Roman Republic - L. Manlius Torquatus moneyer
Silver Denarius 17mm (3.64 grams)
Struck at the mint of Rome 82 B.C.
Reference: B.M.C., East 8; Syd. 757; Craw. 367/5 -
Head of Roma right, L . MANLI before, PRO . Q behind.
Sulla in walking quadriga right, crowned by Victory who flies above, L . SVLLA
IM in exergue.
* Numismatic Note: Lucius Manlius Torquatus was proquaestor to
Sulla during the Mithradatic war, and the type represents a triumph granted to
the great imperator. An interesting coin and one of the few in the Republic
series to
mention Imperator Sulla by name. It was
minted by L. Manlius Torquatus to celebrate a grand triumph that was given to
Sulla after the Mithradatic war. RSC notes that the figure in the quadriga is
Sulla himself.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
Lucius
Cornelius Sulla Felix (Latin:
L•CORNELIVS•L•F•P•N•SVLLA•FELIX)[1]
(c. 138 BC – 78 BC), known simply as Sulla, was a Roman
general and
politician,
having the rare distinction of holding the office of
consul
twice as well as the
dictatorship. He was one of the canonical great men of Roman history;
included in the biographical collections of leading generals and politicians,
originating in the biographical compendium of famous Romans, published by Marcus
Terentius
Varro. In
Plutarch's Sulla, in the famous series - Parallel Lives, Sulla
is paired with the Spartan general and strategist
Lysander.
Sulla's dictatorship came during a high point in the struggle between
optimates
and populares,
the former seeking to maintain the power of the oligarchy in the form of the
Senate while the latter resorted in many cases to naked populism, culminating in
Caesar's
dictatorship. Sulla was a highly original, gifted and skillful general, never
losing a battle; he remains the only man in history to have attacked and
occupied both Athens and Rome. His rival,
Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, described Sulla as having the cunning of a fox and
the courage of a lion - but that it was the former attribute that was by far the
most dangerous. This mixture was later referred to by
Machiavelli in his description of the ideal characteristics of a ruler.[2]
Sulla used his armies to march on Rome twice, and after the second he revived
the office of dictator, which had not been used since the
Second Punic War over a century before. He used his powers to enact a series
of
reforms to the Roman constitution, meant to restore the balance of power
between the
Senate
and the
Tribunes; he then stunned the Roman World (and posterity) by resigning the
dictatorship, restoring normal constitutional government, and after his second
Consulship, retiring to private life.
Early years
Sulla was born into a branch of the
patrician gens
Cornelia, but his family had fallen to an impoverished condition at the
time of his birth. Lacking ready money, Sulla spent his youth amongst Rome’s
comics, actors, lute-players, and dancers. Sulla retained an attachment to the
debauched nature of his youth until the end of his life,
Plutarch
mentions that during his last marriage – to
Valeria – he still kept company with "actresses, musicians, and dancers,
drinking with them on couches night and day".[3]
It seems certain that Sulla received a good education.
Sallust
declares him well-read and intelligent, and he was fluent in Greek, which was a
sign of education in Rome. The means by which Sulla attained the fortune which
later would enable him to ascend the ladder of Roman politics, the
Cursus honorum, are not clear, although Plutarch refers to two inheritances;
one from his stepmother and the other from a low-born, but rich, unmarried lady.[4]
In older sources, his name may be found as Sylla. This is a Hellenism,
like sylva for classical Latin silva, reinforced by the fact that
our two major sources,
Plutarch
and Appian,
wrote in Greek, and call him Σύλλα.[5]
Capture
of Jugurtha
In 107 BC, Sulla was nominated
quaestor to
Gaius
Marius, who had been elected
consul
for that year. Marius was taking control of the Roman army in the war against
King Jugurtha
of Numidia in
northern Africa.
The
Jugurthine War had started in 112 BC, but Roman legions under
Quintus Caecilius Metellus had been unsuccessful. Gaius Marius, a lieutenant
of Metellus, saw an opportunity to usurp his commander and fed rumors of
incompetence and delay to the
publicani (tax gatherers) in the region. These machinations caused calls for
Metellus's removal; despite delaying tactics by Metellus, Marius returned to
Rome to stand for the consulship and took over the campaign.
Under Marius, the Roman forces followed a very similar plan as under Metellus
and ultimately defeated the Numidians in 106 BC, thanks in large part to Sulla's
initiative in capturing the Numidian king. He had persuaded King
Bocchus of
Mauretania,
a nearby kingdom, to betray Jugurtha, who had fled to Mauretania for refuge. It
was a dangerous operation from the first, with King Bocchus weighing up the
advantages of handing Jugurtha over to Sulla or Sulla over to Jugurtha.[6]
The publicity attracted by this feat boosted Sulla's political career. Much to
the annoyance of Marius, a gilded equestrian statue of Sulla donated by King
Bocchus was erected in the Forum to commemorate his accomplishment.
