Marius

As the Deluxe Yours Truly has noted, [plebian]s and patricians rarely [mixed] socially.  There were laws forbidding intermarriage between these two classes and plebians couldn't really get involved in the senate or ruling of the Roman empire.

This all began to change with the Conflict Of The Orders.  Marius himself was born a [plebian] in a Arpinum, and he was eventually elected consul.  I can hear your shocked cry: "But how?"  Well, I'll tell you.

At the beginning, Marius was a good little Roman.  Although he was a [plebian], he was pretty well off, had some horses, and was generally a well-connected guy.  He started out on his Cursus Freakin Honorum by running for local office in Arpinum.  He failed.  But then he ran quaestorship and got his foot in the door.  After a year as quaestor, it was onto the Senate floor.  He also ruled for awhile as praetor, over an area in Further Spain.  When he returned from this, he married Julia, Julius Caesar's aunt.  This opened up circles in Roman society that had previously been closed to him.  In 120, his [patron], Caecilius Metellus helped him win as plebian tribune.  As tribune, he helped the little people and passed a law that restricted the interference of the wealthy in elections.  This did not make his patron family happy at all, as they were wealthy people who enjoyed interfering in elections.

However, they got over it.  When Caecilius Metellus went to fight Jugurtha, he took Marius with him as his subordinate right-hand man.  During this time, Marius started to think about running for consul.  He asked for his patron's permission and blessing, but Metellus suggested Marius wait twenty years and run with Metellus Jr.  In order to get around that lame idea, Marius started ingratiating himself with the troops.  He soon had everyone convinced that he could end the the war faster and with less casualites than Metellus.  When he ran for consul it was on a ticket of [Ass Whupping].  Click on [Ass Whupping] to find out what happens next.