90. In the plain of Spoletium, Pompey and Crassus, both Sulla’s officers, killed some 3000 of Carbo’s men and besieged Carinas, the opposing general. Carbo sent reënforcements to Carinas, but Sulla learned of their movement, laid an ambush for them, and killed about 2000 of them on the road. Carinas escaped by night during a heavy rain-storm and thick darkness, and although the besiegers were aware of some movement, they made no opposition on account of the storm. Carbo sent Marcius with eight legions to the relief of his colleague, Marius, at Praeneste, having heard that he was suffering from hunger. Pompey fell upon them from ambush in a defile, defeated them, killed a large number, and surrounded the remainder on a hill. Marcius made his escape, leaving his fires burning. His army blamed him for being caught in an ambush and stirred up an angry mutiny. One whole legion marched off under their standards to Ariminum without orders. The rest separated and went home in squads, so that only seven cohorts remained with their general. Marcius, having made a mess of it in this way, returned to Carbo. However, Marcus Lamponius from Lucania, Pontius Telesinus from Samnium, and Gutta the Capuan, with 70,000 men, hastened to deliver Marius from the siege, but Sulla occupied a pass which was the only approach to the place, and blocked the road. Marius now despaired of aid from without, and built a citadel in the wide space between himself and the enemy, within which he collected his soldiers and his engines, and from which he attempted to force his way through the besieging army of Lucretius. The attempt was renewed several days in different ways, but he accomplished nothing and was again shut up in Praeneste.
90. ἐν δὲ τῷ πωλητίῳ πεδίῳ Πομπήιος καὶ Κράσσος, ἄμφω Σύλλα στρατηγοί, κτείνουσι τῶν Καρβωνείων εἰς τρισχιλίους καὶ Καρρίναν τὸν ἀντιστρατηγοῦντα σφίσιν ἐπολιόρκουν, ἔστε Κάρβων μὲν ἕτερον τῷ Καρρίνᾳ στρατὸν ἔπεμψεν· ὁ δὲ Σύλλας αἰσθόμενος καὶ ἐφεδρεύσας ἔκτεινεν αὐτῶν παροδ υόντων ἐς δισχιλίους, καὶ Καρρίνας δὲ νυκτός, ὕδατός τε ὄντος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πολλοῦ καὶ σκότους, αἰσθομένων μέν τι τῶν περικαθημένων, διὰ δὲ τὸν ὄμβρον ἀμελούντων, διέφυγε. καὶ Κάρβων ἐς Πραινεστὸν Μαρίῳ τῷ συνάρχῳ Μάρκιον ἔπεμπεν, ὀκτὼ τέλη στρατιᾶς ἄγοντα, πυνθανόμενος αὐτὸν ὑπὸ λιμοῦ κακοπαθεῖν· οἷς ὁ Πομπήιος ἐξ ἐνέδρας ἐν στενῷ προσπεσὼν τρέπεταί τε καὶ πολλοὺς διαφθείρας ἐς λόφον συνέκλεισε τοὺς λοιπούς. ἐξ οὗ Μάρκιος μὲν οὐ σβέσας τὸ πῦρ ἀπεδίδρασκεν, ὁ δὲ στρατὸς αὐτῷ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἐνέδρας προστιθεὶς ἐστασίασε χαλεπῶς, καὶ τέλος μὲν ὑπὸ τοῖς σημείοις ὅλον ἄνευ παραγγέλματος ἐπανῆλθεν ἐς Ἀρίμινον, οἱ λοιποὶ δʼ ἐς τὰς πατρίδας κατὰ μέρη διελύθησαν, ὡς ἑπτὰ σπείρας τῷ στρατηγῷ μόνας παραμεῖναι. καὶ Μάρκιος μὲν ὧδε πράξας κακῶς ἐς Κάρβωνα ἐπανῄει, Μᾶρκον δὲ Λαμπώνιον ἐκ Λευκανίας καὶ Πόντιον Τελεσῖνον ἐκ τῆς Σαυνίτιδος καὶ τὸν Καπυαῖον Γοῦτταν, μεθʼ ἑπτὰ μυριάδων ἐπειγομένους Μάριον ἐξελέσθαι τῆς πολιορκίας, ὁ Σύλλας ἐν τοῖς στενοῖς, ᾗ μόνῃ διαβατὸν ἦν, ἀπέκλειε τῆς παρόδου. καὶ ὁ Μάριος, ἀπογινώσκων ἤδη τὰς ἔξωθεν ἐπικουρίας, φρούριον ἐν τῷ μεταιχμίῳ μεγάλῳ ὄντι ἤγειρεν, ἐς ὃ καὶ μηχανὰς καὶ στρατιὰν συναγαγὼν ἐπεχείρει βιάσασθαι τὸν Λουκρήτιον. πολυημέρου δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ ποικίλης τῆς πείρας γενομένης, οὐδὲν ἀνύων ἐς Πραινεστὸν αὖθις συνεκλείετο.
91. About the same time Carbo and Norbanus went by a short road to attack the camp of Metellus in Faventia just before nightfall. There was only one hour of daylight left, and there were thick vineyards thereabout. They made their plans for battle in hot temper and not with good judgment, hoping to take Metellus unawares and to stampede him. But they were beaten, both the place and the time being unfavorable for them. They became entangled in the vines, and suffered a heavy slaughter, losing some 10,000 men. About 6000 more deserted, and the rest were dispersed, only 1000 getting back to Ariminum in good order. Another legion of Lucanians under Albinovanus, when they heard of this defeat, went over to Metellus to the great chagrin of their leader. As the latter was not able to restrain this impulse of his men, he, for the time, returned to Norbanus. Not many days later he sent secretly to Sulla, and having obtained a promise of safety from him, if he should accomplish anything important, he invited Norbanus and his lieutenants, Gaius Antipater and Flavius Fimbria (brother of the one who committed suicide in Asia), together with such of Carbo’s lieutenants as were then present, to a feast. When they had all assembled except Norbanus (he was the only one who did not come), Albinovanus killed them all at the banquet and then fled to Sulla. Norbanus having learned that, in consequence of this disaster, Ariminum and many other camps in the vicinity were going over to Sulla, and being unable to rely on the good faith and firm support of any of his friends there present, since he found himself in adversity, took ship as a private individual and sailed to Rhodes. When, at a later period, Sulla demanded his surrender, and while the Rhodians were deliberating on it, he killed himself in the market-place.
91. καὶ περὶ τὰς αὐτὰς ἡμέρας ἐν Φαυεντίᾳ Κάρβων καὶ Νωρβανὸς ἐξ ὁδοῦ βραχὺ πρὸ ἑσπέρας ἐπὶ τὸ Μετέλλου στρατόπεδον ἐλθόντες, λοιπῆς οὔσης ὥρας μιᾶς καὶ ἀμπέλων πυκνῶν περικειμένων, ἀνοήτως μάλα ὑπὸ ὀργῆς ἐς μάχην ἐξέταττον, ἐλπίσαντες Μέτελλον τῷ παραλόγῳ καταπλήξειν. ἡττώμενοι δὲ ὡς ἐν ἀφυεῖ χωρίῳ τε καὶ ὥρᾳ καὶ ἐς τὰ φυτὰ ἐμπίπτοντες ἐφθείροντο κατὰ πλῆθος, ὡς ἀπολέσθαι μὲν ἀμφὶ τοὺς μυρίους, αὐτομολῆσαι δʼ ἐς ἑξακισχιλίους καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς διαρριφῆναι, μόνων ἐν τάξει χιλίων ἐπανελθόντων ἐς Ἀρίμινον. τέλος δʼ ἄλλο Λευκανῶν ἀγόμενον ὑπὸ Ἀλβενουανοῦ, τῆς ἥττης πυθόμενον, μετεχώρει πρὸς Μέτελλον δυσχεραίνοντος Ἀλβενουανοῦ. ὁ δὲ τότε μὲν οὐ κατασχὼν τῆς ὁρμῆς αὑτὸν ἐς Νωρβανὸν ἐπανῆλθεν, οὐ πολλαῖς δὲ ἡμέραις ὕστερον κρύφα τῷ Σύλλᾳ κοινολογησάμενος καὶ λαβὼν ἄδειαν, εἴ τι πράξειεν ἀξιόλογον, ἐπὶ ἑστίασιν ἐκάλει Νωρβανόν τε καὶ τοὺς συνόντας αὐτῷ στρατηγούς, Γάιον Ἀντίπατρον καὶ Φλάυιον Φιμβρίαν, ἀδελφὸν τοῦδε τοῦ περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἑαυτὸν ἀνελόντος, ὅσοι τε ἄλλοι τῶν Καρβωνείων στρατηγοὶ τότε παρῆσαν. ὡς δʼ ἀφίκοντο χωρίς γε Νωρβανοῦ ʽμόνος γὰρ οὐκ ἀφίκετὀ, πάντας αὐτοὺς ὁ Ἀλβενουανὸς ἔκτεινεν ἐπὶ τῆς διαίτης καὶ ἐς τὸν Σύλλαν διέφυγε. Νωρβανὸς δὲ καὶ Ἀρίμινον ἐπὶ τῇδε τῇ συμφορᾷ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ τῶν πλησίον στρατοπέδων ἐς τὸν Σύλλαν μεταχωρεῖν πυνθανόμενος τῶν τε παρόντων οἱ φίλων οὐδένα ἔτι πιστὸν οὐδὲ βέβαιον ὡς ἐν συμφοραῖς τιθέμενος, ἰδιωτικοῦ σκάφους ἐπιβὰς ἐς Ῥόδον διέπλευσεν· ὅθεν ὕστερον ἐξαιτούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Σύλλα, Ῥοδίων ἔτι ἀμφιγνοούντων, ἑαυτὸν ἐν ἀγορᾷ μέσῃ διέφθειρε.
