Sulla ' s second civil war Sulla ' s second civil war was one of a series of civil war s of ancient Rome . It was fought between Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Gaius Marius the younger in 82 BC . Prelude . Sulla had achieved temporary control of Rome and Marius ' s exile to Africa through his first march on Rome , but departed soon afterwards to lead the First Mithridatic War . This departure allowed Gaius Marius and his son Gaius Marius the younger to return to Rome with an army and , with Lucius Cornelius Cinna , to wrest control of Rome back from Sulla ' s supporter Gnaeus Octavius during Sulla ' s absence . Based on the orders of Marius , some of his soldiers went through Rome killing the leading supporters of Sulla , including Octavius . Their heads were exhibited in the Forum . After five days , Cinna ordered his more disciplined troops to kill Marius ' s rampaging soldiers . All told some 100 Roman nobles had been murdered . Marius declared Sulla ' s reforms and laws invalid , officially exiled Sulla and had himself elected to Sulla ' s eastern command and himself and Cinna elected consuls for the year 86 BC . Marius died a fortnight after and Cinna was left in sole control of Rome . Having managed this achievement , the Marians sent out Lucius Valerius Flaccus with an army to relieve Sulla of his command in the east . Flaccus had been given as second in command Gaius Flavius Fimbria , an individual that history records had few virtues . He was to eventually agitate against his commanding officer and incite the troops to murder Flaccus . In the meantime , the two Roman armies camped next to each other and Sulla , not for the first time , encouraged his soldiers to spread dissension among Flaccus ’ army . Many deserted to Sulla before Flaccus packed up and moved on north to threaten Mithridates ’ northern dominions . In the meantime Sulla moved to intercept the new Pontic army and end the war at Orchomenus . Course . With Mithridates defeated and Cinna now dead in a mutiny , Sulla was determined to regain control of Rome . In 83 BC he landed uncontested at Brundisium with three veteran legions . As soon as he had set foot in Italy , the outlawed nobles and old Sullan supporters who had survived the Marian regime flocked to his banner . The most prominent was Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius , who had gathered legions in Africa and , with Marcus Licinius Crassus who had raised troops in Spain , joined Sulla soon after his landing in Italy . The consular Lucius Marcius Philippus also joined Sulla and led a force which secured Sardinia for the Sullan cause . Here is also where the young Gnaeus Pompey first comes into the limelight , the son of Pompeius Strabo , he raised three legions in Picenum and , defeating and outmanoeuvering the Marian forces , made his way to Sulla . With these reinforcements Sulla ' s army swelled to around 50 , 000 men , and with his loyal legions he began his second march on Rome . To check his enemies ' unresisted advance , Carbo sent his newly elected puppet Consuls , Gaius Norbanus and Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus , both with armies against Sulla . Eager not to appear a war - hungry invader , Sulla sent deputations to Norbanus offering to negotiate , but these were rejected . Norbanus then moved to block Sulla ' s advance at Canusium and became the first to engage him in the Battle of Mount Tifata . Here Sulla inflicted a crushing defeat on the Marians , with Norbanus losing six thousand of his men to Sulla ' s seventy . The beaten Norbanus withdrew with the remnants of his army to Capua and Sulla was stopped in his pursuit by the second Consul , Scipio . But Scipio ' s men were unwilling to fight and when Sulla approached they deserted en masse to him , further swelling his ranks . The Consul and his son were found cowering in their tents and brought to Sulla , who released them after extracting a promise that they would never again fight against him or rejoin Carbo . However , immediately after their release Scipio broke his promise and went straight to Carbo in Rome . Sulla then defeated Norbanus for a second time , who also escaped back to Rome and had Metellus Pius and all other senators marching with Sulla declared enemies of the state . The new Consuls for the year 82BC were Carbo , for his third term , and Gaius Marius the Younger , who was only twenty - two years old at the time . In the respite from campaigning provided by Winter , the Marians set about replenishing their forces . Quintus Sertorius levied men in Etruria , old veterans of Marius came out of retirement to fight under his son and the Samnites gathered