among the rebelling gladiators in the Third Servile War. The news of the decisive victory at Vercellae was brought to Rome by Marius's brother-in-law, Gaius Julius Caesar (father of the famous Julius Caesar), who in the next year would become father to his only son. Marius and Catulus were soon at odds with each other about who deserved the most credit. Marius tried to claim all the credit for the victory (which was his right as overall commander), but Catulus took citizens of nearby Parma to the battlefield and showed them the bodies of the Cimbri many of whom still had the pilums that killed them embedded in their corpses, and the vast majority of these pilums (pila) carried the markings of Catulus' legionaries. Eventually, Marius and Catulus held a joint Triumph with Marius getting the most praise as overall commander. Politically, this battle had great implications for Rome as well. The main reason (the Germanic threat) for Marius's string of continuous consulships (104 BC-101BC) was gone. Although Marius, riding a wave of popularity after the Vercellae victory, was elected consul (for 100 BC) again, his political opponents exploited this. The end of the war also saw the beginning of a growing rivalry between Marius and Sulla, which would eventually lead to the first of Rome's great civil wars. As a result of his role in the Vercellae victory Sulla's prestige had risen considerably. Marius's career was at its peak while Sulla's was still on the rise. Immediately after the battle Marius granted Roman citizenship to his Italian allied forces without consulting or asking permission from the Senate first. When some senators questioned this action, he would claim that in the heat of battle he could not distinguish the voice of a Roman from that of an ally. From that day, all Italian legions would be regarded as Roman legions. This action by Marius was the first time a victorious general had openly defied the Senate but it would not be the last. In 88 BC, Sulla, in defiance of both the Senate and tradition, would lead his troops into the city of Rome itself. And Julius Caesar, when ordered by the Senate to lay down his command and return to Rome to face misconduct charges, would instead lead one of his legions across the Rubicon in 49 BC. This would mark the start of the civil war between himself