Compare Plutarch’s story of the eagle’s nest, with seven young ones in it, which fell into the lap of Marius when a boy, predicting (so the diviners said) that Marius would be seven times Consul.
_The Annihilation of the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae, 102 B.C._
Cimbri et Teutones ab extremis Germaniae profugi, cum terras eorum inundasset Oceanus, novas sedes toto orbe quaerebant, exclusique et Gallia et Hispania cum in Italiam demigrarent, misere legatos in castra Silani, inde ad Senatum { 5} petentes ut populus Martius aliquid sibi terrae daret. Sed quas daret terras populus Romanus, agrariis legibus inter se dimicaturus? Repulsi igitur, quod nequiverant precibus, armis petere coeperunt. Sed nec primum impetum barbarorum Silanus, nec { 10} secundum Mallius, nec tertium Caepio sustinere potuerunt: omnes fugati, exuti castris. Actum erat, nisi Marius illi saeculo contigisset. . . . Ille mira statim velocitate occupatis compendiis praevenit hostem, prioresque Teutones sub ipsis Alpium radicibus { 15} adsecutus in loco quem Aquas Sextias vocant, proelio oppressit. Vallem fluviumque medium hostes tenebant, et nostris aquarum nulla erat copia. Consultone id egerit imperator an errorem in consilium verterit, dubium; certe necessitate acta virtus { 20} victoriae causa fuit. Nam flagitante aquam exercitu, ‘Si viri estis’ inquit, ‘en, illic habetis.’ Itaque tanto ardore pugnatum est, ea caedes hostium fuit ut victor Romanus cruento flumine non plus aquae biberit quam sanguinis barbarorum. { 25}
[Linenotes: 5. +Silani+ = M. Junius Silanus, defeated by Cimbri, 109 B.C. 11. +Mallius--Caepio+, defeated by Cimbrians at Arausio, on the Rhone, 105 B.C. Plutarch, _Lucullus_ 27, says: ‘The 6th Oct., on which day the battle was fought, was marked in the calendar as a black day, like the fatal day of the Allia, 390 B.C.’ 12. +Actum erat+, sc. _de republica_. 14. +compendiis+ = _short ways_; cf. our _compendium_ = _an abridgement_. 16. +Aquas Sextias+, founded by Sextius Calvinus 122 B.C. = Aix, 18 miles N. of Marseilles. 23. +caedes hostium.+ 150,000 (Vell.) and 200,000 (Liv. Ep. lxviii.). ‘By the great victories of Aquae Sextiae and of Vercellae (over the Cimbri, 101 B.C.), the movement of the German races southward was for the present stopped. Rome was saved, and the saviour of Rome was Marius, the champion of the people.’ --Ihne.]