The events surrounding the capture of Jugurtha set in motion events far more consequential. Firstly, Marius was deeply irked that although he had won the war, the Roman nobility made much of the fact that it was one of their own who had actually effected the capture of Jugurtha. Secondly, and much more importantly, the Roman people decided that Marius’ exemplary generalship made him uniquely qualified to lead the state in its hour of peril. For Rome now faced a danger that made the African war look like the sideshow it was. In the north, the barbarians were coming.
