ABSTRACT
In 81 BC, Sulla increased the membership of the senate to 600. Normally around 300, membership had been reduced by the civil war and the murderous activities of Marius and Sulla himself. Sulla made the Centuriate Assembly the primary legislative assembly by revoking the right of tribunes to introduce legislation in the concilium plebis. To enroll the new Italian citizens as well as the freedmen in all the thirty-five tribes was the least acceptable and made the bill difficult to gain the support of enough tribes to be passed in the concilium plebis. Moreover, the reputation of Marius as a military hero and the popular policies of his associates left a problematic legacy among his veterans, the urban masses, and new Italian citizens. Marius and Sulla eagerly sought command of the war against Mithridates. Marius wanted to recover the popularity that he had enjoyed after the Jugurthine and Cimbrian wars.
