As one of the main protagonists of the catastrophe that struck the Roman Republic in the years 91–81 BC, Caius Marius deserves our close attention. He was a man of great energy and ambition, as was demonstrated by the fact that he had forced himself into the largely closed ranks of Rome’s governing class. Marius was also a politician to the core, and the sort of politician who gives the breed a bad name. He was unscrupulous and immoral, and did not care what persons or principles he sacrificed so long as the sacrifice helped his rise to the top. Ordinarily Marius would have been
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