I.the name of a Roman gens.
1. The most celebrated is C. Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha, and seven times consul, Cic. Phil. 8, 2, 7; id. Imp. Pomp. 20, 60; Sall. C. 59, 3; id. J. 46 sqq.; as a friend of the popular party, his name is used as an appellative: Caesari multos Marios inesse, Cæsar had many Mariuses in him, Sulla ap. Suet. Caes. 1 fin.—
2. M. Marius Gratidianus, Cic. Brut. 45, 168; 62, 224; id. Leg. 3, 16, 36; id. Off. 3, 20, 80; Sen. de Ira, 3, 18; Plin. 33, 9, 46, § 132.—
3. Marius Priscus, proconsul in Africa, tried for extortion, A. D. 100, Plin. Ep. 2, 11; Juv. 1, 49; 8, 120. —
4. Marius Victorinus, a rhetorician and grammarian, a native of Africa, in the middle of the fourth century of the Christian era. —Hence,
B. Mărĭānus , a, um, adj., of or pertaining to C. Marius, Marian: “Mariani consulatus,” Cic. Brut. 47, 175: “scutum Cimbricum,” id. de Or. 2, 66, 266: “quercus,” id. Leg. 1, 1, 1: “tribunus plebis,” id. Agr. 3, 2, 7: “Mariana et Sullana tempestas,” Flor. 3, 12, 11: “Mariana et Cinnana rabies,” id. 4, 2, 2.—Subst.: Mărĭāna , ae, f., a Roman colony on the eastern coast of Corsica, founded by C. Marius, Plin. 3, 6, 12, § 80; Mel. 2, 7, 19.—Plur. subst.: Mărĭ-āni , ōrum, m., another name of the Cernetari in Latium, Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 64.