The first permanent court the Romans established was the Extortion Court way back in 149. Over the years, other courts had been created to serve various needs: almost certainly a court to try cases of electoral fraud, and most famously Saturninus’s treason court that had been established in 103. Sulla now proposed to clean up and systematize the hodgepodge of tribunals and courts with seven new permanent courts for murder, counterfeiting and forgery, electoral fraud, embezzlement, treason, personal injury, and provincial extortion. Some of these already existed, some were new, and others were altered from previous iterations. Saturninus’s treason court, which originally resembled a revolutionary tribunal, was now limited to a few explicit crimes. There would be no revolutionary tribunals in Sulla’s republic.27
Sulla also used his dictatorial power to address the always-vital question of land distribution. The chaos of the civil wars—and Sulla’s ultimate victory—opened up wide new swaths of land in Italy for settlement for the first time in thirty years. Tons of Italian land already lay vacant thanks to the upheavals of the past few years, and Sulla also doled out heavy punishment to regions that had opposed him. Etruria, Umbria, and Samnium—deep wells of anti-Sullan resistance—were targeted for mass seizure of property and redistribution to Sulla’s own veterans.28
Sulla’s run of reforms was designed to roll the Republic back to its roots as a senatorial aristocracy. Almost all authority now emanated from the Senate. The tribunes were stripped of their power, the autonomy of the Assembly curtailed. Equestrians and publicani returned to a state of political and economic subservience. He even made an attempt at passing sumptuary laws to limit expenses on games, banquets, and personal finery, but as usual these came to nothing—Sulla himself ignored his own limits routinely. But it would be unfair to say that Sulla’s head was stuck in the past: he believed he was building a regime to address specific problems of the present that had plagued the Republic, and with his reforms they might not plague the Republic in the future.29
One of the biggest problems that could not be solved by looking to the past was the fate of the Italians. Looking to the past would have meant going back to the old confederal hierarchy of citizenship, but Sulla never considered breaking his word to honor civitas and suffragium. When the next census arrived, the number of citizens on the rolls doubled, and from that point on the Italian question was never heard again. Just as they had always feared, the old Romans lost influence and Italians gained a larger voice. But so what? There was no longer any reason to treat a man born in Latium any different than a man born in Picenum; the voice of the Roman citizen was not lost, it simply changed pitch with the addition of new voices. Rome now belonged to everyone.30
DESPITE HIS DICTATORIAL power being held in perpetuity, Sulla never intended to stay in the Dictatorship indefinitely. He considered himself a unique and special lawgiver, but he was at heart a republican, not a king. He meant exactly what he said when he assumed the Dictatorship: he was going to make laws and settle the constitution. Not being a petty tyrant, Sulla had no intention of infinitely delaying when the constitution would be declared “settled.” He was there to do the job he believed the gods wanted him to do, and then resign.
Sulla began the process of shedding power about a year after he assumed office. In mid-81, he announced that he would be a candidate for consul alongside Metellus Pius. Still scrupulously treated as a near-equal, Sulla considered Pius’s continued partnership with his regime one of the last great examples of Fortuna’s favor. Pius could have made a great deal of trouble for the dictator, but instead accepted the transformation Sulla promised to inaugurate. Their shared consulship would be a sign not only of continued friendship, but also Sulla’s intention to
But though this was all going great for Sulla, and he was ready to start playing the part of a republican again, one of his subordinates stepped forward to make a nuisance of himself. The election for 80 was supposed to be a stage-managed affair, but instead one of Sulla’s praetors got it into his head to take a crack at the consulship. Sulla had sent word round forbidding such distractions, but out of inexplicable bravado the man entered his name anyway. Even after he was explicitly told to stand down, the oblivious praetor returned to the Forum to canvass for votes. Sulla had no choice but to order the man killed where he stood.32
