The Bellum Octavianum (Latin for "War of Octavius") was a Roman republican civil war fought in 87 BC between the two consuls of that year, Gnaeus Octavius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna . Cinna was victorious by late 87 BC.
119-675: Hostilities broke out after Octavius opposed Cinna's attempts to distribute the Italian citizens enfranchised after the Social War into all voting tribes and to recall the outlawed Gaius Marius from exile. Cinna was ejected from the city after a fight in the Forum . He began touring Italy to recruit men, while the Senate in Rome replaced him with Lucius Cornelius Merula , a priest of Jupiter, in
238-486: A "supreme effort" on both sides. For example, Appian reports the need for soldiers was so great that freedmen were for the first time inducted into the army. Edward Bispham, in a Companion to Roman Italy , notes that the republic "never minted more silver denarii than during the conflict", indicating the financial strain imposed on the Roman state in supplying and paying for an unprecedented number of troops. Devastation of
357-413: A Cinnan bill to recall those exiled by Sulla, this brought him into conflict with Octavius. Octavius secured a majority of the tribunes to veto Cinna's distribution and recall bills, which started a riot attacking the tribunes and itself may have triggered a senatus consultum ultimum . After an incident between the two consuls' supporters turned violent – Octavius' supporters allegedly massacred some of
476-491: A confusing non-chronological account. Livy's summaries indicate that Livy wrote chronologically, but the details of the original Livian volumes are lost. Other sources such as Diodorus (via Photius), Florus, and Velleius Paterclus recount events non-chronologically. There were two main theatres of the war, with one in the north and one in the south. There also was an abortive attempt to incite rebellion in Etruria and Umbria, but
595-508: A consulship the next year. The Romans retained the initiative and by 88 BC, the conflict was largely over and Roman attention had been captured by the ongoing First Mithridatic War . The few Italian rebels on the field by 87 BC eventually reached a negotiated settlement during a short civil war that year. At various stages of the war, Romans brought legislation allowing Italian towns to elect Roman citizenship if they had not revolted or would otherwise put down arms, draining support from
714-530: A federal structure; this position was accepted in the first edition of the Cambridge Ancient History in 1932. Later reconstructions have interjected popular elements à la the Roman comitia centuriata . But others, such as Mouritsen, have taken a more critical eye at the evidence and viewed the Italian magistrates and senate as a more formally federal structure without direct popular involvement. Mouritsen reads from Livy's description of
833-550: A fortnight he was dead. Cinna survived the following years, securing his own iterative re-election through to 84 BC. Replacing Marius as his consular colleague was first Lucius Valerius Flaccus and then Gnaeus Papirius Carbo . Flaccus was dispatched within the year to Greece to fight Mithridates and assume command over Sulla. The Cinnan regime started provisions for a census, which was conducted in 86 BC by Lucius Marcius Philippus and Marcus Perperna . They registered, however, only some 463,000 citizens, which meant most of
952-429: A long series of secret negotiations between the Italian states, of which Rome was ignorant. The Romans were likely aware of some kind of unrest, even if they did not know of its scope. This is evidenced by Roman garrisons being captured at the start of the war in unfriendly cities. It is likely those garrisons had been dispatched before the start of the war to strategically important locations. Already by late 91 BC,
1071-759: A massive force over the winter, allowing the consuls of 90 BC to depart for war immediately. All consuls and praetors that year were assigned to Italy; the provincial governors at the start of the war had their terms continuously prorogued . According to the summary of Livy, Livy included tables of the Latin and foreign communities that sent auxiliaries to join the Romans. Modern estimates of Roman manpower exceed 140,000, split between fourteen legions (two for each consul and one each for ten legates). Rome also conscripted ships and mercenaries from its overseas allies; two triremes , for example, were taken from Heraclea Pontica on
1190-690: A perceived alternative tradition which has the Italian allies rebelling against Roman hegemony and encroachment on allied lands. The massive expansion of the citizenship that followed the Social War remained a politically-charged topic, especially in terms of how they would be allocated into voting blocks. Disputes over enfranchisement played a role in Sulla's march on Rome in 88 BC to depose plebeian tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus . Fears of Sulla rolling back hard-won Italian rights contributed to resistance during Sulla's civil war . The conflict also blurred
1309-484: A personal enemy, was put on trial but killed himself before conviction. Cinna and Marius had themselves elected consuls; their faction dominated Italy until Sulla's civil war in 83 BC. The main question in Roman politics of the year 88 BC was how the new citizens – the Italians who had accepted Roman citizenship in place due to the Social War – should be enfranchised. Under the lex Julia of 90 BC
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#17327652919921428-404: A plebeian tribune to prosecute Sulla and prevent him from leaving Italy. This failed as Sulla ignored the tribune's demands that he return to Rome and was regardless immune from prosecution due to his proconsular imperium ; he departed rapidly for the war on Mithridates . Cinna also renewed calls for the new Italian citizens to be distributed among the existing thirty-five tribes. Along with
1547-555: A political tactic either to distinguish between free and slave or as an anachronism interjected by his brother Gaius to legitimate Gaius' reform agenda some ten years later. Attempts to actually grant citizenship started in 125 BC with a proposal by Marcus Fulvius Flaccus . Gaius Gracchus is said to have brought similar proposals. These attempts were largely brought because Roman tribunes and magistrates believed that granting citizenship could be traded for Italian elites acquiescing over occupied public lands. Appian similarly frames
1666-410: A provincial who had been granted citizenship by Pompey . Citizenship was linked to territories: a person who received Roman citizenship gave up their local citizenship; losing local citizenship and living outside of Roman territory meant a local reduction in socio-economic status. The "Italian question" refers to the relationship between Rome and her Italian allies. It is still not entirely clear what
