User talk:Ifly6/Lucius Cornelius Cinna

Requesting comments

@T8612 and Avilich: Hello there yet again. Please tell me if I'm missing anything significant (or otherwise getting anything blatantly wrong) in this rewrite for the existing page on Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Thanks. Ifly6 (talk) 20:32, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

• It's possible that he wasn't a patrician. I know that this book claims so, though I don't have access to it. This one (p. 293, n. 5) seems to acknowledge some uncertainty, though ultimately favors the conventional classification of Cinna as a patrician, and refers to an article by the same author to which I also don't have access. I have no idea which are the actual arguments for and against; the consensus probably is that Cinna was a patrician, but the article should note that the matter is debatable. Avilich (talk) 22:44, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

  Added in. I searched Cinna and Cinnae in the Italian book, they seem to just point to Mommsen. I'm not too interested in trawling the thread into those books though. Ifly6 (talk) 00:24, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

Neither do I; the French source already seems to sum up the consensus, and no more than a sentence is needed for details like this. Avilich (talk) 02:49, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

I would add dates in titles like "First consulship (87 BC).

• "There is some scholarly debate": from the sources you mention, I would say sth like "Theodor Mommsen considered the Cinnae to be plebeians, but most modern authors view them as patricians". It's better imo to link to the historian's page when we have one rather than hiding them behind a vague "sources", especially for someone as famous as Mommsen.

"seems to have cleverly capitalised on that revulsion which the men of property felt for Sulla" I would avoid such long quotes when there is nothing particularly remarkable about them. It's better to use our own words. If you want to keep the quote, you can still place it in the ref.

"Some sources –" --> "Most ancient authors".

Most of Cinna's bad reputation comes from the Memoirs of Sulla (same for Marius). Perhaps you could mention that in the last section (I will finish my draft on the subject in the coming weeks).

The section "Dominatio" looks too short to me, but I think there should be an article on Cinnan domination, where most details could be placed. T8612 (talk) 20:23, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback. I accepted the following recommendations. Section title changed. Accepted proposed Mommsen attribution. Rephrased some sections which were quoted. Omitted "Some sources" to name the ancient sources, which are regardless already enumerated; it doesn't really say "Most ancient authors" in the source text. I added a phrase talking about Sulla's memoirs; it created a red link but I'm sure that'll be filled by your draft shortly.

As to Dominatio, I largely based the text on the narrative given in CAH² 9; I focused largely on the big things in that period rather than the operation of politics or political culture. Those, while probably important, don't feel entirely relevant for an article on Cinna per se. Ifly6 (talk) 14:07, 19 August 2022 (UTC)