Lucius Cornelius Sulla is born

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was born in 138 BC into the patrician gens Cornelia, a famous but impoverished family. He had an ancestor who had achieved the office of Consul, but had been expelled from the Senate because it was discovered that he possessed a forbidden 10 pounds of silver plate.

During his youth, Sulla lived in humble circumstances. Nevertheless, he received an excellent education, and he had an appreciation of literature and the arts. He spoke Greek fluently and was judged highly intelligent.

Plutarch describes Sulla as having a bad complexion with blue eyes “keen and glaring.” And although of a serious and composed disposition, he was described as casual and approachable when drinking or at table. He kept company with actors, musicians and dancers, something aristocratic Romans thought unseemly. Today, we would call him bohemian or “artsy.” And many of the criticisms of his voluptuousness and dissolution were probably the result of the well-established practice of Roman invective and social snobbery. Whatever company he kept or predilections he had, Sulla was energetic and ambitious.

After inheriting money from a wealthy older widow, Nicopolis, and from a step-mother who loved him as a son, Sulla’s finances significantly improved. He embarked on the Cursus Honorum as a quaestor during Marius’ first consulship.

Shortly after taking office, he sailed with Marius to Africa where the consul would continue prosecuting a slow-going war against the Numidian Jugurtha. While there, Marius’ prosecution of the war didn’t go well, but Sulla got lucky. He managed to rescue the emissaries of Mauretanian King Bocchus from a band of robbers. Not only did he rescue them, but he loaded them with gifts and provided an escort to help them safely reach their destination. As a consequence, he met King Bocchus, Jugurtha’s father-in-law, and managed to charm him. The outcome of Sulla’s efforts was the betrayal of Jugurtha and the end of the war. An unintended consequence of Sulla’s success was Marius’ jealousy. Nevertheless, Marius appreciated Sulla’s competence and would employ him in the future as quaestor and tribune.

In 101 BC, during Marius’ fifth consulship, Italy was threatened with invasion by 3 barbarian nations; the Teutones, Cimbri and Tigurini. Marius, along with proconsul Quintus Lutatius Catulus, led two consular armies that defeated the Teutones and Cimbri successively in the battles of Aquae Sextae and Vercellae. As a consequence, the Tigurini turned back to their homeland.

In the first part of the campaign Sulla served directly under Marius as tribunus militum (one of six appointed by the Senate to each legion). However, seeing that Marius was beginning to oppose his advancement, Sulla transferred to Catulus’ command as legatus (a position with broad authority). There he was given the freedom and power to exercise his organizational and martial talents.

First, he was instrumental in defeating some Alpine tribes thereby establishing control over mountain passes into Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy). Later he organized the logistical supply for both armies during the campaign. This was a notable achievement because supplies in Cisalpine Gaul were scarce at this time.

After a successful conclusion to the war in Gaul, Sulla stood for Praetor. He lost. But he managed to win the following year becoming Praetor Urbanus in 97 BC. After his term he was appointed by the Senate as propraetorial governor of Cilicia (96 BC). His task was to settle matters in Cappadocia (a kingdom in Asia Minor) as well as deal with the military threat from Mithridates II (called the great), King of Parthia.

He had no army and mostly on his authority and organizational skills was able to achieve his objectives; the installation of a pro Roman Cappadocian King, Ariobarzanes, a check on the expansionism of Mithridates the Great, and a great-power meeting with the Parthian ambassador.

Later that year, having accomplished his objectives, Sulla returned to Rome and immersed himself in politics, although he held no office at this time. He aligned himself with the Optimates, the conservative faction in the Senate and, therefore, opposed Marius’ Populares.

The King Bocchus gift affair
King Bocchus, after the betrayal of his troublesome son-in-law Jugurtha, wanted to show Sulla and the Romans his gratitude and friendship. So he had commemorative statues set up in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus depicting his delivery of Jugurtha into the hands of Sulla surrounded by a group of statues depicting the goddess victory. Marius was offended and tried to have the statues taken down. Sulla partisans, however, raised a ruckus and Marius and his followers backed down. But the conflict went much deeper than the mutual dislike of two strong men. It manifested itself in a conflict of the social orders—Equites versus Senators; parties—Populares versus Optimates; institutions—Assembly versus Senate and Tribunes versus Consuls. It also made explicit the various alignments of provincial and allied tribes, city-states, nations and kingdoms throughout the Roman Empire. It pointed to one significant flaw in the political machinery of the Republic that threatened it with disintegration; there was no adequate institutional mechanism for the peaceful resolution of social-political conflict between evenly matched opponents.

As the social and political situation continued to deteriorate, heading inexorably toward violent conflict, another significant fault within the Republican machinery made itself manifest; the political inequality between enfranchised citizens of Rome and its Italian allies.

