Bret Devereaux

I want to stress that last thing: simply beginning with "The Marian Reforms were a set of reforms introduced...by...Gaius Marius" the article is already fundamentally, irretrievably wrong.

The *most* important thing a student can learn about the Marian reforms after the basics of what changed is probably that they were *not* a set of reforms instituted by a single person at a set point in time. No one has argued otherwise for *decades.*

How might a better article read? Perhaps: "The 'Marian Reforms' is a term applied by modern scholars to refer to a series of changes in the Roman army of the Late Republic, beginning in the mid-second century and continuing through the first century. ...

... These changes included the graduate replacement of maniples with cohorts as the key tactical unit of the legions, as well as a shift from conscripts to volunteers (beginning with Scipio Aemilianus in 149) and the eventual recruitment of property-less Romans. ...

... These changes, motivated by a mix of political and military concerns, have often been associated with the career of Gaius Marius (cos. 107, 104-100, 86), though his career represents only one stage in a larger process. ...

... The impact of these changes, occurring over decades, was to steadily detach the interests of Roman armies and generals from those of the Senate, contributing to the chaos of the first century BCE and the eventual collapse of the Republic." (fin)

As it stands, the article in question is going to deceive on the most fundamental point: it is going to convince students that there were a set of key reforms, and Marius did them at a specific point in history. Which is wrong! Gradual process, occurring over decades...

...in which Marius is only one actor and not necessarily the decisive one, even though he is given a lot of credit by our literary sources.