o be
present at the elections, as was necessary according to the law, his
general ridiculed the idea, and told him to wait another twenty years.
He went, however, and was elected in 107, being the first plebeian
chosen to that office for more than a century.

Metellus was recalled, enjoyed a triumph, and received the agnomen of
NUMIDICUS.

Marius was every inch a soldier. He saw that the Roman legions must be
reorganized and better disciplined. He enlisted men who had no other
occupation, that they might become professional soldiers. Some men of
rank who had a taste for war also went with him. Among these was a young
patrician, CORNELIUS SULLA. With this army Marius soon wrested from
Jugurtha all his strongholds. In less than two years the war was over.
By his ally, Bocchus, King of Mauritania, Jugurtha was betrayed (106)
into the hands of Sulla, who was acting as the Quaestor of Marius.

The western portion of Numidia was given to Bocchus as the reward of
his treachery, while the remainder continued to be governed by native
princes, until the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. In 104 Marius
returned home, and entered Rome in triumph. Jugurtha was thrown into a
dungeon, and there starved to death.

CHAPTER XXIII. THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES.--POLITICAL QUARRELS.

The war with Jugurtha ended none too soon, for Marius was needed in a
struggle requiring all his talents.

The CIMBRI and TEUTONES, barbarous nations from Northern Europe, were
threatening the frontiers of Italy. Already the Roman armies had met
with five successive defeats at their hands on the banks of the Rhone.
Eighty thousand Romans and forty thousand camp followers are said to
have fallen in these battles. Had the barbarians at this moment chosen
to enter Italy, the destruction of Rome would have been a certain
result. Fortunately, they turned to the Pyrenees, and, sweeping over the
mountains, overran for a season the province of Spain.

Marius, appointed Consul a second time, devoted his energies to forming
and training the army. He selected the plains on the banks of the Rhone
in Southern Gaul as best adapted for his purpose. Here he drilled
his troops, accustoming them to the greatest possible exertions. Many
perished under the strain, but the survivors became hardened soldiers.
Corps of engineers were attached to each legion, and the soldiers were
taught the use of tools, as well as of arms. At length, in his fourth
consulship (102), he