Editing Gaius Marius (section)

=== Putative reforms to the military ===
{{Main|Marian reforms}}

Marius has, in modern scholarship starting from the 1840s in Germany,{{sfn|Faszcza|2021|pp=14–15, 17}} repeatedly been attributed with broad reforms to the military during his consulships between 107 and 100&nbsp;BC. The standard narrative is that after a series of manpower shortages,<ref>Archaeological evidence and grain accounting indicates there was no population decline in 2nd century Italy. {{Cite book |last=Rosenstein |first=Nathan S |title=Rome at war: farms, families and death in the middle republic |date=2004 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2839-7 |series=Studies in the history of Greece and Rome |location=Chapell Hill, NC |pages=14, 235 n. 75}}</ref> Marius received a dispensation to recruit volunteers from the poorest census class, the {{lang|la|proletarii}}, for the war against Jugurtha in 107&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Duncan|2017|pp=22, 113–14, 131 (noting a further exemption during the Cimbric war)}}{{sfn|Rich|1983|p=324, suggesting also that this was done to indulge the eagerness of those willing to serve}} There is, however, very little evidence that Italy's population fell during the second century,{{sfn|Cadiou|2018|pp=42 n. 24, 49–50}} that any major reforms to the Roman army occurred in the second century, or that Marius was responsible; specialists now increasingly dismiss these "Marian reforms" as a "construct of modern scholarship".<ref>{{harvnb|Rosenstein|2020|p=301|ps=. "...a position that has become increasingly accepted among scholars (although unfortunately not popular among popular writers)... that Marius was not responsible for the key changes that distinguished first-century legions from their mid-republican predecessors".}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2019|p=79|ps=. "Relatively modest facts have been spun into the overarching 'Marian reforms', which are ultimately the construct of modern scholarship".}}</ref>

The recruitment of {{lang|la|proletarii}} in 107, documented in Sallust,{{sfn|Sall. ''Iug.''|loc=86.2–3}} seems to have been a one-time affair: the volunteers were discharged on their return from the war and Marius, upon assuming command against the Cimbri, took over command of a consular army in northern Italy levied in the traditional manner.{{sfnm|Taylor|2023|1p=160|Taylor|2019|2p=79}} There are no indications that open recruitment of volunteers changed the social composition of the legions and later texts indicate that the Romans continued to raise most of their armies by conscription.<ref>{{harvnb|Lintott|1994|p=92|ps=. "The Romans continued to levy regularly by conscription".}} {{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=367|ps=. "And the Marian reforms... did not abolish the levy. Conscription continued... to the end of the republic".}}</ref> The armies of the late Republic still were predominantly drawn from rural populations.{{sfn|Brunt|1962|pp=74–75}} The narrative that the army's domination by poor volunteers, who in search of riches and retirement bonuses became the clients of their generals, who then used those armies to overthrow the republic, is now rejected.<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=xvii|ps=. "Nothing suggests that the soldiery had developed a separatist mentality, let alone that they contemplated toppling the republic. Even those who [[crossed the Rubicon]] responded to appeals on constitutional grounds".}}</ref>

Other reforms attributed to Marius include the abolition of the citizen cavalry and light infantry, a redesign of the {{lang|la|[[pilum]]}}, a standardised [[Aquila (Roman)|eagle standard]] for all legions, and the substitution of the [[Cohort (military unit)|cohort]] for the [[Maniple (military unit)|maniple]]. There is little evidence for the abolition of the citizen cavalry and light infantry by the first century&nbsp;BC, as they are still attested in evidence.<ref>{{harvnb|Gauthier|2020|p=284}}, citing, among others, {{CIL|1|593}}. See generally {{Cite journal |last=Gauthier |first=François |date=2021 |title=Did ''velites'' really disappear in the late Roman republic? |url=https://biblioscout.net/article/10.25162/historia-2021-0004 |journal=Historia |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=69–82 |doi=10.25162/historia-2021-0004 |s2cid=230543924 |issn=0018-2311}}</ref> If Marius redesigned the {{lang|la|pilum}}, archaeological finds indicate his design was soon discarded.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2019|p=78|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Plut. ''Mar.''|loc=25}} for the claim of a redesigned {{lang|la|pilum}}.}}</ref> Literary evidence indicates that eagle standards continued to co-exist through the late republic with other traditional animal standards including the ox and wolf.{{sfn|Taylor|2019|p=79 n. 14}}{{efn|Beyond army proletarianisation, attested in Sallust, the only reforms attributed to Marius in the ancient evidence are his redesigned {{lang|la|pilum}} and the introduction of the {{lang|la|aquila}}. Both claims are given in relatively late sources, removed by centuries from Marius' time. They are also both disproved by, respectively, archaeological and documentary evidence.{{sfn|Taylor|2019|pp=78–79, 79 n. 14}} }} Lastly, there is no ancient evidence that Marius introduced the cohort; Sallust's narrative gives the last attestation of the maniple in 109&nbsp;BC under Metellus Numidicus' command.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2019|p=89|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Sall. ''Iug.''|loc=51.3}}, where "Metellus... opposed four legionary cohorts to the enemy's infantry", pushed through, and won the [[Battle of the Muthul|battle]].}}</ref>

Changes to logistical arrangements and training, the {{lang|la|muli Mariani}} ("Marius's mules") of common historiography, were regular practice among Roman generals: seeking victory, they generally sought the speed advantages of operating without large baggage trains and to ensure that their men were well-trained for combat.{{sfnm|Taylor|2023|1p=160|Taylor|2019|2p=79 n. 18}}