Note 120 — LIFE OF CAIUS MARIUS.

This act is sufficient to stamp Marius with infamy; and it is not the only time that he did it. Octavius, an honest man, refused to arm the slave against his master. (Marius, c. 42). The last British governor of Virginia closed his inglorious career by the same unsuccessful act of cowardice. (November, 1775). "In November Lord Dunmore proclaimed martial law in the colony, and executed his long-threatened plan of giving freedom to all slaves who could bear arms and would flock to his standard. But these measures, though partially annoying, had the effect of irritating and rousing the people rather than breaking their spirit." (Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i. p. 78). Before the middle of the next year Dunmore made his escape from Virginia, after setting fire to the town of Norfolk.