Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138–78 BC), was the first ruler of Rome to seize power through Civil War. He was a conservative, and found his backers around the Senate among the aristocratic group. His rule was bloody,and chiefly concerned with teaching the plebians their place. Peter greene does his best to lace all this in a favourable light. But the general effect is that to most modern eyes, this was an awful man doing vilent and ugly things to keep his own life prosperous. but it does read well, and is a considerable piece of Conservative propaganda. ( )

These words, I, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, knowing myself sick of a mortal disease, send to Rome, her Senate, and her citizens. May the living learn from the faults and virtues of my example....They will destroy my words if they can--Pompeius, Metella's smug, stupid, all-powerful relatives, every small, mean, ambitious man who fears to remember the truth. They will destroy my words, and rewrite the past in their own image. I will have no advocate with posterity. Yet the words must be written."

As Sulla lies sick and dying he writes his memoirs which contain an apologia for his decisions and bloody actions. He has wanted to purify a corrupt Rome. The novel tells of his military successes--against Jugurtha in Africa, in the Social civil war tearing Italy apart; in Greece and of his rivalry with Gaius Marius and their mutual hatred. He tells of his personal life--marriages and family. He rises to Supreme Power as Dictator. He hopes to leaves as legacy reform of Rome's laws. But illness strikes him down. He confesses to us: I learned--too late--that a man has only one life, to use as Fortune and his guiding star dictate. I have learned the humiliation of old age, emptiness of wasted years...the failure of my high ideal[s].

Beautifully written portrait of an ancient figure. Most highly recommended. ( )