[music playing] NARRATOR: Rome. From a small republic, it
grows into the greatest empire ever known, lasting
for over 600 years. At its height it stretches
from London to Baghdad, projecting its power with
the first professional army, and creating the model
of Western civilization. And yet, when the
empire begins to falter, it collapses with
shocking speed. It takes only 100 years for
the imperial edifice of Rome to vanish like smoke, swept
away by the barbarian invasions. [screams] How did it happen? [thunderclap] [music playing] It is late in the
second century BC-- 100 years before the
crucifixion of Christ, a decade before the
birth of Julius Caesar. Rome is facing a transition-- one that will change its
fundamental character forever. [horse neighing] It comes at a time of conquest. [battle cry] Rome has come off 150
years of really successful foreign expansion. They've defeated Carthage,
their great enemy across the Mediterranean
Sea in Africa. And they've begun to
expand to the North. And they've made big conquests
that are hard to keep in Spain. NARRATOR: But even as the Romans
are carving out their place in the world through
brutal conquest, the republic faces a cataclysmic
event that will eventually force the Romans to abandon
the rule of the senate for the absolute
dictatorship of an emperor. [cheering] It begins with the
first barbarian war. [horse neighing] By 113 BC, Rome
has become master of the entire
Mediterranean basin. But with new lands
come new enemies. The Romans know that there
are more people farther away, especially to the North,
and that these people are, if anything, even more
formidable than the armies they've defeated before. And they're worried about
those people coming into Italy. [battle cry] NARRATOR: Beyond the borders
of Roman civilization, the soldiers face an
unfamiliar breed of warrior. They call them barbarians, a
word meaning foreign and crude. Anybody that didn't
follow classical customs, speak classical languages-- Latin or Greek-- was considered
to be very different, other, barbarian. And Rome simply regarded them
as much less capable, much less civilized than themselves. [horse neighing] NARRATOR: Only the rugged
Alpine mountain range keeps the northern barbarians at bay. The Alps mountain
chain at the top of Italy is like the cork in the bottle
that keeps the bad guys away, from the Roman point of view. And the Romans don't
control that cork. And so they know that it
could pop out at any time, and the enemy could
come pouring into Italy. Or at least that's their fear. [music playing] NARRATOR: Against this
growing barbarian menace stands the Roman army-- a volunteer militia which prides
itself on being well-ordered, well-trained, and well-armed. An individual
Roman soldier would be wearing metal and leather
armor, a helmet, something to protect his chest. All of this armor together
could weigh as much as 60 or 70 pounds, half his body weight. NARRATOR: The burden
of Rome's expansion falls squarely on the shoulders
of these battle hardened men. But back in the capital,
it's the wealthy government officials who reap the benefits. Rome is not an empire yet, but
a republic ruled by the senate. At the top of the
political ladder are two elected officers
known as consuls. They were the highest civilian
and military officials in Rome. Above all, their responsibility
was to lead the army. Because national
security came first. But they were also, because of
their tremendous prominence, very important in setting
the agenda for politics, for legislation, for reform. NARRATOR: Though the
Roman Republic embraces Democratic ideals, all
men are not created equal. Soldiers may win the
battles for Rome. But they dare not hope to
achieve the position of consul. The highest office is
reserved for members of Rome's most
important families, like Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. A very small
number of families dominated the elections
to become consul. This is part of the
belief that Rome really needed the kind of honor that
came from a long distinguished family history. NARRATOR: Now, as Rome expands,
this honor is no longer based on merit but on money. What's happening in Rome
is, as Rome conquers more territory, more wealth is
going to flow into the city. And there's a sense
that wealth is going to demoralize the citizen
body and the aristocracy, both-- that as wealth becomes more and
more powerful in Roman society, more and more
enticing, that this is going to infiltrate its way
into the political process. NARRATOR: By spreading
around his wealth, Carbo can buy his
place as consul. In terms of campaigning,
one of the things that you'll find as you go on
later in the Republic is the system becomes
extremely corrupt. You have people bestowing
all sorts of largesse-- any sort of little kind of
