The Republic. R O 
and his resolution of returning to Rome, not to restore peace 
to his country, but to revenge himself of his enemies, i. e. to 
destroy those whom Marius had spared. This letter occa- 
. sioned universal terror. Marius, dreading to enter the 
lists with such a renowned warrior, gave himself up to ex¬ 
cessive drinking, and died. His son was associated with 
Cinna in the government, though not in the consulship, and 
proved a tyrant no, less cruel than his father. The senate 
declared one Valerius Flaccus general of his forces in the east, 
and appointed him a considerable army ; but the troops all 
to a man deserted him, and joined Sylla. Soon after, Cinna 
declared himself consul a third time, and took for his col¬ 
league Papirius Carbo ; but the citizens, dreading the tyranny 
of these inhuman monsters, fled in crowds to Sylla, who was 
now in Greece. To him the senate sent deputies, begging 
that he would have compassion on his country, and not 
carry his resentment to such a length as to begin a civil war: 
but he replied, that he was coming to Rome full of rage and 
revenge; and that all his enemies, if the Roman people con¬ 
sented to it, should perish either by the sword or the axes of 
the executioners. Upon this several very numerous armies 
were formed against him; but, through the misconduct of 
the generals who commanded them, these armies were every¬ 
where defeated, or went over to the enemy. Pompey, after¬ 
wards styled the Great , signalized himself in this war, and 
embraced the party of Sylla. The Ralian nations took some 
one side and some another, as their different inclinations led 
them. Cinna, in the mean time, was killed in a tumult, 
and young Marius and Carbo succeeded him ; but the 
former having ventured an engagement with Sylla, was by 
him defeated, and forced to fly to Preenesfe, where he was 
closely besieged. 
Thus was Rome reduced to the lowest degree of misery, 
when one Pontius Telesinus, a Sarnnite of great experience 
•in war, projected the total ruin of the city. He had joined, 
or pretended to join, the generals of the Marian faction, with 
an army of 40,000 men; and therefore marched towards 
Praeneste, as if he designed to relieve Marius. By this means 
he drew Sylla and Pompey away from the capital; and then, 
decamping in the night, overreached these two generals, and 
by break of day was within ten furlongs of the Collatine 
gate. He then pulled off the mask; and declaring himself 
.as much an enemy to Marius as to Sylla, told his troops, 
that it was not his design to assist one Roman against ano¬ 
ther, but to destroy the whole race. “ Let fire and sword 
(said he) destroy all; let no quarter be given ; mankind can 
never be free as long as one Roman is left alive.”—Never 
had this proud metropolis been in greater danger ; nor ever 
had any city a more narrow escape. The Roman youth 
marched out to oppose him, but were driven back with great 
slaughter. Sylla himself was defeated, and forced to fly 
to his camp. Telesinus advanced with more fury than ever; 
but, in the mean time, the other wing of his army having 
been defeated by M. Crassus, the victorious general attacked 
the body where Telesinus commanded, and by putting them 
to flight, saved his country from the most imminent danger. 
Sylla, having now no enemy to fear, marched first to 
Atemnse, and thence to Rome. From the former city he 
carried 8000 prisoners to Rome, and caused them all to be 
massacred at once in the circus. His cruelty next fell upon 
the Praenestines, 12,000 of whom were massacred without 
mercy. Young Marius had killed himself, in order to avoid 
falling into the hands of such a cruel enemy. Soon after, 
the inhabitants of Norba, a city of Campania, finding them¬ 
selves unable to resist the forces of the tyrant, set fire to 
their houses, and all perished in the flames. The taking of 
these cities put an end to the civil war, but not to the cruel¬ 
ties of Sylla. Having assembled the people in the comitium, 
he told them, that he was resolved not to spare a single 
person who had borne arms against him. This cruel resolu¬ 
tion he put in execution with the most unrelenting rigour; 
and having at last cut ofF all those whom he thought capable 
of opposing him, Sylla caused himself to be declared perpe¬ 
tual dictator, or, in other words, absolute sovereign of Rome. 
