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Life of Caius Marius
*Illustrated
*Includes Table of Contents
Plutarch, later named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia.
Plutarch lived most of his life at Chaeronea, and his duties as the senior of the two priests of Apollo at the Oracle of Delphi (where he was responsible for interpreting the auguries of the Pythia) apparently occupied little of his time. He led an active social and civic life while producing an extensive body of writing, much of which survived. By his writings and lectures Plutarch became a celebrity in the Roman Empire. At his country estate, guests from all over the empire congregated for serious conversation, presided over by Plutarch in his marble chair. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays and other works which have survived are now known collectively as the Moralia.
Plutarch's best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving Lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek Life and one Roman Life, as well as four unpaired single Lives. Some of the Lives, such as those of Heracles, Philip II of Macedon and Scipio Africanus, no longer exist; many of the remaining Lives are truncated, contain obvious lacunae or have been tampered with by later writers. Extant Lives include those on Aristides, Pericles, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Cato the Younger, Mark Antony, and Marcus Junius Brutus.
Plutarch also wrote a series of biographies, including the biographies of Demetrius, Pyrrhus, Agis and Cleomenes, Aratus and Artaxerxes, Philopoemen, Camillus, Marcellus, Flamininus, Aemilius Paulus, Galba and Otho.
This edition of Plutarch’s Life of Caius Marius is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and is illustrated with over a dozen illustrations.
*Includes Table of Contents
Plutarch, later named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia.
Plutarch lived most of his life at Chaeronea, and his duties as the senior of the two priests of Apollo at the Oracle of Delphi (where he was responsible for interpreting the auguries of the Pythia) apparently occupied little of his time. He led an active social and civic life while producing an extensive body of writing, much of which survived. By his writings and lectures Plutarch became a celebrity in the Roman Empire. At his country estate, guests from all over the empire congregated for serious conversation, presided over by Plutarch in his marble chair. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays and other works which have survived are now known collectively as the Moralia.
Plutarch's best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving Lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek Life and one Roman Life, as well as four unpaired single Lives. Some of the Lives, such as those of Heracles, Philip II of Macedon and Scipio Africanus, no longer exist; many of the remaining Lives are truncated, contain obvious lacunae or have been tampered with by later writers. Extant Lives include those on Aristides, Pericles, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Cato the Younger, Mark Antony, and Marcus Junius Brutus.
Plutarch also wrote a series of biographies, including the biographies of Demetrius, Pyrrhus, Agis and Cleomenes, Aratus and Artaxerxes, Philopoemen, Camillus, Marcellus, Flamininus, Aemilius Paulus, Galba and Otho.
This edition of Plutarch’s Life of Caius Marius is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and is illustrated with over a dozen illustrations.
54 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 100
About the author
Plutarch
4,361 books1,005 followersPlutarch (later named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus; AD 46–AD 120) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 24, 2018
Seven Times Consul
24 August 2018
As I was reading this I partly couldn’t help about thinking what was happening in the Australian government this week. Basically the ‘party of stability’ was pretty much tearing itself apart as the moderate faction (or technocrats if you will) were fighting with the alt-right conservatives over who would be Prime Minister. Actually, we already had a Prime Minister, and while I didn’t particularly agree with his policies, basically he was just too left for some of these people so they basically wanted to get rid of him. Well, the media didn’t help all that much either, but then again when a bulk of Australia’s media is controlled by a single ex-Australian, I guess when you lose the confidence of that particular mogul then, well, you are in a lot of trouble.
The thing with Rome is that at this point in her life this was basically where she was heading. A young man named Sulla starts to rear his ugly head during this period, and even found himself in conflict with Marius. Marius is basically famous because he held the position of consul for an unprecedented seven times, though he actually died in office by his own hands, namely because of the attacks that were being launched against him by Sulla.
