Marius presented himself, but we shall find that he mistook
his means, and only cast the nation down into deeper depths of misery.
His star was at its highest when he celebrated his triumph, and it
would have been better for his fame had he died at that time.
XIII.
SOCIAL AND CIVIL WARS.
Marius was brave and strong and able to cope with any in the rush of
war, but he knew little of the arts of peace and the science of
government. Sulla, his enemy, was at Rome, living in quiet, but the
same, fiery, ambition that animated Marius, and the same jealousy of
all who seemed to be growing in popularity, burned in his bosom and
were ready to burst out at any time. The very first attempts of Marius
at government ended in shame, and he retired from the city in the year
99. He had supported two rogations, called the Appuleian laws, from the
demagogue who moved them, Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, and they were
carried by violence and treachery. They enacted that the lands acquired
from the barbarians should be divided among both the Italians and the
citizens of Rome, thus affording relief to all Italy; and that corn
should be sold to Romans by the state at a nominal price.
When Marius retired, the authority of the senate was restored, but the
state was in a deplorable condition, for the violence and bloodshed
that had been familiar for the half century since the triumph over
Greece and Carthage, were bearing their legitimate fruits.
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