Marius, as I have told in the Life
of Caesar. There is evidence both of the temperance of Marius and also
of his endurance, which was proved by his behaviour about a surgical
operation. Both his legs, it is said, had become varicose,[63] and as
he disliked this deformity, he resolved to put himself in the
surgeon's hands. Accordingly he presented to the surgeon one of his
legs without allowing himself to be bound; and without making a single
movement or uttering a single groan, with steady countenance and in
silence he endured excessive pain during the operation. But when the
surgeon was going to take the other leg, Marius refused to present it,
saying that he perceived the cure was not worth the pain.

VII. When Caecilius Metellus[64] was appointed consul with the command
of the war against Jugurtha, he took Marius with him to Libya in the
capacity of legatus.[65] Here Marius signalised himself by great
exploits and brilliant success in battle, but he did not, like the
rest, seek to increase the glory of Metellus and to direct all his
efforts for the advantage of his general, but disdaining to be called
a legatus of Metellus, and considering that fortune had offered him a
most favourable opportunity and a wide theatre for action, he
displayed his courage on every occasion. Though the war was
accompanied with many hardships, he shrunk not from danger however
great, and he thought nothing too mean to be neglected, but in prudent
measures and careful foresight he surpassed all the officers of his
own rank, and he vied with the soldiers in hard living and endurance,
and thus gained their affections. For certainly there is nothing which
reconciles a man so readily to toil as to see another voluntarily
sharing it with him, for thus the compulsion seems to be taken away;
and the most agreeable sight to a Roman soldier is to see his general
in his presence eating common bread or sleeping on a coarse mat, or
taking a hand in any trench-work and fortification. Soldiers do not so
much admire a general who shares with them the honour and the spoil,
as one who participates in their toils and dangers; and they love a
general who will take a part in their labours more than one who
indulges their licence. By such conduct as this, and by gaining the
affection of the soldiers, Marius soon filled Libya and Rome with his
fame and his glory, for the soldiers wrote to their friends at home
and told them there would be no end to the war with