gifts or remuneration in order to get your-- your vote. NARRATOR: But in the North,
a dangerous new tribe, the Cimbri, is on the move. From their home in
Northern Europe, they journey South
toward Roman territory. Completely uncivilized,
the Cimbri radiate terror, according to the famous
ancient biographer, Plutarch. ACTOR (AS PLUTARCH):
They were believed to be German tribes based
on their great size, the light blue
color of their eyes, and the fact that their name,
Cimbri, is the German nickname for plunderers. NARRATOR: Led by the
great warlord, Boriorix, the horde leaves a smoking trail
of destruction in its wake. PETER WELLS: They were
characteristic Iron Age peoples. We don't really know exactly
what it is they were after. They may have been moving in
order to attack and invade provinces that were becoming
wealthy through trade with Rome. They may have simply been coming
to seek their fortunes in what they perceived as a richer
land near the Mediterranean. [ominous music] NARRATOR: The Cimbri
aren't the only ones lured by Rome's growing wealth. On the way South, two more
barbarian tribes join them-- the Teutones and Ambrones. The combined barbarian
armies are heading straight for an Alpine pass into
Roman territory, guarded by the simple
villagers of Noricum. Though Noricum is not
a Roman territory, it's proximity to the Roman
border ties its people closely to the republic. Noricum is the area that we
would say today is essentially Austria. The people who live there
are the Norici, and therefore they-- the territory is
named after them. The people there, the Norici,
controlled the Alpine passes. NARRATOR: Romans also rely
on the Noricans for trade, as their skills working in
precious metals and iron are well known. What the Noricans actually
have available in the way of raw materials-- it's
gold, silver, and salt. Mineable salt in the
Alps is a major industry. So the Romans truly needed
large quantities of salt for preservative, and
they had to have that. And they had to have
it all the time. NARRATOR: The Norican villages
provide an irresistible target to the merciless
Cimbri warriors. [scream] [battle cry] Hungry for loot, they are
rapacious and heavily armed for the raid. By the period we're
talking about the, second and first centuries BC,
the Cimbri had very effective swords, spears, shields. Helmets are rarer, but
they were fully equipped with very able kinds of weapons. [battlcry] NARRATOR: But the barbarians are
after more than the Noricans' wealth. Northern barbarians
who were migrating-- what they wanted
above all was land. They weren't there
to raid and leave. They wanted to live
next to the Romans. [battle cry] NARRATOR: The
craftsmen of Noricum stand no chance against
the warriors of the North. The Noricans send an emissary
to their allies in the Roman Senate, begging for help against
the vicious Cimbri invaders. They seek out the aristocrat
Carbo, whose politicking has finally paid off. He now holds the post of consul,
the most prestigious office in Rome. Carbo orders his aide to
begin preparations for war. He has just one year to win
the glory and riches that come from battle. THOMAS S. BURNS: We're
talking about needing to show the qualities
of leadership through a display of manliness. And a display of manliness meant
success on the battlefield. Generals not only
feathered the nest of themselves and
their families, but of all their supporters. [ominous music] NARRATOR: Carbo
takes the challenge, leading his troops to Noricum. Despite an utter lack of
experience in the ways of war, he is eager to prove
that he is more than just a wealthy senator. He arrives in Noricum backed
by the men of the Roman army. After a century of victories,
they exude confidence. The Cimbri claimed
they didn't know that they were in territory that
they shouldn't have been in. They sent ambassadors. NARRATOR: The
barbarians have never seen such a well-equipped
and disciplined force. The warlord, Boriorix,
tells Carbo his people only wish to return home peacefully. Carbo agrees to let them go. But there is little
glory in a truce. The Roman general
devises a plan to force the victory he so badly needs. Carbo pretended that he
was going to negotiate, and then he sent his
troops on a shortcut to attack the Cimbri before
the ambassadors could get back, thinking that his sneak
attack would work. NARRATOR: Carbo's
plan backfires. The Roman commander
Carbo outfoxed this group called the Cimbri. But he did it in a way
that smelled of disgrace. NARRATOR: A few of the
Cimbrian ambassadors survived to carry
a tale of treachery back to the barbarian camp. Furious, the barbarians
swear they will never leave until they
exact bloody revenge. [battle cry] [music playing] In 113 BC, the
Roman General Carbo parlays for peace with violent
