Sulla’s Dictatorship, 82-79 BC

Sulla returned to Italy in 84 BC, defeated the Marians and crushed resistance throughout Italy, Sicily, and Africa

82 BC Sulla was appointed Dictator Rei Publicae Constituendae Causa

His Solution was to buttress the authority of the aristocratic wing of the government;

1. Sulla attempted to hamstring the powers of the plebeian tribunes and the plebeian assembly. tribunes could no longer veto the acts of other magistrates; they could no longer promulgate legislation; tribunes could hold no other office (eliminates the popularis route)

2. The Sullan PROSCRIPTIONS – M. Crassus – became wealthiest man in Rome by profiteering in proscriptions, Sullan aristocracy enriched itself from proscriptions

F. Hinard, The Proscriptions, 10,000 people died (Q. Sertorius created government in exile in Spain)

Caesar – refused to divorce his wife due to religious nature of his marriage, he fled Sulla’s poscription, while in hiding his wife died in childbirth, his mother used her influence to lift Sulla’s ban on Caesar, Her name was Aurelia (Cotta); her brothers were serving with Sulla and would become consuls in the following decade.

3. Sulla enlarged the Senate, selected 300 non senators for the senate, lifting its number to 600. He enriched it through the proscriptions.

4. Sulla put 23 legions on land, 120,000, guestimates put it at 69,000. He placed veterans colonies in areas of Marian unrest, using them as garrisons.

5. Sulla buttressed the government by regularizing many procedures and institutions. He made the age limits for seeking curule offices mandatory. He limited the time a general could spend in a province and limited the range of movement for the same. He created and regularized the permanent courts for extortion, corruption, bribery, and treason.

FAILURE OF SULLAN SETTLEMENT –

1. Resistance by Q. Sertorius in Spain, 82-71 BC, republic in exile, Cn. Pompeius was dispatched against him

2. Sulla could not control his own generals: Cn. Pompey (the Great) earns triumph while Sulla still alive, received extraordinary command to eradicate Sertorius shortly after Sulla’s death. (Greenaulgh biographies of Pompey)

M. Crassus – eminence grise of the Late Republic; by 72 BC, we know that he had held the praetorship, he was connected to highest levels of the aristocracy and the lowest levels of the Roman mob

M. Ward, Marcus Crassus Millionaire

3. Mithradates and the Eastern Problems remained unresolved – Cilician piracy raged throughout the 70s BC, some 400 Greek cities and sanctuaries were attacked. Roman VIPs were kidnapped. In 74 BC Mithradates, the Pirates, and Sertorius allegedly combined efforts to bring down the government at Rome, prompting the consuls to restore tribunician powers to appease the mob. M. Antonius (the father of M. Antony) was sent to fight the pirates. He was defeated by the pirates at Crete even as his sister was kidnapped in Italy. He was derisively known as Antonius “Creticus” for his accomplishments.

4. Popular Sentiment at Rome remained opposed to the Sullan “Establishment”; there was opposition and protests mounted nearly every year during the 70’s until the Sullan aristocracy relented and began to make concessions to restore tribunician powers. The year Sulla died (78 BC) the people elected a former Marian, M. Aemilius Lepidus, who attempted to overturn Sulla’s “reforms.” This resulted in a minor uprising that was suppressed with the help of Pompey’s veterans from Africa. Ultimately, the constitution was restored to its original form during the consulship of Pompey and Crassus in 70 BC. The bad feeling remained and it was easy for people like Julius Caesar to stir up resentment against the aristocracy by reminding the public of his connection to C. Marius.