2. =Cimbrīs et Teutonibus=: the Cimbri and Teutones were Germanic tribes who had migrated from their homes and had come into Gaul. They defeated the Romans in several engagements. In the battle of Arausio, 105 B.C., three Roman armies were cut to pieces. Then they turned their course towards Spain and gave the Romans a respite of two years. In 102 B.C. they returned from Spain and prepared to invade Italy. Before their entrance they divided. The Cimbri and the Tigurini crossed the Rhone, intending to enter Italy by the eastern Alps. The Teutones and the Ambrones tried to come in by the Maritime Alps, intending to join their countrymen in the valley of the Po. Marius met them at Aquae Sextiae, modern Aix, 102 B.C., and the mighty host of the barbarians was annihilated. The next year the united armies of Marius and Catulus met the Cimbri near Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul and utterly defeated them. Those who survived the battle were either killed or sold in the slave market at Rome. “The human avalanche which for thirteen years had alarmed the nations from the Danube to the Ebro, from the Seine to the Po, rested beneath the sod, or toiled under the yoke of slavery.” Mommsen, _History of Rome_, Vol. III, p. 203. Creighton, p. 63; _The Story of the Romans_, p. 155. 7. =quantus … tempore=: ‘barely was it as great in the time of Hannibal.’ 8. =Marius=: Gaius Marius was born near Arpinum 157 B.C. of an obscure family. By his valor and his energy he worked his way up in the army, winning distinction in the siege of Numantia in Spain. In 119 B.C. he was elected tribune of the plebs. He now became a marked man. He acquired influence and importance by marrying into the family of the Caesars. In 109 B.C. he went to Africa as lieutenant of Metellus. In 107 B.C. he was elected consul and brought the war with Jugurtha to an end, Bk. IV, 27. After his return from Africa he was elected consul the second time in 104 B.C. and took command of the war against the Cimbri and Teutones. Again in 103, 102, and 101 B.C. he was elected to the consulship, and crushed the barbarians in the two famous battles of Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae, 102, 101 B.C., Chs. 1, 2. In 100 B.C. he was elected consul for the sixth time. The Social war again called him into active service. He defeated the Marsi in two successive engagements, Ch. 3. That he might gratify his ambition and be sent to the war with Mithradates, he procured the passage of a law removing Sulla from the command of the army and conferring it upon himself. Sulla refused to give up his command, marched upon Rome, and forced Marius to flee. After having arranged matters at Rome to his satisfaction Sulla left for the East, Ch. 4. While he was away, Marius returned to Italy, besieged Rome, and entered the city as a conqueror. “The most frightful scenes followed. The guards of Marius stabbed every one whom he did not salute, and the streets ran with the blood of the noblest of the Roman aristocracy.” Ch. 7.