1785-475: A real power-sharing arrangement where magistracies and senatorial seats were to be set aside for the Latins in proportion to military contributions. If the Italians had similar aims in 91 BC, they would have been incompatible with a centralised Roman state and the supremacy of Rome's urban elite. However, beyond Diodorus' summarised description of the Italian government, there few other sources which describe
1904-479: A relatively uniform quattorvirate of city magistrates and more rarely with a duovirate . The dating of this municipalisation process is not entirely straightforward: the formation of the quattorvirates likely dates to the Cinnanum tempus ; a uniform and generalised lex municipalis came only during the time of Caesar and Augustus. One of the main issues in 88 BC (the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla )
2023-625: A tiny remnant of his military forces. He refused to escape when Gaius Marcius Censorinus and a small cavalry force stormed the Janiculum, capturing him. Octavius was then beheaded by Censorinus who took his head to Cinna, before nailing it to the Rostra . Octavius was said to have held to strict principles in his politics and was known for his honesty. Plutarch , who discusses him in his lives of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla , describes Gnaeus Octavius's character as "reputable". Unfortunately, he
2142-633: A triumph on 25 December over Asculum and Picenum. Strabo, however, infamously refused to give any of the plunder to the state, even though the public treasury was empty. Further legislation was enacted to extend the citizenship with the passage of the lex Plautia Papiria (though the Samnites and Lucanians, still under arms, were excepted). New legislation was also brought by Pompey Strabo to incorporate new colonies in Transpadane Gaul with Latin rights. The reorganisation of Italy also required
2261-429: Is highly anachronistic. For writers in the imperial period, Roman citizenship was highly desirable. Those writers then retrojected that desirability onto the Italians who lived centuries before their time. His analysis of the evidence also concludes that before the Social War, there was little agitation for citizenship, multiple citizenships still being invalid, which would have been incompatible with local autonomy. As to
2380-532: Is not widely accepted since the Italians who were most exposed to the Greek East were not those who led the revolt and had to be coerced into joining it. Similarly, A N Sherwin-White believed that the Italians wanted Roman citizenship to secure legal equality. Less convincingly, D B Nagle argued that economic factors could explain the start of the war. Henrik Mouritsen, in the influential 1998 book Italian Unification , argues that Appian's citizenship narrative
2499-588: The First Mithridatic War . A scrupulously religious man, Octavius kept his oath. Octavius was not a natural supporter of Sulla; he disliked both Sulla's march on Rome , as well as Sulla's personal vendetta against Gaius Marius which resulted in Marius's exile. However, he was a conservative member of the Senate, and was distrustful of Cinna's popularist programme. These political differences saw
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#17327652919922618-637: The Italian War or the Marsic War , was fought largely from 91 to 88 BC between the Roman Republic and several of its autonomous allies ( socii ) in Italy . Some of the allies held out until 87 BC. The war started in late 91 BC, with the rebellion of Asculum . Other Italian towns quickly declared for the rebels and the Roman response was initially confused. By the new year,
2737-587: The Latin War (when Rome's Latin allies rebelled c. 340 BC ) possible hints for the lost portions of Livy's narrative on the Social War. Because much of Livy's work on early history has long been recognised to be anachronistic, Mouritsen believes that the narrative on the Latin War may anachronistically reflect Social War-era realities. In the Livian Latin War, the Latin allies demanded
2856-519: The Marsi when his undertrained men were routed during the crossing. After this battle, when the huge number of bodies returned to Rome caused a panic, the senate decreed that war dead should in the future be buried on the field. In this same engagement, Gaius Marius , another of Rutilius' legates and hero of the Cimbric wars , was able to pull off a decisive victory by forcing the river when alerted to
2975-490: The Second Punic War . With each victory, the Romans demanded and received from the Italians a latent title to lands the Italians still occupied. For centuries, Roman claims on those lands were unenforced. After the start of the land reform process in 133 BC with Tiberius Gracchus 's lex Sempronia , Italians started to complain about Roman magistrates illegally encroaching on their land holdings; in 129 BC,
3094-604: The Second Punic war after the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, the defectors were defeated and harsh terms applied. Over time, the Romans started to interfere in the internal affairs of their allies, though historians differ as to its extent. For example, when the senate acted to suppress the Bacchanalia in 186 BC, historians differ as to whether this applied only to Roman land or was extended extraterritorially to
3213-477: The Black Sea and returned eleven years later. The initial Italian offensive struck in late 91 and early 90 BC. It was clearly planned with full knowledge of typical Roman strategy and operations. There was a policy of mercy toward pro-Roman combatants in the southern theatre commanded by Gaius Papius Mutilus ; the war also assumed a "distinctive character" in the extent to which Roman soldiers defected to
3332-500: The Cinnans executed their plan to starve the city out. Marius took Antium , Aricia , Lanuvium , and other towns, while Cinna moved down the via Appia to secure foodstuffs. The troops under Octavius attempted to hand Metellus the command, but Metellus refused to infringe on the consul's rights. Metellus attempted to negotiate with Cinna; Octavius objected and Metellus then fled the city for Africa. While Marius continued to tighten
3451-527: The Italian allies were fighting for. There are two threads in the ancient accounts: one depicting the struggle as one for Roman citizenship and another as one against Roman domination. Edward Bispham, writing in the 2016 Companion to Roman Italy , concludes that "it seems certain that the Social War is best understood as a revolt from Rome" but synthesises the approaches in that the desires for citizenship and independence are themselves expressions of an underlying desire for equality and freedom, inside or outside
