84-83 B.C. Metellus and the young Marcus Crassus attempted to hold Africa for the same party, but were compelled to submit to the revolutionary governor. Most of the senatorial refugees fled to Macedonia, which was to some extent in Sulla's power. Sulla, like many of the refugees, was outlawed and deprived of his command; but the government took no adequate steps to enforce its decrees, so that Sulla was enabled to finish his work in the East without serious opposition. In 84 B.C. he addressed a letter to the senate, announcing his return to Italy. He promised to respect the rights of the new burgesses, and that the inevitable punishment should fall, not on the rank and file, but on the leaders of the revolution. On the arrival of this letter, Cinna hastily set out for Ancona, intending to cross the Adriatic, but his troops mutinied and he himself was killed. His colleague, Carbo, abandoned the idea of carrying war into Greece, and went into winter quarters at Ariminum. Meanwhile the moderate party had tried to bring about a compromise, but without success. Sulla's envoys were not admitted into the city, and he was summoned to lay down his arms. For the year 83 B.C. consular elections were once more held: the choice fell upon Lucius Scipio and Gaius Norbanus-neither of them men of capacity. The delay caused by Sulla's crossing into Asia was utilized at Rome in making energetic preparations for war, and 100,000 men are said to have been under arms at Sulla's landing. Against this force Sulla had barely forty thousand men, all of them veterans, it is true, and devoted heart and soul to their leader, and to him alone. But still Sulla saw that these numbers would be powerless against a united Italy, and he took measures to gain over the strength of the nation-the mass of respectable men who desired nothing but peace and quiet, and the new burgesses who feared for their new privileges. Accordingly he offered unconditional pardon to all who would break off from the revolutionary government; hemade the most binding declarations to maintain the privileges of the new citizens, and caused his soldiers to swear singly to welcome all Italians as friends and fellow-citizens. In the spring of 83 B.C. Sulla landed at Brundisium without opposition; the town opened its gates to him, and all Apulia followed its example. Many members of the oligarchical party, like Quintus Metellus and Marcus Crassus, and some deserters from the democratic ranks, repaired to Sulla's camp, but brought no appre ciable increase to his numbers. 83 B.C. By far the most important accession was that of the young Gnaeus Pompeius, by whose exertions the district of Picenum was induced to declare for Sulla. Pompeius had made his peace with the revolution, but the part which his father, Strabo, had played against Cinna was not forgotten: an indictment, charging him to give up the booty said to have been embezzled by his father at Asculum, threatened his ruin, from which he was only saved by the protection of Carbo. As soon as Sulla landed in Italy, Pompeius repaired to Picenum, raised the oligarchical standard at Auximum, and gathered round him a force of three legions, with which he skillfully effected a junction with Sulla in Apulia. Sulla received him with great honor, and rebuked the slackness of the rest of his partisans by greeting the young commander with the title of Imperator. Thus reinforced, Sulla advanced into Campania; the army of Norbanus was at Capua, that of Scipio was advancing along the Via Appia from Rome. But before its arrival Norbanus had been crushed, and the remnants of his army were blockaded in Capua and Neapolis. Sulla hurried to Teanum, where Scipio was posted, and made proposals for peace; an armistice was concluded, and a personal conference took place between the two generals, while the soldiers of the two armies mingled as they pleased. An agreement was almost concluded, and envoys were sent to procure the opinion of Norbanus at Capua; but the negotiations, after all, fell through, and Scipio denounced the armistice. Sulla hereupon maintained that the agreement had already been actually concluded. The imprudence of allowing the common soldiers to fraternize was now forcibly demonstrated, and Scipio's soldiers passed over to Sulla in a body. The consul was required to resign his office, and was escorted to a place of safety. Sulla and Metellus took up winter quarters in Campania, and maintained the blockade of Capua. Thus the first campaign had ended in the submission of Apulia, Picenum, and Campania, and the discomfiture of both consular armies. The Italian communities already began to negotiate with Sulla, and had their rights secured to them by separate formal treaties. Sulla boasted that in the next year he would march into Rome and overthrow the revolutionary government. The government made the greatest preparations for the next campaign. The consuls were Carbo and the younger Marius; Sertorius was sent to raise new levies in Etruria; the gold and silver 82B.C. in the temples was melted down; new divisions came from Umbria and the Po. But, most important of all, the most strenuous exertions were made in Samnium and Lucania. It was well understood that Sulla would not, like the Cinnan government, acquiesce in the independence of these districts, and they made ready for a renewal of their old struggle against the hated Latin race. For the campaign of 82 B.C. the army of the Optimates was divided: Metellus, resting on Picenum, advanced towards upper Italy; the main body, with