Sulla

Sulla, LUCIUS CORNELIUS (138-78 B.C.), Roman general and statesman, belonged to an ancient patrician family. As quaestor under Marius in Africa (107-6), be persuaded Bocchus to surrender Jugurtha, and thus brought the war to a close. He served a second time under Marius against the Cimbri and Teutones (104-1), but oven at this early date the jealousy of the popular leader had made Sulla his enemy. In 92 he went to Cilicia as propraetor, and succeeded in reinstating Ariobarzanes on the throne of Cappadocia. After his return he was generally accepted by the aristocratic party as their leader. In the Social War his success was more conspicuous than that of Marius, his greatest triumph being the capture of the Samnite capital, Bovianum. After holding the consulate in 88, he received from the Senate the command against Mithradates, but the tribune Sulpicius stirred up a tumult, and Sulla escaped with difficulty to Nola in Campania. He soon returned at the head of his legion, however, and Marius was forced to seek refuge in Africa. Early in 87 he crossed over to Greece, captured and sacked Athens (86), defeated Archelaus, the general of Mithradates, at, Chaeronea (86) and Orchomenos (84), and, advancing across the Hellespont into Asia, negotiated a peace which brought the war to a close. Fimbria, the Marian general in Asia, was easily defeated; and in 83 Sulla again set foot on Italian soil. The Marian cause had triumphed during his absence, but as he advanced his opponent's army melted away, and a victory at Praeneste in 82 threw open the way to Rome. The army raised by the Sammtes was vanquished, and a general proscription of Marians was followed by a fearful massacre. Sulla, who had assumed the surname of Felix, now ruled as dictator, and carried out a series of measures by which the aristocratic form of goverm:nent was completely re~established. In 79 he resigned the consulship, and retired to Puteoli, where he gave free reins to his appetite for every form of sensual indulgence.