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Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix lived from 138 BC to 78 BC, a Roman general and dictator, was usually known simply as Sulla. His agnomen Felix, the fortunate, was attained later in his life, due to his skill and luck as a general.

His character was often described as being half fox, half lion due to his legendary cunning and bravery. Machiavelli later alluded to this description of Sulla in his work The Prince. In character he was unusual for a Roman, in that he had a highly developed sense of humor and was completely unpredictable, both in his actions and moods. Although a clinically practical man he was also superstitious to the extreme. He believed in his luck, hence his choice of Felix as an agnomen. He was a thoughtful man, who would plan out his strategy, however if faced with an immediate adversity, he would strike swiftly and with extreme prejudice. Of all the great men of ancient Rome, he is perhaps the most mysterious and difficult to understand.

Sulla was born into a branch of the Cornelii gens, of impeccable Patrician background but at the time financially challenged. Without any money, Sulla's youth was spent making friends among Rome’s actors and low lives. They were to remain his friends throughout his life. It was at this time he met the famous Roman actor Metrobius. Despite this, he must have had a first rate education, as he was fluent in Greek. The means by which Sulla attained the fortune that enabled him to ascend the Cursus honorum are not clear, although some sources refer to family inheritances from his stepmother and others.

In 107 BC, Sulla was nominated quaestor to Gaius Marius, who was taking control of the Roman army in the war against King Jugurtha of Numidia. The Jugurthine War had started in 112 BC but Roman forces under Quintus Caecilius Metellus had been suffering humiliating results. Under the command of Marius, the Roman forces ultimately defeated the enemy in 106 BC, thanks in large part to Sulla's initiative to capture the Numidian king by persuading King Bocchus of Mauretania to betray him. It was a fraught operation from the first, with the wily King Bocchus weighing up the advantages of handing over Jurgurtha to Sulla or Sulla to Jurgurtha. The publicity attracted by this feat boosted Sulla's political career. Much to the annoyance of Marius, a gilded equestrian statue of Sulla was erected in the Forum to commemorate his accomplishment.

The next threat to Rome proved to be much more serious. In 104 BC the migrating Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutones seemed headed for Italy. Sulla continued to serve on Marius' staff during this campaign. Due to the immediate threat facing the city, Marius was elected Consul an unprecedented 5 years in a row. Finally, with his consular colleague Catulus, the Roman forces faced the tribes at the battle of Vercellae in 101 BC. Sulla had by this time transferred to the army of Quintus Lutatius Catulus Caesar. Sulla is generally credited as being the prime mover in the defeat of the tribes (Catulus being a hopeless general and quite incapable of cooperating with Marius). Marius and Catulus were both granted Triumphs as the co-commanding generals.

Returning to Rome, Sulla was elected 'Praetor urbanus' in 97 BC. According to rumour, this was done through massive bribery. The next year he was appointed pro consule to the province of Cilicia (in modern Turkey). 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 the Parthian ambassador's fate. Orobazus was executed upon his return to Parthia for allowing Sulla to out-maneuver 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 life. In 92 BC Sulla repulsed Tigranes the Great of Armenia from Cappadocia. Later in 92 BC Sulla left the East and returned to Rome, where he aligned himself with the Optimates in opposition to Gaius Marius.

The Social War was fought against the Socii, Roman allies in Italy, and was the result of Rome's arrogance in its governance of the rest of Italy. The Social War was, in part, caused by the assassination of Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger. His reforms would have granted the Roman allies Roman citizenship, which would have given them more of a say in the external policy of the Roman Republic as most local affairs came under local governance and were not as important to the Romans as, for example, when the alliance would go to war or how they would divide the plunder. When Drusus was assassinated most of his reforms addressing these grievances were declared invalid. This angered the Roman allies greatly, and most of them allied with one another against Rome.

At the beginning of the Social War, the Roman aristocracy and Senate were starting to fear Marius' ambition, which had already given him 5 consulships in a row from 104 BC to 100 BC. They were determined that he would 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. For example, 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. He was awarded a corona obsidionalis, also known as a corona graminea, the highest Roman military honor, awarded for personal bravery to a commanding general in the saving of a Roman 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.

As the consul of Rome, 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 had the ambition to lead the Roman armies against King Mithridates VI of Pontus. Marius convinced the tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus to call an assembly and revert the Senate's decision on Sulla's command. Sulpicius also used the assemblies to eject Senators from the Senate until there were not enough senators needed to form a quorum. As violence in the Forum ensued and the efforts of the nobles to effect a public lynching similar to what had happened to the brothers Gracchi and Saturninus were smashed by the gladitatorial bodyguard of Sulpicius, Sulla went to the house of Marius and made a personal plea to stop the violence which was ignored. Sulla´s own son in law was killed in those riots.
Sulla fled Rome and went to the camp of his victorious Social War veterans, in the South of Italy, ready to cross over to Greece. He incited them to stone the envoys of the assemblies who came to announce that Marius would be leading the Mithridatic war. Sulla then took six of his most loyal legions and prepared to march on Rome. This was an unprecedented event. No general before him had ever crossed the city limits, the pomerium, with his army. It was so unethical that most of his commanders refused to accompany him. Sulla justified his actions on the grounds that the senate had been neutered and the mos maiorum had been offended by the negation of the rights of the consuls of the year to fight the wars of that year. Armed gladiators were unable to resist Roman soldiers, Marius and his followers fled the city.