Sulla, marched straight upon Rome, Near Signia he came upon the enemy under Marius, who retired to Sacriportus and drew up his line of battle. The issue was not long doubtful, and was made certain by the desertion of one of the divisions of Marius. By this battle the capital was lost, and Marius sent orders to the pretor Lucius Brutus Damasippus to evacuate it, after putting to death all the notable men of the other party. Among the victims of this latest massacre were the pontifex maximus, Quintus Scaevola, who had so narrowly escaped the vengeance of Fimbria. Sulla left behind Quintus Ofella to blockade Praeneste, into which Marius had thrown himself, and pushed on to Rome, which offered no resistance; he then hurried on to Etruria. In the north the campaign resulted in the complete overthrow of the Marian party, and the Sullans then concentrated all their forces for the capture of Praeneste, where the young Marius had taken refuge. A large force of Samnites and Lucanians, which, with reinforcements, is said to have amounted to 70,000 men, hurried from the south to the relief of the city, but, finding that he was too late to rescue the remnants of the democratic party shut up in Praeneste, the Samnite general, Pontius. of Telesia, in his desperation, resolved to throw himself upon Rome, which was but one day's march distant. From a military point of view the step was ruinous; even if successful the democratic army must be crushed at Rome, wedged in between the armies of Sulla and of Metellus. But the measure was dictated, not by policy, but by revenge; it was the last outbreak of revolutionary fury and of Samnite hatred, On November I Pontius, with the Lucanian general Lamponius, and the democratic commanders Damasippus and Carrinas, encamped close to the Colline Gate. The force which sallied from the city was scattered like chaff, and the citizens gave way to despair. But before morning a body of horse appeared, which 82-80 B.C. proved to be Sulla's advanced guard under Balbus, and before noon Sulla arrived in person. He had set out immediately on hearing of the departure of the Samnites, and, in spite of his forced march, immediately drew up his army in line, and ordered the attack. The battle lasted the whole night through, and into the following morning. The left wing, under Sulla, was driven back, and the battle was reported to be lost; but the right wing, under Crassus, routed its opponents and pursued them to Antemnae, and gradually the left wing likewise gained ground. The defection of a division of three thousand of the enemy decided the issue, and Rome was saved. The insurgents were all but extirpated. The three or four thousand prisoners who were taken-including Damasippus, Carrinas, and Pontius-were, on the third day after the battle, massacred by Sulla's orders, in the Campus Martius. Praeneste surrendered on the news of this disaster, and the leaders put themselves to death. Of the twelve thousand prisoners, all the Roman senators, all the Samnites, and most of the Praenestines were slaughtered, and the town was given up to pillage. Capua was voluntarily surrendered, but other towns made the most obstinate resistance. Nola was not evacuated till the year 80 B.C. As to Samnium, Sulla declared that the very name ought to be extirpated; he invaded the country, and made it a waste, as it has remained to this day. In Etruria a long resistance was offered by some towns. Volaterrae stood a siege of nearly three years, and the garrison was massacred after a free departure had been granted to it. Of the provinces there still remained Sicily, Spain, and Africa to be subdued. Gnaeus Pompeius was sent to Sicily with six legions in 82 B.C., and the island was immediately evacuated by the governor Perpenna. Pompeius then proceeded to Africa, in 80 B.C., where he defeated the forces of the governor Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, and Hiarbas, the usurping king of Numidia, and captured their camp. Hiempsal was restored to the kingdom of Numidia, and various Gaetulian tribes, hitherto independent, were mnade subject to him. In forty days the war in Africa was at an end. In Spain Sertorius was too weak to resist the Sullan officers, and on his departure both provinces willingly submitted. At the close of the African campaign Pompeius had been ordered to break up his army-a command at which both general and soldiers were discontented. Pompeius desired a triumph, though 82-80 B.C. as an extraordinary officer he had no legal claim to the honor. Sulla, however, yielded to his wish, and Pompeius could boast of having been the first Roman who had enjoyed a triumph before he was a senator. It was now that Pompeius was saluted by Sulla by the surname of Magnus. In the East there had been no cessation of warfare; the carrying out of Sulla's regulations had in many cases to be accomplished by force; and fresh difficulties had arisen with Mithradates. The king was preparing an expedition into his Bosporan kingdom; and Murena, the governor of Asia, perhaps fearing lest the preparations were really directed against Rome, had crossed the Pontic frontier. Mithradates complained to the Roman government; and Sulla had sent envoys to dissuade the governor, who nevertheless continued his advance. Mithradates now resolved to repel him by force, and Murena was driven over the frontier with great loss in 82 B.C. Peace was now renewed with Mithradates, and at last the ten years of war and insurrection which had convulsed the whole Roman world were at end. Hist. Nat. III 16 |
