Gaius Marius: A political biography

ISBN: 0 86981 850 3

The political career of Gaius Marius was not only memorable for its unprecedented personal triumphs but was also of momentous significance in the history of the Roman Republic. The military might of the Romans was dealt humiliating setbacks abroad by a minor despot in Numidia and by the marauding Germanic tribes, the Cimbri and Teutones. Against this background of disasters, Marius achieved a position in political life in Rome which had not been witnessed before. In the pursuit for senatorial offices, Marius experienced both victories and disappointments before finally winning the consulship in 108. Thereafter, he held the consulship a further six times, five times in succession, and dominated politics in the city during the decade between 108 and 99 BC.

This present volume sets out to trace Marius' rise to prominence, his contribution to the legislation of the period and his involvement with other senatorial politicians. Furthermore, this work seeks to fully expose the fact that, as a consequence of his role in republican politics, Marius became an example which other ambitious politicians sought to emulate or to exceed. Manus may not have realised the dangers he bequeathed to the res publica, but, inadvertently or not, he was the cause of the beginning of the fall of the Roman Republic.