Explanation: Holding the consulship multiple times was considered extremely unusual in the Roman Republic, and it was not lawful for a consul to be elected to two consecutive terms. However, during the Late Republic, the ruthless populare politician, Gaius Marius, was elected consul twice in a row as part of a military crisis involving an invasion of Germanic tribes. While this was against precident, the Senate and People’s Assemblies were so desperate that they passed legislation to allow it so that Marius could take command of the armies of the Republic. He was elected (not consecutively) consul several more times, such was his reputation from resolving the crisis.

Later, Gaius Marius would pursue a number of stupid fucking decisions in the hopes of fulfilling a lifelong conviction that he would be elected consul 7 times. He would achieve this seventh and final consulship through shrewd politiking - though at the cost of sparking the first Roman civil war with the ultraconservative Sulla.