second Commonwealth in the peninsula, where the change of atmosphere or soil might favor the revival of the virtues that had withered at Rome. It was no youthful frenzy that begot the scheme. Sertorius was a man past five-and-forty, whose bodily wounds bore the same witness to those who saw him, that those who read his history find in his projects and disappointments, of experience and courageous services. He established himself at the city of Osca, the modern Huesca, not far from the Pyrenees; and there he formed a Senate of some who had been Senators at Rome, and of others who had followed him into exile; 134 while, for his Spanish allies, whom he would admit to no places of authority, he instituted a school, in which the youths of highest birth amongst them were to be educated for future employment, and, as is probable, for future elevation. The exclusion of the Spaniards from seats in the Senate or eminent posts in the army did not, it would seem, detract from the confiding admiration with which they regarded their chieftain, foremost as he was in battle, most humane in victory, and at all times most observant of the superstitions 135 to which they themselves were especially sensitive. Sertorius never forgot he was a Roman; he would rather, he said, be the poorest citizen in his own country than an exile, though every other country were under his dominion; and the sole object of this Commonwealth in Spain was to rear the broken shoots of Roman law and Roman 134 App., Bell. Civ., I. 108; Bell. Mithrid., 68. Plut., Sert., 22. 135 See the story of the white fawn in Plut., Sert., 11, 20. patriotism, so that they might be transplanted back to the seven hills.136 It is the heart of the man rather than the spirit of the citizen, whose fidelity is more touchingly revealed in the grief he showed on receiving the news of his mother's death, when he hid himself in his tent for seven days, and had nearly died, as the sympathizing biographer writes, of These feelings, however, were to be cherished, and these projects were to be upheld, in the midst of warfare. Eight years 139 the troops of Sertorius withstood the forces sent from Rome; Metellus Pius and Pompey, besides many other commanders, were defeated; and at one time he was strong enough to have marched upon Italy. But while the patriotism of Sertorius remained too steadfast to permit the invasion of his country, his other virtues were corroded, as if by the contact of arms. His generals proved incompetent; his soldiers grew turbulent and were corrupted; and though the Spaniards appear to have continued faithful, he became suspicious even of them, and cruel towards all by whom he was surrounded. 39 Nevertheless, the Romans were driven from every field in which Sertorius personally encountered them; and it was not until his murder by some of his own 136 The spirit with which the negotiations with Mithridates were conducted is the most signal proof of his resolution to cleave to Rome. Plut., Sert., 23, 24. App., Bell. Mithrid., 68. 137 Plut., Sert., 22. 138 From A. C. 80 to 72. The account of the campaigns may be read in Liv., Epit. XC. to XCIV. and XCVI.; App., Bell. Civ., I. 108-114; Ibid., De Reb. Hisp., 101; and Flor., III. 22. 139 Plut., Sert, 25. App., Bell. Civ., I. 102. officers,140 that the armies of his countrymen triumphed, and his Commonwealth in Spain vanished from the earth. Spain itself was again wasted and chained.141 The war with Sertorius was not yet terminated, when another conflict- excited, however, against the dominion of Rome, not of Sulla alone — broke out in Italy. Some seventy-eight gladiators, determined to fight for their own freedom 142 rather than for the entertainment of their masters, escaping from the quarters in which they were confined at Capua, and arming themselves with spits and knives from a kitchen,143 were soon joined by thousands suffering from bondage, and by many tormented with poverty in the country round. Such weapons as could be seized or made 144 were used against the Roman troops despatched in pursuit of them, and against the cities which they on their part assailed, with such effect, that the miseries of the bruised and the afflicted were fearfully avenged. The host, increasing through that and the following year to nearly a hundred thousand, slaves and freemen, in arms, dared to prepare, at last, for marching upon Rome. The success of this wild insurrection is to be ex plained only by the character of its leader, Spartacus. 145 A Thracian by birth, he had been enlisted in a troop raised from the Roman armies, from which, offended or restless, he deserted; but being recaptured, he was sold for a gladiator,146 whose strength and temper would make rare sport at some Roman games. He it was who urged his companions to fly from Capua, and who, being acknowledged as their chief, compelled them and the disorderly array by which they were joined to submit to the discipline that insured their triumph, when under his command, 17 against the generals and the armies sent to hunt them down. But though Spartacus decked himself with the insignia of a Prætor whom he defeated, and led his fellows impetuous to battle, he soon began to urge their crossing the Alps, in order to seek their distant homes,148 before the foe, over whom they could not long prevail, should take revenge upon them for their deeds. At his persuasion, they marched northwards; but the victories they continued to gain were not outweighed, as with their leader, by the memory of home or the love of quieter life; and as he could not forsake, or was, perhaps, too closely watched to desert, his followers, he turned back with them to defeat and death.149 The insurrection had been sustained about two years. 145 See Plut., Crass., 8. 146 App., Bell. Civ., I. 116. Flor., III. 20. 147 Of course there were other leaders. Enomaus and Crixus, both Gauls, the next to Spartacus, were both slain before him. Oros., V. 24. App., Bell. Civ., I. 116. 148 Plut., Crass., 9. 149 A. C. 71. Plut., Crass., 11. Liv., Epit. XCVII. App., Bell. Civ., I. 120. Flor., III. 20. Cras The condition of Rome itself was so wasted and miserable at the time of Sulla's decease, that the first outbreaks against his dominion were naturally made abroad or in arms. But as years went by, and the Romans recovered from their terrors, the free spirit of their fathers began to breathe again more generally, though it could be vented, at first, only in murmurs. A Tribune, Cneius Sicinius, attempted, two years after the death of the Dictator, to restore the dignity of the office he occupied, by assailing the faction which approved its degradation.150 A Consul of the next year, Aurelius Cotta, cleared the tribunate from the stigma of ineligibility to other offices; 151 but the support of this measure cost Quintus Opimius, one of the Tribunes, dear at a trial to which he was soon afterwards held.152 Two years later, a distribution of corn at certain prices was commanded by the Consuls, in order to allay the existing tumults 153 and give the populace a proof that the freedom they liked best, that of largesses, was not yet departed. The Tribunes of the following year aimed higher, with a law to prevent all men condemned for capital crimes from being suffered to remain in the city.154 And the sus Dives, the only man in Rome, Pompey being absent, who would accept the command against Spartacus, was his victor. 150 A. C. 76. Plut., Crass., 7. His example was followed by L. Quintius, two years afterwards. Plut., Lucull., 5. Orat. Lic. Mac., ap. Sall., Hist., Lib. III. 151 A. C. 75. Cic., Pro C. Corn., 152 Sall., loc. cit., Hist., III. 154 A. C. 72. Freinshem., in loc. i |