 Both sources state that the violence in Utica was instigated not by Africans rebelling against Rome, but by Roman citizens ("cives").At first glance, Orosius seems to contradict both Cicero and Valerius, claiming that Hadrianus was burned alive with his entire household because he had fomented rebellion among the slaves of Africa, whose masters apparently reacted with firewood and homicidal arson.The "populares" were often accused by the conservative elite, factually or not, of resorting to slaves to apply violence, and the killing might best be viewed in the context of the Sullan proscriptions of 82.