Then in 87 B.C. another opportunist named Sulpicius brought Marius back to Rome as a military backer for a set of reforms designed to weaken the Senate. These measures were a direct attack on the emerging power of Sulla who marched on Rome and took the city.
Marius fled to Africa but returned again to join the conspiracy of Cinna who was able to retake the Rome while Sulla was in the east during the year 86 B.C. Marius died of a heart attack the next year.