Immediately after 33Cornelius Cinna’s ships left Italy, Cinna attempted to re-enact Sulpicius’ legislation only to meet armed resistance from his colleague Octavius. Forced to leave Rome and declared by the Senate to have forfeited his consulship, Cinna decided to resort to force. He recalled Marius and with an army raised from the new citizens whose cause he had championed together with some the troops Sulla had left behind to continue the siege at Nola, he marched on Rome. Meanwhile, Marius had landed and was raising an army in Etruria.
The Senate summoned Strabo to save the city. Cinna, advancing from the south, divided his army into three divisions led by himself, 08Papirius Carbo (fl.87-82 BC) and Quintus Sertorius (c.53; fl.105-72 BC). Marius, approaching from the north, seized Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber and took possession of the Janiculum on the north bank of the river opposite the city. Octavius led a raid across the Tiber and after fierce fighting both sides fell back to regroup. By the end of the year Strabo had died and Rome had fallen to Cinna and Marius.
Once in control they began a purge of their enemies. A force led by 10Marcius Censorinus (fl.87-82 BC) found and killed Octavius; and a second detachment commanded by 03Flavius Fimbria, son of 02Flavius Fimbria (cos.104 BC), brought about the death of 10Licinius Crassus (originally a supporter of Marius), though perhaps he died by his own hand. Other notable victims were Marcus Antonius (1) (cos.99 BC), 34Cornelius Merula, who had replaced Cinna as consul, and 02Lutatius Catulus, Marius’ old colleague.
Sulla and Marius made themselves consuls for 86 BC, but Marius died a natural death later that year. The next three years are called the dominatio Cinnae. Sulla was exiled and his laws repealed. Cinna replaced Marius with 13Valerius Flaccus (fl.100-85 BC), who carried the lex Valeria de aere alieno that cut debts by three-quarters, and chose 08Papirius Carbo as his colleague for 85 and 84 BC. In 86 BC the censors registered the new citizens throughout all the tribes, though perhaps this did not fully happen until 84 BC; a Senate decree of 87 BC allowed new citizens to vote.
Former insurgents were concentrated in a small number of tribes: the Frentani and Marrucini were placed in Arnensis, the Marsi and Paeligni in Sergia, and the Picentes in Fabia; of the Samnites the Pentri in Voltinia, most of the Hirpini in Galeria, and the people of Aeclanum into Cornelia.
The Social War led to a significant increase in the level of coin issuance at Rome, probably because of the large number of troops that had to be paid. The cost of the war was so great that the Romans had to resort to a debasement of silver denarius and bronze as. In 85 BC the praetors issued a bill that established a method to distinguish debased coinage from good money and remove it from circulation. This restored some stability to the state’s financial system. The importance of this measure can be gauged from the popularity that Marius (3) Gratidianus gained when he claimed sole credit for it.
In 84 BC it was becoming clear that Sulla would soon be returning to Italy with a victorious army, Cinna began to ship his army across the Adriatic Sea from Ancona (Marche) to Liburnia (Croatia), possibly to battle-harden his troops in a short campaign against Illyrian tribesmen before they met Sulla’s veterans. While trying to embark his troops during a particularly stormy period, they mutinied and killed him. The government was left in the hands of Carbo.
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