Cimbri
and the Teutones
In 104 BC the migrating
Germanic-Celtic
alliance headed by the
Cimbri and the
Teutones seemed headed for Italy. As
Marius
was the best general Rome had, the Senate allowed him to lead the campaign
against them. Sulla served on Marius' staff as
tribunus militum during the first half of this campaign. Finally, with
those of his colleague,
proconsul
Quintus Lutatius Catulus, Marius' forces faced the enemy tribes at the
Battle of Vercellae in 101 BC. Sulla had by this time transferred to the
army of Catulus to serve as his
legatus,
and is credited as being the prime mover in the defeat of the tribes (Catulus
being a hopeless general and quite incapable of cooperating with Marius).
Victorious at Vercellae, Marius and Catulus were both granted
triumphs as the co-commanding generals.
Cilician
governorship
Returning to Rome, Sulla was
Praetor urbanus for 97 BC.[7]
The next year he was appointed
pro
consule to the province of
Cilicia (in
Anatolia).
While in the East, Sulla was the first Roman magistrate to meet a
Parthian
ambassador,
Orobazus, and by taking the seat between the Parthian ambassador and the
ambassador from
Pontus (the center seat being the place of honour), he sealed, perhaps
unintentionally, the Parthian ambassador's fate. Orobazus was executed upon his
return to Parthia for allowing Sulla to outmanoeuver him. It was at this meeting
he was told by a
Chaldean seer that he would die at the height of his fame and fortune. This
prophecy was to have a powerful hold on Sulla throughout his lifetime. In 96 BC
Sulla repulsed
Tigranes the Great of
Armenia from
Cappadocia.
Later in 96 BC Sulla left the East and returned to Rome, where he aligned
himself with the
Optimates
in opposition to Gaius Marius.
Social
War
The
Social War (91–88 BC) resulted from Rome's intransigence regarding the civil
liberties of the Socii, Rome's Italian allies. The Socii are a
separate entity to the 'Latins' who all remained loyal to Rome except for
Venusia. The Socii were old enemies of Rome that submitted, (such as the
Samnites) whereas the Latins were confederates of longer standing with Rome;
therefore the Latins were treated with more respect and received better
treatment.[8]
Subjects of the Roman Republic, these Italian provincials might be called to
arms in its defence or might be subjected to extraordinary taxes, but they had
no say in the expenditure of these taxes or in the uses of the armies that might
be raised in their territories. The Social War was, in part, caused by the
continued rebuttal of those that sought to extend Roman citizenship to the Socii
and to address various injustices inherent in the Roman system. The Gracchi,
Tiberius and Gaius, were successively killed by Optimate reactionaries who
sought to maintain the status quo. Finally the assassination of
Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger was the last straw. His reforms were
intended to grant Roman Citizenship to the allies, which would have given them a
say in the external and internal policies of the
Roman Republic. When Drusus was assassinated, most of his reforms addressing
these grievances were declared invalid. This greatly angered the Socii, and in
consequence, most allied against Rome.
At the beginning of the Social War, the Roman aristocracy and Senate were
beginning to fear
Gaius
Marius's ambition, which had already given him 5 consulships in a row, from
104 BC to 100 BC. They were determined that he should not have overall command
of the war in Italy. In this last rebellion of the Italian allies, Sulla served
with brilliance as a general. He outshone both Marius and the consul
Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo (the father of
Pompey Magnus). In 89 BC Sulla captured
Aeclanum,
the chief town of
Hirpini, by setting the wooden breastwork on fire. As a result of his
success in bringing the Social War to a successful conclusion, he was elected
consul for the
first time in 88 BC, with
Quintus Pompeius Rufus (soon his daughter's father-in-law) as his colleague.
Sulla served not only with brilliance as a general during the Social War, but
also with immense personal bravery. At
Nola he was awarded
a Corona Obsidionalis (Obsidional or Blockade Crown), also known as a
Corona Gaminea (Grass
Crown). This was the highest Roman military honor, awarded for personal
bravery to a commanding general who saves a Roman legion or army in the field.
Unlike all other Roman military honors, it was awarded by acclamation of the
soldiers of the rescued army, and consequently very few were ever awarded. The
crown, by tradition, was woven from grasses and other plants taken from the
actual battlefield.[9]
First
march on Rome
As consul, Sulla prepared to depart once more for the East, to fight the
first Mithridatic War, by the appointment of the Senate. But he would leave
trouble behind him. Marius was now an old man, but he still wanted to lead the
Roman armies against King
Mithridates VI of Pontus. Before leaving for the East Sulla and his
colleague
Pompeius Rufus blocked legislation of the
tribune
Publius Sulpicius Rufus to ensure the rapid organisation of the Italian
Allies within the Roman citizenship. Sulpicius found an ally in Marius who would
support the bill, he had his supporters riot. Sulla returned to Rome from the
siege at Nola to
meet with Pompeius Rufus, however Sulpicius' followers attacked the meeting,
forcing Sulla to take refuge in Marius' house, then forced him to support
Sulpicius' pro-Italian legislation. Sulla's own son-in-law was killed in those
riots. After Sulla left Rome again for Nola, Sulpicius (after receiving a
promise from Marius to wipe out his enormous debts) called a
assembly to reverse the Senate's decision on Sulla's command, transferring
it to Marius. Sulpicius also used the assemblies to eject Senators from the
Roman
Senate until there were not enough senators to form a quorum.
