Gallic Wars (58 BC – 57 BC)
115-477: Gaius Marius ( Latin: [ˈɡaːiʊs ˈmariʊs] ; c. 157 BC – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times. Rising from a family of smallholders in a village called Ceraetae in the district of Arpinum, Marius acquired his initial military experience serving with Scipio Aemilianus at
230-459: A senatus consultum ultimum , and – for the first time – ordered the magistrates to take whatever actions they felt necessary to end unrest generated by other Roman magistrates. After rejecting a plan to deploy the army near Rome under proconsul Marcus Antonius , Marius rallied volunteers from the urban plebs and his veterans. He cut the water supply to the Capitoline hill and put Saturninus under
345-548: A base around the town of Aquae Sextiae (modern Aix-en-Provence ) and trained his men. Over his successive consulships, Marius was not idle. He trained his troops, built his intelligence network, and conducted diplomacy with the Gallic tribes on the provincial frontiers. While the panicked Senate and people of Rome gave Marius the power he needed to build his army, the failure of the Cimbri and Teutones to follow up on their victory gave him
460-453: A battle near Cirta (modern Constantine, Algeria ). At the end of 107 he surprised Jugurtha by a dangerous desert march to Capsa in the far south where, after the town surrendered, he killed all the adult males, enslaved the remaining survivors, and razed the town, distributing the loot to his soldiers. Keeping up the pressure, he drove Jugurtha's forces southwards and westwards into Mauretania . Marius had been supposedly unhappy at receiving
575-455: A few hundred Romans escaped with their lives across the carnage-choked river. The Battle of Arausio was the costliest defeat Rome had suffered since Cannae and, in fact, the losses and long-term consequences were far greater. For the Cimbri and Teutones it was a great (though temporary) triumph. Instead of immediately gathering their allies and marching on Rome, the Cimbri proceeded to Hispania . There, they suffered their first defeat, not at
690-577: A great effect on the internal politics of Rome, and the organization of its military. The war contributed greatly to the political career of Gaius Marius , whose consulships and political conflicts challenged many of the Roman Republic 's political institutions and customs of the time. The Cimbrian threat, along with the Jugurthine War , allegedly inspired the putative Marian reforms of the Roman legions ,
805-466: A house and killed. In complying with the Senate's wishes, Marius tried to show the Senate, who had always been suspicious of his motives, that he was one of them instead of the outsider that Quintus Metellus said he was in 108 BC. Marius's overall concern was always how to maintain the Senate's esteem: in the words of the scholar A.N. Sherwin-White , Marius "wanted to end his days as vir censorius , like
920-455: A joint triumph. Plutarch reports that Marius was also hailed as "the third founder of Rome", but this is unlikely, as the identification of Camillus as a second founder dates to after the Sullan-era annalists and may be in fact post-Ciceronean. In the popular imagination, it was Marius who "deserved to be the sole beneficiary of the two triumphs awarded for the decisive conclusion of the war". At
1035-515: A means of gaining support back home, and lost to a local competitor. It is possible, however, that Marius never ran for the quaestorship at all, jumping directly to plebeian tribune. He likely participated in the major Roman victory at the Battle of the Isère River in 121 BC, which permanently cemented Roman control over southern Gaul . In 120 BC, Marius was returned as a plebeian tribune for
1150-489: A one-time affair: the volunteers were discharged on their return from the war and Marius, upon assuming command against the Cimbri, took over command of a consular army in northern Italy levied in the traditional manner. There are no indications that open recruitment of volunteers changed the social composition of the legions and later texts indicate that the Romans continued to raise most of their armies by conscription. The armies of
1265-486: A peculiar missile weapon, the materis ; the large sword was retained and the long narrow shield, along with which they probably wore also a coat of mail. They were not destitute of cavalry; but the Romans were superior to them in that arm. Their order of battle was as formerly a rude phalanx professedly drawn up with just as many ranks in depth as in breadth, the first rank of which in dangerous combats not unfrequently tied together their metallic girdles with cords. Following
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#17330558806411380-560: A period of semi-retirement from public life. The Republic fell into crisis with the outbreak of the Social War in 91 BC, in which Marius fought with limited success. He then became embroiled in a conflict with the Roman general Sulla which resulted in his exile to Africa in 88 BC. Marius returned to Italy from Carthage during the War of Octavius , seized Rome, and began a bloody reign of terror in
1495-614: A political career in Rome. He was elected on the basis of his accomplishments, even though he was not known by sight to the electors, as one of the twenty-four special military tribunes . After election, he likely served Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus on the Balearic Islands , helping him win a triumph . Next, Marius possibly ran for the quaestorship after losing an election for local office in Arpinum. He may have stood for local office as
1610-514: A quick victory over Jugurtha and equestrian hostility toward the senate's conduct of the war, Marius was elected consul for 107 BC, campaigning against Metellus's apparent lack of swift action against Jugurtha, with Lucius Cassius Longinus as his colleague. The senate prorogued Metellus's command in Numidia, thereby preventing Marius from assuming command. Marius got around this by inducing an ally of his, then-tribune Titus Manlius Mancinus , to have
1725-433: A report to Rome that said 37,000 superbly trained Romans had succeeded in defeating over 100,000 Germans in two engagements. Marius's consular colleague in 102 BC, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, who Marius may have expected to "spend a fruitless year employed in garrison duty", did not fare so well. He suffered some casualties in a minor engagement up in one of the mountain valleys near Tridentum . Catulus then withdrew and
