Caesar had blocked Marcus by working with the tribunes and the other consul, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, and then Gaius (Minor) by heavily bribing his consular colleague, Lucius Aemilius Paullus,[9] but had not yet been able to secure election to a second consulship without having to stand as a candidate in Rome and without relinquishing his proconsular command (which would expose him to prosecution[10] for illegalities in his first consulship).
The election of Marcellus and Lentulus as consuls for 49 BC was within the normal framework of family connections and influences,[11] but also a snub to Caesar through his own candidate, Servius Sulpicius Galba.
Initially Marcellus remained in Rome, with the consuls opposing any accommodation with Caesar,[27] maintaining an anti-Caesarian hysteria, and pressuring Pompeius to cross Italy and raise troops.
[28] On 17 January both Marcellus and his colleague followed Pompeius in leaving Rome ahead of Caesar's advancing forces,[29] scandalously without even making the usual sacrifices before departure.
[31] On 25 January Cicero (whose letters provide the details of these events) met with Marcellus and Lentulus in Capua, along with many other senators who had fled Rome.
Balbus was too late in any case: Pompeius had sent both consuls and their forces on ahead of him to Dyrrhachium[39] and he followed with the remainder by 4 March, narrowly evading Caesar.
[41] Very little is known specifically about Marcellus after crossing to Dyrrachium, though he is addressed by the Goddess Discordia in Petronius' Satyricon, urged to hold fast to the decree which commanded Caesar to resign his proconsulship,[42] the senatus consultum of 7 January 49 BC.
[45] It is speculated [46] that Marcellus was a casualty of the war – at least, he was not alive a few years later when Cicero was writing or delivering his Philippics[47] (March 43 BC).