The Decay of Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius was elected as consul in 105 BC. His first order of business was to whip the legions into shape. But his army sent north, had been sloppy and undisciplined. The popularity of the patricians was at an all-time low. So people turned back to another Novus Homo who could succeed where elites failed. Capio would not have left a patrician cousin out in the cold like that. And so many good Roman sons and husbands were dead on the banks of the Rhone.