Empires: Rome - The Playboy & The General Part Two

By election time in 89 BC, Sulla left his army and began heading north to Rome. His reputation preceded him as he had forced the capitulation of all the cities held by the rebels, except for Nola, which continued to hold out against Rome and would for some time. Sulla got his wish, his reputation as the conqueror of Samnium brought him into the office of consul. Within a few weeks came even sweeter news for Sulla; he was confirmed in the command against Mithridates. This was a great victory against his old commander and foe, Marius-indeed this must have been a great humiliation for Marius. However, Marius was not aout to give in. He began a very public and strict regimen of training. Eventually crowds came to cheer on the old favorite of the Republic as he worked on his skills at running, riding, throwing the javelin and with the sword. Of course, what Marius really needed was political support, which he began looking for. In his ferocious competition with Sulla, he mostly neede someone on his side in the office of the tribune. A tribune would have the power to propose a law to the people that Sulla's command against Mithridates be transferred back to himself.

Marius found his tribune in Publius Sulpicius Rufus, a man who had been a lifelong advocate for Italian rights. Rufus was a man to whom both principles and causes mattered. This part is very important to our story here. Sulpicius had been afraid that conservatives in the Senate were scheming to water down the enfranchisement of the Italians. He proposed legislation to ensure that it would be done fairly, canvassed the consuls, then presented his bill to the people. Sulpicius was enraged when both Sulla and his colleague in the consulship, Pompeius Rufus, ended up opposing the bill and ensuring its defeat after making what Sulpicius had regarded as commitments to support it. Before this incident, Sulpicius Rufus had regarded Pompeius Rufus as an intimate friend, now he felt betrayed and wanted revenge. Marius came along at precisely the right time to secure a new poltical alliance with him.

The general and the tribune came to an agreement advantageous to them both. Marius agreed to support Sulpicius's legislation, and in return Sulpicius promised to propose a bill transferring Sulla's command to Marius. This led to a deadly series of events, when Sulpicius proceeded to reintroduce his bill, his supporters rioted in the streets of Rome. Sulla heard of the unrest and hurried back to Rome. He tried to meet with Pompeius Rufus privately, but Sulpicius became aware of the meeting and arrived with some men to disband it. The confrontation that followed resulted in Pompeius Rufus's son being murdered and Pompeius Rufus himself barely got away with his life. Sulla, probably much to his chagrin had to take refuge from the mob in his most mortal enemy's house-Marius! For Sulla, there were more humiliations to follow. Even though Sulla was a consul he was now powerless in the face of Sulpicius's demands. At this time it was the tribune's mobs and not the consul's fasces who ruled Rome. Sulla was forced to agree that the pro-Italian legislation be passed, and that Pompeius Rufus be kicked out of the office of tribune in return for his treachery. For agreeing to this, Sulla appears to have been offered nothing more than the promise to be able to continue in his office as consul and to return to fight the siege of Nola. However, Sulla had no reason at all to believe his command against Mithridates was threatened. Sulla was about to find out how wrong he was about this. A messenger arrived at Sulla's camp at Nola and informed him that there had been a plebiscite in Rome. It had been proposed by Sulpicius, ratified by the Roman people and passed into law. By its terms, Sulla was demoted from his command against Mithridates-and of course his replacement was Gaius Marius.

The image is of an era quite a bit off from 'our' timeline here-as it is supposed to be that of a later Roman emperor's family around 250 AD-I was just wanting to get some better images here than I have been lately-and there are more posts to go to see images of Sulla and other people and places more relevant to our story. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!