The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

by Mike Duncan

But Marius was not able to enjoy his triumph in peace. Men who disdained the usurping novus homo praised the young noble Sulla as the real captor of Jugurtha. According to military and political tradition, the man who held imperium over a province received all credit and all blame for the fortunes of war. It was how it had always been done. It was mos maiorum. But enemies of Marius encouraged Sulla to tell his story. The proud and ambitious Sulla was all too happy to play the game and went so far as to cast as his personal seal an image depicting the capture of Jugurtha. Marius was not amused. “This was the first seed of that bitter and incurable hatred between Marius and Sulla, which nearly brought Rome to ruin.”41