Marius
1.
Gaius, a distinguished Roman general and statesman,
who was born near Arpinum in B.C. 157 of an obscure family in humble circumstances. His
father's name was C. Marius, and his mother's Fulcinia; and his parents, as well as Marius
himself, were clients of the noble plebeian house of the Herennii. So indigent, indeed, is
the family represented to have been, that young Marius is said to have worked as a common
peasant for wages, before he entered the ranks of the Roman army. (Cf. Juv. viii. 246.) The
meanness of his origin has probably been somewhat exaggerated; but, at all events, he
distinguished himself so much by his valour at the siege of Numantia in Spain (B.C. 134) as
to attract the notice of Scipio Africanus, who is said to have foretold his future greatness.
His name does not occur again for fifteen years; but in 119 he was elected tribune of the
plebs, when he was thirty-eight years of age. In this office he came forward as a popular
leader, and proposed a law to give greater freedom to the people at the elections; and when
the Senate attempted to overawe him, he commanded one of his officers to carry the consul
Metellus to prison.
Marius now became a marked man, and the aristocracy opposed him with all their might. He
lost his election to the aedileship, and with difficulty obtained the praetorship; but he
acquired influence and importance by his marriage with Iulia, the sister of C. Iulius Caesar,
who was the father of the future ruler of Rome. In 109 Marius crossed
over into Africa as lieutenant of the consul Q. Metellus. Here, in the war against Iugurtha,
the military genius of Marius had ample opportunity of displaying itself, and he was soon
regarded as the most distinguished officer in the army. He also ingratiated himself with the
soldiers, who praised him in the highest terms in their letters to their friends at Rome. His
popularity became so great that he resolved to return to Rome, and become at once a candidate
for the consulship; but it was with great difficulty that he obtained from Metellus
permission to leave Africa. On his arrival at Rome he was elected consul with an enthusiasm
which bore down all opposition before it; and he received from the people the province of
Numidia and the conduct of the war against Iugurtha (B.C. 107). On his return to Numidia he
carried on the war with great vigour; and in the following year (B.C. 106) Iugurtha was
surrendered to him by the treachery of Bocchus, king of Mauretania. (See
Iugurtha.) Marius sent his quaestor Sulla to receive
the Numidian king from Bocchus. This circumstance sowed the seeds of the personal hatred
which afterwards existed between Marius and Sulla , since the enemies of Marius claimed for
Sulla the merit of bringing the war to a close by obtaining possession of the person of
Iugurtha.
Meantime Italy was threatened by a vast horde of barbarians, who had migrated from the
north of Germany. The two leading nations of which they consisted were called Cimbri and
Teutoni, the former of whom are supposed to have been Celts, and the latter Gauls. To these
two great races were added the Ambrones, and some of the Swiss tribes, such as the Tigurini.
The whole host is said to have contained three hundred thousand fighting men, besides a much
larger number of women and children. They had defeated one Roman army after another, and it
appeared that nothing could check their progress. The utmost alarm prevailed throughout
Italy; all party quarrels were hushed. Every one felt that Marius was the only man capable of
saving the State, and he was accordingly elected consul a second time during his absence in
Africa. Marius entered Rome in triumph on the first of January, 104, the first day of his
second consulship. Meanwhile, the threatened danger was for a while averted. Instead of
crossing the Alps, the Cimbri marched into Spain, which they ravaged for the next two or
three years. But as the return of the barbarians was constantly expected, Marius was elected
consul a third time in 103, and a fourth time in 102. In the latter of these years the Cimbri
returned into Gaul. The barbarians now divided their forces. The Cimbri marched round the
northern foot of the Alps, in order to enter Italy by the northeast, crossing the Tyrolese
Alps by the defiles of Tridentum (Trent). The Teutoni and Ambrones, on the other hand,
marched against Marius, who had taken up a position in a fortified camp on the
Rhône. The decisive battle was fought near Aquae Sextiae (Aix). The carnage was
dreadful. The whole nation was annihilated, for those who did not fall in the battle put an
end to their own lives. The Cimbri, meantime, had forced their way into Italy. Marius was
elected consul a fifth time (B.C. 101), and joined the proconsul Catulus in the north of
Italy. The two generals gained a great victory over the enemy on a plain called the
Campi Raudii, near Vercellae (Vercelli). The Cimbri met with the same fate as the Teutoni;
the whole nation was destroyed. Marius was received at Rome with unprecedented honours. He
was hailed as the saviour of the State; his name was coupled with the gods in the libations
and at banquets, and he received the title of third founder of Rome.
Hitherto the career of Marius had been a glorious one; but the remainder of his life is
full of
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Gaius Marius. (Duruy.)
