Gnaeus Octavius (consul 87 BC)
Gnaeus Octavius died on the Janiculum Hill in 87 BC, beheaded by a cavalry officer named Gaius Marcius Censorinus, his head carried to the dictator Cinna and then nailed to the Rostra in the Roman Forum. He was a serving consul of the Roman Republic when it happened. He had the authority to command armies, to call the Senate to order, to veto legislation. None of it saved him.
Who was this man, and how did a Roman consul end up decapitated by the very forces his co-consul had unleashed? What did Octavius stand for, and why did he choose to sit on the Janiculum and wait for death rather than escape? The answers run through one of the bloodiest passages in the late Roman Republic, touching on oath-keeping, aristocratic pride, and a civil war that would not stop until Rome itself fell.
Octavius came from the Plebeian gens Octavia, a family with deep roots in Roman public life. His father, also named Gnaeus Octavius, had held the consulship in 128 BC. His uncle, Marcus Octavius, had been a central figure in blocking the land reforms of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC, standing against one of the most turbulent tribunates in Roman history.
By a separate family line, Gnaeus Octavius was a third cousin to Gaius Octavius, the father of the man who would eventually become the emperor Augustus. That connection was distant and, in 87 BC, entirely unforeseeable.
His own career began with a setback: he failed to win election as aedile. Around 90 BC he was elected praetor, and the following year, 89 BC, he received a propraetorial command in one of the eastern provinces. By 88 BC he was back in Rome, and he won election to the consulship for the year 87 BC. Before he even took office, he and his co-consul-designate Lucius Cornelius Cinna were made to swear an oath to uphold the changes introduced by the outgoing consul Sulla, and not to strip Sulla of his command in the First Mithridatic War. Octavius, described by those who knew him as scrupulously religious, kept that oath for the rest of his life.
Octavius was no natural ally of Sulla. He disliked Sulla's decision to march on Rome, and he objected to Sulla's personal campaign against Gaius Marius, which had sent Marius into exile. Still, Octavius was a conservative senator, and he distrusted the popular politics of Cinna far more than he distrusted Sulla.
Cinna's programme in 87 BC pressed on two fronts. He wanted the newly enfranchised Italian allies, who had won citizenship after the Social War, enrolled across all of Rome's tribes rather than confined to a handful. He also wanted Marius and all his exiled supporters recalled from exile. Octavius opposed both proposals, speaking against them in the Senate with what the sources record as energy and eloquence. A man sometimes described as slow to act, he was not slow to argue.
Because scholars note his particular interest in soothsayers, modern researchers have suggested Octavius may have been a member of the decemviri sacris faciundis, the priests who held custody of the Sibylline books. Whether or not that is correct, it fits a portrait of a man whose conservatism was as much religious as it was political.
The break between the two consuls came to a head in the Tribal Assembly, when the tribunes who sided with Octavius vetoed Cinna's law on Italian enrolment. Cinna's supporters answered with violence, trying to intimidate the tribunes into withdrawing their veto. The result was a full-scale riot in the Roman Forum.
Octavius gathered an armed group of supporters and attacked Cinna directly. Cinna fled the city. During the fighting, Octavius's men killed a large number of newly enfranchised citizens, and Octavius used his consular authority to justify those killings. He then stripped Cinna of his consulship and his citizenship, both acts of doubtful legality, and had Lucius Cornelius Merula elected in Cinna's place.
Cinna, however, had not been neutralized. He gained the backing of the army commanded by Appius Claudius at Nola, and he eventually joined forces with Marius. Together they laid siege to Rome. Octavius, meanwhile, had sent out appeals to the various generals in the field. Pompeius Strabo, who was positioned near the Colline Gate, eventually moved his troops toward the city, though he played both sides throughout. An assault by Marian forces took the Janiculum briefly, but Octavius and Strabo pushed them back. The victory was costly: Octavius lost 6,000 troops in the fighting. Strabo lost roughly 11,000, from battle and from a plague tearing through his army. Then Strabo died suddenly, and the demoralized remnants of both forces fell to Octavius.
