ndered (133). The inhabitants were sold as slaves, and
the town was levelled to the ground. The victor was honored with the
title of NUMANTINUS.

The fall of Numantia gave Rome a hold upon the interior of Spain, which
was never lost. The country now, with the exception of its northern
coast, was nominally Roman territory. Several towns were established
with Latin municipal rights _(municipia)_, and, on the whole, order was
maintained. Along the coast of the Mediterranean there sprang up many
thriving and populous towns, which became centres of civilization to the
neighboring districts, and were treated by Rome rather as allies than
as subjects. Some of them were allowed to coin the silver money of Rome.
The civilizing process, due to Roman influence, went on rapidly in these
parts, while the interior remained in barbarism.

In 105 the peninsula was overrun by the Cimbri, a barbarous race from
the north. The country was ravaged, but finally saved by the brave
Celtiberi, who forced the invaders back into Gaul.

THE SERVILE WAR (134-132).

While the Numantine war was still in progress, a war with the slaves
broke out in Sicily, where they had been treated with special barbarity.

For a long time slave labor had been taking the place of that of
freemen. The supply was rendered enormous by constant wars, and by the
regular slave trade carried on with the shores of the Black Sea and
Greece. The owners of the slaves became an idle aristocracy.

The immediate cause of the outbreak in Sicily was the cruelty of a
wealthy slave-owner, Damophilus. The leader of the slaves was EUNUS, who
pretended to be a Syrian prophet. A number of defeats were suffered
by the Roman armies, until, finally, PUBLIUS RUTILIUS captured the
strongholds of the slaves, TAUROMENIUM and ENNA, and thus closed the
war. For his success he was allowed an ovation.

CHAPTER XXI. INTERNAL HISTORY.--THE GRACCHI. We have seen how the long
struggle between the patricians and plebeians terminated in a nominal
victory for the latter. From about 275, the outward form of the old
constitution had undergone little change. It was nominally that of a
"moderate democracy." The Senate and offices of state were, in law,
open to all alike. In practice, however, the constitution became an
oligarchy. The Senate, not the Comitias, ruled Rome. Moreover, the
Senate was controlled by a class who claimed all the privileges of a
nobility. The Comitias were rarely called up