Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
soon as she saw Marius, remembered nothing less than old affronts;
took care of him according to her ability, and comforted him. He
made her his returns and told her he did not despair, for he had met
with a lucky omen, which was thus. When he was brought to Fannia's
house, as soon as the gate was opened, an ass came running out to
drink at a spring hard by, and giving a bold and encouraging look,
first stood still before him, then brayed aloud and pranced by him.
From which Marius drew his conclusion, and said, that the fates
designed him safety, rather by sea than land, because the ass
neglected his dry fodder, and turned from it to the water. Having
told Fannia this story, he bade the chamber door to be shut and went
to rest.
Meanwhile the magistrates and councilors of Minturnae consulted
together, and determined not to delay any longer, but immediately to
kill Marius; and when none of their citizens durst undertake the
business, a certain soldier, a Gaulish or Cimbrian horseman, (the
story is told both ways,) went in with his sword drawn to him. The
room itself was not very light, that part of it especially where he
then lay was dark, from whence Marius's eyes, they say, seemed to the
fellow to dart out flames at him, and a loud voice to say, out of the
dark, "Fellow, darest thou kill Caius Marius?" The barbarian
hereupon immediately fled, and leaving his sword in the place rushed
out of doors, crying only this, "I cannot kill Caius Marius." At
which they were all at first astonished, and presently began to feel
pity, and remorse, and anger at themselves for making so unjust and
ungrateful a decree against one who had preserved Italy, and whom it
was bad enough not to assist. "Let him go," said they, "where he
please to banishment, and find his fate somewhere else; we only
entreat pardon of the gods for thrusting Marius distressed and
deserted out of our city."
Impelled by thoughts of this kind, they went in a body into the room,
and taking him amongst them, conducted him towards the sea-side; on
his way to which, though everyone was very officious to him, and all
made what haste they could, yet a considerable time was likely to be
lost. For the grove of Marica, (as she is called,) which the people
hold sacred, and make it a point of religion not to let anything
that is once carried into it be taken out, lay just in their road to
the sea, and if they should go round about, they must needs come very
late thither. At length one of the old men cried out and said, there
was no place so sacred, but they might pass through it for Marius's
preservation; and thereupon, first of all, he himself, taking up some
of the baggage that was carried for his accommodation to the ship,
passed through the grove, all the rest immediately, with the same
readiness, accompanying him. And one Belaeus, (who afterwards had a
picture of these things drawn, and put it in a temple at the place of
embarkation,) having by this time provided him a ship, Marius went on
board, and, hoisting sail, was by fortune thrown upon the island
Aenaria, where meeting with Granius, and his other friends, he sailed
with them for Africa. But their water failing them in the way, they
were forced to put in near Eryx, in Sicily, where was a Roman
quaestor on the watch, who all but captured Marius himself on his
landing, and did kill sixteen of his retinue that went to fetch
water. Marius, with all expedition loosing thence, crossed the sea
to the isle of Meninx, where he first heard the news of his son's
escape with Cethegus, and of his going to implore the assistance of
Hiempsal, king of Numidia.
With this news, being somewhat comforted, he ventured to pass from
that isle towards Carthage. Sextilius, a Roman, was then governor in
Africa; one that had never received either any injury or any
kindness from Marius; but who from compassion, it was hoped, might
lend him some help. But he was scarce got ashore with a small
retinue, when an officer met him, and said, "Sextilius, the governor,
forbids you, Marius, to set foot in Africa; if you do, he says, he
will put the decree of the senate in execution, and treat you as an
enemy to the Romans." When Marius heard this, he wanted words to
express his grief and resentment, and for a good while held his
peace, looking sternly upon the messenger, who asked him what he
should say, or what answer he should return to the governor? Marius
answered him with a deep sigh: "Go tell him that you have seen Caius
Marius sitting in exile among the ruins of Carthage;" appositely
applying the example of the fortune of that city to the change of his
own condition.
In the interim, Hiempsal, king of Numidia, dubious of what he should
determine to do, treated young Marius and those that were with him
very honorably; but when they had a mind to depart, he still had some
presence or other to detain them, and it was manifest he made these
delays upon no good design. However, there happened an accident that
made well for their preservation. The hard fortune which attended
young Marius, who was of a comely aspect, touched one of the king's
concubines, and this pity of hers, was the beginning and occasion of
love for him. At first he declined the woman's solicitations, but
when he perceived that there was no other way of escaping, and that
her offers were more serious than for the gratification of
intemperate passion, he accepted her kindness, and she finding means
to convey them away, he escaped with his friends and fled to his
father. As soon as they had saluted each other, and were going by
the sea-side, they saw some scorpions fighting, which Marius took
for an ill omen, whereupon they immediately went on board a little
fisher-boat, and made toward Cercina, an island not far distant from
the continent. They had scarce put off from shore when they espied
some horse, sent after them by the king, with all speed making toward
that very place from which they were just retired. And Marius thus
escaped a danger, it might be said, as great as any he ever incurred.
