Lucius Cornelius Cinna / 卢基乌斯·科尔内利乌斯·秦纳

Overview

Lucius Cornelius Cinna / 卢基乌斯·科尔内利乌斯·秦纳 is the consul whose conflict with Gnaeus Octavius / 格奈乌斯·屋大维 and alliance with Gaius Marius / 马略 turn Lucius Cornelius Sulla / 苏拉’s army-backed precedent into a continuing Roman regime crisis.

Current Profile

Episode 703 introduces Cinna as one of the consuls for 87 BC after Sulla has seized Rome and then needs to leave for the eastern war against Mithridates VI / 米特里达梯六世. Cinna has threatened Sulla with prosecution, so Sulla forces him and the other consul to swear on the Capitol not to reverse Sulla’s measures. The oath is already unstable because Sulla needs the Mithridatic command too urgently to remain in Italy.

Once Sulla leaves, Cinna clashes with Octavius over how fully the Italians should be enfranchised. Octavius expels him, the Senate strips him of the consulship and declares him a public enemy, and Cinna answers by raising an army from Nola and Italian cities. He then accepts Marius as an ally, besieges Rome, enters after Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo / 格奈乌斯·庞培乌斯·斯特拉波 dies, and becomes the dominant figure after Marius’s brief seventh consulship and death.

Episode 704 extends Cinna from regime leader to failed anti-Sullan commander. By 84 BC he is in his fourth consecutive consulship, which the episode treats as the closest Rome has yet come to permanent autocracy. He tries to take the offensive by moving armies from Ancona across the Adriatic against Sulla, but storms, refusal, desertion, and mutiny end the plan. His own soldiers stab him to death, removing Sulla’s most capable opponent before the final Italian civil war.

Key Characteristics

• Cinna begins as an elected consul whose oath to Sulla is imposed under the shadow of Sulla’s army-backed settlement.
• His dispute with Octavius keeps the Italian citizenship crisis alive after the Social War.
• Once declared a public enemy, he responds through army recruitment and siege rather than procedural appeal.
• His alliance with Marius is pragmatic and tense, because Marius brings military name recognition and revenge politics.
• After Marius dies, Cinna becomes the unchallenged leader of a regime committed to destroying Sulla.
• His consecutive consulships and mutinous death show anti-Sullan politics also sliding toward autocracy and military breakdown.

Evidence

• Imposed oath: 703. Roman Civil War: Marching on the Senate (Part 3) says Sulla makes Cinna and Octavius swear publicly on the Capitol not to reverse his laws.
• Citizenship dispute: 703. Roman Civil War: Marching on the Senate (Part 3) says Cinna and Octavius clash over the extent of Italian enfranchisement.
• Outlawry and army response: 703. Roman Civil War: Marching on the Senate (Part 3) says Octavius expels Cinna, the Senate removes him and declares him a public enemy, and Cinna wins over a legion at Nola before recruiting across Italian cities.
• Marius alliance: 703. Roman Civil War: Marching on the Senate (Part 3) says Cinna is nervous of Marius but decides he is better as an ally.
• Regime position: 703. Roman Civil War: Marching on the Senate (Part 3) says Cinna becomes the unchallenged leader in Rome after Marius dies and maintains himself in the consulship for three years.
• Consecutive consulships: 704. Roman Civil War: Master of the Republic (Part 4) says Cinna reaches a fourth consecutive consulship and represents Rome’s closest move yet toward permanent autocracy.
• Mutinous death: 704. Roman Civil War: Master of the Republic (Part 4) says Cinna’s attempted Adriatic campaign against Sulla collapses after storms, refusal, desertion, and his murder by his own troops.

Qualifications

The sources present Cinna mainly through the 87-84 BC crisis. They do not provide a full biography or a complete policy program beyond Italian citizenship politics, anti-Sullan control, and the failed attempt to carry the war across the Adriatic.

What Changed

• Added Cinna’s fourth consecutive consulship, failed offensive against Sulla, and mutinous death.
• Reframed Cinna as both a victim of Sullan precedent and an anti-Sullan autocracy warning.

Relationships

• Lucius Cornelius Sulla / 苏拉 - enemy whose laws Cinna swears not to reverse and whose destruction becomes the regime’s goal.
• Gnaeus Octavius / 格奈乌斯·屋大维 - consular colleague and rival who expels Cinna.
• Gaius Marius / 马略 - returning exile whom Cinna accepts as an ally in the siege of Rome.
• Gaius Marius Younger / 小马略 - Marian successor whose rise follows Cinna’s death.
• Roman Allied Citizenship Crisis / 罗马同盟者公民权危机 - policy field behind Cinna’s clash with Octavius.
• First March on Rome / 第一次进军罗马 - precedent that makes Cinna’s own army-backed politics newly imaginable.
• Late Roman Republic Crisis / 罗马共和国晚期危机 - broader crisis in which Cinna’s consulship becomes regime conflict.