MARIUS, CAIUS (m5:ri-us), a Roman soldier; born near Arpinum, Italy, about 155 B. C. Having entered the army, he became known to Scipio Africanus, and acquired so much repute that he was elected tribune 119 or 120 B. C., prmtor 116, and governor of Spain, 115. In 109 he joined Metellus as one of his lieuten ants in the Jugurthine War, and two years afterward supplanted him in the command of the army. He brought the war to a close in 103, when Jugurtha, King of Numidia, was treacherously de livered into his hands by his ally, Boc chus. Marius remained in Africa a year longer, and was then recalled to take the field against the Cimbri and Teutones, at that time menacing the Roman empire. In 102 he defeated the combined forces of the Ambrones and Teutones, near Aix; and in 101, having joined his forces with those of Catulus, he obtained an equally decisive victory over the Cimbri in the neighborhood of Vercelke. He was now hailed "The Third Founder of Rome" and rewarded with a fifth consulate—followed by a sixth, which, it is said, was gained by corrupt practices. Marius was the
avowed chief of the plebeians, and Sulla became chief of the patricians. The lat ter, flushed with his recent success against the army of Mithridates, refused to yield the command to Marius, but marched against his party in the capital and disputed the city street by street. Marius was defeated, and finally lodged in prison. He escaped and sought refuge in Africa, from whence, in 87 B. C., he was recalled by Cinna, at that time con sul, to take arms against his old adver sary. The combined forces of Marius, Cinna, Sertorius, and Carbo soon en tered Rome, and the bloody proscriptions which have consigned the name of Marius to infamy, now took place. Caius Marius now served as consul for the sev enth time, with his new ally; and the same year, 86 B. C., he died.