THE MURDER OF DRUSUS.--Nearly ten years of comparative quiet ensued. The long continued complaints of the Italians found at last a voice in the measures of _M. Livius Drusus,_ a tribune, who, in 91, proposed that they should have the right of citizenship. Two other propositions, one referring to the relations of the _Equites_ and the _Senate,_ and the other for a new division of lands, had been accepted by the people, but were by the Senate declared null. Before _Drusus_ could bring forward the law respecting Italian citizenship, he was assassinated. Neither Senate nor people was favorable to this righteous measure. THE ITALIAN OR SOCIAL WAR (90-88 B.C.).--The murder of _Drusus_ was the signal for an insurrection of the _Italian_ communities. They organized for themselves a federal republic. The peril occasioned by this great revolt reconciled for the moment the contending parties at Rome. In the North, where _Marius_ fought, the Romans were generally successful: in the South, the allies were at first superior; but in 89, in spite of _Sulla's_ bold forays, they were worsted. But it was by policy, more than by arms, that the Romans subdued this dangerous revolt. They promised full citizenship to those who had not taken part in the war, and to those who would at once cease to take part in it (90). Finally, when it was plain that Rome was too strong to be overcome, the conflict was ended by granting to the allies all that they had ever claimed (89). Rome had now made ALL ITALY (south of _Cisalpine Gaul_), except the _Samnites_ and _Lucanians,_ EQUAL WITH HERSELF. But Italy had been ravaged by desolating war: the number of small proprietors was more than ever diminished, and the army and the generals were becoming the predominant force in the affairs of the state. WAR WITH MITHRIDATES.--_Mithridates,_ king of Pontus, in the north-east of Asia Minor, was as ardent an enemy of the Romans as Hannibal had been. With the help of his son-in-law _Tigranes,_ king of Armenia, he had subdued the neighboring kings in alliance with Rome. The Asiatic states, who were ruled by the Romans, were impatient of the oppression under which they groaned. When checked by the Romans, _Mithridates_ had paused for a while, and then had resumed again his enterprise of conquest. In 88 the Grecian cities of Asia joined him; and, in obedience to his brutal order, all the Italians within their walls, not lelss than eighty thousand in number, but possibly almost double that number, were put to death in one day. The whole dominion of the Romans in the East was in jeopardy.