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The Marian Reforms
Akshath Kale.
Outline and analyse the impact the Marian reforms had for the Roman army and
Republic.
The Marian reforms had profound long-term impacts for both the Roman army
and the Republic. In order to fully comprehend the reforms one must delve into
the persona of Gaius Marius, who, despite his major contributions, is relatively
unknown to history. The reforms themselves acted as the catalyst to which Rome
possessed a permanent, standing army, not only to protect Rome’s interests but
to expand upon them as well. Essentially it gave Roman military leaders much
more power than they had possessed before. The reforms were tailored in such a
way that the military legion was, in some cases, more loyal to the leading
commander than to Rome itself1. These and several other movements of change
sculpted the very history of the late Republic and later the early Empire and
influenced the territorial expansion of Rome as we know it, a glorious, imperial,
city-state.
Plutarch’s Lives2 offers a comprehensive insight into the Ancient world’s
plethora of influential figures. Plutarch would, from a source basis, possess a
relatively objective viewing of Marius’ life. Since the author’s origins are
Hellenic and the time period of his existence is between 46-120 AD3, the situation
surrounding the author would not lead him to hold a subjective perspective. As
is the case Plutarch is the only, comprehensive, primary source which gives
insight into Marius’ life, even then Plutarch fails to compare the latter’s life with
another figure, as he does with so many others. Marius, according to Plutarch,
hailed from the Arpinium region in the central Italian Peninsula. His parents,
unlike most other notable figures, possessed simplistic trades and according to
Plutarch: “supported themselves by their daily labour”.4 In other words
Plutarch states that Marius seemed the least likely figure to undertake the role of
Roman military Reformation. Having possessed the minimum requirements of
As seen with Augustus’ rise to power.
A.H. Clough, (1971), Plutarch’s Parallel lives: the Dryden Edition. Everyman’s Library, London.
3
Ibid
4
Conflicting argument, some say Marius came from an agricultural background, Plutarch claims his
father was a labourer. Either way, Marius seemed the least likely candidate for a military reformer.
1
2
fifth census class5, a clause of recruitment he was later to alter, Marius joined the
army of Rome. Plutarch makes passing reference to Marius’ military exploits
against the Cletiberians and the southern Germanic Cimbri rebels.
Marius’s true political break came when he was betrothed to Julia6, a member of
the aristocratic Julii Caesares. It is here that Marius gained the attention of the
senate, so much so that he was given the position of Legate in the military
campaign against Numidian Jugurtha. During his ventures in the campaign
Marius began to observe the weaknesses of Rome’s armies. The ethical standing
of the military leaders as well as the loyalty and motivation felt by the Roman
foot soldier was evidently reflective of the overall situation of the war. The
Jugurthine conflict had grown so unpopular that replacements for losses had
grown thin. As Peter Connolly shows us: “The soldier was only called up when
needed, and he was discharged as soon as the emergency was over”7 Essentially
the defence of Roman interests and that of Rome itself was based around civilian
volunteers who had to provide his own armour and weaponry.8 At the time of the
Jugurthine campaign the Roman army had been halted to a frustrating
stalemate situation. In these turbulent times of war Plutarch gives us an account
of Marius’s actions: “It is the most obliging sight in the world to the Roman
soldier to see a commander eat the same bread as himself, or lie upon an
ordinary bed, to assist the work in the drawing a trench and raising a bulwark”.9
This gave Marius a first hand account of how the Roman soldier operated at the
frontline, he was then able to asses the necessary amendments to this already
prestigious fighting force.10
5
Roman system of classification through the monetary amount of Asses a citizen had. 11,000 asses
being of the fifth class.
6
Julia was an aunt to the later famed Roman leader Julius Caesar.
7
Connolly C., (1984), The Roman Army, Macdonald Publishers, London.
8
Ibid.
9
Clough, Op. Cit. Pg. 79
10
The Roman republic by this time was already covering 308,882 Sq. miles of European and N.
African territory. (Crawford M., (1978), The Roman Republic, Harvester/ Humanities Press, Great
Britain.)
At the latter half of 107 BC Marius introduced a number of amendments, which
he felt would bring victory against Jugurtha.11 As mentioned before the
minimum requirement for a standard Roman soldier was the fact that he had to
be of a Fifth Census Class or higher. The peasantry or capite censi12, which
literally translated means “those counted by the head”, were to be included for
recruitment. Since most of these people possessed no land and thus had no means
to provide their own weaponry Marius introduced the state supplied armoury.