1840-507: A row, starting in 104 BC. Because of the destruction of the Roman force at Arausio and the pressure of the impending crisis, Marius was tasked with rebuilding, effectively from scratch, the Gallic legions. Building his army around a core of trained legionaries from the last year, Marius again secured exemption from the property requirements and with his newly minted reputation for victory, raised an army of some thirty thousand Romans and forty thousand Italian allies and auxiliaries. He established
1955-481: A seat. During the year of Marius's sixth consulship (100 BC), Lucius Appuleius Saturninus was tribune of the plebs for the second time and advocated reforms like those earlier put forth by the Gracchi . Saturninus, after assassinating one of his political opponents to the tribunate, pushed for bills that would drive Marius's former commanding officer Metellus Numidicus into exile, lower the price of wheat distributed by
2070-407: A short and decisive siege. After Saturninus surrendered, Marius attempted to keep Saturninus and his followers alive by locking them safely inside the senate house , where they would await prosecution. Possibly with Marius's implied consent, an angry mob broke into the building and, by dislodging the roof tiles and throwing them at the prisoners below, lynched those inside. Glaucia too was dragged from
2185-532: A spontaneous battle between Marius's army and the Ambrones in which the Romans defeated some 30,000 Ambrones. The next day, the Teutones and the Ambrones counterattacked up a hill against the Roman position. Marcus Claudius Marcellus flanked their advance with a column of three thousand men, turning the battle into a slaughter: estimates vary from 100,000 to 200,000 being slain or captured. Marius sent Manius Aquillius with
2300-401: A stepping stone to the Senate. The tribunus militum should not be confused with the elected political office of tribune of the people ( tribunus plebis ) nor with that of tribunus militum consulari potestate . The word tribunus derives from tribus , "tribe". In Rome's earliest history, each of the three tribes (Ramnes, Luceres, and Tities) sent one commander when an army
2415-436: A strong defensive position and demanded that the Cimbri and their allies leave the province immediately. The Cimbri initially set about complying peacefully with Rome's demands, but soon discovered that Carbo had laid an ambush against them. Infuriated by this treachery, they attacked and, at the Battle of Noreia , annihilated Carbo's army, almost killing Carbo in the process. Italy was now open to invasion, yet for some reason,
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#17330558806412530-603: A time Marius and his main force found themselves besieged on a hill, while Sulla and his men were on the defensive on another hill nearby. The Romans managed to hold off the enemy until evening and the Africans retired. The next morning at dawn the Romans surprised the Africans' insufficiently guarded camp and completely routed the Numidian–Mauretanian army. Marius then marched east to winter quarters in Cirta. The African kings harried
2645-528: A triumph, and promptly marched north with his army to join Catulus, whose command was prorogued since Marius's consular colleague was dispatched to defeat a slave revolt in Sicily. In late July 101 BC, during a meeting with the Cimbri, the invading tribesmen threatened the Romans with the advance of the Teutones and Ambrones. After informing the Cimbri of their allies' destruction, both sides prepared for battle. In
2760-490: A view now contested by modern historians. Rome was finally victorious, and its Germanic adversaries, who had inflicted on the Roman armies the heaviest losses that they had suffered since the Second Punic War , with victories at the battles of Arausio and Noreia , were left almost completely annihilated after Roman victories at Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae . Some of the surviving captives are reported to have been among
2875-454: The pilum , a standardised eagle standard for all legions, and the substitution of the cohort for the maniple . There is little evidence for the abolition of the citizen cavalry and light infantry by the first century BC, as they are still attested in evidence. If Marius redesigned the pilum , archaeological finds indicate his design was soon discarded. Literary evidence indicates that eagle standards continued to co-exist through
2990-512: The capite censi . With more troops mustering in southern Italy, Marius sailed for Africa, leaving his cavalry in the hands of his newly elected quaestor, Lucius Cornelius Sulla . Marius found that ending the war was more difficult than he had previously boasted. Jugurtha was fighting a guerrilla war, and it appeared that no strategy would work better than Metellus's strategy of denying Jugurtha local reinforcement and support. Marius arrived comparatively late in 107 BC but still fought and won
3105-479: The concilium plebis override the Senate's decision and give him the command. Metellus refused to personally hand over command to Marius and returned to Rome. Upon his return, the senate voted Metellus a triumph and the agnomen Numidicus . Seeking troops to bolster the forces in Numidia and win his promised quick victory, Marius found it difficult to recruit from Rome's traditional source of manpower, property-holding men. Except in emergencies, normal practice in
3220-675: The Ambrones were to head south and advance toward Italy from the west along the coast; the Cimbri were to attempt to cross the Alps into Italy from the north by the Brenner Pass ; and the Tigurini (the allied Celtic tribe who had defeated Longinus in 107) were to cross the Alps from the northeast. The two consuls divided their forces, with Marius heading west into Gaul and Catulus holding the Italian Alps. In
3335-676: The Battle of Burdigala (modern day Bordeaux ) and killed its commander, the consul Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravalla . In 105 BC, Rome and its new consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus and the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio , in order to settle the matter once and for all, gathered the largest force it had fielded since the Second Punic War, and possibly the largest force it had ever sent to battle. The force consisted of over 80,000 men, along with tens of thousands of support personnel and camp followers in two armies, one led by each consul. The consuls led their armies on their own armed migration to
