They were introduced to a city in which there were not the slightest shreds of independence left and all prosperity was gone. After Sulla met and vanquished two armies sent to Greece by Mithridates, the Roman conquest of Athens was confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt. Shortly after their armies had met, Sulla and Mithridates held a summit. Both of these men had very good reasons to come to a peace settlement. Mithridates knew that his days of taking swings ay Roman power were over and he was desperate to hold onto his kingdom. Sulla was very anxious to get back home and make sure things were as he left them. Mithridates had to accept limits on his offensive power and return all of the territory he had conquered. What Mithridates had got away with, however, was remarkable. The murderer of eighty-thousand Italians was still on the throne of Pontus. He was the first man to emerge virtually unscathed from his conflicts with the Republic. Rome would come to regret not finishing him off for good. Sulla wasn't finished with Greece by a long-shot however. In the province of Asia, Roman rule was restored. Sulla imposed a five years back tax on the cities and they were expected to pay the full costs of the war. Sulla returned to Greece in 84 BC and in a lasting slap in the face to the people of Athens, he took the columns of the temple of Zeus down for transport back to Rome. The Olympic games were so stripped of its stars that only the sprint could be held. The most satisfying revenge Sulla had was on Greek philosophy. There was a complete looting of Athenian libraries. In the future if anyone would like to study Aristotle, he would have to do so in Rome. It was Rome, however, that would see the full force of Sulla's ruthlessness. The government he had established had collapsed, and Sulla himself had been condemned to death in abstentia. His property had been razed and his family forced to flee. No one who had seen Sulla in action in the East could have any doubt as to what his response would be to these provocations.
The brutality of the political order Sulla had left behind, had been increasing fighting between political factions. It was a conflict over the perrenial boondoggle of the Italians' voting rights that had finally pushed the two consuls of 87 BC into open warfare. Cinna had been expelled from Rome by Octavius originally. However, he instantly thought of ways to get back at his former colleague. Cinna convinced the legion still camped at the besieged city of Nola to leave and march on Rome for the second time in just over a year. He also had a famous name backing him. Gaius Marius had returned from Africa and on his way to Rome he recruited an army of personal slaves as he traveled through Italy. Marius then joined forces with Cinna and turned on Rome. Marius had become psychotic with bitterness and rage, and he launched a brutal purge of his enemies. Octavius had refused to flee and had been killed as he sat in his consul's chair. His head had been brought to Cinna, who displayed it in triumph on the Rostra. Many other opponents of Marius had been brutally killed or had fled to safety. The image is of the famous Arch of Constantine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumphal_Arch_of_Constantine
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