rs. However,
this appeal to mob violence caused the equestrians to desert the popular
leaders, who also lost the sympathy of Marius. Saturninus then sought the
consulship for the next year, and, when it seemed that he would be
defeated, caused one of his most influential rivals to be killed. The
Senate thereupon proclaimed a state of martial law and called upon Marius
to restore order. Saturninus, Glaucia, and their followers occupied the
Capitol, where they were attacked and forced to surrender upon promise
that their lives would be spared. But Marius was unable to protect them
from the vengeance of their foes who massacred all the captives. Again the
Senate had conquered by a resort to force, but this time their opponents
had first appealed to the same means. For the time Marius suffered a
political eclipse; he had shown no political capacity and had been unable
to control or protect his own party which was now divided and discredited.

VI. THE TRIBUNATE OF MARCUS LIVIUS DRUSUS, 91 B. C.

*The **trial** of Rutilius Rufus: 93 B. C.* The senators and the
equestrians had combined for the moment against the terrorism instituted
by the popular demagogues but the coalition was not lasting. As Caius
Gracchus had foreseen the control of the law courts proved a standing bone
of contention between the two orders. Especially aggravating to the
senators was the use of the court established for the trial of cases of
extortion to force the provincial governors to administer the provinces in
the interest of the Roman financiers. A scandalous instance of this abuse
was the case of Rutilius Rufus in 93 B. C. He had been quaestor under
Mucius Scaevola, in 98 B. C. governor of Asia, where both had sternly
checked any unjust exactions by the agents of the _publicani_. A
trumped-up charge of extortion was now brought against Rutilius, and he
was tried and adjudged guilty. His fate was to serve as a warning to
officers who took their provincial obligations seriously. Rutilius retired
to Asia and lived in great esteem among the people whom he was condemned
for having oppressed.

*The **legislative program** of Livius Drusus: 91 B. C.* Two years later
Marcus Livius Drusus, a tribune, of a prominent senatorial house, brought
forward a proposal for the reform of the juries. He proposed to increase
the number of the Senate to six hundred by the inclusion of three hundred
prominent equestrians, and to have the juries chosen hal