3450-600: The Rhône River near Orange, Vaucluse , where, disliking and distrusting each other, they erected separate camps on opposite sides of the river; by so doing they left their disunited force open to separate attack. The overconfident Caepio foolishly attacked without support from Maximus; his legions were wiped out and his undefended camp overrun. The now isolated and demoralized troops of Maximus were then easily defeated. Thousands more were slain trying desperately to rally and defend his poorly positioned camp. Only Caepio, Maximus, and
3565-714: The Scordisci , along with the Boii , many of whom apparently joined them. In 113 BC they arrived on the Danube , in Noricum , home to the Roman-allied Taurisci . Unable to hold back these new, powerful invaders on their own, the Taurisci called on Rome for aid. The following year the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo led the legions into Noricum, and after making a show of force, took up
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3680-468: The Siege of Numantia in 134 BC. He won election as tribune of the plebs in 119 BC and passed a law limiting aristocratic interference in elections. Barely elected praetor in 115 BC, he next became the governor of Further Spain where he campaigned against bandits. On his return from Spain he married Julia , the aunt of Julius Caesar . Marius attained his first consulship in 107 BC and became
3795-466: The Social War (91–87 BC) and subsequent civil wars (further formalised by the emperor Claudius ) created a professionalized military system, legions were commanded by a legionary legate ( legatus ). Six tribunes were still posted to a legion, but their duties and responsibilities had changed, becoming more a political position than a military rank. The second-in-command to the legate was the tribunus laticlavius or 'broad-stripe' tribune (named after
3910-502: The Cimbri and their allies moved west over the Alps and into Gaul . In 109 BC, they invaded the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis and defeated the Roman army there under Marcus Junius Silanus . In 107 BC, the Romans were defeated again, this time by the Tigurini , who were allies of the Cimbri whom they had met on their way through the Alps . That same year, they defeated another Roman army at
4025-508: The Cimbri entered northern Italy. The Cimbri paused in northern Italy to regroup and await expected reinforcements from the other Alpine passes. Shortly after Marius had vanquished the western invaders at Aquae Sextiae, Marius received news that he had been re-elected to his fourth consecutive consulship (and fifth consulship as a whole) as consul for 101 BC. His colleague would be his friend Manius Aquillius. After election, he returned to Rome to announce his victory at Aquae Sextiae, deferred
4140-556: The Cimbri were virtually annihilated, and both their highest leaders, Boiorix and Lugius, fell. The women killed both themselves and their children in order to avoid slavery. Thus the war, which began with a mass migration, ended in defeat and mass suicide. The Cimbri were not completely wiped off the face of the map or from the pages of history. Their allies, the Boii , with whom they intermixed, settled in southern Gaul and Germania and were there to welcome and confront Julius Caesar , Marius's nephew, in his campaigns of conquest. Some of
4255-427: The Gallic legions. Building his army around a core of trained legionaries from the last year, Marius again secured exemption from the property requirements and with his newly minted reputation for victory, raised an army of some thirty thousand Romans and forty thousand Italian allies and auxiliaries. He established a base around the town of Aquae Sextiae (modern Aix-en-Provence ) and trained his men. One of his legates
4370-619: The Germans still did not emerge from Hispania, and Marius's colleague died, requiring Marius to return to Rome to call elections. Lacking a decisive conclusion to the Cimbrian conflict over the last two years, it was not a foregone conclusion that Marius would win reelection. An appeal by a young tribune, Lucius Appuleius Saturninus , in a public meeting before the vote – along with a field of candidates without great name recognition – allowed Marius to be returned as consul again in 102 BC. His colleague
4485-770: The Latin word for allies, socii . Cimbrian War Clades Lolliana (16 BC) Roman campaigns in Germania (12 BC – AD 16) Marcomannic Wars (166–180) ( participating Roman units ) Roman campaigns in Germania during the 230s Gothic invasion of the Balkans (250–251) Gothic invasion of the Balkans (254) Gothic invasion of the Balkans (267–268) Roman–Alemannic Wars Gothic War (367–369) Gothic War (376–382) Visigothic Wars Vandalic Wars Anglo-Saxon Wars Vandalic War (533–534) Gothic War (535–554) The Cimbrian or Cimbric War (113–101 BC)
4600-675: The Roman people might be forced to rely on Marius's military leadership once more. This anecdote, however, is discounted by Evans, who dismisses it as "nothing more than a malicious rumour" perhaps created by Rutilius Rufus or Sulla. Other scholars have argued that the mission was instead planned by the Senate with the support of the princeps senatus Marcus Aemilius Scaurus for the purpose of investigating Mithridates' campaigns in Cappadocia without arousing too much suspicion. However, scholars have pointed out that Marius's supposed "humiliation" cannot have been too long-lasting. In c. 98–97 BC, he
4715-524: The Romans into small detachments and soon had control of the battlefield. Each group of Romans was fighting for survival independently. At this point Marius re-organized a few detachments and led a column of 2,000 men through the Numidians to link up with Metellus. Together they led their men against the Numidian infantry who occupied a hill. After gaining control of the hill Marius and Metellus led their men against
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4830-546: The Romans, what message they wished them to give to their wives? Marius followed cautiously, maintaining distance from the enemy, but closely following his movements. A few days later, a skirmish turned into a battle with the Ambrones, who for some reason camped separately from the Teutones. The Ambrones were defeated with heavy losses and fled to their Teutonic allies. The Teutones halted their trek south and awaited Marius near Aquae Sextiae . This afforded Marius favorable conditions, for with his enemy stationary he got to scout
