a river of European Turkey. (See HEERUS.)

MARIUS, CAES, a celebrated Roman general, was born about B.C. 157, of poor parents, in Cereate (Plin. iii. 5.), a village near Arpinum, afterwards famous as the native town of Cicero. His youth seems to have been passed amidst the rude discipline of the camp; nor was his disposition at all softened by literature or by intercourse with the learned. He commenced his military career at Numantia (B.C. 134), and by his temperance and bravery so won the good opinion of Scipio, that that general answered one of his friends who inquired where they would find another general equal to himself, by putting his hand on the shoulder of Marius and saying, "Here he is." Many years, however, pass without any allusion to Marius, nor do we know what part he took in the troubled times of the Gracchi. He appears again in history as tribune of the people, B.C. 119, which office he is said to have obtained chiefly through the influence of the consul Metellus, whose implacable enemy he afterwards became. He began immediately to court the favour of the people, and proposed a law which tended to lessen the authority of the patricians in matters of judicature. The consul Cotta persuaded the senate to summon Marius to answer for his conduct; but the bold tribune threatened to send even the consuls to prison if they persisted in opposition to his measure. The senate gave way, and the law was subsequently confirmed by the people. He was thus supposed to have embarked in the popular cause; but this opinion changed when it was found that he strenuously opposed the distribution of corn amongst the people. When his year of office had expired, he stood as candidate for the curule aedileship, but was rejected; upon which he applied for the plebeian aedileship, and in this too he was unsuccessful. Not long afterwards he stood for the praetorship, and was returned last of the six, and not without the suspicion of bribery. He was tried, and escaped only by an equality of votes. The following year he was sent as propraetor to Farther Spain, which he soon cleared of the banditti who infested the province. On his return to Rome he was anxious to take part in the administration of public affairs, but he had neither riches to buy favour, nor eloquence to command it. Still, by his high spirit, by his indefatigable industry, and simple mode of living, he became a favourite with the people, and acquired sufficient reputation to be thought worthy of marrying Julia, the aunt of Julius Caesar. When Metellus was appointed, n.c. 108, to the command of the war against Jugurtha, he chose Marius as one of his lieutenants. Selfish enough to feel no gratitude for his promotion, and to be wholly intent upon his own advancement, Marius strove by every method to convince the soldiers of the faults of Metellus, and of the merits of himself. When he had thus succeeded in persuading all that he alone was able to terminate the war, he determined to stand as candidate for the consulship, and pressed Metellus to grant him leave of absence to proceed to Rome. Metellus ridiculed his pretensions to such a high office, and, laughing, asked him if he would not be satisfied to stay and be consul with his son, who was then very young. At last, however, he granted permission only twelve days before the election; but favoured by the winds, Marius reached Rome in six days. His recently acquired fame had gone before him, and the people elected him consul, n.c. 107, with great applause. He was commissioned to supersede Metellus in the province of Numidia; and while levying an army, he enlisted, in opposition to the usual custom, all persons, however ignoble, who offered themselves. He then returned with his troops to Africa, but did not reap the glory which he had expected, for he was in a great measure deprived of it by his quaestor Sylla. Jugurtha had fled to his father-in-law Bocchus, King of Mauritania; and that prince, after some deliberation, delivered him alive (n.c. 105) into the hands of Sylla. (See JUGURTHA.) It was this circumstance which laid the foundation of that violent and implacable quarrel between Marius and Sylla which almost ruined the republic. Italy was at this time threatened by an invasion from the Cimbri and Teutones, a horde of northern barbarians who had overrun the whole of Gaul. The Romans were in the utmost consternation, and no one seemed able to protect them but Marius. Though absent, he was elected consul a second time, n.c. 104, and received orders to return home with his army. On his arrival he obtained the honours of a triumph, and then devoted himself to the discipline of the levies which he raised. The barbarians meanwhile had passed into Spain, and during the whole of this year Italy had a respite from her enemies. At length, in 102 n.c., shortly after Marius had been elected consul for the fourth time, they approached with an overwhelming force the northern frontiers of Italy. Marius hastened across the Alps, and pitched his camp near the mouth of the Rhone. The camp was fortified and well provisioned; and, that it might communicate with the sea, he employed his men in making a canal capable of receiving ships of considerable burden.

