Speaker 1: Section sixteen of the grochy Marius and Solla by A. H. Beesley.
Speaker 1: This librovox recording is in the public domain. Read by Pamelinagami,
Speaker 1: chapter fourteen, the personal rule and death of Sullah. Sullah was,
Speaker 1: to all intents and purposes, a king in Rome. He
Speaker 1: harangued the people on what he had achieved and told
Speaker 1: them that if they were obedient, he would make things
Speaker 1: better for them, but that he would not spare his
Speaker 1: enemies and would punish every one who had sided with them.
Speaker 1: Since Scipio violated his covenant, then began a reign of terror.
Speaker 1: Not only did he kill his enemies, but gave over
Speaker 1: to his creatures men against whom he had no complaint
Speaker 1: to make. At last, the young noble Gaius Metellus asked
Speaker 1: him in the Senate, tell Us, Sullah, when there is
Speaker 1: to be an end of our calamities, we do not
Speaker 1: ask thee to spare those whom thou hast marked out
Speaker 1: for punishment, but to relieve the suspense of those whom
Speaker 1: thou hast determined to save. Sullah replied that he did
Speaker 1: not yet know. Then said Metellus, let us know whom
Speaker 1: thou intendest to destroy? Selah answered by issuing a first
Speaker 1: proscription list, including eighty names. People murmured at the illegality
Speaker 1: of this, and in two days, as if to rebuke
Speaker 1: their presumption, he issued a second of two hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty and as many more the next day. Then he
Speaker 1: told the people from the rostrum that he had now
Speaker 1: proscribed all that he remembered, and those whom he had
Speaker 1: forgotten must come into some future proscription. Such a speech
Speaker 1: would seem incredible if put into the mouth of any
Speaker 1: other character in history, but it is in keeping with
Speaker 1: Sullah's passionless and nonchalant brutality. The ashes of Marius he
Speaker 1: ordered to be dug up and scattered in the Annio,
Speaker 1: the only unpractical act we ever read of him. Committing
Speaker 1: death was ordained for everyone who should harbor or save
Speaker 1: a proscribed person, even his own brother's son, or parent.
Speaker 1: But he who killed a proscribed man, even if it
Speaker 1: was a slave who slew his master or a son
Speaker 1: his father, was to receive two talents. Even the son
Speaker 1: and grandson of those proscribed were deprived of the privileges
Speaker 1: of citizenship, and their property was confiscated, not only in
Speaker 1: Rome but in all the cities of Italy. This went on.
Speaker 1: Lists were posted everywhere, and it was a common saying
Speaker 1: among the ruffianly executioners. His fine home was the death
Speaker 1: of such an one, his gardens of another, his hot
Speaker 1: baths of a third. For they hunted down men for
Speaker 1: their wealth more than from revenge. One day a quiet
Speaker 1: citizen came into the forum and, out of mere curiosity,
Speaker 1: read the proscription list. To his horror, he saw his
Speaker 1: own name, wretch. He cried that I am my alban
Speaker 1: Villa pursues me, and he had not gone far when
Speaker 1: a Ruffian came up and killed him. The famous Julius
Speaker 1: Caesar was one of those in danger. He would not
Speaker 1: divorce his wife at the bidding of Sullah, who confiscated
Speaker 1: her property, if not his as well, being so far
Speaker 1: merciful for some reason which we do not know. One
Speaker 1: case has been made memorable by the fact that Cicero
Speaker 1: was the council for one of the sufferers. Two men
Speaker 1: named Roscius procured the assassination of a third of the
Speaker 1: same name by Sullah's favorite freedman, Chrysogonus, who then got
Speaker 1: the name of Roscius put on the proscription list and
Speaker 1: seizing on his property, expelled them and Sun from it. He,
Speaker 1: having friends at Rome, fled to them and made the
Speaker 1: assassins fear that they might be compelled to disgorge, so
Speaker 1: they suddenly charged the son with having killed his father.
