retended, of the lower classes of
society, he collected vast multitudes of revolted slaves, outlaws, and
other desperadoes, and advanced toward Rome. He assumed, himself, the
dress, and air, and savage demeanor of his followers. His countenance
had been rendered haggard and cadaverous partly by the influence of
exposures, hardships, and suffering upon his advanced age, and partly by
the stern and moody plans and determinations of revenge which his mind
was perpetually revolving. He listened to the deputations which the
Roman Senate sent out to him from time to time, as he advanced toward
the city, but refused to make any terms. He moved forward with all the
outward deliberation and calmness suitable to his years, while all the
ferocity of a tiger was burning within.

[Sidenote: Executions by order of Marius.]

As soon as he had gained possession of the city, he began his work of
destruction. He first beheaded one of the consuls, and ordered his head
to be set up, as a public spectacle, in the most conspicuous place in
the city. This was the beginning. All the prominent friends of Sylla,
men of the highest rank and station, were then killed, wherever they
could be found, without sentence, without trial, without any other
accusation, even, than the military decision of Marius that they were
his enemies, and must die. For those against whom he felt any special
animosity, he contrived some special mode of execution. One, whose fate
he wished particularly to signalize, was thrown down from the
Tarpeian Rock.

[Sidenote: The Tarpeian Rock.]

The Tarpeian Rock was a precipice about fifty feet high, which is still
to be seen in Rome, from which the worst of state criminals were
sometimes thrown. They were taken up to the top by a stair, and were
then hurled from the summit, to die miserably, writhing in agony after
their fall, upon the rocks below.

[Sidenote: The story of Tarpeia.]
[Sidenote: Subterranean passages.]

The Tarpeian Rock received its name from the ancient story of Tarpeia.
The tale is, that Tarpeia was a Roman girl, who lived at a time in the
earliest periods of the Roman history, when the city was besieged by an
army from are of the neighboring nations. Besides their shields, the
story is that the soldiers had golden bracelets upon their arms. They
wished Tarpeia to open the gates and let them in. She promised to do so
if they would give her their bracelets; but, as she did not know the
name of the shini