Marcus Marius Gratidianus
Marcus Marius Gratidianus (d. 82 BC) was a praetor and a partisan of the popularist faction led by his uncle Gaius Marius during the Roman Republican civil wars of the 80s. Gratidianus is noted primarily for undergoing a particularly violent death during the Sullan proscriptions; in the most sensational account, he was tortured and dismembered at the tomb of Catulus by Catilina, in an act described by Sallust[1] as a human sacrifice.
As praetor, Gratidianus is also known for his currency reform during the economic crisis of the 80s.
Life and career
Gratidianus was the son of Marius's sister and M. Gratidius of Arpinum. He was adopted by Marius's brother, Marcus. An aunt married the M. Tullius Cicero who was the grandfather of the famous Cicero.[2] Gratidianus may have had a particularly pungent relationship with one of his in-laws: his sister seems to have been the first wife of L. Sergius Catilina, who was accused by Cicero of participating in his torture and murder.[3]
In 87 BC, Gratidianus was probably a tribune of the plebs[4] and thus among the six of the year's ten tribunes who left the city to take up arms when Cinna was banished.[5] He was a legate that same year, probably the commander named Marius[6] who was sent north by Cinna with the objective of seizing Ariminum and cutting off any reinforcements that might be sent to Sulla from Cisalpine Gaul. This Marius succeeded at defeating Servilius Vatia Isauricus and took over his army.[7]
By the end of 87, Gratidianus had returned to Rome with Cinna and Marius. He took on the prosecution of Q. Lutatius Catulus, a move that was later to prove fateful. Catulus had been the consular colleague of Marius in 102 BC and had shared his triumph over the Cimbri, but had later broken with him. Catulus committed suicide rather than face the consequences of an inevitable guilty verdict.[8]
Currency reform
- See also Fourrée.
As praetor in 85, Gratidianus was among those officials who attempted to address Rome's economic crisis. A number of praetors and tribunes drafted a currency reform measure to reassert the former official exchange rate of silver (the denarius) and the bronze as, which had been allowed to fluctuate and destabilize. Gratidianus seized the opportunity to attach his name to the edict and claim credit for publishing it first. The currency measure pleased the equites more than did the debt reform legislation of L. Valerius Flaccus, which permitted the repayment of loans at one-quarter of the amount owed.[9] Gratidianus had hoped to garner support for his candidacy as consul, and while in this he did not succeed, he was hailed as a hero of the economy and honored with statues throughout the city.[10] It was said, with a certain amount of Ciceronian hyperbole, that no man had ever been dearer to the plebs.[11]
Twice praetor
Gratidianus had an unusual second praetorship, possibly as a "consolation prize" when his faction decided to back the younger Marius and Carbo for the consulship of 82. Although his ambitions were known and his qualifications far exceeded those of his cousin, Gratidianus probably never made a formal announcement of his candidacy as consul and is assumed to have stepped aside for the sake of factional unity. The more likely popularist ticket for 82 would have been Gratidianus and Quintus Sertorius; the political snub evidently contributed to the latter's secession in Spain. The dates for Gratidianus's praetorships are arguable; T.R.S. Broughton gives 86 and 84, but the timing of the currency reform makes 85 a more secure date, with the second term in 84, 83, or 82.[12]
Sensational death
During the conclusion of Sulla's second civil war, Gratidianus was tortured and killed at the tomb of the gens Lutatia. Details of the killing vary. In the most sensational version, his arms and legs were broken, his ears cut off, and his eyes gouged out. The son of Catulus, who was later consul (78 BC), instigated Gratidianus's murder in revenge.[13] Cicero says that Catiline brought the head through the streets of Rome to present it to Sulla.[14]
Selected bibliography
- The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition 1994), vol. 9.
- Dyck, A.R. A Commentary on Cicero, De officiis. University of Michigan Press, 1996. Limited preview online.
References
- ↑ In a speech Sallust (Histories,1,48.14) attributes to M. Aemilius Lepidus.
- ↑ Livy, Periocha 88; Robin Seager, "Sulla," in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition 1994), vol. 9, p. 173; A.R. Dyck, A Commentary on Cicero, De officiis (University of Michigan Press, 1996), p. 598.
- ↑ Evidence of the marriage from a fragment from Sallust's Historiae (1.37, with the commentary on the passage by P. McGushin, Sallust: the Histories, 1992); see Ronald Syme, Sallust (University of California Press, 2002; originally published 1964), pp. 85–86 online.
- ↑ Unless otherwise noted, offices and dates are from T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2, 99 B.C.–31 B.C. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), pp. 50, 52 (note 8), 57, 59 (note 1), 60, 589.
- ↑ Seager, Cambridge Ancient History, p. 174; Dyck, A Commentary on Cicero, De officiis, p. 598.
- ↑ Granius Licinianus p20; this Marius was probably not the son of Gaius Marius, who seems to have been with his father at the time.
- ↑ Seager, Cambridge Ancient History, p. 176; Michael Lovano, The Age of Cinna (Franz Steiner, 2002), p. 87 online.
- ↑ Dyck, A Commentary on Cicero, De officiis, p. 598; Bruce Marshall, "Catilina and the Execution of M. Marius Gratidianus," Classical Quarterly 35 (1985), p. 125, note 8; Erich Gruen, Roman Politics and the Criminal Courts, 149–78 B.C. (Cambridge, Mass., 1968), pp. 232–234.
- ↑ H.H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68 (Routledge, 5th edition 1988), p. 73 online.
- ↑ Seager, Cambridge Ancient History, pp. 180–181 online.
- ↑ Cicero, De officiis 3.80.
- ↑ C.F. Conrad, "Notes on Roman Also-Rans," in Imperium sine fine: T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic (Franz Steiner, 1996), pp. 104–105 online, citing also G.V. Sumner, The Orators in Cicero's Brutus (Toronto, 1973), pp. 118–119.
- ↑ Livy, Periocha 88; Matthew Dillon and Lynda Garland, Ancient Rome: From the Early Republic to the Assassination of Julius Caesar (Taylor & Francis, 2005), p. 523 online; Seager, Cambridge Ancient History, p. 195.
- ↑ T.P. Wiseman, "Caesar, Pompey and Rome, 59–50 B.C.," in The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 9, p. 348, note 106 for citations of ancient sources, online.