Speaker 1: The most frightful circumstance about the case is not the
Speaker 1: piteous injustice suffered by the Sun, but the abject way
Speaker 1: in which Cicero speaks of Sullah, comparing him to Jupiter, who,
Speaker 1: despite his universal beneficence, sometimes permits destruction, not on purpose,
Speaker 1: but because his sway is so worldwide, and scouting the
Speaker 1: idea of its being possible for him to share personally
Speaker 1: in such wrongs. It has been well said, we almost
Speaker 1: touched the tyrant with our finger. Cicero soon afterwards left Rome,
Speaker 1: probably from fear of Sullah. It is said that the
Speaker 1: names of four thousand, seven hundred persons were entered on
Speaker 1: the public records as having fallen in the proscriptions, besides
Speaker 1: many more who were assassinated for private reasons. Whole towns
Speaker 1: were put up for auction, says one writer, such as Polatum, Prineste, Interomna,
Speaker 1: and Florentia. By this we may understand that they lost
Speaker 1: all their land their privileges and public buildings, perhaps even
Speaker 1: the houses themselves. Others, such as Voltaire and Aretium, were
Speaker 1: deprived of all privileges except that of commercium or the
Speaker 1: right of trade. Sulla's friends attended such auctions and made
Speaker 1: large fortunes. One of his centurions, named Luscius, bought an
Speaker 1: estate for ten million sesterces or eighty eight thousand, five
Speaker 1: hundred and forty pounds of our money. One of his
Speaker 1: freedmen bought for twenty pounds twelve shillings an estate worth
Speaker 1: sixty one thousand pounds Crassus Verres, and Sulli's wife, Mattella,
Speaker 1: became in this way infamously rich. In spite of such
Speaker 1: nominal prices, the sale of confiscated estates produced three hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty million sistercees or nearly three million pounds of
Speaker 1: our money. Sullah approved of such purchases, for they bound
Speaker 1: the buyers to his interests and insured their wishing to
Speaker 1: uphold his acts after his death. With the same view
Speaker 1: of creating a permanent sullen party in Italy, and at
Speaker 1: the same time, to fulfill his pledges to the soldiers,
Speaker 1: he allotted to them all public lands in Italy hitherto undistributed,
Speaker 1: and all confiscated land not otherwise disposed of. In this
Speaker 1: way he punished and rewarded at a stroke no fewer
Speaker 1: than one hundred and twenty thousand allotments were made and
Speaker 1: twenty three legions provided for. There was in it a
Speaker 1: plausible mimicry of the democratic scheme of colonies, which Sola
Speaker 1: must have thoroughly enjoyed. Thus, in Italy he provided a
Speaker 1: standing army to support his new constitution. In Rome itself,
Speaker 1: by enfranchising ten thousand slaves whose owners had been slain,
Speaker 1: he formed a strong body of partisans, ever ready to
Speaker 1: do his bidding. These were all named Cornelii. A man
Speaker 1: is known by his adherents, and the worst men were
Speaker 1: Sullah's proteges. Cataline's name rose into notoriety among these horrors.
Speaker 1: He was said not only to have murdered his own brother,
Speaker 1: but to requite Sullah for legalizing the murder by including
Speaker 1: his brother's name in the list of the proscribed to
Speaker 1: have committed. The most horrible act of the civil war,
Speaker 1: the torture of Marcus Marius Gratadianus. This man, because he
Speaker 1: was a cousin of Marius was offered up as a
Speaker 1: victim to the manes of Catullus, of whom the elder
Speaker 1: Marius had said he must. This poor wretch was scourged
Speaker 1: and had his limbs broken, his nose and hands cut off,
Speaker 1: and his eyes gouged out of their sockets. Finally, his
Speaker 1: head was cut off, and Cicero's brother writes that Cataline
Speaker 1: carried it in his hand, streaming with blood. But no
Speaker 1: one would attach much importance to what the Ciceros said
Speaker 1: of Cataline, and two circumstances combined to point to his
Speaker 1: innocence of such extreme enormities. One is that it was
Speaker 1: the son of Catullus who begged as a boon from
Speaker 1: Sullah the death of this Marius, and his name was
Speaker 1: very likely confused with Catalines in the street rumors of
Speaker 1: the time. And the other and more direct piece of
Speaker 1: evidence is that Catiline was tried in the year sixty
Speaker 1: four for murders committed at this time and was acquitted.
Speaker 1: It is a curious thing that the obloquy which has
Speaker 1: clung to Cataline's name on such dubious reports, has never
Speaker 1: attached in the same measure to the undoubted horrors and
Speaker 1: abominations of Sullah's career. Sullah, though he meant above all
Speaker 1: to have his own way, had no objection to use
Speaker 1: constitutional forms where they could be conveniently employed. He made
Speaker 1: the Senate pass a resolution approving his acts, and as
Speaker 1: there were no consuls in eighty two, after the death
Speaker 1: of Marius and Carbo, he retired from Rome for a
Speaker 1: while and told the Senate to elect an interrex in
Speaker 1: conformity with the prescribed usage under such circumstances. Then he
Speaker 1: wrote to the interrects and recommended that a dictator should
Speaker 1: be appointed, not for a limited time, but till he
Speaker 1: had restored quiet in the Roman world, and with a
Speaker 1: touch of that irony which he could not resist displaying
Speaker 1: in and out of season, went on to say that
Speaker 1: he thought himself the best man for the post. Thus,
Speaker 1: in November eighty two, he was formally invested with despotic
Speaker 1: power over the lives and property of a his fellow citizens.
