Editing Marian reforms (section)

==== "Marius' mules" and training ====

Marius is said in ancient sources to have moved much of the baggage off beasts of burden and onto the backs of the common soldiers, giving them the moniker {{lang|la|muli Mariani}} ("Marius' mules").{{sfn|Taylor|2023|p=160}} Some modern historians have read this action as a permanent reduction in the size of Roman baggage trains, increasing the speed of army movement.{{sfn|Scullard|2011|p=48}} However, attempts to force soldiers to carry their own equipment were common among successful generals at the time; Marius' predecessor in Numidia, [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus|Quintus Caecilius Metellus]],<ref>{{harvnb|Sall. ''Iug.''|loc=44–45|ps=: "[Metellus] is said to have removed the incentives to indolence by an edict... that no private soldier should have a slave or a pack animal in the camp or on the march". }}</ref> as well as [[Scipio Aemilianus]], was said to have forced their soldiers to carry their own equipment.{{sfn|Taylor|2019|p=79 n. 18}}

Some modern historians have also attributed to Marius reforms in the training of Roman soldiers which ostensibly reflected a professionalising service. Such training and drilling, however, had become common before Marius due to the loss of collective experience in the generations after the Second Punic War. [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus]] drilled his men for almost a year before deploying them in the [[Lusitanian War]] ({{circa|145&nbsp;BC}}); Scipio Aemilianus, for example, drilled his men before his [[Numantine War|campaigns]] against [[Numantia]] ({{circa|133&nbsp;BC}}); Metellus similarly drilled his men prior to their departure to Africa in 109&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2023|p=160}}, citing, App. ''Hisp.'', 65; Front. ''Strat.'', 4.1.1; {{harvnb|Val. Max.|loc=2.7.2}}.</ref> Such attempts to reintroduce discipline reflected the recruits' lack of military training rather than a class of budding professional soldiers.{{sfn|Taylor|2023|p=160}}