Etenim recordamini, Quirites, omnes civiles dissensiones, non solum eas quas audistis, sed et has quas vosmetipsi meministis atque vidistis. L. Sulla P. Sulpicium oppressit: ex Urbe eiecit C. Marium, custodem huius urbis, multosque fortes viros partim {5} eiecit ex civitate, partim interemit. Cn. Octavius consul armis ex Urbe collegam suum expulit: omnis his locus acervis corporum et civium sanguine redundavit. Superavit postea Cinna cum Mario: tum vero, clarissimis viris interfectis, lumina civitatis {10} exstincta sunt. Ultus est huius victoriae crudelitatem postea Sulla: ne dici quidem opus est, quanta deminutione civium et quanta calamitate reipublicae. . . . Atque illae tamen omnes dissensiones, quae non ad delendam, sed ad commutandam rempublicam {15} pertinebant--non illi nullam esse rempublicam, sed in ea quae esset se esse principes, neque hanc urbem conflagrare, sed se in hac urbe florere voluerunt--eius modi fuerunt, ut non reconciliatione concordiae, sed internecione civium diiudicatae sint. {20} CICERO, _In Cat._ iii. 10. [Linenotes: 4. +P. Sulpicium+, distinguished orator, bought over by Marius. As Tribunus Plebis 88 B.C. carried the Leges Sulpiciae. 6. +Cn. Octavius+, one of Sulla’s chief supporters. Consul 87 B.C. Expelled his colleague Cinna. Murdered in his curule chair. 9-11. +Superavit ... exstincta sunt+, i.e. 87-6 B.C. The Reign of Terror. Marius Consul for the 7th time. Cf. Vell. Pat. ii. 22 ‘Nihil illa victoria fuisset crudelius, nisi mox Sullana esset secuta.’ 10. +lumina civitatis+, e.g. the Consuls Cn. Octavius and L. Merula; Q. Catulus, the conqueror (with Marius) in the Cimbric War; the orator M. Antonius; the brothers L. and C. Caesar. 11-13. The victims of the Sullanian proscriptions. Cf. Vell. Pat. ii. 28 ‘Primus ille (Sulla), et utinam ultimus, exemplum proscriptionis invenit.’] +Parallel Passages.+ Horace, _Epodes_ vii. and xvi. 1-14. +The Sullanian Proscriptions.+ Sulla was not like Marius swayed by feelings of revenge alone. His main object was the public good, which in his conviction was to be realised by a return to the older institutions of the republic. This he believed could be accomplished only by the utter annihilation of his opponents. The Proscriptions were not however intended to be an encouragement to indiscriminate murder, but rather a barrier against the rage of over-zealous partisans. B8 _Tribunate of M. Livius Drusus, 91 B.C._