“Brooding Among the Ruins”: Elitism and Gaius Marius in “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street”

Abstract: Melville consistently incorporates allusions and references from his extensive personal reading into his fiction, often drawing on classical Greek and Roman sources. Figures from classical literature often make striking cameo appearances in his work, such as Cicero’s bust in “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street.” While scholarship has examined Melville’s nod to Cicero, little attention has been paid to the allusion to the Roman general and seven-time consul, Gaius Marius. When Melville’s lawyer finds Bartleby living in the office, he likens him to “a sort of innocent and transformed Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage.” Through the lens of 19th-century American classical education and culture, this paper examines why Bartleby’s character evokes an immediate comparison by the lawyer to the historical figure Gaius Marius, how the presence of Cicero’s bust can be reinterpreted in light of this association, and what this specific reference to the Roman consul and general reveals about Melville’s critique of elitism in nineteenth-century society.