MARIUS, Caius, one of the most celebrated Roman generals, the principal events of whose life are included between B. c. 134 and b. c. 86. It is difficult to say whether Marius proved a greater curse or blessing to his country; he saved it, indeed, from the cruelties of a barbarous enemy, but his ambition brought on it more disasters than would [7:14:249]have arisen from the most calamitous war. Marius was born about B. c. 157, of poor parents, in the village of Cereatae (Plin. iii. 5), belonging to the district of Arpinum, which was afterwards the birth-place of Cicero, b. c. 106. His youth seems to have been passed amidst the rude discipline of the camp; nor was his disposition at all softened by literature or intercourse with the learned. He commenced his military career at Numantia (b. c. 134), and by his temperance and bravery so won the good opinion of Scipio, that that general answered one of his friends who inquired where they would find another general equal to himself, by putting his hand on the shoulder of Marius and saying, “Here he is.” Many years, however, pass without any allusion to Marius, nor do we know what part he took in the troubled times of the Gracchi. He appears again in history as tribune of the people, b. c. 119, which office he is said to have obtained chiefly through the influence of the consul Metellus, whose implacable enemy he afterwards became. He began immediately to court the favour of the people, and proposed a law which tended to lessen the authority of the patricians in matters of judicature. The consul Cotta persuaded the senate to summon Marius to answer for his conduct; but the bold tribune threatened to send even the consul Metellus to prison if he persisted in opposition to this measure. The senate gave way, and the law was subsequently confirmed by the people. He was thus supposed to have embarked in the popular cause; but this opinion changed when it was found that he strenuously opposed the distribution of corn amongst the people. When his year of office had expired, he stood as candidate for that of curule aedile, but was rejected; upon which he applied for that of plebeian aedilc, and in this too he was unsuccessful. Not long afterwards he stood for the praetorship, and was returned last of the six, and not without the suspicion of bribery. He was tried, and escaped only by an equality of votes. The following year he was sent to Farther Spain, which he soon cleared of the banditti who infested the province. On his return to Rome he was anxious to take part in the administration of public affairs, but he had neither riches to buy favour nor eloquence to command it. Still, by his high spirit, by his indefatigable industry and simple mode of living, he became a favourite with the people, and acquired sufficient reputation to be thought worthy of the alliance of the Caesars. He married Julia, the aunt of Julius Caesar. When Metellus was appointed, B. c. 108, to the command of the war against Jugurtha, he took Marius as one of his lieutenants into Africa. Marius does not appear to have considered himself as in the least obliged to Metellus for this appointment, but only regarded it as the means of raising himself to a still higher eminence. He took every method of acquiring the good will of the soldiers, and even pointed out to them the faults which their general had committed. In this way he succeeded in persuading all that he alone was able to terminate the war. Marius determined to stand as candidate for the consulship, and pressed Metellus to grant him leave of absence to proceed to Rome. Metellus ridiculed his pretensions to such a high office, and, laughing, asked him if he would not be satisfied to stay and be consul with his son, who was then very young. He at last, however, granted permission, though only twelve days before the election; and by great good fortune Marius got to Rome in six days. The people were already favourably inclined to Marius; and as he was not scrupulous as to the accusations he brought against Metellus, and the promises he made, the people elected him consul, B. c. 107, with great applause. He immediately began to levy troops, without paying any attention to the respectability of the individuals whom he enlisted. Hitherto only people of property had been intrusted with arms, but now Marius enrolled even slaves amongst his soldiers, or at least capite censu being those who were so poor as to pay no con tribution to the state. He then returned with his troops to Africa, which Metellus left, grieved and indignant that the honour of closing the war should have thus been snatched from him by a man towards whom he had shown so much kindness. Marius, however, did not reap the glory which he had expected, for he was in a great measure deprived of it by his quaestor Sylla. Jugurtha had fled to his father-in-law Bacchus, king of Mauritania; and that prince, after some deliberation, delivered him alive (b. c. 105) into the hands of Sylla. (See Jugurtha.) It was this circumstance which laid the foundation of that violent and implacable quarrel which almost ruined the empire. Rome was at this time threatened by an invasion from the Cimbri and Teutones, a northern people who, having issued from their woods in Germany, had overrun the whole of Gaul. The Romans were in the utmost consternation, and no one seemed more able to protect them against these barbarians than Marius. Though absent, he was elected consul a second time, B. c. 104, and received orders to return home with his army. On his arrival he obtained the honours of a triumph, and then devoted himself to the discipline of the levies which he raised. The barbarians, however, passed into Spain, and during the whole of this year Italy had a respite from her enemies. Marius was continued in the consulship, B. c. 103, and was elected the fourth time, b. c. 102, when the barbarians, with an innumerable army, approached the northern frontiers of Italy. Marius, hearing of the enemy’s approach, hastened across the Alps, and pitched his camp near the mouth of the Rhone. The camp was. fortified and well provisioned; and, that it might communicate with the sea, he employed his men in making a cut or canal capable of receiving ships of considerable burden. This canal of Marius has been long filled up, and is now known by the name of Le bras mort. The Teutones and Am-broncs were the part of the barbarian army opposed to Marius. The Cimbri had gone in the direction of the Tyrol to attack Catulus. The Teutones found the camp of Marius too strong to be taken; and as their numbers soon caused a scarcity of provisions, they determined to proceed into Italy. Marius, however, hung upon their rear; and finding a favourable opportunity to attack them near Aquae Sestiae (now Aix, in Provence), he completely defeated them, and in memory of his success erected a pyramid, the remains of which are still to be seen near Saint Maximin. Whilst he was sacrificing in honour of this victory, he received intelligence that he had been elected fifth time consul, b. c. 101.

