The fall of the populares also meant that the men they had exiled were now allowed to return. Chief among the exiles was Metellus Numidicus. As soon as Saturninus was dead, Metellus’s son began a tireless campaign to have his father recalled to Rome; so tireless were his efforts that he soon earned the cognomen “Pius” for his filial devotion. But though Saturninus and Glaucia were dead, Metellus still had enemies. One of the tribunes in 99 had been expelled from the Senate by Metellus and nursed a grudge. This tribune spent his entire year in office vetoing any attempt to bring Metellus back. But once his term expired, the Assembly voted to recall Metellus from exile. The tribune who had opposed the Metellans was made to pay a heavy price for his obstruction. After leaving office, he was jumped by an armed gang and murdered. Even though the storm had passed, a complete return to normalcy was out of the question.36
Just as Metellus Numidicus returned, Marius himself decided it would be prudent to absent himself from Rome for a while. As the glow of his military victories faded, his fellow Romans were left with a general unease about the methods and tactics he had used to control events at home. So Marius found a pretext to travel east in the summer of 98 and made a long circuit of the Aegean. He returned to Rome a year later, bought a house near the Forum and a villa in the country. Between these two homes, Marius settled into retirement. Like many old war horses, Marius was uncomfortable being put out to pasture and soon found himself burning to get back in the game: “As excellent a general as he was, he was an evil influence in time of peace, a man of unbounded ambition, insatiable, without self-control, and always an element of unrest.” This insatiable craving for more glory led to Marius’s ruin, and in the years to come he would put “the ugliest possible crown upon a most illustrious career in field and Forum… driven by the blasts of passion, ill-timed ambition, and insatiable greed upon the shore of a most cruel and savage old age.” 37
Though we call this war a war against allies in order to lessen the odium of it, if we are to tell the truth it was a war against citizens.
FLORUS1
QUINTUS POPPAEDIUS SILO HAILED FROM THE MARSI tribe of central Italy. Long respected for their martial valor, it was said that no Roman consul had ever celebrated a triumph over the Marsi, or without the Marsi. Silo himself was a veteran of the legions, almost certainly fighting in the armies of Gaius Marius against the Cimbri. A leader of wealth and standing at home, Silo also had plenty of friends in Rome and spent a great deal of time in the city. But though Silo was thoroughly integrated into the Roman system and had shed blood defending the Republic, he was still not tecÚically an equal citizen—a fact that was becoming intolerable.2
In the summer of 91 BC, Silo paid a call to his old friend Marcus Livius Drusus, the son of the man who had so thoroughly stymied Gaius Gracchus in 122. Drusus the Younger was now tribune and furiously stirring up a political storm of his own. Silo traveled to Rome to implore Drusus to rethink some of his proposals. Drusus planned to revive the old Gracchan-style land commission, which threatened Italian communities with arbitrary confiscation of property. Silo said the Italians would only accept land redistribution if a bill finally delivering equal citizenship came with it. * Drusus agreed that the time had come to finally settle the matter once and for all. He promised to take the Italian citizenship bill to the Assembly.3
In return for this promise, Silo pledged to support Drusus without reservation. He said, “By Capitoline Jupiter, Vesta of Rome, Mars the patron of the city, Sol the origin of all the people, Terra the benefactress of animals and plants; by the demigods who founded Rome, and the heroes who have contributed to the increase of its power, I swear that the friend or the enemy of Drusus will also be mine; I will not spare my life or my children or my parents, if the interests of Drusus and those who are bound by the same oath require it. If, by the law of Drusus, I become a citizen, I will regard Rome as my homeland, and Drusus as my greatest benefactor. I will communicate this oath to the largest possible number of my fellow citizens. If I keep my oath, may I obtain every blessing; and the opposite, if I violate my oath.” This was not an idle promise. In less than a year, Quintus Poppaedius Silo would be leading the Italians to armed insurrection.4