The Social War (91-to-88 BC)
The Social War was actually a civil war between Rome and those of her allies (Socii) who were repeatedly denied the rights of full Roman citizenship. In the years leading up to the Social War, the Italian allies were obligated to provide provisions and man power for the legions during times of war. Yet they did not have representation in the Roman Senate or Assemblies. They had no vote. This second-class citizenship had economic consequences as well. In the division of spoils of war, allied legionaries received a smaller share. Furthermore, as Roman legionaries retired, they were allocated plots on public lands, ager publicus; lands often taken in war from the very allies who were denied their share of it now. With the Gracchan land redistribution schemes, even the local allied aristocrats who had encroached upon these lands along with their wealthy Roman counterparts, found themselves losers. And allied poor received nothing.

Recently, Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger had represented Socii interests regarding the franchise, but he was assassinated by the conservative opposition and his reforms were repealed. Frustrated by the intransigence of the Optimates, the allies rebelled. Their political goal was the franchise for the 12 tribes/nations that constituted the Italia confederation: Samnites, Lucani, Apuli, Marsi, Marrucini, Paeligni, Picentes, Frentani, Hirpini, Pompeiani, Venusini, and Vestini. If they could not achieve the franchise, then Italia wanted independence. The Roman goal was the status quo ante; second class citizenship of these various allies; local autonomy but no say in imperial foreign or domestic policy.

The Italia Confederation was able to field 100,000 men trained and equipped to fight like the Roman legions. The Romans could field 100,000 infantry as well, but had the advantage of being able to draw upon specialized forces throughout the Empire; among them Gallic and Spanish heavy and Numidian light cavalry.

The Roman strategic objective was the military defeat of the allied confederation. Their operational strategy was to divide the Italian peninsula into two theaters, the north and the south, and to attack both at the same time.

The Italia strategic objective was the defeat of Roman forces in the field and the separation of her Latin allies from Rome before she could bring full imperial resources to bear.

The year 91 BC was spent in preparation for war by both sides.

The conflict was bloody and ruthless. Although Marius participated in the beginning of the war and made good some of the reverses suffered in the field by his colleagues, it was Sulla who excelled. At Nola, he was awarded the rarely given Corona Graminea (Crown of Grasses) by acclamation of the legion he had saved. With the successful conclusion to the Social war, Sulla had acquired even more political capital.

The First Mithridatic War (88 BC) and Sulla’s first march on Rome

With the outbreak of the Mithridatic War, Sulla was given command of the Roman army by the Senate, but the Assembly appointed Marius. Sulla met with his troops at Nola and marched on Rome in order to settle the matter. By doing so, he broke the law as well as a longstanding tradition that prohibited Roman troops within city walls. Marius fled along with his supporters to Africa where they proceeded to raise an army. Sulla extracted vengeance by executing members of the Marian party. Sulla had Marius and his supporters declared enemies of the state and then departed for the East in order to confront Mithridates.

While Rome was engaged in the Social War, Mithridates had Roman citizens in Asia Minor slaughtered, especially the hated publicani (tax farmers), and his forces occupied most of Asia Minor and mainland Greece. Athens supported Mithridates and its ruler Aristion was considered his friend and counselor. Archelaus, Mithridates’ general, was headquartered in Athens, from which he controlled most of mainland Greece. Sulla besieged Athens, reduced it and executed Aristion. Archelaus was able to get away by sea. Sulla was then reinforced by a consular army from Rome under the command of Lucius Valerius Flaccus, a suffect (replacement) consul who completed Marius’ term in 86 BC. He was sent as governor of Asia and along with 2 legions.

After taking Athens, Sulla defeated Archelaus and Taxiles (sent with reinforcements from Pontus) in two battles, Chaeronea and Orchomenos. Both victories resulted in the one-sided slaughter of a much larger Pontic army. After their defeat, the remaining Pontic forces were withdrawn from mainland Greece. Sulla proceeded to clear Pontic forces from the Greek islands while Gaius Valerius Flaccus cleared Pontic forces from Macedonia, Thrace and Byzantium. After crossing the Hellespont, the consular army, now under the command of Gaius Flavius Fimbria (previously legatus to Flacus), began reducing the coastal cities of Asia Minor. At the siege of Pergamon, Fimbria had a chance to capture Mithridates and asked for help from Lucullus (Sulla’s legatus) who was in command of the Roman fleet. Lucullus refused to help and Mithridates escaped. Sulla came to a quick settlement with the Pontic king then crossed into Asia in order to deal with Fimbria, the pro-Marian commander. Fimbria, deserted by his army, committed suicide and the legions were incorporated into Sulla’s command. Sulla now had seven legions at his disposal. He left two legions to maintain control of Asia while he and his five legions marched on Rome a second time.

