The praetor,
learning of his presence, and advised of the revolution at Rome, sent
him word to quit the province without delay. As the messenger spoke
Marius looked at him with silent indignation.

"What answer shall I take back to the praetor?" asked the man.

"Tell him," said the old general, with impressive dignity, "that you
have seen Caius Marius sitting among the ruins of Carthage."

Meanwhile his son had reached Numidia, where he was outwardly well
received by the king, yet held in captivity. He was at length enabled
to escape by the aid of the king's daughter, and joined his father.
Marius was not further molested.

Yet it would have been well for the fame of Caius Marius had his life
ended here. He would nave escaped the infamy of his later years, and the
flood of blood and vengeance in which his career reached its end. He had
friends still in Rome. Sulla had made many foes by his capture of the
city. Among the new consuls elected was Cornelius Cinna, who quickly
made trouble for the ruler of Rome. Sulla, finding his power abating,
and fearing assassination by friends of Marius, concluded to let the
senate fight its own battles, and shipped his troops for Greece, leaving
Rome to its own devices, while he occupied himself with fighting its
enemy in the East.

No sooner had he gone than civil war began. Fighting took place in the
streets of Rome. Cinna moved in the senate that Marius should be
restored to his rights. Failing in this, he gathered an army and
threatened his enemies in Rome.

News of all this soon reached old Marius in Africa. At the head of a
thousand desperate men he took ship and landed in Etruria. Here he
proclaimed liberty to all slaves who would join him, and soon had a
large force. He also gained a small fleet. He and Cinna now joined
forces and marched on Rome.

The senate, which stood for Sulla, had meanwhile been gathering an army
for the defence of the city. But few of those ordered from afar reached
the gates, and of the principal force the greater part deserted to
Marius. The city was soon invested on all sides. The ships of Marius
captured the corn-vessels from Sicily and Africa. A plague broke out in
the city, which decimated the army of the senate. In the end beleaguered
Rome was forced to open its gates to a new conqueror.

All the senate asked for was that Cinna would not permit a general
massacre. This he promised. But behind his chair, in which he sat in
state as consul