A Roman General Marches on the Capital, and the Senate Declares Him the Legal Consul
Sulla crosses the sacred boundary with six legions and has Marius declared an enemy of the state; no sooner does he leave for the East than Marius counterattacks, wins a seventh consulship, and drinks himself to death.
The video won't play here. Listen to the audio instead:
The argument · tap a timestamp to hear it
Marius thought Sulla would never march on Rome
While Sulla was besieging Nola, Marius joined forces with the tribune Sulpicius to pass a law stripping Sulla of command against Mithridates and sent his own legate to take over the army. Marius did not have a single legion, yet he dared to do this, because he was certain that marching an army into Rome was absolutely unthinkable—the Roman army was not a general's private force, and disobeying orders would bring the contempt of one's peers. The show draws analogies to Truman firing MacArthur and Montgomery marching on London: such a thing simply did not exist in the minds of Romans at the time. But Sulla did not think that way, and he chose force without hesitation.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookSulla crosses the sacred boundary, Romans throw tiles from the roofs
Sulla marched on Rome with six legions; the Senate sent envoys to beg him not to cross the pomerium, and he ignored them. As the soldiers entered Rome's narrow streets, citizens climbed onto the roofs of apartment blocks and threw tiles down, and the legions wavered. Sulla ordered archers to shoot fire-tipped arrows at the roofs, and flames spread along the Roman roads. He rode along the Via Sacra into the heart of Rome and ordered his legions to guard the Senate. The show stresses: this was the first time in Roman history that a general led an army to occupy his own capital, and an armed general became master of Rome.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookFor a coup to succeed, it must present itself as the legal side
After breaking into Rome, Sulla immediately demanded that the Senate declare Marius, Sulpicius, and ten others enemies of the state, so that he could dress up all his actions as 'defending the Republic.' The show points out the universal logic of coups: as long as the coup-maker can present himself as the defender of legitimacy, he can turn the former defenders of legitimacy into rebels. The Senate complied with soldiers just outside. Sulpicius was betrayed by a slave and killed; Marius escaped. Though Sulla controlled Rome, Marius's escape would haunt him.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookMithridates executes a Roman general by pouring molten gold down his throat
The situation in the East worsened: Mithridates was the greatest threat Rome had faced in a long time, and he used prophecies circulating for decades to present himself as the Eastern king sent by the gods to punish Rome. After capturing the Roman ally Aquillius, he bound him to a seven-foot-tall barbarian and dragged him back to Pergamon, paraded him through the streets on a donkey, and finally poured molten gold down his throat. This image became the archetype in later legend of Roman generals executed by Eastern rebels, and Crassus's story was fitted to the same template. With this, Mithridates proclaimed to the Greek cities of Asia that the Romans' only motive was greed.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookThe Asian massacre made Romans think of 9/11
Mithridates secretly ordered the leaders of Asian cities to massacre all Romans and Italians, and the Greek cities eagerly complied. The victims had no warning: some were cut down while clinging to statues of the gods, some were shot while swimming out to sea, and their bodies were left to rot outside the walls. It is said that 80,000 were killed; the number is exaggerated, but the Italians believed it. The show compares the impact on Romans to 9/11: the commanding heights of power and economy were struck so unexpectedly. The difference is that bin Laden did not go on to invade Canada, whereas Mithridates did invade Greece.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookMarius hides in a cart of beans, naked in a swamp
After being declared an enemy of the state, Marius—69 years old, fat, and with a face impossible to mistake—had to go into hiding. He hid in a cart of beans to be transported to Ostia, then took a ship to Africa; a storm drove him ashore, he was hunted along the way, abandoned by merchants, and at one point lay naked in a swamp smearing mud on himself. Dragged out of the mud and thrown into a cell, the local council hired a Cimbrian slave to kill him; in the darkness the slave saw only Marius's eyes and heard 'Do you dare kill Gaius Marius?' and ran out shouting, 'I cannot kill Gaius Marius.' The locals had to give him clothes and a boat and let him go.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookMarius wins a seventh consulship and drinks himself to death two weeks later
