Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Marius held the office of consul seven times, more than any other Roman in the Republican period. Rising from a family of smallholders in a village called Ceraetae in the district of Arpinum, Marius acquired his initial military experience serving under Scipio Aemilianus at the Siege of Numantia in 134 BC. He won election as tribune of the plebs in 119 BC and passed a law limiting aristocratic interference in elections. Barely elected praetor in 115 BC, he next became the governor of Further Spain where he campaigned against bandits.
Marius attained his first consulship in 107 BC and became the commander of Roman forces in Numidia, where he brought an end to the Jugurthine War. By 105 BC Rome faced an invasion by the Cimbri and Teutones, and the comitia centuriata elected Marius consul for a second time to face this new threat. Marius was consul every year from 104 to 100 BC, defeating the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae and the Cimbri at Vercellae. Marius suffered political setbacks during his sixth consulship in 100 BC and subsequently withdrew from active public life.
The Roman Republic entered a period of crisis with the outbreak of the Social War in 91 BC, in which Marius held a command with limited success. He became embroiled in a conflict with the Roman general Sulla which resulted in his exile to Africa in 88 BC. Marius returned to Italy from Carthage during the War of Octavius, seized Rome, and conducted a purge of political opponents, after which he was elected consul for the seventh time. He died within weeks of assuming this seventh consulship in 86 BC.
In the nineteenth century, Marius was credited with the Marian reforms, including the transition from militia levies to a professional soldiery, modifications to the pilum (a kind of javelin), and changes to the logistical structure of the Roman army. Twenty-first-century historians generally characterise this attribution as "a construct of modern scholarship".
Life Early career Marius was born in Cereatae , a small village near the town of Arpinum in south-east Latium.; . The town had been conquered by the Romans in the late fourth century BC and was initially given Roman citizenship without voting rights (civitas sine suffragio). Only in 188 BC, thirty years before his birth, did the town receive full citizenship. Although Plutarch claims that Marius's father was a labourer, this is almost certainly false since Marius had connections with the nobility in Rome, he ran for local office in Arpinum, and he had marriage relations with the local nobility in Arpinum, all of which when taken together indicate that he was born into a locally important family of equestrian status.See also , citing Vell. Pat., 2.11.1 (natus equestri loco). The emendation equestri for agresti, present in some older editions, is taken also in modern editions such as . While many of the problems he faced during his early career in Rome show the difficulties that faced a "new man" (novus homo) in being accepted into the stratified upper echelons of Roman society, Marius – even as a young man – was not poor or even middle-class; he was most assuredly born into inherited wealth, gained most likely from large land holdings. In fact, his family's resources were definitely large enough to support not just one member of the family in Roman politics, but two: Marius's younger brother, Marcus Marius, also entered Roman public life.
In 134 BC, Marius joined the personal legion of Scipio Aemilianus as an officer for the expedition to Numantia. It is unclear whether or not Marius was already present and serving in Numantia with the previous commander when Aemilianus arrived. While serving with the army at Numantia, his military aptitude brought him to the attention of Scipio Aemilianus. According to Plutarch, during a conversation after dinner, when the conversation turned to generals and someone asked Scipio Aemilianus where the Roman people would find a worthy successor to him, the younger Scipio gently tapped on Marius's shoulder, saying "Perhaps this is the man".;
It would seem that even at this early stage of his military career, Marius had ambitions for a political career in Rome. He was elected on the basis of his accomplishments, even though he was not known by sight to the electors, as one of the twenty-four special military tribunes. After election, he likely served Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus on the Balearic Islands, helping him win a triumph. Next, Marius possibly ran for the quaestorship after losing an election for local office in Arpinum. He may have stood for local office as a means of gaining support back home, and lost to a local competitor. It is possible, however, that Marius never ran for the quaestorship at all, jumping directly to plebeian tribune. He likely participated in the major Roman victory at the Battle of the Isère River in 121 BC, which permanently cemented Roman control over southern Gaul.
In 120 BC, Marius was returned as a plebeian tribune for the following year. He won with the support of the Metelli, specifically Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus. While Plutarch says the Metelli were one of his family's hereditary patrons, this may be a latter-day exaggeration. It was not uncommon for prospective consuls to campaign for their candidates for the tribunate and lower the possibility of opposition tribunes exercising their vetoes.
