Sulla's civil war
Sulla's Civil War | |
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Part of the | |
Result | Victory for Sulla |
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
Sulla's civil war was fought between the Roman general
Prelude
Sulla had achieved temporary control of Rome and Marius's exile to
Their heads were exhibited in the Forum. After five days, Cinna ordered his more disciplined troops to kill Marius's rampaging soldiers. All told some 100 Roman nobles had been murdered. Marius declared Sulla's reforms and laws invalid, officially exiled Sulla, had himself elected to Sulla's eastern command, and Cinna and himself elected consuls for the year 86 BC. Marius died a fortnight after and Cinna was left in sole control of Rome.
Having managed this achievement, the Marians sent out Lucius Valerius Flaccus with an army to relieve Sulla of his command in the east. Flaccus had been given as second in command Gaius Flavius Fimbria, an individual whom history records had few virtues. According to Plutarch's biography on Sulla, Gaius Flavius Fimbra eventually agitated against his commanding officer and incited the troops to murder Flaccus in 84 BC.
In the meantime, the two Roman armies camped next to each other and Sulla, not for the first time, encouraged his soldiers to spread dissension among Flaccus’ army. Many deserted to Sulla before Flaccus had arranged to pack up and move on to north, to threaten Mithridates’ northern dominions. In the meantime Sulla moved to intercept the new Pontic army and end the war at Orchomenus.
Course
With Mithridates defeated for the moment and Cinna now dead as a result of a mutiny in Ancona, Sulla was determined to regain control of Rome from his enemies.
Events of 83 BC
In the spring of 83 BC Sulla landed his army in two divisions in southern Italy: one division at
To check his enemies' unresisted advance,
Scipio was unwilling to risk a battle with his opponent's battle-hardened army and welcomed Sulla's offer to negotiate. Quintus Sertorius, one of Scipio's legates, did not trust Sulla, and advised Scipio to force a decisive action. Instead, he was sent to Norbanus to explain that an armistice was in force and negotiations were under way. Sertorius made a small detour and captured the town of Suessa, which had gone over to the Sullan faction. When Sulla complained about this breach of trust, Scipio sent back the hostages Sulla had given as a sign of good faith. This behaviour by Scipio outraged Scipio's troops, who were already upset having to face Sulla's veterans. A deal was made between Scipio's soldiers and Sulla and they defected en masse, further swelling his ranks. The Consul and his son were found cowering in their tents and brought to Sulla, who released them after extracting a promise that they would never again fight against him or rejoin Carbo. However, Scipio broke his promise immediately after their release and went straight to Carbo in Rome.[10] Sulla then defeated Norbanus for a second time. Norbanus, however, escaped back to Rome and had Metellus Pius and all other senators marching with Sulla declared enemies of the state.
In Rome the elections for the consulship of 82 were held;
Events of 82 BC
The new consuls for the year 82 BC were Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, for his third term, and Gaius Marius the Younger, who was only 26–28 years old at the time.[11]
In the respite from campaigning provided by winter, the Marians set about replenishing their forces.
As the campaigning season opened, Sulla advanced along the Via Latina towards the capital and Metellus supported by Pompey led Sullan forces into northern Italy. Carbo threw himself against Metellus whilst the young Marius defended the city of Rome itself.[15] Marius the Younger marched his army south-east into Campania and met Sulla's forces at Sacriportus (near Signia). After an initial engagement Sulla decided to pitch camp. While Sulla's men were preparing the camp (digging a ditch, throwing up earthworks) Marius suddenly attacked. Sulla's veterans simply stuck their pila into the ground to create a makeshift barricade and drew their swords. When they had organized their battle lines the Sullans counter-attacked. Marius' force were put on the defensive, their left began to waver and five cohorts of foot soldiers and two of horse deserted to Sulla. This cause a general collapse and Marius army scattered in rout. Marius lost 28,000 men (killed, captured, turned coat or fled) while Sulla claimed to have only lost 23 men.[16]
Marius survived the
Meanwhile in the north, Metellus working in tandem with Pompey fought the consul Carbo and his legates
Most of southern Italy now belonged to Sulla, though some cities, such as Praeneste, remained under siege. Sulla now set out for Etruria to the north.[22] Sulla divided his army in two, sending one division to Saturnia by way of the Via Clodia while he commanded the other division to Clusium along the Via Cassia.[23] Carbo decided to take on Sulla himself. Their two armies met near Clussium, where an indecisive all-day battle was fought. The next day Sulla retreated because he was informed that the Samnites and Lucanians were threatening Afella's army at Praeneste.[24] The other Sullan force had meanwhile been completely successful, defeating its opponent near Saturnia.[23] Lucius Marcius Philippus enjoyed another success on Sardinia, slowly winning the island for the Sullan cause.[23] Marcus Lucullus, bottled up in
Having taken and looted the town of Sena, Crassus and Pompey severely defeated Carrinas who had marched against them, killing 3,000 Marian soldiers and forcing him to seek refuge in
A Marian attack on Metellus near
The Samnite general Pontius Telesinus and the Lucanian general Marcus Lamponius, commanding a very large army of Samnites and Lucanians, were trying to get to Praeneste to break the Sullan siege. Unfortunately for them, Sulla and his army put themselves in their path in a very defensible position. Damasippus, Censorinus and Carrinas then joined their men with the Samnites and Lucanians and together they decided to march on Rome. When Sulla found out he immediately pursued them.