92. Carbo sent Damasippus in haste with two other legions to Praeneste to relieve Marius, who was still besieged, but not even these could force their way through the pass that was guarded by Sulla. The Gauls who inhabited the country lying between Ravenna and the Alps went over to Metellus en masse and Lucullus won a victory over another body of Carbo’s forces near Placentia. When Carbo learned these facts, although he still had 30,000 men around Clusium, and the two legions of Damasippus, and others under Carinas and Marcius, besides a large force of Samnites, who were courageously enduring hardships at the pass, he fell into despair and weakly fled to Africa with his friends, although he was still consul, in order to make a stand there instead of in Italy. Of those whom he left behind, the army around Clusium had a battle with Pompey in which they lost 20,000. Naturally, after this greatest disaster of all, the remainder of the army dissolved in fragments and each man went to his own home. Carinas, Marcius, and Damasippus went with all the forces they had to the pass in order to force their way through it in conjunction with the Samnites. Failing in the attempt, they marched to Rome, thinking that the city might be easily taken, as it was bereft of men and provisions, and they encamped in the Alban territory at a distance of 100 stades from it.
92. Κάρβων δὲ ἕτερα δύο τέλη στρατιωτῶν ἐς Πραινεστὸν ἄγειν ἔπεμπε Δαμάσιππον, ὑπερεπειγόμενος Μάριον ἐκλῦσαι τῆς πολιορκίας· ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ οὗτοι τὰ στενὰ διελθεῖν ἐδύναντο φυλασσόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ Σύλλα. Γαλάται τε ὅσοι ἀπὸ Ῥαβέννης ἐπὶ τὰ Ἄλπεια παρήκουσιν, ἀθρόως ἐς Μέτελλον μετετίθεντο· καὶ Λεύκολλος ἑτέρους τῶν Καρβωνείων ἐνίκα περὶ Πλακεντίαν. ὧν ὁ Κάρβων πυνθανόμενος, τρισμυρίους ὅμως ἔτι ἔχων περὶ τὸ Κλούσιον καὶ δύο τέλη τὰ Δαμασίππου καὶ ἕτερα περὶ Καρρίναν καὶ Μάρκιον Σαυνιτῶν τε αὐτῷ χειρὶ πολλῇ προθύμως περὶ τὰ στενὰ κακοπαθούντων, ἀπογνοὺς ἁπάντων ἀσθενῶς ἔφευγε σὺν τοῖς φίλοις ἐς Λιβύην ἐξ Ἰταλίας ὕπατος ἔτι ὤν, ὡς Λιβύην παραστησόμενος ἀντὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας. τῶν δʼ ὑπολειφθέντων οἱ μὲν ἀμφὶ τὸ Κλούσιον Πομπηίῳ συνενεχθέντες ἐς μάχην ἀπέβαλον ἐς δισμυρίους, καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ συμφορᾷ μεγίστῃ καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τοῦδε τοῦ στρατοῦ ἐς τὰς πατρίδας κατὰ μέρη διελύθη· Καρρίνας δὲ καὶ Μάρκιος καὶ Δαμάσιππος οἷς εἶχον ἅπασιν ἐπὶ τὰ στενὰ ἐχώρουν ὡς ὁμοῦ τοῖς Σαυνίταις βιασόμενοι πάντως αὐτὰ περᾶσαι. οὐ δυνηθέντες δὲ οὐδʼ ὥς, ἐφέροντο ἐς Ῥώμην ὡς ἔρημον ἀνδρῶν καὶ τροφῶν ἅμα καταληψόμενοι τὸ ἄστυ καὶ πρὸ σταδίων ἑκατὸν ἐστρατοπέδευον ἀμφὶ τὴν Ἀλβανῶν γῆν.
93. Sulla feared for the safety of the city, and sent his cavalry forward with all speed to hinder their march, and then hastened in person with his whole army and encamped alongside the Colline gate around the temple of Venus about noon. The enemy were already encamped around the city. A battle was fought at once, late in the afternoon. On the right wing Sulla was victorious. His left wing was vanquished and fled to the gates. The old soldiers on the walls, when they saw the enemy rushing in with their own men, dropped the portcullis. It fell upon and killed many soldiers and many senators. But the majority, impelled by fear and necessity, turned and fought the enemy. The fighting continued through the night and a great many were killed. The generals, Telesinus and Albinus, were killed and their camp was taken. Lamponius the Lucanian, Marcius, and Carinas, and the other generals of the faction of Carbo, fled. It was estimated that 50,000 men on both sides lost their lives in this engagement. Prisoners, to the number of more than 8000, were shot down with darts by Sulla because they were mostly Samnites. The next day Marcius and Carinas were captured and brought in. Sulla did not spare them because they were Romans, but killed them both and sent their heads to Lucretius at Praeneste to be displayed around the walls.
93. δείσας οὖν ὁ Σύλλας περὶ τῇ πόλει τοὺς μὲν ἱππέας προύπεμψε κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐνοχλεῖν αὐτοῖς ὁδεύουσιν, αὐτὸς δʼ ἐπειχθεὶς ἀθρόῳ τῷ στρατῷ παρὰ ταῖς Κολλίναις πύλαις περὶ μεσημβρίαν ἐστρατοπέδευσεν, ἀμφὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἱερόν, ἤδη καὶ τῶν πολεμίων περὶ τὴν πόλιν στρατοπεδευόντων. μάχης δʼ εὐθὺς αὐτοῖς περὶ δείλην ἑσπέραν γενομένης τῷ μὲν δεξιῷ Σύλλας ἐκράτει, τὸ δὲ λαιὸν ἡττώμενον ἐπὶ τὰς πύλας κατέφυγεν. οἱ δὲ γέροντες, ὄντες ἐπὶ τῶν τειχῶν, ὡς εἶδον αὐτοῖς συνεστρέχοντας τοὺς πολεμίους, τὰς πύλας καθῆκαν ἀπὸ μηχανῆς· αἱ δʼ ἐμπίπτουσαι πολλοὺς μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ στρατοῦ διέφθειραν, πολλοὺς δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς βουλῆς, οἱ λοιποὶ δʼ ὑπὸ δέους καὶ ἀνάγκης ἀνέστρεφον ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους. καὶ νυκτὸς ὅλης ἀγωνισάμενοι πολὺ πλῆθος ἔκτειναν· ἔκτειναν δὲ καὶ τῶν στρατηγῶν Τελεσῖνόν τε καὶ Ἀλβῖνον καὶ τὰ στρατόπεδα αὐτῶν ἔλαβον. Λαμπώνιός τε ὁ Λευκανὸς καὶ Μάρκιος καὶ Καρρίνας ὅσοι τε ἄλλοι στρατηγοὶ τῆς Καρβωνείου στάσεως αὐτοῖς συνῆσαν, διέφυγον. καὶ θάνατος ἐκ τοῦδε τοῦ ἔργου πέντε μυριάδων ἐδόκει γενέσθαι παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων· τά τε αἰχμάλωτα ὀκτακισχιλίων πλείω γενόμενα Σύλλας, ὅτι Σαυνῖται τὸ πλέον ἦν, κατηκόντισε. μετὰ δὲ μίαν ἡμέραν αὐτῷ καὶ Μάρκιος καὶ Καρρινας ἁλόντες προσήγοντο· καὶ οὐδὲ τῶνδε φειδόμενος οἷα Ῥωμαίων ἔκτεινεν ἄμφω καὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἐς Πραινεστὸν Λουκρητίῳ περὶ τὰ τείχη περιενεγκεῖν ἔπεμψεν.
