Sulla's Proscriptions: The First Systematic Political Murder in Rome
Sulla's march on Rome in 88 BCE — the first time a Roman general led his legions against the city itself — had been a constitutional rupture. His second march in 83 was the implementation of a political programme. In November 82, after his final victory at the Colline Gate, Sulla had himself appointed dictator by the comitia — not for six months in the traditional fashion but until he judged the Republic's constitution to be restored. The proscriptions began immediately. Lists were posted in the Forum naming men whose property was forfeit to the state and who could be killed with impunity by anyone. Informers who named new victims were rewarded; slaves who killed their masters received freedom. Plutarch records approximately 1,500 names of senatorial and equestrian rank. Property from proscribed men was auctioned — famously cheaply, enriching Sulla's supporters. Crassus built much of his fortune this way. The young Julius Caesar — nephew by marriage of Marius — was on the list. Connections to the Vestals and the family of Sulla's wife bought him a pardon, but Sulla reportedly warned his petitioners that in this boy there were 'many Mariuses.' Sulla resigned his dictatorship in 79. The proscription as tool of political consolidation would be revived in 43 BCE by the Second Triumvirate — and the scale would dwarf Sulla's.
- Year: 82 BCE
- Category: Political
