Gaius Marius
historical figure · 8 works · 10 mentions · 11 anchored passages
Marius
in the texts
Tusculan Disputations
Roman general and statesman, cited as an example of enduring both surgical pain and military toil.
When Gaius Marius had his varicose veins cut, he was in pain;
But Gaius Marius, a countryman, yet plainly a man — when his veins were being cut, as I said above — at first forbade himself to be bound;
Which, at last, was the happier — Gaius Marius then, when he shared the glory of the Cimbrian victory with his colleague Catulus, almost a second Laelius (for I count this man most like him) — or, when, victor in the civil war, angry, to Catulus' kinsmen deprecating, he answered not once but often:
Lucullus
Roman general and statesman cited within the list of popular precedents.
They add also Gaius Marius;
On Moral Ends
Roman general and statesman, exiled later in life, invoked as an example of drawing strength from memory of past achievements
If these were spoken of by you such as Gaius Marius could use — so that, banished, in want, plunged in a marsh, he might lighten his grief by the recollection of his trophies — I should listen, and quite approve.
On the Commonwealth
Roman general and statesman whose downfall involved great bloodshed.
For one recalls the exile of Camillus, or the affront to Ahala, or the odium against Nasica, or the expulsion of Laenas, or the condemnation of Opimius, or the flight of Metellus, or the most bitter ruin of Gaius Marius and the slaughter of leading men, or the destruction of those many that followed soon after.
On the Nature of the Gods
Roman general and seven-time consul, described as treacherous, who died peacefully despite his crimes.
For why did Marius, so happily consul for the seventh time, die an old man in his own house;
why could Gaius Marius, most treacherous of all, bid Quintus Catulus, a man of most excellent dignity, to die?
Stoic Paradoxes
Roman general and statesman, praised as fortunate in prosperity and great in adversity.
And we have seen Gaius Marius, who seemed to me, in prosperity, one of the most fortunate of men, and in adversity one of the greatest — and nothing more blessed than that can fall to a mortal.
Letters to Lucilius
Roman general and repeated consul whose campaigns against the Teutones, Cimbri, and Jugurtha are attributed to ambition rather than virtue.
What, do you think that Gaius Marius, once consul, for he received one consulship, the rest he snatched, when he was cutting down the Teutones and Cimbri, when he was pursuing Jugurtha through the deserts of Africa, sought so many perils at the prompting of virtue?
On Benefits
Roman general and statesman, cited as an example of ingratitude for turning his rise to power into civil slaughter.
2 Ungrateful Gaius Marius, brought from the soldier's boot up to consulships, who, unless he matched the Roman funerals with the slaughters of the Cimbri, unless he both gave the signal for civil destruction and butchery and was himself the signal, will feel his fortune too little changed and restored to its former place.