ABSTRACT
The oligarchic system that Lucius Cornelius Sulla created to stabilize the Roman Republic only destabilized it further. His own example was a powerful incentive for ambitious men to circumvent the restraints that he tried to put in place. Sulla had alienated and embittered numerous groups within Roman society, and they were willing to support any leader who wanted to challenge Sulla’s repressive system, even one who was originally a part of that system. In 85 b.c.e., Gnaeus Pompeius successfully argued against a suit instituted to recover from his father’s estate booty misappropriated during the Social War. Pompey subsequently intrigued to become the supreme military commander in the East and eventually succeeded in ending the war. While Pompey and L. Licinius Lucullus were waging wars at either end of the Mediterranean, Marcus Licinius Crassus was trying to advance himself in Rome.