This revolution happened about 80 B. C., and from this 
You XXII. No. 1498. 
M E. The Republic. 245 
time we may date the loss of Roman liberty. Sylla 
indeed resigned his power in two years; but new masters 
were already prepared for the republic. Caesar and Pompey 
had eminently distinguished themselves by their martial ex¬ 
ploits, and were already rivals. They were, however, for 
some time prevented from raising any disturbances by being 
kept at a distance from each other. Sertorius, one of the 
generals of the Marian faction, and the only one of them 
possessed either of honour or probity, had retired into Spain, 
where he erected a republic independent of Rome. Pompey 
and Metellus, two of the best reputed generals in Rome, were 
sent against him ; but, instead of conquering, they were on 
all occasions conquered by him, and obliged to abandon their 
enterprize with disgrace. At last Sertorius was treacherously 
murdered ; and the traitors, who after his death usurped the 
command, being totally destitute of his abilities, were easily 
defeated by Pompey; and thus that general reaped an un¬ 
deserved honour from concluding the war with success. 
The tranquillity of the republic wasdisturbed by Spartacus, 
a Thracian shepherd, who was one of the gladiators kept at 
Capua, in the house of Lentulus. Escaping from his con¬ 
finement with thirty of his companions, he took up arms 
against the Romans. At the head of 10,000 men he laid 
waste the country, hiding himself at first in the solitary regi¬ 
ons of Campania; but when his army had increased in numbers, 
and improved in discipline, he engaged the Romans in open 
battle, and defeated with great loss two consuls that were 
sent against him. Crassus was next placed at the head of a 
powerful army, and though he at first despaired of success, 
yet he at last succeeded in defeating Spartacus in a bloody 
engagement, and putting 12,000 of the slaves to the sword. 
Spartacus displayed great personal valour in this encounter. 
When wounded in the leg, he fought on his knees, wielding 
his sword in the one hand, and shielding himself with his 
buckler in the other; and when he was overpowered by an 
irresistible force, he breathed his last above a heap of Ro¬ 
mans, who had fallen beneath his sword. A part of the 
army of Spartacus, however, rallied after their defeat, and, 
being routed by Pompey, this ambitious leader claimed too 
great a portion of the glory which was due to Crassus. 
But while Pompey was thus aggrandising himself, the 
republic was on the point of being subverted by a conspiracy 
formed by Lucius Sergius Catiline. He was descended from 
an illustrious family; but having quite ruined his estate, and 
rendered himself infamous by a series of the most detestable 
crimes, he associated with a number of others in circum¬ 
stances similar to his own, in order to repair their broken 
fortunes by ruining their country. Their scheme was to 
murder the consuls, together with the greatest part of the 
senators, set fire to the city in different places, and then 
seize the government. This design miscarried twice ; but 
was not on that account dropped by the conspirators. 
Their party increased every day; and both Caesar and 
Crassus, who since the departure of Pompey, had studied to * 
gain the affections of the people as far as possible, were 
thought to have been privy to the conspiracy. At last, how¬ 
ever, the matter was discovered by means of a young knight, 
who had indiscreetly revealed the secret to his mistress. 
Cataline then openly took the field, and soon raised a con¬ 
siderable army ; but was utterly defeated and killed about 62 
B. C.; and thus the republic Was freed from the present danger. 
In the mean time, Csesar continued to advance in popu¬ 
larity and in power. Soon after the defeat of Cataline, he 
was created pontifex maximus ; and after that was sent into 
Spain, where he subdued several nations that had never 
before been subject to Rome. On his return from Spain, he 
found the sovereignty divided between Crassus and Pompey, 
each of whom was ineffectually struggling to get the better 
of the other. Csesar, no less ambitious than the other two, 
proposed that they should put an end to their differences, 
and take him for a partner in their power. In short, he 
projected a triumvirate, or association of three persons, 
(Pompey, Crassus, and himself), in which should be lodged 
the whole power of the senate and people ; and in order to 
make their confederacy more lasting, they bound themselves 
3 ft by 
