Who Held Greater Responsibility for the Fall of the Roman

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The Answer is Both Marius's and Sulla's actions set many dangerous precedents for the survival of the Roman Republic.Both were willing to break tradition, acting ruthlessly to benefit themselves at the expense of the state.However, Sulla ultimately held more responsibility.The most destabilizing of Marius's actions was doing away with property requirements for soldiers in his armies.This step, in addition to the pay and bonuses he provided them, made them more loyal to him than the state.He also was elected to the highest annual magistracy, consul, an unprecedented number of times.Prior to this period, such offices were extremely competitive, and rarely did any man hold it more than once.Sulla took Marius's precedent of enlisted men without property and added a degree of ambition and ruthlessness that deeply disrupted the state.He was the first Roman to march on Rome with a Roman army.He also instituted proscriptions, stripping citizens' rights from those he named.Without legal protection, the proscribed either fled into exile, losing their property, or were murdered.He also stripped away from tribunes one of their fundamental powers, the veto, in addition to forbidding them from running for other magistracies.Tribunes of the people and their powers dated to the earliest days of the Republic, 494 BCE.Sulla's proscriptions would be imitated by later Roman politicians, as would the very dangerous precedent of marching on Rome.For these reasons, he was the more responsible for the fall of the Republic.

Who Held Greater Responsibility for the Fall of the Roman

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