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Gnaeus Octavius

A conservative politician, who worked to counteract the actions of his fellow consul, Lucius Cornelius Cinna, in 87 BCE.


Before being elected consul for 87 BCE, he first held the position of aedile and later in 90 BCE the position of praetor. Before he was elected consul, he was made to swear that he would uphold the changes made by Sulla and would not strip Sulla of his command during the First Mithridatic War. He was a conservative, whereas Cinna was a populist, thus these two consuls often quarrelled. For example, Cinna attempted to grant Roman citizenship to all people in Italy and to enroll these new citizens into the system of Roman voting tribes. This enfranchisement was strongly opposed by Octavius. Cinna also moved to recall Marius and his allies, whom Sulla had expelled from the city, back into Rome. The Plebeian tribunes, who supported Octavius, vetoed Cinna's proposal. Cinna attempted to use violence to drive the tribunes into approving the law. A riot actually took place in the Roman forum. Octavius responded in kind with violence. He drove Cinna and his men from the city and murdered some of the newly enfranchised citizens. Octavius then went one step further and replaced Cinna with Lucius Cornelius Merula as consul.

Cinna joined Marius, and they began to siege the city. Octavius offered the Italian allies citizenship, if they would surrender by the end of 87 BCE. After the death of his ally, Strabo, Octavius watched the demoralization of his army as well as its rather sizeable decrease in size. Soon his allies, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius and Publius Licinius Crassus, pushed to negotiate with Cinna. That and the pressure from the Senate drove Octavius to withdraw to the city of Rome and to allow Cinna to return as consul.

Octavius led one last stand on the Janiculum with a small number of nobles and soldiers. Marcius Censorinus led of a force of cavalry and stormed the hill. Octavius was beheaded. His head was first shown to Cinna before being nailed to the Rostra, i.e., the speaker's platform in the Roman forum.

Attalus Entry: Cn. Octavius6
Smith Entry
Wikipedia Entry



 

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