Marius: Encyclopedia II - Marius - Early career

Marius - Early career

Marius was born ca. 157 BC in the town of Arpinum in southern Latium. The town had been conquered by the Romans in the late fourth century BC and was given Roman citizenship without voting rights. Only in 188 BC did the town receive full citizenship. Although Plutarch claims that Marius's father was a laborer, this is almost certainly false. The facts that Marius had connections with the nobility in Rome, that he ran for local office in Arpinum and that he had marriage relations with the local nobility in Arpinum all combine to indicate that he was born into a locally important family of equestrian status. The problems he faced in his early career in Rome show the difficulties that faced a new man.

In 134 BC, he was serving in some capacity with the army at Numantia and his good services brought him to the attention of Scipio Aemilianus. Whether he arrived with Scipio or was already serving in the demoralized army that Aemilianus took over at Numantia is not clear. It would seem that even at this early stage in his army career, Marius had ambitions for a political career in Rome. He ran for election as one of the 24 special military tribunes of the first four legions who were elected (the rest were appointed by the magistrate who raised the legion). Sallust tells us that he was unknown by sight to the electors but was returned by all the tribes on the basis of his accomplishments.

We next learn that he ran for the Quaestorship after losing an election for local office in Arpinum. This is hard to interpret. The military tribunate shows that he was already interested in Roman politics before the Quaestorship. Perhaps he simply ran for local office as a means of gaining support back home, and lost to some other local worthy. Nothing is known of his actions while Quaestor.

In 120 BC Marius was returned as plebeian tribune for the following year. He won with the support of Q. Caecilius Metellus, who was an inherited patronus. This is another indicator that Marius' family was not of completely common stock. During his tribunate, Marius pursued a populares line. He passed 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 the electors. In the passage of this law, Marius alienated the Metelli, who opposed it.

Soon thereafter Marius ran for the curule aedileship and after losing ran unsuccessfully for the plebeian aedileship (Plutarch says the two defeats actually happened on the same day, but for technical reasons this is unlikely). In 116 BC he barely won election as Praetor for the following year (presumably coming in sixth) and was promptly accused of ambitus (electoral corruption). He barely won acquittal on this charge, and spent an uneventful year as Praetor in Rome (as Urban Praetor, Peregrine Praetor or President of the extortion court). In 114 BC Marius' imperium was prorogued and he was sent to govern Lusitania, where he engaged in some sort of minor military operation. During this period in Roman history governors seem regularly to have served two years in Hispania, so he was probably replaced in 113 BC.

He received no triumph on his return and did not apparently run for the consulship. But he did marry Julia Caesaris, the aunt of Julius Caesar. The Julii Caesares were a patrician family, but at this period seem to have found it hard to advance above the Praetorship (only once in the second century – in 157 BC – was a Julius Caesar consul). To judge by this marriage, Marius had apparently achieved some substantial political influence by this point. The birth of his son, Gaius Marius the Younger, places the date of the marriage at roughly 110 BC.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early career", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki