as his purpose to set sail for the East
before he could be superseded. He was too late. Officials from Rome
reached the camp almost as soon as he, bearing a commission from Marius
to assume the command. It was a critical moment. Sulla must either yield
or inaugurate a civil war.

He chose the latter. Calling the soldiers together, he told them that
he had been insulted and injured, and that, unless they supported him,
they would be left at home, and a new army raised by Marius would obtain
the spoils of the Mithridatic war. Stirred by this appeal to their
avarice, the legions stoned to death the officers sent by Marius, and
loudly demanded to be led to Rome.

Their coming took Marius by surprise, and threw the city into
consternation. No one had dreamed of such daring and audacity. To lead a
Roman army against Rome was unprecedented. The senate sent an embassy
asking Sulla to halt till the Fathers could come to some decision. He
promised to do so, but as soon as the envoys had gone he sent a force
that seized the Colline Gate and entered the city streets. Here their
progress was stopped by the people, who hurled tiles and stones upon
their heads from the house-tops.

The whole army soon followed, and Sulla entered the city with two
legions at his back. The people again opposed their march, but Sulla
seized a torch and threatened to burn the city if any hostility were
shown. This ended all opposition, except that made by Marius, who
retreated to the Capitol, where he proclaimed liberty to all slaves who
would join his banner. This did him much more harm than good; his
adherents dispersed; he and his chief supporters were forced to seek
safety in flight.

And now we have a story of striking interest to tell. It would need the
powers of invention of a romancer to devise a series of adventures as
remarkable as those which befell old Marius in his flight. It is one of
the strangest stories in all the annals of history, a marked
illustration of the saying that fact is often stranger than fiction.

Marius fled to Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, in company with
Granius, his son-in-law, and five slaves. He proposed to take ship there
for Africa, where his influence was great. His son followed him by a
different route, and arrived at Ostia to find that his father had put to
sea. There was another vessel about to sail, which the son took, and in
which he succeeded in reaching Africa.

The older fugitive had no such good f