People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-12-23
Aarius got the office.

oy force. So, at the head of his
soldiers he began his march to Rome
This was against the law. Sylla
knew it very well, but like many biz
men, he had no respect for the law
So he marched on. Some officers OF
the law were sent to stop him. He
killed them, and marched on. More
were SEM. He stripped them,
scourged them, and marched on.
Marius was in Rome but had not
expected such a thing as this. II
was disagreeable surprise. He
felt outraged and astonished. He
hardly knew where he was at. He
got few troops together and made
resistance. He got whipped. Then
he decided to get up and got-and
he did it.
told you last week how he had
to wander around through the
bushes: what a tight squeeze it was
for him to escape death; and how he
afterwards came back and took re-
venge on his enemies.
Sylla marched into Rome at the
head of his soldiers, and took posses
sion.
The main cause of the feud be-
tween the friends of Marius and the
friends of Sylla was that the Senate
of Rome, composed of few wealthy
mobiles, wanted to rule the country
without allowing the mass Of the
people to have any part in it, at all.
The Senate said the people ought to
pay the taxes and do most of the
fighting in the wars, while they, the
senators, made the laws and got the
fat of the land. They looked on
the common run Of people as mere
rag-tag and bob-tail. The idea of
their knowing anything about the
way tcgovern the country was ab-
surd.
The Senate also thought that
those who lived outside the CITY
ought not to nave any vote. For a
long time the Senate had their way.
The country people could not vote.
But after awhile the reformers took
mold of the matter and claimed that
the country people had right to
vote-as much so as those in the
CITY.
This looks to US like a mighty
simple proposition, but 1t caused a
world of trouble then. The city
bosses didn't want it that way at all
They abused the country people and
their leaders. They said the country
folks had no sense that they were
ignorant and full of prejudice; that
they were the mere rag-tag and bob
tail, anyway, and that they ought to
work harder and talk less.
AS to the leaders, the city bosses
gave them fits. They said these
leaders only wanted office; that
they were stirring up strife; that
they would array one GLASS against
|another; that they were exciting the
country against the town, and that if
these leaders were killed "our peo-
pie would all come together again"
Lots of these leaders they did
kill, but the principles they repre-
sented could not be killed. They
finally won the complete victory.
The Gracchii, about whom told
you in my first story, upheld the
country people in their right to vote.
They were killed but the question
itself did not die. 1t met with com
plete success afterwards.
Marius favored the law, and SO
did his friends. They had passed it,
and the country people were exer,
cising their rights under it when
Sylla drove Marius out Of Rome and
took possession.
One of the first things he did was
to repeal this law.
Another thing which SyIla did
was to confer on the Senate the ex-
elusive right to originate laws. In
other words, the Roman people
were never to have the liberty of
presenting a measure to be voted on
as they had done up to that time.
Thus he took away one of the
dearest rights of the Romans and
gave it to a few aristocrats.
Another thing he did was to make
law to the effect that even when
the Senate submitted a measure to
the Roman people, the wealthiest