Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius (157 – 86 BC) was a general who saved Rome from extinction and a statesman who headed the populares, Rome’s political faction that leant towards the rising middle and lower classes. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times, and was the first general to illustrate that political support and power could be secured from the votes of veterans.
Marius was not an aristocrat, but a plebeian from an equestrian or knightly family who entered Rome’s political power structure as novus homo, or “new man” – a term for those who are the first of their family to serve in the Senate. He owed his rise to his talents as a soldier, riding criticism of the bungling by incompetent aristocratic commanders of war against Numidia in North Africa into election to his first consulship for 107 BC, and appointment to command of the war.
He initiated revolutionary military changes that came to be known as the “Marian Reforms“. Germanic tribes had crossed the Alps, entered southern Gaul, and threatened Italy. They wiped out two Roman armies sent to meet them – sending Rome and Italy, always fearful of barbarians since ever since an invasion by Gauls had sacked Rome and devastated Italy in 387 BC, into a panic. To meet the crisis, Marius opened the ranks of the Roman legions, hitherto restricted to propertied citizens who could afford to arm and equip themselves, to all citizens, including the poorest, with the government now paying for their weapons and armor, as well as salaries.
An unforeseen knock-on effect was the transformation of the Roman army’s character from a middle class and patrician institution into a professional army for whose legionaries military service became a career, and who came to look upon their generals, not the government in Rome, for rewards during service and severance pay and retirement benefits upon their discharge.
Marius’ reforms and his competence as a commander enabled him to win the war against Numidia, and more importantly, raise and train an army that utterly crushed the Germanic barbarians and removed their threat to Rome by 101 BC. That made him the most popular politician of the era, and by 100 BC, he been elected consul 6 times. With the barbarian threat removed, however, Marius’ limitations as a politician, which had hitherto been masked by his brilliance as a military man at a time when Rome was in desperate need of one, emerged. With the emergency over, Marius’ political star dimmed as Rome’s traditional power brokers reasserted themselves.
In 91 BC the Social War between Rome and her Italian allies broke out. Marius was called back into service, but had to quit due to poor health. Sulla, a former subordinate, prosecuted the war to a successful conclusion, and the rise of his star while that of Marius fell led to friction and jealousy that broke into the open in 88 BC. That year, Sulla was elected consul and appointed by the Senate to command a war against Pontus. However, Marius got a tribune to call a popular assembly that overrode the Senate and gave command to Marius, instead – a move that was technically legal, but highly unusual and controversial.
Sulla surprised Marius and everybody by marching on Rome – something no Roman general had ever tried. Marius and his supporters were forced to flee, and Sulla entered Rome, where he got the Senate to pass a death sentence against the Marians, then marched off to the war against Pontus in 87 BC. When he left, Marius, who by then had raised an army in North Africa, returned to Rome, and had about a dozen leading Sullans executed, with their heads displayed on pikes in the Forum. Marius was then elected consul for the 7th time, but died just 17 days into his term, in 86 BC.