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horrors, and brings out the worst features of his character. In order to secure the
consulship the sixth time, he entered into close connection with two of the worst demagogues
that ever appeared at Rome, Saturninus and Glaucia. He gained his object, and was consul a
sixth time in 100. In this year he drove into exile his old enemy Metellus; and shortly
afterwards, when Saturninus and Glaucia took up arms against the State, Marius crushed the
insurrection by command of the Senate. (See
Saturninus.) His conduct in this affair was greatly blamed by the people, who looked
upon him as a traitor to his former friends. For the next few years Marius took little part
in public affairs. He possessed none of the qualifications which were necessary to maintain
influence in the State during a time of peace, being an unlettered soldier, rude in manners,
and arrogant in conduct. The Social War again called him into active service (B.C. 90). He
served as legate of the consul P. Rutilius Lupus; and after the latter had fallen in battle,
he defeated the Marsi in two successive engagements. Marius was now sixtyseven, and his body
had grown stout and unwieldy; but he was still as greedy of honour and distinction as he had
ever been. He had set his heart upon obtaining the command of the war against Mithridates,
which the Senate bestowed upon the consul Sulla at the end of the Social War (B.C. 88). In
order to gain his object, Marius allied himself to the tribune, P. Sulpicius Rufus, who brought forward a law for distributing the Italian allies, who had just
obtained the Roman franchise, among all the Roman tribes. As those new citizens greatly
exceeded the old citizens in number, they would of course be able to carry whatever they
pleased in the Comitia. The law was carried, notwithstanding the violent opposition of the
consuls; and the tribes, in which the new citizens now had the majority, appointed Marius to
the command of the war against Mithridates. Sulla fled to his army, which was stationed at
Nola; and when Marius sent thither two military tribunes, to take the command of the troops,
Sulla not only refused to surrender the command, but marched upon Rome at the head of his
army. Marius was now obliged to take to flight. After wandering along the coast of Latium,
and encountering terrible sufferings and privations, which he bore with unflinching
fortitude, he was at length taken prisoner in the marshes formed by the river Liris, near
Minturnae. The magistrates of this place resolved to put him to death, in accordance with a
command which Sulla had sent to all the towns in Italy. A Gallic or Cimbrian soldier
undertook to carry their sentence into effect, and with a drawn sword entered the apartment
where Marius was confined. The part of the room in which Marius lay was in the shade; and to
the frightened barbarian the eyes of Marius seemed to dart out fire, and from the darkness a
terrible voice exclaimed, “Man, durst thou murder C. Marius?” The
barbarian immediately threw down his sword, and rushed out of the house. Straightway there
was a revulsion of feeling among the inhabitants of Minturnae. They got ready a ship, and
placed Marius on board. He reached Africa in safety, and landed at Carthage; but he had
scarcely put his foot on shore before the Roman governor sent an officer to bid him leave the
country. This last blow almost unmanned Marius; his only reply was, “Tell the
praetor that you have seen C. Marius a fugitive sitting on the ruins of Carthage.”
Soon afterwards Marius was joined by his son, and they took refuge in the island of Cercina.
During this time a revolution had taken place at Rome, in consequence of which Marius was
enabled to return to Italy. The consul Cinna (B.C. 87), who belonged to the Marian party, had
been driven out of Rome by his colleague Octavius, and had subsequently been deprived by the
Senate of the consulate. Cinna collected an army, and resolved to recover his honours by
force of arms. As soon as Marius heard of these changes he left Africa, and joined Cinna in
Italy. Marius and Cinna now laid siege to Rome. The failure of provisions compelled the
Senate to yield, and Marius and Cinna entered Rome as conquerors. The most frightful scenes
followed. The guards of Marius stabbed every one whom he did not salute, and the streets ran
with the blood of the noblest of the Roman aristocracy. Among the victims of his vengeance
were the great orator M. Antonius and his former colleague Q. Catulus. Without going through
the form of an election, Marius and Cinna named themselves consuls for the following year
(B.C. 86). But he did not long enjoy the honour: he was now in his seventyfirst year; his
body was worn out by the fatigues and sufferings he had recently undergone; and eighteen days
after his assumption of the consulate he died of an attack of pleurisy. See Plutarch's life
of Marius;
Beesly, The Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla (N. Y. 1878);
and Mommsen,
Hist. of Rome, vol. iii.
2.
Gaius, son of the preceding by adoption. He was
consul in B.C. 82, when only twenty-seven years of age. He resisted Sulla for some time, but
at last, being defeated, took his own life (Vell. Pat. ii. 26, 27).
3.
M. Aurelius Marius, one of the
Thirty Tyrants (q.v.).
4.
Marius Maxĭmus, a Roman
historian, who is repeatedly cited by the Augustan historians. He probably flourished under
Alexander Severus, and appears to have written the biographies of the Roman emperors,
beginning with Trajan and ending with Elagabalus.
5.
Marius Mercātor, an ecclesiastical writer,
distinguished as a zealous antagonist of the Pelagians and the Nestorians. He appears to have
commenced his literary career during the pontificate of Zosimus, A.D. 418, at Rome, and he
afterwards repaired to Constantinople. The works of Mercator refer exclusively to the
Pelagian and Nestorian heresies.
6.
Marius Victorīnus. See
Victorinus.