hern barbarians were on the march. This danger, from the Cimbri and
the Teutones, had actually been threatening for a long time. In 113 a
consular army had been routed by the Cimbri. For the next eight years,
joined by other tribes, they remained on the North Italian frontier,
a perpetual menace, defeating, one after another, the armies sent
against them. In 105, when Marius was still in Africa, two Roman armies
were annihilated at Arausio on the Rhone (105). More than 80,000 men
perished in a single battle. Only a handful escaped to bring the
terrible news home. Such a disaster had not happened since Cannae. The
way to Rome stood open: there was no army to stop the victors had they
marched on to Italy. They did not. They turned to Spain. Marius, who was
called home, given chief command, and made consul in three successive
years, had time to create a new army.

In doing this he tackled one of the most pressing problems of the time.
Gracchus had seen how great a danger the falling-off of the supply of
men from the land might be: but no one had really grasped and dealt with
the question from the army point of view until Marius took it in hand.
This was indeed his greatest and most lasting work. First he changed the
whole basis of service. Every one was liable to be called on, not only
the shrinking class of holders of land. He took soldiers from the towns
as well as from the country, from among freedmen and paupers as well as
from among citizens. Second, he paid to every soldier a small daily
wage. This was an immense change. It at once created a new class: the
professional soldier. Formerly men had done their time in the army and
then returned to ordinary civil life. Now the soldier was a soldier for
life. Next Marius reorganized the army from within, sweeping away the
differences between the Roman legions and those made up of Italians and
allies. He improved the equipment of all ranks. This done he set himself
to training his new men, encamped in Transalpine Gaul, in readiness to
meet the foe.

A soothsayer, in whose prophecy he placed great faith, had told Marius
he should be consul seven times. As consul for the fourth time he
finally attacked the Teutones with his new armies. At Aquae Sextiae
(to the north of Marseilles) 100,000 barbarians were slain (102). It was
a terrible slaughter. For centuries after the fields were covered with
blackening bones, and the people of Massilia used them to make fences
for their vin