Marius returned to Rome, where he was offered a triumph, which he declined. He then proceeded to the assistance of his late colleague Catulus, who was guarding the north of Italy against the Cimbri. His arrival gave confidence to Catulus; and as soon as the army from Gaul arrived, they crossed the Po to check the barbarians who were ravaging the country on the opposite side. The Cimbri deferred the combat till the arrival of the Teutones, whom they were unwilling to believe to have been destroyed; and in the meanwhile sent to demand lands and cities from Marius, which should be sufficient for themselves and brethren. “Your brethren,” said Marius, “have land enough which we have already given them, and they shall have it for ever.” A decisive battle was fought a short time afterwards (30th July) in the plain of Vercellae; and though the victory was almost wholly due to the bravery and good conduct of Catulus, Marius carried off all the honour, and was named the third founder of Rome. The survivors of the Cimbri are said to have fled to the mountains of Verona, to the district called Les Sept Communes, and their descendants are supposed still to be found there. (See Marco Pezzo on this people, and their peculiar dialect, Verona, 1763.) Marius then returned to Rome, where he [7:14:250] enjoyed the honour of a triumph, along with his colleague Catulus. He then began to exert all his influence to get himself re-elected to the consulship, and he omitted no means, however dishonourable, that might conduce to his success. His rival was his old friend Metellus; and he carried matters so far that Metellus was obliged to go into voluntary banishment. (See Metellus.) Marius succeeded (b. c. 100) for the sixth time, and now tried to regain the good will of the nobility; but in this attempt he was so little successful, that he refused to stand candidate for the censorship, lest he should suffer a repulse. Metellus was recalled next year, and, that he might not witness his triumphant entrance, Marius left Rome for the East, under the pretence of performing some vow to the mother of the gods. There he tried to excite Mithridates against his country, thinking that he was certain of a return to power if war should arise. For ten years, however, Marius was disconnected with public affairs; but when the Marsian or Social War broke out (b. c. 90), he was appointed to the command. Age, however, had quenched his martial ardour, and his reputation suffered as much as that of Sylla increased. When the Social War had been concluded, b. c. 88, the Romans saw that they must commence the contest with Mithridates. The enmity of Marius and Sylla now broke out in open war, as they were both anxious to be appointed to the command. Sylla was supported by the senate, but Marius excited a sedition through the tribune Sulpitius, and received the appointment. Sylla was already at some distance from Rome, at the head of an army strongly attached to him; and when he received orders to give up the command of the troops, he marched back to Rome, when Marius was forced to fly for his life. Proceeding to Ostia, Marius embarked on board a small vessel which was ready to sail for Africa; but contrary winds obliged him to land at Minturnae, a small town situated at the mouth of the Liris, now Garigliano, where he was abandoned by the sailors. His enemies came in pursuit of him, and he was obliged to conceal himself in a bog amidst mud and reeds. Here he was discovered and carried to Minturnae, where the magistrates resolved to put him to death; but they could find no citizen willing to undertake the office of executioner. At last a Gaul or Cimbrian is said to have offered his services, but he was so struck with the noble and majestic appearance of Marius, that when the general exclaimed, “Dost thou dare to kill Marius?” he threw down his sword and fled. The people of Minturnae then persuaded their magistrates to banish him, and a vessel was found to bear him from his country. He proceeded to Oenaria, now Ischia, and thence to Africa. He landed at Carthage; and whilst he was seated there, a messenger came from the governor Sextilius, with an order that he should leave the province. “Go and tell him,” said the unfortunate man with a sigh, “that you have seen the exiled Marius sitting on the ruins of Carthage.” Marius proceeded to Cercina, a small island not far from the continent, and here received intelligence that the consuls Cinna and Octavius having quarrelled, had had recourse to arms. Marius determined to proceed to the assistance of Cinna, who had been driven by his colleague from Rome; and, landing with a considerable body of exiles, he soon changed the face of affairs, and reinstated Cinna in his office. He himself refused to enter Rome till the decree of his banishment was repealed. This affected deference to the laws of his country was soon laid aside, and the streets of Rome flowed with the blood of the best of her citizens. No age, no sex, no rank, was spared by the executioners of Marius. In the midst of these excesses intelligence was brought from the East that Sylla had put an end to the Mithridatic war, and was returning home with a large army. Marius was elected consul for the seventh time, b. c. 86; but his age and infirmities rendered him little able to sustain the weight of public affairs. He became alarmed at the approach of war, and tried to banish his cares by indulging in excessive drinking. This hastened his end, and he died on the seventeenth day of his seventh consulship, b. c. 86, at the age of seventy. The life of Marius has been written by Plutarch; that by Rutilius Rufus has been lost. An account of the proscriptions of Marius may be found in Appian.