Page 7 - Cause & Effect: Ancient Rome

time, however, they came to oppose each other for various reasons.
Th e rift between them grew even wider in 88 BCE, when Sulla, now
a consul, prepared to lead an army to a Roman province in Anatolia
(now Turkey) to confront a force of invaders. Marius’s followers were
upset because they wanted him, rather than Sulla, to gain the military
glory from the expedition. After they spoke out against Sulla in the
assembly, he retaliated by marching his own troops into Rome and in
eff ect imposing martial law on the city. Th is marked the fi rst time in
the Republic’s history that a consul had ever taken over the capital by
force.
Leaving a number of his soldiers in control of the city, Sulla led
the rest out of Italy and toward Anatolia. In his absence, it did not take
long for Marius and his own troops to strike back. Battles and riots
occurred in the capital’s streets, and many nobles and other supporters
of Sulla were targeted and slain.
Directly after this unrest died down, Marius, by now in his seven-
ties, unexpectedly passed away. But his followers continued opposing
Sulla’s supporters, and the situation remained tense until Sulla returned

This fanciful French illustration depicts a young Gaius Marius conversing
with his chief offi cers. Well before becoming embroiled in civil strife with
Sulla, Marius had gained national fame for stopping an invasion of Italy by
Germanic tribesmen.