Lucius Cornelius Sulla
'No greater friend, no worse enemy'

WHY LUCIUS CORNELIUS SULLA?
Isn't he a bad man?
Surely I do not propose to use his methods?

A few words of explanation: I take my characterization of the character of LC Sulla somewhat from the recent series of Roman historical novels by Colleen McCollough. I see Sulla as a man devoted to the ideals of the Roman Republic, which was falling to pieces around him. He desperately turned to extreme measures which did hold off the final end of the Republic for a generation. It seems clear that he did not commit his abominable crimes from personal ambition, since he resigned his dictatorship after a short term, somewhat in the old Roman tradition.

I see him as a man to be feared, hated, despised, admired and pitied. More importantly, I see him as a dire warning of the extremes which even a possibly good man can go to as his civilization dies. Since I consider it greatly possible that we ourselves are well on the way down that road, we must take his career as a warning of the temptations which may come to us, and a path to avoid.