Marius, meanwhile, had, as it seemed, thrown off the weight of his years. He was as active and as successful as in his earlier battles.
Ostia, the port of Rome, was taken by his troops, and this, as he meant it to do, kept the corn supply from reaching the city, and Rome began to fear that famine was before her.
Before long Cinna and Marius were able to meet on the Janiculum. Large numbers of the troops under Octavius continued to desert and to join their army.
Then the Senate saw that they would gain nothing by continuing to defy the successful generals. So they bent their pride, and invited Cinna and Marius to meet them within the city.
When the generals arrived, the Senate begged that they would spare the lives of the citizens, even if they saw fit to punish them.
Cinna did not scruple to promise that all should be as the Senate wished. Marius, who stood close to the chair of Octavius, said not a word, but his face was stern and forbidding. And again those who looked at him foresaw that dire punishment would overtake his enemies.
Marius and his followers were still under the ban of exile, so the first thing Cinna demanded was that the sentence should be withdrawn.
But Marius was now within sight of his revenge, and he was too impatient to begin his cruel work to wait for the decision of the people.
When only a few tribes had voted, he dashed into the Forum, closely followed by a band of slaves, which band he called his bodyguard.
The slaves were ruffians hired to do his bidding, and now, at a word or sign from their master, they began to murder the citizens. The glance of Marius was enough to show them whom to slay. Soon they did not even look to him for a sign, but simply fell upon all whose greetings Marius did not return.
