Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was a Roman general and dictator during the last century of the Roman Republic. Lucius was born into an impoverished branch of the Cornelii, and he lived a poor and dissolute existence until he received two family inheritances that finally gave him the financial stature to run for office. Sulla came from a patrician family, served as consul, and led military campaigns in North Africa, and against Mithradates of Pontus. In his …

…public lists, soon surpassed all Roman precedents. As the murders were legalized, the property of the victims, naturally including many very rich men, went to Sulla's friends. The dictator reorganized the government with measures which would remove any popular check on the senate. Sulla also founded a number of colonies for his veterans. In 80 B.C. he retired. His so-called reforms did not last. Sulla's dictatorship was notorious for its cruelty and lack of legality.