Violence in the Forum ensued, some nobles tried to lynch Sulpicius (as had been
done to the brothers
Gracchi and
Saturninus) but failed in the face of his bodyguard of
gladiators.
Sulla received news of this at the camp of his victorious Social War
veterans, waiting in the south of Italy to cross to Greece. He announced the
measures that had been taken against him, and his soldiers stoned the envoys of
the assemblies who came to announce that the command of the Mithridatic War had
been transferred to Marius. Sulla then took six of his most loyal
legions
and marched on Rome. This was an unprecedented event. No general before him had
ever crossed the city limits, the
pomoerium,
with his army. Most of his commanders (with the exception of his kinsman through
marriage
Lucullus) refused to accompany him. Sulla justified his actions on the
grounds that the Senate had been neutered and the
mos
maiorum ("the way of the elders"/"the traditional way", which amounted
to a Roman constitution though none of it was codified as such) had been
offended by the Senate's negation of the rights of the year's consuls to fight
the year's wars. Armed gladiators were unable to resist organized Roman
soldiers; and although Marius offered freedom to any slave that would fight with
him against Sulla (an offer which Plutarch says only three slaves accepted)[10]
he and his followers were forced to flee the city.
Sulla consolidated his position, declared Marius and his allies hostes
(enemies of the state), and addressed the Senate in harsh tones, portraying
himself as a victim, presumably to justify his violent entrance into the city.
After restructuring the city's politics and strengthening the Senate's power,
Sulla returned to his camp and proceeded with the original plan of fighting
Mithridates in
Pontus.
Sulpicius was betrayed and killed by one of his slaves, whom Sulla
subsequently freed and then executed. Marius, however, fled to safety in Africa.
With Sulla out of Rome, Marius plotted his return. During his period of exile
Marius became determined that he would hold a seventh consulship, as foretold by
the
Sibyl decades earlier. By the end of 87 BC Marius returned to Rome with the
support of
Lucius Cornelius Cinna and, in Sulla's absence, took control of the city.
Marius declared Sulla's reforms and laws invalid and officially exiled Sulla.
Marius and Cinna were elected consuls for the year 86 BC. Marius died a
fortnight after, and Cinna was left in sole control of Rome.
First
Mithridatic War
Asia Minor just before the First Mithridatic War
In the spring of 87 BC Sulla landed at
Dyrrachium, Greece. Asia was occupied by the forces of
Mithridates under the command of
Archelaus. Sulla’s first target was
Athens, ruled
by a Mithridatic puppet; the tyrant
Aristion.
Sulla moved southeast, picking up supplies and reinforcements as he went.
Sulla’s chief of staff was
Lucullus,
who went ahead of him to scout the way and negotiate with
Bruttius Sura, the existing Roman commander in Greece. After speaking with
Lucullus, Sura handed over the command of his troops to Sulla. At Chaeronea,
ambassadors from all the major cities of Greece (except Athens) met with Sulla,
who impressed on them Rome's determination to drive Mithridates from Greece and
Asia Province. Sulla then advanced on Athens.
Siege
of Athens
On arrival, Sulla threw up siege works encompassing not only Athens but also
the port of
Piraeus. At the time Archelaus had command of the sea, so Sulla sent
Lucullus to raise a fleet from the remaining Roman allies in the eastern
Mediterranean. His first objective was Piraeus, as without it Athens could not
be re-supplied. Huge earthworks were raised, isolating Athens and its port from
the land side. Sulla needed wood, so he cut down everything, including the
sacred groves of Greece, up to 100 miles from Athens. When more money was needed
he “borrowed” from temples and
Sibyls alike. The
currency minted from this treasure was to remain in circulation for centuries
and prized for its quality.
Despite the complete encirclement of Athens and its port, and several
attempts by Archelaus to raise the siege, a stalemate seemed to have developed.
Sulla, however, patiently bided his time. Soon Sulla's camp was to fill with
refugees from Rome, fleeing the massacres of Marius and Cinna. These also
included his wife and children, as well as those of the
Optimate party who had not been killed.
Athens by now was starving, and grain was at famine levels in price. Inside
the city, the population was reduced to eating shoe leather and grass. A
delegation from Athens was sent to treat with Sulla, but instead of serious
negotiations they expounded on the glory of their city. Sulla sent them away
saying: “I was sent to Athens, not to take lessons, but to reduce rebels to
obedience.”
His spies then informed him that Aristion was neglecting the Heptachalcum
(part of the city wall). Sulla immediately sent sappers to undermine the wall.
