Publius Marius P. f. was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

senator and ordinary consul in 62 AD with Lucius Afinius Gallus as his colleague. Although

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a prominent Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube ...

records that Marius was appointed ''

curator aquarum The ''Curator Aquarum'' was a Roman official responsible for managing Rome's water supply and distributing free grain. Curators were appointed by the emperor. The first curator was Agrippa. Another notable ''Curator Aquarum'' was Frontinus, a R ...

'' in 64, we know nothing more about him. George Houston points out that this consul had no attested

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...

, and "Celsus" was added based on a preliminary reading of a wax table from Pompeii, . Prior to Marius' consulate, eight of the ten ordinary consuls had come from consular families; half of them could trace their ancestry to men who had held the consulate during the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

. Judith Ginsburg argues that Nero, who had been influenced by his praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus and his tutor

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

, had moved away from a policy of appeasing members of these consular families and now appointed men who were noted for "friendship, service and loyalty".Ginsburg, "Nero's Consular Policy", ''American Journal of ancient History'', 6 (1981), pp. 51-68 If she is correct, this is the only clue we have to his personality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marius, Publius Imperial Roman consuls 1st-century Romans Marii