After the death of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, he joined or instigated a rebellion against the Sullan regime, demanding a consecutive term as consul late in his year and, when refused, marching on Rome.
[12][13] Plutarch's claims about the importance of Pompey's help cannot be taken at face value, due to his "tendency to exaggerate the impact of the major players"; Lepidus' noble ancestry, public work on the basilica Aemilia, and possible bribery (per Sallust) also played to his advantage in the election.
[9] However, his consular colleague Quintus Lutatius Catulus, with the support of Pompey,[16][17] was successful in securing the dictator a lavish public funeral,[18] perhaps out of the interest of the post-Sullan victors to legitimise Sulla's laws and reforms.
[19] Lepidus continued however to agitate for the restoration of confiscated property, re-enfranchisement of those who lost their civil or political rights under Sulla, recall of exiled citizens, and repeal of Sullan legislation.
Gruen remarks explicitly that "evidently the senate did not feel that Lepidus'... pronouncements had compromised him to the point where he could not be sent to stifle an insurrection inspired by his own propaganda".
[24] Lepidus had expected to widen his political support after Sulla's death by canvassing with opponents of the dictator, actions which were not seen by the senate as indicative of revolutionary sedition.
[11] Soon after arriving in Etruria, however, the insurgents acclaimed Lepidus as their leader,[24] a position he accepted in the face of mass popular support in the region.
[25] Even after Lepidus had sided with the rebels, the senate did not act against him, awarding him the provinces of Gallia Transalpina and Cisalpina by regular procedure and instructed the two consuls not to engage in conflict with each other.
[26] It was only when Lepidus was ordered to return home to conduct consular elections did the senate turn against him: he demanded a consecutive consulship, "a condition which he must have known was unacceptable", and refused.
That said, the result itself ensured a clear public statement, however, that the Aemilii Lepidi and Junii Bruti as families "would survive the elimination of two rogue individual members".