When Sulla left, Cinna proceeded to reintroduce Sulpicius' redistribution bill about the new citizens. In the inevitable battle in the Forum, the Italian forces, on whom Cinna was relying, lost to the urban proletariat. The other consul, Cn. Octavius, protected the existing order, and the Senate declared Cinna a public enemy.
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Cinna imitated Sulla and retaliated by raising an army in the south. He went the rounds of Latium and Campania, calling back the disgruntled ex-allies to arms, and he persuaded a Roman army to join with the Italians over whom it was standing guard at Capua. Meanwhile, Marius, who had landed in Etruria with another unofficial force recruited among his old soldiers in Africa, was swelling his numbers with slaves from the neighbouring estates [6]. They met and for the second time, Rome was marched on by a Roman army.
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The re-entry of Cinna and Marius into Rome proved terrible. Marius, maddened by hate, initiated a bloodbath in a desire for vengeance against those whom he believed had wrecked his career from spite. The leading members of the nobility, including Octavius, were systematically put to death and their heads were exhibited in the Forum. After five days, even Cinna was disgusted and turned his more disciplined troops upon Marius' men and destroyed them [7]. Sulla was formally exiled and his laws repealed [8], and Marius was voted to replace Sulla as commander in the east [9]. Finally, Marius and Cinna were then declared consuls for 86: “Cinna then entered upon his second consulship, and Marius upon his seventh, only to bring dishonour upon his former six” [10]. A few days later, Marius fell ill and died, leaving Cinna at the helm.
from http://janusquirinus.org/
The ensuing three years (86-84 BCE) were a period of tranquillity and Cinna, with his consular colleagues Flaccus and Carbo, restored ordered government in Italy. He gained the co-operation of the equites and the plebs by financial reforms, and of the Senate because, unconstitutional though some of Cinna's actions might have been, he was still the leader of the legitimate government [11]. A measure cancelled three-quarters of all outstanding debts, on a far more generous scale than in Sulla's recent law; the old official exchange-rates of silver and gold were reasserted under an edict by Marius Gratidianus, the nephew of Marius; and a better system of control over the moneyers' operations. While the last reform was of special benefit to the moneyers, it was also good for the plebs, which had suffered from the recent uncertainty of Roman coin-values [12].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
But the greatest achievement of Cinna was the final settlement of the citizenship question. Censors were elected for 86 to carry out the registration of the new citizens. At last the new citizens received justice: they were distributed throughout the thirty-five tribes, and by 84, they were registered in all the thirty-five tribes, as Sulpicius had enacted [13].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
Still, Rome and Italy lived under the shadow of another civil war. Over all loomed the shadow of Sulla. Cinna was apparently ready for compromise, for a policy of concordia, but when in 86 his consular colleague, Flaccus, was sent to the East against Mithridates, although according to some, Sulla agreed to refrain from attacking Flaccus [14], Sulla refused to cooperate further [15].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
Meanwhile, Sulla was victorious in the Greece, including Athens, the main Mithridatic outpost on the mainland, he pillaged the area, including the nearby Delphi, and he made peace with Mithridates. In exchange for surrender of his conquests and support for Sulla with money and supplies, Sulla granted Mithridates territory and recognition as an ally [16]. However, he razed to the ground many cities that helped Mithridates massacre the Romans and others were deprived of part of their territory [17]. He re-established the integrity of provinces and kingdoms in the area [18], levied an indemnity on the province of Asia for the costs of the war and made them pay the five years' lost taxes. He solidified the loyalty of his troops by quartering them on the cities and coerced the cities into pampering them with “luxury bordered on the regal” while the soldiers collected the indemnity [19].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
The Senate started to become frightened and tried to negotiate with Sulla. Cinna, on the other hand, was ready to face the risk of war. To spare Italy further civil war at home, he would, if necessary, face Sulla in Greece. He shipped some troops across the Adriatic, but his other men mutinied and killed him (84 BCE). On hearing of Cinna's death, Sulla broke off negotiations with the Senate. In 83 BCE, Sulla landed with 40, 000 men at Brundisium and the Roman civil wars began in earnest [20].
from http://janusquirinus.org/
continue to Marius and Sulla: Civil War...
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