In a way Marius is somewhat like our former prime minister, who had the job of attempting to bring two opposing sides together. Unlike our former prime minister, Marius was reasonably successful in his endeavours, and the fact that he was consul seven times sort of evidences that (though scoring lots of victories on the battle field also helps). You see, that is the problem when you are attempting to straddle two sides, because some people are just never happy, and absolutely refuse to compromise – it is their way or the highway. The thing is that if you compromise too much, you end up coming out on the losing side of the battle, and will be seen as weak by those holding the upper hand. Interestingly, three of our last four prime ministers were basically destroyed through a single policy – energy and climate change (the forth pretty much destroyed himself).
The scary thing is that what was beginning to happen in Rome at this time is what we are seeing happening in our world today. Look, the plebeians and the patricians always existed, it was just that the plebeians, over time, became more and more powerful. While they may have not had the financial resources of the patricians, they had the numbers, and it was through sheer weight of numbers that they were able to get their own representatives into the government, that being the tribunes of the people. The thing is that the tribunes wielded the power of veto, and it soon came to pass that the government was paralysed, much like what was happening this week in Australia, particularly on Thursday when the Prime Minister called time out, and the government pretty much packed up and left because, well, the proverbial stuff had hit the proverbial fan (oh, and also because they couldn’t handle the opposition taking advantage of the chaos).
At this time Rome was beginning to fracture, but not to the extent that we will see in the coming lives. Things were still functioning, but the problems were starting to arise. We see Sulla starting to rise in dominance as the fight between the patricians and the plebeians start to take centre stage. However Rome was still mighty, and they were still able to fight their various border wars, such as in North Africa. However the beginnings of the civil wars were starting to appear, as the forces were beginning to align themselves against each other. I guess Rome was about to enter the ‘interesting times’ that Chinese philosopher would warn us about.
24 August 2018
As I was reading this I partly couldn’t help about thinking what was happening in the Australian government this week. Basically the ‘party of stability’ was pretty much tearing itself apart as the moderate faction (or technocrats if you will) were fighting with the alt-right conservatives over who would be Prime Minister. Actually, we already had a Prime Minister, and while I didn’t particularly agree with his policies, basically he was just too left for some of these people so they basically wanted to get rid of him. Well, the media didn’t help all that much either, but then again when a bulk of Australia’s media is controlled by a single ex-Australian, I guess when you lose the confidence of that particular mogul then, well, you are in a lot of trouble.
The thing with Rome is that at this point in her life this was basically where she was heading. A young man named Sulla starts to rear his ugly head during this period, and even found himself in conflict with Marius. Marius is basically famous because he held the position of consul for an unprecedented seven times, though he actually died in office by his own hands, namely because of the attacks that were being launched against him by Sulla.
In a way Marius is somewhat like our former prime minister, who had the job of attempting to bring two opposing sides together. Unlike our former prime minister, Marius was reasonably successful in his endeavours, and the fact that he was consul seven times sort of evidences that (though scoring lots of victories on the battle field also helps). You see, that is the problem when you are attempting to straddle two sides, because some people are just never happy, and absolutely refuse to compromise – it is their way or the highway. The thing is that if you compromise too much, you end up coming out on the losing side of the battle, and will be seen as weak by those holding the upper hand. Interestingly, three of our last four prime ministers were basically destroyed through a single policy – energy and climate change (the forth pretty much destroyed himself).
The scary thing is that what was beginning to happen in Rome at this time is what we are seeing happening in our world today. Look, the plebeians and the patricians always existed, it was just that the plebeians, over time, became more and more powerful. While they may have not had the financial resources of the patricians, they had the numbers, and it was through sheer weight of numbers that they were able to get their own representatives into the government, that being the tribunes of the people. The thing is that the tribunes wielded the power of veto, and it soon came to pass that the government was paralysed, much like what was happening this week in Australia, particularly on Thursday when the Prime Minister called time out, and the government pretty much packed up and left because, well, the proverbial stuff had hit the proverbial fan (oh, and also because they couldn’t handle the opposition taking advantage of the chaos).
At this time Rome was beginning to fracture, but not to the extent that we will see in the coming lives. Things were still functioning, but the problems were starting to arise. We see Sulla starting to rise in dominance as the fight between the patricians and the plebeians start to take centre stage. However Rome was still mighty, and they were still able to fight their various border wars, such as in North Africa. However the beginnings of the civil wars were starting to appear, as the forces were beginning to align themselves against each other. I guess Rome was about to enter the ‘interesting times’ that Chinese philosopher would warn us about.
