Title: Gaius Marius | Roman general | Britannica
Headings: Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius
Roman general
Early career
Election to the consulship

Content: Gaius Marius | Roman general | Britannica
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Gaius Marius
Roman general
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WRITTEN BY
John P.V. Dacre Balsdon
Fellow of Exeter College, University of Oxford, 1928–69. Author of Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome. See Article History
Gaius Marius, (born c. 157 bce, Cereatae, near Arpinum [Arpino], Latium [now in Italy]—died January 13, 86 bce, Rome), Roman general and politician, consul seven times (107, 104–100, 86 bce ), who was the first Roman to illustrate the political support that a successful general could derive from the votes of his old army veterans. Early career
Gaius Marius was a strong and brave soldier and a skillful general, popular with his troops, but he showed little flair for politics and was not a good public speaker. As an equestrian, he lacked the education in Greek normal to the upper classes. He was superstitious and overwhelmingly ambitious, and, because he failed to force the aristocracy to accept him, despite his great military success, he suffered from an inferiority complex that may help explain his jealousy and vindictive cruelty. As a young officer-cadet, along with Jugurtha (later king of Numidia), on Scipio Aemilianus’ staff in the Numantine War in Spain (134 bce ), he, like Jugurtha, made an excellent impression on his commanding officer. Marius’ family enjoyed the patronage of more than one noble family, in particular the distinguished and inordinately conceited Caecilii Metelli, then at the height of their political power. They backed his candidacy for tribune (defender) of the plebs (common people) in 119. As tribune, Marius proposed a bill affecting procedure in elections and legislative assemblies by narrowing the bridges—the gangway across which each voter passed to fill in and deposit his ballot tablet—as a result of which there was no longer room on the gangway for observers, normally aristocrats, who abused their position to influence an individual’s vote.