own mob was
swollen by freedmen--slaves who had saved enough money to buy themselves
off--they too had votes.

The Roman voters cared nothing for the wrongs of the Italians, or of the
people of the provinces. Like the rich, who lived on the revenues of the
tax-collecting companies, they thought the rest of the world was there
merely to supply them with comfort and luxuries. But while in Rome
itself people were more and more sharply divided between the 'have nots'
and the 'haves', all round them there was a growing dissatisfaction and
discontent. The strife at home meant that enterprises abroad were badly
managed. Many army commanders and provincial governors were incompetent
and corrupt. There was no longer the old high Roman sense of duty and
honesty. In its stead were pride, greed, and cruelty. The spirit that
had shown itself in the savage destruction of Carthage and Corinth was
shown again in the treatment of Jugurtha.

[Illustration: THE SHEPHERDESS]

Jugurtha, the King of Numidia, threw off the Roman yoke and defied every
Roman general sent against him until Caius Marius was sent out (107).
Marius, the son of humble parents, had been marked by Scipio Aemilianus,
under whom he served in Africa, as a coming man: but though he had
already shown great gifts as a leader the Senate did not want to give
him the command against Jugurtha because of his low birth, rude manners,
and the love in which he was held by the Roman mob. He was at last
elected by a huge majority, and, thanks in part to the brilliant
exploits of a cavalry officer, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, ended the
campaign in triumph. Jugurtha was captured, marched in chains through
the Roman streets and cast naked into an ice-cold dungeon to die of
hunger and exposure.

In Marius's triumph there was a drop of bitterness. His glory was shared
with Sulla. For it was Sulla who had actually captured Jugurtha. With a
small body of men he had daringly entered the camp of Bocchus, King of
Mauretania, with whom Jugurtha had taken refuge, and persuaded Bocchus
to make friends with Rome by giving him up. He had a ring made with a
picture of the scene, which annoyed Marius every time he saw it.

[Illustration: TROPHY OF VICTORY
Capitoline Museum]

But no one at the moment thought that Sulla could be a real rival to
Marius. There was no question of naming any one else as general when the
strife of parties in Rome was suddenly interrupted by terrible news--the
Nort