SULLA 



5619 



SULLIVAN 



greater tendency toward self-destruction than 

 do the laboring classes ; and that the late spring 

 and early summer months without exception 

 show more suicides than do the remaining 

 months of the year. A curious fact is that sui- 

 cide seems at times to become epidemic, the 

 force of example being doubtless the determin- 

 ing cause. Though statistics are not exact 

 enough to establish such a point beyond ques- 

 tion, it seems that the propensity to commit 

 suicide is increased by education. 



At various times laws have been passed 

 which aim to serve as deterrents from suicide, 

 but they are not effective; one knows that if 

 he succeeds in his attempt at self-destruction 

 the law will be powerless. In England suicides 

 were formerly denied Christian burial, and 

 their property was confiscated. In the United 

 States attempted suicide is not in general con- 

 sidered a crime, but it ranks in some states as 

 a felony, as does also aiding an attempt at 

 suicide. In New York aiding a suicide is man- 

 slaughter in the first degree. A.MC c. 



Consult the Bureau of the Census of the United 

 States for American statistics ; also Strahan's 

 Suicide and Insanity. 



SUL'LA, Lucius CORNELIUS (138-78 B.C.), 

 a Roman general and statesman, known as FE- 

 LIX (THE FORTUNATE), and famous as the op- 

 ponent of Marius. He was of patrician rank, 

 received an excellent education, and entered 

 the army, seeing his first military service 'of 

 note in the campaigns of Marius against Ju- 

 gurtha in Africa. Here he was very successful, 

 as he was also in the wars against the Teutones 

 and Cimbri, which raised Marius to the height 

 of his power. In 93 B. c. he was made praetor, 

 in the next year went as governor to Cilicia, 

 and on his return to Rome in 91 did such ex- 

 cellent service during the Social War that 

 Marius became intensely jealous of him. As a 

 reward for his successes he was made consul in 

 88 B.C. and intrusted with the conduct of the 

 war against Mithridates, an honor which Ma- 

 rius greatly desired, and the result was a riot, 

 headed by the adherents of Marius, which com- 

 pelled Sulla to escape from Rome to his troops 

 in Campania. At the head of his legions he 

 returned to Rome and drove out Marius. 



From 87 to 83 he was engaged against 

 Mithridates, whom he at last forced to submit 

 to Rome, and on his return found himself very 

 powerful, Marius having died during his ab- 

 sence. The Marian party, however, had still to 

 be crushed, and this Sulla accomplished by the 

 beginning of 81 B.C. 



He celebrated his victories by putting to 

 death thousands of his enemies throughout 

 Italy, instituting a veritable "reign of terror;" 

 then he had himself declared dictator for an 

 unlimited term. The laws which he promul- 

 gated were all directed toward the restoration 

 of the powers of the Senate and the aristocratic 

 party. In 79 B. c. he resigned, and spent his last 

 year in retirement. 



Consult Oman's Seven Roman Statesmen; 

 Beesly's The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla. 



Related Subjects. The reader may consult 

 the following articles in this connection : 

 Marius, Caius Rome, subhead Last 



Mithridates Century of the 



Patrician Republic 



Praetor 



SULLIVAN, sul'ivan, SIR ARTHUR SEYMOUR 

 (1842-1900), an English composer who won 

 fame both in the field of light opera and in 

 sacred music, was born in London. His father 

 was an Irish bandmaster and music teacher of 

 much ability, and the son so early learned the 

 rudiments of the art that at the age of eight 

 he could play any wind instrument. When he 

 was twelve years old he was admitted as a 

 singer in the Chapel Royal at London and two 

 years later won the Mendelssohn scholarship at 

 the Royal Academy of Music. Under this 

 scholarship he studied in the Academy and in 

 Leipzig Conservatory. In 1861 he returned to 

 London, and early in the next year his music 

 to Shakespeare's Tempest was played in the 

 Crystal Palace. The occasion was a genuine 

 triumph for him and he determined to devote 

 most of his time to composition. 



For some years he was organist at Covent 

 Garden theater, London, and professor of com- 

 position at the Royal Academy, but after 1875 

 practically all his energies were devoted to col- 

 laboration with W. S. Gilbert in the production 

 of their famous light operas. He died suddenly 

 of heart failure in London on November 22, 

 1900, and was buried amidst remarkable demon- 

 strations of national sorrow in Saint Paul's 

 Cathedral. 



Sullivan accomplished the unusual feat of 

 producing artistic music which was genuinely 

 popular with the masses of the people. His 

 earlier works, such as the Kenilworth Cantata, 

 with its beautiful duet, How Sweet the Moon- 

 light, and the songs from Shakespeare such as 

 Oh, Mistress Mine and The Willow Song, are 

 universally admired, while the operas written 

 with Gilbert, such as H. M . S. Pinafore, Pirates 

 of Penzance, The Mikado and The Rose of 