3570-505: The Italian coalition's internal politics or offices. Instead, they refer to various tribal and ethnic leaders without distinction of office. Florus , for example, mentions no Italian senate or magistrates, but instead says that the Italians served each under their own standards. Coinage, along with Livy, seem to refer to a number of imperatores ( Oscan sg. embratur ), which may have been appointed by each ethnic group. They did not seem to have been replaced after death in battle, implying
3689-674: The Italians still controlled large tracts of territory. The Italians reorganised around Quintus Poppaedius Silo and designated him supreme commander; according to Diodorus, Silo command a force of some 50,000 men, which would have been hopelessly insufficient to fight the Romans. Regardless, Silo was able to reverse Roman advances in Samnium and also recapture Bovianum. He then crossed the Apennines and engaged Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius in Apulia, where his forces were badly defeated and Silo
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3808-536: The Italians to transfer their capital to Bovianum . The Romans also subjugated the Vestini and the Marrucini . By summer, the Romans had pacified the northern theatre, except for Asculum, which was still under siege. Rome also took the offensive in the south. Sulla, commanding an army and supported by a fleet, besieged Nola and took Pompeii , defeating an attempt to relieve the cities by Lucius Cluentius . After
3927-405: The Italians to war. Mouritsen writes of the court, "such stab-in-the-back theories are plausible only when no other explanation is at hand; apparently the Romans did not see any direct connection between the franchise question and the outbreak of the war". It is possible that in the early winter of 90 BC there was an abortive attempt to negotiate a peace before fighting started; if it occurred,
4046-567: The Italians went to war to secure the citizenship and legal equality denied to them in peace. The most convincing theme which Appian presents, however, is an Italian desire for political equality: he says the Italians aspired to be "partners in rule rather than subjects". However, it is likely that poor and rich Italians sought different goals: poorer Italians were likely seeking freedom from unfair treatment by Roman magistrates; it would have been their richer compatriots that would benefit from direct access to Roman politics. More modern versions of
4165-503: The Italians were in Campania and Picenum. In Campania, Mutilus took Nola , Herculaneum , and Salernum , before being stopped at Acerrae from advancing on Capua. In Picenum, Gaius Vidacilius , Titus Lafrenius , and one Publius Ventidius defeated Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo and forced him into Firmum . Vidacilius took the opportunity then to advance into down the eastern Italian coast into Apulia, taking Canusium . Aesernia fell later in
4284-545: The Italians. For example, when Nola was captured, the Italians were able to induce the defection of most of the Roman soldiers (the officers refused and were starved to death). In the initial offensive, the colony of Aesernia was put under prolonged siege: the consul Lucius Julius Caesar moved to break it but was unsuccessful; the Romans suffered further reverses, losing Venafrum , Grumentum in Lucania, and suffering defeat near Alba Fucens . The most important victories for
4403-595: The Latin alphabet. On the whole, Italian tribes and peoples on the eve of the Social war still held themselves distinct from Rome, just as they had in previous centuries. Also importantly, before the 1st century AD, it was not possible for a person to hold more than one citizenship. Nor, before the empire , were allied soldiers granted Roman citizenship at the close of their service. For example, Cicero deliberately contrasts Italic single citizenship against Greek multiple citizenship in his speech for Lucius Cornelius Balbus ,
4522-443: The Latins deserting Rome, the balance of military power would shift into the Italians' favour. After secret negotiations, the Italians then launched their bid to throw off Roman hegemony. As evidenced by the destruction of Fregellae after an attempted revolt in 125 BC, it was an enormous risk to rebel against Rome. The Italians, in planning their war, would have to form reliable alliances secured with hostages. Appian describes
4641-586: The Marian forces took the Janiculum , but they were repulsed by Octavius and Strabo, with Octavius suffering serious losses. These losses and the sudden death of Strabo soon after saw Octavius's army become increasingly demoralized. He lost 6,000 troops in the battle, while Strabo had lost some 11,000, both through the fighting and a plague that was running through his army. Due to the fear of famine in Rome, Octavius joined his men to Strabo's units, positioned outside
4760-514: The Marsi attempted to support the rebellions in Etruria and Umbria. The two consuls moved to intercept the Marsi, who were commanded by Titus Vettius Scato . Strabo defeated the Marsi near Asculum, forcing them into retreat across the snowy mountains. Cato, taking command from Marius, defeated the Marsi near the Fucine lake, but was himself killed in battle. It is likely that Cato was killed early in
4879-549: The Marsic war; Velleius Paterculus , Asconius Pedianus , and Julius Obsequens call it the bellum Italicum . An official senatus consultum dated to 22 May 78 BC calls it bellum Italicum and the Augustan-era fasti consulares call it bellum Marsicum . The Italian peninsula during the second century BC was dominated by the Roman Republic , which was allied in a collection of bilateral treaties with
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4998-470: The Roman political system. Appian 's Civil Wars is the main source for much of this period. It provides three themes for the Italians: support for agrarian reform, votes for land, and demands for political equality. According to Appian, the agrarian reforms of Tiberius Gracchus were meant to support the Italians. However, there is no good evidence to verify this claim and most historians reject it as
5117-423: The Romans had levied huge armies to crush the rebels but found initial headway difficult; by the end of the year, however, they were able to cut the Italian rebels into two, isolating them into northern and southern sectors. The Italian rebels attempted to invade Etruria and Umbria at the start of 89 BC but were defeated. In the south, they were defeated by Lucius Cornelius Sulla , who for his victories would win
5236-400: The Romans had sent praetors with levied troops around the peninsula to investigate rumours of a plot. But by the time the investigations completed (or as a result of those investigations), the war had started. Regardless, preparations for a revolt likely were brewing before Drusus' tribunate in 91 BC. At the outbreak of the war, the Italians levied forces and formed up armies to oppose
