Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/207

 CHAPTER III.

THE SUPREMACY OF THE DEMOCRATS; THE DICTATORSHIP AND CONSTITUTION OF SULLA, 88-79 B.C.

I. The Laws of Sulpicius and the Supremacy of the Democrats.

Laws of Publius Sulpicius Rufus. — Rome was in a critical position. The party struggles, the personal rivalries, the financial difficulties, and the discontent of the new citizens, because like freedmen they had been confined to a small number of districts, threatened to lead anew to revolution and civil war. The time was past when patriotism silenced faction and sunk personal considerations. For the year 88 Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a man of remarkable coolness and great ability, who had won distinction by brilliant services in three wars, was elected consul. He had as colleague his son-in-law, Q. Pompeius Rufus. So far he had played no important part in politics, and his chief duty was to wage war against the rebels in Campania, and against Mithridates, the powerful king of Pontus, who had been forced to begin hostilities by the intrigues of a Roman ambassador. In this work he was to meet with opposition.

Publius Sulpicius Rufus, the prosecutor of Norbanus and the greatest orator of the younger generation, had been elected tribune for 88. He had belonged to the section of Drusus, but joined the democratic opposition and apparently formed a combination with Marius. He proposed three bills: the persons banished by the Varian commission were to be permitted to return, the new citizens and