ABSTRACT
With the winning of the consulship Sulla may fairly be said to have, politically speaking, at last arrived. The hero of the Social War had finally won for himself a place within the small circle of the Roman ruling class and he now lost no time in making that place secure by judicious marriage alliances. He was gratified to discover that his new-found political ally, Q. Pompeius Rufus, whose acquaintance he would probably have made while they were both members of Drusus’ circle, had been elected as his fellow consul and he immediately cemented the ties that bound them by giving his daughter in marriage to Pompeius’ son. It was to prove to be a wise move for, until his own untimely death, Pompeius showed himself to be a staunch ally of Sulla. For himself, although he was now nearly fifty years of age, Sulla also arranged a most brilliant political match. To accomplish it, he had to divorce his present wife. Aelia had, in the meantime, either died or been divorced and the hapless female who was now unceremoniously shunted to one side, on the grounds of sterility, was thus Sulla’s third wife, the otherwise unknown Cloelia. Shortly afterwards the consul married Metella, widow of the princeps senatus Aemilius Scaurus. She, of course, was one of the Metelli, and Sulla in this way became aligned with that powerful family. We may view the event in two ways. It could be argued that Sulla, once a despised outcast, was now in such a powerful position as to demand and receive her hand from these haughty nobles. On the other hand, we could suggest that, to judge from their recent absence from the Fasti, the Metelli had been partially eclipsed and were therefore glad to be associated with the most brilliant figure of the day. Whatever view we take, we may be certain of a couple of facts. First, the Metelli were to show themselves to be worthless as allies in the troubles which lay immediately ahead, but were to prove valuable, if somewhat difficult supporters, in the last years of Sulla’s life. Second, the marriage itself caused great stirrings and excitement in the city.
