There had been two such rivals just before the time of Caesar, who had filled the world with their quarrels.  They were Marius and Sylla.  Their very names have been, in all ages of the world, since their day, the symbols of rivalry and hate.  They were the representatives respectively of the two great parties into which the Roman state, like every other community in which the population at large have any voice in governing, always has been, and probably always will be divided, the upper and the lower; or, as they were called in those days, the patrician and the plebeian.  Sylla was the patrician; the higher and more aristocratic portions of the community were on his side.  Marius was the favorite of the plebeian masses.  In the contests, however, which they waged with each other, they did not trust to the mere influence of votes.  They relied much more upon the soldiers they could gather under their respective standards and upon their power of intimidating, by means of them, the Roman assemblies.  There was a war to be waged with Mithridates, a very powerful Asiatic monarch, which promised great opportunities for acquiring fame and plunder.  Sylla was appointed to the command.  While he was absent, however, upon some campaign in Italy, Marius contrived to have the decision reversed, and the command transferred to him Two officers, called tribunes, were sent to Sylla’s camp to inform him of the change.  Sylla killed the officers for daring to bring him such a message, and began immediately to march toward Rome.  In retaliation for the murder of the tribunes, the party of Marius in the city killed some of Sylla’s prominent friends there, and a general alarm spread itself throughout the population.  The Senate, which was a sort of House of Lords, embodying mainly the power and influence of the patrician party, and was, of course, on Sylla’s side, sent out to him, when he had arrived within a few miles of the city, urging him to come no further.  He pretended to comply; he marked out the ground for a camp; but he did not, on that account, materially delay his march.  The next morning he was in possession of the city.  The friends of Marius attempted to resist him, by throwing stones upon his troops from the roofs of the houses.  Sylla ordered every house from which these symptoms of resistance appeared to be set on fire.  Thus the whole population of a vast and wealthy city were thrown into a condition of extreme danger and terror, by the conflicts of two great bands of armed men, each claiming to be their friends.

[Sidenote:  Defeat of Marius.]

Marius was conquered in this struggle, and fled for his life.  Many of the friends whom he left behind him were killed.  The Senate were assembled, and, at Sylla’s orders, a decree was passed declaring Marius a public enemy, and offering a reward to any one who would bring his head back to Rome.

[Sidenote:  His flight.]

Marius fled, friendless and alone, to the southward, hunted every where by men who were eager to get the reward offered for his head.  After various romantic adventures and narrow escapes, he succeeded in making his way across the Mediterranean Sea, and found at last a refuge in a hut among the ruins of Carthage.  He was an old man, being now over seventy years of age.