The new consul L. Cornelius Cinna quickly introduced legislation to enroll the new citizens among all 35 tribes. His colleague, Cn. Octavius, led the resistance; during a bloody riot in the Forum, Octavius’ armed gangs drove Cinna from the City. A cowed Senate declared Cinna’s consulship forfeit, and Octavius had him replaced with L. Cornelius Merula, the flamen dialis - the priest of Iuppiter, so encumbered with religious taboo as to be unable to conduct public business. Cinna proceeded to Nola, where a legion Sulla had left behind accepted him as rightful consul. Conducting levies throughout Italy, he recruited an army from the newly enfranchised and, in summer 87, laid siege to Rome. Hearing the news, Marius returned from Africa, gathered volunteers - many of them serfs and slaves - in Etruria, and systematically cut the City off from all supplies. The Senate summoned Pompeius Strabo from Picenum, only to find that he had secret deals with Cinna in hope of a second consulship. A sought-for alliance with the Samnites failed when the Senate rejected their demand for citizenship; in turn, Cinna and Marius readily agreed. By the fall, famine and disease ravaged Rome, and when Pompeius died, his army disintegrated. Bypassing Octavius, senators arranged terms of surrender with Cinna in November. Merula cooperated by abdicating, thus smoothing Cinna’s reinstatement as consul; a vote of the People formally lifted Marius’ declaration as a public enemy. Making a last show of defiance while their forces entered Rome, Octavius was cut down (Diod. Sic. 38/39.1-4; App. B Civ. 64-70; Gran. Lic. 35.1-50 Criniti).46
The two leaders now agreed to eliminate some of their opponents. The most prominent were former friends of Marius who had abandoned him: M. Antonius (consul 99), C. Caesar Strabo, and L. Caesar (consul 90), all killed outright; Catulus committed suicide (as did Merula). The immediate death toll probably did not much exceed the 14 victims known by name, but gangs of marauding slaves spread anarchy over the City, until Cinna had them rounded up and executed: the experience no doubt helped shape later allegations of a ‘‘Marian massacre.’’ For 86, Cinna announced himself and Marius as consuls, in an election with no other candidates allowed. Sulla was declared a public enemy, his acts annulled, and his house razed.47
Marius died on January 13, 86, in his seventh consulship. Cinna had himself reelected consul for 85 and 84, both times with Cn. Papirius Carbo. Other than measures to stabilize the currency and cancel three-quarters of all debts, we know little of Cinna’s policy. Immediate family and some friends joined Sulla in the East, but there was no exodus of respectable senators; loathsome though it was to many, they could live with Cinna’s regime and hope for the res publica to recover. Nor was Cinna in complete control: the Senate showed considerable independence in dealing with Sulla in those years.48
Marius’ replacement as consul, L. Valerius Flaccus, arrived in Greece in fall 86 with instructions to fight Mithridates - in cooperation with Sulla, should he prove amenable. Evidently, it was hoped that the past unpleasantries could still be settled peacefully. Sulla meanwhile recaptured Greece from the Pontic armies; with Flaccus he made no contact. The latter crossed to Asia, where one of his officers, C. Flavius Fimbria, murdered him and seized command. Fimbria vigorously campaigned against Mithridates, on one occasion nearly capturing him - but for Sulla’s quaestor, L. Licinius Lucullus, who refused to assist. Instead, in fall 85, Sulla concluded peace with Mithridates in the treaty of Dardanus, on spectacularly lenient terms. The king withdrew from Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Roman Asia, but was confirmed in undiminished possession of his ancestral realm; he paid an indemnity of 2,000 talents (48 million sesterces), and was recognized as a Roman ally. Thus Sulla gained freedom of action vis-a-vis the government in Rome. He immediately moved against Fimbria, whose troops chose not to fight; Fimbria committed suicide.
Sulla stayed in Asia until 84, presenting the province with the bill for defecting and cheering the massacre of Romans and Italians in 88: the crushing sum of 20,000 talents, payable at once by those cities that had sided with the king, in addition to housing and paying Sulla’s troops during the winter (at 50 times their normal rate). A handful of cities had kept faith with Rome: they were exempt, and rewarded with privileges and territory (Plut. Sull. 11-25; Luc. 3; App. Mith. 30-63).49
Still in 85, Sulla wrote to the Senate, announcing his intention to return and punish those who had wronged him; others need not worry. News of the peace of Dardanus had already prompted fears that he might not shrink from full-blown civil war, and Cinna and Carbo were raising money, troops, and political support in Italy. The princeps senatus, however, L. Valerius Flaccus (consul 100), prevailed on the Senate to give Sulla a conciliatory response, in effect offering him safe return if he would let bygones be bygones; the consuls meanwhile were instructed to halt their mobilization. They complied; but understanding the need for seasoned troops in case diplomacy should fail, Cinna launched an unpopular campaign in Dalmatia early in 84. Soldiers slew him at Ancona. Carbo tried again to mobilize in Italy, but was recalled to Rome to elect another colleague; prohibitive omens, though, prevented that. His control was slipping.
Sulla responded to the Senate that with his army he could better effect their safety and happiness than they could his; but if he was restored to his rank and property, he would not take matters further. On reaching Brundisium, his own envoys learned of
Cinna’s death and Carbo’s troubles, and seeing the government in disarray, they immediately returned to alert him to these developments; he promptly prepared to invade Italy (Plut. Sull. 11-25; Luc. 3; App. Mith. 30-63).50
Thus the attempt to stave off war by negotiating and not mobilizing - lest it provoke the adversary to strike before he was ready - had its deserved result. Hasty levies now commenced throughout Italy, and by Senate decree, the new citizens were assured of equal registration in all 35 tribes.51 The consuls of 83, C. Norbanus, a ‘‘new man’’ and old Marian, and L. Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus, noblest of nobles, symbolized how all of Rome, and all of Italy, stood against the invader; but such resolve was brittle - Sulla’s army towered above the Senate’s levies in experience of combat and of victory, as everybody knew.
Landing at Brundisium in the spring of 83, Sulla defeated Norbanus, then entered peace talks with Scipio while encouraging his troops to fraternize; soon the consul's entire army went over to Sulla.52 The government never recovered from this opening double blow. Cn. Pompeius, age 23, son of the consul of 89 and biggest landlord in Picenum, raised a private army from his father's veterans and tenants, and offered his services to Sulla, who greeted him as imperator. Soon others flocked to Sulla’s headquarters - ‘‘ruffians and intriguers’’ for the most part,53 but also men of substance who lent respectability to the enterprise, like young M. Licinius Crassus, Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius (son of Numidicus), and L. Marcius Philippus, the consul of 91 who had broken Livius Drusus. During the winter, Sulla assured the peoples of Italy (except the Samnites) that he would leave untouched their citizenship and voting rights, thus eliminating a major incentive to fight against him. The election of C. Marius the Son (age 26) as consul for 82, along with Carbo, was a blatant attempt to rally the new citizens; to little avail. He was beaten near Praeneste and bottled up therein, and Sulla now took Rome. When his lieutenants gained victories in the north and in Etruria, desertion grew rampant among the government’s forces; soon, Samnite levies provided its most reliable units. (Sulla killed all Samnite prisoners: App. B Civ. 87, 93-4.) In a last-ditch effort to relieve Marius in Praeneste, an army of Samnites and Lucanians marched on Rome, and was utterly destroyed on November 1, 82, in the battle at the Colline Gate; Crassus deserves much of the credit. Praeneste soon surrendered; young Marius committed suicide. Pompeius captured Carbo near Sicily and put him to death before year’s end. The First Civil War was over - at least in Italy.
World History