Nine hundred feet of wall was brought down between the Sacred and Piraeic gates
on the southwest side of the city. A midnight sack of Athens began, and after
the taunts of Aristion, Sulla was not in a mood to be magnanimous. Blood
literally flowed in the streets, it was only after the entreaties of a couple of
his Greek friends (Midias and Calliphon) and the pleas of the Roman Senators in
his camp that Sulla decided enough was enough. He then concentrated his forces
on the Port of Piraeus and Archelaus, seeing his hopeless situation, withdrew to
the citadel and then abandoned the port to join up with his forces under the
command of Taxiles. Sulla, as yet not having a fleet, was powerless to prevent
Archelaus’ escape. Before leaving Athens, he burnt the port to the ground. Sulla
then advanced into Boeotia to take on Archelaus's armies and remove them from
Greece.
Battle
of Chaeronea
Sulla lost no time in intercepting the Pontic army, occupying a hill called
Philoboetus that branched off Mount
Parnassus, overlooking the
Elatean plain, with plentiful supplies of wood and water. The army of
Archelaus, presently commanded by Taxiles, had to approach from the north and
proceed along the valley towards
Chaeronea.
Over 120,000 strong, it outnumbered Sulla's forces by at least 3 to 1. Archelaus
was in favor of a policy of attrition with the Roman forces, but Taxiles had
orders from Mithridates to attack at once. Sulla got his men digging, and
occupied the ruined city of Parapotamii, which was impregnable and commanded the
fords on the road to Chaeronea. He then made a move that looked to Archelaus
like a retreat. He abandoned the fords and moved in behind an entrenched
palisade.
Behind the palisade were the field artillery from the siege of Athens.
Archelaus advanced across the fords and tried to outflank Sulla’s men, only
to have his right wing hurled back, causing even more confusion. Archelaus’s
chariots then charged the Roman center, only to be destroyed on the palisades.
Next came the phalanxes: they too found the palisades impassable, and received
withering fire from the Roman field artillery. Then Archelaus flung his right
wing at the Roman left; Sulla, seeing the danger of this maneuver, raced over
from the Roman right wing to help. Sulla stabilized the situation, at which
point Archelaus flung in more troops from his right flank. This destabilized the
Pontic army, slewing it towards its right flank. Sulla dashed back to his own
right wing and ordered the general advance. The legions, supported by cavalry,
dashed forward and Archelaus’ army folded in on itself, like closing a pack of
cards. The slaughter was terrible, and some reports estimate that only 10,000
men of Mithridates' original army survived. Sulla had defeated a vastly superior
force in terms of numbers; it was also the first recorded time that battlefield
entrenchments were used.
The government of Rome (i.e., Cinna) then sent out
Lucius Valerius Flaccus with an army to relieve Sulla of command in the
east. Flaccus' second in command was
Gaius Flavius Fimbria, who had few virtues. (He was to eventually agitate
against his commanding officer and incite the troops to murder Flaccus). The two
Roman armies camped next to each other; and Sulla, not for the first time,
encouraged his soldiers to spread dissension among Flaccus’ army. Many deserted
to Sulla before Flaccus packed up and moved on north to threaten Mithridates’
northern dominions. In the meantime, Sulla moved to intercept the new Pontic
army.
He chose the site of the battle to come —
Orchomenus, a town in
Boeotia that
allowed a smaller army to meet a much larger one, due to its natural defences,
and was ideal terrain for Sulla's innovative use of entrenchment. This time the
Pontic army was in excess of 150,000, and it encamped itself in front of the
busy Roman army, next to a large lake. It soon dawned on Archelaus what Sulla
was up to. Sulla had not only been digging trenches but also dykes, and before
long he had the Pontic army in deep trouble. Desperate sallies by the Pontic
forces were repulsed by the Romans and the dykes moved onward.
On the second day, Archelaus made a determined effort to escape Sulla’s web
of dykes—the entire Pontic army was hurled at the Romans—but the Roman
legionaries were pressed together so tightly that their short swords were like
an impenetrable barrier, through which the enemy could not escape. The battle
turned into a rout, with slaughter an immense scale. Plutarch notes that two
hundred years later, armor and weapons from the battle were still being found.
The battle of Orchomenus was another of the world's decisive battles. It
determined that the fate of Asia Minor lay with Rome and her successors for the
next millennium.
Sulla's
Victory and settlement
In 86 BC, after Sulla's victory in
Orchomenos, he initially spent some time re-establishing Roman authority.
His legate soon arrived with the fleet he was sent to gather, and Sulla was
ready to recapture lost Greek islands before crossing into Asia Minor. The
second Roman army under the command of
Flaccus
meanwhile moved through Macedonia and into Asia Minor. After the capture of
Philippi,
remaining Mithridatic forces crossed the
Hellespont to get away from the Romans. The Romans, under Flaccus'
subordinate C. Flavius
Fimbria, were
encouraged to loot and create general havoc as it went, creating problems
between Flaccus and Fimbria. Flaccus was a fairly strict disciplinarian and the
behavior of his lieutenant led to discord between the two.
At some point as this army crossed the Hellespont while giving chase to
Mithridates' forces, Fimbria seems to have started a rebellion against Flaccus.
