This was to go too far. Like Jugurtha, he had purchased many friends in
the Senate, who, grateful for past favors and hoping for more, prevented
the adoption of violent measures against him; but they sent a message to
him that he must not have Cappadocia, and Mithridates, waiting for a
better opportunity, thought proper to comply. Of this message the bearer
was Lucius Sylla. He had time to study on the spot the problem of how to
deal with Asia Minor. He accomplished his mission with his usual
adroitness and apparent success, and he returned to Rome with new honors
to finish the Social war.
It was no easy work. The Samnites were tough and determined. For two years
they continued to struggle, and the contest was not yet over when news
came from the East appalling as the threatened Cimbrian invasion, which
brought both parties to consent to suspend their differences by mutual
concessions.
[1] I follow the ordinary date, which has been fixed by the positive
statement that Caesar was fifty-six when he was killed, the date of
his death being March, B.C. 44. Mommsen, however, argues plausibly
for adding another two years to the beginning of Caesar's life, and
brings him into the world at the time of the battle at Aix.
CHAPTER VII.
Barbarian kings, who found Roman senators ready to take bribes from them,
believed, not unnaturally, that the days of Roman dominion were numbered.
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