Metellus asks Marius to wait for his son

After Marius had proved his battlefield value, Metellus advised him to delay a consular campaign until Metellus's twenty-year-old son could stand alongside him. In practice that meant waiting roughly two more decades. The proposal would have kept Marius as a useful subordinate who continued protecting his patron's interests. The episode shows how an old family could praise a novus homo's service while still controlling access to the highest office. Marius's refusal to accept that timetable helped turn military reputation into an independent political career.