barbarians, the Cimbri. Then he turns around and
murders their ambassadors. [thunderclap] His treachery enrages
the barbarians, who value honor above all else. Vowing to avenge
their fallen comrades, the Cimbri strike back
with swift and sudden fury. Classical biographer, Plutarch-- ACTOR (AS PLUTARCH): Their
courage and daring were irresistible. They rushed into battle with
the speed of a raging fire. Nothing could stand up to them. [music playing] NARRATOR: Led by two warlords-- Boriorix of the
Cimbri and Teutobod of the Teutones, the barbarians
advance in inexhaustible waves. [horse neighing] The archeology tells us that
they had very good weapons, not inferior to Romans. It tells us that
they had really-- real military organization
with infantry troops, with officer corps. So we can-- we can
tell quite a bit. Certainly, we can tell much
more than the Romans seemed to understand until
it was too late. [swords clanging] NARRATOR: Consul Carbo
suddenly finds himself far from the comfort and
privilege of Roman politics. Here, the language of power
is spoken in steel and blood. As consul, chief war
magistrate, he fails miserably. Because the chief
war magistrate is only out there for a year, it's
very frequently amateur hour out there on the
field of battle. So you end up with,
very frequently, inept leadership in a
very important position. And, on occasion, it results
in disaster for the Romans. NARRATOR: The battle for
Noricum is such a disaster. Romans were, in the end,
saved from being pushed over the cliff into the
hail of utter destruction only by a giant storm-- lightning, thunder, and rain. [thunderclap] NARRATOR: Knocked
from his horse, Carbo struggles to flee
from the deadly chaos. He escapes the
battle only to commit suicide, for he has
disgraced himself and Rome in the
eyes of the gods. The gods save the Romans, but
only just, and only after many, many had been killed. What did that mean? It meant the gods were unhappy
at the way the Romans behaved. [music playing] NARRATOR: And yet the
Romans cling to the notion that only the aristocrats
can lead them to victory. The Romans believed that old
man good, new meant dangerous. So they-- for their
politicians and their leaders, they preferred people with
a long, distinguished family history. NARRATOR: Over the next decade,
a string of nobles, all armed with more arrogance than skill,
lead armies North to protect Rome's province in Gaul. They meet the barbarians at
Tolosa, Burdigala, and finally, Aurasio-- present day Toulouse,
Bordeaux and Orange, France. In each instance, the
barbarians completely route Rome's heralded legions. [non-english speech] The Romans had their
particular formal ways of fighting. If we think of the beginning
of the film "Gladiator," that's a perfect representation of
how Rome liked to fight-- take hours to set up
everything in the battle order, and then launch the attack. NARRATOR: In contrast, the
barbarians' counterattack is unpredictable, and devastating
to the Roman lines. You have these lines of men. And if the person
next to you goes down, the person behind will
step into that gap. And death would be much,
much more intimate. [battle cry] [music playing] [swords clanging] NARRATOR: The death
toll is staggering. At Aurasio alone, 80,000
Romans are massacred in a single afternoon. [screams] When an army lost
its cohesiveness, then the men were literally
like fish in a barrel, to be picked off at
leisure by the other side. So when a side has been
defeated, then the victors-- they just slaughter
them one by one, with no danger to the people
doing the slaughtering. It's not a battle anymore. It's a mass execution. [non-english chatter] NARRATOR: By 105, BC the
Cimbri and their allies desire much more than
Roman blood and booty. Some members of the clan
want to set down roots. They were farming peoples. They engaged in trade. They lived in small villages. People were growing wheat and
barley, rye, oats, millet-- a whole variety of
different kinds of cereals. They were raising lentils
and peas and beans and other kinds of garden crops. Cattle were extremely important. Pigs, sheep and goat
were all being raised. NARRATOR: This new
domesticity alarms the Romans. To their minds, the only
thing more threatening than a barbarian warrior
is a barbarian woman. The presence of women
is a standard Roman way of communicating that this is
an invasion for settlement. In other words, this
is a group that's coming in to significantly
alter the way we live, to threaten our basic values. If it's just a raid, it's
just a bunch of teenage guys. We can deal with that. But, see, when we throw
women into the description, we have the migratory feature. And there, it's a permanency. It requires a sterner
and long-term solution. NARRATOR: It requires a general
who can beat the barbarians back once and for all. The hero Rome so
