#caius marius

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John Vanderlyn (American, 1775-1852) Gaius Marius Amid the Ruins of Carthage, 1832 Albany Institute of History & Art

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John Vanderlyn (–1852): Caius Marius Amid the Ruins of Carthage; 1807; oil on canvas; 2,209.80 x 1,739.90 mm (87 x 68.50 in). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (49835)

John Vanderlyn (1775–1852), artist. Stephen Alonzo Schoff (1818–1904), engraver. Caius Marius on the ruins of Carthage, 1842.

J. Vanderlyn pt. ; S.A. Schoff sc.

MEDIUM: 1 print : engraving.

CREATED/PUBLISHED: New York : Apollo Association for the Promotion of Fine Arts in the United States, 1842.

Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-00037 (digital file from original print, no. 2)

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Caius Marius on the ruins of Carthage / J. Vanderlyn pt. ; S.A. Schoff sc. Abstract/medium: 1 print : engraving. Date: 1842. Apollo Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in the United States, publisher; Vanderlyn, John, 1775-1852, artist; Schoff, Stephen Alonzo, 1818-1904, engraver. United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division, digital ID pga.03094. ©United States Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division

J. VANDERLYN PT (Left side)

S. A. SCHOFF SC (Right side)

CAIUS MARIUS

ON THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE.

noci

ехаимо

Anolo ApociationO

Published exclusively for the members of the year 1842

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Exiled Gaius Marius sitting among the ruins of Carthage by Joseph Kremer (18th century)

The Roman governor of Africa at this time was Sextilius, a man who had received neither good nor ill at the hands of Marius, but whom, as it was expected, pity alone would move to give him aid. Hardly, however, had Marius landed with a few companions, when an official met him, stood directly in front of him, and said: "Sextilius the governor forbids thee, Marius, to set foot in Africa; and if thou disobeyest, he declares that he will uphold the decrees of the senate and treat thee as an enemy of Rome." When he heard this, Marius was rendered speechless by grief and indignation, and for a long time kept quiet, looking sternly at the official. Then, when asked by him what he had to say, and what answer he would make to the governor, he answered with a deep groan: "Tell him, then, that thou hast seen Caius Marius a fugitive, seated amid the ruins of Carthage." And it was not inaptly that he compared the fate of that city with his own reversal of fortune.

—Plutarch, The Life of Marius

See also The Twelve Senses, Forces & World Views

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Caius Marius Seated Amongst the Ruins of Carthage by Robert Blyth (1782)

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A portrait of a man in a Roman toga

A portrait of a man in a Roman toga by Václav Brožík

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Details from the Life of Marius

Deity & Ass When, as he was led along, he had come to the house of Fannia, the door flew open and an ass ran out, in order to get a drink at a spring that flowed hard by; with a saucy and exultant look at Marius the animal at first stopped in front of him, and then, giving a magnificent bray, went frisking past him triumphantly. From this Marius drew an omen and concluded that the Deity was indicating a way of escape for him by sea rather than by land; for the ass made no account of its dry fodder, but turned from that to the water.

Fighting Scorpions After father and son had embraced one another, they walked along the sea-shore, and there they saw some scorpions fighting, which the elder Marius regarded as a bad omen. At once, therefore, they boarded a fishing-boat and crossed over to the island of Cercina, which was not far distant from the mainland; and scarcely had they put out from land when horsemen sent by the king were seen riding towards the spot whence they had sailed. It would seem that Marius never escaped a greater peril than this.

The Savage Mien For he wished that men should pity him; but with his appeal for compassion there was mingled the look that was natural to him and now more terrifying than ever, and through his downcast mien there flashed a spirit which had been, not humbled, but made savage by his reverses.

The Lion’s Lair Tortured by such reflections, and bringing into review his long wandering, his flights, and his perils, as he was driven over land and sea, he fell into a state of dreadful despair, and was a prey to nightly terrors and harassing dreams, wherein he would ever seem to hear a voice saying:— "Dreadful, indeed, is the lions' lair, even though it be empty.”

—Plutarch, The Life of Marius

The worst enemies on the path of higher cognition are dreaming, fantasizing, and superstition. These enemies cannot be taken too seriously. Nevertheless, we must always remember that although “All prejudices must fall from you” is inscribed over the door leading to the second trial, and “Without healthy human understanding all steps are in vain” stands at the entrance to the first, this by no means implies that esoteric students lose the poetry of life and the capacity for enthusiasm.

—Rudolf Steiner, How To Know Higher Worlds

Man's present faculty of dreaming will beget a new kind of vision, a perception of the astral and spiritual world.

—Rudolf Steiner, An Esoteric Cosmology: Lecture IV

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Seven Eagles, God’s Mirror

Saint John as an Eagle by Giusto De' Menabuoi

When, that is, he was quite young and living in the country, he had caught in his cloak a falling eagle's nest, which had seven young ones in it; at sight of this, his parents were amazed, and made enquiries of the seers, who told them that their son would be most illustrious of men, and was destined to receive the highest command and power seven times.

—Plutarch, The Life of Marius

For among numbers seven is the virgin number, the nature which has no mother, that which is most nearly related to the unit, the foundation of all numbers; the idea of the planets, just as the unit is of the immovable sphere; for of the unit and the number seven consists the incorporeal heaven, the model of the visible heaven, and the heaven is made up of indivisible and divisible nature. … For all these reasons, and more besides, the number seven is honoured. But there is no one cause on account of which it has received its precedence so completely, as because it is by its means that the Creator and Father of the universe is most especially made manifest; for the mind beholds God in this as in a mirror, acting, and creating the world, and managing the whole universe.

—Philo, The Decalogue

For the number seven is a most brave and valiant number, well adapted by nature for government and authority. 

—Philo, The Special Laws II