Gaius Marius

Reading notes

• Consolation to His Mother Helvia §7 Marius

  Gaius Marius, who settled one of the two Roman colonies on Corsica (Sulla settled the other).

• On Benefits §5.16.2 Gaius Marius

  The seven-times consul (157–86 BC) who rose from the ranks, saved Rome from the Cimbri, and then drowned the state in the blood of civil war.

• On the Shortness of Life §17.6 Marius

  Gaius Marius, seven times consul; the soldier's career flowing into the consulship is Seneca's example of ceaseless office.

• On Anger §2.2 Marius

  Gaius Marius (157–86 BC), whose civil wars and bloodshed Seneca cites among scenes that stir indignation in the reader or spectator.

• Moral Letters to Lucilius §5.47.10 Marius's time

  Gaius Marius (c. 157–86 BC), seven times consul; the 'Marian disaster' refers to the massacres and upheavals of the civil wars of Marius and Sulla, in which men of the highest birth were thrown down into slavery or obscurity.

• Moral Letters to Lucilius §9.78.18 his varicose veins to be cut out

  The exemplum is Gaius Marius, who (Cicero, Tusculans 2.35) had his varicose veins cut without being bound, enduring the knife unmoved --- the type of pain mastered by resolve.

• Natural Questions §5.18.4 Gaius Marius

  Gaius Marius (c. 157–86 BC), seven-times consul; the proverb that it was doubtful whether his birth helped or harmed Rome is applied to the winds.