e
death sure, a reward of two talents was promised any one who should kill
a proscribed man,--even if the killer were his son or his slave. Those
who in any way aided the proscribed became themselves doomed to death.

Men who envied others their property managed to have their names put on
the list. A partisan of Sulla was exulting over the doomed, when his
eye fell on his own name in the list. He hastily fled, and the
bystanders, judging the cause, followed and cut him down. Catiline, who
afterwards became notorious in Roman history, murdered his own brother,
and to legalize the murder had the name of his victim placed on the
list.

How many were murdered we do not know. Probably little less than three
thousand in Rome. The stream of murder flowed to other cities. Several
of these defied the conqueror, but were taken one by one and their
defenders slain. To all cities which had taken part with the Marians the
proscription made its way. Of the total number slain during this reign
of terror no record exists, but the deliberate butchery of Sulla went
far beyond the ferocious but temporary slaughter of Marius.

Murder was followed by confiscation. Sulla ordered that the property of
the slain should be sold at auction and the proceeds put in the
treasury. But the favorites of the dictator were the chief bidders, the
property was sold at a tithe of its value, and the unworthy and
dissolute obtained the lion's share of the spoil.

During this period of murder and confiscation we first hear the names of
a number of afterwards famous Romans. Catiline we have named. Pompey
took part in the war on Sulla's side, was victorious in Sicily and
Africa, and on his return was hailed by his chief with the title of
Pompey the Great. Another still more famous personage was Julius Caesar.
Sulla had ordered that all persons connected by marriage with the
Marian party should divorce their wives. Pompey obeyed. Caesar, who was a
nephew of Marius and had married the daughter of Cinna, boldly refused.
He was then a youth of nineteen. His boldness would have brought him
death had not powerful friends asked for his life.

"You know not what you ask," said Sulla; "that profligate boy will be
more dangerous than many Mariuses."

Caesar, not trusting Sulla's doubtful humor, escaped from Rome, and hid
in the depths of the Sabine mountains, awaiting a time when the streets
of the capital city would be safer for those who dared speak their
minds.