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Headword:
*su/llas
Adler number: sigma,1337
Translated headword: Sulla
Vetting Status: high
Translation: [genitive]
*su/llou: a proper name.
The Romans' civil war started in the consulship of Sulla.[1] Livy and
Diodorus tell that [omens] indicated the course of the evils to come. In a calm and clear sky there was heard the sound of a trumpet, with a loud and dismal blast.[2] And all who heard it went out of their minds with terror: the Etruscan sages affirmed that this prodigy betokened the mutation of the age, and a general revolution in the world. For according to them there are in all eight ages, differing one from another in the lives and the characters of men, and to each of these god has allotted a certain measure of time, determined by the circuit of the great year. And when one age is run out, at the approach of another, there appears some wonderful sign from earth or heaven, such as makes it manifest at once to those who have made it their business to study such things, that there has succeeded in the world a new race of men, differing in customs and institutes of life, and less regarded by the gods than the preceding. So whether all this is so or otherwise I refrain from investigating. Sulla the consul, having set out from
Ephesus,[3] passed a certain time in the city of
Athens and seized the library of Apellikon the Teian,[4] in which were most of the books of
Theophrastus and
Aristotle, as
Plutarch says, not yet then well-known to many people, but thereafter amplifying human knowledge. Sulla the consul, having made an history of his own actions, began to call and write of himself as 'Fortunate'. And once Laberia,[5] a notable Roman woman, when passing along behind Sulla, leaned on him with her hand, and plucked a bit of wool from his garment. And when Sulla turned round, "Do not worry, imperator," said she, "but I want to partake a little in your felicity". And he rejoiced greatly at her words, and a little later he married her, Metella having already died.
Greek Original:*su/llas, *su/llou: o)/noma ku/rion. o(/ti e)pi\ *su/lla tou= u(pa/tou o( e)mfu/lios *(rwmai/wn a)nh/fqh po/lemos. e)pishmh=nai de\ th\n tw=n mello/ntwn kakw=n fora\n *li/bio/s fhsi kai\ *dio/dwros. e)c a)nefe/lou tou= a)e/ros kai\ ai)qri/as pollh=s h)=xon a)kousqh=nai sa/lpiggos, o)cu\n a)poteinou/shs kai\ qrhnw/dh fqo/ggon. kai\ tou\s me\n a)kou/santas a(/pantas e)/kfronas u(po\ de/ous gene/sqai: tou\s de\ *turrhnw=n ma/nteis metabolh\n tou= ge/nous kai\ metako/smhsin a)pofh/nasqai shmai/nein to\ te/ras. ei)=nai me\n ga\r a)nqrw/pwn h# ge/nh, diafe/ronta toi=s bi/ois kai\ toi=s h)/qesin a)llh/lwn: e(ka/stw| de\ a)fwri/sqai xro/non u(po\ tou= qeou=, sumperaino/menon e)niautou= mega/lou perio/dw|. th=s gou=n prote/ras perio/dou teleutw/shs kai\ e(te/ras e)nistame/nhs, kinei=sqai/ ti shmei=on e)k gh=s h)\ ou)ranou= qauma/sion, o(\ dh=lon eu)qu\s toi=s ta\ toiau=ta sofoi=s gi/nesqai, o(/ti kai\ tro/pois a)/llois kai\ bi/ois a)/nqrwpoi xrw/menoi gego/nasi kai\ qeoi=s h(=tton tw=n prote/rwn me/lontai. tau=ta me\n ou)=n ei)/te ou(/tws ei)/te a)/llws pws e)/xei, skopei=n pari/hmi. o(/ti *su/llas o( u(/patos a)pa/ras e)c *)efe/sou prossxw/n te tai=s *)aqh/nais e)ndie/triye th=| po/lei xro/nou tino\s kai\ th\n *)apellikw=ntos tou= *thi/+ou katalabw\n e)ntau=qa biblioqh/khn a)nei/leto: e)n h(=| plei=sta tw=n *)aristote/lous kai\ *qeofra/stou bibli/wn