The Life of Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was born into a patrician family that had sunk into obscurity. He shared lodgings in an apartment house with an ex-slave and he passed his time among actors and entertainers. Thanks to an inheritance from a wealthy prostitute who had grown fond of him, he joined the staff of Marius during the war against Jugurtha. The two men came to open blows in 88 BC when Marius tried to secure command of the war against Mithridates. Romans climbed onto their roofs and threw stones and tiles at Sulla's forces as they entered Rome.