This was against all laws of justice, and Octavius did not hesitate to go to the Forum at the head of an armed force to punish Cinna’s men.
In the struggle many of the rioters were killed, while Cinna himself was forced to flee. The Senate then declared that he was no longer Consul, but had become a public enemy.
When Cinna heard of the Senate’s decree he was very angry, and determined to gather together troops to fight against Octavius. He was speedily joined by Marius, who was no sooner told what had happened in Rome than he hastened back to the city.
Gaius Marius sitting in exile among the ruins of Carthage.
When he arrived Cinna received the exile with great honour, and urged him to wear the robes of a pro-Consul.
But Marius pretended to be too humble to don such garments, and he persisted in wearing old and shabby clothes.
His hair, which had not been cut since his banishment, he left still untouched, although it now reached to his shoulders, while he walked as though bent with the weight of his seventy years. It did not seem, to judge from his pitiable appearance, as if the old man could be of much use to Cinna.
But his enemies muttered that Marius was only trying in these ways to make the people sorry for all he had suffered. They needed only to look in his face to see that he was harbouring grim thoughts of revenge on those who had ever shown themselves to be his enemies.
Soon Cinna had four armies ready to march on Rome. One was under Marius, another Cinna himself intended to lead, while two more were under his legates, Sertorius and Carbo.