While seemingly minor enough to not cause immediate repercussions in the field,
Fimbria was relieved of his duty and ordered back to Rome. The return trip
included a stop at the port city of Byzantium, however, and here Fimbria took
command of the garrison, rather than continue home. Flaccus, hearing of this,
marched his army to
Byzantium
to put a stop to the rebellion, but walked right into his own undoing. The army
preferred Fimbria (not surprising considering his leniency in regard to plunder)
and a general revolt ensued. Flaccus attempted to flee, but was captured shortly
after and the Consular commander was executed. With Flaccus out of the way,
Fimbria took complete command.
The following year (85 BC) Fimbria took the fight to Mithridates while Sulla
continued to operate on the Greek Islands of the Aegaeum. Fimbria quickly won a
decisive victory over remaining Mithridatic forces and moved on the capital of
Pergamum. With all vestige of hope crumbling for Mithridates, he fled
Pergamum to the coastal city of Pitane. Fimbria, in pursuit, laid siege to
the town, but had no fleet to prevent Mithridates' escape by sea. Fimbria called
upon Sulla's legate,
Lucullus to
bring his fleet around to block Mithridates in, but it seems that Sulla had
other plans.
Sulla apparently had been in private negotiation with Mithridates to end the
war. He wanted to develop easy terms and get the ordeal over as quickly as
possible. The quicker it was dealt with, the faster he would be able to settle
political matters in Rome. With this in mind, Lucullus and his navy refused to
help Fimbria, and Mithridates 'escaped' to Lesbos. Later at Dardanus, Sulla and
Mithridates met personally to negotiate terms. With Fimbria re-establishing
Roman hegemony over the cities of Asia Minor, Mithridates position was
completely untenable. Yet Sulla, with his eyes on Rome, offered
uncharacteristically mild terms. Mithridates was forced to give up all his
conquests (which Sulla and Fimbria had already managed to take back by force),
surrender any Roman prisoners, provide a 70 ship fleet to Sulla along with
supplies, and pay a tribute of 2,000 to 3,000 gold talents. In exchange,
Mithridates was able to keep his original kingdom and territory and regain his
title of "friend of the Roman people."
But things in the east weren't yet settled. Fimbria was enjoying free rein in
the province of Asia and led a cruel oppression of both those who were involved
against Romans, and those who were now in support of Sulla. Unable to leave a
potentially dangerous army in his rear, Sulla crossed into Asia. He pursued
Fimbria to his camp at Thyatira where Fimbria was confident in his ability to
repulse an attack. Fimbria, however, soon found that his men wanted nothing to
do with opposing Sulla and many deserted or refused to fight in the coming
battle. Sensing all was lost, Fimbria took his own life, while his army went
over to Sulla.
To ensure the loyalty of both Fimbria's troops and his own veterans, who
weren't happy about the easy treatment of their enemy,
Mithridates, Sulla now started to penalize the province of Asia. His
veterans were scattered throughout the province and allowed to extort the wealth
of local communities. Large fines were placed on the province for lost taxes
during their rebellion and the cost of the war. With his army gaining their
unorthodox method of 'plunder', it wouldn't be long before Sulla would make his
next move.
As the year 84 BC rolled in,
Cinna, still
Consul in Rome, was faced with minor disturbances among Illyrian tribes. Perhaps
in an attempt to gain experience for an army to act as a counter to Sulla's
forces, or to show Sulla that the Senate also had some strength of its own,
Cinna raised an army to deal with this Illyrian problem. Conveniently the source
of the disturbance was located directly between Sulla and another march on Rome.
Cinna pushed his men hard to move to position in
Illyria and
forced marches through snow covered mountains did little to endear Cinna to his
army. A short time after departing Rome, Cinna was stoned to death by his own
men. Hearing of Cinna's death, and the ensuing power gap in Rome, Sulla gathered
his forces and prepared for a second march on the capital.
Second
March on Rome
In 83 BC Sulla prepared his 5 legions and left the 2 originally under Fimbria
to maintain peace in Asia Minor. In the spring of that year, Sulla crossed the
Adriatic with a large fleet from Patrae, near Corinth, to
Brundisium and
Tarentum in
the heel of Italy. Landing uncontested, he was given ample opportunity to
prepare for the coming war.
In Rome, the newly elected Consuls, L.
Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus and C.
Norbanus
levied and prepared armies of their own to stop Sulla and protect the Republican
government. Norbanus marched first with the intention of blocking a Sullan
advance at Canusium. Seriously defeated, Norbanus was forced to retreat to Capua
where there was no respite. Sulla followed his defeated adversary and won
another victory in a very short time. Meanwhile Asiagenus was also on the march
south with an army of his own. Asiagenus or his army, however, seemed to have
little motivation to fight. At the town of Teanum Sidicinum, Sulla and Asiagenus
met face to face to negotiate and Asiagenus surrendered without a fight. The
army sent to stop Sulla wavered in the face of battle against experienced
veterans, and certainly along with the prodding of Sulla's operatives, gave up
the cause, going over to Sulla's side as a result. Left without an army,
Asiagenus had little choice but to cooperate and later writings of
Cicero suggest
that the two men actually discussed many matters regarding Roman government and
the Constitution.
