two such men could scramble for the city, and each cut the throats of
the relatives, friends, and presumed allies of the other, has to be
inquired into by those who would understand what Rome had been, what
it was, and what it was necessarily to become.

When Cicero was of an age to begin to think of these things, and had
put on the "toga virilis", and girt himself with a sword to fight
under the father of Pompey for the power of Rome against the Italian
allies who were demanding citizenship, the quarrel was in truth rising
to its bitterness. Marius and Sulla were on the same side in that
war. But Marius had then not only been Consul, but had been six times
Consul; and he had beaten the Teutons and the Cimbrians, by whom
Romans had feared that all Italy would be occupied. What was not
within the power of such a leader of soldiers? and what else but a
leader of soldiers could prevail when Italy and Rome, but for such a
General, had been at the mercy of barbaric hordes, and when they had
been compelled to make that General six times Consul?

Marias seems to have been no politician. He became a soldier and then
a General; and because he was great as a soldier and General, the
affairs of the State fell into his hands with very little effort. In
the old days of Rome military power had been needed for defence, and
successful defence had of course produced aggressive masterhood and
increased territory. When Hannibal, while he was still lingering in
Italy, had been circumvented by the appearance of Scipio in Africa and
the Romans had tasted the increased magnificence of external conquest,
the desire for foreign domination became stronger than that of native
rule. From that time arms were in the ascendant rather than policy.
Up to that time a Consul had to become a General, because it was his
business to look after the welfare of the State. After that time a man