After Cinna was declared an enemy of the state, he followed Sulla's example, went to Nola to stir up the legions, and joined forces with Strabo to besiege Rome. Marius returned from Africa with his son and followers, and using the magic of his name raised a private army of runaway slaves and veterans. Strabo first helped Octavius repel them, but then a plague broke out in his camp; Strabo himself fell ill, and his tent was struck by lightning and burned. Marius and Cinna broke into Rome, and Octavius was cut down in his official chair. Marius was elected consul for the seventh time, fulfilling the prophecy, but two weeks later he died from drink and overexcitement.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookAn Athenian philosopher writes songs on the wall mocking Sulla
Athens, under the philosopher Aristion, sided with Mithridates, and Sulla brought his army to the walls. Aristion's response was to write songs mocking Sulla's complexion, teach the whole city to sing them on the walls, and shout witticisms at Sulla and his wife with exaggerated gestures. Another philosopher, Posidonius, despised him, saying his behavior proved that 'a sword should never be put in a child's hand.' The Athenians held out for a long time, more out of fear of Corinth's fate than Aristion's leadership. In the end Sulla broke into Athens; Aristion fled to the Acropolis and was dragged from the altar of Athena in the Parthenon and forced to drink poison.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookSulla kissed Mithridates on the shore of the Hellespont
The huge invasion army Mithridates sent was quickly crushed by Sulla, both forces annihilated. The following autumn, Sulla met Mithridates himself at the Hellespont (near modern Gallipoli), which was unusual, because Romans normally did not negotiate with men who had massacred tens of thousands of their countrymen. But both sides needed an agreement: Mithridates knew the game was up, and Sulla urgently needed to return to Italy, because he had been declared an enemy of the state by the Cinna regime, sentenced to death, his property confiscated, his family and supporters in flight. Mithridates agreed to withdraw from Roman territory, retreat to the Kingdom of Pontus, and submit to Roman arms inspections; Sulla kissed him, and the treaty was signed.
— Tom Holland / Dominic SandbrookIn their own words · checked verbatim
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.
Tom Holland0:00
marching in rome has never been done before and you say sulla has the legions but the legions you know sulla's borrowed the legions from the from rome they're not his personal legions
Dominic Sandbrook8:29
a coup will work if the person who conducts the coup can present himself as being on the side of legitimacy, because that then transforms the former defenders of legitimacy into rebels.
Tom Holland15:51
I think it's so unthinkable that even Sulla thinks that no one else will do it that's the measure of how kind of fateful a step his march on Rome was
Dominic Sandbrook34:31
Tell the governor that you have seen Gaius Marius, a fugitive sitting among the ruins of Carthage.
Tom Holland43:03
Rome did not send me here to be lectured on ancient history.
Tom Holland1:00:53
he gives the killer of all these romans and italians a peck on the cheek and the treaty is signed
Tom Holland1:07:05
Figures
| Number of legions Marius had in Rome | 0 | 7:26 |
| Age of Marius when elected consul for the seventh time | 69 | 53:29 |
| Time between Marius's seventh consulship and his death | two weeks | 53:29 |
| Age of Marius's son at Marius's death | 22 | 54:32 |
| Age of Pompey at Strabo's death | 19 | 51:24 |
| Year Sulla broke into Athens | March 86 BC | 1:00:53 |
| Years of back taxes Asian cities had to pay after the war | 5 | 1:07:05 |
Glossary
- pomerium
- The religious boundary around the city of Rome; armed citizens crossing it committed a sacrilege.
- popularis
- In Roman politics, a faction that appealed to the popular assemblies and opposed the senatorial elite.
- Cinnanum Tempus
- The period after Marius's death when Cinna dominated Rome and held consecutive consulships.
- Hellespont
- The modern Dardanelles, the narrow strait separating Europe and Asia.
How to listen
Listeners interested in the mechanics of the Roman Republic's collapse, political polarization, and the privatization of armies; anyone who wants to understand how wrapping a coup in legitimacy makes it succeed.
36:43 to 39:57 is ads and show promotion, skippable.