SULLY. 



443 



The leaders of his party, Cinna and Carbo, still, 

 however, continued to conduct the public affairs, 

 when Sulla, having intrusted the chief command in , 

 Asia to Murena, hastened to Italy at the head of 

 40,000 men. He landed at Brundusium, and was 

 joined by many of his friends who had been 

 banished from Rome. His enemies were much 

 superior in numbers; but his courage and address 

 rendered him victorious. After having gained four 

 battles over the Roman forces in person, besides 

 several through his generals, and, at the close of 

 the war, defeated a Samnite army under Telesinus, 

 before the walls of Rome, and having witnessed the 

 destruction, captivity, or flight of his enemies, he 

 entered the city as a master. One of his first acts 

 w;is, to put to death between 6000 and 7000 prisoners 

 of war in the circus ; and when the senate, assem- 

 bled in the temple of Bellona, testified their horror 

 at hearing the shrieks of the victims, he coldly said, 

 ' Regard it not, fathers ; it is only a few rebels 

 who are punished by my orders." Rome and all 

 the provinces of Italy were filled with the most 

 revolting scenes of cruelty. After satisfying his 

 vengeance by the murder or proscription of several 

 thousands, destroying all the cities of Samnium 

 except three, and massacring the whole population 

 of Preneste, he celebrated a triumph, exceeding in 

 splendour any that had preceded it, and caused 

 himself to be named dictator for an indefinite period 

 (B. C. 81). He now ruled without restraint ; re- 

 pealed and made laws ; abolished the tribuneship ; 

 added 300 knights to the senate, and admitted 

 10,000 slaves of persons proscribed to the rights of 

 citizenship. After a few years, to the astonishment 

 of all, he laid down his dictatorship (B. C. 79), and 

 declared himself ready to answer for his actions, 

 although he had caused above 100,000 men, among 

 whom were ninety senators, fifteen men of consular 

 rank, and 1600 knights, to be put to death. Re- 

 tiring to Puteoli, and abandoning himself to all sorts 

 of debauchery, he died, the following year, of a 

 disgusting disease, occasioned by his excesses. Na- 

 turally insinuating and persuasive, Sullaendeavoured, 

 in his youth, to please universally. He spoke of 

 himself with modesty, but was lavish of praises, 

 and even of money, towards others. ^With the 

 common soldiers he was familiar, adopting their 

 customs, drank with them, and partook of their 

 amusements and hardships. At times, he was 

 severe, active, and vigilant, and impenetrable even 

 to the companions of his excesses. He lent a ready 

 ear to soothsayers and astrologers ; and his character 

 was stained by sensuality, avarice, and cruelty. 

 Yet he had sufficient self-control to tear himself 

 from his pleasures when ambition commanded. 

 He was an able general and a great statesman ; 

 cruel, but faithful to his promises ; calm and cold, 

 but inflexible in his purposes. He sacrificed even 

 his friends to the laws which he himself made and 

 violated, and compelled his fellow citizens to be 

 better than himself. He ordered it to be inscribed 

 on his tomb, that no man had ever equalled him in 

 doing evil to his enemies, nor in doing good to his 

 friends. 



SULLY, MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE, duke de; 

 marshal of France, and first minister of Henry IV. ; 

 one of the most estimable men that ever guided the 

 helm of state. He was born at Rosny, of an 

 ancient and noble family, in 1559, and educated in 

 the Protestant (Calvinistic) faith. At the age of 

 eleven years, he was presented by his father to the 

 queen of Navarre, and her son Henry, with whom 



he was educated. In 1572, he accompanied the 

 young prince to Paris, for the purpose of pursuing 

 his studies there, and was preserved, during the 

 massacre of St Bartholomew's, by the president of 

 the college of Burgundy, who concealed him for 

 three days. In the service of the young king of 

 Navarre (see Henry IV.\ the baron de Rosny, as 

 he was then styled, distinguished himself, on 

 several occasions, by a bravery approaching to rash- 

 ness. At Ivry (1590), where he took the standard 

 of the duke of Maine, he was most dangerously 

 wounded. In 1591, he took Gisors; and the cap- 

 ture of Dreux in 1593, Laon in 1594, La Fere in 

 1596, Amiens in 1597, and Montmelian in 1600, 

 added to his reputation as a warrior. But his 

 abilities as a diplomatist and financier were no less 

 remarkable. In 1586, he concluded a treaty 

 with a Swiss, for a supply of 20,000 troops for his 

 master's service; and in 1597, he was placed at the 

 head of the department of finance, and two years 

 after, he was declared superintendent. About the 

 same time (1599), he also negotiated the marriage 

 of Henry with Mary de' Medici. In his embassy 

 to England, after the death of queen Elizabeth, 

 (1603), he displayed great penetration and address, 

 and concluded a treaty with James I., advantageous 

 to the interests of both countries. In addition to 

 his other offices, he was appointed grand surveyor 

 of France, grand master of the artillery, governor 

 of the Bastile (1602), and superintendent of forti- 

 fications throughout the kingdom. His labours, as 

 minister of finance, were attended with the happiest 

 success ; and the revenues of the government, 

 which had been reduced to a state of complete 

 dilapidation, by the combined effects of civil anarchy 

 and open warfare, were by his care restored to 

 order, regularity, and affluence. With a revenue 

 of thirty-five millions, he paid off, in ten years, a 

 debt of two hundred millions, besides laying up 

 thirty-five millions. Though frequently thwarted 

 in his purposes by the rapacity of the courtiers and 

 mistresses of the monarch, he nobly pursued his 

 career, ever distinguishing himself as the zealous 

 friend of his country, and not the temporizing 

 minister of his master. His industry was unwearied. 

 He rose every morning at four o'clock, and, after 

 dedicating some time to business, he gave audience 

 to all who solicited admission to him, without dis- 

 tinction of persons. After his return from his mis- 

 sion to England, he was made governor of Poitou, 

 and grand master of the ports and harbours of Pro- 

 vence ; and the territory of Sully-sur-Loire was 

 erected into a duchy in his favour, in 1606. On 

 the murder of Henry IV. he was obliged to retire 

 from court (1611); but, after some years, he was 

 recalled by Louis XIII. ; and, on making his ap- 

 pearance in the royal circle, the courtiers did not 

 treat him with that respect to which he thought 

 himself entitled ; on which he said to the king, 

 " Sire, when your father did me the honour to con- 

 sult me, we never spoke on business till he had 

 dismissed his flatterers and buffoons to the ante- 

 chamber." In 1634, he received the staff of a 

 marshal, in exchange for the office of grand master 

 of the artillery. His death took place at Villebon, 

 December 22, 1641. Although Sully approved 

 Henry's conversion to the Catholic faith, yet he 

 himself remained true to his Protestant principles. 

 The courtiers, dissatisfied with his strictness, often 

 ridiculed and complained of him; but even the 

 king's most favoured mistress could not p-ejudice 

 his royal master against him. (See Lstrcca.) 



