Marius outlived his powers and his reputation.
‘Had he now died, he would have gone down to posterity as one of the greatest men of his people, as a second Romulus or Camillus, unstained with any blood save that of foreign foes.’—Ihne.
Parallel Passages. Ov. P. Ep. iv. 3. 45-48; Juv. x. 276-278.
References. Plut. Marius, caps. 38-end. Ihne, vol. iv. pp. 336-7, vol. v. pp. 111-12.
Cicero on Civil Strife.
Etenim recordamini, Quirites, omnes civiles dissensiones, non solum eas quas audistis, sed et has quas vosmetipsi meministis atque vidistis. L. Sulla P. Sulpicium oppressit: ex Urbe eiecit C. Marium, custodem huius urbis, multosque fortes viros partim 5 eiecit ex civitate, partim interemit. Cn. Octavius consul armis ex Urbe collegam suum expulit: omnis his locus acervis corporum et civium sanguine redundavit. Superavit postea Cinna cum Mario: tum vero, clarissimis viris interfectis, lumina civitatis 10 exstincta sunt. Ultus est huius victoriae crudelitatem postea Sulla: ne dici quidem opus est, quanta deminutione civium et quanta calamitate reipublicae. . . . Atque illae tamen omnes dissensiones, quae non ad delendam, sed ad commutandam rempublicam 15 pertinebant—non illi nullam esse rempublicam, sed in ea quae esset se esse principes, neque hanc urbem conflagrare, sed se in hac urbe florere voluerunt—eius modi fuerunt, ut non reconciliatione concordiae, sed internecione civium diiudicatae sint. 20
Cicero, In Cat. iii. 10.
4 P. Sulpicium, distinguished orator, bought over by Marius. As Tribunus Plebis 88 B.C. carried the Leges Sulpiciae.
6 Cn. Octavius, one of Sulla’s chief supporters. Consul 87 B.C. Expelled his colleague Cinna. Murdered in his curule chair.