5355-476: The Romans moved quickly and brutally to suppress it. The northern theatre was centred on Asculum (in the lands of the Piceni and Marsi) with the southern theatre in Samnium, Lucania, Apulia, and Campania. The immediate reaction in Rome to the rebellion was one of confusion. After the war's start, Quintus Varius Hybrida , then a plebeian tribune, set up a permanent court searching around for conspirators who incited
5474-418: The Romans openly, the Italians revolted as one. This sequence is at odds with Appian's account, which paints Asculum as rioting in late 91 BC in response to Marcus Livius Drusus ' assassination in Rome and Roman prosecution of Italian allies. In this narrative, Drusus, whose political star was waning since the death of his influential supporter Lucius Licinius Crassus , had his legislation invalidated by
5593-537: The Romans. To have done this so quickly, agreements must have been reached on power-sharing and command before the outbreak of the war. According to Photius' summary of Diodorus Siculus , which is accepted by most modern scholars, the Italians established at Corfinium a new capital with a forum and five-hundred-man senate. The senate then appointed two consuls and twelve praetors, dividing them evenly between northern and southern fronts (with Italian consuls Quintus Poppaedius Silo and Gaius Papius Mutilus assigned to
5712-503: The Samnites a number of wars during the conquest of Italy; even afterwards, these allies retained their cohesiveness, having defected from Rome as a single bloc during the Second Punic war. Romanisation through to the second century proceeded with considerable heterogeneity: in Apulia and Samnium, Latin influence was largely absent in both the archaeological and literary sources, while in Marsic lands inscriptions indicate adoption of
5831-404: The Senate and induced them to declare Marius, Marius' son , Sulpicius, and nine others outlaws. Condemned to death without trial, the exiles all successfully fled the city (except Sulpicius who was betrayed and killed). Sulpicus' laws were invalidated on the basis that they were passed by force, restoring Sulla to the command against Mithridates and annulling the distribution of new citizens among
5950-576: The Senate began preparing Rome to withstand a siege, whilst sending out appeals to the various promagistrates to come to the assistance of the Senate. Pompeius Strabo was initially unwilling to cooperate with Octavius, but eventually moved his troops to the vicinity of Rome, just outside the Colline Gate. When Cinna and Marius began their siege of Rome. Strabo, who was playing a double game with both Octavius and Cinna, attempted to convince Octavius to enter into negotiations with Cinna. An attack by
6069-431: The Senate sent envoys to address Cinna on his consular tribunal. Asked to forswear killing on entrance to the city, Cinna refused but indicated that he would not cause anyone's death while Marius stood silently beside him. The two men were invited to enter the city but Marius refused and cited his exile. Cinna's first action after entering the city was to bring legislation overturning all of Sulla's exiles; Marius then entered
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#17327652919926188-474: The Social War and other prior conflicts. In the face of resistance to his controversial proposal, Sulpicius assembled street mobs that – in a brawl – killed the consul Pompeius' son and drove both of the consuls from the city. Plutarch claims that Pompeius was deprived of his consulship though this is doubtful. More concretely, Sulpicius passed legislation depriving Sulla of his command against Mithridates and illegally assigned it to his old rival, Gaius Marius , who
6307-421: The Social war itself, were merely to expand the number of tribes and to allot the Italians to those new tribes. This solution was also elegantly traditional: Rome's tribes had in the past been adduced to represent citizens living in new territories, though the last time this had been done was in 242 BC. Plans were made to create possibly two or eight new tribes, pursuant to the lex Julia , which would deprive
6426-416: The allies also redrew the political and legal maps of Italy. In place of the former sovereign and autonomous Italian communities, there was a sea of Roman citizen municipia . Municipal constitutions dating from time immemorial over the next decades were replaced by laws and charters passed under the auspices of the comitia in Rome. The varying magistrates of the Italian city-states were largely replaced by
6545-472: The allies" (from Latin socius , meaning "ally"). Today, the name is used more generally in classics scholarship to refer to any war between allies. The name bellum sociale was first used in the second century AD by the historian Florus , and only became common during the imperial period. The Romans of the time called it the Marsic war named for the Marsi , an Italian tribe located east of Rome who during
6664-602: The allies' protests. Their anger increased when the law passed over their objections and Rome started seizing allied lands; the allies therefore started preparations for an insurrection by late summer 91 BC. Amid this distrust, Drusus was blamed for breaking down relations with the allies, which led to a confrontation between Drusus and the consul, Lucius Marcius Philippus , in the senate some time in September. Rome responded to these rumours of Italian unrest by sending garrison forces into Italy, which explains their capture at
6783-538: The allies. By the time of the Social War, the allies were mainly located in the following regions: two northern ones (Etruria and Umbria) and more further south (Lucania, Apulia, and Magna Graecia). As far back as the fifth century, the Oscan and Umbrian-speaking communities in southern Italy had formed a flexible confederal league; the most powerful of these were the Samnites and Lucanians . The Romans had fought with
6902-562: The army for the first time. With a collapsing northern front and the division of the Italians into two, Italian defeat became largely inevitable. The Italians attempted opening negotiations, inviting Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus to invade, but Mithridates responded equivocally. As Rome started to gain the upper hand, the senate decreed some time around October that consul Lucius Julius Caesar should bring legislation allowing any Italian community that had not revolted or otherwise promptly laid down their arms to elect Roman citizenship. This
