Another young man of rising fame showed little less boldness. This was
Cicero, who had just returned to Rome from his studies in Greece. He
ventured to defend Roscius of Ameria against an accusation of murder
made by Chrysogonus, a prime favorite of Sulla. Cicero lashed the
favorite vigorously, and won a verdict for his client. But he found it
advisable to leave Rome immediately and resume his studies at Rhodes.

Sulla ended his work by organizing a new senate and making a new code of
laws. Three hundred new members were added to the senate, and the laws
of Rome were brought largely back to the state in which they had been
before the Gracchi.

This done, to the utter surprise of the people he laid down his power
and retired from Rome, within whose streets he never again set foot. He
had no occasion for fear. He had scattered his veterans throughout
Italy on confiscated estates, and knew that he could trust to their
support. Before his departure he gave a feast of costly meats and rich
wines to the Roman commons, in such profusion that vast quantities that
could not be eaten were cast into the Tiber. Then he dismissed his armed
attendants, and walked on foot to his house, through a multitude of whom
many had ample reason to strike him down.

He now retired to his villa near Puteoli, on the Bay of Naples, with the
purpose of enjoying that life of voluptuous ease which he craved more
than power and distinction. Here he spent the brief remainder of his
life in nocturnal orgies and literary converse, completing his
"Memoirs," in which he told, in exaggerated phrase, the story of his
life and exploits.

He lived but about a year. His excesses brought on a complication of
disorders, which ended, we are told, in a loathsome disease. The senate
voted him a gorgeous funeral, after which his body was burned on the
Campus Martius, that no future tyrant could treat his remains as he had
done those of his great rival Marius.

_THE REVOLT OF THE GLADIATORS._

At the beginning of the first Punic War, or war with Carthage, a new
form of entertainment was introduced into Rome. This was the
gladiatorial show, the fights of armed men in the arena, the first of
which was given in the year 264 B.C., at the funeral of D. Junius
Brutus. These exhibitions were long confined to funeral occasions, money
being frequently left for this purpose in wills, but they gradually
extended to other occasions, and finally became the choice a