Marius

__**Early and Personal Life**__
Gaius Marius, more commonly known as just Marius was born in 150 BCE in Arpinum, Italy. Not much is known about the detail of his childhood but it is believed that his family was a very locally popular and important family. When he was a teenager, he stumbled upon an eagles nest with seven eggs with it which is believed to be an omen. Typically, eagles do not lay more that three eggs so even if the nest belonged to two female eagles, the chances of there being seven eggs in would still be rare .Marius also married Julia Caesar, aunt of Gaius Julius Caesar. Having these connections with Julius Caesar helped increase his prestige and status. Throughout his life, Marius accomplished many things, such as being the consul, or highest civil or military magistrate of Rome seven times, being hailed the third founder of Rome and its savior and leaving a heavy impact on his nephew Julius Caesar.


 * __Early Career__**

Marius started out his career in Spain in about 100 BCE under the ranks of Scipio Aemilianus, grandson of Scipio Africanus He was a hard worker and was quickly able to climb through the ranks until he eventually became an officer. By 124 BCE, when he was about 34 years old he was then elected as a quaestor and his career took off. After being elected the quaestor, he was then elected the Tribune of the Plebes in 119 BCE. He had to use great caution with his decisions due to the recent political turmoil that was taking place and the murder of the Gracchi brothers. He did although, make many laws that he knew would obviously irritate the elite, such as not allowing the inspection of ballot boxes. This bothered the elite because during political elections they utilized inspection of the ballot boxes as a way to intimidate voters. Due to the lack of support from the elite, his career did suffer slightly but he was able to persevere and work through it. In 115 BCE he was elected Praetor and spent a year of service in Rome before returning to Spain. He only spent a small amount of time in Spain but played a large role while he was there and was able to become more wealthy before returning to Rome.

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__**Role in Jugaratha**__

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In 108 BCE Marius wanted to run for consulship, but did not have the approval of Metellus whom he was a lieutenant to. Despite what Metellus said, he started campaigning anyways and soon earned the respect of the troops and the Italians by telling ten that he could capture Jugraratha in only a few days while using half the troops that Metellus would use. Marius started to campaign against Metellus although when It came down to the actual fight in the Jugurthine War, he ended up using the same plan as Metellus and ended up being elected consul in 107 BCE.======

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Marius was Metellus lieutenat. Marius started campaigning anyway and earned respect from the troops and the Italians by telling that he could capture Jugurtha in a few days with half of Metellus' troops. . At that moment, Marius started campaigning against Metellus. When Marius went to fight he used the same plan as Metellus. Due to this Marius was elected into the consul in 107 B.C.E.======

__**Consulship**__

While being the consul, Marius made many drastic reforms and changes, known as the Marian reforms. He totally changed up the way the Roman army was structered and allowed for many more men to join the military. Before 107 BCE the standards to become a Roman soldier were strict, the soldier had to be a member of the fifth census class or higher and had to own property, uniform and weapons for combat. As you could imagine, this narrowed it down to a very small group of men that were able to fight. Out of fear of a barbarian invasion, Marius decided that the Roman army needed more troops so he lowered the standards. He allowed any male Roman citizen to enlist, regardless of if they owned land or not. This greatly benefited the army by enlarging it by vast numbers. Many poor citizens liked the idea of life long service because it allowed them to be able to conquer land. In 105 BCE Marius was elected into consul again which was a huge deal because traditionally men could only be elected consul once every ten years. He was elected into consul again under dire circumstances, as the Climbri tribe had reached Rome. Marius was elected into consul five more times between 104-100 BCE. During his sixth consulship Marius but down a revolt. Even though Marius accomplished so much and impacted Rome in drastic ways, he never took the opportunity to try to make himself the ruler of Rome. He did though, show the senate that he was one of them,


 * __Social War__**

In 95 BCE Rome passed a decree that expelled all residents from the city who were not Roman citizens. In 91 BCE the Italian states decided to revolt against Rome and this was later called The Social War. This war lasted from 91 BCE until 88 BCE Marius took command over the Roman army and fought along with Sulla against the rebels.


 * __First Civil War and 7th Consulship__**

In 88 BCE Sulla was elected into consul, after the senate went through great debate whether to chose him or Marius. Sulla wanted to take Rome by force and Sulla commanded six legions to Rome and started the first civil war. Marius tried to organize a defense to stop Sulla using gladiators. When Sulla came to Rome, his defenses were beat and he left and went into exile in Africa while Sulla went to campaign in Greece. While in Greece, fighting broke out between some of Sullas supporters and supporters of Cinna.When Marius came out of exile, he entered Rome with an army that killed many of Sullas supporters. Later on, the Senate passed a law that exiled Sulla from Rome and Marius was appointed commander of the eastern war that was elected for his seventh consulship. Once month during his consulship, Marius died of a fever at age 70 in 86 BCE.