ABSTRACT
The period from 121 to 88 BC marks the Roman Republic's progression from violent political rivalries and murder to the brink of civil war. The Social War had practically been a civil war. It pitted against each other communities that in some cases had been fighting side by side for 200 years. Its bitter fighting set a dangerous precedent for actual civil warfare in Italy and trained a generation of leaders willing to resort to it in pursuit of personal political goals. If people back in Rome did not understand the difficulties of African warfare, Gaius Marius, one of Metellus' senior officers, did. Marius' methodical warfare forced Jugurtha on the defensive by 106 BC Marius was ably assisted by his quaestor, the young noble and future dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who later became his bitter enemy. The career of Gaius Marius perfectly illustrates the forces that were making the traditional Republic unsustainable in the context of its time.
