Lucius Cornelius Cinna

Lucius Cornelius Cinna (c. 100 BC – after 44 BC) was a politician in the Roman Republic. He came from a noble family which had gained prominence during the civil wars of the 80s BC, but lost their political rights for opposing the dictator Sulla. Cinna sought better fortune for himself by joining the failed rebellions of Lepidus and Sertorius in the 70s BC, but was recalled to Rome and granted amnesty with the support of his brother-in-law, Julius Caesar. Cinna remained debarred from public office, however, an impediment only rescinded by Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon and took control of Rome in 49 BC. Cinna held the senior office of praetor during Caesar's dictatorship, but nonetheless harbored republican sympathies and disapproved of Caesar's politics. Cinna gave a public speech approving of Caesar's assassination in 44, for which he was twice almost lynched by an angry mob of the dictator's supporters. Cinna was proscribed by the Second Triumvirate and died during the subsequent civil wars. He married Pompeia, daughter of Caesar's old enemy Pompey, and had issue by her. Life Lucius Cornelius Cinna was one of three known children and the only son of the Roman statesman Lucius Cornelius Cinna and presumably his wife Annia. The younger Cinna was probably born around 100 BC, and no later than 95. In 87, his father became consul, won a civil war, and became the dominant figure in Rome until 84, when he died in an army mutiny. During this period, the younger Cinna's sister Cornelia married the future dictator Julius Caesar. In 82, his late father's enemy, Sulla, became dictator, and passed a law debarring the descendants of his opponents, including the younger Cinna, from holding public office. In 78 BC, probably being still young, Cinna joined the failed rebellion of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in attempt to undo the constitutional settlement of Sulla. After the defeat and death of Lepidus, Cinna went with other loyalists (presumably in the company of Marcus Perperna) to join another rebel, Sertorius, one of his father's old allies, in Hispania. When Sertorius's rebellion collapsed in the later 70s BC, Cinna was granted amnesty and allowed to return to Rome, by means of a motion introduced by a tribune, Plautius, and supported by his brother-in-law, Caesar. Cinna was, however, still unable to pursue a public career because Sulla's constitutional reforms were not repealed until 49 BC, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon and seized Rome.