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March 3, 2017Loeb edition in the public domain:
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July 27, 2019This was a very impressive series of rises and falls from a humble soldier, to the highest office in the Roman Republic, to a miserable exile, and then a spectacular return to power. The tragedy of course was that amidst all the vicissitudes, Marius was generally not a good person, but even through such examples, the ever moralizing Plutarch finds lessons by which to make good points about virtue.
If there is anything Marius was consistently good at it was being a soldier, and the story opens with the Roman campaign in the Jugurthine War. His humble background “involved self restraint and conformed to traditional Roman methods of upbringing.” Marius was “someone who was perfectly happy to accept the changes in lifestyle which Scipio was imposing on an army corrupted by luxury and extravagance. One must recall that the Republic was dying; these were degenerate times, and arguably in the the end they would win over Marius as well.
Marius did not see promotion as an excuse to debauch himself, at least not yet, and he maintained his harsh routine, impressing his soldiers. “There is nothing a roman soldier enjoys more than the sight of his commanding officer openly eating the same bread as him, or lying on a plain straw matress, or lending a hand to dig a ditch or raise a palisade...as a result of this kind of behavior and approach Marius became a popular favorite with the troops.” It was a popularity that would lead him to the consulship, again and again.
Upon his election he appears a bit of a rabble rouser, a proto-ceasar, enrolling the proles into his army contrary to the law, and viewing his new office as treasure carried off in a military campaign. Yet Marius carried the Jugurthine war to a successful end though conflict over taking the credit of the victory with the commander Sulla would lay the seeds for later conflict.
The next episode is rather memorable: the Germanic Cimbri threaten the very existence of Rome, and Marius slaughters them in one of the goriest scenes in all of Plutarch. I liked Plutarch's conjectures about the origin of the Cimbri and the nature of the barbarian lands beyond the Republic in general. He touches upon locations as distant as what today are Britain and Russia. Then there is the eerie case of lights in the night sky, “flaming spears” and “fiery shields”, interpreted, (or made up) as a portent for the upcoming battle.
After his victory Marius went back to Rome to face the battleground of politics, but here is where weakness starts making itself felt as he struggles to pick a side in the ongoing class war. Initially allied with Saturninus the radical, he never entirely alienated himself from the aristocracy, and there is a scene out of a comedy “when one night the leading men of Rome came to visit [Marius] in an attempt to enlist his support against Saturninus, he let Saturninus in by another entrance without the others' knowledge” Then he runs back in forth in the house, playing one side against the other. Eventually Saturninus is killed with the collaboration of Marius.
During this whole affair, the conservative Metellus is raised up as a foil to Marius. After Saturninus tries to force the Senate to swear an oath not to oppose his reforms, Metellus refuses. “Metellus stayed true to his principles and was prepared to put up with any fate, however terrible, as long as he avoided doing anything shameful. So he left the forum, telling his friends that while doing wrong was demeaning and doing good when there was no risk involved was unexceptional, it was an indication of true virtue to do good when there was a risk involved” He leaves Rome with his honor intact, and exiles himself to Rhodes where he spends his time studying philosophy.
In what certainly amounts to an egregious moral failure, Marius then provokes a foreign war in an attempt to aggrandize himself. “He had no aptitude for peace or life as a private citizen; he owed his prominence to war, and it seemed to him that his power and prestige were now being gradually worn away by idleness and inactivity...He thought there was a good chance that if he stirred up...Mithridates, who was on the verge of declaring war on Rome anyways, he would be chosen to lead the army against him...and so although Mithridates was unfailingly polite and respectful...Marius refused to...give way” As Marius' enemy Sulla would be raised up by the war against Mithridates, this proved to be Marius' downfall.
Marius fails to gain command of the expedition against Mithridates, but rather finds himself exiled by Sulla back to Africa, the site of his initial career, a poetic fate, and he even reflects upon the ruins of his own life in the shadows of the runs of Carthage. We are now treated to the bizarre spectacle of the former consul and military savior of Rome being chased an impoverished fugitive.