4945-466: The Senate, Marius granted Roman citizenship to two cohorts of his Italian allied soldiers (around a thousand soldiers, within an army counting about 32 000 men, half of which were Italian allies ), allegedly claiming that in the din of battle he could not distinguish between the voices of Romans and the Italic allies. According to traditional historiography, henceforth Italian legions became Roman legions and
5060-467: The Senatorial Order ever enter Egypt. In contrast to the broad-stripe tribune, the other five 'thin stripe' tribunes were lower in rank, and were called the tribuni angusticlavii . These 'officer cadets' were men of equestrian rank who had military experience, and yet had no authority: they were allowed to sit on a court martial but they held no power in battle. Most thin-stripe tribunes served
5175-540: The aid of Mallius on the east. The Senate was unable to induce Caepio to cooperate with Mallius, which proved both generals' undoing. At the Battle of Arausio (modern Orange ), the Cimbri overran Caepio's legions with massively overwhelming numbers. Caepio's routed men crashed into Mallius's troops, which led to both armies being pinned against the Rhône and annihilated by the numerically dominant Cimbrian warriors. News of this defeat reached Rome just shortly after Marius completed
5290-551: The allied cities of the Italian peninsula progressively began to demand a greater say in the external policy of the Republic, leading eventually to the Social War . Military tribune A military tribune (from Latin tribunus militum ' tribune of the soldiers') was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion . Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as
5405-470: The annual race of former praetors for the consulship, but it is likely that he failed to be elected at least once. The Jugurthine War started in 112 BC due to "Roman exasperation with the ambitions of Jugurtha ", a Numidian king who had killed his half-brothers, massacred Italians in his civil war against them, and bribed many prominent Romans to support him in the Senate . After the start of hostilities,
5520-416: The attention of Scipio Aemilianus. According to Plutarch, during a conversation after dinner, when the conversation turned to generals and someone asked Scipio Aemilianus where the Roman people would find a worthy successor to him, the younger Scipio gently tapped on Marius's shoulder, saying "Perhaps this is the man". It would seem that even at this early stage of his military career, Marius had ambitions for
5635-505: The aunt of Julius Caesar . The Julii Caesares were a patrician family, but at this period seem to have found it hard to advance beyond the praetorship into the consulship. The Julii had done so only once in the 2nd century, in 157 BC. The match was advantageous to both sides: Marius gained respectability by marrying into a patrician family and the Julii received a great injection of energy and money. Sources are unclear on whether Marius joined
5750-442: The battlegrounds and he chose his ground carefully. In the subsequent battle , he lured the Teutones and their allies into attacking him while his army was occupying the high ground. During their attack they were ambushed from the rear by a select force of five cohorts which Marius had hidden in a nearby wood. The Teutones were routed and massacred and their king, Teutobod , was placed in Roman chains. But Aquae Sextiae had only evened
5865-424: The campaign against Jugurtha successfully. The Republic, altogether lacking generals who had recently concluded military campaigns successfully, took the illegal step of electing Marius in absentia for a second consulship in three years. While his election was not unprecedented, as Quintus Fabius Maximus had been elected for consecutive consulships and it was not unheard of for consuls to be elected in absentia ,
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#17330558806415980-439: The city which culminated in him being elected consul a seventh time and then dying at the beginning of his consulship, in 86 BC. In the 19th century, Marius was credited with the so-called Marian reforms , including the shift from militia levies to a professional soldiery; improvements to the pilum (a kind of javelin); and changes to the logistical structure of the Roman army. Twenty-first-century historians generally view
6095-653: The commander of Roman forces in Numidia , where he brought an end to the Jugurthine War. By 105 BC Rome faced an invasion by the Cimbri and Teutones , and the comitia centuriata elected Marius consul for a second time to face this new threat. Marius was consul every year from 104 to 100 BC, and he defeated the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae and the Cimbri at Vercellae . However, Marius suffered political setbacks during his sixth consulship in 100 BC and afterwards entered
6210-619: The confluence of the Isère and the Rhône , where he could observe and halt the march of the Teutons. When the Teutons arrived, they attempted to force him into battle, but he declined; they attacked the Roman camp, but were beaten off. Impatient of the delay and of Marius' passivity, they finally decided to simply march past him into Italy. So enormous were their numbers, that they reportedly took 6 whole days marching by his camp, and in their arrogance they taunted
6325-407: The consul Lucius Cassius Longinus was completely defeated by the Tigurini , and the senior surviving officer (one Gaius Popillius, son of the consul of 132) had saved what was left only by surrendering half the baggage and suffering the humiliation of having his army "pass under the yoke". The next year, 106 BC, another consul, Quintus Servilius Caepio , marched to Gaul with a new army to salvage
6440-447: The consulship. Sallust claims that this was catalysed, in part, by a fortune-teller in Utica who "declared that a great and marvellous career awaited him; the seer accordingly advised him, trusting in the gods, to carry out what he had in mind and put his fortune to the test as often as possible, predicting that all his undertakings would have a happy issue". Marius soon earned the respect of
6555-503: The corruption court. In 114 BC, Marius's imperium was prorogued and he was sent to govern the highly sought-after province of Further Spain ( Latin : Hispania Ulterior ) pro consule , where he engaged in some sort of minor military operation to clear brigands from untapped mining areas. He likely governed his province for two years before returning to Rome late in 113 BC with his personal wealth greatly enlarged. He received no triumph on his return, but he did marry Julia ,
