e
cultivation in the Campagna of Rome and the countries south of
Terracina had not improved with the increase of Rome. But other
countries are better suited for grain than the low lands of this side
of Italy, and so far as concerns the cost of transport, grain might be
brought from Sardinia and Sicily as cheaply as from many parts of
Italy, and cheaper than from the plains of Apulia, which is a good
corn country.]

[Footnote 136: Metellus Pius was now carrying on the war against the
Samnites, who were still in arms. He came to Rome at the invitation of
the Senate. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 68.)]

[Footnote 137: The Roman writers often mention the Chaldaeans. They
were adventurers from Asia who made their living in the great
superstition market of Rome by foretelling future events. Whether they
were really Chaldaeans does not appear. The death of Octavius is told
somewhat differently by Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 71). His head was cut
off and placed on the Rostra, and many other heads also. He was the
first consul whose head was exposed on the Rostra. Other atrocities
are mentioned by Appian, c. 72, &c. It was the fashion in England less
than a hundred years back to place traitors' heads on Temple Bar,
London. "I have been this morning at the Tower, and passed under the
new heads at Temple Bar; where people make a trade of letting
spy-glasses at a halfpenny a look" (Horace Walpole, Letter to George
Montague, Aug. 16, 1746).]

[Footnote 138: Marcus Antonius, sometimes called the Orator, was the
grandfather of Marcus Antonius the Triumvir. His head was fixed on the
Rostra. Cicero, who has left on record a testimony to his great
talents, and deplored his fate (_De Oratore_, iii. 3), had the same
ill-luck from the hands of Antonius the Triumvir. M. Antonius the
orator filled many high posts, and was consul B.C. 99. But his title
to remembrance is his great oratorical skill. Cicero says that
Antonius and his contemporary Lucius Licinius Crassus were the first
Romans who equalled the great orators of Greece. The judicious remarks
of Antonius on the conduct of a cause are preserved by Cicero (_De
Oratore_, ii. 72). Antonius left no writings. (See "Antonius, Marcus,"
in _Biog. Dict._ of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.)]

[Footnote 139: Marius was elected Consul for the seventh time B.C. 86.
His colleague was Cinna. On the death of Marius, Valerius Flaccus was
elected in his place, and sent to Asia. On the