mattered not; some might have acted from foolish enthusiasm, some from
personal ambition; but such traitors, from the Gracchi onward, had caused
all the mischief which had happened to the State. They were determined,
they were persevering. No concessions had satisfied them, and one demand
had been a prelude to another. There was no hope for an end of agitation
till every one of these men had been rooted out, their estates taken from
them, and their families destroyed.

To this remarkable work Sylla addressed himself, unconscious that he was
attempting an impossibility, that opinion could not be controlled by the
sword, and that for every enemy to the oligarchy that he killed he would
create twenty by his cruelty. Like Marius after the Octavian massacre, he
did not attempt to distinguish between degrees of culpability. Guilt was
not the question with him. His object was less to punish the past than to
prevent a recurrence of it, and moderate opposition was as objectionable
as fanaticism and frenzy. He had no intention of keeping power in his own
hands. Personal supremacy might end with himself, and he intended to
create institutions which would endure, in the form of a close senatorial
monopoly. But for his purpose it would be necessary to remove out of the
way every single person either in Rome or in the provinces who was in a
position to offer active resistance, and therefore for the moment he
required complete freedom of action. The Senate at his direction appointed
him dictator, and in this capacity he became absolute master of the life
and property of every man and woman in Italy. He might be impeached
afterward and his policy reversed, but while his office lasted he could do
what he pleased.

He at once outlawed every magistrate, every public servant of any kind,
civil or municipal, who had held office under the rule of Cinna. Lists
were drawn for him of the persons of wealth and consequence all over Italy