6670-572: The countryside open to the invaders. But the Cimbri took their time ravishing the fertile region, which gave Marius time to arrive with reinforcements—his same victorious legions from Aquae Sextiae. It would be at Vercellae near the confluence of the Sesia River with the Po on the Raudine Plain where the superiority of the new Roman legions and their cavalry were clearly demonstrated. In the devastating defeat
6785-402: The countryside. During the winter of 109 and 108 BC, a detachment of Roman soldiers serving as the garrison of Vaga was ambushed and cut down almost to a man. The garrison commander, one Titus Turpilius Silanus, a client of Metellus, escaped unharmed. Marius allegedly urged Metellus to sentence Silanus to death on charges of cowardice, but then turned on Metellus, arguing that the sentence
6900-523: The devastation of the Arausio, fear shook the Roman Republic to its foundations. The terror cimbricus became a watchword, as Rome expected the Cimbri at its gates at any time. In this atmosphere of panic and desperation, an emergency was declared. The constitution was ignored and Gaius Marius , the victor over Jugurtha of Numidia was elected consul for an unprecedented, and arguably illegal, five years in
7015-417: The dissolute and libertine Lucius Cornelius Sulla as his quaestor, but Sulla proved a highly competent officer and was well liked by the men. Meanwhile, Jugurtha was trying to get his father-in-law king Bocchus of Mauretania to join him in the war against the Romans. In 106, Marius marched his army far to the west, capturing a fortress near the river Molochath . Unfortunately, this advance brought him near
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#17330558806417130-456: The dominions of Bocchus, finally provoking the Mauretanian into action; in the deserts just west of Serif, Marius was taken by surprise by a combined army of Numidians and Mauretanians under the command of the two enemy kings. For once, Marius was unprepared for action and in the melee all he could do was form defensive circles. The attack was pressed by Mauretanian and Gaetulian horsemen and for
7245-589: The east to Galatia in 98 BC, ostensibly to fulfil a vow he had made to the goddess Magna Mater . Plutarch portrays this voluntary exile as a great humiliation for the six-time consul: "considered obnoxious to the nobles and to the people alike", he was even forced to abandon his candidature for the censorship of 97. Plutarch also reports that while in the East, Marius attempted to goad Mithridates VI of Pontus into declaring war on Rome – telling Mithridates to either become stronger than Rome or obey her commands – so that
7360-470: The electors or seeing who was voted for. It is not clear, however, whether Plutarch's narrative history properly reflects how controversial this proposal in fact was; Cicero , writing during the Republic, describes this lex Maria as quite straightforward and uncontroversial. Plutarch reports that he then alienated the plebs by vetoing a bill expanding the grain dole, but it is more likely that Plutarch misinterpreted Marius as vetoing attempts to interfere in
7475-502: The ensuing battle – the Battle of Vercellae (or the Raudine Plain) – Rome decisively defeated the Cimbri. Caught off guard by Sulla's cavalry, pinned down by Catulus's infantry and flanked by Marius, the Cimbri were slaughtered and the survivors enslaved. Upwards of 120,000 Cimbri perished. The Tigurini gave up their efforts to enter Italy from the northeast and went home. After fifteen days of thanksgiving, Catulus and Marius celebrated
7590-485: The existing grain provisions. Soon thereafter, in 117 BC, Marius stood for the aedileship and lost. It seems clear that by this time, due to the enormous financial difficulties that any prospective aedile would have to shoulder, Marius had either amassed or was availed of significant financial resources. This loss was at least in part due to the enmity of the Metelli. In 116 BC he barely won election as praetor for
7705-498: The family in Roman politics, but two: Marius's younger brother, Marcus Marius , also entered Roman public life. In 134 BC, Marius joined the personal legion of Scipio Aemilianus as an officer for the expedition to Numantia . It is unclear whether or not Marius was already present and serving in Numantia with the previous commander when Aemilianus arrived. While serving with the army at Numantia, his military aptitude brought him to
7820-523: The first army sent to Numidia was apparently bribed to withdraw and the second army was defeated and forced to pass under the yoke in humiliation. These debacles eroded trust in the ability of the aristocracy to adequately manage foreign affairs. While Marius had seemingly broken with the Caecilii Metelli during his time as tribune and praetor, the Metelli did not seem to hold this rupture against him so much as to pass over him for selection as legate in
7935-407: The following year, coming in last, and was promptly accused of ambitus (electoral corruption). Being accused of electoral corruption was common during the middle and late Republic and details of the trial are sketchy or apocryphal. Marius, however, was able to win acquittal on this charge, and spent an uneventful year as praetor in Rome, likely as either praetor peregrinus or as president of
8050-429: The following year. He won with the support of the Metelli, specifically Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus . While Plutarch says the Metelli were one of his family's hereditary patrons, this may be a latter-day exaggeration. It was not uncommon for prospective consuls to campaign for their candidates for the tribunate and lower the possibility of opposition tribunes exercising their vetoes. Plutarch relates that against
8165-627: The hands of a Roman army, but against a Celtiberian coalition. In the meantime, the Teutones remained in Gaul. Why they again failed to invade Italy remains a mystery. Theodor Mommsen speculatively describes their methods of war: Their system of warfare was substantially that of the Celts of this period, who no longer fought, as the Italian Celts had formerly done, bareheaded and with merely sword and dagger, but with copper helmets often richly adorned and with
