by Horatius Piscinus on Mon Nov 11, 2002 2:23 pm
Salvete
WHOA! Sulla the Usurper, Sulla the Butcher, Sulla the boy toy of Metrobius the female impersonator, vs Marius the Mad? Yes, we should go into that and some related things on Roman political history to clear up some misunderstandings.
Mus scripsit: Then the war against Mithridates broke out (88 BC), and Sulla got the command.
Not really. By 88 all power was invested in the Comitia. Beginning in 311 BCE Tribunes militum (junior officers of the army) were elected by the Comitia Plebis Tributa. The commanding general of an army was dertermined by the Comitia Centuriata, but at least by 106 BCE if not earlier, it was the Comitia Plebis Tributa that appointed army commanders. The Senate would give its advice on who should command which armies, but the Comitia did not have to follow that advice. What happened in 106 was that Marius was elected consul, given imperium by the Comitia Centuriata, assigned to the armies in Numidia by the Comitia Plebis against the advice of the Senate. The Senate tried to prevent Marius from raising an army through the Comitia Centuriata or pay for the army. Marius circumvented the Senate by going through the Comitia Plebis instead. The whole reason why Marius was able to bring into the army the capiti censi was because the Centuriata was not used, and thus the censi classis sytem that designated the assidui. In 88 the same problem arose when the Senate advised that Sulla should receive the command, but the Comitia selected Marius, which it had every right and power to do. Telling in this episode is the fact that when Sulla showed up, all but one of the army's officers refused to obey Sulla and instead returned to Rome. The simple fact being that these officers, from the Senatorial and Equites classes, were appointed by the Comitia and owed their allegiance to the state, the legitimate government, which was the Comitia, not the Senate.
Mus Scripsit: But the populares tried to give Marius the command, and a new riot
There were no Optimes or Populares at that time. That political division came later when Sulla executed 150 of 300 Senatores and then appointed his own supporters to an increased Senate of 600. The Optimes represented those sullatoriones placed in the Senate after 88. The Comitia did not try, they did give legitimate command to Marius, and Sulla usurped his authority over the army, then marched on Rome in a rebellion. What riot is referred to I have no idea, unless it is the bloodbath Sulla unleashed by slaughtering thousands in the Forum.
Mus scripsit: Then Sulla embarked to fight Mithridates. When he was away, Marius returned to Rome and he took power, but he soon died.
Sulla went East. One has to wonder if it was to fight Mithradates. He sacked Athens and Delphi. Another army was sent out by the Comitia to fight Mithradates. Sulla was still in rebellion at that point and attacked the Roman army. Then once more, rather than fight Mithradates Sulla turned on the Roman cities in the East.
Mus scripsit: When Sulla returned to Rome, Marius' followers (Cinna,...) were terrorizing the city. Sulla violently put an end to this: proscriptions killed 5000 Roman citizens, and he installed a private guard (40000 men). He became 'dictator' for several years, but he left this office again (79 BC), one year before he died.
When Sulla attacked Rome the first time is where he murdered 5, 000 political opponents. Cinna was the consul who managed to escape with his followers. He retook Rome when Sulla departed. Marius was in North Africa and returned later, placing himself under Cinna. Then Marius was elected consul. It was Marius who is said to have gone mad, roaming the streets of Rome with his slaves and randomly killing his political opponents. Estimates range from 300 to 5,000. Cinna broke with Marius and attempted to stop him. Marius died shortly after, possibly of siphylus, which would also explain his madness.
When Sulla returned he executed 30, 000 in Rome alone. Another 30,000 in Preaneste, on top of his attempt to exterminate all male Samnites. The Samnites did not rebell against Rome, they were Roman citizens by then, and were the only ones who tried to defend Rome against Sulla. After taking Rome the second time is when Sulla issued the proscriptions that murdered tens of thousands in addition to those he had executed outright the first two times..
Mus scripsit: These are the simple facts, but much has been discussed on this matter. The (terrible?) battle between optimates and populares... Which side was the good side? etc. I can't think of any literature on this now, from the top of my head. Maybe other people here have some suggestions? Or some additions to what I've told here?
respondeo:
Political history in more recent times would be complex enough to consider. Here you have to go over a series of events beginning really with Aemilianus Scipio Africanus, and could carry it on to Julius Caesar in order to get the full political dimensions. Then you would need to reconsider what has been written by modern historians who distorted Rome's political history to promote their own political perspectives, beginning with Mommsen. Literature to begin with, probably Plutarch's life of Marius.
My suggestion would be to go back to the reform movement that began with Scipio Africanus in order to try to sort out what social classes were involved on both sides. It is really an over simplification to speak of upper, lower and middle classes in such a stratified society as Rome's. For example the Gracchi are most commonly portrayed promoting reforms to benefit the urban poor against the aristocracy, which is not true at all. It was the very highest echelons of Roman society among the Nobiles, who Mommsen called the "genteel aristocracy," that began the reforms, supported the Gracchi, and exiled those who murdered the Gracchi. The beneficiaries of the Gracchan reforms were the Equites Equo Publica, ie the highest level of the Equites, and then too the lowest level of Equites along with the Prima Classis from whom, together, were drawn the magistrates vicorum and the publicani. One Gracchan reform was aimed at the assidui, the census classes below the Prima Classis that formed the army, in an attempt to gain their support in the Comitia. The the proletarii, the capiti censi and lower classes got nothing from the Gracchan reforms. Who opposed the Gracchi was a minority in the Senate that represented the middle echelon among the Equites. Marius in the Saturninus affair, and then with Sulla, still involved the same social groups basically. The Populares were those who came from or supported Scipio's circle of Nobiles, ie they were the traditional highest level among the Nobiles who had been displaced by the sullatoriones in Sulla's proscriptions. Cicero originally was a Populares, at the time he prosecuted Verres, and had been taught within the Scipio circle, which is why he posed them as characters in some of his treatises. Perhaps he also referred to them because at the time he wrote, Caesar, heir of Marius and of the Scipio reform tradition, was already in power. In the end, with Caesar, it is the Scipios, Gracchans, and Marians that won the struggle for control of the Republic, but it is not a revolution as the Optimes tried to pose it. Rather it is the legitimate line of authority carrying on the Republican tradition against such usurpers as Sulla.
A little while ago I had begun a series of posts to some friends on the Scipio circle and the Gracchi. I'll forward these to this list and try to take up where I left off, then bring it down to the struggle between Marius and Sulla.
Valete optime
Moravius Piscinus
M Horatius Piscinus
Sapere aude!