,
"demanded silence for an anecdote."[72] A circle drew round him,
tremblingly alive to what he was about to say, when the despot proceeded
as follows: "A labourer," said he, "was at work at the plough, when he
was annoyed by insects, which caused him to stop and beat them off by
dusting his own jacket. Finding himself annoyed a second time he took
off his jacket and threw it into the fire. Now, I advise those whom I
have twice conquered not to oblige me to try the fire," The people, who
knew something of Sulla's threatened fire, dreaded it with all the
horror of a burned child, and he was left to pursue his career of
unchecked atrocity.
A man who has the cruelty of a brute has, generally, the other debasing
appetites of the lower order of animals; and Sulla had as much of the
sensualist as of the tyrant in his character. To a thirst for blood he
added the appetite of a glutton; and, having amassed enormous wealth by
murder and rapine, he longed for the opportunity to expend his
ill-gotten means in idleness and debauchery. He accordingly called the
people together in the forum, and, having walked up and down for some
time asking if anybody dared to make a charge against him, he resigned
the dictatorship. This abdication has been lauded by some as a proof of
magnanimity and disinterestedness; but, to sum up the truth in a few
words, he had practised human butchery as a trade, and, having realised
an enormous fortune, he retired from business. Having secured all the
profits that were likely to accrue from his unprincipled career, he left
to others the difficult work of sustaining the results of his policy. He
retired to Puteoli, where he passed much of his time in the company of
actors, and became the intimate associate of one or two popular low
comedians. In his sober moments--which were very few during the latter
part of his life--he wrote his own memoirs, and was employed upon the
work until within a few days of his death, which happened B.C. 78, when
he had reached the age of sixty. Seldom had a man, who had reached but
three-score, left so many scores unsatisfied. Such was his cruelty, that
he delighted in loading prisoners with fetters, and then shedding their
blood, which caused it to be said of him that he was no less fond of
mangling than of ironing. He had so little regard for old associations,
that when one of his acquaintances reminded him of the days when they
lived in the same house--Sulla paying 2000 sesterces for the basement,
and his former friend 3000 for the first floor--the Dictator refused to
spare his fellow-lodger's life, but brutally remarked, that the story,
whether upper or lower, was an old one, and had long ago lost its
interest. It is said that dungeons or cellars were attached to Sulla's
house for the purpose of keeping a supply of human beings always on hand
for occasional sacrifice. The manner of his death rendered him an object
as repulsive as he had become by his mode of life; for, his
licentiousness led to a disease which developed itself in the generation
of vermin in his skin; and he may be said to have been almost eaten up
with corruption before he expired. By his own desire his body was
burned; as if he had thought that fire might act in some sort as a
purifier of his memory. The ladies of the nobility threw perfume on the
funeral pile,[73] but it was too late to bring him into good odour.
Numerous attendants carried spices of every kind; and, in addition to
the ordinary mace-bearers, there were several officers laden with
cinnamon. The fact of incense having been offered at the funeral pile of
such a monster, is enough to incense any one who reads a statement so
humiliating to humanity.
[Illustration: Funeral Pile of Sulla.]
In personal appearance Sulla was by no means attractive; for he had a
quantity of green in his eye, an abundance of red in his hair, and a
profusion of purple in his countenance. His face was, like his
character, full of spots; and those who accused him of aspiring to the
purple, said the fact might be read in his look, for his cheeks were of
blue, and caused himself, as well as his acts, to wear a very dark
complexion. He was coarse in his manners, and had no appreciation of any
kind of delicacy but the delicacies of the table. Notwithstanding the
unpleasant features of Sulla's person and character, he was married five
times; for divorce had become so easy, that a man could always put his
old wife away when he wished for a new one.
FOOTNOTES:
[71] As quoted by Plutarch, in Sulla, c. 28.
[72] Vide the account given by Appian, c. 102.
[73] Plutarch in Sulla, c. 38.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.
REACTION AGAINST THE POLICY OF SULLA. SERVICES OF Q. SERTORIUS.
METELLUS. CN. POMPEY. SPIRITED STEPS OF SPARTACUS. THE IRATE PIRATE.
[Illustration: Cæsar and Pompey very much alike, especially Pompey.]