94. When the Praenestians saw them and knew that Carbo’s army was completely destroyed, and that Norbanus himself had fled from Italy, and that Rome and all the rest of Italy were in the power of Sulla, they surrendered their city to Lucretius. Marius hid himself in an underground tunnel and shortly afterward committed suicide. Lucretius cut off his head and sent it to Sulla, who exposed it in the forum in front of the rostra. It is said that he indulged in a jest at the youth of the consul, saying that one ought to be a rower before he manages the helm. When Lucretius took Praeneste he seized the senators who had held commands under Marius, and put some of them to death and cast the others into prison. The latter were put to death by Sulla when he came that way. All the others who were taken in Praeneste he ordered to march out to the plain without arms, and when they had done so he chose out a very few who had been in any way serviceable to him. The remainder he ordered to be divided into three parts, consisting of Romans, Samnites, and Praenestians respectively. When this had been done he announced to the Romans by herald that they had merited death, but nevertheless he would pardon them. The others he massacred to the last man. He allowed their wives and children to go unharmed. He plundered the town, which was extremely rich at that time. In this way was Praeneste served. Norba, another town, still resisted with all its might until Aemilius Lepidus was admitted to it in the night by treachery. The inhabitants were maddened by this treason. Some killed themselves, or fell on each other’s swords, others strangled themselves with ropes. Still others closed the gates and set fire to the town. A strong wind fanned the flames, which so far consumed the place that no plunder was left in it. In this way did these stout-hearted men perish.
94. Πραινέστιοι δὲ καὶ τάδε θεώμενοι καὶ τὸν Κάρβωνος στρατὸν ἀπολωλέναι πάντα πυνθανόμενοι αὐτόν τε Νωρβανὸν ἤδη φυγεῖν ἐξ Ἰταλίας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην Ἰταλίαν καὶ Ῥώμην ἐπʼ αὐτῇ Σύλλαν ἐκτενῶς κεχειρῶσθαι, τὴν πόλιν τῷ Λουκρητίῳ παρέδοσαν, Μαρίου καταδύντος ἐς τάφρους ὑπονόμους καὶ μετὰ βραχὺ καὶ ἀνελόντος ἑαυτόν. Λουκρήτιος μὲν δὴ Μαρίου τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐκτεμὼν ἔπεμπεν ἐς Σύλλαν· καὶ αὐτὴν ὁ Σύλλας ἐν ἀγορᾷ μέσῃ πρὸ τῶν ἐμβόλων θέμενος ἐπιγελάσαι λέγεται τῇ νεότητι τοῦ ὑπάτου καὶ εἰπεῖν· ἐρέτην δεῖ πρῶτα γενέσθαι, πρὶν πηδαλίοις ἐπιχειρεῖν. Λουκρήτιος δʼ ἐπεὶ Πραινεστὸν εἷλε, τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς βουλῆς ἐνταῦθα Μαρίῳ στρατηγούντων τοὺς μὲν αὐτίκα ἀνῄρει, τοὺς δʼ ἐς φυλακὴν ἐσέβαλλεν· οὓς ὁ Σύλλας ἐπελθὼν ἀνεῖλε. καὶ τοὺς ἐν Πραινεστῷ προσέταξε χωρὶς ὅπλων προελθεῖν ἅπαντας ἐς τὸ πεδίον καὶ προελθόντων τοὺς μὲν ἑαυτῷ τι χρησίμους γενομένους, ὀλίγους πάμπαν, ἐξείλετο, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐκέλευσεν ἐς τρία ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων διαστῆναι, Ῥωμαίους τε καὶ Σαυνίτας καὶ Πραινεστίους· ἐπεὶ δὲ διέστησαν, τοῖς μὲν Ῥωμαίοις ἐπεκήρυξεν, ὅτι καὶ οἵδε ἄξια θανάτου δεδράκασι, καὶ συγγνώμην ἔδωκεν ὅμως, τοὺς δὲ ἑτέρους κατηκόντισεν ἅπαντας· γύναια δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ παιδία μεθῆκεν ἀπαθεῖς ἀπιέναι. καὶ τὴν πόλιν διήρπαζε, πολυχρήματον ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα τότε οὖσαν. ὧδε μὲν δὴ καὶ Πραινεστὸς ἑάλω, Νῶρβα δʼ, ἑτέρα πόλις, ἀντεῖχεν ἔτι ἐγκρατῶς, ἔστε Αἰμιλίου Λεπίδου νυκτὸς ἐς αὐτὴν ἐκ προδοσίας ἐσελθόντος διαγανακτήσαντες οἱ ἔνδον ἐπὶ τῇ προδοσίᾳ, οἱ μὲν ἑαυτοὺς ἀνῄρουν, οἱ δʼ ἀλλήλους ἑκόντες, οἱ δὲ καὶ βρόχοις συνεπλέκοντο· καὶ τὰς θύρας ἐνέφραττον ἕτεροι καὶ ἐνεπίμπρασαν … ἄνεμός τε πολὺς ἐμπεσὼν ἐς τοσοῦτον αὐτὴν ἐδαπάνησεν, ὡς μηδὲν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως λάφυρον γενέσθαι.
95. After accomplishing these deeds throughout Italy by war, fire, and murder, Sulla’s generals visited the several cities and established garrisons at the suspected places. Pompey was despatched to Africa against Carbo and to Sicily against Carbo’s friends who had taken refuge there. Sulla himself called the Roman people together in an assembly and made them a speech vaunting his own exploits and making other menacing statements in order to inspire terror. He finished by saying that he would bring about a change which would be beneficial to the public if they would obey him. He would not spare one of his enemies, but would visit them with the utmost severity. He would take vengeance by every means in his power on all praetors, quaestors, military tribunes, and everybody else who had committed any hostile act after the day when the consul Scipio violated the agreement made with him. After saying this he forthwith proscribed about forty senators and 1600 knights. He seems to have been the first one to punish by proscription, to offer prizes to assassins and rewards wards to informers, and to threaten with punishment those who should conceal the proscribed. Shortly afterward he added the names of other senators to the proscription. Some of these, taken unawares, were killed where they were caught, in their houses, in the streets, or in the temples. Others were picked up, carried to Sulla, and thrown down at his feet. Others were dragged through the city and trampled on, none of the spectators daring to utter a word of remonstrance against these horrors. Banishment was inflicted upon some and confiscation upon others. Spies were searching everywhere for those who had fled from the city, and those whom they caught they killed.