Plutarch relates that against the wishes of his patrons, he pushed through a law that restricted the interference of the wealthy in elections. In the 130s, voting by ballot had been introduced in elections for choosing magistrates, passing laws and deciding legal cases, replacing the earlier system of oral voting. 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 or seeing who was voted for. It is not clear, however, whether Plutarch's narrative history properly reflects how controversial this proposal in fact was; Cicero, writing during the Republic, describes this as quite straightforward and uncontroversial. Plutarch reports that he then alienated the plebs by vetoing a bill expanding the grain dole, but it is more likely that Plutarch misinterpreted Marius as vetoing attempts to interfere in the existing grain provisions.
Soon thereafter, in 117 BC, Marius stood for the aedileship and lost. It seems clear that by this time, due to the enormous financial difficulties that any prospective aedile would have to shoulder, Marius had either amassed or was availed of significant financial resources. This loss was at least in part due to the enmity of the Metelli. In 116 BC he barely won election as praetor for the following year, coming in last, and was promptly accused of (electoral corruption). Being accused of electoral corruption was common during the middle and late Republic and details of the trial are sketchy or apocryphal. Marius, however, was able to win acquittal on this charge, and spent an uneventful year as praetor in Rome, likely as either or as president of the corruption court. In 114 BC, Marius's imperium was prorogued and he was sent to govern the highly sought-after province of Further Spain () pro consule, where he engaged in some sort of minor military operation to clear brigands from untapped mining areas. He likely governed his province for two years before returning to Rome late in 113 BC with his personal wealth greatly enlarged.
He received no triumph on his return, but he did marry Julia, the aunt of Julius Caesar. The Julii Caesares were a patrician family, but at this period seem to have found it hard to advance beyond the praetorship into the consulship. The Julii had done so only once in the second century, in 157 BC. The match was advantageous to both sides: Marius gained respectability by marrying into a patrician family and the Julii received a great injection of energy and money. Sources are unclear on whether Marius joined the annual race of former praetors for the consulship, but it is likely that he failed to be elected at least once.
Subordinate to Metellus The Jugurthine War started in 112 BC due to "Roman exasperation with the ambitions of Jugurtha", a Numidian king who had killed his half-brothers, massacred Italians in his civil war against them, and bribed many prominent Romans to support him in the Senate. After the start of hostilities, the first army sent to Numidia was apparently bribed to withdraw and the second army was defeated and forced to pass under the yoke in humiliation. These debacles eroded trust in the ability of the aristocracy to adequately manage foreign affairs.
While Marius had seemingly broken with the Caecilii Metelli during his time as tribune and praetor, the Metelli did not seem to hold this rupture against him so much as to pass over him for selection as legate in the opening phases of the Jugurthine War. In 109 BC, likely to improve his chances for the consulship, Marius joined then-consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus in his campaign against Jugurtha. In Sallust's long account of Metellus's campaign, no other legates are mentioned, so Marius was probably Metellus's senior subordinate and right-hand man. Metellus was using Marius's strong military experience, while Marius was strengthening his position to stand for the consulship.
During the Battle of the Muthul, Marius's actions probably saved the army of Metellus from annihilation. Jugurtha had cut the Romans off from the River Muthul where they wanted to refill their water reserves. The Romans had to fight Jugurtha in the desert where the Numidian light cavalry had an advantage. The Numidian cavalry scattered the Romans into small detachments and soon had control of the battlefield. Each group of Romans was fighting for survival independently. At this point Marius re-organized a few detachments and led a column of 2,000 men through the Numidians to link up with Metellus. Together they led their men against the Numidian infantry who occupied a hill. After gaining control of the hill Marius and Metellus led their men against the rear of the Numidian cavalry. The Romans gained the initiative and the Numidians had no choice but to withdraw.
Standing for the consulship By 108 BC, Marius expressed his desire to stand for consul. Metellus did not give Marius his blessing to return to Rome, allegedly advising Marius to wait until Metellus's son was elected (who was at the time only twenty, signifying a campaign decades in the future). Undeterred, Marius began to campaign for the consulship. Sallust claims that this was catalysed, in part, by a fortune-teller in Utica who "declared that a great and marvellous career awaited him; the seer accordingly advised him, trusting in the gods, to carry out what he had in mind and put his fortune to the test as often as possible, predicting that all his undertakings would have a happy issue".
Marius soon earned the respect of the troops by his conduct towards them, eating his meals with them and proving he was not afraid to share in any of their labours. He also won over the Italian traders by claiming that he could capture Jugurtha in a few days with half of Metellus's troops. Both groups wrote home in praise of him, suggesting that he could end the war quickly, unlike Metellus, who was pursuing a policy of methodically subduing the countryside.