Roman general and politician, born in Arpinum. Of comparatively humble extraction, his military talents and ruthless ambition enabled him to rise to the very top in Rome, where he held an unprecedented number of consulships (seven), and married into the heart of the aristocracy - the Julian gens. Famous in his lifetime for his victories over Jugurtha (105 BC), the Teutones (102 BC), and the Cimbri (101 BC), it was by his army reforms that he made his greatest impact on the state. His final years were dominated by his rivalry with Sulla. The violence with which he recaptured Rome for Cinna from the forces backing Sulla (87 BC) permanently damaged his reputation.
Gaius Marius (Latin: C·MARIVS·C·F·C·N) (157 BC — January 13, 86 BC) was a Roman general and politician elected Consul an unprecedented seven times during his career.
Early Career
Marius was born in 157 BC in the town of Arpinum in southern Latium. The town had been conquered by the Romans in the late fourth century BC and was given Roman citizenship without voting rights. Although Plutarch claims that Marius's father was a laborer, this is almost certainly false. The fact is that Marius had connections with the nobility in Rome, that he ran for local office in Arpinum, and that he had marriage relations with the local nobility in Arpinum.
There is a legend that Marius, as a teenager, found an eagle's nest with seven chicks in it.
In 134 BC, he was serving in some capacity with the army at Numantia and his good services brought him to the attention of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus. It would seem that even at this early stage in his army career, Marius had ambitions for a political career in Rome.
In 120 BC Marius was returned as plebian tribune for the following year. During his tribunate, Marius pursued a populares line. The wealthy continued to try to influence the voting by inspecting ballots and Marius passed a law narrowing the passages down which voters passed to cast their votes in order to prevent outsiders from harassing the electors. In the passage of this law, Marius alienated the Metelli, who opposed it.
Soon thereafter, Marius ran for the curule aedileship and after losing ran unsuccessfully for the plebeian aedileship. To judge by this marriage, Marius had apparently achieved some substantial political influence by this point. The birth of his son, Gaius Marius the Younger, places the date of the marriage at roughly 110 BC.
Legate to Metellus
The Marii were the inherited clients of the Caecilii Metelli and a Caecilius Metellus had aided Marius's campaign for the tribunate. Although he seems to have had a break with the Metelli as a result of the laws he passed while tribune, the rupture was not permanent, since in 109 BC Quintus Caecilius Metellus took Marius with him as his legate on his campaign against Jugurtha. Hence, Metellus had to have asked the Senate to appoint Marius as legate to allow him to serve as Metellus' subordinate. In Sallust's long account of Metellus' campaign no other legates are mentioned, so it is assumed that Marius was Metellus's senior subordinate and right-hand man. Thus Metellus was using Marius' military experience, while Marius was strengthening his position to run for the consulship.
Run for the Consulship
By 108 BC, Marius conceived the desire to run for the Consulship. Following this meeting, Marius spent the summer ingraining himself with the troops by relaxing military discipline and with the Italian traders by claiming that he could capture Jugurtha in a few days with half Metellus' troops.
Under the circumstances it is not difficult to understand how Marius was triumphantly elected Consul later that year, for 107 BC. Given the repeated military debacles from 113 BC to 109 BC and the accusations that the oligarchy was open to flagrant bribery, it is not at all surprising that the virtuous new man who had worked with difficulty up the ladder of offices was elected as an alternative to the inept or corrupt nobility. Marius got around this through a ploy that had been used in 131 BC. A similar law was passed in 108 BC and Marius was voted the command by the People in this special election. Upon returning home, he avoided meeting Marius, and was granted a Triumph and the agnomen Numidicus (conqueror of Numidia).
Recruitment
Marius needed more troops, and to this effect he made a change in procedure used for recruiting troops, probably unaware of the momentous implications of this change. In 107 BC Marius decided to ignore the census qualification altogether and to recruit with no inquiry into the property of the potential soldier. 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.
War in Numidia
Marius found that it wasn't as easy to end the war as he had claimed. Marius' Quaestor in 107 BC had been Lucius Cornelius Sulla, 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. 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. Meanwhile, Marius was the hero of the hour, and his services would be needed in another emergency.
Cimbri and Teutones
The arrival of the Cimbri in Gaul in 109 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. Mallius was a new man like Marius, and he and the noble Caepio found it impossible to co-operate.
As Consul
In late 105 BC Marius was elected consul again while still in Africa. Election in absentia was unusual enough, but at some time after 152 BC a law had been passed dictating a ten-year interval between consulships, and there is even some evidence to indicate that by 135 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. The law was repealed, as Marius was then elected to an unprecedented five successive consulships (104 BC - 100 BC). He returned to Rome by January 1, 104 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. In 104 BC, Marius was returned as Consul again for 103 BC. 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 the basis of their malleability). In 103 BC, the Germans still did not emerge from Hispania, and conveniently Marius's colleague (L. Gracchus's commander in Sardinia in 126 BC - 124 BC) died, so Marius had to return to Rome to oversee the elections, being re-elected for 102 BC.
Showdown With the Germanic Tribes
In 102 BC the Cimbri returned from Hispania into Gaul and together with the Teutoni decided to invade Italy.