Speaker 1: Could contract or extend, the frontiers of the state, could
Speaker 1: change as he pleased, the constitution of the Italian towns
Speaker 1: and the provinces, could legislate for the future, could nominate
Speaker 1: proconsuls and proprietors, and could retain his absolute power as
Speaker 1: long as he liked. He might have dispensed with consuls altogether,
Speaker 1: but he did not care to do this. The consuls
Speaker 1: whom he allowed to be elected for eighty one were,
Speaker 1: of course, possessed of merely nominal power. Twenty four lictors
Speaker 1: preceded him in the streets. He told the people to
Speaker 1: hail him as Felix declared that his least deliberate were
Speaker 1: his most successful actions. Signed himself epaphroditis when he wrote
Speaker 1: to Greeks, named his son and daughter Faustus and Fausta,
Speaker 1: boasted that the gods held converse with him in dreams,
Speaker 1: and sent a golden crown and acts to the goddess,
Speaker 1: whom he believed to be as patroness. Like Wallenstein, he
Speaker 1: mingled indifference to bloodshed with extreme superstition and boundless self confidence.
Speaker 1: But as the historian remarks, a man who is superstitious
Speaker 1: is capable of any crime, for he believes that his
Speaker 1: gods can be conciliated by prayers and presents. The greatest
Speaker 1: crimes have not been committed by men who have no
Speaker 1: religious belief, no doubt to his mind. There was a
Speaker 1: sort of judicial retribution in all this bloodshed, and as
Speaker 1: he tried to make himself out the favorite of the gods.
Speaker 1: So by formally announcing the close of the proscription lists
Speaker 1: for June first, eighty one b c. He spread some
Speaker 1: veil of legality over his shameless violence. There is something
Speaker 1: particularly revolting in the business like and systematic way in
Speaker 1: which he went about his murderous work, appointing a fixed
Speaker 1: time for it to end, a fixed list of the victims,
Speaker 1: a fixed price to be paid per head, a fixed
Speaker 1: exemption for the murderers from his own law. De sicaries.
Speaker 1: Modern idolators of a policy of blood and iron may
Speaker 1: profane history by their glorification of human monsters, but no
Speaker 1: sophistry can blind and independent reader to the real nature
Speaker 1: of Sulla's character and acts. He organized murder and filled
Speaker 1: Italy with idle soldiers instead of honest husbandmen. He did
Speaker 1: so in the interests of a class, a class whose
Speaker 1: incapacity for government he had discovered, and yet, knowing that
Speaker 1: his re establishment of this class could only be temporary,
Speaker 1: he fortified it by every means in his power, and then,
Speaker 1: after a theatrical finale, returned to the gross debaucheries in
Speaker 1: which he reveled. Anything more selfish or cynical cannot be conceived,
Speaker 1: and those who call vile acts by their plain names
Speaker 1: will not feel inclined to become Sullah's apologists. When he died,
Speaker 1: he left behind him it is said what he may
Speaker 1: have meant as his epitaph, an inscription containing the purport
Speaker 1: of three lines in the Medea. Let no man deem
Speaker 1: me weak or womanly or nerveless, but of quite another mood,
Speaker 1: a scourge to foes beneficent two friends. Pompeius, the only
Speaker 1: man who had successfully bearded him, was the only friend
Speaker 1: not mentioned in his will. If anything could palliate his
Speaker 1: remorseless selfishness, it is the candor with which he confessed it.
Speaker 1: He had made a vast private fortune out of his
Speaker 1: countryman's misery. When he surrendered his dictatorship, he offered a
Speaker 1: tenth of his property to Hercules, and gave a banquet
Speaker 1: to the people on so profuse a gaale that great
Speaker 1: quantities of food were daily thrown into the Tiber. Some
Speaker 1: of the wine was forty years old, perhapsps wine of
Speaker 1: that vintage, which was gathered in when Gaius Gracchus died
Speaker 1: in the Middle of the banquet, his wife Metelli Sicond, and,
Speaker 1: in order that as PONTIFEXI might prevent his home being
Speaker 1: polluted by death, he divorced her and removed her to
Speaker 1: another house whilst still alive. Soon afterwards he married another wife, who,
Speaker 1: at a gladiatorial show, came and plucked his sleeve in order,
Speaker 1: as she said, to obtain some of his good fortune.