Sulla let Asiagenus leave the camp, firmly believing him to be a supporter.
He was possibly expected to deliver terms to the Senate but immediately
rescinded any thought of supporting Sulla upon being set free. Sulla later made
it publicly known that not only would Asiagenus suffer for opposing him, but
that any man who continued to oppose him after this betrayal would suffer bitter
consequences. With Sulla's three quick victories, though, the situation began to
rapidly turn in his favor. Many of those in a position of power, who had not yet
taken a clear side, now chose to support Sulla. The first of these was Q.
Caecilius
Metellus Pius who governed Africa. The old enemy of Marius, and assuredly of
Cinna as well, led an open revolt against the Marian forces in Africa.
Additional help came from Picenum and Spain. Two of the three future
Triumvirs joined Sulla's cause in his bid to take control.
Marcus Licinius Crassus marched with an army from Spain, and would later
play a pivotal role at the Colline Gates. The young son of
Pompeius Strabo (the butcher of
Asculum
during the Social War), raised an army of his own from among his father's
veterans and threw his lot in with Sulla. At the tender age of 23, and never
having held a Senatorial office, Pompey forced himself into the political scene
with an army at his back.
Regardless, the war would continue on with Asiagenus raising another army in
defense. This time he moved after Pompey, but once again, his army abandoned him
and went over to the enemy. As a result, desperation followed in Rome as the
year 83 came to a close. The Senate re-elected Cinna's old co-Consul, Papirius
Carbo, to his
third term, and
Gaius
Marius the Younger, the 26 year old son of the great general, to his first.
Hoping to inspire Marian supporters throughout the Roman world, recruiting began
in earnest among the Italian tribes who had always been loyal to Marius. In
addition, possible Sullan supporters were murdered. The urban praetor L.
Junius Brutus Damasippus led a slaughter of those Senators who seemed to
lean towards the invading forces, yet one more incident of murder in a growing
spiral of violence as a political tool in the late Republic.
As the campaign year of 82 BC opened, Carbo took his forces to the north to
oppose Pompey while Marius moved against Sulla in the south. Attempts to defeat
Pompey failed and Metellus with his African forces along with Pompey secured
northern Italy for Sulla. In the South, young Marius gathered a large host of
Samnites who assuredly would lose influence with the anti-popular Sulla in
charge of Rome. Marius met Sulla at
Sacriportus and the two forces engaged in a long and desperate battle. In
the end, many of Marius' men switched sides over to Sulla and he had no choice
but to retreat to
Praeneste. Sulla followed the son of his arch-rival and laid siege to the
town, leaving a subordinate in command. Sulla himself moved north to push Carbo,
who had withdrawn to Etruria to stand between Rome and the forces of
Pompey and
Metellus.
Indecisive battles were fought between Carbo and Sulla's forces but Carbo
knew that his cause was lost. News arrived of a defeat by Norbanus in Gaul, and
that he also switched sides to Sulla. Carbo, caught between three enemy armies
and with no hope of relief, fled to Africa. It was not yet the end of the
resistance however, those remaining Marian forces gathered together and
attempted several times to relieve young Marius at Praeneste. A Samnite force
under
Pontius Telesinus joined in the relief effort but the combined armies were
still unable to break Sulla. Rather than continue trying to rescue Marius,
Telesinus moved north to threaten Rome.
On November 1 of 82 BC, the two forces met at the battle of the
Colline Gate, just outside of Rome. The battle was a huge and desperate
final struggle with both sides certainly believing their own victory would save
Rome. Sulla was pushed hard on his left flank with the situation so dangerous
that he and his men were pushed right up against the city walls. Crassus'
forces, fighting on Sulla's right however, managed to turn the opposition's
flank and drive them back. The Samnites and the Marian forces were folded up and
broke. In the end, over 50,000 combatants lost their lives and Sulla stood alone
as the master of Rome.
Dictatorship
and Constitutional Reforms
At the end of 82 BC or the beginning of 81 BC, the Senate appointed Sulla
dictator legibus faciendis et reipublicae constituendae causa ("dictator
for the making of laws and for the settling of the constitution"). The decision
was subsequently ratified by the "Assembly of the People", with no limit set on
his time in office. Sulla had total control of the city and republic of Rome,
except for
Hispania (which Marius's general
Quintus Sertorius had established as an independent state). This unusual
appointment (used hitherto only in times of extreme danger to the city, such as
the
Second Punic War, and then only for 6-month periods) represented an
exception to Rome's policy of not giving total power to a single individual.
Sulla can be seen as setting the precedent for
Julius Caesar's dictatorship, and the eventual end of the Republic under
Augustus.
