Publius Cornelius Sulla (died 45 BC) was a politician of the late

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

and the nephew of

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had ...

. He was also a brother-in-law of

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

, having married his sister Pompeia.

Early life

Publius Cornelius Sulla was the son of an otherwise unknown brother of

. Despite being Sulla's nephew, Publius does not seem have played a prominent role in either the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

or the

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

of his famous uncle. However, he may have served as a junior officer during this time, alongside his contemporary Lucius Sergius Catilina, who is known to have served with distinction in the Sullan Civil Wars. Publius was later to be closely associated with Catiline, and it is possible that it was as fellow officers under his uncle that this association began. In 81 BC, during the dictatorship of his uncle, Cicero records that Publius used what influence he had through his close familial connection to request mercy for several of the proscribed, and was successful in having them spared. Following the death of Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 78 BC, Publius likely inherited a portion of his estate.

Consulship scandal and First Catilinarian conspiracy

Having presumably worked his way up the ''

cursus honorum The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The ''c ...

'', achieving the pre-requisite offices of

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

and

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vari ...

at an earlier date, in 66 BC Sulla stood for election to the consulship (to assume office in 65 BC). Sulla was elected

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

by the unanimous vote of all the

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

, with Publius Autronius as his colleague. However, the two were not to enjoy their success for long as, soon after the result had been declared,

Lucius Manlius Torquatus Lucius Manlius Torquatus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 65 BC, elected after the condemnation of Publius Cornelius Sulla and Publius Autronius Paetus. Biography Torquatus belonged to the patrician gens Manlii, one of the oldest Roma ...

and Lucius Aurelius Cotta, who had both stood against Sulla in the election and lost, accused those who had defeated them of bribery. Impeached on this charge, Sulla and Autronius were tried, convicted and, under the Lex Acilia Calpurnia, deprived of their office and expelled from the Senate. A second round of elections were held in which Torquatus and Cotta were successful, replacing those they had removed as the consuls-designate for 65 BC. It was now that the so-called

First Catilinarian Conspiracy The so-called first Catilinarian conspiracy was an almost certainly fictitious conspiracy which – according to various ancient tellings – involved Publius Autronius Paetus, Publius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Sergius Catalina, and others. Anci ...

was allegedly hatched. It is alleged by the Roman historian

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (; 86 – ), was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became during the 50s BC a partisa ...

that Catiline, a friend of both Sulla and Autronius, attempted to stand in the second round of elections against Torquatus and Cotta but was prevented in doing so because he had only recently emerged from a trial for extortion and, although he had been acquitted, was not permitted to stand for any office until three weeks had elapsed. This was the second time Catiline had been denied his chance at the consulship, and, incensed, he formed a conspiracy along with the deposed Sulla and Autronius, as well as Gnaeus Piso, against Cotta and Torquatus. The plan was apparently no less than to murder the two new Consuls-Elect on the very day they were to assume office, 1 January 65 BC, and to seize the government and Consulship for themselves. The preparations of the conspirators were however detected and they first postponed their planned coup to February, before abandoning it altogether; the conspiracy therefore coming to naught. There is much doubt as to whether the

ever took place at all, and that it was instead later invented to blacken Catiline further following the Second Catilinarian Conspiracy. An alternative view is that Catiline himself was not involved, but Sulla and Autronius on their own plotted the assassination of their rivals. In any case, no attempt was made on the lives of Cotta or Torquatus and the two assumed the consulship without incident.

Implication in the Second Catilinarian conspiracy

Following the disgrace of his conviction and expulsion from the Senate, Sulla's political career and reputation was completely destroyed and he could play no further part in public life. Humiliated and impoverished, Sulla reputedly joined the disreputable circle of desperate and dissolute nobles gathering around Catiline to form the Second Catilinarian Conspiracy. Catiline and his followers believed they had been robbed of the power that was rightfully theirs, and were committed to take it by any means necessary. Sulla, his cousins Publius and Servius, as well as his former colleague Autronius, were implicated in the conspiracy. Following the failure of the Conspiracy in late 63 and Catiline's death in January 62, Sulla was put on trial for his alleged complicity by

, the son of the man who had impeached him in 66. Sulla managed to secure both

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

and Quintus Hortensius, the two greatest orators of the age, for his defence, and was acquitted of all charges. This was the occasion for Cicero delivering his Pro Sulla speech. Neither Sulla's cousins nor Autronius were so fortunate, as Cicero believed them to be guilty and refused their similar requests for defence.

Career in Caesar's Civil War

In 49 BC, when

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

crossed the Rubicon and ignited the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, Sulla chose to support him against the Senate. Given a command in the Caesarian army, Sulla accompanied Caesar on his campaign in Greece against

. At Dyrrachium, Sulla was left in charge of Caesar's camp and successfully repulsed a Pompeian attack which broke through the fortifications while the bulk of the army was elsewhere fighting with Caesar. Upon driving the Pompeians back, Sulla determined not to pursue and instead withdrew back to the camp. Caesar remarks in his commentaries that if Sulla had instead pursued the fleeing enemy and followed up on his victory, the entire Civil War might have been ended on that day. However, he does not blame Sulla's cautious conduct or his decision to stay in the camp, which was his responsibility to protect. Sulla commanded the right wing of Caesar's army at the

Battle of Pharsalus The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War fought on 9 August 48 BC near Pharsalus in central Greece. Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the Roman Republic under the command of Pompey ...

.Caesar, ''Civil War'', 3.89 In the battle, the Caesarians were victorious and the defeated Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was murdered. Publius Cornelius Sulla died in 45 BC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius Sulla, Publius 45 BC deaths Publius 1st-century BC Roman generals 1st-century BC Roman praetors Roman patricians Year of birth unknown