Yet even after being captured, Marius manages to escape death. A swordsman, alleged to be a Cimbrian goes into the cell, but Marius fends him off with his own charisma, or perhaps the officials simply felt sorry for him. Marius escapes and finds refuge with the king of Numidia.
With Sulla away fighting Mithridates, Marius takes the opportunity to sail back to Rome. Upon landing in Italy, he frees the slaves, recruits them and prepares to march on Rome, allying himself with the radical consul Cinna, defeating the law abiding consul Octavius whom Plutarch is clearly sympathetic to.
When confronted with the fact that he is still legally an exile, Marius just ignores it. He organizes a personal guard known as the Bardyaei, and inaugurates a reign of terror against his enemies, the aristocracy, friends of Sulla.
“They killed many people at Marius' word of command, and many more at a mere nod from him; eventually things got so bad that when Ancharius, a senator of praetorian rank, met Marius, but failed to receive a greeting from him, the Bardyaei struck him down with their swords while Marius looked on. After this if anyone greeted Marius, but received no greeting in return this is itself was the signal for him to be murdered right there in the street”
“Headless bodies were tossed into the streets and trampled underfoot but no one felt pity at the sight only frissions of horror and fear. What particularly irritated the people was the sickening behavior of the so-called Bardyaei who butchered householders in their homes, did appalling things to their children, and raped their wives. Their orgy of pillage and murder continued until Cinna and Sertorius joined forces attacked them as they were sleeping...and killed them all”
Despite the fact that Cinna had clearly grown opposed to Marius' excesses, Marius himself remained untouched, and even was elected consul an unprecedented seventh time, yet he dies before completing his term. In his last days he's portrayed as an empty and debauched man, drinking to escape from his anxieties, and even then in spite of having “acquired enough property and wealth for many kingdoms at once, still lamented his fate and felt that he was dying without having attained and achieved all that he desired”
Plutarch contrasts that with the lives of Plato and Antipater of Tarsus, men whom at the end of their lives, did not lament over the ifs of life, rather decided to focus on reality, what had actually happened, and count their blessings, dying satisfied with what had actually been granted to them.
If there is anything Marius was consistently good at it was being a soldier, and the story opens with the Roman campaign in the Jugurthine War. His humble background “involved self restraint and conformed to traditional Roman methods of upbringing.” Marius was “someone who was perfectly happy to accept the changes in lifestyle which Scipio was imposing on an army corrupted by luxury and extravagance. One must recall that the Republic was dying; these were degenerate times, and arguably in the the end they would win over Marius as well.
Marius did not see promotion as an excuse to debauch himself, at least not yet, and he maintained his harsh routine, impressing his soldiers. “There is nothing a roman soldier enjoys more than the sight of his commanding officer openly eating the same bread as him, or lying on a plain straw matress, or lending a hand to dig a ditch or raise a palisade...as a result of this kind of behavior and approach Marius became a popular favorite with the troops.” It was a popularity that would lead him to the consulship, again and again.
Upon his election he appears a bit of a rabble rouser, a proto-ceasar, enrolling the proles into his army contrary to the law, and viewing his new office as treasure carried off in a military campaign. Yet Marius carried the Jugurthine war to a successful end though conflict over taking the credit of the victory with the commander Sulla would lay the seeds for later conflict.
The next episode is rather memorable: the Germanic Cimbri threaten the very existence of Rome, and Marius slaughters them in one of the goriest scenes in all of Plutarch. I liked Plutarch's conjectures about the origin of the Cimbri and the nature of the barbarian lands beyond the Republic in general. He touches upon locations as distant as what today are Britain and Russia. Then there is the eerie case of lights in the night sky, “flaming spears” and “fiery shields”, interpreted, (or made up) as a portent for the upcoming battle.
