In BC Marius decided to ignore the census qualification altogether and recruited with no inquiry into the property of the potential soldier. From now on Rome's legions would largely consist of poor citizens the " capite censi " or "head count" whose future after service could only be assured if their general could somehow bring about a land distribution on their behalf.
Thus the soldiers had a very strong personal interest in supporting their general against the Senate i. Marius did not avail himself of this potential source of support, but in less than two decades Marius' ex-quaestor Sulla would use it against the Senate and Marius. Marius found that ending the war was more difficult than he had claimed. He arrived comparatively late in BC and in that year and the next he forced Jugurtha to the south and west toward Mauretania. Marius' quaestor in BC had been Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , the son of a patrician family that had fallen on hard times.
Marius was supposedly unhappy at receiving the dissolute youth as his subordinate, but Sulla proved a competent military leader. By the king of Mauretania, Bocchus I , who was also Jugurtha's father-in-law and reluctant ally, was worried about the approaching Romans. After receiving word that an accommodation with them was possible, Bocchus insisted that Sulla make the hazardous journey to his capital, where Sulla induced Bocchus to betray Jugurtha, who was duly handed over to Sulla, thus ending the war. Since Marius held the imperium and Sulla was acting as his subordinate, the honor of capturing Jugurtha belonged strictly to Marius, but Sulla had clearly been immediately responsible and had a signet ring made for himself commemorating the event.
Sulla would later claim that the credit for ending the war was his. Meanwhile, Marius was the hero of the hour, and his services would be needed in another emergency. The arrival of the Cimbri in Gaul in BC and their complete defeat of Marcus Junius Silanus had resulted in unrest among the Celtic tribes recently conquered by the Romans in southern Gaul. In the consul Lucius Cassius Longinus was completely defeated by the Tigurini clan, and the senior surviving officer Gaius Popillius Laenas , son of the consul of had saved what was left only by surrendering half the baggage and suffering the humiliation of having his army "march under the yoke.
The larger part of it mysteriously vanished when being transported to Massilia Marseille. Caepio was prorogued into the next year, when one of the new consuls, Gnaeus Mallius Maximus , also operated in southern Gaul. Mallius was a new man like Marius, and he and the noble Caepio found it impossible to co-operate. Eventually the Senate got Caepio's reluctant agreement to co-operate, but even when he crossed the river to help the threatened Mallius, he refused to join forces and kept his own at a fair distance.
Since the Romans fought with the river at their back, retreat was not possible and reportedly 80, were killed. The losses in the preceding decade had been bad enough, but this defeat, apparently caused by the arrogance of the nobility and its refusal to co-operate with talented non-nobles, was the last straw. Not only had huge numbers of Romans lost their lives but Italy itself was now exposed to invasion from barbarian hordes. The failure to deal with this threat marked the start of a period when dissatisfaction with the oligarchy and thus, conflict between the optimates and the populares was becoming increasingly, and dangerously, bitter.
In late BC Marius was elected consul again while still in Africa. Election in absentia was unusual enough, but at some time after BC a law had been passed dictating a ten-year interval between consulships, and there is even some evidence to indicate that by BC a law had been passed that prohibited second consulships altogether. Nonetheless by this time news of a new advancing tribe known as the Cimbri had reached Rome and in the emergency Marius was again chosen consul.
Marius Gratidianus, Marcus - Oxford Classical Dictionary
The law was either repealed or set aside under the circumstances of emergency, as Marius was then elected to an unprecedented five successive consulships BC— BC. He returned to Rome by January 1, BC, when he celebrated his triumph over Jugurtha, who was first led in the procession, then killed in the public prison. The Cimbri conveniently marched into Hispania and the Teutoni milled around in northern Gaul, leaving Marius to prepare his army. One of his legates was his old quaestor, Sulla, which shows that at this time there was no ill-will between them.
Though he could have continued to operate as proconsul , it seems that the position as consul would make his position as commander unassailable and avoid any problems with the consuls if he was only a proconsul. Marius seems to have been able to get exactly what he wanted, and it even seems that his support determined whom the people would elect as his colleagues his choice was apparently determined, on several occasions, on the basis of their malleability: Aurelius Orestes, son of C. The Teutones were to head south and advance toward Italy along the Mediterranean coast; the Cimbri were to attempt to cross the Alps into Italy from the north by the Brenner Pass ; and the Tigurini the allied Celtic tribe who had defeated Longinus in were to cross the Alps from the northeast.
