The Historical Achievements of Lucius Korneli and Julius Sura
In view of Marius's growing unease about his success, and no longer offering him the chance to make meritorious service, Sura transferred to Catullus Mo, a colleague in Marius. Katlers is weak and incompetent, and the Standing Committee of the Army is more important than Sura, which makes him proud of his honor and power. Sura and others conquered most of the "barbarians" in the Alps and appeased northern Italy. Sura thought that military honor was enough to entitle him to share political power, so after a short period of idleness, he recommended himself as a candidate for the chief executive in 94 BC. Due to the lack of popular support, the election failed and he was reduced to a municipal official. The next year, he finally got what he wanted by bribing and flattering civilians. After the expiration of the Chief Executive's term, Sura was appointed as the Governor of Kiirikki by the Senate and sent to Cappadocia to help the deposed king Aglio Bazzanis, a vassal of Rome, recover. He successfully completed this mission and received envoys from far away Parthia who asked for an alliance with Rome. After returning home, Sura was almost involved in a case accusing him of blackmailing his allies. Sura avoided an embarrassing trial because the plaintiff finally dropped the lawsuit. Then the contradiction between Sura and Marius reached a hair-trigger situation because of erecting a statue for Sura in the temple; However, the sudden outbreak of the Italian-African War temporarily calmed the infighting. In the war, many Roman generals, including consuls, lost one after another, while Sura won frequently. He defeated the Samoan, the ancient enemy of Marcy and Rome, who was famous for his bravery, and showed outstanding military talent. Sura's brilliant exploits even eclipsed the young Marius. Sura became recognized as an excellent commander in chief.
In 88 BC, when the Allied War drew to a close, Sura and kerwin Dos Pompeii were elected consuls at the age of 50. At this moment, Sura held his fourth but also the most important wedding, marrying metra, the daughter of the high priest and the widow of the powerful, thus forming a new political alliance and becoming the leader of optimates. With the end of the Allied War, foreign wars were put on the agenda of Rome. The rebellion and expansion of King Mithradatu VI, the former vassal of Rome, seriously violated Rome's interests in the East. He invaded the province of Rome, massacred local Roman citizens on a large scale, and called on Roman vassals to respond to the rebellion. His army even marched into Greece, becoming the biggest foreign invasion of Rome at that time. Sura and Marius, who were equally jubilant, finally made the conflict superficial, because they fought for the command of the war in Mithradatu. Under the auspices of the Senate, Sura won the command by drawing lots; However, Marius formed an alliance with the tribune Surpi Kious Rufus, and proposed to Parliament that Marius be authorized to direct the war. As consuls, Sura and Kervindus Pompeii ordered a vacation, stopped all official activities and boycotted the vote on the proposal. So it became a fierce dispute between different factions in Rome Square and the streets. Surpi Kious group killed many Sura elements, including the son of Kervindus Pompeii (also Sura's son-in-law). Sura himself fled to Marius' house to compromise with him, announced the cancellation of his vacation and handed over the command of the war to Marius. This proposal was passed at the civic meeting, and the senator was sent to Nora to receive troops for Marius. However, Sura, who escaped from danger, has sneaked out of the city and arrived at Nora Barracks first. Taking advantage of the soldiers' fear that Marius veterans would seize the right to invade the East and enjoy the fruits of the war, they incited soldiers to mutiny, beat and expelled the soldiers who participated in the war, and then led six legions to March into Rome. He put forward a resounding slogan, "Save the motherland from the tyrant!"
The Romans attacked their motherland, which was an unprecedented event and set a bad precedent from then on. Sura captured Rome with fire and sword, Marius was defeated and fled, and Sur Picos and a large number of Democrats were killed. Sura called the Senate, declared Marius "public enemy", abolished democratic laws, put legislation under the tight control of the Senate, abolished tribal voting system, restored the voting system of 100 people, weakened and restricted the power of tribune, and increased a large number of elders. Once Rome restored the old order of aristocratic rule in the Senate, the Soviet side went to the East to fight Mithradatu.