desperately needs emerges on another hotly
contested borderland, nearly 1,000 miles away in
Numidia, part of present day Algeria. For eight long years, the Romans
have tasted only defeat here, until now. [battle cry] The name of their
savior is Marius. With guts and cunning, he
crushes the Numidian armies of the rogue King Jugurtha. [music playing] [battle cry] [swords clanging] Rome needed great soldiers. And Marius was the
greatest Rome had yet seen. Both because he was
a great commander-- Marius could pick the right
time and the right place for a battle-- but also because he won his
soldiers' loyalty and affection by getting down and
digging ditches with them, by eating the same rough
food, by being in better shape than even they were. And they were the best
conditioned soldiers in the world. NARRATOR: He comes by his
common touch naturally. For Marius is no aristocrat. Still, he speaks of his
humble background with pride. ACTOR (AS MARIUS): I cannot
point to my ancestors. But I can show medals and
other military honors, to say nothing of the scars on
my body, all of them in front. These are my title of nobility. NARRATOR: Now, as the
Northern barbarians close in, the Romans turned to Marius,
their last and best hope. [music playing] At the end of the second century
BC, a violent barbarian tribe, the Cimbri, along
with their allies, the Teutones and Ambrones, lay
waste to the northern frontier. A horrified Rome turns
to its greatest general and new consul, Marius. He's a proven
military commander. And you don't want
to fool around when you have Teutones and
Cimbri, who have defeated army after army. You really want to take care
of the problem urgently. And so you want to send
a capable leader out on the field. NARRATOR: But even the great
Marius cannot lead without men to follow him. Devastated by a
decade of war, Rome faces critical troop shortages. If you have as many men lost
to the German tribes in 113 and 100 and 107 and 106
and 105 as the Romans did, that's going to traumatize
Roman society pretty severely. NARRATOR: Despite a vigorous
recruitment campaign, Marius cannot find
enough qualified men-- landholders who are
willing to serve. To be in the Roman army
in the High Republic, you had to have a
property qualification. You had to be a person of means. And-- and this causes some
problems for the Roman army because there's a
problem with manpower. [music playing] NARRATOR: Marius' solution is
as simple as it is radical. He sends his recruiters
out to seek soldiers among the landless poor. THOMAS S. BURNS: You don't
have to be a property holder to be a Roman citizen,
so why should you have to be a property
owner to be a legionnaire? Many people wished
to be soldiers. It's a good job. And it's probably
an exciting job-- opportunities for booty,
wine, women and song. Chance to see the world at
government expense, et cetera. The same things that we see
on our recruitment posters. [non-english speech] Marius said anybody
can be in the army. This then gave the Romans
a much greater pool of men on which to draw to
strengthen their legions. Because, in Roman society, there
were many, many, many more poor than there were middle class. NARRATOR: The old guard judges
recruits by their income. Marius judges his by
their fighting potential. Stand up against a legionary
and you can stand up to the barbarians. By extending the search
for legionnaires down into the [inaudible]. What that rather quickly does
is it makes the ordinary soldier even more dependent upon the
success of the commander. The general is expected
to provide for his men, and to provide for them as soon
as he can, and to be generous. NARRATOR: Lured by
the promise of wealth, a new breed of Roman
soldier marches to war. Marius pledges to give them all
the tools and skills they need. ACTOR (AS MARIUS): I will teach
you to strike down an enemy, fear nothing but disgrace,
to sleep on bare ground and work hard on
an empty stomach. NARRATOR: In 104 BC,
Marius and his army set off for Gaul
to meet the Cimbri. In a stroke of good
fortune for the Romans, the barbarians choose that very
moment to leave Gaul, and raid Hispania instead. It is a tactical mistake that
buys Marius valuable time. Marius molds his new
army from the ground up. He not only hardens them to
the rigors of a soldier's life. He makes them love it. Marius made lots of
innovations in the army. For example, he gave
each legion an eagle-- a silver eagle as its standard. He trained his men to carry what
they needed on campaign so they could move faster. But he weighed them down so
much that they called themselves Marius' mules. Marius didn't need pac animals
for his army to go on campaign. He already had his mules,
and they only had two legs. But they were more effective. They were more flexible. And it's the flexibility of
