rangements were thwarted even more unpleasantly. He had
got a decree framed by the people, giving the army of the north to his
friend Q. Pompeius Rufus, and recalling Cn. Pompeius Strabo. But the
latter procured the assassination of the former, and remained at the
head of the army. Still Sulla showed no resentment. A tribune named
Virginius was threatening to prosecute him. But he contented himself
with making Cinna ascend the Capitol with a stone in his hand, and,
throwing it down before a number of spectators, solemnly swear to
observe the new constitution. Then, leaving Metellus in Samnium
and Appius Claudius at Nola, he hurried to Capua, and embarking at
Brundusium felt, no doubt, that if he must pay his debt to the army
before the army would commit fresh treasons for him, it was not
unpleasant now to be forced away from the wasps' nest which he had
stirred up round him at home. And so, making a virtue of a necessity,
he sailed with a light heart from the chance of assassination at Rome
to fame and fortune in the East.

* * * * *

CHAPTER X.

MARIUS AND CINNA.

[Sidenote: Flight of Marius.] Meanwhile what had become of Marius?
Already a halo of legend was gathering round his name, and all Italy
was ringing with his adventures. When he had fled from Rome (not sorry
now, we may be sure, that he had gone through his late exhibitions
in the Campus Martius), he had sent his son to some of his
father-in-law's farms to get necessary provisions. Young Marius was
overtaken by daylight, before he could get to his father-in-law's
farm, and pack the things up, and was nearly caught by those on his
track. But the farm-bailiff saw them in time, and, hiding him in a
cart full of beans, yoked the teams, and drove him to Rome. [Sidenote:
Ostia.] There young Marius went to his wife's house, and, getting
what he wanted, set out at nightfall for Ostia, and finding a ship
starting for Africa, went aboard. His father had not waited for his
return. He too had embarked at Ostia for Africa with his son-in-law.
But now in his old age the sea was not so kind to him as when, in
his bold and confident youth, he had sailed to sue for his first
consulship from the very land to which he was now flying. A storm came
on, and the ship was blown southwards along the coast. Marius begged
the captain to keep clear of Tarracina, because Geminius, a leading
man there, was his bitter foe. [Sidenote: Circeii.] But