<P> In 102 BC the Cimbri returned from Hispania into Gaul and together with the Teutones decided to invade Italy . The Teutones were to head south and advance toward Italy along the Mediterranean coast; the Cimbri were to attempt to cross the Alps into Italy from the north by the Brenner Pass; and the Tigurini (the allied Celtic tribe who had defeated Longinus in 107) were to cross the Alps from the northeast . This decision proved fatally flawed . The Germanic soldiers divided their forces, making each contingent manageable, and the Romans could use their shorter lines of communication and supply to concentrate their forces at will . </P> <P> First, Marius had to deal with the Teutones, who were in the province of Narbonensis marching toward the Alps . He refused to give them a battle where they wanted, and withdrew to Aquae Sextiae (a settlement founded by Gaius Sextius Calvinus in 124 BC), which blocked their path . The leading contingent of the Germanic warriors, the Ambrones, foolishly attacked the Roman position without waiting for reinforcements and 30,000 were killed . Marius then hid 3,000 troops in ambush, so when the main Germanic contingent finally attacked, the hidden Roman troops could fall on them from behind . In the ensuing defeat, the Teutones were completely annihilated, to the number of something over 100,000 . </P> <P> Marius' colleague Quintus Lutatius Catulus in 102 BC did not have as much luck . He botched the holding of the Brenner Pass, allowing the Cimbri to advance into northern Italy by late 102 BC . Marius was in Rome, and after becoming elected consul for 101 BC and deferring his Triumph over the Teutones, he marched north to join Catulus, whose command was prorogued into 101 . Finally, in the summer of that year a battle was fought at Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul . Once again, Roman discipline overcame a larger barbarian force . At least 65,000 were killed (perhaps as many as 100,000 again) and all the remainder enslaved . The Tigurini gave up their efforts to enter Italy from the northeast and went home . Catulus and Marius celebrated a joint Triumph, but in popular thinking all the credit went to Marius, who was praised as "the third founder of Rome ." Catulus became alienated from Marius and would later become one of his chief opponents . As a sort of reward (the danger was now gone) Marius was returned as consul for 100 BC . This year would not go at all well for Marius . </P> <P> During the year of Marius' sixth consulship (100 BC), Lucius Appuleius Saturninus was tribune for the second time (having apparently had Marius's support on both this occasion and the previous one), and advocated reforms like those earlier put forth by the Gracchi . Saturninus pushed for a bill that gave colonial lands to the veterans of Marius' recent war, and offered to lower the price of wheat distributed by the state . In scandalous circumstances, Saturninus and his ally Gaius Servilius Glaucia also achieved the exile of Marius' personal enemy, his former commanding officer Q. Metellus Numidicus, apparently with Marius' support . </P>

Who held the consulship 7 times which was predicted by a fortune teller