the legions that is enhanced by Marius' military reforms,
including the standardization of equipment. NARRATOR: Well-equipped
and unified in spirit, Marius' mules are
transformed but untested. Two years pass with no
sign of the barbarians. Still, the fear they
inspire remains. Panicked, the Romans ignore
their own ancient traditions about term limits and
re-elect Marius consul-- the chief magistrate of war. I think part of the problem
is to deal with the threat from the North you
have to give Marius this extraordinary command where
in 104, 103, 102, 102, 100, he's consul. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. NARRATOR: At last, in 102
BC, the phantom menace becomes real. The Cimbri, Teutones and Abrones
sweep out of the North and West on a collision course with Rome. Marius builds a
fortress near Aurasio. He sends another army
to guard Noricum-- fo4, above all else,
the Alpine passes into Italy must be protected. Within weeks, half
of the horde-- the Teutones and Ambrones,
swarm around Marius' fort-- a terrifying sight,
according to Plutarch. ACTOR (AS PLUTARCH):
Their numbers appeared to be infinite. They were hideous to look at. Their speech and their
shouting were unlike anything that anyone had
ever heard before. [battle cry] NARRATOR: And yet, Marius forces
his men to look and learn. Marius was a
brilliant military man. He understood the
life and the thoughts and the psychology of a soldier. What Marius gave to
the Roman Republic was confidence that Romans could
defeat the fiercest barbarians in the world. [battle cry] NARRATOR: The fortress holds. The Teutones and
Ambrones cannot pass. 150,000 strong, they head South,
seeking another Alpine pass. The Romans pursue
them at a distance, in no hurry to engage until
the right time and place. For Marius has
already picked out the perfect battlefield,
where he will at last unleash the power of his
unconventional army. [music playing] In 102 BC, hundreds of
thousands of barbarians swarmed towards Italy. The great Roman General
Marius pursues the Teutones and the Ambrones, as they
seek a pass over the Alps. He moves his troops from
his fortress at Aurasio to Aqua Sextae, modern day
Aix-en-Provence, France. There, Marius orders
his men to set up camp. He chooses his
position carefully. The Roman camp is a-- is
a singular military piece of machinery that would
preferably be on high ground in order to see any
kind of enemy maneuvers. It's going to be laid
out on a grid pattern. You're going to surround
it with a deep ditch, and you're going to
have a rampart dug-- or heaped up above that ditch,
what's known as an agger. And everyone would
have their place. NARRATOR: There is one more
feature that most camps have, but this particular
camp is lacking. Classical biographer, Plutarch-- ACTOR (AS PLUTARCH): Marius
chose a place that was not very well supplied with water. They said he did
this deliberately, so as to encourage
his soldiers to fight. When people complained
they were thirsty, Marius pointed to a river
running close by the barbarian camp. "There is some drinking
water for you," he said, "but you have to pay
for it with blood." NARRATOR: On the banks
of the Rhone River, settled side by side
in two great camps, the Ambrones and Teutones have
plenty of fresh drinking water. Confident that the Romans
are no match for them, the Ambrones lose themselves
in feasting and making merry. THOMAS R. MARTIN: The
Romans, especially, the ordinary
soldiers were afraid of the northern barbarians-- the
ones from the farthest north, from the coldest climates. Tough climates
made for tough men. They were much bigger
than the Romans. They were much louder
than the Romans. And from the Roman
point of view, they were smelly, not
because they didn't bathe. They probably bathed more
than the Roman soldiers. But they used, shall we
say, a different cologne-- bear fat. The Romans were used to
the scent of olive oil. NARRATOR: They never suspect the
danger lurking in the forest, as a small but desperate
contingent of Marius' troops creep up on the barbarian camp. Roman soldiers
were always afraid because they weren't fools. They knew that they were going
to be in danger of being killed just as easily as the enemy,
because Roman soldiers didn't do their real killing
from a distance. [ominous music] [scream] [battle cry] [swords clanging] NARRATOR: Marius' mules throw
themselves into the skirmish, but the barbarians swiftly
rally in overwhelming numbers. Just as defeat closes
in on the Romans, Marius orders reinforcements
into the fray. Reenergized, the Romans
pushed the Ambrones back to their camp. There, the battle
takes a strange turn, as Plutarch reports. ACTOR (AS PLUTARCH):
The women came out armed with swords and axes, and making
the most horrible shrieking. They threw themselves into
