Quote Originally Posted by Che Roriniho View Post
Lulwut? Without him, The empire wouldn't existed beyond Italy and some of Africa. not much of a big deal. But the whole of the Med? THAT'S a big deal. Why change a formula that works? When the emporer came along, just ive him an army twice the size of the others under his direct command.
I don't think PVC meant "Marius was a pathetic historical figure who made the Roman Empire lose it all"; rather he meant that with Marius (and his civil war against Sulla) the whole deal of slow desintegration started. (And in fact Diocletian didn't either: he rigidly cut the freedom of the individual 'officers' who had been doing whatever they pleased, often leading to civil revolts or outright civil wars. So he changed the problem from a politic/loyalty/authority one to an economy one, arguably one the Roman Empire was in no shape to tackle. <_<)