After his victory Marius went back to Rome to face the battleground of politics, but here is where weakness starts making itself felt as he struggles to pick a side in the ongoing class war. Initially allied with Saturninus the radical, he never entirely alienated himself from the aristocracy, and there is a scene out of a comedy “when one night the leading men of Rome came to visit [Marius] in an attempt to enlist his support against Saturninus, he let Saturninus in by another entrance without the others' knowledge” Then he runs back in forth in the house, playing one side against the other. Eventually Saturninus is killed with the collaboration of Marius.
During this whole affair, the conservative Metellus is raised up as a foil to Marius. After Saturninus tries to force the Senate to swear an oath not to oppose his reforms, Metellus refuses. “Metellus stayed true to his principles and was prepared to put up with any fate, however terrible, as long as he avoided doing anything shameful. So he left the forum, telling his friends that while doing wrong was demeaning and doing good when there was no risk involved was unexceptional, it was an indication of true virtue to do good when there was a risk involved” He leaves Rome with his honor intact, and exiles himself to Rhodes where he spends his time studying philosophy.
In what certainly amounts to an egregious moral failure, Marius then provokes a foreign war in an attempt to aggrandize himself. “He had no aptitude for peace or life as a private citizen; he owed his prominence to war, and it seemed to him that his power and prestige were now being gradually worn away by idleness and inactivity...He thought there was a good chance that if he stirred up...Mithridates, who was on the verge of declaring war on Rome anyways, he would be chosen to lead the army against him...and so although Mithridates was unfailingly polite and respectful...Marius refused to...give way” As Marius' enemy Sulla would be raised up by the war against Mithridates, this proved to be Marius' downfall.
Marius fails to gain command of the expedition against Mithridates, but rather finds himself exiled by Sulla back to Africa, the site of his initial career, a poetic fate, and he even reflects upon the ruins of his own life in the shadows of the runs of Carthage. We are now treated to the bizarre spectacle of the former consul and military savior of Rome being chased an impoverished fugitive.
Yet even after being captured, Marius manages to escape death. A swordsman, alleged to be a Cimbrian goes into the cell, but Marius fends him off with his own charisma, or perhaps the officials simply felt sorry for him. Marius escapes and finds refuge with the king of Numidia.
With Sulla away fighting Mithridates, Marius takes the opportunity to sail back to Rome. Upon landing in Italy, he frees the slaves, recruits them and prepares to march on Rome, allying himself with the radical consul Cinna, defeating the law abiding consul Octavius whom Plutarch is clearly sympathetic to.
When confronted with the fact that he is still legally an exile, Marius just ignores it. He organizes a personal guard known as the Bardyaei, and inaugurates a reign of terror against his enemies, the aristocracy, friends of Sulla.
“They killed many people at Marius' word of command, and many more at a mere nod from him; eventually things got so bad that when Ancharius, a senator of praetorian rank, met Marius, but failed to receive a greeting from him, the Bardyaei struck him down with their swords while Marius looked on. After this if anyone greeted Marius, but received no greeting in return this is itself was the signal for him to be murdered right there in the street”
“Headless bodies were tossed into the streets and trampled underfoot but no one felt pity at the sight only frissions of horror and fear. What particularly irritated the people was the sickening behavior of the so-called Bardyaei who butchered householders in their homes, did appalling things to their children, and raped their wives. Their orgy of pillage and murder continued until Cinna and Sertorius joined forces attacked them as they were sleeping...and killed them all”
Despite the fact that Cinna had clearly grown opposed to Marius' excesses, Marius himself remained untouched, and even was elected consul an unprecedented seventh time, yet he dies before completing his term. In his last days he's portrayed as an empty and debauched man, drinking to escape from his anxieties, and even then in spite of having “acquired enough property and wealth for many kingdoms at once, still lamented his fate and felt that he was dying without having attained and achieved all that he desired”
Plutarch contrasts that with the lives of Plato and Antipater of Tarsus, men whom at the end of their lives, did not lament over the ifs of life, rather decided to focus on reality, what had actually happened, and count their blessings, dying satisfied with what had actually been granted to them.
August 6, 2026
7 times consul and the "3rd founder of Rome", Marius was ruthless. Perhaps he was so nasty in the end, as he barely escaped Sulla's conscriptions.
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