95. καὶ οἵδε μὲν οὕτως ἐγκρατῶς ἀπέθανον· ἠνυσμένων δὲ τῶν ἀμφὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν πολέμοις καὶ πυρὶ καὶ φόνῳ πολλῷ, οἱ μὲν τοῦ Σύλλα στρατηγοὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐπιόντες τὰ ὕποπτα ἐφρούρουν, καὶ Πομπήιος ἔς τε Λιβύην ἐπὶ Κάρβωνα καὶ ἐς Σικελίαν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖ Κάρβωνος φίλους ἐστέλλετο· αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Σύλλας Ῥωμαίους ἐς ἐκκλησίαν συναγαγὼν πολλὰ ἐμεγαληγόρησεν ἐφʼ ἑαυτῷ καὶ φοβερὰ ἐς κατάπληξιν εἶπεν ἕτερα καὶ ἐπήνεγκεν, ὅτι τὸν μὲν δῆμον ἐς χρηστὴν ἄξει μεταβολήν, εἰ πείθοιντό οἱ, τῶν δʼ ἐχθρῶν οὐδενὸς ἐς ἔσχατον κακοῦ φείσεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἢ ταμίας ἢ χιλιάρχους ἢ ὅσοι τι συνέπραξαν ἄλλοι τοῖς πολεμίοις, μεθʼ ἣν ἡμέραν Σκιπίων ὁ ὕπατος οὐκ ἐνέμεινε τοῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὡμολογημένοις, μετελεύσεσθαι κατὰ κράτος. ταῦτα δʼ εἰπὼν αὐτίκα βουλευτὰς ἐς τεσσαράκοντα καὶ τῶν καλουμένων ἱππέων ἀμφὶ χιλίους καὶ ἑξακοσίους ἐπὶ θανάτῳ προύγραφεν. οὗτος γὰρ δοκεῖ πρῶτος, οὓς ἐκόλασε θανάτῳ, προγράψαι καὶ γέρα τοῖς ἀναιροῦσι καὶ μήνυτρα τοῖς ἐλέγχουσι καὶ κολάσεις τοῖς κρύπτουσιν ἐπιγράψαι. μετʼ οὐ πολὺ δὲ βουλευτὰς ἄλλους αὐτοῖς προσετίθει. καὶ τῶνδε οἱ μὲν ἀδοκήτως καταλαμβανόμενοι διεφθείροντο, ἔνθα συνελαμβάνοντο, ἐν οἰκίαις ἢ στενωποῖς ἢ ἱεροῖς, οἱ δὲ μετέωροι πρὸς τὸν Σύλλαν φερόμενοί τε καὶ πρὸ ποδῶν αὐτοῦ ῥιπτούμενοι· οἱ δὲ καὶ ἐσύροντο καὶ κατεπατοῦντο, οὐδὲ φωνὴν ἔτι τῶν θεωμένων οὐδενὸς ἐπὶ τοσοῖσδε κακοῖς ἔχοντος ὑπʼ ἐκπλήξεως. ἐξέλασίς τε ἑτέρων ἦν καὶ δήμευσις τῶν ἑτέροις ὄντων. ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς τῆς πόλεως ἐκφυγόντας ζητηταὶ πάντα μαστεύοντες διέθεον καὶ ὅσους αὐτῶν λάβοιεν ἀνῄρουν.
96. There was much killing, banishment, and confiscation also among those Italians who had obeyed Carbo, or Marius, or Norbanus, or their lieutenants. Severe judgments of the courts were rendered against them throughout all Italy on various charges—for exercising military command, for serving in the army, for contributing money, for rendering other service, or even giving counsel against Sulla. Hospitality, private friendship, the borrowing or lending of money, were alike accounted crimes. Now and then one would be arrested for doing a kindness to a suspect, or merely for being his companion on a journey. These accusations abounded mostly against the rich. When charges against individuals failed Sulla took vengeance on whole communities. He punished some of them by demolishing their citadels, or destroying their walls, or by imposing heavy fines and contributions on them. Among most of them he placed colonies of his troops in order to hold Italy under garrisons, sequestrating their lands and houses and dividing them among his soldiers, whom he thus made true to him during his life and even after his death. As they could not be secure in their own holdings unless all of Sulla’s affairs were on a firm foundation, they were his stoutest champions even after he was deceased. While the affairs of Italy were in this state, Pompey sent a force and captured Carbo, who had fled with many persons of distinction from Africa to Sicily and thence to the island of Cossyra. He ordered his officers to kill all of the others without bringing them into his presence; but Carbo, who had been thrice consul, he caused to be brought before his feet in chains, and after making a public harangue at him, killed him and sent his head to Sulla.
96. πολλὴ δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἰταλιωτῶν ἀναίρεσίς τε καὶ ἐξέλασις καὶ δήμευσις ἦν, ὅσοι τι Κάρβωνος ἢ Νωρβανοῦ ἢ Μαρίου ἢ τῶν ὑπʼ ἐκείνοις στρατηγούντων ὑπήκουσαν. κρίσεις τε ἦσαν ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀνὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ὅλην πικραὶ καὶ ἐγκλήματα ποικίλα, στρατηγίας ἢ στρατείας ἢ ἐσφορᾶς χρημάτων ἢ ἄλλης ὑπηρεσίας ἢ βουλεύσεως ὅλως κατὰ Σύλλα. ἐγκλήματα δʼ ἦν καὶ ξενία καὶ φιλία καὶ δάνεισμα, λαβόντος ἢ δόντος, ἤδη δέ τις καὶ προθυμίας ἢ μόνης συνοδίας ἡλίσκετο. καὶ ταῦτʼ ἤκμαζε μάλιστα κατὰ τῶν πλουσίων. ὡς δʼ ἐξέλιπε τὰ καθʼ ἕνα ἄνδρα ἐγκλήματα, ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις ὁ Σύλλας μετῄει καὶ ἐκόλαζε καὶ τάσδε, τῶν μὲν ἀκροπόλεις κατασκάπτων ἢ τείχη καθαιρῶν ἢ κοινὰς ζημίας ἐπιτιθεὶς ἢ εἰσφοραῖς ἐκτρύχων βαρυτάταις· ταῖς δὲ πλείοσι τοὺς ἑαυτῷ στρατευσαμένους ἐπῴκιζεν ὡς ἕξων φρούρια κατὰ τῆς Ἰταλίας τήν τε γῆν αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ οἰκήματα ἐς τούσδε μεταφέρων διεμέριζεν· ὃ καὶ μάλιστʼ αὐτοὺς εὔνους αὐτῷ καὶ τελευτήσαντι ἐποίησεν· ὡς γὰρ οὐχ ἕξοντες αὐτὰ βεβαίως, εἰ μὴ πάντʼ εἴη τὰ Σύλλα βέβαια, ὑπερηγωνίζοντο αὐτοῦ και μεταστάντος. καὶ τάδε μὲν ἦν ἀμφὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν, Κάρβωνα δʼ ἐκ Λιβύης ἐς Σικελίαν μετὰ πολλῶν ἐπιφανῶν καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς ἐς Κοσσύραν νῆσον ὑποφεύγοντα πέμψας τινὰς ὁ Πομπήιος συνέλαβε. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους τοῖς ἄγουσιν ἐκέλευσεν οὐδʼ ἐς ὄψιν οἱ προσαχθέντας ἀνελεῖν, Κάρβωνα δὲ παραστησάμενος αὑτοῦ τοῖς ποσὶ δεσμώτην τρὶς ὕπατον ἐπεδημηγόρησε καὶ κατέκανε καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐς Σύλλαν ἔπεμψεν.
97. When everything had been accomplished against his enemies as he desired, and there was no longer any hostile force except that of Sertorius, who was far distant, Sulla sent Metellus into Spain against him and managed everything in the city to suit himself. There was no longer any occasion for laws, or elections, or for casting lots, because everybody was shivering with fear and in hiding, or dumb. Everything that Sulla had done as consul, or as proconsul, was confirmed and ratified, and his gilded equestrian statue was erected in front of the rostra with the inscription, “Cornelius Sulla, a fortunate commander,” for so his flatterers called him on account of his unbroken success against his enemies. And this flattering title still attaches to him. I have come across a history which relates that Sulla was styled Epaphroditus by a decree of the Senate itself. This does not seem to me to be inappropriate for he was also called Faustus (lucky), which name seems to have very nearly the same signification as Epaphroditus. There was also an oracle given to him somewhere which, in response to his question concerning the future, assured his prosperous career as follows:— “Believe me, Roman, the Cyprian goddess cares for the race of Aeneas and has given it great power. Render yearly gifts to all the immortals, and do not forget them. Convey gifts to Delphi. There is also a place where men go up under snowy Taurus, a wide-reaching city of the Carians, whose inhabitants have named it for Aphrodite. Give the goddess an axe and you shall gain sovereign power.” Whichever decree the Romans voted when they erected the statue, they seem to me to have made the inscription by way of jest or cajolery. However, Sulla sent a golden crown and an axe to Venus with this inscription:— “The dictator Sulla dedicates this to thee, Venus, because in a dream he saw thee in panoply setting the army in order of battle and fighting with the weapons of Mars.”
