wish to try the issue of a battle with them under
any other commander. However, the barbarians did not come so soon as
they were expected, and the period of the consulship of Marius again
expired. As the Comitia were at hand, and his colleague had died,
Marius came to Rome, leaving Manius Aquilius in the command of the
army. There were many candidates of great merit for the consulship,
but Lucius Saturninus, one of the tribunes, who had most influence
with the people, was gained over by Marius; and in his harangues he
advised them to elect Marius consul. Marius indeed affected to decline
the honour, and begged to be excused; he said he did not wish for it;
on which Saturninus called him a traitor to his country for refusing
the command at so critical a time. Now though it was apparent that
Saturninus was playing a part at the bidding of Marius, and in such a
way that nobody was deceived, still the many seeing that the
circumstances required a man of his energy and good fortune, voted for
the fourth consulship of Marius, and gave him for colleague Catulus
Lutatius, a man who was esteemed by the nobility and not disliked by
the people.

XV. Marius, hearing that the enemy was near, quickly crossed the Alps,
and established a fortified camp near the river Rhodanus[79] (Rhone),
which he supplied with abundance of stores, that he might not be
compelled against his judgment to fight a battle for want of
provisions. The conveyance of the necessary stores for the army, which
hitherto was tedious and expensive on the side of the sea, he rendered
easy and expeditious. The mouths of the Rhodanus, owing to the action
of the waves, received a great quantity of mud and sand, mixed with
large masses of clay, which were formed into banks by the force of the
water, and the entrance of the river was thus made difficult and
laborious and shallow for the vessels that brought supplies. As the
army had nothing to do, Marius brought the soldiers here and commenced
a great cut, into which he diverted a large part of the river, and, by
making the new channel terminate at a convenient point on the coast,
he gave it a deep outlet which had water enough for large vessels, and
was smooth and safe against wind and wave. This cut still bears the
name of Marius. The barbarians had now divided themselves into two
bodies, and it fell to the lot of the Cimbri to march through the
country of the Norici,[80] over the high land against Catulus, and to
force