8280-405: The late Republic still were predominantly drawn from rural populations. The narrative that the army's domination by poor volunteers, who in search of riches and retirement bonuses became the clients of their generals, who then used those armies to overthrow the republic, is now rejected. Other reforms attributed to Marius include the abolition of the citizen cavalry and light infantry, a redesign of
8395-469: The late republic with other traditional animal standards including the ox and wolf. Lastly, there is no ancient evidence that Marius introduced the cohort; Sallust's narrative gives the last attestation of the maniple in 109 BC under Metellus Numidicus' command. Changes to logistical arrangements and training, the muli Mariani ("Marius's mules") of common historiography, were regular practice among Roman generals: seeking victory, they generally sought
8510-535: The legionary legate, yet a lucky few (such as Agricola ) were selected to serve on the staff of the provincial governor. According to Tacitus , they did not always take their appointment as seriously as they might, contrasting Agricola's tribuneship to his peers by saying "[Agricola did not], like many young men who convert military service into wanton pastime, avail himself licentiously or slothfully of his tribunitial title, or use his inexperience to spend his time in pleasures and absences from duty". Under Augustus ,
8625-497: The middle republic was only to allow property-owning citizens to enlist in the legions; this may have been related to Tiberius Gracchus 's reforms which would have, by giving more people more land, made more men eligible to serve in the legions. While the senate allowed Marius to conscript men normally, he preferred instead to request volunteers, especially among discharged veterans ( evocati ), with promises of victory and plunder. He also recruited volunteers from men without property,
8740-551: The most part in the gift of consuls or dictators . Additionally, in the early Republic, another type of military tribune was sometimes chosen in place of the annually elected consuls to be the heads of the Roman State. These are known in Latin as tribuni militum consulari potestate ("military tribunes with consular authority"). At the time only patricians could be chosen as consuls, but both patricians and plebeians could be elected as tribunes with consular authority. Instead of
8855-453: The notion as "a construct of modern scholarship." Marius was born in Cereatae c. 157 BC , a small village near the town of Arpinum in south-east Latium . The town had been conquered by the Romans in the late 4th century BC and was initially given Roman citizenship without voting rights ( civitas sine suffragio ). Only in 188 BC, thirty years before his birth, did
8970-420: The opening phases of the Jugurthine War. In 109 BC, likely to improve his chances for the consulship, Marius joined then-consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus in his campaign against Jugurtha. In Sallust's long account of Metellus's campaign, no other legates are mentioned, so Marius was probably Metellus's senior subordinate and right-hand man. Metellus was using Marius's strong military experience, while Marius
9085-403: The other great worthies among the novi homines of the second century". This episode in the city, however, won Marius little advantage. After he left office, Metellus Numidicus' relatives dogged him in mourning dress for his maltreatment of the general, pleading for his recall from exile. Plutarch states that Marius had alienated both senators and the people. It is, however, unlikely that Marius
9200-460: The plebs with land reform and grain distribution laws, grant citizenship to the Italians to compensate for land reform's infringement on Italian property rights, and enlarge the senate with equestrians. Marius seemed not to have an opinion on Drusus's Italian question. However, after Drusus was assassinated, many of the Italian states revolted against Rome in the Social War of 91–87 BC, named after
9315-528: The precedent was certainly not recent. Yet, since the Assembly had the ability to overturn any law, it simply set aside the requirements and made Marius consul. Marius was still in Africa when the Assembly elected him consul for 104 BC. At the start of his consulship, Marius returned from Africa in spectacular triumph, bringing Jugurtha and the riches of North Africa to awe the citizenry. Jugurtha, who had prophesied
9430-442: The problems he faced during his early career in Rome show the difficulties that faced a "new man" ( novus homo ) in being accepted into the stratified upper echelons of Roman society, Marius – even as a young man – was not poor or even middle-class; he was most assuredly born into inherited wealth, gained most likely from large land holdings. In fact, his family's resources were definitely large enough to support not just one member of
9545-460: The purchase and destruction of Rome, met his end in a Roman prison after having been led through the streets of the city in chains. Marius was assigned (it is unclear whether by the Assembly or by sortition ) the province of Gaul to deal with the Cimbric threat. The Cimbri, after their decisive victory at Arausio, marched west into Hispania . Marius was tasked with rebuilding, effectively from scratch,
9660-435: The rear of the Numidian cavalry. The Romans gained the initiative and the Numidians had no choice but to withdraw. By 108 BC, Marius expressed his desire to stand for consul . Metellus did not give Marius his blessing to return to Rome, allegedly advising Marius to wait until Metellus's son was elected (who was at the time only twenty, signifying a campaign decades in the future). Undeterred, Marius began to campaign for
9775-529: The rebelling gladiators during the Third Servile War . According to some Roman accounts, sometime around 120–115 BC, the Cimbri left their original lands around the North Sea due to flooding ( Strabo , on the other hand, wrote that this was unlikely or impossible ) They supposedly journeyed to the south-east and were soon joined by their neighbours and possible relatives the Teutones. Together they defeated
9890-401: The retreat with light cavalry, but were beaten back by Sulla, whom Marius had put in command of the cavalry. It was by now evident that Rome would not defeat Jugurtha's guerrilla tactics through military means. Therefore, Marius resumed negotiations with Bocchus, who, though he had joined in the fighting, had not yet declared war. Ultimately, Marius reached a deal with Bocchus whereby Sulla, who
