nnibal; but as a Roman citizen he is very far from
deserving such praise. His pride and haughtiness were intolerable, and
the laws of the constitution were set at nought whenever they opposed
his own views and passions. As a statesman he scarcely did anything
worth mentioning. By his wife AEmilia, daughter of AEmilius Paullus, he
had two daughters, one of whom married P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica
Corculum, the other, the celebrated Cornelia, married Tib. Sempronius
Gracchus, and was the mother of the two Gracchi, the tribunes of the
people.

CAIUS MARIUS

Extracts from "Caesar, a Sketch," by JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, LL.D.

(157-86 B.C.)

[Illustration: Caius Marius.]

Caius Marius was at this time forty-eight years old.[3] Two-thirds of
his life were over, and a name which was to sound throughout the world
and be remembered through all ages, had as yet been scarcely heard of
beyond the army and the political clubs in Rome. He was born at
Arpinum, a Latin township, seventy miles from the capital, in the year
157 B.C. His father was a small farmer, and he was himself bred to the
plough. He joined the army early, and soon attracted notice by his
punctual discharge of his duties. In a time of growing looseness,
Marius was strict himself in keeping discipline and in enforcing it as
he rose in the service. He was in Spain when Jugurtha[4] was there,
and made himself especially useful to Scipio; he forced his way
steadily upward, by his mere soldierlike qualities, to the rank of
military tribune. Rome, too, had learnt to know him, for he was chosen
tribune of the people the year after the murder of Caius Gracchus.
Being a self-made man, he belonged naturally to the popular party.
While in office he gave offence in some way to the men in power, and
was called before the Senate to answer for himself. But he had the
right on his side, it is likely, for they found him stubborn and
impertinent, and they could make nothing of their charges against him.
He was not bidding at this time, however, for the support of the mob.
He had the integrity and sense to oppose the largesses of corn; and he
forfeited his popularity by trying to close the public granaries
before the practice had passed into a system. He seemed as if made of
a block of hard Roman oak, gnarled and knotted, but sound in all its
fibres. His professional merit continued to recommend him. At the age
of forty he became praetor, and was sent to Spain, where he left