Sulla’s second march on Rome (83 BC)
After settling matters in Greece and Asia with Mithridates and Fimbria, Sulla, along with five legions, landed in southern Italy at Brundisium and Tarentum. His landings were unopposed. Meanwhile in Rome, the two newly elected pro-Marian consuls (Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus and Gaius Norbanus Balbo) were raising new legions. Norbanus left Rome toward the south with an army of raw recruits and met Sulla at Mount Tifata near Capua. He was easily defeated by Sulla’s hardened veterans, losing 6,000 men in the process. Norbanus gathered up what remained of his troops and his shattered army retreated to Cisalpine Gaul.

At the same time, Asiaticus headed south with a consular army of his own. His troops had no stomach for fighting Sulla’s veterans and deserted, forcing Asiaticus to surrender. Sulla let him go and Asiaticus immediately turned coat again. This action was to have bloody consequences for all other pro-Marian adherents.

With these easy victories behind him, Sulla began to acquire the manpower and resources of the fence sitters. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius fomented a pro-Sullan rebellion in Africa, Marcus Licinius Crassus brought legions from Spain and Gnaeus Pompeius (later called Magnus) raised legions in Picenum from among his father’s veterans. As the year 82 BC wound down, two new pro-Marian consuls were elected; Gnaeus Papirius Carbo for the third time and the young son of Marius, Gaius Marius Minor, for the first. Carbo took a consular army north to face Mettelus (now arrived from Africa) and Pompey while Marius headed south to meet Sulla. Carbo was unsuccessful in the north with Mettelus and Pompey securing that part of the peninsula for Sulla. Marius minor and Sulla met in the south near Sacriportus. Marius was defeated and retreated with the remnants of his army to Praeneste where Sulla’s forces bottled him up. Marius sent word to Rome to kill the remaining Sullan supporters. The meeting of the Senate was called and the marked Senators were cut down in the Curia itself. The bodies of the slain men were tossed into the Tiber River.

Sulla left behind a portion of his forces to continue the siege and took the majority of his army north, stopping in Rome along the way, to finish Carbo at Arminium. Sulla beat Carbo twice; at Saturnia and again at Clusium. Other pro-Sullan forces under Carssus and Pompey took the town of Spoletium and killed over 3,000 Marians there. Corbo, who had seen little success on the battlefield against Sullan forces, saw his strategic position, caught between 3 armies with no chance of reinforcement, was untenable and escaped to Sicily. In the meantime, a Samnite army under the command of Pontius Telesinus, along with other pro-Marian forces tried unsuccessfully to break the siege at Praeneste. Unable to accomplish this task, they marched on Rome and engaged Sulla’s armies at the battle of the Colline Gate.

The Battle lasted all night long. Sulla’s left flank was pushed back and hard pressed. On the right wing, however, Crassus was able to roll up the enemy’s flank and cause the enemy to break. Losses were heavy on both sides. Eight thousand prisoners were taken. These men (Samnites and Populares) were slaughtered while Sulla convened the Senate.

Shortly thereafter, proscription lists were issued not only in Rome but throughout Italy. Many men were slain, some, says Plutarch, not for any wrong they did but for solely because of their wealth.

Sulla instituted constitutional reforms, severely weakening the power of Tribunes. Under his reforms, Tribunes where stripped of the right to initiate legislation. Ex-tribunes could not hold any other office. Tribunes could not veto acts of the Senate. Sulla also increased the number of magistrates elected in a given year. Newly elected Quaestors were automatically enrolled in the Senate with the result that the control of the Senatorial rolls no longer belonged to the office of Censor. Sulla increased the number of law courts that heard cases but made them the exclusive prerogative of the Senatorial class. He defined and codified the cursus honorum; candidates for various magistracies had to be of a certain age and had to have a clearly defined level of experience in order to qualify.

Sulla, irrespective of his methods, wanted to stabilize the Republican government and wanted to hold power within the confines of its constitution.

His extra constitutional actions weren’t just a pure power grab, but a realistic approach to its short comings and abuses. The Equites, the publicani amongst them, were enriching themselves at the expense of the provincials in an unsustainable way. The use of city offices to engage in class struggle was also seen as destabilizing and injurious to the state. Sulla believed that the Senate and the Senatorial order were best equipped the run the city of Rome as well as the empire. When, however, we view the behavior of aristocrats like Verres, the rapacious governor of Sicily, we see that this assumption was unwarranted. Sulla, retired from office and gave up power willingly and died shortly thereafter. He was 60 years old. Many of his reforms were reversed by Pompeius Magnus, Crassus and Julius Caesar.

NOTES
Appian (Appianus of Alexandria) put all of the Roman civil wars within a context: they were struggle for power and were characterized by a lack of self-restraint. But there was an extra human force at work as well, fate. Fate would become visible at key moments in his narrative. It could be jealous of human pride or it could “lay its hand upon him