Octavius regrouped with Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius and Publius Licinius Crassus at the Alban Hills, south of Rome. Both men had eventually obeyed his earlier calls to come to the Senate's defence. What Octavius found there dismayed him: Metellus Pius and Crassus had already begun negotiating with Cinna, going so far as to recognize Cinna as the legitimate consul.
The situation deteriorated further when soldiers under Metellus Pius began demanding that their general take command from Octavius outright. Metellus Pius initially refused, but the demand itself signalled the fracturing of Octavius's authority. When word came that the Senate in Rome was itself moving toward terms with Cinna, Octavius fell out sharply with Metellus Pius and decided to return to Rome rather than watch the resistance dissolve around him.
Back in Rome, Octavius could not stop the Senate from accepting Cinna's terms. Cinna re-entered the city as consul. He offered Octavius a vague promise of personal safety, which Octavius apparently did not trust. Persuaded by a group of colleagues, Octavius withdrew from the forum and set himself up on the Janiculum Hill with a small number of nobles and what remained of his military force, asserting his authority as consul in protest.
When Gaius Marcius Censorinus arrived at the Janiculum with a small cavalry force, Octavius did not try to escape. Censorinus captured him, had him beheaded, and brought the head to Cinna, who had it nailed to the Rostra.
Plutarch, writing in his lives of both Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, characterizes Gnaeus Octavius's personality as "reputable." He was known for strict principles and for honesty. The same sources acknowledge that he was slow in action, a quality that cost him whenever speed might have changed the outcome. His oath, his conservatism, his religious scruples, his refusal to flee: all of these point to a man who held principle above survival.
He left at least one son, Lucius Octavius, who lived to hold the consulship in 75 BC, a dozen years after his father's head had been displayed in the Forum.
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Common questions
Who was Gnaeus Octavius consul 87 BC?
Gnaeus Octavius was a Roman senator and member of the Plebeian gens Octavia who served as consul of the Roman Republic in 87 BC alongside Lucius Cornelius Cinna. He was the son of a consul and the nephew of Marcus Octavius, who had opposed Tiberius Gracchus's reforms in 133 BC. He was also a third cousin to the father of the future emperor Augustus.
How did Gnaeus Octavius die?
Gnaeus Octavius was beheaded in 87 BC by Gaius Marcius Censorinus after being captured on the Janiculum Hill. Censorinus brought his head to Cinna, who had it nailed to the Rostra in the Roman Forum. Octavius refused to flee when Censorinus and a small cavalry force stormed the hill.
What caused the conflict between Gnaeus Octavius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna?
The two consuls clashed in 87 BC over Cinna's proposals to enrol newly enfranchised Italian allies across all of Rome's tribes and to recall Gaius Marius from exile. Octavius, a conservative senator, strenuously opposed both measures. The dispute escalated from Senate debate to street violence in the Roman Forum, ending with Octavius driving Cinna out of Rome.
What oath did Gnaeus Octavius swear before taking office?
Before taking office, Octavius and Cinna were made to swear an oath to uphold the constitutional changes introduced by the outgoing consul Sulla and not to strip Sulla of his command of the First Mithridatic War. Described as scrupulously religious, Octavius kept this oath throughout his consulship.
How many troops did Gnaeus Octavius lose during the siege of Rome?
Octavius lost 6,000 troops during the fighting against the Marian forces that briefly took the Janiculum. His ally Pompeius Strabo lost roughly 11,000 men, through both combat and a plague running through his army. Strabo's subsequent sudden death left Octavius commanding the demoralized combined remnants.
Who was Lucius Octavius the son of Gnaeus Octavius consul 87 BC?
Lucius Octavius was the son of Gnaeus Octavius the consul of 87 BC. He went on to hold the consulship himself in 75 BC, roughly twelve years after his father's execution during the fall of Rome to Cinna and Marius.