97. ὁ δʼ, ἐπεί οἱ πάντα, ὡς ἐβούλετο, ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς διῴκητο καὶ πολέμιον οὐδὲν ἦν ἔτι πλὴν Σερτωρίου μακρὰν ὄντος, Μέτελλον μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦτον ἐξέπεμπεν ἐς Ἰβηρίαν, τὰ δʼ ἐν τῇ πόλει καθίστατο ἅπαντα ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ, καθʼ ὃν ἐβούλετο τρόπον. νόμου γὰρ ἢ χειροτονίας ἢ κλήρου λόγος οὐκ ἦν ἔτι, πεφρικότων ὑπὸ δέους πάντων καὶ κρυπτομένων ἢ σιωπώντων· οἳ καὶ πάντα, ὅσα διῴκησεν ὁ Σύλλας ὑπατεύων τε καὶ ἀνθυπατεύων, βέβαια καὶ ἀνεύθυνα ἐψηφίζοντο εἶναι εἰκόνα τε αὐτοῦ ἐπίχρυσον ἐπὶ ἵππου πρὸ τῶν ἐμβόλων ἀνέθεσαν καὶ ὑπέγραψαν Κορνηλίου Σύλλα ἡγεμόνος Εὐτυχοῦς. ὧδε γὰρ αὐτὸν οἱ κόλακες, διευτυχοῦντα ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς, ὠνόμαζον· καὶ προῆλθεν ἐς βέβαιον ὄνομα ἡ κολακεία. ἤδη δέ που γραφῇ περιέτυχον ἡγουμένῃ τὸν Σύλλαν Ἐπαφρόδιτον ἐν τῷδε τῷ ψηφίσματι ἀναγραφῆναι, καὶ οὐκ ἀπεικὸς ἐφαίνετό μοι καὶ τόδε, ἐπεὶ καὶ Φαῦστος ἐπωνομάζετο· δύναται δὲ τοῦ αἰσίου καὶ ἐπαφροδίτου ἀγχοτάτω μάλιστα εἶναι τὸ ὄνομα. ἔστι δʼ ὅπου καὶ χρησμὸς αὐτῷ δοθεὶς ἐβεβαίου τάδε σκεπτομένῳ τὰ μέλλοντα.πείθεὸ μοι, Ῥωμαῖε. κράτος μέγα Κύπρις ἔδωκενΑἰνείου γενεῇ μεμελημένη. ἀλλὰ σὺ πᾶσινἀθανάτοις ἐπέτεια τίθει. μὴ λήθεο τῶνδε·Δελφοῖς δῶρα κόμιζε. καὶ ἔστι τις ἀμβαίνουσιΤαύρου ὑπὸ νιφόεντος, ὅπου περιμήκετον ἄστυΚαρῶν, οἳ ναίουσιν ἐπώνυμον ἐξ Ἀφροδίτης·ᾗ πέλεκυν θέμενος λήψῃ κράτος ἀμφιλαφές σοι. ὁπότερα δʼ αὐτῶν ἐψηφίσαντο Ῥωμαῖοι τὴν εἰκόνα τιθέντες, δοκοῦσί μοι παρασκώπτοντες ἢ ἐκμειλισσόμενοι τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπιγράψαι. ἔπεμψε δὲ καὶ στέφανον χρύσεον καὶ πέλεκυν, ἐπιγράψας τάδε·τόνδε σοι αὐτοκράτωρ Σύλλας ἀνέθηκʼ, Ἀφροδίτη,ᾧ σʼ εἶδον κατʼ ὄνειρον ἀνὰ στρατιὴν διέπουσαντεύχεσι τοῖς Ἄρεος μαρναμένην ἔνοπλον.
98. Thus Sulla became king, or tyrant, de facto, not elected, but holding power by force and violence. As, however, he needed some pretence of being elected it was managed in this way. The kings of the Romans in the olden time were chosen for their bravery, and when one of them died the senators held the royal power in succession for five days each, until the people could decide who should be the new king. This five-day ruler was called the Interrex, which means king for the time being. The retiring consuls always presided over the election of their successors in office, and if there chanced to be no consul at such a time an Interrex was appointed for the purpose of holding the consular comitia. Sulla took advantage of this custom. There were no consuls at this time, Carbo having lost his life in Sicily and Marius in Praeneste. So Sulla went out of the city for a time and ordered the Senate to choose an Interrex. They chose Valerius Flaccus, expecting that he would soon hold the consular comitia. But Sulla wrote to Flaccus to bring before the people the proposition that he (Sulla) considered it advisable, under present circumstances, that the city should be governed by a dictator according to a custom that had been abandoned 400 years. He told them not to appoint the dictator for any definite time, but until the city and Italy and the whole government, so shaken by factions and wars, should be put upon a firm foundation. That this proposal referred to Sulla himself was not at all doubtful. Sulla made no concealment of it. At the conclusion of the letter he declared openly that, in his judgment, he could be serviceable to the city in that capacity.
98. ὁ δὲ ἔργῳ βασιλεὺς ὢν ἢ τύραννος, οὐχ αἱρετός, ἀλλὰ δυνάμει καὶ βίᾳ, δεόμενος δʼ ἄρα καὶ τοῦ προσποιήματος αἱρετὸς εἶναι δοκεῖν, ὧδε καὶ τόδε ἐμηχανήσατο. Ῥωμαίοις πάλαι κατʼ ἀρετὴν ἦσαν οἱ βασιλέες· καὶ ὁπότε τις αὐτῶν ἀποθάνοι, βουλευτὴς ἕτερος παρʼ ἕτερον ἐπὶ πέντε ἡμέρας ἦρχεν, ἕως τινὰ ἄλλον ὁ δῆμος δοκιμάσειε βασιλεύειν. καὶ τόνδε τὸν πενθήμερον ἄρχοντα ἰντέρρηγα ἐκάλουν· εἴη δʼ ἂν ἐν τοσῷδε βασιλεύς. ἀρχαιρέσια δʼ ὑπάτων οἱ λήγοντες τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀεὶ προυτίθεσαν· καὶ εἴ ποτε κατὰ συντυχίαν ὕπατος οὐκ εἴη, ὅδε ὁ ἐν τοσῷδε βασιλεὺς καὶ τότε ἐγίγνετο ἐς τὴν τῶν ὑπάτων χειροτονίαν. τούτου δὴ τοῦ ἔθους ἐπιβαίνων ὁ Σύλλας, ὑπάτων οὐκ ὄντων, ἐπεὶ καὶ Κάρβων ἐν Σικελίᾳ καὶ Μάριος κατὰ Πραινεστὸν ἐτεθνήκεσαν, αὐτὸς μέν που τῆς πόλεως ὑπεξῆλθε, τῇ δὲ βουλῇ προσέταξεν ἑλέσθαι τὸν καλούμενον μεταξὺ βασιλέα. ἡ μὲν δὴ Οὐαλέριον Φλάκκον εἵλετο, ἐλπίσασα ὑπάτων προτεθήσεσθαι χειροτονίαν· ὁ δὲ Σύλλας ἐπέστελλε τῷ Φλάκκῳ γνώμην ἐς τὸν δῆμον ἐσενεγκεῖν, ὅτι χρήσιμον ἡγοῖτο Σύλλας ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἔσεσθαι τῇ πόλει τὴν ἀρχήν, οὓς ἐκάλουν δικτάτορας, παυσάμενον ἔθος ἐκ τετρακοσίων ἐτῶν· ὃν δὲ ἕλοιντο, ἐκέλευεν ἄρχειν οὐκ ἐς χρόνον ῥητόν, ἀλλὰ μέχρι τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅλην στάσεσι καὶ πολέμοις σεσαλευμένην στηρίσειεν. ὁ μὲν δὴ νοῦς τὴν γνώμην ἐς αὐτὸν ἔφερε τὸν Σύλλαν, καὶ οὐδʼ ἀμφίβολον ἦν· ὁ δὲ Σύλλας οὐ κατασχὼν αὑτοῦ καὶ τοῦτʼ ἐν τέλει τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἀνεκάλυπτεν, ὅτι οἱ δοκοίη μάλιστʼ ἂν αὐτὸς τῇ πόλει καὶ ἐν τῷδε γενέσθαι χρήσιμος.