7021-529: The army with new levies, depriving the soldiers of the expected booty from the East, he led the army toward Rome while all of his officers deserted him (save Lucullus ). The military tribunes which Marius sent to assume command were killed and a later set of envoys from the Senate assaulted. With Rome defenceless, Sulla marched into the city amid a storm of popular outrage. His men, shamed by the citizenry, almost broke before Sulla urged them on personally. Sulla called
7140-679: The capture of Pompeii, Sulla quickly took Stabiae and Herculaneum by June. Sulla then moved into Samnium, subjugating the Hirpini and giving gentle terms, before taking Bovianum by September after a bitter struggle, forcing the Italians to move their capital again to Aesernia (now under their full control). That year, Sulla stood for and won the consulship of 88 BC, with Quintus Pompeius Rufus as his colleague. Asculum surrendered in November 89 BC after its commander, Vidacilius, committed suicide. For this victory, Pompey Strabo celebrated
7259-539: The chaos that accompanied the capture of Rome by Cinna and Gaius Marius . Gnaeus Octavius was a member of the Plebeian gens Octavia . His father, also called Gnaeus Octavius , was Consul in 128 BC, while his uncle, Marcus Octavius , was a key figure in opposition to the reforms of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC. He was a third cousin to Gaius Octavius , father of the future emperor Augustus . Although he had failed to be elected aedile , in around 90 BC, Octavius
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#17327652919927378-464: The citizenship thesis have been advanced by Emilio Gabba, arguing that Italian commercial classes (the publicani ) drove romanisation in an attempt to share in the rewards of empire. The exalted position of Italian businessmen in the provinces may have absolved their status inferiority at home; combined with a desire to influence Roman provincial policy, they may have sought to secure their business rights by becoming Roman citizens. This thesis, however,
7497-547: The city for Greece. While later sources – including Dio , Velleius , Livy , Diodorus , and Plutarch – claim that Cinna and Marius butchered and ravaged their way through the city for five days, these claims are likely Sullan propaganda filtered through 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
7616-488: The city. At the end of the year, Cinna and Marius presented themselves before the comitia centuriata as the only candidates for the consulship and were duly returned in irregular elections. Inaugurated at the start of 86 BC, this was Marius' seventh consulship. On his first day as consul he ordered one former tribune thrown from the Tarpeian Rock . He started planning for his Mithridatic campaign but within
7735-426: The city. Cinna's lieutenants Quintus Sertorius and Papirius Carbo fought inconclusively against Octavius and Strabo near the Janiculum . After Strabo died of natural causes, his troops defected to Cinna, forcing the consul Octavius to sue for peace. Cinna and Marius entered Rome. They killed a number of their opponents and arraigned others in manipulated trials. Octavius was killed; Merula committed suicide; Catulus,
7854-406: The city. Octavius, refusing to flee the city, was then killed on his curule chair set up in the Janiculum; his head was then cut off and displayed on the forum. After his victory, Cinna sought to punish those who had acted contrary to law. Marius, however, pursued his personal and political enemies. Among them were Gaius and Lucius Julius Caesar , Publius Licinius Crassus and his son, along with
7973-556: The consulship. Cinna took control of the Roman army stationed at Nola and was joined by the exiled Marius. Octavius won the support of the two other Roman generals in the field in Italy, Metellus Pius and Pompeius Strabo ; the Samnites , who were formally at war with Rome , joined Cinna. Peter Brunt estimates that Octavius had some 60,000 men at his disposal while Cinna had around twice that. Marius captured and sacked Ostia , cutting off Rome from supplies, and Cinna went on to besiege
8092-519: The countryside in the south, Octavius and Merula fortified the city and began to raise troops in the north and Cisalpine Gaul . Marius, hearing news of this conflict while in Africa, landed in Etruria and joined Cinna. Marius raised some 6,000 men and entered Cinna's camp at their head. Pompey Strabo , who had been called by Octavius and the Senate to defend the city, encamped near Rome at the Colline Gate but remained aloof to play both sides. Cinna's plan
8211-667: The disaster by the bodies that flowed downstream; he eventually assumed command after Rutilius' replacement was assassinated at false surrender negotiations. Marius, assisted by a flanking manoeuvre by Lucius Cornelius Sulla , then inflicted a victory over the Marsi near the Fucine lake , which split the Italians in two. Sextus Julius Caesar , consul in 91 BC and promagistrate this year, moved to relieve Firmum some time in October. Between Sextus' army and Pompey Strabo's forces, Labrenius' forces were routed and forced into Asculum, which
8330-408: The distinction between Romans and their enemies; the presence of large armies in Italy during the war also provided opportunities for generals to seize power extralegally. For these reasons and others, some historians believe the conflict played an important role in setting up the collapse of the republic. The name Social war is an improper English translation of bellum sociale , which means "war of
8449-415: The east, assigned neither consul to commands against the Italians; Sulla by lot was assigned the command against Mithridates. Early in the year, Pompey Strabo's command in the northern theatre was prorogued and he quickly accepted the surrender of multiple Italian towns and communities, putting an effective end to the war in the north. The remaining northern insurgents fled south to Samnium and Apulia, where
8568-459: The east, this rebel force unsuccessfully attacked Isiae and Rhegium near the Strait of Messina . The outbreak of a short civil war at Rome in 87 BC allowed them to nonetheless reach a negotiated settlement with the weakened Roman government; the rebels sided with the faction of Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Marius after being promised citizenship, the return of hostages and deserters and
8687-407: The field for every two Romans. This made allied manpower indispensable for Roman military superiority. Cities cooperated with Rome for various reasons. They received shares of the war spoils and land assignments. Rome also supported allied elites against popular revolts (eg at Arretium , Lucania , and Volsinii in 302, 296, and 264 BC, respectively). While some of the cities defected during
