ith powerful armies,
and under them served Marius, Sulla, and the most experienced generals
of the time. The Romans were fully aware of the formidable nature of the
struggle, which was one for existence, and not for victory. In the first
campaign the advantage was on the side of the Allies. The Samnites,
under their Consul Papius, overran Campania, took most of the towns, and
laid siege to Acerrae, into which Caesar threw himself. Pompaedius Silo was
still more successful. He defeated the Roman Consul P. Rutilius Lupus
with great slaughter, Rutilius himself being slain in the battle. This
disaster was to some extent repaired by Marius, who commanded a separate
army in the neighborhood, and compelled the victorious Allies to retire.
The old general then intrenched himself in a fortified camp, and neither
the stratagems nor the taunts of the Samnites could entice him from his
advantageous position. "If you are a great general," said Pompaedius,
"come down and fight;" to which the veteran replied, "Nay, do _you_, if
you are a great general, compel me to fight against my will." The Romans
considered that Marius was over-cautious and too slow; and Plutarch says
that his age and corpulence rendered him incapable of enduring the
fatigue of very active service. But it is more probable that he was not
very willing to destroy the Allies, who had been among his most active
partisans, and to whom he still looked for support in his future
struggles with the Nobility.

The Romans now saw the necessity of making some concessions. The Lex
Julia, proposed by the Consul Julius Caesar, granted the franchise to all
the Latin colonies, and to those of the Allies who had remained faithful
to Rome, or had laid down their arms. The effects of this concession
were immediately seen. Several of the Allies hastened to avail
themselves of it, and disunion and distrust were produced among the
rest.

The next campaign (B.C. 89) was decidedly favorable to the Romans. The
Consuls were Cn. Pompeius Strabo, the father of the celebrated Triumvir,
and L. Porcius Cato. The latter, it is true, was slain at the
commencement of the campaign; but his loss was more than compensated by
his lieutenant Sulla obtaining, in consequence, the supreme command. He
carried on the war with the utmost vigor, and completely eclipsed his
old commander Marius. He drove the enemy out of Campania, subdued the
Hirpini, and then penetrated into the very heart of Samnium. Here he