lands, returned a direct refusal to their demand. Upon which the Cimbri resolved to seize by force what they could not gain by entreaty, and immediately fell with so much fury upon the new consul Silanus, who had received orders to march against them, that they forced his intrenchments, pillaged his camp, and cut all his army in pieces. This victory was soon after followed by another, which their allies the Ambrones gained over Cassius Longinus at the mouth of the Rhone; and to complete the misfortune, a third army of Romans, more considerable than the two former, was soon after entirely defeated. Scaurus; who commanded it, was made prisoner, and afterwards put to death; his two sons were slain, and more than fourscore thousand of the Romans and their allies were left dead in the field. Last of all, two other generals, the consul Manlius, and the proconsul Cæpio, to whom had been intrusted a fourth army already half van quished with fear, and who were disunited and jealous of each other, were attacked near the Rhone, each of them in his camp, and entirely defeated.

Such repeated losses filled Rome with grief and terror; and many began to despair even of the safety of the state. In this melancholy conjuncture, minds less firm than those of these spirited republicans would, doubtless, have suggested the imprudent measure of granting to the conquerors conditions capable of softening them: they would have given them at once the lands they had required, or perhaps have purchased their friendship with a sum of money. This dangerous policy would probably have ruined Rome in this exigence, as it did some ages after. The Gauls, the Germans, and the -Scythians, poor and greedy nations, who grasped after nothing but slaughter and booty, roving and warlike, as well by inclination as necessity, would have harassed, by continual inroads, a people which had let them see that they were at once richer and weaker than themselves. The prudent firmness of the Senate, and the valour of Marius, saved Rome for this time from the danger under which it afterwards sunk. All the citizens now turned their eyes towards the conqueror of Jugurtha, as their last and only support. They decreed him consular honours for the fourth time, and associated with him Catulus Luctatius, a person scarcely inferior to him in

military skill, and who far exceeded him in all the other qualities which make a great statesman.

Marius having quickly discovered that the ill success of his predecessors was the effect of their imprudence, formed to himself a very different plan of conduct. In particular, he resolved not to join battle with the enemy till their furious ardour was abated, and till his soldiers familiarized to the sight of them, should no longer consider themselves as conquered before they came to blows. Their former victories, their tallness of stature, rendered still more terrible by their dress, their ferocious air, their barbarous shouts, and unusual manner of fighting, had all contributed to strike the Romans with the greatest terror; and this terror was the first enemy he had to encounter; an enemy which time alone could subdue. With this view, Marius judged it necessary to encamp on the banks of the Rhone, in a situation naturally advantageous, where he laid in all sorts of provisions in great abundance, that he might not be compelled to engage before he saw a convenient opportunity. This coolness of the general was regarded by those barbarians as a mark of cowardice. They resolved, therefore, to divide themselves into different bodies, and so penetrate into Italy. The Cimbri and Tigurini went to meet Catulus; the Ambrones and Teutones, hoping to pro voke the Romans to fight, came and encamped in a plain full in their front. But nothing could induce Marius to change his resolution.

Nevertheless, these barbarians insulted the Romans incessantly by every means they could devise: they advanced as far as the very intrenchments of their camp to reproach and deride them; they challenged the officers and the general himself to single combat. The Roman soldiers were by degrees accustomed to look their enemies in the face, while the provocations they received every day more and more whetted their resentment. Many of them even broke out into reproaches against Marius for appearing so much to distrust their courage; and this dexterous general to appease them, had recourse to a Syrian prophetess in his camp, who assured them that the gods did not yet approve of their fighting At length the patience of the Teutones was exhausted, they endeavoured to force the Roman intrenchments; but

and

here they were repulsed with loss: upon which, they resolved to abandon their camp, and attempt an irruption into Italy. They filed off for six days together in the presence of Marius's army, insulting his soldiers with the most provoking language, and asking them if they had any message to send to their wives whom they hoped soon to see. Marius heard all these bravados with his accustomed coolness; but when their whole army was passed by, he followed them as far as Aix in Provence, harassing their rear-guard without intermission. When he was arrived at this place, he halted, in order to let his soldiers enjoy what they had ardently desired so long-a pitched battle. They began with skirmishing on both sides, till the fight insensibly growing more serious, at length both armies made the most furious attacks. Thirty thousand Ambrones advanced first, marching in a kind of measure to the sound of their instruments. A body of Ligurians, supported by the Romans, repulsed them with great loss; but as they betook themselves to flight, their wives came forth to meet them with swords and hatchets in their hands, and bitterly reproaching them, and striking indiscriminately friend and foe, endeavoured to snatch with their naked hands the enemies' weapons, maintaining an invincible firmness even till death. This first action raised the courage of the Romans, and was the prelude to a victory still more decisive.

