Sulla’s Proscriptions: Terror and Power in Ancient Rome

Lucius Cornelius Sulla 138 BC-78 BC

‘…the gleam of his gray eyes, which was terribly sharp and power­ful, was rendered even more fearful by the complexion of his face. This was covered with coarse blotches of red, interspersed with white. For this reason, they say, his surname was given him because of his complexion, and it was in allusion to this that a scurrilous jester at Athens made the verse:

“Sulla is a mulberry sprinkled o’er with meal.”

Plutarch – The Life of Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (felix means ‘fortunate’ or the fortunate one), to recognise the cognomen he awarded himself for realising how lucky he was, fought and won a civil war against Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna in 82 BC, subsequently made himself dictator for life, and set about rebuilding the Roman Republic as he saw fit. He instituted scathing constitutional reforms, including reducing the power long held by the tribunes of the plebs (by requiring all legislation to first be approved by the senate, which he had packed with his own supporters), and cancelling the ‘corn dole’ for the poor, which had been introduced by the reformist politician, and supporter of plebian land rights, Gaius Gracchus.

However, his victory was de-legitimised by his extreme post-war violence. He slaughtered in cold-blood over 4000 (the numbers vary considerably, it must be said) of his former opponents soldier’s who had surrendered to him, and then embarked on something far worse. Sulla scarcely ever did anything half-hearted, and with his introduction of the proscriptions he spread sheer terror throughout Rome that put paid to any political opposition, and undoubtably secured his place in Roman history as one of the worst murderous tyrants. The proscriptions were a reprisal campaign to eliminate his enemies in the aftermath of his victory, and he set about his task with glee. If an individual was unlucky enough to find his name on a list of those proscribed nailed up overnight in the forum, then he had been declared an enemy of the state and could be lawfully killed.

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

Plutarch, The Life of Sulla

Thousands were added to the proscription lists, many without just cause, the fact they were wealthy was enough. Sulla’s henchmen, as well as those politicians who supported him, profited hugely, collecting bounties and receiving properties and goods at knock down prices. Sulla’s own daughter Cornelia bought the former villa belonging to Marius in Miseno at the discount price of 300,000 sesterces and sold it soon after for 2,000,800 sesterces.

The proscribed were shown no mercy. It was said that Sulla would inspect the severed heads of those proscribed, and decorated the forum with them. Even the dead were at risk. He ordered the corpse of his civil war enemy Marius to be removed from its grave, dragged throughout the city, and then torn to pieces.

Sulla passed a law named lex Cornelia de hostibus rei publicae (Cornelius’ Law concerning Enemies of the State) which legalised the proscriptions, and went on to order some 1,500 of the aristocracy executed, although the number could possibly be higher. The purge lasted for months. Sheltering a proscribed person was punishable by death, while the killer of a proscribed person was finacially rewarded. Family members of the proscribed were often killed, and slaves who turned in their masters were rewarded. As a result, “husbands were butchered in the arms of their wives, sons in the arms of their mothers” (Plutarch, Roman Lives). He also wrote that during these times, it was forbidden to inherit money or property from a proscribed man, or to mourn his death. Burial of the body was outlawed, the dead were simply thrown into the river Tiber. Even the dead man’s children and grandchildren did not escape Sulla, stripping them as he did, of their rights as Roman citizens.

To protect himself from future retribution, he had the surviving sons and grandsons of the proscribed, those he had pardoned, and they were few, banned from running for political office for over 30 years.

Quintus Aurelius finding his name on the proscription list – S.D. Mirys c.1799

The sixteen year old Julius Caesar, Cinna’s son-in-law, found himself on one of Sulla’s lists simply because his uncle had fought on the side of Marius in the war, and so fled Rome. Sulla eventually pardoned Caesar, but later regretted sparing the young mans life, noticing as he had his unbridled ambition, saying “In this Caesar there are many Mariuses.”

Eventually, after some coaxing from his closest allies, who had grown sickened by the wholesale slaughter, the proscriptions stopped, and Sulla, in 81 BC embarked upon his next move.

To the amazement of many, he resigned his dictatorship, disbanded his legions and re-established the government he had recently done so much to dismantle. He then stood for office as consul, and won. He dismissed his bodyguards and walked unguarded around the Forum, offering to explain his actions to any citizen who wished to hear. Then after serving his term of office, Sulla announced that he would be stepping down and retiring to his country villa at Puteoli, near Naples. It was two years later, in 79 BC, that he died of a hemorrhage at the age of 60, apparently while screaming orders to his servants that they should go and strangle a corrupt local magistrate for misappropriating public funds. Sulla’s tyranny was short lived, but it left a grim legacy.

Despite his fearsome reputation, a massive public funeral for him was held in the Roman forum, his body being carried to the mausoleum by his loyal ex- soldiers. On his tombstone (now unfortunately lost) was carved the motto: “No better friend, no worse enemy”.

---