Unlike past precedents these men were to make up the backbone of a permanent
standing army, professionally trained by the State. As Connolly elucidates:
“Soon after Marius’s reforms, legions were formed that continued to exist
throughout the life of the empire”.13 In addition Connolly also clarifies that the
payment of the regular Soldier in the past had been comprised of a very small
fee, since the new category lacked any financial backing they relied solely on
their Commanding officer or Legionnaire for sustenance and capital. As a result
the men within a particular legion became a form of clientele to the legion
commander, giving the latter a personal, fully permanent, professional army.
The immense power a particular military leader could have possessed was to
have dire consequences to the make up of the Roman state during its later,
tumultuous conversion to an Empire.14
Marius did not only reform the strategic and political structure of the Army. He
made several changes to the tactical details as well. Since most soldiers prior to
the reforms of 107 BC possessed their own armament all weaponry and armour
lacked similarity and could be likened to that of a rag-tag, militia force.
Frontline commanders therefore lacked any knowledge on the specific details of
each unit’s capabilities, which resulted in several Roman defeats at the hands of
Jugurtha and prior.15 Marius’s reforms offered volunteers with state supplied
weapons, mass-produced for each unit.16 Skirmishers and javelin infantry were
The Romans had been soundly defeated at both the battles of Suthul and Muthul by Jugurtha’s
forces. (Www.unrv.com/empire//gaius-marius.php.)
12
Crawford M., (1978), The Roman Republic, Harvester/ Humanities Press, Great Britain.
13
Connolly, Op. Cit. Pg.26
14
An example of combat with personal armies can be the civil dispute between Caesar and Pompey
Magnus. (Www.unrv.com/empire//gaius-marius.php.)
15
The Battle of Noreia, 113 BC (www.germannotes.com/archive/article.php?products_id=677)
16
Connolly, Op. Cit. Pg 30.
11
all but erased from the composition of the army, they were to be replaced with
long-range archers and later siege machines. Connolly again gives us an insight
into this modification: “The velites of the time of Aemilius Paullus, who had been
lightly armed with only javelins and shields, disappeared from History”.17 From
a formation level Marius changed the very nature of a combat unit. Originally
the Roman army adopted the distinction between the Triarii (Spearmen),
Principes (Swordsmen) and Hastati (light infantry). Marius reformed this to
bridge the barriers between the three units, from 107 BC onward all standard
Roman soldiers were to be armed alike with sword and Pilum (spear). This gave
field commanders a better grasp of what a unit was capable of and thus were
able to incorporate this knowledge into battlefield movements and strategy. The
changes was intended to change the basis of the armed forces, as a result the
higher officers and later legionnaires were still to be drawn from Rome’s
aristocracy.
The effects of the reforms were felt almost immediately upon the battlefield.
Marius returned to the frontline following the reformation of his soldiers. In 105
BC Marius led the newly founded Roman cohorts to victory against Jugurtha at
the Battle of Thala.18 From a strategic perspective the Roman Republic
expanded on a much wider and broader front. As Connolly states: “With the
birth of this new-style army we enter the short but brilliant age of the adventurer
general. Within the next 50 years, Rome doubled the size of her empire.”19 These
lands encompassed a predominant portion of Hispania, Turkey, Tunisia and the
southern islands of Greece. The swiftness of the wars of conquest for the
aforementioned lands was done within a 50-year era, which could only have been
accomplished with the presence of a well disciplined, permanent invasion force.
From a political perspective the Marian reforms contributed to the conversion of
the Roman Republic to an Empire. As mentioned earlier the reforms heralded
an age of total loyalty of the soldiers to their commander as a result of the
elimination of social restrictions. This essentially meant that the commander held
17
Ibid.
http://www.unrv.com/empire/war-with-jugurtha.php
19
Connolly, Op.Cit. Pg 25.
