257:, delivered on 2 September 44 BC, Cicero declares that Marius was an impostor, an (unnamed) runaway slave who had assumed the name of Gaius Marius and had contemplated a massacre of the Senate. It is this assertion of being an impostor that the later Roman historians followed when providing the identity of Pseudo-Marius. However, the political environment in Rome when Cicero delivered his 1st Philippic may have required Cicero to possibly manufacture an alternate identity for Marius, given the longstanding political and friendship ties between the Marii and the Tullii Cicerones, and Cicero's desire not to be tainted by Pseudo-Marius' subversive activities in April.
271:. Further, when Julius Caesar was confronted by Pseudo-Marius, he was silent on the matter of Pseudo-Marius' identity, and rather than having the impostor killed, he had Pseudo-Marius banished from Rome. Caesar would have known from his aunt (Julia, the wife of the famous Gaius Marius, and who died in 68 BC) whether she had a grandson or not, and his hesitancy in getting rid of Pseudo-Marius permanently, as well as his not denouncing the supposed impostor, speaks volumes. This theory is supported by a passage in
246:, has provided two very different accounts a year apart. In the first account, in the letter to Atticus in 45 BC, he casts no doubt on the identity of the so-called Marius - he explicitly names him as Gaius Marius, son of Gaius and grandson of Gaius. Then, in April 44 BC, when he hears of Pseudo-Marius' activities in Rome, he still refers to him as Marius, and on hearing of his death on April 13, explicitly names him the grandson of
291:
an impostor as their equal or their patron. Nevertheless the majority scholarly consensus, based upon the primary sources, remains that Pseudo-Marius was not the grandson of Gaius Marius. Some see his execution by Mark Antony without trial as evidence of his non-citizen status, that he was quite likely a wealthy freedman, and that his influence was achieved solely through the use of Marius' name.
290:
Finally, the fact that the veterans in the Italic towns founded by Gaius Marius all acknowledged Pseudo-Marius as their patron. If he was not a member of the Marii, both the elite families of Rome and the clients of the Marii, both in Rome and across the towns in Italy, would never have acknowledged
195:
With Julius Caesar's assassination on 15 March 44 BC, Pseudo-Marius returned from exile and attempted to set himself up as leader of the city's plebeian masses. Assuming the role of Caesar's avenger, in early April 44 BC he erected an altar to Caesar on the spot where the dictator's body had been
241:
called him
Amatius or simply Pseudo-Marius. Modern scholarly opinion has largely followed the imperial historians' opinion, and declared that Pseudo-Marius was not the grandson of Gaius Marius, with suggestions including a runaway slave, or a freedman, or an illegitimate son of Gaius Marius the
191:
on 20 May 45 BC, says he refused, citing Marius' close familial links with Julius Caesar as the reason (Marius' supposed grandmother Julia was an aunt of Julius Caesar). It is uncertain whether the two events were linked, but in the autumn of 45 BC, Caesar expelled Pseudo-Marius from the city.
180:, and became enormously popular in the process. He was apparently wealthy enough to open up his gardens in order to entertain the people of Rome. Around the time Caesar returned to Rome in May 45 BC, Pseudo-Marius contacted the former
266:
were a small elite aristocratic group in ancient Rome, and well known to each other. It is unlikely that Cicero would have been taken in by an impostor in 45 BC, especially as the two families came from the same town of
200:
some concern, as he was expecting the plebs of Rome to rally around him. Hearing news that self-proclaimed Marius had gathered together a street gang and was planning to capture and kill two of Caesar's assassins
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of the towns founded by Marius's grandfather and populated by the descendants of the legionary veterans who were established there. Taking advantage of the
63:
213:
approved of it, as they were concerned about
Cassius and Brutus' safety. Pseudo-Marius' body was dragged around the city and eventually thrown into the
221:
and demanded that the altar he had erected be dedicated to Marius, but Antony sent in soldiers to disperse the mob and kill the principal ringleaders.
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who was accompanied by a number of women from his family. While some of the women acknowledged his paternity as the grandson of Gaius Marius, both
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209:), Mark Antony ordered his capture and put him to death without a trial on April 13. Although an illegal act, the
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287:(Augustus' mother and Julius Caesar's niece) and her younger sister refused to confirm or deny his paternity.
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Ceremony and Power: Performing
Politics in Rome Between Republic and Empire
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However, by
September 44 BC, Cicero's opinion had changed. In the
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burnt. Once again his popularity skyrocketed, causing the consul
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171:'s absence in Spain, he cultivated the support of the various
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It remains unclear who this Pseudo-Marius was. According to
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347:
279:, where he relates that Pseudo-Marius approached the young
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said he was a low born individual named
Chamates. Finally,
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128:, and therefore the grandson of the famous Roman general
233:, he was a former eye doctor called Herophilus, while
250:- the father-in-law of Gaius Marius the Younger.
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636:Memory and Leadership in the Late Roman Republic
242:Younger. However, the only extant eyewitness,
645:(2005), University of Michigan, pages 112–115
638:(2008), University of Michigan, pages 121–123
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160:in 45 BC, where he presented himself as the
614:Meijer, F. J. (1986). "Marius' Grandson".
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225:Identity of Pseudo-Marius
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372:Valerius Maximus, 9.15.1
126:Gaius Marius the Younger
88:Gaius Marius the Younger
248:Lucius Licinius Crassus
189:Titus Pomponius Atticus
203:Gaius Cassius Longinus
679:1st-century BC Romans
108:(also referred to as
32:Herophilus (possibly)
597:Nicolaus of Damascus
479:Meijer, pgs. 114-119
273:Nicolaus of Damascus
260:The families of the
207:Marcus Junius Brutus
156:, first appeared in
641:Sumi, Geoffrey S.,
34:Chamates (possibly)
556:Letters to Atticus
432:Letters to Atticus
301:Clemens (impostor)
96:(claimed) (mother)
90:(claimed) (father)
30:Amatius (possibly)
558:xii. 49, xiv. 6—8
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122:false Marius
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55:Gaius Marius
564:Philippicae
219:Roman Forum
215:Tiber river
198:Mark Antony
134:Mark Antony
653:Categories
581:Civil Wars
419:Civil Wars
324:Civil Wars
307:References
114:Herophilus
664:Impostors
616:Mnemosyne
583:iii. 2, 3
148:Biography
120:, or the
561:Cicero,
434:, 14.8.1
430:Cicero,
417:Appian,
338:, 9.15.2
295:See also
177:collegia
173:plebeian
118:Chamates
628:4431470
546:Ancient
541:Sources
269:Arpinum
263:Nobiles
110:Amatius
81:Parents
626:
608:Modern
577:Appian
552:Cicero
421:3. 2-3
320:Appian
244:Cicero
239:Appian
211:Senate
185:Cicero
162:patron
689:Marii
624:JSTOR
591:Epit.
352:Epit.
587:Livy
567:i. 2
348:Livy
326:3. 2
285:Atia
235:Livy
205:and
158:Rome
46:Rome
40:Died
26:Born
593:116
354:116
275:',
140:of
60:Era
655::
620:39
618:.
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144:.
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201:(
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