Chapter 1, Marius Summary and Analysis

Rex Warner, the translator, begins the story of Marius by saying that Plutarch's biography of Marius is the least satisfactory of the six lives covered because Putarch writes little about Marius' political skill. Warner says the significance of Marius' marriage to Julia of the house of Caesar is obscured while his lack of education is greatly exaggerated.

Based on a stone statue of Marius at Ravenna in Gaul, Garius Marius' looks are in keeping with the personality presented—a man who devoted his life to war though he occasionally sought to show a gentler side that probably did not even exist. His parents were Marius and Fulcina and other than the fact of being parents of the famous Marius, their lives were undistinguished. Marius lived in the country as a child, was educated "in accordance with the ancient...