After the greatest part of the Ambrones had perished in that day's action, Marius caused his army to retire back to his camp, ordering them to keep strict watch, and to lie close without making any movement; as if they were affrighted at their own victory. On the other hand, in the camp of the Teutones were heard continual howlings, like to those of savage beasts; so hideous, that the Romans, and even their general himself could not help testifying their horror. They, notwithstanding, lay quiet that night, and the day following, being busily employed in preparing all things for a second engagement. Marius, on his part, took all necessary precautions; he placed in an ambuscade three thousand men commanded by Marcellus, with orders to attack the enemy in the rear, as soon as they should perceive the battle was begun. When both armies were come within sight of each other, Marius commanded his cavalry to dismount; but the Teutones, hurried on by that blind impetuosity which distinguishes all

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barbarous nations, instead of waiting till the Romans were come down into the plain, attacked them on an eminence where they were advantageously posted. At the same instant, Marcellus appeared suddenly behind with his troops, and hemming them in, threw their ranks into disorder, so that they were quickly forced to fly. Then the victory declared itself entirely in favour of the Romans, and a most horrible carnage ensued. If we may take literally what some of the Roman historians have related*, there perished more than a hundred thousand Teutones, including the prisoners. Others content themselves with saying, that the number of the slain was incredible; that the inhabitants of Marseilles for a long time after, made inclosures for their gardens and vineyards with the bones; and that the earth thereabouts was so much fattened, that its increase of produce was prodigious. Marius loaded with glory, after a victory so illustrious in itself, and so important in its consequences, was a fifth time honoured with the consular fasces; but he would not triumph till he had secured the repose of Italy, by the entire defeat of all the barbarians. The Cimbri, who had separated themselves from the Teutones, still threatened its safety. They had penetrated as far as the banks of the Adige; which Catulus Luctatius was not strong enough to prevent them from crossing. The progress they made still caused violent alarms in Rome; Marius was charged to raise a new army with the utmost speed, and to go and engage them. The Cimbri had halted near the Po, in hopes that the Teutones, of whose fate they were ignorant, would quickly join them. Wondering at the delay of these their associates, they sent to Marius a second time to demand an allotment of land, sufficient to maintain themselves and the Teutones their brethren. Marius answered them, that "their brethren already possessed more than they desired, and that they would not easily quit what he had assigned them." The Cimbri, irritated by this raillery, instantly resolved to take ample vengeance.

They prepared immediately for battle, and their king, or general, named Bojorix, approached the Roman camp with a small party of horse to challenge Marius, and to agree with him on a day and place of action. Marius answered, that although it was not the custom of the Romans to consult their

*See Plutarch's Life of Marius.

enemies on this subject, he would notwithstanding for once oblige them, and therefore appointed the next day but one, and the plain of Verceil for their meeting. At the time appointed, the two armies marched thither; the Romans ranged themselves into two wings: Catulus commanded a body of twenty thousand men, and Sylla was in the number of his officers. The Cimbri formed with their infantry an immense square battalion: their cavalry, consisting of fifteen thousand men, was magnificently mounted; each soldier bore upon his helmet the head of some savage beast, with its mouth gaping wide; an iron cuirass covered his body, and he carried a long halberd in his hand. The extreme heat of the weather was very favourable to the Romans. They had been careful to get the sun on their backs; while the Cimbri little accustomed to its violence, had it in their faces *. Besides this, the dust hid from the eyes of the Romans the astonishing multitude of their enemies, so that they fought with the more confidence, and of course more courage. The Cimbri, exhausted and dispirited, were quickly routed. A precaution, which they had taken to prevent their being dispersed, only served to forward their ruin; they had linked the soldiers of the foremost ranks to one another with chains; in these they were entangled, and thereby exposed the more to the blows of the Romans. Such as could fly, met with new dangers in their camp; for their women who sat upon their chariots, clothed in black, received them as enemies, and massacred without distinction their fathers, brothers, and husbands; they even carried their rage to such a height, as to dash out the brains of their children; and completed the tragedy, by throwing themselves under their chariot wheels. After their example, their husbands in despair turned their arms against one another, and seemed to join with the Romans in promoting their own defeat. In the dreadful slaughter of that day, a hundred and twenty thousand are said to have perished; and if we except a few families of the Cimbri, which remained in their own country, and a small

We are told that the Cimbri were on the point of gaining the victory, when the sun, breaking through the clouds, blinded them. If this story be true, the fate of the world hung upon a sunbeam! It apparently often does hang upon a very slender thread. "Si le nez de Cléopatre eût été plus court, toute la face de la terre auroit changé," says Pascal, 1 P. A. 9, s. 56.-ED.