the thick of the fighting. And though their bodies
were gashed and wounded, they endured it to the
end with unbroken spirits. The barbarian women always
came to the battlefield. Sometimes the women
would pull the wagons up right behind the men so
that they couldn't retreat from battle. They'd block them in. The women were so aware of their
sense of honor and liberty, that they thought death
was better than retreat. [swords clanging] The Romans thought that these
women were unbelievably brave, unbelievably courageous. They thought these barbarians
were the ultimate risk takers. By bringing their family
to the battlefield, they're putting everything
on that one roll of the dice. We win or we die. And that means all of us-- men, women, children, babies. [swords clanging] NARRATOR: But the Romans also
have something to protect-- their honor and homeland. With the skills that
Marius has taught them, they earned their first victory
over the German invaders in more than a decade. [wolf howling] Back at camp, Marius prepares
for the revenge attack that will certainly be launched by
Teutobod, King of the Teutones. In Aqua Sextae, N he
faced a really difficult tactical situation. As usual, the enemy far
outnumbered the Romans. But Marius, always able
to choose the right time and the right place, carefully
selected the terrain. [music playing] NARRATOR: He lays a trap with
his trusted captain, Claudius Marcellus. Marius sends Marcellus
with 3,000 men into the woods behind
the Teutones' camp. He instructs them to lay low
until the fighting begins. [battle cry] The barbarians,
spoiling for vengeance, charge up the hill
to the Roman camp, just as Marius has planned. They meet a wall of swords,
according to Plutarch. ACTOR (AS PLUTARCH):
Marius himself fought in the front rank,
putting into practice the orders he'd
given his soldiers. For he was in as good
training as anyone. And in daring, he far
surpassed them all. This battle was a real test of
Marius' philosophy in creating his mules, that were strong
enough to stand up with all of their armor and
to stay in position and hold their discipline,
even when the enemy was yelling and charging with a
fantastic fierceness, in full armor rushed
them with their swords so that they could be like a
flying wedge coming downhill and smashing the enemy. NARRATOR: As Marius and his
men force the barbarians back, Marcellus and his cohorts
burst from the woods. Together, they snuff
out any hope of retreat for King Teutobod
and his warriors. The body count
defies imagination. The Roman slaughter more
than 100,000 Teutones. The rest they take as slaves-- spoils of war that will
make Marius' mules and all of his supporters rich. His patronage is not
just to the soldiers. He is very generous to
all Romans of all ranks. Marius, by monopolizing
power at the very top, in-- in reality becomes the
patron of even members of the senatorial class. NARRATOR: Swept up by
the barbarian fever, the Romans once again elect
Marius to Rome's most important office. He will serve as consul for
an unprecedented fifth term. There was such an immense
fear that the barbarians would come pouring in through the
gateway of the Alps, which the Romans didn't control, and
lay waste to Italy and sack Rome. Politics has to
take the hindmost. NARRATOR: For Rome
is not out of danger, Marius has only crushed
half of the barbarian horde. The Cimbri-- the most
fearsome barbarians of all-- are still on the loose. While Marius is in
Rome, the Cimbri break through the Roman
fortifications at Noricum. The enemy has at last
breached Italy's borders, and is ravaging the Pole Plane. Clearly, only one man has
the courage and cunning to meet this new crisis-- Consul Marius. [battle cry] In 102 BC, Marius' mules
massacre the violent barbarian tribe, the Teutones,
in Souther Gaul, destroying half of
the barbarian force. But the terrifying
Cimbri tribe slips through the Austrian Alps. From Rome, Marius rushes North
to the Pole Plain, vowing to eliminate the barbarians
once and for all. When Marius arrives
in the Roman camp, the Cimbri send him an envoy. They come not to attack,
but to make demands. The Cimbri come to him
and say we want land. That's what we want. We don't want to fight. We want land just like the land
you gave our neighboring tribe there across the
mountains in France. The Cimbri apparently haven't
heard about the disaster that has befallen their
Teutones comrades. So Marius, with a crooked
smile on his face-- a smirk, maybe-- says to them, "Oh, you
don't have to worry. Your brothers-- they
already have their land. We'd be happy to give
the same land to you," meaning your graves
in the earth. [non-english speech] NARRATOR: In disbelief,
that Cimbri demand proof, according to Plutarch. ACTOR (AS PLUTARCH): Marius