This decision proved fatally flawed. The Germanic soldiers divided their forces, making each contingent manageable, and the Romans could use their shorter lines of communication and supply to concentrate their forces at will. First, Marius had to deal with the Teutones, who were in the province of Narbonensis marching toward the Alps.
He refused to give them a battle where they wanted, and withdrew to Aquae Sextiae a settlement founded by Gaius Sextius Calvinus in BC , which blocked their path. The leading contingent of the Germanic warriors, the Ambrones , attacked the Roman position without waiting for reinforcements and 30, were killed.
Marius then hid 3, troops in ambush, so when the main Germanic contingent finally attacked, the hidden Roman troops could fall on them from behind. In the ensuing defeat, the Teutones were completely annihilated, to the number of something over , Marius was in Rome, and after being elected consul for BC and deferring his Triumph over the Teutones, he marched north to join Catulus, whose command was prorogued into Finally, in the summer of that year a battle was fought at Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul.
Sulla's first civil war
Once again, Roman discipline overcame a larger barbarian force. At least 65, were killed perhaps as many as , again and all the remainder enslaved. The Tigurini gave up their efforts to enter Italy from the northeast and went home. Catulus and Marius celebrated a joint Triumph, but in popular thinking all the credit went to Marius, who was praised as "the third founder of Rome. As a sort of reward the danger was now gone Marius was returned as consul for BC.
This year would not go at all well for Marius. During the year of Marius' sixth consulship BC , Lucius Appuleius Saturninus was tribune for the second time having apparently had Marius's support on both this occasion and the previous one , and advocated reforms like those earlier put forth by the Gracchi. Saturninus pushed for a bill that gave colonial lands to the veterans of Marius' recent war, and offered to lower the price of wheat distributed by the state.
In scandalous circumstances, Saturninus and his ally Gaius Servilius Glaucia also achieved the exile of Marius' personal enemy, his former commanding officer Q. Metellus Numidicus , apparently with Marius' support. The Senate, however, increasingly opposed Saturninus' measures. Eventually, Saturninus and Glaucia had an opponent, C. Memmius , assassinated during the magisterial elections for 99 BC, prompting widespread violence. As a result, the Senate issued its 'final decree' the Senatus consultum ultimum , and ordered Marius, as consul, to put down the revolt. Marius, although he was generally allied with the radicals, complied with the request and put down the revolt in the interest of public order.
Marius attempted to keep Saturninus and his followers alive by locking them safely inside the Senate House , where they would await prosecution according to the law. However, an angry mob climbed the walls of the building and, by dislodging the roof tiles and throwing them at the prisoners below, lynched those inside. In complying with the Senate's wishes, Marius tried to show the senate, who had always been suspicious of his motives, that he was one of them instead of the outsider that Quintus Metellus said he was in BC.
Marius' overall concern, for his part, was always how to maintain the Senate's esteem: Sherwin-White , Marius 'wanted to end his days as vir censorius , like the other great worthies among the novi homines of the second century'. After the events of BC, Marius at first tried to oppose the recall of his inimicus Metellus Numidicus, who had been exiled by Saturninus in However, seeing that opposition was impossible, Marius decided to travel to the east in 98 BC, ostensibly to fulfil a vow he had made to the goddess Bona Dea. Marius' biographer, Plutarch , portrays this voluntary exile as a great humiliation for the six-time consul: However, scholars have pointed out that Marius' supposed 'humiliation' cannot have been too long-lasting.
Aquillius , his friend and former colleague as consul in BC, was enough to secure acquittal for the accused, even though he was apparently guilty. Matrinius, an Italian from Spoletium who had been granted Roman citizenship by Marius and who was now accused under the terms of the Lex Licinia Mucia.
Marius Gratidianus, Marcus
While Marius was away and after he returned, Rome had several years of relative peace. In 91 BC Marcus Livius Drusus was elected tribune and proposed a greater division of state lands, the enlargement of the Senate, and a conferral of Roman citizenship upon all freemen of Italy. Marius took command following the deaths of the consul, Publius Rutilius Lupus , and the praetor Quintus Servilius Caepio and fought along with Sulla against the rebel cities, but retired from the war in its early stages — probably due to poor health it has been suggested that he suffered a stroke.
