eyards. Next year Marius, consul for the fifth time, met
the Cimbri, who had crossed the Alps and descended into the plains of
Lombardy, at Vercellae (101). Before the battle messengers came from the
Cimbri, demanding land for themselves and the Teutones. They had not
heard of the rout of Aquae Sextiae. Marius smiled grimly. 'Do not
trouble yourselves about your brothers,' he replied. 'They have land
enough which we have given them to keep for ever.' When battle was
joined next day it was the height of summer; the blazing heat exhausted
the Northerners. Boiorix, the Cimbrian king, the tallest and strongest
man in the army, perished; round him there lay, at the day's end,
100,000 of his countrymen.

Marius returned home to be hailed as the saviour of his country, the
peer of Camillus and Fabius. He was made consul for the sixth time.

Marius had won great victories; but the rejoicings in Rome over the
terrible dangers that had been averted by his generalship were brief.
Men's minds were profoundly disturbed: many felt dimly that great and
terrible events were coming without seeing what they were or how to deal
with or prevent them. Marius certainly was not the man who had either
the insight or the power to do this; he was a man of camps with no
knowledge or understanding of politics. His victories and the great
shows that followed them made him the idol of the mob: but the idol of
the mob was the last man to deal wisely with the difficulties of Rome.
The men of wealth and birth detested him as a dangerous, rude,
unlettered boor, who knew nothing of government or public business.
Marius could not even keep order. There were constant riots. People were
set upon and murdered in the open streets. Alarming reports came from
the provinces, especially from the East. But any one who had the courage
to demand justice for the provincials was certain to be detested in
Rome. Thus the honest Rutilius Rufus, who tried to defend the people of
Asia against the greed of the Roman tax-collectors, was driven into
exile. Nor did the Roman mob care a fig for the grievances of the
Italians--or the senators either.

Drusus

There were, however, men in Rome who felt that dishonour was coming upon
the Republic from these things as well as danger. These men--aristocrats
of the old stamp--were, however, mostly rather inclined to turn aside
from politics, which filled them with disgust. Their feelings were not
keen enough to make them take ac