18
a large sway over the soldier’s very survival. Following Marius’s reforms the
Roman military units were almost completely made up of the poor, plebeian
classes. Once they joined a particular military unit they relied almost completely
on their Commanding officer for sustenance, both financially and in terms of
resources. After their first few battles these permanent units began to form an
identity. Evidence of this can be seen in the Legion’s numbering and naming
during the time of the late republic and early Empire. For example Legion VI
based in the Iberian Peninsula was named “Victrix”.20 Furthermore the
induction of a “Republican” eagle, representative of the God Jupiter21, as a
Roman military standard with letters S.P.Q.R (Senatus Populusque Romanus)22
written below it, acted as the definition of a particular unit. Following the
aforementioned regalia the standard would posses the unit name, division
number and symbol.23 Small changes like the ones mentioned before had radical
impacts to the psychological make up of a unit. No longer did a soldier fight for
protecting his lands from invasion on a temporary basis, but rather fought for
personal glory and gain all in the name of Rome. Intrinsically this glory and gain
could only be reached through the command prowess of the military leader. As a
result the men within legions were far more loyal to one particular military
leader rather than to the Roman Senate and people. This set the stage for the
tumultuous and bitter era of the Roman Civil wars fuelled almost solely by
personal ambition coupled with powerful, personally based, armies. The first
major war of a civil-personal nature was made witness to, ironically, the defeat
of Gaius Marius at the hands of Lucius Sulla24, the latter being one of the factors
in the fall of Marius’s influences.
From a long-term perspective the Marian Reforms established several factors,
which led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. Due to the overabundance
of civil strife within Rome’s frontiers and the ineptitude of the senate to prevent
them the Roman political and social attitude began moving towards a more
autocratic train of political thought. This attitude was further asserted through
20
Ibid. Pg. 38.
http://www.unrv.com/empire/marius-reforms-legions.php
22
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/it_rome.html
23
Connolly, Op. Cit., Pg 42.
24
http://janusquirinus.org/essays/Apollo/Background/MS1.html
21
Julius Caesar’s declaration of dictatorship in 82 BC.25 The Marian reforms also
heralded in a resurgence of pride for the city-state by its civil populace. Since the
reforms offered military recruitment to anyone who was a Roman citizen it acted
as a form of increase in the patriotic fervour felt by the masses within Rome.
This contributed greatly to the expansion of the Roman Republic’s frontiers as
the military expanded numerically and qualitatively. It also allowed Roman
leaders to further assert their control over provinces and territories already
under Rome’s influence. Overall the long-term impacts of the Marian reforms
offered both positive influences towards territorial expansion but acted as the
catalyst for the break out of large-scale civil strife. Hence it is safe to conclude
that the reforms acted as one of the contributory agents that led to Rome’s
conversion from a Republic to an Empire.
In summation the Marian reforms offered a reinvigoration for the Roman army
and the Republic from a short-term perspective. The figure of Gaius Marius
himself is cloaked since the only ancient author who noted his biography was not
even of Roman descent. As analysed earlier the writings of Plutarch must come
under a certain amount of conjecture due to the author’s Hellenic background.
Marius himself is offered no place within the annals of Rome’s history. As a
result one comes to question the importance, or the lack thereof, the Romans
emphasized on the figure that had such a profound effect on the very history of
the Roman epoch. Marius, like most instigators of events, lacked the hindsight to
perceive the long-term impacts his reforms would have. As clarified earlier the
reforms had far more dire consequences for Rome as compared to the immediate
effects. Political and power-based feuds were carried forth by influential leaders
whose ambitions were fuelled by powerful personal armies. When one observes
the reforms as a single event in Rome’s history in comparison to its immediate
and long term consequences one realises that even the smallest of events can alter
the entire fate of a people. As Aldous Huxley states: “nothing changes and yet
everything is completely different.”26
25
26
Connolly, Op.Cit, Pg. 75
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_history.html
Bibliography.
Ancient Sources:
1. CLOUGH, Arthur. Plutarch’s Lives: the Dryden Edition, Everyman’s
library, 1971.
2. Marius and Sulla, (2006) [ONLINE], available from Internet August 29th:
http://janusquirinus.org/essays/Apollo/Background/MS1.html
Contemporary Sources:
3. CRAWFORD, Michael, The Roman Republic, Harvester
Press/Humanities Press, 1978.
4. CONNOLLY, Peter, The Roman Army, Macdonald Publishers, 1975.
5. Gaius Marius (2003) [ONLINE], available from the internet on August
24th: http://www.unrv.com/empire/gaius-marius.php
6. Plutarch’s Parallel Lives: Gaius Marius, (2005) [ONLINE], available from
Internet on September 1st:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_plutarch_cmarius.htm
7.
Battle of Noreia, (2005) [ONLINE], available from Internet on September
1st: http://www.germannotes.com/archive/article.php?products_id=677
8. Rome- Historical Flags (Italy), Gutterman, Dov, (2003) [ONLINE],
available from Internet on September 3rd.:
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/it_rome.html
9. History Quotes, Lewis, Jone, (2006) [ONLINE], available from Internet on
September 1st: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_history.html