In total control of the city and its affairs, Sulla instituted a programme of
executing those whom he perceived to be enemies of the state. This was akin to
(and in response to) those killings which Marius and Cinna had implemented while
they were in control of the Republic during Sulla's absence.
Proscribing or outlawing every one of those whom he perceived to have acted
against the best interests of the Republic while he was in the east, Sulla
ordered some 1,500 nobles (i.e., senators and
equites) executed, although it is estimated that as many as 9,000 people
were killed[11].
The purge went on for several months. Helping or sheltering a person who was
proscribed was also punishable by death. The State confiscated the wealth of the
outlawed and then auctioned it off, making Sulla and his supporters vastly rich.
The sons and grandsons of the proscribed were banned from future political
office, a restriction not removed for over 30 years.
The young Caesar, as Cinna's son-in-law, was one of Sulla's targets and fled
the city. He was saved through the efforts of his relatives, many of whom were
Sulla's supporters, but Sulla noted in his memoirs that he regretted sparing
Caesar's life, because of the young man's notorious ambition. The historian
Suetonius
records that when agreeing to spare Caesar, Sulla warned those who were pleading
his case that he would become a danger to them in the future, saying "In this
Caesar there are many Mariuses."
Sulla, who had observed the violent results of radical popularis
reforms (in particular those under Marius and Cinna), was naturally
conservative, and so his conservatism was more reactionary than it was
visionary.[12]
As such, he sought to strengthen the aristocracy, and thus the senate.[12]
Sulla retained his earlier reforms, which required senate approval before any
bill could be submitted to the
Plebeian Council (the principal popular assembly), and which had also
restored the older, more aristocratic ("Servian")
organization to the
Century Assembly (assembly of soldiers).[13]
Sulla, himself a Patrician and thus ineligible for election to the office of
Plebeian Tribune,
thoroughly disliked the office. As Sulla viewed the office, the Tribunate was
especially dangerous, which was in part due to its radical past, and so his
intention was to not only deprive the Tribunate of power, but also of prestige.
The reforms of the Gracchi Tribunes were one such example of its radical past,
but by no means the only examples. Over the previous three hundred years, the
Tribunes had been the officers most responsible for the loss of power by the
aristocracy. Since the Tribunate was the principal means through which the
democracy of Rome had always asserted itself against the aristocracy, it was of
paramount importance to Sulla that he cripple the office. Through his reforms to
the Plebeian Council, Tribunes lost the power to initiate legislation. Sulla
then prohibited ex-Tribunes from ever holding any other office, so ambitious
individuals would no longer seek election to the Tribunate, since such an
election would end their political career.[14]
Finally, Sulla revoked the power of the Tribunes to veto acts of the senate.
Sulla then increased the number of magistrates who were elected in any given
year,[12]
and required that all newly-elected
Quaestors
be given automatic membership in the senate. These two reforms were enacted
primarily so as to allow Sulla to increase the size of the senate from 300 to
600 senators. This removed the need for the
Censor to draw up a list of senators, since there were always more than
enough former magistrates to fill the senate.[12]
To further solidify the prestige and authority of the senate, Sulla transferred
the control of the courts from the knights, who had held control since the
Gracchi reforms, to the senators. This, along with the increase in the number of
courts, further added to the power that was already held by the senators.[14]
He also codified, and thus established definitively, the
cursus honorum,[14]
which required an individual to reach a certain age and level of experience
before running for any particular office. Sulla also wanted to reduce the risk
that a future general might attempt to seize power, as he himself had done. To
reduce this risk, he reaffirmed the requirement that any individual wait for ten
years before being reelected to any office. Sulla then established a system
where all Consuls and Praetors served in Rome during their year in office, and
then commanded a provincial army as a governor for the year after they left
office.[14]
Finally, in a demonstration of his absolute power, he expanded the "Pomerium",
the sacred boundary of Rome, untouched since the time of the kings. Many of
Sulla's reforms looked to the past (often re-passing former laws), but he also
regulated for the future, particularly in his redefinition of
maiestas (treason) laws.
Near the end of 81 BC, Sulla, true to his traditionalist sentiments, resigned
his dictatorship, disbanded his legions and re-established normal consular
government. He also stood for (with Metellus Pius) and was elected Consul for
the following year, 80 BC. He dismissed his lictors and walked unguarded in the
Forum, offering to give account of his actions to any citizen. In a manner that
the historian
Suetonius thought arrogant, Julius Caesar would later mock Sulla for
resigning the Dictatorship.[15]
Retirement
and death
After his second consulship, he withdrew to his country villa near
Puteoli to
be with family. From this distance, he remained out of the day-to-day political
activities in Rome, intervening only a few times when his policies were involved
(e.g., The
Granius episode).