10005-686: The same time, Marius's consular colleague, Manius Aquillius, defeated the Sicilian slave revolt in the Second Servile War. Having saved the Republic from destruction and at the height of his political powers, Marius desired another consulship to secure land grants for his veteran volunteers and to ensure he received appropriate credit for his military successes. Marius was duly returned as consul for 100 BC with Lucius Valerius Flaccus ; according to Plutarch, he also campaigned on behalf of his colleague so to prevent his rival Metellus Numidicus from securing
10120-515: The score: while the Teutones had been eliminated, the Cimbri remained a formidable threat. In 101 BC, the Cimbri returned to Gaul and prepared for the final stage of their struggle with Rome. For the first time they penetrated through the Alpine passes, which Marius's co-consul for that year, Quintus Lutatius Catulus , had failed to fortify, into northern Italy. Catulus withdrew behind the Po River , leaving
10235-481: The situation. Caepio was prorogued into the next year and the new consul for 105 BC, Gnaeus Mallius Maximus , was also assigned to southern Gaul with another army. Caepio's disdain for Mallius – a new man like Marius with a hunger for glory – made it impossible for them to cooperate. The Cimbri and another tribe called the Teutones appeared on the Rhône , and while Caepio was on the west bank he refused to come to
10350-455: The speed advantages of operating without large baggage trains and to ensure that their men were well-trained for combat. In 109 BC a migrating Germanic tribe called the Cimbri appeared in Gaul and routed the Roman army there under Marcus Junius Silanus . This defeat reduced Roman prestige and resulted in unrest among the Celtic tribes recently conquered by the Romans in southern Gaul. In 107
10465-478: The start of the annual campaign season for the consulship, Marius attempted to disqualify Glaucia from standing for consul. Because other candidates would lower the chances of Glaucia's victory, Saturninus and Glaucia had an opponent – Gaius Memmius – killed during the consular elections for 99 BC. The elections then were delayed. The Senate responded to Saturninus's attempt, to by violence force through Glaucia's candidacy over Marius's disqualification, by issuing
10580-417: The state, and give colonial lands to the veterans of Marius's recent war. Saturninus's bill gave lands to all veterans of the Cimbric wars, including those of Italian allies, which was resented by some of the plebs urbana . Marius worked with Saturninus and Saturninus's ally Glaucia to pass the land bill and banish Metellus Numidicus, but then distanced himself from them and their more radical policies. Around
10695-446: The surviving captives are reported to have been among the rebelling gladiators in the Third Servile War . The political consequences from the war had an immediate and lasting impact on Rome. The end of the Cimbrian war marked the beginning of the rivalry between Marius and Sulla , which eventually led to the first of Rome's great civil wars . Moreover, following the final victory at Vercellae, and without first asking permission from
10810-655: The time he needed to finish it. They would soon be confronted by an army of organized and trained soldiers under the leadership of a brilliant and ruthless commander. By 102 BC, Marius was ready to face the Cimbri; the latter, after difficulties in Spain, had turned north into Gaul, where they were joined by the Teutons . After this union, the Germanic coalition determined to move back south upon Italy, which they had previously avoided. Marching south through Switzerland and Savoy , their army
10925-416: The town receive full citizenship. Although Plutarch claims that Marius's father was a labourer, this is almost certainly false since Marius had connections with the nobility in Rome, he ran for local office in Arpinum, and he had marriage relations with the local nobility in Arpinum, all of which when taken together indicate that he was born into a locally important family of equestrian status. While many of
11040-411: The troops by his conduct towards them, eating his meals with them and proving he was not afraid to share in any of their labours. He also won over the Italian traders by claiming that he could capture Jugurtha in a few days with half of Metellus's troops. Both groups wrote home in praise of him, suggesting that he could end the war quickly, unlike Metellus, who was pursuing a policy of methodically subduing
11155-426: The usual two consuls, between four and six military tribunes were elected for the year. The reasons for this choice are obscure, though Livy often cast the decision according to the class struggles he saw as endemic during this period, with patricians generally favoring consuls and plebs the military tribunes. The office of "consular tribune" eventually fell out of use after 366 BC. After changes to Roman army driven by
11270-478: The war against Jugurtha in 107 BC. There is, however, very little evidence that Italy's population fell during the second century, that any major reforms to the Roman army occurred in the second century, or that Marius was responsible; specialists now increasingly dismiss these "Marian reforms" as a "construct of modern scholarship". The recruitment of proletarii in 107, documented in Sallust, seems to have been
11385-412: The west, Marius denied the Teutones and Ambrones battle, staying inside a fortified camp and fighting off their attempts to storm it. Failing to take his camp, the Teutones and their allies moved on. Marius shadowed them, waiting for an opportune moment to attack. Near Aquae Sextiae (modern Aix-en-Provence ), an accidental skirmish between Roman camp servants, getting water, and bathing Ambrones turned into
11500-460: The width of the stripe used to demarcate him on his tunic and toga), usually a young man of senatorial rank. He was given this position to learn and watch the actions of the legate. They often found themselves leading their unit in the absence of a legate, and some legions were permanently commanded by a broad-stripe tribune, such as those stationed in Egypt, as an Augustan law required that no member of
11615-498: The wishes of his patrons, he pushed through a law that restricted the interference of the wealthy in elections. In the 130s, voting by ballot had been introduced in elections for choosing magistrates, passing laws and deciding legal cases, replacing the earlier system of oral voting. The wealthy continued to try to influence the voting by inspecting ballots, and Marius passed a law narrowing the passages down which voters passed to cast their votes in order to prevent outsiders from harassing
