16. This Roman Dictator Was Definitely Not Benevolent
During its first few centuries, the Roman Republic was fortunate that no dictator went rogue and seriously abused the extraordinary powers handed to him. That good fortune ran out with the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138 – 79 BC), a general who led the Optimates – Rome’s conservative and aristocratic-leaning political faction.
Sulla did something that no Roman dictator or general before him had done: he led his legions in a march on Rome. Sulla seized power by force, and fought and won a civil war against the Populares – Rome’s progressive-leaning political faction. He then had himself appointed dictator, and massacred his political opponents by the thousands. Sulla also enacted constitutional reforms that were intended – but ultimately failed – to strengthen the Roman Republic in its final decades.