First Marius had to deal with the Teutoni, who were in the province of Narbonensis marching toward the Alps. Marius then hid 3,000 troops in ambush, so when the main Germanic contingent finally attacked, the hidden Roman troops could fall on them from behind.
Marius's colleague Quintus Lutatius Catulus Caesar in 102 BC did not have as much luck. Marius was in Rome, and after becoming elected Consul for 101 BC and deferring his Triumph over the Teutoni, he marched north to join Catulus, whose command was prorogued into 101. Catulus Caesar and Marius celebrated a joint Triumph, but in popular thinking all the credit went to Marius. Catulus Caesar became alienated from Marius and would later become one of his chief opponents. As a sort of reward (the danger was now gone) Marius was returned as Consul for 100 BC. This year would not go at all well for Marius. The Senate then 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.
Social War
During the time when Marius was away and later when he returned, Rome knew several years of relative peace. In 95 BC, however, Rome passed a decree that all residents who were not Roman citizens but rather citizens of other Italian cities besides Rome should be expelled from the capital. Drusus was however assassinated, and the Italian states then revolted against Rome in the Social War of 91-88 BC. Marius then took command and fought along with Sulla against the rebel cities.
Sulla and the First Civil War
After the conclusion of the Social War, Mithridates of Pontus began his bid to conquer Rome's eastern provinces and invaded Greece. In 88 BC, Sulla was elected consul. 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. Sulla was given the job by the Senate, however a short time later Marius won appointment to the command by the Assembly. In this unsavory episode of low politics, he was helped by the unscrupulous actions of Publius Sulpicius Rufus, whose debts Marius had promised to erase.
Sulla left Rome and traveled to the army waiting in Nola, the army the Senate had asked him to lead against Mithridates. 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. Marius was defeated and fled Rome. Sulla and his supporters in the Senate passed a death sentence on Marius, Sulpicius and a few other allies of Marius. A small number of men were executed but not Marius, Plutarch tells us that he narrowly escaped capture and death on several occasions and eventually he found safety in Africa. 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).
Seventh Consulship and Death
While Sulla was on campaign in Greece, fighting broke out between the conservative supporters of Sulla, lead 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. Based on the orders of Marius, some of his soldiers went through Rome killing the leading supporters of Sulla, including Octavius. After five days, Cinna ordered his more disciplined troops to kill Marius's rampaging soldiers. 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. However, just one month after his return to Rome, Marius died suddenly at the age of seventy-one. The forces of Sulla returned to Italy at Brundisium in 83 BC, and the sons of Marius died defending Praeneste, a city east of Rome. Thousands of Senators, Knights and other Roman nobles who had supported Marius in any way were outlawed and executed. Julius Caesar, a nephew of the wife of the older Marius, and married to a daughter of Cinna, was one of the many who were outlawed.
Marius was a successful Roman general and something of a reformer. However he was, in part, responsible for the breakdown in relations with Sulla which led to Sulla's march on Rome. The Roman Republic was torn to pieces by the struggle between Marius and Sulla and in a real sense, it never recovered.
Chronology
157 BC - Birth in Arpinum 134 BC - Military Tribune 122 BC - Quaestor in Transalpine Gaul 120 BC - Plebeian Tribune 116 BC - Praetor 114 BC - Sent to govern Lusitania 110 BC - Marriage to Julia 109 BC - Returned to army service as Legate to Caecilius Metellus 108 BC - First Consulship 107 BC - Abolished land ownership qualification for military service (Marian reforms) 104 BC/100 BC - Elected as Consul for five consecutive years. 101 BC - Led successful Roman defence during the Germanic Invasions 91 BC/88 BC - Returns to lead Roman army in the Social War 87 BC Competes with Sulla for military command against Mithradates Sulla assaults Rome, defeating Marius Marius exiled to Africa Returns from exile leading a new army, successfully assaulting Rome 86 BC Seventh Consulship Dies January 13Consulships
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Preceded by: Servius Sulpicius Galba and Lucius Hortensius |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Cassius Longinus 107 BC |
Succeeded by: Quintus Servilius Caepio and Gaius Atilius Serranus |
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Preceded by: Gnaeus Mallius Maximus and Publius Rutilius Rufus |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Gaius Flavius Fimbria 104 BC |
Succeeded by: Lucius Aurelius Orestes and Gaius Marius |
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Preceded by: Gaius Flavius Fimbria and Gaius Marius |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Aurelius Orestes 103 BC |
Succeeded by: Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Gaius Marius |
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Preceded by: Lucius Aurelius Orestes and Gaius Marius |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Quintus Lutatius Catulus 102 BC |
Succeeded by: Manius Aquillius and Gaius Marius |
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Preceded by: Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Gaius Marius |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Manius Aquillius 101 BC |
Succeeded by: Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Gaius Marius |
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Preceded by: Manius Aquillius and Gaius Marius |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Valerius Flaccus 100 BC |
Succeeded by: Aulus Postumius Albinus and Marcus Antonius Orator |
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Preceded by: Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gnaeus Octavius |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Cornelius Cinna 86 BC |
Succeeded by: Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gnaeus Papirius Carbo |
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