99. Such was Sulla’s letter. The Romans were unwilling, but they had no more opportunities for elections according to law, and they considered that this matter was not altogether in their own power. So, in the absence of everything else, they welcomed this pretence of an election as an image and semblance of freedom and chose Sulla their absolute master for as long a time as he pleased. There had been autocratic rule of the dictators before, but it was limited to short periods. But in Sulla’s time it first became unlimited and so an absolute tyranny; yet they added, for propriety’s sake, that they chose him dictator for the enactment of such laws as he might deem best and for the regulation of the commonwealth. Thus the Romans, after having government by kings for sixty Olympiads, and a democracy, under consuls chosen yearly, for 100 Olympiads, resorted to kingly government again. This was in the 175th Olympiad according to the Greek calendar, but there were no Olympic games then except races in the stadium, since Sulla had carried away the athletes and all the sights and shows to Rome to celebrate his victories in the Mithridatic and Italian wars, under the pretext that the masses needed a breathing-spell and recreation after their toils.
99. ὁ μὲν δὴ τάδε ἐπέστελλε, Ῥωμαῖοι δʼ οὐχ ἑκόντες μὲν οὐδὲ κατὰ νόμον ἔτι χειροτονοῦντες οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἐπὶ σφίσιν ἡγούμενοι τὸ ἔργον ὅλως, ἐν δὲ τῇ πάντων ἀπορίᾳ τὴν ὑπόκρισιν τῆς χειροτονίας ὡς ἐλευθερίας εἰκόνα καὶ πρόσχημα ἀσπασάμενοι χειροτονοῦσι τὸν Σύλλαν, ἐς ὅσον θέλοι, τύραννον αὐτοκράτορα. τυραννὶς μὲν γὰρ ἡ τῶν δικτατόρων ἀρχὴ καὶ πάλαι, ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ δʼ ὁριζομένη· τότε δὲ πρῶτον ἐς ἀόριστον ἐλθοῦσα τυραννὶς ἐγίγνετο ἐντελής. τοσόνδε μέντοι προσέθεσαν εἰς εὐπρέπειαν τοῦ ῥήματος, ὅτι αὐτὸν αἱροῖντο δικτάτορα ἐπὶ θέσει νόμων, ὧν αὐτὸς ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ δοκιμάσειε, καὶ καταστάσει τῆς πολιτείας. οὕτω μὲν δὴ Ῥωμαῖοι βασιλεῦσιν ὑπὲρ τὰς ἑξήκοντα ὀλυμπιάδας χρησάμενοι, ἐπὶ δʼ ἐκείνοις δημοκρατίᾳ τε καὶ ὑπάτοις ἐτησίοις προστάταις ἐς ἄλλας ἑκατὸν ὀλυμπιάδας, αὖθις ἐπειρῶντο βασιλείας, ὀλυμπιάδων οὐσῶν ἐν Ἕλλησιν ἑκατὸν ἐβδομήκοντα πέντε καὶ οὐδενὸς ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ τότε ἀγωνίσματος πλὴν σταδίου δρόμου γιγνομένου· τοὺς γὰρ ἀθλητὰς καὶ τὰ ἄλλα θεάματα πάντα ὁ Σύλλας ἐς Ῥώμην μετεκέκλητο ἐπὶ δόξῃ τῶν Μιθριδατείων ἔργων ἢ τῶν Ἰταλικῶν. πρόφασις δʼ ἦν ἀναπνεῦσαι καὶ ψυχαγωγῆσαι τὸ πλῆθος ἐκ καμάτων.
100. Nevertheless, as the form of the republic remained he allowed them to appoint consuls. Marcus Tullius and Cornelius Dolabella were chosen. But Sulla, like a reigning sovereign, was dictator over the consuls. Twenty-four axes were borne in front of him, as was customary with dictators, the same number that were borne before the ancient kings, and he had a large body-guard also. He repealed laws and he enacted others. He forbade anybody to hold the office of praetor until after he had held that of quaestor, or to be consul before he had been praetor, and he prohibited any man from holding the same office a second time till after the lapse of ten years. He reduced the tribunician power to such an extent that it seemed to be destroyed. He curtailed it by a law which provided that one holding the office of tribune should never afterward hold any other office; for which reason all men of reputation or family, who formerly contended for this office, shunned it thereafter. I am not able to say positively whether Sulla transferred this office from the people to the Senate, where it is now lodged, or not. To the Senate itself, which had been much thinned by the seditions and wars, he added about 300 members from the best of the knights, taking the vote of the tribes for each one. To the plebeians he added more than 10,000 slaves of proscribed persons, choosing the youngest and strongest, to whom he gave freedom and Roman citizenship, and he called them Cornelii after himself. In this way he made sure of having 10,000 men among the plebeians always ready to obey his commands. In order to provide the same kind of safeguard throughout Italy he distributed to the twenty-three legions that had served under him a great deal of land among the communities, as I have already related, some of which was public property and some taken from the communities by way of fine.
100. ὁ δʼ ἐς μὲν πρόσχημα τῆς πατρίου πολιτείας ὑπάτους αὐτοῖς ἐπέτρεψεν ἀποφῆναι, καὶ ἐγένοντο Μᾶρκος Τύλλιος καὶ Κορνήλιος Δολοβέλλας· αὐτὸς δʼ οἷα δὴ βασιλεύων δικτάτωρ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑπάτοις ἦν· πελέκεις τε γὰρ ἐφέροντο πρὸ αὐτοῦ, οἷα δικτάτορος, εἴκοσι καὶ τέσσαρες, ὅσοι καὶ τῶν πάλαι βασιλέων ἡγοῦντο, καὶ φυλακὴν τοῦ σώματος περιέθετο πολλήν. νόμους τε ἐξέλυε καὶ ἑτέρους ἐτίθετο· καὶ στρατηγεῖν ἀπεῖπε, πρὶν ταμιεῦσαι, καὶ ὑπατεύειν, πρὶν στρατηγῆσαι, καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τὴν αὐτὴν αὖθις ἄρχειν ἐκώλυσε, πρὶν ἔτη δέκα διαγενέσθαι. τὴν δὲ τῶν δημάρχων ἀρχὴν ἴσα καὶ ἀνεῖλεν, ἀσθενεστάτην ἀποφήνας καὶ νόμῳ κωλύσας μηδεμίαν ἄλλην τὸν δήμαρχον ἀρχὴν ἔτι ἄρχειν· διὸ καὶ πάντες οἱ δόξης ἢ γένους ἀντιποιούμενοι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐς τὸ μέλλον ἐξετρέποντο. καὶ οὐκ ἔχω σαφῶς εἰπεῖν, εἰ Σύλλας αὐτήν, καθὰ νῦν ἐστιν, εἰς τὴν βουλὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ δήμου μετήνεγκεν. αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ βουλῇ διὰ τὰς στάσεις καὶ τοὺς πολέμους πάμπαν ὀλιγανδρούσῃ προσκατέλεξεν ἀμφὶ τοὺς τριακοσίους ἐκ τῶν ἀρίστων ἱππέων, ταῖς φυλαῖς ἀναδοὺς ψῆφον περὶ ἑκάστου. τῷ δὲ δήμῳ τοὺς δούλους τῶν ἀνῃρημένων τοὺς νεωτάτους τε καὶ εὐρώστους, μυρίων πλείους, ἐλευθερώσας ἐγκατέλεξε καὶ πολίτας ἀπέφηνε Ῥωμαίων καὶ Κορνηλίους ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσεῖπεν, ὅπως ἑτοίμοις ἐκ τῶν δημοτῶν πρὸς τὰ παραγγελλόμενα μυρίοις χρῷτο. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ καὶ περὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐπινοῶν τέλεσι τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ στρατευσαμένοις τρισὶ καὶ εἴκοσιν ἐπένειμεν, ὥς μοι προείρηται, πολλὴν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι γῆν, τὴν μὲν ἔτι οὖσαν ἀνέμητον, τὴν δὲ τὰς πόλεις ἀφαιρούμενος ἐπὶ ζημίᾳ.
101. So terrible was he and so uncontrollable in anger that he slew in the middle of the forum Q. Lucretius Ofella, the one who had besieged and captured Praeneste and the consul Marius, and had won the final victory for him. He did this because, in spite of the new law, Lucretius persisted, though Sulla opposed and forbade, in being a candidate for the consulship while he was still in the equestrian order and before he had been quaestor and praetor, presuming on the greatness of his services, according to the former custom, and captivating the populace. Then Sulla assembled the people and said to them, “Know, citizens, and learn from me, that I caused the death of Lucretius because he disobeyed me.” And then he told the following story: “A husbandman was bitten by fleas while ploughing. He stopped his ploughing twice in order to clear them out of his shirt. When they bit him. again he burned his shirt, so that he might not be so often interrupted in his work. And I tell you, who have felt my hand twice, to take warning lest the third time fire be brought in requisition.” With these words he terrified them and thereafter ruled as he pleased. He had a triumph on account of the Mithridatic war, during which some of the scoffers called his government “the royalty disavowed” because only the name of king was concealed. Others took the contrary view, judging from his acts, and called it “the tyranny confessed.”