In 87 BC, Sura led an army to Greece. Greek cities that initially turned to Mithradatus sent envoys to pay tribute to him, but Athens under the tyrant Aristide remained loyal to Umitradatus. Sura occupied Athens after a long siege and destroyed this ancient civilized city. Then he turned to the north. In the two battles of Coronha and Orhomnez, Sura took the lead and defeated the army of General Achilles of Mithradatu with inferior forces. However, there are ominous voices in the song of victory: Democrats headed by Marius and Qinna regained power in Rome, declared the Sura Party as a "public enemy", pursued terrorist rule, and even appointed a new war commander to lead an army eastward, which was called a crusade against Mithradatu, but it was actually aimed at Sura. The fleeing elders and nobles begged Sula to return home immediately to save the defeat. Sura was eager to get rid of the intractable war in the East, so he marched into Asia Minor to show off his strength and forced Mithradatu to make peace. In August 85 BC, at the meeting in Nuss, Dardan, Mithradatus accepted a moderate peace treaty: withdrawing from the post-war occupied areas and delivering 3,000 tarants [1 tarant = 10000 to 7,000 drachmas, which varied from place to place, and 1 drachma was about 3.24 grams, and then, The old order was restored in Asia Minor and Greece. Sura also easily resisted an entire army sent by the Roman democratic government to conquer him; At the same time, in Asia Minor, the cities and residents close to Tradato were severely punished, rebel freemen and slaves were brutally killed, many cities were looted [used to buy troops], the walls were razed to the ground, and the residents were sold into slaves. He levied city tax for five years and shared huge military expenses.
After the Eastern Affairs, Sura led a huge fleet to set sail for home, stayed in Athens for a period of time, and looted many famous temples. Sura himself owns a library, which contains most of Aristotle's works. Then, full of stolen goods from the Eastern War and with strong revenge, Sura landed in the southern Italian country of Xuum in the spring of 83 BC. Mace Pius, Riccini uz crassus and a large number of followers of optimates gathered under his command. The butcher's knife stained with160,000 Oriental blood is now swinging at our compatriots at home.
A new civil war has begun, and Italy is once again in deep disaster. The war lasted for three years, and thousands of people died in it. At this point, Marius and Qinna have died one after another, and the Democrats, under the leadership of Carpau and Marius, have made tenacious resistance. However, before Sura's battle-hardened, well-equipped and loyal commander-in-chief, all efforts were in vain. Finally, Sula's victory in defeating the Democrats and their allies Samoans in Que Linnus Gate in Rome declared that the general trend was set. With victory comes fear. Sura entered Rome as a conqueror and began the famous "public enemy declaration" in history. He published the "blacklist" day after day. For blacklisted "public affairs", hunters have rewards, informers have rewards, and those who hide them are guilty. Thousands of Democrats and innocent civilians were killed and their heads were hung in Rome Square. The houses of "public enemies" were burned, their property was looted and their land was confiscated. Blood rained from Rome all over Italy. Temples, fathers' houses and relatives' houses are not shelters, and everyone is in danger. The husband was killed in front of his wife, and his son died in his mother's arms; Personal enmity is the cause of murder and plunder, and wealth is the source of trouble. Many places in Sura will take advantage of the fire to rob. The land confiscated from the "public enemy" was distributed to 654.38+200,000 veterans in Sura. Military colonies were established all over Italy, and Sura was placed under the control of an iron fist. Sura held a grand victory and nicknamed himself "Felix".
With the gradual stabilization of the situation, Sura turned to the so-called "constitutional reform". He instructed Valerius Flach, consul of 8 1 year, to propose to restore the position of dictator. Although this ancient special official position has been abandoned for 120 years, he believes that without it, his status and power cannot be fully demonstrated. He forced the General Assembly to approve the Valerius proposal into law and was elected as an indefinite dictator (the legal term of this position is six months). As an indefinite dictator, Sura combines legislation, administration, justice, economy and military affairs into a veritable dictator, no less than an autocratic monarch. This has actually denied the basic principles of the Republic of China. However, he tried his best to maintain the form of * * * and the country. Not only were all his official positions and honorary departments legally awarded through the citizens' assembly, but he allowed to continue to elect consuls and all the original official positions (he was one of them in 80 years) to handle daily affairs; The bill is still submitted to the citizens' assembly and will become law only after it is approved. Sura abolished the law in the spirit of democracy and progress, deprived the people of many achievements in the struggle against the nobility for centuries, and implemented a series of measures with expediency, conservatism and even reactiveness.