h)=n, ou)/pw to/te toi=s polloi=s, h(=| fhsi *plou/tarxos, gnwrizo/mena, a)ll' e)nteu=qen e)s th\n tw=n a)nqrw/pwn e)kfoith/santa gnw=sin. o(/ti *su/llas o( u(/patos e)pilogismo\n tw=n e(autou= pra/cewn poih/sas *eu)tuxh= e(auto\n e)ka/lei kai\ e)/grafe. kai/ pote *laberi/a, *(rwmai/a gunh\ ou)k a)fanh/s, e)co/pisqen tou= *su/llou poreuome/nh e)piba/llei th\n xei=ra kai\ kroku/da tou= i(mati/ou spa=|. tou= de\ e)pistrafe/ntos, ou)de\n deino/n, ei)pei=n, au)to/krator: a)lla\ bou/lomai th=s sh=s ka)gw\ mikro\n eu)tuxi/as metalabei=n. to\n de\ u(perhsqh=nai/ te tw=| r(hqe/nti kai\ meta\ mikro\n a)gage/sqai tau/thn gunai=ka, th=s *mete/llhs h)/dh teqnhkui/as.
Notes:
For L. Cornelius Sulla see generally OCD4 s.v. Cornelius Sulla Felix, Lucius. The present entry uses John of
Antioch's digest of earlier writers.
[1] 88 BCE.
[2] cf.
Plutarch,
Sulla 7.6.
[3] cf.
Plutarch,
Sulla 26.1-2.
[4] Apellikon (
alpha 3009), a wealthy native of
Teos, afterwards an Athenian citizen, was a famous book collector of the 1st century BCE. He not only spent large sums in the acquisition of his library, but stole original documents from the archives of
Athens and other cities of Greece. Being detected, he fled in order to escape punishment, but returned when Athenion (or Aristion), a bitter opponent of the Romans, had made himself tyrant of the city with the aid of
Mithradates. Athenion sent him with some troops to
Delos, to plunder the treasures of the temple, but he showed little military capacity. He was surprised by the Romans under the command of Orobius (or Orbius), and only saved his life by flight. He died a little later, probably in 84. Apellikon's chief pursuit was the collection of rare and important books. He purchased from the family of Neleus of Skepsis, in the Troad, manuscripts of the works of
Aristotle and
Theophrastus (including their libraries), which had been given to Neleus by
Theophrastus himself, whose pupil Neleus had been. They had been concealed in a cellar to prevent their falling into the hands of the book-collecting princes of
Pergamon, and were in a very dilapidated condition. Apellikon filled in the lacunae, and brought out a new, but faulty, edition. In 84 Sulla removed Apellikon's library to Rome (
Strabo 13.1.54;
Plutarch,
Sulla 26). Here the manuscripts were handed over to the grammarian Tyrannion, who took copies of them, on the basis of which the Peripatetic philosopher
Andronicus of
Rhodes prepared an edition of
Aristotle's works. Apellicon's library contained a remarkable old copy of the Iliad. He is said to have published a biography of
Aristotle, in which the calumnies of other biographers were refuted.
[5] cf.
Plutarch,
Sulla 35.7.
Plutarch says that Valeria was the protagonist of this anecdote: she was daughter of M. Valerius Messalla and Hortensia, sister of the orator Hortensius; f. Münzer, RE s.v. Valerius 389 col. 243.
References:
Baker G.P., Sulla the fortunate: the great dictator, being an essay on politics in the form of a historical biography. London 1927
Carcopino J., Silla o la monarchia mancata. Milan 1979
Keaveney A., Sulla: the last Republican. London 1982
Keywords: biography; chronology; daily life; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; historiography; history; military affairs; philosophy; religion; women
Translated by: Andrea Consogno on 3 July 2005@05:38:57.
Vetted by:
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