their warriors in support of Carbo , hoping to destroy the man who defeated them in the Social War , Sulla . As the fresh campaigning season opened , Sulla swept along the Via Latina towards the capital and Metellus led Sullan forces into Upper Italy . Carbo threw himself against Metellus whilst the young Marius defended the city of Rome itself . Marius moved to block Sulla ' s advance at Signia , falling back to the fortress town of Praeneste , in front of which he drew up for battle . The struggle was long and hard fought but in the end the veteran Sullans won the day . With his lines buckling and mass defections of his troops to Sulla , Marius decided to flee . He and many of his men sought refuge in Praeneste but the terrified townspeople shut the gates , Marius himself had to be hoisted in on a rope , while hundreds of Marians trapped between the walls and the Sullans were massacred . Sulla then left his lieutenant Lucretius Ofella besieging Praeneste and moved on the now undefended Rome . Upon his defeat Marius sent word to the praetor Brutus Damasippus in Rome , to kill any remaining Sullan sympathisers left before Sulla can take the city . Damasippus called a meeting of the Senate and there , in the Curia itself the marked men were cut down by assassins . Some , such as Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus were killed on the senate steps as they tried to flee , and the Pontifex Maximus , chief priest of Rome , Quintus Mucius Scaevola was murdered in the Temple of Vesta , and the bodies of the murdered were then thrown into the Tiber . As Sulla surrounded the city with his troops , the gates were opened by the people and he entered unresisted , taking Rome without a fight , the remaining Marians having fled . The city was his but Sulla did not spend long in Rome before he once again set out with his army . Around the same time Sulla was defeating Marius , Metellus was facing an army led by Carbo ' s general Gaius Carrinas , which he routed , and Carbo , with his superior force , after hearing of the defeat at Praeneste withdrew to Arminium . Sulla then won another victory at Saturnia , followed by his defeat of Carbo at Clusium . Having taken and looted the town of Sena , Pompey and Crassus then slaughtered 3 , 000 Marians at Spoletium , before ambushing and destroying a force sent by Carbo to relieve Marius in Praeneste . Meanwhile the Samnite Pontius Telesinus and the Lucanian Marcus Lamponius were hurrying with 70 , 000 men to also break the siege at Praeneste . This force Sulla blocked at a pass and made their route impossible , he also blocked an attempt by Damasippus with two legions to reach Marius . Metellus then crushed an army led by Norbanus at Faventia and Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus won a victory over Carbo ' s men at Placentia . Carbo had suffered nothing but defeats and setbacks for the entire war , and now he lost heart . Even though he still had armies in the field he decided to flee the scene . With his staff and some men Carbo fled to Sicily , attempting to carry on resistance there . With their leader gone the remainder of the Marian forces united for one final stand . Damasippus , Carrinas joined their men with the Samnites and Lucanians and marched on Rome . There , at the Battle of the Colline Gate , the last decisive battle of the civil war took place and out of the bitter , long fought struggle Sulla eventually emerged victorious and 50 , 000 lay dead , amongst them Telesinus the Samnite . Carrinas and Lamponius were brought to Sulla the following day and executed . Sulla now entered the city victorious . A meeting of the Senate was convened in the Temple of Bellona , as Sulla was addressing the senators the sound of terrified screams drifted in from the Campus Martius . Sulla told the senators not to worry , that some ' criminals are receiving correction . ' It was the sound of 8 , 000 prisoners who had surrendered the previous day being executed on Sulla ' s orders , none were spared . Soon Sulla had himself declared Dictator , he now held supreme power over Rome . When the starving people of Praeneste despaired and surrendered to Ofella , Marius hid in the tunnels under the town and tried to escape through them but failed and committed suicide . The people of Praeneste were then mostly massacred by Ofella . Carbo was soon discovered and arrested by Pompey , whom Sulla had sent to track the man down . Pompey had the weeping man brought before him in chains and publicly executed him in Lilybaeum , his head then sent to Sulla and displayed along with Marius ' and many others in the Forum . Result . By this war , Sulla was installed as dictator of Rome .