Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/966

Rh 1)52 MARIUS. abridged, and of which he gives a short analysis {De Lil/ris J^r-jpriis, c. 3, vol. xix. p. 25). Galen frequently mentions him in terms of commendation, and says he was one of the restorers of anatomical science (De Hippocr. et Plat. Deer. viii. 1, vol. v. p. 650). He appears also to have written a com- mentary on the aphorisms of Hippocrates, which is twice quoted by Galen {Comment, in Hippocr. It is uncertain whether this anatomist is the same person as the Postumius Marinus, the phj'- sician to the younger Pliny (Plin. Epist. x. 6) ; and also whether he is the person whose medical formulae are quoted by Andromachus (Galen, De Compos. Medicam. sec. Locos, vii. 2, vol. xiii. p. 25) and Avicenna {Canon, v. 1, 8. p. 306, ed. 1595). • [W.A.G.] MARION (Maplwv), tyrant of Tyre, which po- sition he obtained through the favour of Cassius, when the latter was in Syria, b. c. 43. Having invaded Galilee, he made himself master of three forts in that country, but was again expelled from it by Herod. (Joseph. A?U. xiv. 12. § 1, B.J. i. 12. §2.) [E. H. B.] MA'RIUS. 1. C. Mauius, was born in b. c. 157, at the village of Cereatae*, near Arpinum. His father's name was C. Marius, and his mother's Fulcinia ; and the family, according to the almost concurrent voice of antiquity, was in very humble circumstances. His parents, as well as Marius himself, are said to have been the clients of the noble plebeian house of the lierennii. So indigent, indeed, is the family represented to have been from which the future saviour of Rome arose, that young Marius is stated to have worked as a com- mon peasant for wages, before he entered the ranks of the Roman army (com p. Juv. viii. 246 ; Plin. H.N. xxxiii. 11 ; Aurel. Vict. Caes. 33). But although Marius undoubtedly sprang from an ob- scure family, yet it seems probable that his imme- diate ancestors could not have been in such mean circumstances as is usually represented. From his first entrance into public life, Marius never seems to have been in want of money, and it is difficult to imagine how he could have acquired it so early, except by inheritance from his family. In ad- dition to which, his marriage with Julia, the aunt of the celebrated Julius Caesar, throws discredit upon the common stories about his origin ; as it is unlikely that such an ancient patrician family should have given their daughter to one who had been a labourer in the fields. There is, on the con- trary, no difficulty in understanding how these stories should have arisen. The Roman nobles would naturally upbraid the aspirant to the higher dignities of the state with his mean and lowly birth ; and the latter, instead of betraying that weakness on this point which has often charac- terized men who have risen from humble life, never attempted to deny the fact, but rather made it a glory and a boast, that mean as was his origin he could excel his high-bom adversaries in virtue, ability, and courage. At the same time we can hardly give credit to the statement of Velleius Paterculus (ii. 11) that Marius was of an equestrian family {natus equesiri loco) ; and we ought pro- bably to read ayresti in this passage, instead of eqitestri, but this ia undoubtedly a corruption of Cereatae. MARIUS. Still, whatever may have been the exact con- dition of the Marian family, it was certainly one of no importance. Marius was born at a time when a large number of the Roman aristocracy, of whom the Scipios may be regarded as the type, were in- troducing into Rome a taste for Greek literature, refinement, and art. These innovations were strongly resisted by the elder Cato and the friends of the old Roman habits and mode of life, as having a tendency to corrupt and degrade the Roman character. If the father of Marius was not a poor man, he certainly belonged to the old- fashioned party, and accordingly brought up his son in his native village, in ignorance of .the Greek language and literature, and with a perfect con- tempt for the new-fangled habits and opinions which characterised the politer society of Rome. Marius thus grew up with the distinguishing virtues and vices of the old Sabine character. He was characterised at first by great integrity and industry ; he had a perfect command over his pas- sions and desires, and was moderate in all his ex- penses ; he possessed the stern and severe virtues of an ancient Roman, and if he had lived in earlier times, would have refused, like Fabricius, the gold of Pyrrhus, or have sacrificed his life, like Decius, to save his country. But, cast as he was in an age of growing licentiousness and corruption, the old Roman virtues degenerated into vices ; love of country became love of self; patriotism, am- bition ; sterimess of character produced cruelty, and personal integrity unmitigated contempt for the corruption of his contemporaries. The character of Marius needed, above that of most men, the humanizing influences of literature and art, and there is much truth in the remark of Plutarch {Mar. 2), " that if Marius could have been per- suaded to sacrifice to the Grecian muses and graces, he would never have terminated a most illustrious career in an old age of cnielty and ferocity." Marius first served in Spain, and was present at the siege of Numantia in b. c. 134. Here he dis- tinguished himself so much by his courage and his readiness to submit to the severer discipline which Scipio Africanus introduced into the army, that he attracted the notice of this great general, and re- ceived from him many marks of honour. Scipio, indeed, even admitted him to his table ; and on a certain occasion, when one of the guests asked Scipio where the Roman people would find such another general after his death, he is related to have laid his hand on the shoulder of Marius and said, " Perhaps here." The military genius of Marius must have been very conspicuous to have called forth such a remark from the conqueror of Carthage and Numantia, and his natural abilities for war were no doubt greatly improved by the experience he obtained under so great a master of the art. It happened strangely enough that Ju- gurtha, who was afterwards to measure his abilities against Marius, was serving at the same time with equal distinction in the Roman army. The name of Marius does not occur again in history for the space of fifteen years, of the wars of which period, however, we have very little in- formation. He doubtless continued to serve in the army, was unanimously elected military tribune by all the tribes, and became so much distinguished that he was at length raised to the tribunate of the plebs, in B. c. 119, but not until he had atfciined the age of thirty-eight years. Plutarch tells us {Mar. 4)
 * Jpkor.'' vii. 13, 54, vol. xviii. pt. i. pp. 1 13, 163).
 * Plutarch (Mar. 3) calls the village Cirrhaeaton,