8806-497: The formation of new municipia as well as surveying of their lands and establishment of their charters. This longer process would continue until the age of Caesar. By 88 BC, the war was largely over, except for some isolated holdouts. Elections for the consulship of 88 were delayed by Pompey Strabo's late return to the city, but eventually returned Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Quintus Pompeius Rufus . The senate, troubled by news of Mithridates VI Eupator 's invasion of Asia in
8925-716: The gates, after which he fled from Rome. Meeting up with Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius and Publius Licinius Crassus (who had eventually obeyed Octavius's plea to return to Rome) at the Alban Hills , he was frustrated when they began to negotiate with Cinna, even going so far as recognizing Cinna as consul. Fearful of this turn of events, and of news that the Senate was also contemplating coming to terms with Cinna, he fell out with Metellus Pius, who had initially refused his soldiers' demands that he take command from Octavius. The army's apparent disloyalty finally convinced Octavius to return to Rome. Although he tried to continue
9044-505: The lack of any Italian elections. Christopher Dart suggests that the Italians converted the victory title imperator into an official magisterial title, in the same way imperator later turned into the title of the Roman emperor in the Flavian era. In late 91 or early 90 BC, a rumour was heard that Asculum was exchanging hostages with another city. Such an exchange was customary in
9163-410: The land commission's infringements on their property, which was guaranteed by treaty. The objections brought the redistributive process quickly to a halt. Mouritsen proposed instead the following reconstruction for the start of the war in the late 90s BC. Drusus, seeking to placate the plebs in exchange for a change in the jury courts, proposed a law to do more widespread land distributions against
9282-423: The many city-states on the peninsula. In general, those cities received guarantees of territorial integrity and internal self-government in exchange for supporting Rome with men during its many wars. Allied contingents made up an increasing portion of Roman manpower: by 295 BC, the allied contingents of Roman-led armies as a whole outnumbered the Romans on the field and, by 218 BC, there were three allies on
9401-418: The mass of new citizens would be packed into ten or eight new tribes who would be outvoted by the existing thirty-five tribes of old citizens. The plebeian tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus brought legislation to distribute the new citizens among the existing thirty-five tribes. The consuls of the year 88 BC were Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Quintus Pompeius Rufus . Sulla had been a successful general in
9520-421: The men as citizens. Calling on them as citizens to vindicate his election and arguing that not to do so would create a tyrannical senatorial oligarchy who would be able to rule without reference to the people, the soldiers lifted Cinna back to his curule seat and restored his symbols of consular office. The army's officers then administered an oath of loyalty to Cinna. While Cinna continued to raise soldiers around
9639-413: The new citizens could not have yet been registered into tribes. For all his rhetoric at the start of the year 87 BC, Cinna and his allies seemed very willing to continue the existing state of affairs and made no efforts to complete a full registration. The threat of Sulla in the east remained when the Roman army sent to replace him in command fell into disarray after its general, Lucius Valerius Flaccus,
9758-442: The new citizens marching with Cinna – Cinna left the city to raise an army joined by a majority of the plebeian tribunes and Quintus Sertorius . When Cinna departed the city, the Senate declared him to have abdicated his consulship and to be hostis (an enemy of the state). A senatus consultum ultimum was probably moved. In place of Cinna, Lucius Cornelius Merula , who was the high priest of Jupiter ( flamen Dialis ),
9877-423: The north and south, respectively). Reconstructions have differed over the Italian state's organisation. Theodor Mommsen in 1854 proposed that the Italians self-organised basically along the same lines as the Romans. Alfred von Domaszewski in 1924 suggested that Silo and Mutilus were merely leaders of two major factions in the Italian forces and that the twelve "praetors" reflected twelve tribal divisions arranged in
9996-460: The orator Marcus Antonius . The killings were not broad across the political class and likely reflected Marius' personal grudges; nor were the victims then linked to Sulla. There is no evidence that the purge targeted the victim's families. Merula and Quintus Lutatius Catulus committed suicide prior to convictions at trial. Sulla himself was also declared hostis ; his laws were annulled and properties were confiscated, leading to his family fleeing
10115-436: The overwhelming number of new citizens of much of their political influence. Appian further posits this number may have been ten. During Sulla's consulship, one of the tribunes of the plebs, Publius Sulpicius Rufus , challenged this plan. He brought and passed legislation, possibly by force, which would have the new citizens inscribed in the existing thirty-five tribes instead; he could only bring that proposal successfully with
10234-432: The port of Ostia and one under Marcus Marius Gratidianus took Ariminum to prevent enemy reinforcement from Cisalpine Gaul. Pompey Strabo, unable to reach an agreement with Cinna and Marius, fought Sertorius near the Janiculum, while the Senate sought to raise more men by offering citizenship for all Italians who had surrendered. This appeal raised only sixteen cohorts, far fewer than expected. The Senate then instructed
10353-447: The possibility of votes for land, he writes "Flaccus' citizenship bill [and bills similar to it] would have been infinitely more far-reaching in its implications than the reform promoted... it would lead to a total upheaval of the traditional alliance system on which Roman domination in Italy had been based for centuries... as an attempt to restart the land distribution process the bill would probably have been of scant value". The extent of
10472-448: The preparations for war to prevent allied cities from defecting. A Roman praetor by the name of Quintus Servilius, possibly the quaestor of 103 BC , rushed to the city and threatened violence if Asculum did not desist. The inhabitants, however, fearful of Roman discovery, responded by killing the praetor and his legate Fonteius. They then killed all the Romans in the city and ransacked their goods. Violence having been committed against