Sura selected 300 elders loyal to their knights from the nobles of Italian autonomous cities and became new citizens of Rome to enrich the Senate weakened by the civil war. He tried to rebuild the supreme power of the Senate, restore all the old rights and privileges of veteran Anhui, and formulate a new constitution; In terms of legislation, no bill can be submitted to the General Assembly unless it is considered by the Senate; Judicially, the power of the permanent criminal court originally controlled by knights was returned to the Senate. Tribune officials are deprived of their rights, their legislative power is restricted by the Senate, and their right of intervention (veto) is also strictly bound by law. They are also prohibited from inheriting the positions of other senior officials. The citizens' meeting became a useless rubber map of Sura, so the centenarians' meeting was not resumed. He increased the number of senior officials (CEO from 6 to 8, financial officer from 10 to 20) to meet the needs of the changed situation. He set strict rules on the qualifications and promotion of senior officials, making political power the territory of nobles. He advanced the election date from the end of the year to July, and the elected consul was the chief adviser of the Senate. The positions above the financial officer are combined with the seats in the Senate to ensure the stability and natural continuation of the national government.
In order to consolidate his rule with the aristocratic oligarchs, Sura formulated or restored various laws and decrees. Such as; Illegal infringement law, assassination and poisoning law, anti-extortion law, anti-luxury law, election fraud law, treason law, theft of public property law, adultery and infidelity law, and so on. He established seven permanent criminal courts and formulated trial procedures. Sura takes the Rubicon River as the northern border of Italy, dividing Italy into several municipalities, and many cities have been turned into citizen colonies. New citizens of Italian descent retain their original rights and are equally distributed to all tribes. This measure legally affirmed the fait accompli of Italy after the Allied War, which is undoubtedly of positive significance. Sura abolished the system of distributing cheap food to the urban poor and replaced it with large-scale civil engineering. He also promoted 10000 slaves of "public enemy" to civilians, and gave them the name "Korneli Uss", so a new force appeared in Roman social life, and together with Sura's mercenaries, it became the pillar and taming tool of Sura's dictatorship.
In 79 BC, Sura suddenly announced his resignation and retired to his seaside villa in Putori. He once fought for the highest power, took risks and faced difficulties at the cost of moral decay, social unrest, people's disaster and the destruction of thousands of lives. Now, when his power is in full swing, he voluntarily gives up. Throughout the ages, there are different opinions about his abdication, or that he completed the constitutional reform aimed at restoring the harmony of the nobility by dictatorship and returned to the people's government in good faith, or that it was wise for him to abdicate because of the hopeless reform, or that he was tired of satisfying his desire for power and yearned for rural life, or that he was troubled by serious skin diseases and could not take power in person, and so on. In any case, if it is a common practice in ancient history that a powerful person is unwilling to voluntarily withdraw from politics even if he is old and stupid, then Sura is indeed a rare exception. After retiring, people still have a lingering fear of him. He has killed countless people in his life, but he can quietly stroll the streets and catch seashore fish. As before, Sura indulged in luxury and debauchery, occasionally dabbled in poetry, and wrote a 22-volume memoir about his legendary career. In 78 AD, Sura left her newlywed wife Valeria and died quietly in her seaside villa at the age of 60. His body was placed on the golden jade, marched around Italy under the escort of a powerful funeral team, and finally held a grand funeral in Rome Square. It is said that he left himself a great epitaph:
"No friend has ever given me too much benefit.
No enemy has ever hurt me too much.
-But I've doubled it! "
Suraron made great achievements for Rome in his life, but he committed many sins. People call him "half lion and half fox". His characteristic is a complex personality, a mixture of complete contempt for people, ruthlessness, fortitude, self-confidence, optimism and intelligence. He is bohemian and cynical, so he is also called "Don Juan in politics". He was wanton and violent before his death, but tragic after his death. He is indeed a "lucky man" Sura!