mocked, "But your friend is right here. Please don't go without
saying hello to him." And he ordered Teutobod,
King of the Teutones, to be brought forward in chains. NARRATOR: Marius will cut
no deal with the Cimbri. Their envoy leaves,
swearing to take revenge for their fallen allies. [ominous music] Despite Marius' recent
victory over the barbarians, the Romans are still vastly
outnumbered by the fierce northern warriors. With battle looming,
the great general calls for an animal sacrifice. The Romans would always
have a sacrifice before going into battle, to see if the
gods would send in the message, "There's nothing
wrong with your plan." It didn't guarantee victory,
but it meant you had a chance. And the Romans took
that very seriously. NARRATOR: The Romans' faith is
their only shield in the face of overwhelming odds. By the end of tomorrow, a
tidal wave of blood will flow. Whose blood remains in
the hands of the gods. Marius searches the goat
entrails for a sign, and finds that the
heavens are with him. [cheering] In 101 BC, all Rome
holds its breath as two mortal enemies meet
outside the hamlet of Vercelli, Italy. 15,000 strong,
the Cimbri cavalry rides onto the field of battle. Right behind them come the
fearsome infantry, like a cloud of locusts on the move. [battle cry] As the Roman line is set,
Marius makes a final appeal to the gods. Classical biographer Plutarch-- ACTOR (AS PLUTARCH):
Marius washed his hands. And lifting them
up to heaven, vowed to make a sacrifice of 100
beasts should victory be his. NARRATOR: Altogether,
the Romans number a little more than 50,000 men. They face at least
twice as many Cimbri. It's the Romans'
worst nightmare, but Marius outsmarts the enemy. He gets his troops
in position first, so that the sun will rise
behind the Roman soldiers. When the sun gets
to its full power, it reflects off the
Romans' shiny armor. And the barbarians think
that the sky is on fire, like, the gods have sent
lightning bolts to help their enemies. [battle cry] NARRATOR: Sensing the
Cimbri's sudden anxiety, the Romans attack. [battle cry] The Romans do have slingers
and they do have archers. But the foot infantry is
the mainstay of the battle. You're going to
get blood on you. You're going to hear the groans
of the person you're killing, the person who's getting
killed next to you. You can't tell what's going
on behind you or to the side of you because you're
wearing a helmet. You can hardly hear, and you
can only see straight ahead. It required courage
and dedication, and overcoming your fear to an
overwhelmingly amazing degree. NARRATOR: At Vercelli, the
Romans wipe out 120,000 Cimbri. More importantly, they cast out
of the shadow for fear that has terrorized Rome for 13 years. Marius returns home from
the Cimbrian war a hero. Adoring crowds hail him
as the Savior of Rome. Despite their own long-standing
rule that no one should serve consecutive consulships,
they clamor for him to once again run for consul. As Marius is doing this,
he's moving little by little toward becoming, in
the eyes of the people, a permanent head
of this enterprise, so that we're approaching
having an emperor. NARRATOR: It is exactly what
the aristocracy has worried about all along. Now that the barbarian
danger has passed, many nobles are openly
hostile to Marius. To stay in power, Marius
must find support elsewhere. He seeks out corrupt
politicians, whose tools include bribery and murder. As a politician,
Marius was not good at choosing who
should be his allies. The battlefield of politics
was one in which Marius was not decisive and
wasn't insightful the way he was on the
battlefield of javelins and swords. NARRATOR: Jealous of other
rising military stars, Marius orders the assassination
of many of his rivals. Under Marius'
leadership violence, not debate, becomes the
currency used to settle political differences. He has saved Rome, only to cut
out the heart of the republic. Yet Marius never loses
the love of a people. In 86 BC, shortly
before his death, they elect him to an
extraordinary seventh consulship. He left a legacy of power
in the hands of the military. He left a legacy of popular
support for one man in power. It's a hinge event because
the balance of power will shift. Instead of 10 or 20 ruling
families controlling the consulship, you'll start to
have just these grand warlords. The power of money, the power
of having all of those men behind their back-- whether through actually
in the form of giving them political support or actually
using it as a potential threat to go against their
political enemies-- it's going to really be
a problem for the Roman government down the road. NARRATOR: As the Empire
starts a long, slow slide into dictatorship, Rome is
launched into an apocalypse of political injustice, and
endless war from which there is no return.