At Rome news came that Sylla was engaged with Mithridates's generals
in Boeotia; the consuls, from factious opposition, were fallen to
downright fighting, wherein Octavius prevailing, drove Cinna out of
the city for attempting despotic government, and made Cornelius
Merula consul in his stead; while Cinna, raising forces in other
parts of Italy, carried the war against them. As soon as Marius
heard of this, he resolved, with all expedition, to put to sea again,
and taking with him from Africa some Mauritanian horse, and a few of
the refugees out of Italy, all together not above one thousand, he,
with this handful, began his voyage. Arriving at Telamon, in
Etruria, and coming ashore, he proclaimed freedom for the slaves; and
many of the countrymen, also, and shepherds thereabouts, who were
already freemen, at the hearing his name flocked to him to the
sea-side. He persuaded the youngest and strongest to join him, and
in a small time got together a competent force with which he filled
forty ships. Knowing Octavius to be a good man and willing to
execute his office with the greatest justice imaginable, and Cinna to
be suspected by Sylla, and in actual warfare against the established
government, he determined to join himself and his forces with the
latter. He, therefore, sent a message to him, to let him know that
he was ready to obey him as consul.
When Cinna had joyfully received his offer, naming him proconsul, and
sending him the fasces and other ensigns of authority, he said, that
grandeur did not become his present fortune; but wearing an ordinary
habit, and still letting his hair grow as it had done, from that very
day he first went into banishment, and being now above threescore and
ten years old, he came slowly on foot, designing to move people's
compassion; which did not prevent, however, his natural fierceness of
expression from still predominating, and his humiliation still let it
appear that he was not so much dejected as exasperated, by the change
of his condition. Having saluted Cinna and the soldiers, he
immediately prepared for action, and soon made a considerable
alteration in the posture of affairs. He first cut off the provision
ships, and plundering all the merchants, made himself master of the
supplies of corn; then bringing his navy to the seaport towns, he
took them, and at last, becoming master of Ostia by treachery, he
pillaged that town, and slew a multitude of the inhabitants, and,
blocking up the river, took from the enemy all hopes of supply by the
sea; then marched with his army toward the city, and posted himself
upon the hill called Janiculum.
The public interest did not receive so great damage from Octavius's
unskillfulness in his management of affairs, as from his omitting
needful measures, through too strict observance of the law. As when
several advised him to make the slaves free, he said that he would
not give slaves the privilege of the country from which he then, in
defense of the laws, was driving away Marius. When Metellus, son to
that Metellus who was general in the war in Africa, and afterwards
banished through Marius's means, came to Rome, being thought a much
better commander than Octavius, the soldiers, deserting the consul,
came to him and desired him to take the command of them and preserve
the city; that they, when they had got an experienced valiant
commander, should fight courageously, and come off conquerors. But
when Metellus, offended at it, commanded them angrily to return to
the consul, they revolted to the enemy. Metellus, too, seeing the
city in a desperate condition, left it; but a company of Chaldaeans,
sacrificers, and interpreters of the Sibyl's books, persuaded
Octavius that things would turn out happily, and kept him at Rome.
He was, indeed, of all the Romans the most upright and just, and
maintained the honor of the consulate, without cringing or
compliance, as strictly in accordance with ancient laws and usages,
as though they had been immutable mathematical truths; and yet fell,
I know not how, into some weaknesses, giving more observance to
fortune-tellers and diviners, than to men skilled in civil and
military affairs. He therefore, before Marius entered the city, was
pulled down from the rostra, and murdered by those that were sent
before by Marius; and it is reported there was a Chaldaean writing
found in his gown, when he was slain. And it seemed a thing very
unaccountable, that of two famous generals, Marius should be often
successful by the observing divinations, and Octavius ruined by the
same means.
When affairs were in this posture, the senate assembled, and sent a
deputation to Cinna and Marius, desiring them to come into the city
peaceably and spare the citizens. Cinna, as consul, received the
embassy, sitting in the curule chair, and returned a kind answer to
the messengers; Marius stood by him and said nothing, but gave
sufficient testimony by the gloominess of his countenance, and the
sternness of his looks, that he would in a short time fill the city
with blood. As soon as the council arose, they went toward the city,
where Cinna entered with his guards, but Marius stayed at the gates,
and, dissembling his rage, professed that he was then an exile and
banished his country by course of law; that if his presence were
necessary, they must, by a new decree, repeal the former act by which
he was banished; as though he were, indeed, a religious observer of
the laws, and as if he were returning to a city free from fear or
oppression. Hereupon the people were assembled, but before three or
four tribes had given their votes, throwing up his pretenses and his
legal scruples about his banishment, he came into the city with a