11730-412: Was Quintus Lutatius Catulus . Over his successive consulships, Marius was not idle. He trained his troops, built his intelligence network, and conducted diplomacy with the Gallic tribes on the provincial frontiers. The decision to re-elect Marius as consul for 102 BC was vindicated when the Cimbri returned from Hispania and, with a number of other tribes, moved on Italy. The Teutones and their allies
11845-463: Was "the first seed" of their "incurable hatred". Marius has, in modern scholarship starting from the 1840s in Germany, repeatedly been attributed with broad reforms to the military during his consulships between 107 and 100 BC. The standard narrative is that after a series of manpower shortages, Marius received a dispensation to recruit volunteers from the poorest census class, the proletarii , for
11960-428: Was abandoned by his clients and peers, as Plutarch also claims. Evans tells us that Marius entered a semi-retirement as an elder statesman, a role which "precluded a more active participation in public life". After the events of 100 BC, Marius at first tried to oppose the recall of Metellus Numidicus, who had been exiled by Saturninus in 103. However, seeing that opposition was impossible, Marius decided to travel to
12075-554: Was augmented by some tribes of Helvetians , particularly the Tigurini , and the Ambrones of uncertain descent. Before approaching Italy, the Germans decided on a two-pronged movement; the Teutons with the Ambrones and the Tigurini would move from the west along the coast-road from Transalpine into Cisalpine Gaul; while the Cimbri would march east and turn around into Italy by the Julian and Carnic Alps. When Marius heard of their movements, he advanced to Valence , and established his camp at
12190-509: Was disproportionate and overly harsh. Marius also sent letters back to Rome claiming that Metellus had become enamoured with the unlimited powers associated with his imperium . Metellus, wary of an increasingly disgruntled and resentful subordinate, permitted Marius to return to Rome. According to Plutarch, he returned with barely enough time to make it back for the consular elections; but according to Sallust, with enough time to effectively canvass for votes. With growing political pressure towards
12305-508: Was fought between the Roman Republic and the Germanic and Celtic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons , Ambrones and Tigurini , who migrated from the Jutland peninsula into Roman-controlled territory, and clashed with Rome and her allies. The Cimbrian War was the first time since the Second Punic War that Italia and Rome itself had been seriously threatened. The timing of the war had
12420-472: Was friendly with members of Bocchus's court, would enter Bocchus's camp to receive Jugurtha as a hostage. In spite of the possibility of treachery on the Mauritanian's part, Sulla agreed; Jugurtha's remaining followers were massacred, and he himself was handed over in chains to Sulla by Bocchus. In the aftermath, Bocchus annexed the western part of Jugurtha's kingdom and was recognised as an ally of Rome. Jugurtha
12535-574: Was given the unprecedented honour of being elected in absentia to the college of priestly augurs whilst away in Asia Minor . Furthermore, Marius's mere presence at the trial of Manius Aquillius in 98 BC, his friend and former colleague as consul in 101 BC, was enough to secure acquittal for the accused, even though he was apparently guilty. Marius also successfully acted as sole defence for T. Matrinius in 95 BC, an Italian from Spoletium who had been granted Roman citizenship by Marius and who
12650-506: Was given to two at a time, and command rotated among the six. Tribunes were men of senatorial status appointed by the Roman Senate . To attain the position of tribune, one only needed to be a member of the ruling class. By 311 BC the plebeians acquired the right to elect sixteen tribunes of the soldiers, that is, four out of the six tribunes assigned to each of the four legions that formed the Roman army . Previously these places had been for
12765-521: Was his old quaestor, Sulla, which shows that at this time there was no ill will between them. In 104 BC, Marius was returned as consul again for 103 BC. Though he could have continued to operate as proconsul , it is likely that the people re-elected him as consul so as to avoid another incident of disputed command à la Caepio and Mallius. While Plutarch – possibly referencing the memoirs of Rutilius Rufus – jibed that Marius's consular colleagues were his servants, Evans dismisses this. In 103 BC,
12880-531: Was mustered, since there was no standing army. The tribunes were commanders of the original legion of 3,000. By the time of the Greek historian Polybius (d. 118 BC), the tribunes numbered six, and they were appointed by the consuls . However, the process by which tribunes were chosen and assigned is complex and varies at different times. In the Republican period , there were six appointed to each legion. Authority
12995-403: Was now being prosecuted under a new citizenship law . While Marius was away in the east and after he returned, Rome had several years of relative peace. But in 95 BC, Rome passed a decree, the lex Licinia Mucia , expelling from the city all residents who were not Roman citizens. In 91 BC, Marcus Livius Drusus was elected tribune; he proposed a wide-ranging reform programme to support
13110-505: Was strengthening his position to stand for the consulship. During the Battle of the Muthul , Marius's actions probably saved the army of Metellus from annihilation. Jugurtha had cut the Romans off from the River Muthul where they wanted to refill their water reserves. The Romans had to fight Jugurtha in the desert where the Numidian light cavalry had an advantage. The Numidian cavalry scattered
13225-504: Was thrown into an underground prison (the Tullianum ) in Rome, and ultimately died after gracing Marius's triumph in 104 BC. Sulla and Marius, after the triumph, disputed who received credit for capturing Jugurtha. As Sulla was acting as Marius's subordinate, under Roman tradition, the credit was Marius's; Sulla and his noble allies, however, focused on Sulla's direct responsibility to discredit Marius's victory. According to Plutarch, this
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