Marius' Challenge to Patrician Rome

A History of Mankind (203)

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The combined crisis presented by Jugurtha’s insolence and the Cimbrii and Teutones moving south from Germany into Gallia, Hispania and Italy didn’t rise to the level of existential threat to Rome, but left important lessons for future Roman policymakers.

In particular, it was now evident that Rome was perfectly capable of dealing with crises and campaigns along the Mediterranean periphery, as long as bribery of Roman military commanders and politicians was contained within reasonable limits: in the absence of such bribery, and the senate’s distaste at being sucked into Numidian politics, Jugurtha would have never been more than a nuisance.

The northern barbarians, however, were a potentially more dangerous threat. Hundreds of thousands of large, well-armed and brave men had been killed to save Italy from a potentially disastrous invasion; and their rampage along and across the Alps had coincided with that of the Celtic Scordisci, a particularly blood-thirsty tribe (alleged to drink their enemies’ blood) who, from their homeland in modern-day Serbia, had penetrated deep into Greece.