The first two reformers had been gentlemen. The two who
came after were of a very different stamp. They were
professional soldiers. One was called Marius. The name of the
other was Sulla. Both enjoyed a large personal following.
Sulla was the leader of the landowners. Marius, the victor
in a great battle at the foot of the Alps when the Teutons
and the Cimbri had been annihilated, was the popular hero
of the disinherited freemen.
Now it happened in the year 88 B.C. that the Senate of
Rome was greatly disturbed by rumours that came from Asia.
Mithridates, king of a country along the shores of the Black
Sea, and a Greek on his mother's side, had seen the possibility
of establishing a second Alexandrian Empire. He began his
campaign for world-domination with the murder of all Roman
citizens who happened to be in Asia Minor, men, women and
children. Such an act, of course, meant war. The Senate
equipped an army to march against the King of Pontus and
punish him for his crime. But who was to be commander-in-
chief? ``Sulla,'' said the Senate, ``because he is Consul.''
``Marius,'' said the mob, ``because he has been Consul five times
and because he is the champion of our rights.''
Possession is nine points of the law. Sulla happened to be
in actual command of the army. He went west to defeat
Mithridates and Marius fled to Africa. There he waited
until he heard that Sulla had crossed into Asia.
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