The choice before the Senate was to put either Marius or Sulla in command of an army which would aid Rome's Greek allies and defeat Mithridates. The Senate chose Sulla, but Marius induced tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus to call an assembly that subsequently appointed Marius in this unsavory episode of politics, Marius had promised to erase the tribune's debts. Sulla refused to acknowledge the validity of the assembly's action. Sulla left Rome and travelled to the army waiting in Nola , the army that the Senate had asked him to lead against Mithridates.
Sulla urged his legions to defy the assembly's orders and accept him as their rightful leader. Sulla was successful and the legions stoned the representatives from the assembly.
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Sulla then commanded six legions to march with him to Rome and institute a civil war. This was a momentous event, and was unforeseen by Marius, as no Roman army had ever marched upon Rome—it was forbidden by law and ancient tradition. Once it became obvious that Sulla was going to defy the law and seize Rome by force, Marius attempted to organize a defense of the city using gladiators.
Unsurprisingly Marius' ad-hoc force was no match for Sulla's legions. Marius was defeated and fled Rome. Marius narrowly escaped capture and death on several occasions and eventually found safety in Africa. Sulla and his supporters in the Senate passed a death sentence on Marius, Sulpicius and a few other allies of Marius.
A few men were executed but, according to Plutarch, many Romans disapproved of Sulla's actions; some who opposed Sulla were actually elected to office in 87 BC Gnaeus Octavius , a supporter of Sulla, and Lucius Cornelius Cinna , a supporter of Marius, were elected consul.
The Love Letters of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Marcus Cornelius Fronto
Regardless, Sulla was confirmed again as the commander of the campaign against Mithridates , so he took his legions out of Rome and marched east to the war. While Sulla was on campaign in Greece, fighting broke out between the conservative supporters of Sulla, led by Octavius, and the popular supporters of Cinna. Marius along with his son then returned from exile in Africa with an army he had raised there and combined with Cinna to oust Octavius.
This time it was the army of Marius that entered Rome. Some of the soldiers went through Rome killing the leading supporters of Sulla, including Octavius. Their heads were exhibited in the Forum. All told some dozen Roman nobles had been murdered. The Senate passed a law exiling Sulla, and Marius was appointed the new commander in the eastern war.
Cinna was chosen for his second consulship and Marius to his seventh consulship.
After five days, Cinna and the populares general Quintus Sertorius ordered their more disciplined troops to kill the rampaging soldiers. In his Life of Marius , Plutarch writes that Marius's return to power was a particularly brutal and bloody one, saying that the consul's "anger increased day by day and thirsted for blood, kept on killing all whom he held in any suspicion whatsoever.
Plutarch writes that "whenever anybody else greeted Marius and got no salutation or greeting in return, this of itself was a signal for the man's slaughter in the very street, so that even the friends of Marius, to a man, were full of anguish and horror whenever they drew near to greet him. Plutarch relates several opinions on the end of Marius: Marius died on January 13, 86 BC, just seventeen days into his seventh consulship.
Marius was a successful Roman general and military reformer, but also known as a harsh, ambitious man harbouring contempt for the nobility who occupied the Senate. He played a critical role in the destruction of the Roman Republic, and the birth of the Roman Empire. Plutarch says of him:. His improvements to the structure and organization of the Roman legion were profound and effective. However, he was, in part, responsible for the breakdown in relations with Sulla which led to the latter's march on Rome.
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He himself had broken with tradition on previous occasions and his effort to reverse the Senate's appointment of Sulla as commander of the Mithridatic War was highly questionable under Roman constitutional tradition. The five days of terror upon his return to Rome saw many hundreds slaughtered in his name. The Marian reforms to the legions, recruiting among un-propertied urban citizens, was a pivotal step leading in short order to the collapse of the Republic.
Marius set the precedent of recruiting among the poor and then granting these veterans land upon the conclusion of the campaign. Thus the legions became more loyal to their generals than to the state. The loyalty of such legions is what allowed Marius himself, Sulla, and about 40 years later Marius' nephew Julius Caesar to march on Rome itself. Lutatius Catulus 1 , a faithless friend of C. Marius 1 , who killed himself.
Praetor 85, he announced as his own a plan to improve the coinage developed by the praetors and tribunes its content is unknown and received heroic honours from the plebs Cic. He won another praetorship, but was not allowed to be consul. After Sulla's victory he was cruelly killed by his brother-in-law Catiline at the tomb of Catulus 1 at the request of Q. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice.
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