Meanwhile the barbarian army had divided. The Cimbri marched in the direction of the Tyrol to attack Catulus. The Teutones and Ambiones advanced to storm the camp of Marius. That general, in order that his army might become inured to the wild aspect of the savages, remained inactive until they were compelled by lack of provisions to abandon the siege, and press forward to Italy. He then left his camp, hovered about their rear, and seizing a favourable opportunity, attacked them at Aque Sextiae (Aix), and after a desperate conflict, routed them with immense carnage. The wives and those who had escaped from the battle put an end to their lives. Whilst he was sacrificing in honour of this victory he received intelligence that he had been elected fifth time consul, n.c. 101.

Marius returned to Rome, where he was offered a triumph, which he declined. He then proceeded to the assistance of his late colleague Catulus, who was guarding the north of Italy against the Cimbri. His arrival gave confidence to Catulus; and as soon as the army from Gaul arrived, they crossed the Po to check the barbarians who were ravaging the country on the opposite side. The Cimbri deferred the combat till the arrival of the Teutones, whom they were unwilling to believe to have been destroyed; and in the meanwhile sent to demand lands and cities from Marius, which should be sufficient for themselves and brethren. "Your brethren," said Marius, "have land enough which we have already given them, and they shall have it for ever." A decisive battle was fought a short time afterwards (30th July) in the plain of Vercelles; and though the victory was almost wholly due to the bravery and good conduct of Catulus, Marius carried off all the honour, and was named the third founder of Rome. On his return to Rome he enjoyed the honour of a triumph, along with his colleague Catulus. He then began to exert all his influence to get himself re-elected to the consulship, and he omitted no means, however dishonourable, that might conduce to his success. Marius succeeded (n.c. 100) for the sixth time, and one of his first acts was the banishment of his old enemy Metellus by a mean and treacherous device. So unpopular had Marius now become, that he refused to stand as a candidate for the censorship, lest he should suffer a repulse. Metellus was recalled next year, and that he might not witness his triumphant entrance, Marius left Rome for the East, under the pretence of performing some vow to the mother of the gods, but in reality to excite Mithridates against the Romans. For ten years Marius was disconnected with public affairs; but when the Marian or Social War broke out (n.c. 90), he was appointed to the command. Age, however, had quenched his martial ardour, and his reputation suffered as much as that of Sylla increased. When the Social War had been concluded, n.c. 88, the Romans saw that they must commence the contest with Mithridates. The enmity of Marius and Sylla now broke out in open war, as they were both anxious to be appointed to the command. Sylla was supported by the senate, but Marius excited a sedition through the tribune Salputius, and received the appointment; on which Sylla, refusing to lay down his command, and backed by his whole army, marched to Rome and overawed his enemies. Marius with great difficulty embarked on board a small vessel at Ostia, which was ready to sail for Africa, but contrary winds obliged him to land at the mouth of the Liris (Garigliano) where he was abandoned by the sailors. There he was discovered lurking in a marsh, and was dragged to Minturnae with a rope round his neck, and with his face and garments begrimed with mud. The authorities of the town resolved to put him to death, but could find no man willing to accomplish their wish. At length a Cimbrian horse-soldier offered his services, and entered the room of the captive with his sword drawn in his hand. But when Marius, fixing upon him his commanding eye, exclaimed, Marivaux. "Dost thou dare to kill Marius?" he flung down his weapon and fled. The people of Minturnae then persuaded their magistrates to banish Marius, and a vessel was found to bear him from his country. He proceeded to Etruria (Ischia), and thence to Africa. He landed at Carthage; and whilst he was seated there, a messenger came from the governor Sextilius with an order that he should leave the province. "Go and tell him," said the unfortunate man, "that you have seen the exiled Marius sitting on the ruins of Carthage." Marius proceeded to Cercina, a small island not far from the continent, and here received intelligence that the consuls Cinna and Octavius, having quarrelled, had had recourse to arms. Marius determined to proceed to the assistance of Cinna, who had been driven by his colleague from Rome; and landing with a considerable body of exiles, he soon changed the face of affairs, and reinstated Cinna in his office. He himself refused to enter Rome till the decree of his banishment was repealed. This affected deference to the laws of his country was soon laid aside, and the streets of Rome flowed with the blood of the best of her citizens. Marius was elected consul for the seventh time, B.C. 86; but his age and infirmities rendered him little able to sustain the weight of public affairs. The intelligence that Sylla was returning victorious from the Mithridatic war alarmed him, and drove him for relief to intoxication. This hastened his end, and he died on the seventeenth day of his seventh consulship, B.C. 86, at the age of seventy. His ashes were thrown into the Anio by the order of Sylla. The Life of Marius has been written by Plutarch; that by Rutlius Rufus has been lost. An account of the proscription of Marius may be found in Appian.