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Bohlin i Christopher Bohlin Mrs. Bergen English 10 12 October 2010 Lucius Cornelius Sulla I. Introduction A. Lucius Cornelius Sulla believed a prophecy early in his career that the gods favored him, so he took the agnomen Felix, which means "the Fortunate." B. Although Sulla was raised in relative poverty, he grew to become a strong and powerful general who would change the course of Roman history. II. Main Points A. Early days "We only know that Sulla was a poor man of aristocratic descent, who lived in obscure lodgings while laying the first foundations of his career" (Baker 31). 1. Family 2. Inheritance "It was not until he was approaching thirty that two purely fortuitous events, and not his own efforts, lifted Sulla out of this poverty and enabled him at last to embark on his career. His wealthy stepmother, who doted on him as if he was her own son, died and left him all her money. Then his mistress Nicopolis died as well. She, too, was a woman of means and she also left her property to Sulla" (Keaveney 10). B. First service to Rome 1. Gaius Marius (107 BCE) a. War against Jugurtha, King of Numidia b. Start of long dispute 2. Praetor (97 BCE) 3. Proconsul a. Cilicia and King Cappadocia b. Prophesy by Parthian embassy 4. Social War (90-89 BCE) C. Consulship (88 BCE) 1. War against Mithradates VI of Pontus a. Command given to Gaius Marius b. Sulla's attack on Rome "Sulla's impact on the Republic is often discussed from a constitutional point of view; but more important, perhaps, than his overhaul of the Roman body politic was the psychological damage he caused by his march on Rome in 88, his even more brutal conquest of the city in 82, and his subsequent proscriptions, confiscations, and disenfranchisements. In fact, the fifteen years after Sulla's first march on Rome (from 88 to 72) were crucial to the fate of the Republic. For this period was, in effect, the school (with Sulla as headmaster) where the major figures of the next generation acquired the personal and political hatreds, the cynicism, and the contempt for the unwritten rules of the Republic that led them to destroy it in the 40s" (Spann xiii). Bohlin ii "Sulla's march on Rome in 88 inaugurated a new age in the history of the Roman Republic: the last... Sulla had acted on his own... He had used a client army of proletarii, dependent on their commander for their fortunate and their future, to invade the city and destroy his enemies. His retaliation was so different in degree that it was different in kind. After this ne plus ultra of political violence, no Roman politician could ever again be certain that his opponents would respect the traditional and unwritten restraint necessary for government by consensus" (Spann 28). For the first time a Roman general had turned the swords of his soldiers against the country and against the government, and for the first time the army had overruled the decision of the forum (Marsh 47). c. Rome ruled by Marius, Cinna, and Carbo and Sulla's laws were repealed d. Conquered most of Greece, including Athens (88-86 BCE) e. Peace treaty with Mithradates (85) BCE) f. Lived in Athens awhile 2. Return to Rome (83 BCE) a. Defeated armies of opponents b. Battle of Colline Gates ended war (civil war) i. Prisoners massacred ii. Proscriptions (killed or property confiscated "Internal struggle within the aristocracy had reached a peak in the 80s. Sulla punished intransigent goes mercilessly. Proscriptions and confiscations lopped off many wealthy adversaries; there were rich spoils for the dictator's loyal supporters and for shrew speculators" (Gruen 7). D. Dictatorship and constitutional reforms (82-79 BCE) "He proclaimed himself dictator, reviving this particular office after a lapse of a hundred and twenty years. Moreover, an act was passed granting him immunity for all his past acts, and for the future, power of life and death, of confiscation, of colonization, of founding or demolishing cities, and of taking away or bestowing kingdoms at his pleasure" (Plutarch P433). 1. Had legislative, military, and judicial power 2. Length of dictatorship not limited 3. Gave himself the name Felix (81 BCE) 4. Let Caesar go (82 BCE) "When the civil war came and the victor once again had to have a position beyond challenge, Caesar found that the only office which he could devise was precisely the monster invented by Sulla. Sulla had, however, allowed to escape his clutches the one who presented the greatest danger to his new order. No one did more to destroy its very foundations than Caesar, although that was to be almost thirty years after the dictator's death" (Ridley 229). 5. Strengthened power of Senate (many reforms did last until end of republic) "Sulla's work was dictated by the need to reinforce the Senate's authority. This explains the measures to limit the power of the tribunes and to ensure that every bill submitted either to the comitia centuriata or the tribal assemblies should carry the auctoritas partum" (Gabba 135). "Now Sulla thought that all the troubles of the times came from the fact that neither Senate nor people had full sovereignty; and, as a consistent oligarch and a conscientious party-man, he was determined to put the balance of power to an end, by conferring complete autocratic authority on his own senatorial order" (Oman 147). Bohlin iii a. Senate approval needed for plebian assembly laws b. Only Senators could serve as judges c. Senate controlled commanders "The Sullan system did not enforce total harmony. Its purpose was to assure that political fights would stop short of producing alienated social reformers or ambitious military men who se allegiance and appeal could threaten the establishment. The senatorial class had undergone such threats in the previous half-century" (Gruen 9). 6. Senate filled with Sulla's friends 7. Friends rewarded and enemies treated harshly 8. Took land and redistributed it to veterans E. Final Days 1. Retired in 79 BCE 2. Partied with actors 3. Began memoirs 4. Died in 78 BCE "His monument was erected in the Campus Martius, with the epitaph, composed by himself, that no man had excelled him in doing a good turn to his friends or a bad one to his foes" (294 Baker) F. Sulla's Legacy III. Conclusion Bohlin iv Works Cited Baker, G.P. Sulla the Fortunate. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1967. Print. Gruen, Erich S. The Last Generation of the Roman Republic. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974. Print. Keaveney, Arthur. The Last Republican. New York: Routledge, 2005. Print. Marsh, Frank Burr. The Founding of the Roman Empire. Austin: The University of Texas, 1922. Print. Oman, C.W.C. Seven Roman Statesmen. London: Arnold, 1902. Print. Plutarch. "The Life of Sulla." Parallel Lives. 5 Sept. 2007. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. Ridley, Ronald T. "The Dictator's Mistake: Caesar's Escape from Sulla." Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 49. 2 (2nd Qtr., 2000): 211-29. Print.