Editing Lucius Cornelius Cinna (section)

=== War on Octavius ===
{{see|Bellum Octavianum}}

==== Expulsion ====
Cinna's first act as consul was to have a plebeian tribune prosecute Sulla, possibly for his killing of Sulpicius, who when killed had been a serving and sacrosanct plebeian tribune.{{sfn|Lovano|2002|p=32}} This was meant to stop Sulla from leaving Italy at the head of an army, strip him of his ''[[imperium]]'', and deprive him of his Mithridatic command. It was, however, unenforceable: Sulla ignored the tribunician summons and departed with his army for Greece.{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=174}}

According to Appian, Cinna accepted bribes to support the equal enrolment of the new Italian citizens into the thirty-five tribes. Bribed or not, Cinna declared publicly his support for such enrolment, which brought him immediately into conflict with his co-consul Octavius. Both Cinna and Octavius' partisans quickly armed themselves. Attempts by Cinna to promulgate legislation to distribute the new citizens into the tribes were met by tribunician vetoes backed by Octavius, leading to a riot against the tribunes. A ''[[senatus consultum ultimum]]'' then may have been moved against the rioters; Octavius quickly executed it, taking his hastily armed supporters down the ''[[via Sacra]]'' and killing the rioters.{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=174}}

Cinna was unharmed and left the city with some of his major supporters, including [[Quintus Sertorius]], Gaius Milonius, [[Marcus Marius Gratidianus]], and six of the ten tribunes of the plebs. After his departure for Italian towns to raise men and money, the Senate illegally and unconstitutionally stripped Cinna of his consulship and declared him a public enemy (''[[hostis]]''), electing [[Lucius Cornelius Merula (consul 87 BC)|Lucius Cornelius Merula]] (also the [[flamen Dialis]]) in his place.<ref>The Senate did not have power to remove a consul. [[Velleius Paterculus]] and [[Cicero]] both so commented. {{harvnb|Lovano|2002|p=35}}.</ref> Due to Merula's priestly duties and [[taboo]]s, Octavius served as ''de facto'' sole consul.{{sfn|Seager|1992|pp=174–75}}

==== March on Rome ====
Cinna reached [[Nola]], an Italian town still holding against Roman siege, where he appeared before the army stationed there in consular regalia. He addressed them as a mistreated consul who had been unjustly deprived of a gift of the people by the senate, who thereby made a mockery of popular sovereignty. The army raised him up and declared their support. Cinna then administered an oath of loyalty for the officers and men. Following this, he travelled around Italian towns saying that he needed their support and that he had been attacked for his pro-Italian advocacy. Octavius and Merula acted to fortify the city.{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=175}}

[[Gaius Marius]], one of the Sullan exiles, returned to Italy and pledged his loyalty to Cinna. Cinna acknowledged Marius as proconsul but Marius scrupulously refused the title before drumming up support among the Italians and returning to Cinna's camp with some 6,000 men.{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=175}} The Senate and Octavius had ordered [[Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo|Pompey Strabo]] – a commander in the northern theatre of the Social war – to return to Rome and defend the city with his army. Encamped outside the city, he was not prepared to commit for either side before treating with both of them.{{sfn|Seager|1992|pp=175–76}} Cinna's forces then arrived and besieged the city. He led the main force opposite the [[Colline Gate]], with two detachments under Sertorius and Marius on the north and south of the city, respectively.{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=176}} Strabo eventually sided with Octavius; the Senate, seeking support, also ordered [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius]], who was in the field against the [[Samnites]], to make an honourable peace immediately and return to defend the city.{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=176}}

When Metellus negotiated with the Samnites, they demanded citizenship for themselves and all those who had fled to them, release of all war prisoners, and non-reciprocal return of all plunder. Metellus and the Senate refused; Cinna and Marius seized the opportunity and offered the concessions, gaining the Samnites as allies.{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=176}} After one of the military tribunes in Rome defected and opened the gates to the [[Janiculum]], Cinna and Marius' forces moved to storm the city; they were stopped by six cohorts from Strabo's army. Strabo, seeking to leverage his military forces into a second consulship, initiated secret negotiations with Cinna but soon died of plague.{{sfn|Seager|1992|pp=176–77}} Extending the siege, Cinna's forces fanned out across the countryside and cut Rome's food supply. The Senate then sent envoys to Cinna to negotiate a truce. Initially put off by Cinna's demand that they address him as consul, the Senate acquiesced on this point after Merula abdicated his consulship.{{sfn|Seager|1992|pp=177–78}}

==== Extra-legal killings ====
The envoys secured a promise from Cinna that he would not willingly kill anyone but his ally Marius silently stood behind his chair. Cinna then entered the city and promulgated a law recalling Marius and the Sullan exiles. A squadron of his cavalry, led by [[Gaius Marcius Censorinus (Marian)|Gaius Marcius Censorinus]] killed the consul Octavius, who had refused to flee. Censorinus then presented the consul's head to Cinna; this was the first time a consul's head was displayed as a prize to another Roman.{{sfn|Lovano|2002|p=47}}

Cinna and Marius then moved to purge some of their political opponents, [[Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo|Gaius]] and [[Lucius Julius Caesar (consul 90 BC)|Lucius Julius Caesar]] were killed without trial, along with [[Publius Licinius Crassus (consul 97 BC)|Publius Licinius Crassus]] and [[Marcus Antonius (orator)|Marcus Antonius]].{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=178}} Merula – the recently-abdicated suffect consul – and Marius' old rival, [[Quintus Lutatius Catulus (consul 102 BC)|Quintus Lutatius Catulus]], were brought up on trial before the people, possibly for usurpation of the consulship and ''perduellio'', respectively;{{sfn|Alexander|1990|pp=60–61}} they committed suicide before the verdict.<ref>{{harvnb|Seager|1992|p=178|ps,=, noting also that Merula was replaced as ''flamen Dialis'' by [[Julius Caesar|Gaius Julius Caesar]] (later consul in 59&nbsp;BC and dictator).}}</ref>

The killings were not broad across the political class and likely reflected Marius' grudges; nor were the victims then linked to Sulla.{{sfn|Seager|1992|p=178}} There is no evidence that the purge targeted the victim's families.{{sfn|Lovano|2002|p=49}} While later sources – including [[Cassius Dio|Dio]], [[Velleius Paterculus|Velleius]], [[Livy]], [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]], and [[Plutarch]] – claim that Cinna and Marius butchered and ravaged their way through the city for five days,<ref>{{harvnb|Lovano|2002|p=46 n. 72|ps=, citing Dio. 35.102; Vell. Pat. 2.22; Liv. ''Per.'' 80; Plut. ''Mar.'' 43.5–9.}}</ref> these claims are likely Sullan propaganda filtered through [[Memoirs of Sulla|Sulla's memoirs]]. Cicero, more contemporaneous and speaking to men who lived during the Cinnan regime, indicates that Cinna and Marius targeted only political enemies and did not threaten all of Rome's inhabitants or otherwise sack the city.{{sfn|Lovano|2002|p=46}}