Roman Civil War: Marching on the Senate (Part 3)

Dominic Sandbrook (0:11)

So it happened that Marius was selected to command the war against Mithridates in place of Sulla. When Sulla was brought the news of this, his instinct was to rely on military force to oppose his demotion, and so he summoned his men to an assembly. They were all desperate to fight Mithridates, since the war promised them a great deal of plunder, and they were worried that Marius might recruit other soldiers in their place. Sulla spoke to them of how disgracefully he had been treated by Sulpicius and by Marius, and while he did not openly allude to his secret intention, since he was nervous how this might go down with the soldiers, he urged them to prepare for such orders as he might give them. The soldiers, however, perfectly understood his meaning, and since they were anxious not to miss the campaign against Mithradates, they boldly articulated for Sulla what he had hesitated to put directly into words, then told him to be of good courage and to lead them on to Rome.

Sulla was delighted by this, and promptly set out with his six legions for the city. All his senior officers, however, saving only a single Quistar, deserted him, since they refused to be complicit in an attack on their own country. As for Sulla, 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.

So what an extraordinary moment. So that's an account by Arian, the Greek historian, and he's writing about one of the landmark moments in all Roman history, one of the most melodramatic moments in all classical history. We're in 88 BC and it is the decision by a Roman commander to lead an army for the very first time against Rome itself, to attack his own capital city. Tom, this is a monumental moment in Roman history, and you could argue a key step in the process that leads from the Roman Republic to, in a century's time, the launch of the Roman Empire under Augustus. So why don't you fill us in on the circumstances that have brought us to this extraordinary point?

Tom Holland (2:41)

I mean, it really is that fateful. It is, as you say, a stupendous moment. And the circumstances that have led us to this point, we covered them in our previous two episodes, but just to give a synopsis. So we've been talking about this venomous rivalry between the two greatest generals in Rome. There's the old bruiser Gaius Marius, and there is the man who had once been his lieutenant, who is louche, ruthless, much younger than Marius, and much posher. So this is Sulla, who is a patrician.

And the Romans have been fighting a very brutal war against their own Italian erstwhile allies for three years. And by 88, it's not yet over, but the Romans are by now on the front foot. At one point, it looked very bad for them, but they've made a really, really good recovery. And Sulla has been the great hero of this war. And his reward has been that the people have voted him consul, which is the highest magistracy in the Roman Republic. And it's been the great object of Sulla's entire political career to get it.

But the consulship has also won him something perhaps even more valuable. And this is a command against a king in what is now Turkey. It's a region called Pontus, abutting the Black Sea. And the king of this area, the king of Pontus is called Mithridates. And he has invaded the Roman province of Asia, which abuts the Aegean Sea. And astoundingly, he has driven the Romans into the Aegean.

Now, to get this command is the great prize in Roman politics at this point. Because in Rome, it is universally assumed that 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. So glory and riches, which for any kind of self-respecting Roman commander is the absolute essence of what you want. And so this is why it's not just Sulla who wants to go off and have a crack at Mithridates. It's his men as well. I think this is why they're so keen to follow him when the command gets stripped from him.

Dominic Sandbrook (5:10)

Of course, what has happened, we ended the last episode, there has been a great twist. So Gaius Marius, that's Sulla's old commander, his old patron in some ways, I suppose. But of course, now his great rival, Marius, who is basically Elvis Presley circa 1972 He is living on the like seafront real estate. He's been stuffing himself with, you know, I don't know what he's had.