The Hellenistic kingdom of Pontus, by the Black Sea, under Mithridates VI Eupator (120-63) had been transformed from a backwater into a leading player in Asia Minor. The king had ancient issues with the neighboring rulers of Bithynia and Cappadocia, who asked Rome to intervene on their behalf. A senatorial commission headed by M’. Aquillius (consul 101) arrived in 90, and ordered Mithridates to withdraw from these kingdoms; which he did. Aquillius now urged Nicomedes IV of Bithynia - unable to repay Rome’s generosity from his own pocket - to invade and plunder Pontus; which he did. Mithridates counterattacked, and by the fall of 89, had overrun Bithynia, Cappadocia, and the Roman province of Asia. Aquillius was captured and put to death; Mithridates hailed as liberator in most of the cities. The news arrived in Rome late in 89; war was declared. The king gave his response at Ephesus in 88: some 80,000 Romans and Italians throughout Asia Minor were slaughtered, under happy participation of the local population. Later that year, invited by Athens he invaded Greece (App. Mith. 1-29).40
The Senate had designated the new war (the First Mithridatic, 89-85) a consular province for 88, and the lot gave it to L. Cornelius Sulla (138-78). A patrician from a family long eclipsed, Sulla had been Marius’ quaestor in Africa (107-105), and gained recognition for the extradition of lugurtha from King Bocchus of Mauretania. In the Cimbrian Wars, Sulla served under Catulus; a praetorship in 97, followed by a command in Cilicia, seemed to mark the limit of his advancement. Soon he and Catulus, with appalling rancor, joined Marius’ enemies, the powerful optimate clique (factio) once centered around the Metelli. The Social War required military talent; Sulla, with a special grant of imperium in south-central Italy, emerged as the most successful commander besides Pompeius Strabo (in Picenum), and finally reached the consulship in 88, having married Caecilia Metella, niece of Numidicus and recent widow of Aemilius Scaurus. His colleague, Q. Pompeius Rufus, when tribune in 100, had worked for Numidicus’ recall from exile; his son was married to Sulla’s daughter (Plut. Suit. 1-6; Mar. 26-7, 32; App. B Civ. 40, 46, 50-1).41
C. Iulius Caesar Strabo also had sought the consulship, despite lacking the legal prerequisites,42 in evident hope of obtaining the Mithridatic command. The new tribune (since December 10, 89) P. Sulpicius Rufus with armed street gangs forced him to desist, thus securing Sulla’s victory - as patricians, he and Caesar could not hold the office the same year. Sulpicius, a noble protege of L. Crassus and a long-time friend of Livius Drusus and Pompeius Rufus, now attempted to resume Drusus’ program of reform: he could be confident in either consul’s goodwill. The laws granting the allies citizenship had also limited their enrollment to less than a quarter of the number of tribes, so as to minimize their voting power (Vell. 2.20.2; App. B Civ. 49); Sulpicius introduced a bill to distribute them equally among all the tribes. It encountered fierce resistance in the Senate, among the urban crowd, and from both consuls, who imposed a halt (iustitium) on public business to prevent a vote. Sulpicius, betrayed by his friends and smarting from damaged dignitas, employed his street gangs to create pressure; a riot in the Forum forced Sulla to seek refuge in the house of Marius, who now prevailed on him to lift the iustitium in return for safe passage from the City. Thus passed the registration law. Sulla went to Nola (Campania), last stronghold of the insurrection, under siege still by his army (Plut. Sull. 7-8; Mar. 34-5.4; App. B Civ. 55-6).43
Marius had helped Sulpicius: the tribune returned the favor, transferring by plebiscite the Mithridatic command to Marius, with a special grant of imperium. For Sulla, it meant the full measure of public humiliation, coming on the heels of begging Marius for protection. Marius immediately dispatched his officers to Nola, to take over Sulla’s army. Playing on the troops’ irrational fears that Marius would raise a new army and leave them behind, cut off from the loot of Greece and Asia - this in the face of officers sent to take them there - the consul reminded them of the affront to his dignitas and appealed to their obedience. They promptly stoned Marius’ officers to death; next, Sulla marched on Rome, where Pompeius Rufus joined him. The Senate sent envoy after envoy ordering him to stop; Marius and Sulpicius, completely taken by surprise, hastily gathered volunteers to defend the City. In vain: a consul with an army of the Roman People now seized Rome, to settle a personal rivalry over power and prestige (Plut. Sull. 8.8-9.14; Mar. 35.5-6; App. B Civ. 57-9).44 For the res publica of the nobles, it signaled the beginning of the end.
Having occupied Rome, Sulla forced the Senate to declare Marius, Sulpicius, and ten others public enemies (hostes publici), to be killed on sight; all but Sulpicius escaped - Marius to Africa. Sulpicius’ laws were repealed. To prevent a counterstroke after Sulla left for the East, Pompeius Strabo’s army in Picenum was given to Pompeius Rufus; the soldiers killed him on arrival, and Strabo remained in command: Sulla’s example was already taking hold. With public sentiment in the City now turning ugly, Sulla held elections; two candidates he favored failed. Early in 87, he took his army to Greece (Plut. Sull. 10; Mar. 35-40; App. B Civ. 59-60).
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