History of Julius Caesar | Page 3

for the murder of the tribunes, the party of Marius
in the city killed some of Sylla's prominent friends there, and a general
alarm spread itself throughout the population. The Senate, which was a
sort of House of Lords, embodying mainly the power and influence of
the patrician party, and was, of course, on Sylla's side, sent out to him,
when he had arrived within a few miles of the city, urging him to come
no further. He pretended to comply; he marked out the ground for a
camp; but he did not, on that account, materially delay his march. The
next morning he was in possession of the city. The friends of Marius
attempted to resist him, by throwing stones upon his troops from the
roofs of the houses. Sylla ordered every house from which these
symptoms of resistance appeared to be set on fire. Thus the whole
population of a vast and wealthy city were thrown into a condition of
extreme danger and terror, by the conflicts of two great bands of armed
men, each claiming to be their friends.
[Sidenote: Defeat of Marius.]
Marius was conquered in this struggle, and fled for his life. Many of
the friends whom he left behind him were killed. The Senate were
assembled, and, at Sylla's orders, a decree was passed declaring Marius
a public enemy, and offering a reward to any one who would bring his
head back to Rome.
[Sidenote: His flight.]
Marius fled, friendless and alone, to the southward, hunted every where
by men who were eager to get the reward offered for his head. After
various romantic adventures and narrow escapes, he succeeded in
making his way across the Mediterranean Sea, and found at last a
refuge in a hut among the ruins of Carthage. He was an old man, being
now over seventy years of age.
[Sidenote: Return of Marius.] [Sidenote: He marches against Rome.]
Of course, Sylla thought that his great rival and enemy was now finally

disposed of, and he accordingly began to make preparations for his
Asiatic campaign. He raised his army, built and equipped a fleet, and
went away. As soon as he was gone, Marius's friends in the city began
to come forth, and to take measures for reinstating themselves in power.
Marius returned, too, from Africa, and soon gathered about him a large
army. Being the friend, as he pretended, of the lower classes of society,
he collected vast multitudes of revolted slaves, outlaws, and other
desperadoes, and advanced toward Rome. He assumed, himself, the
dress, and air, and savage demeanor of his followers. His countenance
had been rendered haggard and cadaverous partly by the influence of
exposures, hardships, and suffering upon his advanced age, and partly
by the stern and moody plans and determinations of revenge which his
mind was perpetually revolving. He listened to the deputations which
the Roman Senate sent out to him from time to time, as he advanced
toward the city, but refused to make any terms. He moved forward with
all the outward deliberation and calmness suitable to his years, while all
the ferocity of a tiger was burning within.
[Sidenote: Executions by order of Marius.]
As soon as he had gained possession of the city, he began his work of
destruction. He first beheaded one of the consuls, and ordered his head
to be set up, as a public spectacle, in the most conspicuous place in the
city. This was the beginning. All the prominent friends of Sylla, men of
the highest rank and station, were then killed, wherever they could be
found, without sentence, without trial, without any other accusation,
even, than the military decision of Marius that they were his enemies,
and must die. For those against whom he felt any special animosity, he
contrived some special mode of execution. One, whose fate he wished
particularly to signalize, was thrown down from the Tarpeian Rock.
[Sidenote: The Tarpeian Rock.]
The Tarpeian Rock was a precipice about fifty feet high, which is still
to be seen in Rome, from which the worst of state criminals were
sometimes thrown. They were taken up to the top by a stair, and were
then hurled from the summit, to die miserably, writhing in agony after
their fall, upon the rocks below.

[Sidenote: The story of Tarpeia.] [Sidenote: Subterranean passages.]
The Tarpeian Rock received its name from the ancient story of Tarpeia.
The tale is, that Tarpeia was a Roman girl, who lived at a time in the
earliest periods of the Roman history, when the city was besieged by an
army from are of the neighboring nations. Besides their shields, the
story is that the soldiers had golden bracelets upon their arms. They
wished Tarpeia to open the gates and let them in. She promised to do