Summary
Overview
This episode chronicles the momentous events of 88-87 BC, when Sulla became the first Roman general to march on Rome itself, marking a pivotal turning point in Roman history. The episode covers Sulla's unprecedented military coup, his campaign against Mithridates in Greece, and the chaos that erupted in Rome during his absence, culminating in Marius's dramatic return and bloody seventh consulship before his death.
Sulla's Historic March on Rome
After being stripped of his command against Mithridates by Marius and the tribune Sulpicius, Sulla made the unthinkable decision to march his six legions on Rome itself in 88 BC. Despite all his senior officers deserting him, his battle-hardened soldiers followed him across the sacred boundary into the city. When citizens threw tiles from rooftops, Sulla ordered his men to fire flaming arrows, and he soon secured control of the Senate House, forcing the Senate to declare Marius and his supporters public enemies.
- Marius was granted command against Mithridates after Sulla had already been given it, stripping Sulla of the lucrative eastern campaign
- Sulla's soldiers understood his secret intention and boldly told him to lead them on Rome, as they feared missing the campaign against Mithridates
- All of Sulla's senior officers except one quaestor deserted him, refusing to attack their own country
- Sulla ordered archers to fire flaming arrows at rooftops when citizens threw tiles at his advancing legionaries
- The Senate proclaimed Marius, Sulpicius, and nine others outlaws; Sulpicius was betrayed and murdered, but Marius escaped
" When envoys from Rome met him on the road and asked him why he was marching with his legions against his native city, he answered to deliver her from tyrants "
" Man do you dare to kill Gaius Marius "
The Constitutional Crisis and Political Polarization
Sulla's march on Rome represented an unprecedented violation of Roman constitutional norms, yet the structural conditions that made it possible had been building for years. The expansion of Rome's military commitments allowed generals to develop personal bonds with their troops, while political violence in Rome had already coarsened traditional respect for constitutional limits. When Sulla crossed the sacred Pomerium boundary in arms, it shocked Romans but also revealed how polarization had created a winner-take-all political environment.
- Rome's growing manpower needs and longer campaigns allowed commanders to establish personal links with soldiers, making such a coup almost inevitable
- Political life in Rome had become quite brutal over the previous decade, with two tribunes murdered and constitutional norms eroding
- To cross the Pomerium boundary for a citizen in arms was an utter taboo that no one ever did until Sulla
- Disagreements between consuls now regularly ended with one being declared a public enemy, showing the breakdown of healthy politics
" Eastern kings, oriental despots, as they would describe them, are vicious, but fundamentally effeminate. And they are also sensationally rich. And so the command against Mithridates seems to promise whoever has it very easy pickings. "
" If you use very violent rhetoric, that violent rhetoric can become real, and once it becomes real, then essentially you've let a very dangerous genie out of a bottle. "
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