101. ἐς ἅπαντα δʼ ἦν οὕτω φοβερὸς καὶ ἄκρος ὀργήν, ὡς καὶ Κόιντον Λουκρήτιον Ὀφέλλαν τὸν Πραινεστὸν αὐτῷ λαβόντα καὶ Μάριον τὸν ὕπατον ἐκπεπολιορκηκότα καὶ τὸ τέλος αὐτῷ τῆς νίκης συναγαγόντα, ὑπατεύειν ἔτι ἱππέα ὄντα, πρὶν ταμιεῦσαι καὶ στρατηγῆσαι, διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν εἰργασμένων κατὰ παλαιὸν ἔθος ἀξιοῦντα καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν δεόμενον, ἐπεὶ κωλύων καὶ ἀνατιθέμενος οὐ μετέπειθεν, ἐν ἀγορᾷ μέσῃ κτεῖναι. καὶ συναγαγὼν τὸ πλῆθος ἐς ἐκκλησίαν εἶπεν· ἴστε μέν, ὦ ἄνδρες, καὶ παρʼ ἐμοῦ δὲ ἀκούσατε, ὅτι Λουκρήτιον ἐγὼ κατέκανον ἀπειθοῦντά μοι. καὶ λόγον εἶπε· φθεῖρες γεωργὸν ἀροτριῶντα ὑπέδακνον· ὁ δὲ δὶς μέν, ἔφη, τὸ ἄροτρον μεθεὶς τὸν χιτωνίσκον ἐκάθηρεν· ὡς δʼ αὖθις ἐδάκνετο, ἵνα μὴ πολλάκις ἀργοίη, τὸν χιτωνίσκον ἔκαυσεν. κἀγὼ τοῖς δὶς ἡττημένοις παραινῶ τρίτου πυρὸς μὴ δεηθῆναι. Σύλλας μὲν δὴ καὶ τοῖσδε καταπληξάμενος αὐτούς, καθὰ ἐβούλετο, ἦρχε. καὶ ἐθριάμβευσεν ἐπὶ τῷ Μιθριδατείῳ πολέμῳ. καί τινες αὐτοῦ τῆν ἀρχὴν ἀρνουμένην βασιλείαν ἐπισκώπτοντες ἐκάλουν, ὅτι τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ὄνομα μόνον ἐπικρύπτοι· οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τοὐναντίον ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων μετέφερον καὶ τυραννίδα ὁμολογοῦσαν ἔλεγον.
102. Into such evils were the Romans and all the Italians plunged by this war; and so likewise were all the countries beyond Italy by the recent piracies, or by the Mithridatic war, or by the many exhausting taxes levied to meet the deficit in the public treasury due to the seditions. All the allied nations and kings, and not only the tributary cities, but those which had delivered themselves to the Romans voluntarily under sworn agreements, and those which by virtue of their furnishing aid in war or for some other merit were autonomous and not subject to tribute, all were now required to pay and to obey. Some that had surrendered themselves under treaty arrangements were deprived of their territory and their harbors. Sulla decreed that Alexander (the son of Alexander the former sovereign of Egypt), who had been reared in Cos and given to Mithridates by the inhabitants of that island, and had fled to Sulla and become intimate with him, should be king of Alexandria. He did this because the government of Alexandria was destitute of a sovereign in the male line, and the women of the royal house wanted a man of the same lineage, and because he (Sulla) expected to reap a large reward from the rich kingdom. As Alexander behaved himself in a very offensive manner toward them, relying upon Sulla, the Alexandrians, on the nineteenth day of his reign, dragged him from the palace to the gymnasium and put him to death; so little fear had they of foreigners, either by reason of the magnitude of their own government or their inexperience as yet of external dangers.
102. ἐς τοσοῦτον αὐτοῖς τε Ῥωμαίοις καὶ Ἰταλοῖς ἅπασιν ὁ πόλεμος ὅδε προύβη κακοῦ, προύβη δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὑπὲρ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἔθνεσιν ἅπασιν, ἄρτι μὲν ὑπὸ λῃστῶν καὶ Μιθριδάτου καὶ Σύλλα πεπολεμημένοις, ἄρτι δʼ ἀποροῦντος τοῦ ταμείου διὰ τὰς στάσεις ἐκτετρυχωμένοις εἰσφοραῖς πολλαῖς. ἔθνη τε γὰρ πάντα καὶ βασιλέες, ὅσοι σύμμαχοι, καὶ πόλεις, οὐχ ὅσαι μόνον ὑποτελεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσαι ἑαυτὰς ἐγκεχειρίκεσαν ἐπὶ συνθήκαις ἔνορκοι καὶ ὅσαι διὰ συμμαχίαν ἤ τινα ἀρετὴν ἄλλην αὐτόνομοί τε καὶ φόρων ἦσαν ἀτελεῖς, τότε πᾶσαι συντελεῖν ἐκελεύοντο καὶ ὑπακούειν, χώρας τε ἔνιαι καὶ λιμένων κατὰ συνθήκας σφίσι δεδομένων ἀφῃροῦντο. Σύλλας δὲ καὶ Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ βασιλεύσαντος υἱόν, ἀνατραφέντα μὲν ἐν Κῷ καὶ ὑπὸ Κῴων ἐκδοθέντα Μιθριδάτῃ, διαφυγόντα δὲ πρὸς Σύλλαν ἐκ Μιθριδάτου καὶ συνήθη γενόμενον, ἐψηφίσατο βασιλεύειν Ἀλεξανδρέων, ἐρήμου τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων ἀρχῆς ἀνδρὸς οὔσης καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν, ὅσαι βασιλείου γένους, ἀνδρὸς συγγενοῦς δεομένων, ἐλπίσας χρηματιεῖσθαι πολλὰ ἐκ βασιλείας πολυχρύσου. ἀλλὰ τόνδε μὲν οἱ Ἀλεξανδρεῖς ἐννεακαιδεκάτην ἡμέραν ἔχοντα τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ ἀτοπώτερον σφῶν, οἷα Σύλλᾳ πεποιθότα, ἐξηγούμενον, ἐς τὸ γυμνάσιον ἐκ τοῦ βασιλείου προαγαγόντες ἔκτειναν. οὕτως ἔτι καὶ οἵδε διά τε μέγεθος ἀρχῆς ἰδίας καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν κακῶν ἔτι ὄντες ἀπαθεῖς ἀφόβως εἶχον ἑτέρων.
103. The following year Sulla, although he was dictator, undertook the consulship a second time, with Metellus Pius for his colleague, in order to preserve the pretence and form of democratic government. It is perhaps from this example that the Roman emperors now make a showing of consuls to the country and even exhibit themselves in that capacity, considering it not unbecoming to hold the office of consul in connection with the supreme power. The next year the people, in order to pay court to Sulla, chose him consul again, but he refused the office and nominated Servilius Isauricus and Claudius Pulcher for their suffrages, and voluntarily laid down the supreme power, although nobody was troubling him. This act seems wonderful to me—that Sulla should have been the first, and till then the only one, to abdicate such vast power without compulsion, not to sons (like Ptolemy in Egypt, or Ariobarzanes in Cappadocia, or Seleucus in Syria), but to the very people over whom he had tyrannized. Almost incredible is it that after incurring so many dangers in forcing his way to this power he should have laid it down of his own free will after he had acquired it. Paradoxical beyond anything is the fact that he was afraid of nothing, although more than 100,000 young men had perished in this war, and he had destroyed of his enemies ninety senators, fifteen consulars, and 2600 of the so-called knights, including the banished. The property of these men had been confiscated and many of their bodies cast out unburied. Undaunted by the relatives of these persons at home, or by the banished abroad, or by the cities whose towers and walls he had thrown down and whose lands, money, and privileges he had swept away, Sulla now returned to private life.