Sulla subsequently entered Rome as a saviour (he had saved Rome from the Samnites, Rome's ancient enemy). A meeting of the Senate was convened in the
Aftermath 81 BC
The survivors of the Marian cause were given refuge on
Result
As a result of this war, Sulla was installed as
In total control of Rome and Italy, Sulla instituted a series of proscriptions (a program of executing those whom he perceived as enemies of the state and confiscating their property).
Sulla immediately proscribed eighty persons without communicating with any magistrate. As this caused a general murmur, he let one day pass, and then proscribed two hundred and twenty more, and again on the third day as many. In an harangue to the people, he said, with reference to these measures, that he had proscribed all he could think of, and as to those who now escaped his memory, he would proscribe them at some future time.[39]
The proscriptions are widely perceived as a response to similar killings which Marius and Cinna had implemented while they controlled the Republic during Sulla's absence. Proscribing or outlawing every one of those whom he perceived to have acted against the best interests of the Republic while he was in the East, Sulla ordered some 1,500 nobles (i.e., senators and
The young Gaius Julius Caesar, as Cinna's son-in-law, became one of Sulla's targets and fled the city. He was saved through the efforts of his relatives, many of whom were Sulla's supporters, but Sulla noted in his memoirs that he regretted sparing Caesar's life, because of the young man's notorious ambition. The historian Suetonius records that when agreeing to spare Caesar, Sulla warned those who were pleading his case that he would become a danger to them in the future, saying: "In this Caesar there are many Mariuses."[42]
Sulla, who opposed the
Sulla then increased the number of magistrates elected in any given year,
Finally, in a demonstration of his absolute power, Sulla expanded the "Pomerium", the sacred boundary of Rome, unchanged since the time of the kings.[46] Sulla's reforms both looked to the past (often re-passing former laws) and regulated for the future, particularly in his redefinition of majestas (treason) laws and in his reform of the Senate.
Near the end of 81 BC, Sulla, true to his traditionalist sentiments, resigned his dictatorship, disbanded his legions and re-established normal consular government. He stood for office (with
References
- ^ Brunt 1971, p. 441.
- ^ Brunt 1971, pp. 442–445.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 158; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 133; John Leach, Pompey the Great. p. 24.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 157–158.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 158–159; John Leach, Pompey the Great. p. 25.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 136.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p.159; John Leach, Pompey the Great. pp 24–25; Tom Holland, Rubicon, p. 90; Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 8.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p.160.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p.162; John Leach, Pompey the Great. p. 25; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 133.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 162–165; John Leach, Pompey the Great. p. 25; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 133–134; Philip Matyszak, Sertorius, pp 32–33.
- ^ a b Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 166; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 137.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 163; Plutarch, Life of Sulla, 28.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 165–167.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 166–167; John Leach, Pompey the Great. p. 25.
- ^ John Leach, Pompey the Great. p. 26; Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 168; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 137.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 170–172; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 138–139.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 172; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 139.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 172–173; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 139–140; Appian, Civil Wars, 1.88.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 169; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 139; John Leach, Pompey the Great. p. 26.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 140; Appian, Civil Wars, 1.87.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 174.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 140.
- ^ a b c Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 175.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 175; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 141.
- ^ a b Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 141.
- ^ a b Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 176; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 141.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 176–177; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 141–142.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 177; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 142–143.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 177–178; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 142–143; John Leach, Pompey the Great, p. 27.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, pp 179–181; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 144–147; Tom Holland, Rubicon, p. 92; John Leach, Pompey the Great, p. 27; Philip Matyszak, Sertorius, p. 55; Plutarch, Life of Sulla, 29; Velleius Paterculus, History, 2.27.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 148.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 182; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 149–150; Tom Holland, Rubicon, pp 92–97.
- ^ Tom Holland, Rubicon, pp 102–103; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 149.
- ^ Lynda Telford, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered, p. 185; Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, p. 149.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Cataclysm 90 BC, pp 153–153.
- ^ John Leach, Pompey the Great, pp 28–29; Plutarch, The Life of Pompey, 10.3.
- ^ John Leach, Pompey the Great, pp 29–31; Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 12.
- ^ Philip Matyszak, Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain, p. 56; Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 7.
- ^ Plutarch, Life of Sulla, 31.
- ^ Cicero, Anthony Everitt, p.41.
- ^ Plutarch, Roman Lives. Oxford University Press, 1999, translation by Robin Waterfield. p 210
- ^ Suetonius, The Life of Julius Caesar, 1; Plutarch, The Life of Caesar , 1
- ^ a b c d Abbott, 104
- ^ Abbott, 103
- ^ a b c d Abbott, 105
- ^ LacusCurtius, Pomerium
- ^ Plutarch, Sulla, 34
- ^ Arthur Keaveney, Sulla: The Last Republican, p. 165
- ^ Suetonius, Julius 77. "... No less arrogant were his public utterances, which Titus Ampius records: that the state was nothing, a mere name without body or form; that Sulla did not know his A. B. C. when he laid down his dictatorship; that men ought now to be more circumspect in addressing him, and to regard his word as law. So far did he go in his presumption, that when a soothsayer once reported direful inwards [sic] without a heart, he said: "They will be more favourable when I wish it; it should not be regarded as a portent, if a beast has no heart ..."
- ISBN 0-19-814283-8.
- Sampson, Gareth C. (2013). The Collapse of Rome: Marius, Sulla and the First Civil War. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84884-326-4.