Marian Reforms - Roman Army Before The Marian Reforms

Roman Army Before The Marian Reforms

Up until the last decade of the 2nd century BC, the eligibility requirements to become a Roman soldier in the service of the Republic were very strict.

• He had to be a member of the fifth census class or higher.
• He had to own property worth 3,500 sesterces in value.
• He had to supply his own armaments.

(Plutarch) When war threatened, the consuls of the day would be charged with the duty of recruiting an army from the eligible citizenry of the Republic. As a rule, one of the consuls would lead this mainly volunteer army into battle. As can be imagined, not all elected consuls were adept at leading an army. For example, in the year 113 BC the consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo was defeated at the Battle of Noreia by invading tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons. This disaster was followed by a protracted war in Africa against King Jugurtha of Numidia. The consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus was sent to defeat Jugurtha. Metellus never lost any armies and did win some battles but after two years had not achieved total victory. Gaius Marius, one of his legates, requested Metellus release him from his duties so he could return to Rome and run for consul at the end of 108 BC. But when Marius became junior consul in 107 BC and was appointed the task of concluding the war with Jugurtha, he had no army. The army Metellus had commanded in Africa was assigned to the senior consul Lucius Cassius Longinus to expel the Cimbri who were once again encroaching on the Roman province of Gaul across the Alps. Marius had no troops with which to conduct the war in Africa as the eligible citizenry from whom he could recruit an army was severely depleted due to previous military disasters and the expansion of the latifundia at the expense of small landowners. To overcome this problem he introduced a number of reforms.