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Marius Biography

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MARIUS, GAIUS (c.156-86 B.C.). A Roman general, born of an obscure family of the Maria Gens, at the village of Cereatæ (modern Casamare), near Arpinum, about 156 B.C. (See ISOLA DEL LIRA.) In the Numantine War (134-133 B.C.) he served with great distinction under the younger Scipio Africanus. In 119 B.C. he was elected tribune of the plebs, and vigorously opposed the nobles, by whom he was intensely hated. He acquired social standing and political influence by his marriage with Julia, aunt of Julius Caesar. In 114 B.C. he went to Further Spain as proprætor, and cleared the country of the robbers who infested it. He accompanied Q. Cæcilias Metellus Numidicus to Africa in 109 B.C., was elected consul two years after, and intrusted with the conduct of the Jugurthine War, which he brought to a successful close in the beginning of 106 B.C. Marius sent Sulla, then his quæstor, to receive Jugurtha, and this laid the foundation of future personal enmity. Numidia Marius thoroughly subdued and annexed to Rome. The military success of Marius had now made him the most conspicuous officer in the Roman army, while he had aroused enthusiastic admiration among his soldiers. Meanwhile an immense horde of Cimbri, Teutones, and other northern barbarians had burst into Gaul and repeatedly defeated the Roman forces with great slaughter. In consequence Marius was again called to the consulate for the year 104 B.C., and for the third, fourth, and fifth times in 103-101 B.C., for it was felt that he alone could save the Republic. The war against the Teutones in Transalpine Gaul occupied him for more than two years; but he finally annihilated them in a battle of two days' duration at Aquæ Sextiæ, now Aix, in Provence, where 200,000-according to others, 100,000-Teutones were slain. After this he assumed the chief command in the north of Italy against the Cimbri (q.v.), whom he overthrew on the Raudian Fields, near Vercellæ, with a like destruction (101 B.C.). The people of Rome knew no bounds to their joy. Marius was declared the savior of the state, the third founder of Rome, and his name was mentioned along with those of the gods at banquets. He was made consul for the sixth time in 100 B.C. In the next 10 years, however, his prestige waned, particularly because of his association with Saturninus (q.v.). In the Social War (q.v.) he twice defeated the Marsi. When Sulla, as consul, was intrusted with the conduct of the Mithridatic War, Marius, who had long manifested an insane jealousy of his patrician rival, and was himself an aspirant for the command of this war, attempted to deprive him of the command, and a civil war began (88 B.C.). By procuring a new organization of the Roman tribes, through passage of a law to distribute the Italian allies among all the tribes, Marius secured an election to the command of the war. Sulla fled to his army at Nola, refused to resign the command, and marched on Rome. Marius was soon forced to flee, and after enduring the greatest hardships, and making numerous hairbreadth escapes, he reached Africa, where he remained until a rising of his friends took place under Cinna (q.v.). He then hurried back to Italy, in the absence of Sulla, and, along with Cinna, marched against Rome, which was obliged to yield. Marius was delirious in his revenge upon the aristocracy; a band of 4000 slaves is said to have carried on the work of murder for five days and nights. Marius and Cinna were elected consuls together for the year 86 B.C. Marius was however, already in his seventy-first year, and died after he had held office only 17 days.

Unlettered, arrogant, and rude of manner, Marius did not possess the qualifications requisite for maintaining influence in times of peace. The effect of his personal presence is illustrated by the scene when, during his flight to southern Italy, near Minturnæ, a barbarian entered his room with drawn sword to assassinate him. When Marius called out, "Man, durst thou murder Gains Marius?" the intruder, awed by the fiery eyes of Marius, dropped his sword in terror and fled. Consult: Beesly, Marius and Sulla (New York, 1878) and the article "Marius I," in Friedrich Lübker, Reallexikon des klassischen Altertums (8^th ed., Leipzig, 1914).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 100-101.