Paper of Marius' Life

(chronological)

Marius was born ca. 157 in the town of Arpinum in southern Latium. The town was conquered by the Romans in the late fourth century and was given Roman citizenship without voting rights. Only in 188 did the town receive full citizenship. The author Plutarch claims that Marius's father was a laborer, but history has suggested that this is surely incorrect. Marius had connections with the nobles in Rome and marriage relations in Arpinum. He also ran for local office in Arpinum. These all aid to indicate that his family was in fact locally important and maintained a fairly good status. Marius' ties, politically, were with influential figures like Scipio Aemilianus and the Metelli family.

The difficulties of Marius' early career in Rome show the tough tasks that confronted a man who was just beginning to involve himself in Roman politics. In 134 he was serving in a minor way with the army at Numantia and his reliable services made Scipio Aemilianus notice him. It could be stated that Marius was interested in pursuing a political career in Rome at an early age because he ran for so many local positions very eagerly and was quick to run for another after he was defeated. He ran for election as one of the 24 special military tribunes of the first four legions who were elected (the rest were appointed by the leader of the legion). Sallust writes that Marius was not even seen or considered by the electors but was elected by all of the tribes because of his small but numerous accomplishments.

After that, he ran for the quaestorship after losing local office in Arpinum. This piece of history is debated because the records show that he was already interested in Roman politics before the quaestorship. It is argued that a possible reason for running for local office as a way of getting support from his hometown, perhaps for confidence. He lost to another local man. He gained the title of quaestor but nothing is known of what he did in the position.

In 120 Marius was elected as plebeian tribune for 119. He had already lost an attempt for the previous year. Caecilius Metellus supported him in his victory. Metellus was wealthy from inheritance and his support aided Marius in his pursuit. During his time of being tribune, Marius tried to gain popularity with the people. He passed a law that restricted the wealthy from controlling and hindering elections, in order to satisfy the common folk. Voting by ballot had been introduced in elections for choosing leaders, passing laws and deciding legal cases in the 130's, replacing the earlier system of oral voting. The wealthy folk continued to try to control the assemblies by overseeing the ballots. Marius' law narrowed the voting passages to prevent outsiders from hindering and nettling the electors. In the process in passing this law, Marius disaffected his loyalty with Metellus' family, who opposed it.

Soon after that, Marius ran for the curule aedileship (superior ranking) and after losing, he ran unsuccessfully for the plebeian aedileship (more common ranking). In 116 he barely won election as praetor (rank under consuls) for 115 (presumably coming in sixth) and was accused of corrupting the election. He was luckily acquitted on this charge and spent an uneventful year as an urban praetor in Rome. In 114 Marius's term was dissolved and he was sent to be the governor of Further Spain, where he was hired in a minute military operation. Marius was replaced as governor in 113.

Upon returning to Rome he received no jubilance and did not run for the consulship. But he did marry Julia, the aunt of Julius Caesar. The Julii Caesares were a family of noble birth, but at that time they had found it hard to advance above the praetorship (only in 157 was a Julius Caesar consul in the second century). One would say that Marius had attained some substantial position by this point, judging by that marriage in 110 and/or that he had acquired substantial amounts of money.

Marius' next career move was to serve as senior legate to his patron Metellus, even though their family did not like Marius, in the Jugurthine Wars. Plutarch wrote that the way in which Marius gained the respect of the soldiers in the Jugerthine Battles was by his ever-lasting willingness to undergo the same difficulties as they did. Marius became more and more embarrassed with Metellus as the campaign war on. In 107 BCE, Marius returned to Rome where he ran and won a consulship for the first time. When he returned to Africa he captured Jugurtha with the help of Sulla. At this time, Marius began reforming military and economical issues and problems. His first reform was described by Plutarch, "Contrary to law and custom he enrolled in his army poor men with no property qualifications..." (Plutarch, p.20). Marius solved the problem of the lack of manpower in the army and the problem of the growing poor urban population in one act. Many of these poor city folk were allowed to enlist in the army and equipped by the state, expanding the Roman armies.

Around 105 BCE, Marius was elected consul for a second time to deal with the threat of a barbarian invasion into Italy. The barbarians did not attack for quite some time so Marius was successively voted in to a third, fourth, and fifth term of Consul when he finally ended the gathering barbarian threat. Marius' other reforms that he enacted during his consulships included several reforms in military practice and procedure. Many of these reforms were not changes that could be marked by a single date, but rather gradual processes that were first revolutionized by Marius' ancestors which came into reality when Marius enforced changes in his own army. Marius' two major reforms that were gradual in their processes were the structural changes made to the physical format of his army and the change in the ownership of land previously necessary for army service. Marius is also attributed with some tactical and traditional which made the army more efficient.

Next, Marius tried to delay Metellus' return from exile, but when he found that he could not; he left for the east to confront Mithradates. While he was absent he was elected to an augurate (one who foresees) and returned to Rome. After that, he was back in command during the Social Wars with Italy, where he was very successful on the northern front. However, when he did not receive ultimate command of the wars, he retired. Subsequently, while Sulla was fighting Mithradates, Sulpicius had command given to Marius by the concilium plebis. When Sulla returned, however, the soldiers remained loyal to Sulla (who gained back command) and drove Marius out of Rome. This may have been due to Marius' reforms that the soldiers disliked in general. Throughout his long and dramatic departure, Marius was allegedly inspired to continue on his Roman life because of a vision he had. In this vision, Marius saw seven eagles. He interpreted the seven eagles to stand for the seven consulships he would hold in his life (he only had six at this point). Whether or not the legend is just a fable is not certain. Marius was elected consul for a seventh time in 86 BCE. But, unfortunately for him and fortunately for Rome and its armies, 17 days later he died from his poor health with his age.