Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered by Lynda Telford

Author:Lynda Telford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Ancient / General
ISBN: 9781473834507
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2014-02-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Despite Sulla’s successes abroad and the validity of his claims as itemized in the letter he had sent to Rome, he still had opposition to face at home. While fighting in Asia Province he had been hailed as Imperator by his troops, this for the second time in his life. It was, in fact, also the second time that he had been hailed as Imperator while fighting against the same enemy, as the first occasion had taken place while in Cilicia.1 He now certainly deserved and was fully entitled to a Triumph on his return to Rome, another thing that Cinna and his friends and associates could not possibly allow. They preferred to make sure that Sulla never returned home at all, and with this intention at the forefront of their minds they determined to raise an army to fight him in Greece. They certainly could not risk the possibility of a popular rising in Rome in his favour, if the hero of the hour should return and demand recompense for all he and his supporters had suffered at the hands of the Cinnans.

Sulla’s letter to them had not only the intention of establishing his rightful claims, but also the intention of separating Cinna and his faction from the more moderate and possibly more amenable members of the Senate. There were also the newly enfranchised Italians to take into consideration. The Senate at this point found themselves in a cleft stick. They did not and officially could not accept Sulla’s earlier march into Rome. It had been an unprecedented move, which had left a very sour taste behind it and they could not countenance it. However, even worse in retrospect was the appallingly violent and destructive action of Gaius Marius, who had so casually and callously turned Rome into a bloodbath. He was by then deceased, but his supporters, Cinna and his favoured sidekick Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, were very much alive and well and unfortunately still in power.

Some of the members of the Senate, having learned the lessons of the recent conflicts only too well, and desiring to achieve some kind of internal peace for Rome, made an attempt to bring conciliation between the two parties. It had been with this in mind that they had allowed Flaccus and Fimbria to move into Asia Province, with the hope (or perhaps merely wishful thinking), that they and Sulla could work together against the common enemy. It had not proved feasible. Now the situation had hardened still further and various members of the Senate were actually with Sulla, having fled to him for sanctuary and protection against Cinna.

The ones who had remained in Rome still walked a tightrope of indecision and possible censure. They were certainly under Cinna’s control where they were, and genuine anxiety for their own safety and that of their families must have been a factor in their deliberations.

However, it was also becoming obvious that Sulla, still officially the public enemy, had actually shown far greater concern and consideration for the eminent refugees and far more respect for the authority of the Senate.

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