GREAT SULLA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20290, 24 December 1927, Page 13

GREAT SULLA.

DARLING OF FORTUNE. ROMAN OPPORTUNIST. A RUTHLESS DICTATOR. The two greatest men produced by Ancient Rome were Julius Caesar and Cornelias Sulla. The one was as great a soldier as the other, and as great a statesman, though less successful. Moreover, Sulla was the Groat Dictator, and died in his bed (states a writer in the Melbourne Argus). liehold him as an out-at-elbows aristocrat, paying £26 a year for a flat or “ Insula,’’ as the Romans called it. His family had never been rich, and bo .was bent upon a career which required con* siderablc funds. His first step was to pay court to a rich plebeian lady, who was not accepted in the best society. She was flattered by the friendship of a youth of high degree, and when she died she left him her entire fortune. Ho promptly moved out of his £26 flat, and it knew him no more. Fortune had presently another favour to bestow on him. His step-mother loved him as if he were her own son, and she obligingly died, and made him her heir. His career was opening up before him, and it is quite evident that he had “ a way wid 'im ”. as far as the ladies were concerned. Ho had a large acquaintance with actresses, and was five time married.

Essentially an aristocrat by temperament, he combined witii powers of leadership an emotional nature which made him human witty, cynical and hopeful. He had a great respect for forms, but broke through them when it suited him, and kept them more in the spirit than the letter. He became an opportunist, a devotee of Fortune, and know how to bide his time.

By the year 300 B.C. the aristocracy had ceased to exist as a political fact, and stood on tho same level as the plebeians. This stupendous change was accomplished without the shedding of one drop of blood, and tho aristocracy found that political privilege was not a necessity to a class that knew its business. HOODWINKING VOTERS. When Sulla was 17 years old ho had learned tho unreliability of political support, and the easy way in which the voter could bo hoodwinked, ilio fall of uaius Gracchus showed him the fickleness of thc people. Like other thoughtful youths of tho period, he felt that tho state of things was far from satisfactory, yet it was difficult, to see how improvement could bo secured. Referring to tins point, Mr G. P. Baker, m his "Sulla the xortunate,” says that a young aristocrat would naturally look to the tradition of his own class as an instrument of world betterment. Two things wore dear —the people could not save the situation, and only the old aristocracy could make a positive contribution lo progress. If that party could bo revived and stiengihencd tho Slate would bo saved. There lies the key to thc principles and achievements of Sulla. Something of Disraeli appears in his ideals. Sulla saw that political control was a necessity, that a perpetual magistracy was an impossibility, and that an aristocratic policy cautious about concessions was the only likely way of securing good results in the shape of Roman unity. He was not in any sense a stickler at trifles or a slave to consistency. He wanted a particular type of man in government, and that secured, all measures could be judged from the viewpoint of expediency. He was cynical, had a great gift for holding his tongue, and surprising both friends and foes by some unexpected stroke. Meanwhile as a youth he waited his cue.

A Roman career required to be both political and military, and Sulla came to office os quaestor when he was 31, and had his first experience in war under Marius-in Africa. Here he distinguished himself by the capture of Jugurtha in 105 8.C., an achievement which led to the creation in the mind of Marius of that jealousy which made him ultimately the bitter foe of Sulla. Marius was essentially a plebeian, sympathising sincerely with the common people, and showing what we now call a thorough-going democratic spirit. Popular opinion gave credit to Sulla for the successful ending of the African war. When Marius went to Gaul to fight the Cimbri and Teutones, Sulla felt he had better offer ‘ his services to Catulus, the second consul, and discharge the functions of what we now call the quartermaster-general. Even then he laid Marius under obligation by rectifying a serious mistake about supplies. When Marius gained a signal victory Sulla showed great weakness by belittling him and claiming the credit for his own men.

HIS GREAT FRIEND

Sulla’s friend. Fortune, sent him next to Cilicia in Asia, where his powers were much like those of a British governor in India. His vigorous measures against Mithridates were entirely successful, and he returned to Borne, where a difficult situation had evolved. There were rumours of an impeachment, but proceedings were suspended and afterwards dropped. The military struggle in Italy overshadowed all other interests. It centred on the extension of the franchise. The nationals were revolting against a national Government. The Social War, as it was called, silenced all other quarrels. It ended in the death of the city State and the birth of the nation. Sulla emerged from the war with a reputation second to none, and the consulship and supreme command were conferred upon him. His armed entry into Borne was unprecedented in vigour and unexpectedness. It was audacious. He appointed 300 new men to the Senate, limited the interest bankers and capitalists could enforce, and by giving a preponderant vote to the higher qualifications, dovetailed the conservative and the radical. Nobody was pleased, and Ins candidates for office were not elected. Ho professed not to mind. The people had the sovereignty. He assured them so. Mithradates had acted with promptitude while Italy was engaged in the social war, and it took Sulla four years in the East to secure complete victory tor Rome. While he was so,engaged the popular party in Italy gained possession ot the machine and the control of the aimy. I'laeeus was sent to supersede ouiia, but the two commanders quietly agreed to fight the enemy and not each other. After he had vanquished Mithradates, Sulla, taking no notice of his supersession, calmly wrote to the Senate that lig was about to return to Rome to punish the leaders of the revolution. The battle outsiao the Colline Gate was his crownmg victory. Sulla had come home. A NEW ROME. He now felt certain he could build a new Borne. Fortune would see him through. He had come back to save himself, and next to refound a State and i©store the ideal Bom© by the creation of an aristocracy. But this meant the clearing of the stage and much rough work. Ho began with the massacre 6f prisoners, and while he was addressing the Senate their shrieks startled the assembly. He quietly observed this was merely the noise of a few offenders, whose chastisement he had ordered. When was it to end? He proposed to the Senate the revival of the Dictatorship, with unlimited power, for an indefinite period. It was conferred upon him. lie made Samnium a wilderness, and contrived at once to punish the guilt, y and fill the treasury with thcii money. This was done by (he Groat Proscription. It was a reign of terror, in which over 100 senators and 2000 knights were slain. No one tries to vindicate Sulla, but he achieved his end, the punishment of the revolutionaries. As the senators left the Senate House they could see at the corner of the Forum flic hoods of Sulla’s latest vicitims lying in a ghastly heap. Young Cato seeing all this, asked his tutor, ‘ Why does nobody kill this man?”

The dictatorship was a torrent of practical reform, including the franchise, local self-government, tile trift of 120,000 holdings to discharged soldiers, and the abolition of (be corn dole.

lie resigned fii 3 dictatorship in 97 8.c., retired to Puteoli, surrounded himself with buffoons and dancers, indulged in sensual excesses, and died in the following year. His grand mistake was that of attempting to restore artistocracy, for it is the business of aristocracy to level up the subject classes and thus disappear. It exists to render itself unnecessary.

ing of a shell, said : “ This is a strange war. A box arrives, and when it is opened many men die.” (Laughter.) Captain Oswald Tuck observed that. (Imre was this distinction between the army and the navy, that in naval warfare the admiral was to the fore, whereas in military attack he believed it was the second liemenant who went first. (Laughter.)