Sulla the Dictator, Roman Empire

As the crowd watches his legions pour through Rome’s gates, Sulla goes to the Senate House and has himself declared ‘Dictator for the Reconstruction of the Republic’.

Dictatorship holds a traditional place in Roman politics. The office is intended for extraordinary circumstances and is held for the minimal period needed to fulfil a single, specific purpose, such as defending the city from a serious threat or appointing senators after a widespread loss of life among the aristocracy. The dictator receives unlimited powers to resolve the issue and then must resign the office.

Sulla’s dictatorship differs from the original purpose of the office in two key ways: first, he is dictator for an indefinite period, and second, Sulla is not given the role to fulfil a specific purpose, but instead aims toward a more vague and far-reaching goal: restructuring the Roman political system so the senatorial order cannot be threatened in the future. 

Sulla consolidates his extraordinary dictatorship by passing an act granting him a broad sweep of powers, including immunity for all his past acts and for anything he might do in the future, the power of life and death, and the authority to demolish cities and found colonies. Sulla puts himself above the law, answerable only to the gods.

Next, Sulla has the Senate pass his order of ‘proscriptions'. These measures declare all of Marius’ supporters enemies of the Roman people, creating a list to be hunted down and murdered by anyone wishing to earn the gratitude and reward of Sulla’s new regime. All those targeted by the proscriptions also forfeit their property, as it is considered a spoil of war, greatly enriching many of Sulla’s allies. A climate of terror grips Rome; friends inform on friends, families are ruined, and Italy becomes an assassin’s hunting ground where cutthroats race to claim the heads of the dictator’s enemies.

Sulla also passes a series of measures aimed at entrenching the power of the senatorial class. These include stripping the Tribunes of the power to initiate legislation, increasing the electoral weight of the rich in the assemblies, and imposing a ban on any Tribune of the Plebs from holding another political office after their term is up, ensuring ambitious men no longer seek political advancement through appeals to the needs of the poor. The Senate dutifully pass his reforms and proscriptions, and the crimes of the dictatorship are given a legal veneer.

After three years, when his laws are passed and most of Marius’ faction is hunted down and killed, Sulla retires. He spends the last year of his life in his sumptuous villa in Campania, and power returns to the Senate and the people of Rome.

Though Sulla aims to restore order and stability to the Republic and to ensure the survival of his class's political dominance, it is hard to argue for his success. The dictatorship establishes another fatal precedent in the crisis facing Rome’s Republic: that, in the name of peace and order, powerful men can seize the reins of state and gather around themselves powers resembling those of a king. Sulla replaces consensus with force, and Rome takes another step down the road to one-man rule and the imperial diadem.