With the name of MARIUS is usually coupled that of LUCIUS CORNELIUS
SULLA (138-78). "He was a patrician of the purest blood, had inherited
a moderate fortune, and had spent it, like other young men of rank,
lounging in theatres and amusing himself with dinner parties. He was
a poet, an artist, and a wit. Although apparently indolent, he was
naturally a soldier, statesman, and diplomatist. As Quaestor under
Marius in the Jugurthine War, he had proved a most active and useful
officer." In these African campaigns he showed that he knew how to
win the hearts and confidence of his soldiers; and through his whole
subsequent career, the secret of his brilliant successes seems to have
been the enthusiastic devotion of his troops, whom he always held well
under control, even when they were allowed to indulge in plunder and
license. It was to Sulla's combined adroitness and courage that Marius
owed the final capture of Jugurtha. He served again under Marius in
the campaigns against the Cimbri and Teutones, and gave efficient help
towards the victory. But the Consul became jealous of his rising power,
and all friendly feeling between the two ceased.
After this campaign Sulla lived at Rome for some years, taking no part
in politics, and during this time his name and that of his rival are
almost unheard. He appeared before the public again in 93, when he was
elected Praetor, and increased his popularity by an exhibition of a
hundred lions in the arena, matched against Numidian archers. In 92 he
went as Propraetor to govern the province of Asia, and here he first met
MITHRADATES.
This monarch, who ruled over Pontus, was an extraordinary man. He
spoke many languages, was the idol, of his subjects, and had boundless
ambition. He doubted the durability of the Roman Empire, and began to
enlarge his own territory, with no apparent fear of Rome's interference.
Cappadocia, a neighboring country, was under Roman protection, and was
ruled by a prince, ARIOBARZANES, that Rome had recognized. This country
Mithradates attacked. He killed the prince, and placed on the throne his
own nephew.
Rome interfered, and Sulla was instructed to visit the monarch. He
accomplished his mission with his usual adroitness, and returned to Rome
with new honors. He took an active part in the Social War, eclipsing
the fame of his rival, Marius. He was now the recognized leader of the
conservative and aristocratic party. The feeling between the rivals was
more bitter than ever, for Marius, though old, had by no means lost his
prestige with the popular party.
It was at this time that Mithradates, learning of the Social War,
thought it a good opportunity to advance his own interests and extend
his realm. He collected all his available forces, and invaded Bithynia.
With his fleets he sailed through the Dardanelles into the Archipelago.
The extortions of the Roman governors had been so great, that Ionia,
Lydia, and Caria, with all the islands near Asia Minor, gladly revolted
from Rome, and accepted his protection. All the Roman residents with
their families were massacred on a single day. It is said that 80,000
persons perished. Mithradates himself next crossed the Bosphorus, and
marched into Northern Greece, which received him with open arms.
Such was the condition in the East when Sulpicius Rufus carried the
bills mentioned in the last chapter. One of these bills was that Marius
have charge of the war against Mithradates. This was not to Sulla's
liking. He was in Campania with the legions that had served in the
Social War. The soldiers were devoted to him, and ready to follow him
anywhere. Sulla, therefore, taking matters into his own hands, marched
into the city at the head of his troops. The people resisted; Sulpicius
was slain; Marius fled for his life, and retired to Africa, where he
lived for a time, watching the course of events.
Sulla could not remain long at the capital. The affairs of the East
called him away; and no sooner was he gone than the flames of civil war
burst out anew (87).
LUCIUS CORNELIUS CINNA, a friend of Marius, was Consul that year. He
tried to recall Marius, but was violently opposed and finally driven
from the city. The Senate declared him deposed from his office. He
invoked the aid of the soldiers in Campania, and found them ready to
follow him. The neighboring Italian towns sent him men and money, and
Marius, coming from Africa, joined him with six thousand troops. They
marched upon Rome. The city was captured. Cinna was acknowledged
Consul, and the sentence of outlawry which had been passed on Marius was
revoked.