Sulla consolidated his position, ordered death for Marius and a few of his allies 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 with the Senate's power strengthened, Sulla returned to his camp and proceeded with the original plan of fighting Mithridates in Pontus.
Marius, however, was not dead. He had 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 Sybil 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. Then, through the proscriptions, Marius ordered the slaughter of many supporters of Sulla and others whom he considered had slighted him. The heads of the victims were displayed in the Forum. Some one hundred supporters of Sulla were killed during this time. Marius and Cinna were elected consuls for the year 86 BC. Marius died a few days after the election at which point Cinna ordered his own soldiers to kill Marius's men. Cinna was now in sole control of Rome

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 with the exception of Athens, met with Sulla, who impressed on them the determination of Rome to drive Mithridates from Greece and Asia Province. Sulla then advanced on Athens.
On arrival, Sulla threw up a siege 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 Meditarranean. His first objective was Piraeus, 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 Sybils 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, despite the insults hurled from the walls of Athens by Aristion and his followers, alluding to Sulla’s complexion (aggravated by the sun and heat) to the effect that his face looked like mulberry sprinkled with flour. Aspersions were also cast about his private life and his wife Metella. The Athenians were to later bitterly regret this episode. Soon his 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 most of the Optimate party, not already dead.

Athens by now was starving and corn 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. 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. His then concentrated his forces on the Port of Pireaus 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 not having a fleet as yet, was powerless to prevent Archeleus’ escape. Prior to leaving Athens, he burnt the port to the ground. Sulla then advanced into Boeotia to take on Archeleus' armies, and remove them from Greece.

Determined to regain control of Rome, Sulla returned to Italy. With the support of Metellus Pius and others, Sulla's armies marched up Italy from the Port of Brindisium. He chased the remnants of the Marians, led by Marius's son, into Praeneste and bottled them up. Shortly afterwards, following a mad dash march to Rome, Sulla's army defeated the Samnite forces of Pontius Telesinus in November, 82 BC at the battle of Colline Gate. The strength of the right wing, commanded by Marcus Licinius Crassus, proved crucial in securing victory. Sulla also had the aid of the young Pompey, who defeated Gneus Papirius Carbo´s supporters in Sicily and Africa.

At the beginning of 82 BC, Sulla was appointed dictator by the Senate, with no limit on time in office. Sulla had total control of the city and empire of Rome. This unusual honour 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 Octavian.

In total control of the city and its affairs, Sulla instituted a reign of terror, the likes of which had never been seen in Rome before. Proscribing or outlawing every one of his political opponents, Sulla ordered some 1,500 Roman nobles (i.e., senators and equites) executed. The blood bath went on for months. Romans were executed for any reason or none at all. Helping or sheltering a person who was proscribed was also punishable by death. The State confiscated the wealth of the outlawed, making Sulla and his supporters vastly rich. The children of the outlawed who weren't killed outright 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 a Marius."
Only Quintus Sertorius, the last Marius supporter, held out against Sulla's armies under Metellus Pius in distant Hispania.
Without any political obstacle, Sulla enacted a series of reforms to put control of the State firmly in the hands of the Senate. He arranged that the number of senators was doubled from 300 to 600 and that membership was automatic on election to the office of quaestor instead of at the decision of the censors. He also reduced the tribune's political power, and limited the Assembly's ability to pass laws or veto them without the Senate's approval. His goal was to return the Republic to a time before the Gracchi. In this, he was too late: Rome's politics had moved on, in an ominous direction. Finally, in a demonstration of his absolute power, he expanded the sacred boundary of Rome, untouched since the time of the kings.
After two years of unchallenged power, Sulla stunned Rome by resigning the Dictatorship. He disbanded his legions, re-established consular government, in accordance to his own rules, he stood for and was elected consul in 80 BC. He dismissed his lictors and walked unguarded in the forum, offering to give account of his actions to any citizen. This lesson in supreme confidence, Caesar later ridiculed, "Sulla did not know his political ABC's". In retrospect, of the two, Sulla was to have the last laugh, as it was he who died in his own bed.

After his second consulship he withdrew completely from political life to his country villa near Puteoli.
With a cool detachment, he probably figured he had done his best to put Rome back on a stable footing, and if Rome had not learnt the brutal lessons he had meted out to her, it was Rome's bad luck. Sulla's purpose now was to write his memoir. He ended up surrounded by a troupe of actors and dancers. Amongst them was Metrobius, a famous actor that he had known since his youth. In his last address to the Senate, Sulla was keen to acknowledge him as his lifetime lover, to the dismay of the audience. With this merry company, Sulla died after a brief illness in 78 BC. The symptoms described in contemporary accounts indicate that the cause of death was liver failure, brought on by a lifetime of hard work and hard partying. His funeral was stupendous, and not matched until the death of Augustus.
Even though Sulla's laws reorganizing the legal system, qualification for admittance to the Senate and regulation of governorships among many other initiatives remained on Rome's statutes for some considerable time, 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, his most lasting legacy and the one he tried hardest to avoid, was the feeling among his successors that: if Sulla could do it, so can I. It is interesting to note that none of them followed his most extraordinary example, that of resigning power, most of them like Caesar ended up paying the ultimate price as a result.
He tried hard to instill in Rome a horror of absolute power, by his proscriptions, by his lifestyle and by his feared temperament. Had he carried through on his better judgement and had Julius Caesar killed, he may have preserved the Republic for a few more decades or even longer. In the end he could not undo his own example. Caesar, for all his disdain of Sulla, based his own grab for power very much on the Sullan model; he even based many of his greatest victories on Sulla's battles. In the end, Sulla could not undo the damage done to the republican institution by the Gracchi, by Marius and finally by himself.

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Cornelius Sulla