peace had left the allies imperfectly satisfied. Their dispersed armies
gathered again about Cinna and Sertorius. Old Marius, who had been hunted
through marsh and forest, and had been hiding with difficulty in Africa,
came back at the news that Italy had risen again; and six thousand of his
veterans flocked to him at the sound of his name. The Senate issued
proclamations. The limitations on the Italian franchise left by Sylla were
abandoned. Every privilege which had been asked for was conceded. It was
too late. Concessions made in fear might be withdrawn on the return of
safety. Marius and Cinna joined their forces. The few troops in the pay of
the Senate deserted to them. They appeared together at the gate's of the
city, and Rome capitulated.

There was a bloody score to be wiped out. There would have been neither
cruelty nor injustice in the most severe inquiry into the massacre in the
Forum, and the most exemplary punishment of Octavius and his companions.
But the blood of the people was up, and they had suffered too deeply to
wait for the tardy processes of law. They had not been the aggressors.
They had assembled lawfully, to assert their constitutional rights; they
had been cut in pieces as if they had been insurgent slaves, and the
assassins were not individuals, but a political party in the State.

Marius bears the chief blame for the scenes which followed. Undoubtedly he
was in no pleasant humor. A price had been set on his head, his house had
been destroyed, his property had been confiscated, he himself had been
chased like a wild beast, and he had not deserved such treatment. He had
saved Italy when but for him it would have been wasted by the swords of
the Germans. His power had afterward been absolute, but he had not abused
it for party purposes. The Senate had no reason to complain of him. He had
touched none of their privileges, incapable and dishonest as he knew them
to be. His crime in their eyes had been his eminence. They had now shown