Sulla's goal now was to write his memoirs, which he finished in 78 BC, just
before his death. Unfortunately it is now largely lost, although fragments from
it exist as quotations in later writers. Ancient accounts of Sulla's death
indicate that he died from liver failure or a ruptured gastric ulcer (symptomised
by a sudden haemorrhage from his mouth followed by a fever from which he never
recovered) caused by chronic alcohol abuse.[16]
His funeral in Rome (at Roman Forum, in the presence of the whole city) was on a
scale unmatched until that of
Augustus in
AD 14.[17]
Pliny the elder, (N'H, VII,XLIV) says that "was not the close of his life
more horrible than the sufferings which had been experienced by any of those who
had been proscribed by him? His very flesh eating into itself, and so
engendering his own punishment."
Sulla's
legacy
Even though Sulla's laws concerning qualification for admittance to the
Senate,
reform of the legal system and regulations of governorships, among others,
remained on Rome's statutes long into the Principate, some of his legislation
was repealed less than a decade after his death. The
veto power of the
tribunes and their legislating authority were soon reinstated, ironically
during the
consulships of
Pompey and
Crassus. However, Sulla failed to frame a settlement whereby the army
(following the Marian reforms allowing non-landowning soldiery) remained loyal
to the Senate rather than to generals such as himself. That he tried shows he
was well aware of the danger. He did pass laws to limit the actions of generals
in their provinces (laws that remained in effect well into the imperial period),
however, they did not prevent determined generals such as Pompey and
Julius Caesar from using their armies for personal ambition against the
Senate. This highlighted the weakness of the Senate in the late republican
period and its inability to control its most ambitious members.
Sulla is generally seen to have provided the example that led Caesar to cross
the Rubicon, and also provided the inspiration for Caesar's eventual
Dictatorship.
Cicero comments that Pompey once said "If Sulla could, why can't I?".
Sulla's example proved that it could be done, and therefore inspired others to
attempt it; he has been seen as another step in the Republic's fall.
Sulla's descendants continued to be prominent in Roman politics into the
imperial period. His son,
Faustus Cornelius Sulla, issued denarii bearing the name of the dictator, as
did a grandson, Quintus Pompeius Rufus. His descendants among the Cornelii
Sullae would hold four consulships during the imperial period: Lucius Cornelius
Sulla in 5 BC,
Faustus Cornelius Sulla in AD 31, Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix in AD 33, and
Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix (the son of the consul of 31) in AD 52. The
latter was the husband of
Claudia Antonia, daughter of the emperor
Claudius.
His execution in AD 62 on the orders of emperor
Nero would make him
the last of the Cornelii Sullae.
The dictator is the subject of two Italian operas, both of which take
considerable liberties with history and change his name to "Lucio Silla":
Lucio
Silla by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the little-known Silla by
Georg Friederich Handel. In each he is portrayed as a bloody, womanizing,
ruthless tyrant who eventually repents his ways and steps down from the throne
of Rome.
Marriages
and children
- First wife, "Ilia" (according to Plutarch). If Plutarch's text is to be
amended to "Julia", then she is likely to have been one of the Julias
related to
Julius Caesar (either his first-cousin once-removed or his aunt)[18]
- Second wife, Aelia. Sulla divorced her due to sterility.
- Third wife, Cloelia.
- Fourth wife,
Caecilia Metella
- Fifth wife,
Valeria
Chronology
- c. 138 BC – Born in Rome
- 107-05 BC –
Quaestor
and pro quaestore to
Gaius Marius in the war with Jugurtha in Numidia
- 106 BC – End of
Jugurthine War
- 104 BC – legatus to Marius cos.II in Gallia Transalpina
- 103 BC – tribunus militum in army of Marius cos.III in Gallia
Transalpina
- 102-01 BC – legatus to
Quintus Lutatius Catulus consul and pro consule in Gallia
Cisalpina
- 101 BC – took part in the defeat of the Cimbri at the
battle of Vercellae
- 97 BC –
Praetor
urbanus
- 96 BC – Commander of
Cilicia
province pro consule
- 90-89 BC – senior officer in the
Social
War as legatus pro praetore
- 88 BC –
- Holds the consulship (for the first time) with Quintus Pompeius
Rufus as colleague
- Invades Rome and outlaws Caius Marius the elder
- 87 BC – Command of Roman armies to fight King Mithridates of Pontus
- 86 BC – Sack of Athens, Battle of Chaeronea, Battle of Orchomenus
- 85 BC – Liberation of Macedonia, Asia and Cilicia provinces from Pontic
occupation
- 84 BC – Reorganization of Asia province
- 83 BC – Returns to Italy and undertakes civil war against the factional
Marian government
- 83-82 BC – War with the followers of Caius Marius the younger and Cinna
- 82 BC – Victory at the
Battle of the Colline Gate
- 82/1 BC – Appointed "dictator legibus faciendis et rei publicae
constituendae causa"
- 81 BC – Resigns the dictatorship before the end of the year
- 80 BC – Holds the consulship (for the second time) with Quintus
Caecilius Metellus Pius as colleague
- 79 BC – Retires from political life, refusing the post consulatum
provincial command of Gallia Cisalpina he was allotted as consul, but
retaining the curatio for the reconstruction of the temples on the
Capitoline Hill
- 78 BC – Dies of an intestinal ulcer. Funeral held in Rome
|