[Footnote 56: He was tribune of the plebs, B.C. 99.]
[Sidenote: FRAG. XCIV] 1. For there were other factional leaders, but the greatest authority was possessed by Marcius[57] over one group, and by Quintus[58] over the other: these men were eager for power, of insatiable ambition, and consequently greatly inclined toward strife. Those qualities they possessed in common; but Drusus had the advantage of birth, and of wealth, which he lavishly expended upon those who at any time made demands upon him, while the other greatly surpassed him in audacity, daring, the anticipation of plots, and malignity suitable to the occasion. Hence not unnaturally, since they supplemented each other partly by their likeness and partly by their differences, they created an extremely strong factional feeling which remained even after the death of both. (Valesius, p. 638.)
2. ¶Drusus and Cæpio, formerly great friends and united by mutual ties of marriage, became privately at enmity with each other and carried their feud even into politics. (Valesius, ib.)
[Sidenote: FRAG. XCV] [Sidenote: B.C. 92 (_a.u._ 662)] 1. ¶Rutilius, an upright man, was most unjustly condemned. He was brought to court by a preconcerted plan of the knights on a charge of having been bribed while serving in Asia as lieutenant under Quintus Mucius,[59] and they imposed a fine upon him. The reason for this act was their rage at his having ended many of their irregularities in connection with the collecting of taxes. (Valesius, p. 637.)
[Footnote 59: The clause as found in the MS. gives no sense. The translation here is on the basis of an emendation suggested by Boissevain.]
2. ¶Rutilius made a very able defence, and there was no one of his words which would not be the natural utterance of an upright man who was being blackmailed and grieved far more for the conditions of the State than for his own possessions: he was convicted, however, and immediately stripped of his property. This process more than any other revealed the fact that he had in no wise deserved the sentence passed upon him. He was found to possess much less than the accusers had charged him with having confiscated from Asia, and he could trace all of his goods back to just and lawful sources of acquisition. Such was his unworthy treatment, and Marius was not free from responsibility for his conviction; a man so excellent and of such good repute had been an annoyance to him. Wherefore Rutilius, indignant at the conduct of affairs in the city, and disdaining to live longer in the company of such a creature, withdrew, though under no compulsion, and went even as far as Asia. There for a time he dwelt in Mitylene; then after that place had received injury in the Mithridatic war he transferred his residence to Smyrna and there lived to the end of his life nor wished ever to return home. And in all this he suffered not a whit in reputation or plenty. He received many gifts from Mucius and a vast number from all the peoples and kings as well who had become acquainted with him, till he possessed far more than his original property. (Valesius, p. 637.)