The next year Marius was made Consul for the seventh time, and Cinna for
the second. Then followed the wildest cruelties. Marius had a body-guard
of slaves, which he sent out to murder whomever he wished. The houses of
the rich were plundered, and the honor of noble families was exposed to
the mercy of the slaves. Fortunately Marius died sixteen days after he
entered office, and the shedding of blood ceased.
For the next three years Cinna ruled Rome. Constitutional government
was practically suspended. For the years 85 and 84 Cinna himself and a
trusty colleague were Consuls, but no regular elections were held. In
84, he was murdered, when on the eve of setting out against Sulla in
Asia.
Sulla left Italy for the East with 30,000 troops. He marched against
Athens, where Archelaus, the general of Mithradates, was intrenched.
After a long siege, he captured and pillaged the city, March 1, 86. The
same year he defeated Archelaus at CHAERONEA in Boeotia, and the next
year at ORCHOMENOS.
Meanwhile Sulla's lieutenant, LUCULLUS, raised a fleet and gained two
victories off the coast of Asia Minor. The Asiatic king was now ready
to negotiate. Sulla crossed the Hellespont in 84, and in a personal
interview with the king arranged the terms of peace, which were as
follows. The king was to give up Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and Cappadocia,
and withdraw to his former dominions. He was also to pay an indemnity
amounting to about $3,500,000, and surrender eighty ships of war.
Having thus settled matters with the king, Sulla punished the Lydians
and Carians, in whose territory the Romans had been massacred, by
compelling them to pay at one time five years' tribute. He was now ready
to return to Rome.
The same year that Cinna died, Sulla landed at Brundisium, with 40,000
troops and a large following of nobles who had fled from Rome. Every
preparation was made by the Marian party for his reception; but no
sooner did he land in Italy than the soldiers were induced to desert to
him in immense numbers, and he soon found himself in possession of all
Lower Italy. Among those who hastened to his standard was young POMPEY,
then but twenty-three years old, and it was to his efforts that Sulla's
success was largely due. The next year, 83, the Marian party was joined
by the Samnites, and the war raged more fiercely than ever. At length,
however, Sulla was victorious under the walls of Rome. The city lay at
his mercy. His first act, an order for the slaughter of 6,000 Samnite
prisoners, was a fit prelude to his conduct in the city. Every effort
was made to eradicate the last trace of Marian blood and sympathy from
the city. A list of men, declared to be outlaws and public enemies,
was exhibited in the Forum, and a succession of wholesale murders and
confiscations throughout Rome and Italy, made the name of Sulla forever
infamous.
Having received the title of Dictator, and celebrated a splendid triumph
for the Mithradatic war, he carried (80-79) his political measures.
The main object of these was to invest the Senate, the thinned ranks
of which he filled with his own creatures, with full control over the
state, over every magistrate and every province.
In 79 he resigned his dictatorship and went to Puteoli, where he died
the next year, from a loathsome disease brought on by his excesses.
THE REFORMS OF SULLA.
Sulla restricted the power of the magistrates to the advantage of the
Senate. Senators were alone made eligible for the tribuneship, and no
former Tribune could hold any curule office. No one could be Praetor
without having first been Quaestor, or Consul without having held the
praetorship. Every candidate for the office of Quaestor must be at
least thirty years old. The number of Praetors was increased from six
to eight; that of Quaestors, from twelve to twenty. The Consuls and
Praetors were to remain at Rome during their first year of office, and
then go to the provinces as Proconsuls and Propraetors.
Three hundred new Senators, taken from the Equites, were added, and all
who had been Quaestors were made eligible to the Senate.
The control of the courts was transferred from the Equites to the
Senate.
On the death of Sulla, in 78, CRASSUS and LEPIDUS were chosen Consuls;
but such was the instability of the times that they were sworn not to
raise an army during their consulship. Lepidus attempted to evade his
oath by going to Gaul, and, when summoned by the Senate to return,
marched against the city at the head of his forces. He was defeated by
Crassus and Pompey in 78, and soon after died.