Lucius Cornelius Cinna - Invasion and Slaughter of Rome

Invasion and Slaughter of Rome

The first major battle of the conflict occurred at the Janiculum, where Octavius’ forces prevailed, but with heavy losses, including the general Pompeius Strabo. This demoralized Octavius’ army, but did not hinder the siege of Cinna and Marius, further weakening Rome. Eventually, after various skirmishes around the outskirts of Rome, negotiators secured Cinna’s assurance that he would not “willingly cause anyone’s death on reentering Rome”. Thus, in late 87 BC, Cinna was reinstated as consul and the armies reentered the city. As Cinna and his bodyguard entered, however, Marius refused to enter Rome until his exile was officially repealed. The Senate quickly began to vote to approve this, but before it finished, Marius had given up all pretense and entered the city with his bodyguard, the Bardyiae. This unit consisted of Marius’ slaves who killed at Marius’ orders. Marius, according to the ancient historians, filled the city with blood, slaughtering anyone who remotely supported Sulla, had a lot of property, or was a personal enemy of Marius. These claims are most likely exaggerated, as they do not appear in Sulla’s memoirs, a source that would seem biased against Marius. These seem to appear later, but all agree that Cinna distanced himself from the indiscriminate slaughter, ordering only the deaths of Octavius and others who were direct political threats.

Eventually, “Cinna had had enough of murder”, and he and Quintus Sertorius, a general who supported Marius and later governed Spain, had their troops ambush the sleeping Bardyiae, ending their reign of terror. Soon after this, in 86 BC, Marius and Cinna were reelected for consulship. Seventeen days after attaining his much sought seventh consulship, Marius died. This began the era many historians have termed the “Dominatio Cinnae” (Domination of Cinna).