10591-625: The proconsul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius (previously praetor in 90 BC) to make peace with the Samnites he was fighting if possible with honour and relieve the city. The Samnites pushed for extremely generous terms which Metellus rejected; Cinna, in separate negotiations, instead gave in to all their demands, securing their support. Octavius won a victory over Cinna at the Janiculum, but Pompey Strabo prevented Octavius from following up on his success, withdrawing his troops under Octavius' command. After plague struck Octavius and Pompey Strabo's armies, killing Pompey Strabo and thousands of their men,
10710-405: The prosecution of their allies at Rome, Appian then has the Italians form their conspiracy and revolt. However, as the Italians could not have had enough time between Drusus' death and the start of the war to organise, Appian's timing cannot be correct. While the inciting incident of the war is clear, its end is not. One could argue various dates, ranging from 89 BC, when most of the fighting
10829-476: The rebels. Views differ as to the causes of the war, primarily on whether Roman citizenship was already a coveted status whose extension was the goal of the Social War or not. The main ancient source for the period is the relatively late Appian , who wrote in the imperial period during the 2nd century AD, and whose narrative is largely one based on demands of the allies for Roman citizenship. Other historians, most especially Henrik Mouritsen, have focused instead on
10948-409: The resistance against Cinna, Octavius was unable to prevent the Senate from coming to terms with Cinna who entered Rome as consul. Although Cinna gave a vague promise that no harm would come to Octavius, Octavius was persuaded by a group of colleagues to abandon the forum and set himself up on the Janiculum as consul in protest against the recognition of Cinna, accompanied by a small number of nobles and
11067-399: The return of all loot taken by the Romans. Even in ancient times the conflict was perplexing and the final outcome of the war or its immediate impacts were not entirely clear. One can interpret the terms under which the various Italian communities at different times reached with the Roman state as victory for either Italians or Romans or alternatively as a negotiated stalemate. The war was
11186-437: The senate acted and deprived the land redistribution commission of its survey jurisdiction, putting a pause on land distributions. The commission, before the pause in 129 BC, likely quickly surveyed and parceled out the unoccupied and recently surveyed Hannibalic war-era lands. The older holdings elsewhere, however, were impossible to disentangle from private lands. Never surveyed and with unclear borders, Italians objected to
11305-483: The senate refused to negotiate. Appian reports that the Italians at the start of the war mobilised some 100,000 men. Rome's Latin allies remained loyal. Rome also continued to control Capua and central Campania, which proved logistically vital. The consuls of the year, elected in a time of relative peace, were Lucius Julius Caesar and Publius Rutilius Lupus . The two men had access to experienced legates: Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla . The Romans levied
11424-459: The senate. He was shortly thereafter killed by an unknown assassin. Around this time, the Italians send a delegation to Rome but the Romans refuse to negotiate. Appian asserts that after Drusus' death but before the start of the war, the equites set up the quaestio Varia (the Varian court) to prosecute those who aided the Italians in securing citizenship. After the double blow of Drusus' death and
11543-436: The siege, Cinna offered freedom to the slaves who would join him. The Senate, fearful of famine in the city, then sued for peace. After the Senate's envoys failed to secure an audience, unable to answer Cinna's question as to whether they approached him as consul or as private citizen, Cinna's forces then encamped outside the city's walls. Merula, protesting that he had never wanted the consulship, abdicated on his own accord and
11662-526: The start of the war. Drusus may have then attempted to rescue his standing and placate the allies by trying to pass a law to give the allies citizenship. After this attempt failed amid Drusus' declining popularity, the attempts of the Latins – who actually were agitating for citizenship – to assassinate the consuls, who opposed Latin citizenship, at the Latin Festival became known. With the prospect of
11781-503: The support of Marius, whom he won over with the promise of the Mithridatic command. But his legislation was abrogated after Sulla – at the time continuing the siege at Nola – marched on Rome in response to the Mithridatic reassignment. Gnaeus Octavius (consul 87 BC) Gnaeus Octavius (died 87 BC) was a Roman senator who was elected consul of the Roman Republic in 87 BC alongside Lucius Cornelius Cinna . He died during
11900-527: The thirty-five existing tribes. After passing some other reforms, Sulla left the city for Capua after conducting elections. His broad unpopularity, however, was keenly felt when his candidates were all rejected at those elections, which chose Gnaeus Octavius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna as consuls-designate. Sulla forced the two men to uphold his laws by oath; this proved an ineffective restraint. When Sulla's unprecedented consulship ended, Octavius and Cinna were inaugurated consuls. By this time, Cinna had induced
12019-442: The two consuls almost immediately begin quarrelling in 87 BC over policy, in which Cinna wanted to enrol the new citizens (Italian allies) across all of the Roman tribes . He also proposed the recall of Marius and all his supporters. These proposals were strenuously opposed by Octavius, eloquently and energetically speaking against them in the Senate. Because of his interest in soothsayers, modern scholars have supposed that Octavius
12138-511: The upheaval of the alliance system similarly leads Mouritsen to reject granting citizenship as part of Drusus' attempt to change jury composition as means far in excess of the ends sought. Instead, Mouritsen focuses on Italian discontent with Roman public land reform. Rome's public lands had been won centuries prior to the 90s BC when the nascent republic had subjugated the Italian peninsula. Newer lands had also been forcibly taken from southern Italian cities that had sided with Hannibal during
12257-420: The war as a reaction to the failed reform proposals of the plebeian tribune of 91 BC, Marcus Livius Drusus . As part of a complex scheme to change criminal court jury composition, Drusus allegedly would have to seduce the people with free land, which required public lands, which required pushing Italians off that land, which required a sweetener of citizenship to quell objections. When the proposals failed,