103. τοῦ δʼ ἐπιόντος ἔτους Σύλλας, καίπερ ῶν δικτάτωρ, ἐς ὑπόκρισιν ὅμως καὶ σχῆμα δημοκρατικῆς ἀρχῆς ὑπέστη καὶ ὕπατος αὖθις γενέσθαι σὺν Μετέλλῳ τῷ Εὐσεβεῖ. καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦδε ἴσως ἔτι νῦν οἱ Ῥωμαίων βασιλέες, ὑπάτους ἀποφαίνοντες τῇ πατρίδι, ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἀποδεικνύουσιν, ἐν καλῷ τιθέμενοι μετὰ τῆς μεγίστης ἀρχῆς καὶ ὑπατεῦσαι. τῷ δʼ ἑξῆς ἔτει ὁ μὲν δῆμος καὶ τότε τὸν Σύλλαν θεραπεύων ᾑρεῖτο ὑπατεύειν, ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἀνασχόμενος ὑπάτους μὲν αὐτοῖς ἀπέφηνε Σερουίλιον Ἰσαυρικὸν καὶ Κλαύδιον Ποῦλχρον, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν μεγάλην ἀρχὴν οὐδενὸς ἐνοχλοῦντος ἑκὼν ἀπέθετο. καί μοι θαῦμα μὲν καὶ τόδε αὐτοῦ καταφαίνεται τοσήνδε ἀρχὴν πρῶτον ἀνδρῶν καὶ μόνον ἐς τότε Σύλλαν οὐδενὸς ἐπείγοντος ἀποθέσθαι, οὐ παισίν, ὡς Πτολεμαῖος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ Ἀριοβαρζάνης ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ καὶ Σέλευκος ἐν Συρίᾳ, ἀλλʼ αὐτοῖς τοῖς τυραννουμένοις· ἄλογον δʼ ἤδη καὶ τὸ βιασάμενον ἐς τὴν ἀρχὴν ῥιψοκινδύνως, ἐπείτε ἐγκρατὴς ἐγένετο, ἑκόντα ἀποθέσθαι καὶ παράδοξον, οἷον οὔπω τι ἕτερον, τὸ μὴ δεῖσαι νεότητος ἐν τῷδε τῷ πολέμῳ πλέον μυριάδων δέκα ἀνῃρημένης καὶ τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτὸν ἀνελόντα βουλευτὰς μὲν ἐνενήκοντα, ὑπάτους δʼ ἐς πεντεκαίδεκα, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν καλουμένων ἱππέων δισχιλίους καὶ ἑξακοσίους σὺν τοῖς ἐξεληλαμένοις· ὧν τῆς τε περιουσίας δεδημευμένης καὶ πολλῶν ἀτάφων ἐκριφέντων, οὔτε τοὺς οἴκοι ὁ Σύλλας οὔτε τοὺς φεύγοντας καταπλαγεὶς οὐδὲ τὰς πόλεις, ὧν ἀκροπόλεις τε καὶ τείχη καὶ γῆν καὶ χρήματα καὶ ἀτελείας ἀφῄρητο, ἑαυτὸν ἀπέφηνεν ἰδιώτην.
104. So great was this man’s boldness and good fortune. It is said that he made a speech in the forum when he laid down his power in which he offered to give the reasons for what he had done to anybody who should ask them. He dismissed the lictors with their axes and discontinued his body-guard, and for a long time walked to the forum with only a few friends, the multitude looking upon him with awe even then. Once only when he was going home he was reproached by a boy. As nobody restrained this boy he made bold to follow Sulla to his house, railing at him, and Sulla, who had opposed the greatest men and states with towering rage, endured his reproaches with calmness and as he went into the house said, divining the future either by his intelligence or by chance, “This young man will prevent any other holder of such power from laying it down.” This saying was shortly confirmed to the Romans, for Gaius Caesar never laid down his power. Sulla seems to me to have been the same masterful and able man in all respects, whether striving to reach supreme power from private life, or changing back to private life from supreme power, or later when passing his time in rural solitude; for he retired to his own estate at Cumae in Italy and there occupied his leisure in hunting and fishing. He did this not because he was afraid to live a private life in the city, nor because he had not sufficient bodily strength for whatever he might try to do. He was still of virile age and sound constitution, and there were 120,000 men throughout Italy who had recently served under him in war and had received large gifts of money and land from him, and there were the 10,000 Cornelii ready in the city, besides other people of his party devoted to him and still formidable to his opponents, all of whom rested upon Sulla’s safety their hopes of impunity for what they had done in coöperation with him. But I think that he was satiated with war, with power, with city affairs, and that he took to rural life finally because he loved it.
104. τοσοῦτον ἦν ἐν τῷδε τῷ ἀνδρὶ τόλμης καὶ τύχης· ὅν γέ φασιν ἐπειπεῖν ἐν ἀγορᾷ, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀποτιθέμενον, ὅτι καὶ λόγον, εἴ τις αἰτοίη, τῶν γεγονότων ὑφέξει, καὶ τὰς ῥάβδους καθελόντα καὶ τοὺς πελέκεας τὴν φρουρὰν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος ἀπώσασθαι καὶ μόνον μετὰ τῶν φίλων ἐς πολὺ ἐν μέσῳ βαδίσαι θεωμένου τοῦ πλήθους καὶ καταπεπληγότος αὐτὸν καὶ τότε. ἀναχωροῦντα δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν μόλις ποτὲ μειράκιον ἐπεμέμφετο καὶ οὐδενὸς αὐτὸ ἀπερύκοντος ἐθάρρησε καὶ λοιδορούμενον αὐτῷ μέχρι τῆς οἰκίας ἐλθεῖν. ὁ δὲ κατὰ τῶν μεγίστων ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ πόλεων ἄκρος ὀργὴν γενόμενος εὐσταθῶς τὸ μειράκιον ἤνεγκε καὶ τοσοῦτον ἐσιὼν ἐς τὴν οἰκίαν, εἴτε ἀπὸ ξυνέσεως εἴτε καὶ τύχῃ καταμαντευόμενος τῶν ἐσομένων, ἀπεκρίνατο, ὅτι κωλύσει τὸ μειράκιον τόδε ἕτερον ἄνδρα ἀρχὴν τοιάνδε ἔχοντα ἀποθέσθαι. καὶ Ῥωμαίοις μὲν οὕτω γενέσθαι συνηνέχθη μετʼ ὀλίγον, Γαΐου Καίσαρος τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐκέτι μεθέντος· ὁ δὲ Σύλλας μοι δοκεῖ, ἐς πάντα σφοδρὸς ὁμοῦ καὶ δυνατὸς γενόμενος, ἐπιθυμῆσαι τύραννος ἐξ ἰδιώτου γενέσθαι καὶ ἰδιώτης ἐκ τυράννου καὶ μετὰ τοῦτʼ ἐπʼ ἐρημίας ἀγροίκου διαγενέσθαι. διῆλθε γὰρ ἐς χωρία ἴδια ἐς Κύμην τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐπʼ ἐρημίας θαλάσσῃ τε καὶ κυνηγεσίοις ἐχρῆτο, οὐ φυλασσόμενος ἄρα τὸν κατὰ ἄστυ ἰδιώτην βίον οὐδʼ ἀσθενὴς ὢν αὖθις ἐς ὅ τι ὁρμήσειεν· ᾧ δυνατὴ μὲν ἔτι ἡ ἡλικία καὶ τὸ σῶμα εὔρωστον, ἀμφὶ δὲ τὴν Ἰταλίαν δυώδεκα μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν ἦσαν ἔναγχος ὑπεστρατευμένων καὶ δωρεὰς μεγάλας καὶ γῆν πολλὴν παρʼ αὐτοῦ λαβόντων, ἕτοιμοι δʼ οἱ κατὰ τὸ ἄστυ μύριοι Κορνήλιοι καὶ ὁ ἄλλος αὐτοῦ στασιώτης λεώς, εὔνους αὐτῷ καὶ φοβερὸς ὢν ἔτι τοῖς ἑτέροις καὶ τὸ σφέτερον ἀδεές, ὧν τῷ Σύλλᾳ συνεπεπράχεσαν, ἐν τῷ Σύλλαν περιεῖναι τιθέμενοι· ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ κόρον τε πολέμων καὶ κόρον ἀρχῆς καὶ κόρον ἄστεος λαβὼν ἐπὶ τέλει καὶ ἀγροικίας ἐρασθῆναι.