Speaker 1: The rest of his life was spent near Kumai and hunting,
Speaker 1: writing his memoirs, amusing himself with actors, and practicing all
Speaker 1: sorts of debauchery. Ten days before he died, he settled
Speaker 1: the affairs of the people of Puteole at their request,
Speaker 1: and was busy in collecting funds to restore the capital
Speaker 1: up to the last. Some say he died of the
Speaker 1: disease which destroyed Herod. Some say there is no such disease.
Speaker 1: Others say that he broke a blood vessel when in
Speaker 1: a rage. He is described as having blue eyes and
Speaker 1: a pale face so blotched over that he was likened
Speaker 1: to a mulberry sprinkled with meal. His death in seventy
Speaker 1: eight b C. Was the signal for that break up
Speaker 1: of his political institutions, to which he had wilfully shut
Speaker 1: his eyes. The great men of Rome began to wrangle
Speaker 1: over his very body before it was cold. Lepidus, whom Pompeius,
Speaker 1: against Sullah's wishes, had helped to the consulship, opposed a
Speaker 1: public funeral. The other consul supported it. Sullah had, with
Speaker 1: his usual shrewdness, divined the character of Lepidus, and told
Speaker 1: Pompeius that he was only making a rival powerful. Pompeius
Speaker 1: supposed Lepidus now, for he knew that the partisans of
Speaker 1: Sullah would insist on doing honor to his memory. Appian
Speaker 1: describes the funeral at length. The body was borne on
Speaker 1: a litter adorned with gold and other royal array, amid
Speaker 1: the flourish of trumpets, and with an escort of cavalry.
Speaker 1: After them followed a concourse of armed men, his old soldiers,
Speaker 1: who had thronged from all parts and fell in with
Speaker 1: the procession as each came up. Besides these there was
Speaker 1: as vast a crowd of other men as was ever
Speaker 1: seen at any funeral. In front were carried the axes
Speaker 1: and the other symbols of office which had belonged to
Speaker 1: him as dictator. But it was not till the procession
Speaker 1: entered Rome that the full splendor of the ceremonial was seen.
Speaker 1: More than two thousand crowns of gold were born in front,
Speaker 1: gifts from towns, from his old comrades in arms, and
Speaker 1: his personal friends. In every other respect too, the pomp
Speaker 1: and circumstance of the funeral was past description in awe
Speaker 1: of the veterans. All the priests of all the sacred
Speaker 1: fraternities were there in full robes, with the vestal virgins,
Speaker 1: and all the senators and all the magistrates, each in
Speaker 1: his garb of office. Next, in array that contrasted with theirs,
Speaker 1: came the Knights of Rome and Column. Then all the
Speaker 1: men whom Sullah had commanded in his wars, and who
Speaker 1: had vied with each other in hastening there carrying gilded
Speaker 1: standards and silver plated shields. There was also a countless
Speaker 1: host of flute players, making now most tender, now most
Speaker 1: wailing music. A cry of benediction raised by the senators
Speaker 1: was taken up by the knights and the soldiers, and
Speaker 1: re echoed by the people. For some mourned his loss
Speaker 1: in reality, and others feared the soldiers and dreaded him
Speaker 1: in death as much as in life. The present scene
Speaker 1: recalling dreadful memories that he had been a friend to
Speaker 1: his friends, they could not but admit, but to the rest,
Speaker 1: even when dead, he was still terrible. The body was
Speaker 1: exhibited before the rostra, and the greatest orator of the
Speaker 1: time spoke the funeral oration for Faustus. Sullah's son was
Speaker 1: too young to do so. Then some strong senators took
Speaker 1: up the litter on their shoulders and bore it to
Speaker 1: the Compass Martius, where kings only were wont to be buried.
Speaker 1: There it was placed on the funeral pyre, and the
Speaker 1: knights and all the armies circled round it in solemn procession.
Speaker 1: And that was Sullah's ending. To the student of history,
Speaker 1: the story of such a funeral seems like the prostration
Speaker 1: of a nation of barbarians before the car of some
Speaker 1: demon god. If the strong personality of the man, with
Speaker 1: all that dauntless bravery, that unerring sagacity, that trenchant tongue,
Speaker 1: still after two thousand years, fascinates attention, if we are
Speaker 1: forced to own that for sheer power of will and intellect,
Speaker 1: he stands in the very foremost rank of men. Yet
Speaker 1: we feel also that in the case of such superhuman
Speaker 1: wickedness tyrannicide Wood, if it ever could cease to be
Speaker 1: a crime end of Section sixteen