12376-418: The war in the central and southern portions of Italy was "profound". Archaeological evidence points towards the Social war, along with the following Sullan civil war, devastating the central Apennines. The literary sources indicate that after these conflicts much of the Italian countryside was both lawless, as men strove to take advantage of the breakdown in order, and miserable. The extension of citizenship to
12495-539: The war killed two Roman consuls, or otherwise called it the Italian war . The focus on the Marsi may also have to do with Quintus Poppaedius Silo , who was one of the Italian leaders. Usage in the late republican and early imperial period treated the names Marsic and Italian war as largely interchangeable. Cicero's works refer to it as bellum Marsicum or bellum Italicum (though he also uses bella cum sociis ); Sallust , according to Aulus Gellius , calls it
12614-486: The year after repeated failures by Lucius Julius Caesar to relieve the town; turning south, Caesar attempted to stop Mutilius from forcing the fortress at Acerrae, but both sides found themselves in a series of indecisive engagements. While attempting to lead his men across a river in the northern theatre on 11 June, the consul Publius Rutilius Lupus fell in the Battle of the Tolenus River while fighting against
12733-421: The year, leaving only Strabo as consul for the remainder of 89. The Romans continued on the offensive against the Marsi, under the command of legates Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Marcus Caecilius Cornutus , and forced the Marsi to petition for peace. These victories allowed the Romans a free hand in the siege of Asculum and freedom to attack into southern theatre from the north. Corfinium was also taken, forcing
12852-624: Was a member of the decemviri sacris faciundis , the priests in charge of the Sibylline books . Things came to a head when the Plebeian tribunes who supported Octavius vetoed the law in the Tribal Assembly . Cinna and his supporters began using violence to intimidate the tribunes to withdraw their veto, leading to a full-scale riot in the Roman Forum . Octavius quickly gathered an armed group of supporters and attacked Cinna, who
12971-410: Was assassinated by his quaestor. Cinna met his end at the hands of mutinous troops when seeking to pass into Epirus to confront Sulla in 84 BC. Sulla then returned to Italy in the spring of 83 BC at the head of Mithridatic veterans, triggering a new civil war . Social War (91%E2%80%9387 BC) The Social War (from Latin bellum sociale , "war of the allies"), also called
13090-401: Was at the time a private citizen. At the time this was seen as infringing on the consul's traditional prerogative to have primacy in leading Rome's armies. In response, Sulla induced his troops at Nola to restore order in the city, arguing that Sulpicius' bill was an assault on the consuls' authority and that of the people who had elected them. Along with the argument that Marius could replace
13209-472: Was elected Praetor , and in the following year (89 BC) was given a propraetorial command in one of the eastern provinces . In 88 BC he was back in Rome where he was elected to be consul for the upcoming year (87 BC). While consul designate, he was made to swear an oath alongside his colleague, the popularist senator Lucius Cornelius Cinna , that he would uphold the changes instituted by the current consul, Sulla , and not strip Sulla of his lawful command of
13328-429: Was forced to flee the city. During the fight, Octavius's men openly murdered a large number of newly enfranchised citizens, with Octavius using his authority as consul to justify the murders. Octavius then illegally stripped Cinna of his consulship and his citizenship, and had elected in his stead Lucius Cornelius Merula . Hearing that Cinna had gained the support of the army of Appius Claudius at Nola , Octavius and
13447-446: Was how the newly enfranchised Italian citizens would be enrolled into the Roman tribes . The thirty-five tribes made up the comitia tributa , a Roman popular legislative and electoral assembly. With each tribe getting one vote irrespective of population and with tribal status being hereditary, how the enormous multitude of Italian citizens were tribally organised would sway politics for generations. The first proposals, emerging during
13566-455: Was killed. Following Silo's death, Italian organised resistance collapsed. For Livy and Appian, his death marks the end of the Social war. However, a remnant of Samnite and Lucanian rebels fought on in Bruttium and even sent appeals to Mithridates of Pontus for an intervention in Italy. Faced with death or slavery, they refused to surrender. Late in 88 or in 87, after Sulla's departure for
13685-407: Was made consul. Because the restrictive religious obligations of the priesthood, Merula was largely unable to execute his consulship, leaving Octavius as de facto sole consul. Cinna, meanwhile, reached Nola: Sulla had left troops there to continue the siege. Bribing the officers and troops to let him make an address, he then made an appeal to them where he threw down his consular regalia and addressed
13804-446: Was passed and became the lex Julia de civitate ; it also removed one of the main causes of the war – be it demands for citizenship or for security of land holdings – and provided that new tribes would be created for new citizens. Between the citizenship law and the costs of the war, only the Italian hard-liners remained in the field. The new consuls for 89 BC were Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo and Lucius Porcius Cato . In January,
13923-401: Was practically complete, down to November 82 BC and the Battle of the Colline Gate when an identifiably Italian group of rebels was at last defeated. This article presents events down to the nominal pacification of the Samnites and Lucanians in 87 BC. The main sources for the course of the war are relatively confused. Appian's account present events roughly geographically, producing
14042-474: Was then besieged by Strabo. Sextus' forces then forced back Vidacilius into Apulia and placed it too under siege in December. The northern front of the war largely collapsed after these victories. Attempts to incite rebellion in Etruria and Umbria could have opened a third front against Rome, but were quickly suppressed; Appian notes also that the senate acceded to garrisoning Cumae with freedmen, recruited into
14161-515: Was to divide this forces into three. His force would encamp near the Colline Gate, one force under Sertorious would encamp up the Tiber , and Marius would encamp near the city gate toward Ostia, the Porta Ostiensis . The three forces would then starve the city into submission. Two detachments also then engaged in offensive action: one under Marius besieged and took with the support of defectors
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