Sulla or Sulla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla in Latin) was a Roman statesman, born in 138 BC. AD, died in Cumae in 78 BC. AD
His origin
Sylla is the cognomen of the gens Cornelia. Sylla was of one of those patrician families which compose the first houses of Rome. It is said that Rufinus, one of his ancestors, reached the consulship; but that he was known less for this elevation than for the branding he received:more than ten pounds of silver plate were found in his house; and this contravention of the law caused him to be expelled from the senate. His descendants lived in obscurity ever since, and Sylla himself was brought up in a very mediocre state of fortune.
In 101 BC. J.-C., his mistress Nicropolis and Clitumna (the 2nd wife of his late father) with whom Sylla lived die. They leave Sylla the million sesterces necessary to enter the Senate. The following year, he married Julilla with whom he had 2 children:Cornelia Sylla and Lucius Cornelius Sylla the young desired reference.
His life
His career begins in -105 in Africa. As legate, he then leads the secret negotiations that will lead his general, Marius to victory over Jugurtha of Numidia.
In particular, he persuades King Bocchus of Mauretania to betray Jugurtha who had fled to Mauretania for safety. It was a delicate operation, King Bocchus weighing the advantages of delivering Jugurtha to Sulla or Sulla to Jugurtha.
Thereafter, he will affirm his position by winning several successes during the war of the Cimbri, took prisoner Copillus (general of the Gauls Tectosages), attracted the Marses (numerous and warlike Italic nation) in the alliance of the Romans and during the war social (from -91 to -89). Having become an important figure in Roman politics, he became the rival of Marius who supported the populares movement, Sylla joining the camp of the senatorial and conservative aristocracy of the optimates. He confronts Marius and forces him into exile following the First Civil War of the Republic.
Consul in -88 with Quintus Pompeius Rufus, he led a victorious campaign against Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, for control of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, a Roman province since -129 (campaign marked by numerous depredations). A conflict arose between him and Marius to determine which would lead the first war against Mithridates, Sulla going so far as to march on Rome with his troops to prevent the designation of Marius supported by the plebs, but not by the Senate.
After defeating the enemy armies in Greece, he fell seriously ill there and had to stay there for a year to receive treatment. He loses all his teeth, his hair (he has to get a wig), and his skin sags deeply. His face is covered with scabs that only make him itch, and the only way for him not to scratch is to get drunk (until he finds a balm for his face while he's fighting in Italy).
Back in Italy after the peace of Dardanos in -85 and the reorganization of the province of Asia, he must face the Marianist partisans who took power during his absence. After the second civil war in 81 BC. J.-C., which ends with the victory of the Syllanians, he was appointed perpetual dictator. He then took the nickname of Felix (fortunate, beloved of the gods, which he himself explained one day as a protege of Venus[1]), and carried out a political purge by numerous proscriptions. He restored the power of the Roman Senate (79 BC), in the hope of saving the “aristocratic” Republic and limited the power of the tribunes of the plebs, vectors of the populist opposition. Many people are forced to hide or flee, including Jules Caesar.
In 81 BC. J.C., he founded the Roman colony of Aleria, in Corsica. During that same year, his nephew, Sextus Nonius Sufenas, instituted the "ludi Victoriæ Sullanæ" to commemorate his uncle's victory at the Hill Gate. In 80 BC. J.-C., he transformed Pompeii into a Roman colony, named Colonia Veneria Cornelia Pompeii:the Roman colonists then replaced the inhabitants driven from their homes.
His death
At the end of these reforms, he retired, in -79, from political life, before dying two years later. Plutarch expands on the horrors of phthiriasis (pedicular disease, that is to say, caused by lice) from which Sylla would have suffered in his last days and sees in it the indirect cause of his death, but we no longer believe little to the clinical picture which the ancient authors gave of phthiriasis. Modern historians attach more importance to a circumstance of Sylla's last moments mentioned by Plutarch himself, 37, 5, and by Valère Maxime, 9, 3, 8:a vomiting of blood concomitant with a fit of anger against the Quaestor Granius, who owed the public treasury a considerable sum but deferred paying it until the death of the dictator in order to frustrate the republic. Sylla had scarcely expired when several citizens joined forces with the consul Lepidus to prevent him from being given the funeral that befitted a man of his rank. But Pompey, using his prestige, forced them to give up their project and made Sylla do all the proper honors.
The statues of him that remain to us allow us to judge the air of his face:his eyes were ardent and rough. And the color of his face made his look even more terrible, it was dark red, dotted with white spots. It is even believed that this is where it got its name. A joker from Athens made this satirical verse about his complexion:Sylla is only a blackberry imprint of flour.