Rafael Prestes’s Reviews > The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic > Status Update

Page 216 - Gaius Marius died fourteen days after being elected for his seventh consulship. He’s regarded as the third founder of Rome who had climbed his way up the cursus honorum being a novus homo. His death is regarded by the author as one of the most “anticlimatic” deaths in history.

Page 212 - After marching his troops on Rome, Sulla left Rome and went to Greece. Cinna and Marius formed an alliance and marched on Rome, killing all their political opponents among the Optimates. A bloody massacre, and after five days of widespread killing, many of their political rivals were dead or had fled. Sulla’s family managed to escape to Athens, where they tell him of the events that had unfolded in Rome.

Chapter 10 - Gaius Marius and Sulla were bitter rivals. When Marius’ supporters stripped Sulla of command, he marched on Rome. Fighting broke out, forcing Marius and Sulpicius Rufus to flee. Sulpicius was captured and executed. Marius escaped Italy and reached the ruins of Carthage, a Roman colony. Expelled by the governor, he stood among the remains of Carthage watching the Republic collapse

Page 183 - The Social War is over, but it left Italy in economic devastation. Mike notes that the ancient figures for the dead were likely exaggerated, yet he believes that around 300,000 people perished. With the loss of so many workers, farmers suddenly found themselves short-handed, and famine struck the peninsula. Meanwhile, the government faced a debt crisis, as debtors were unable to repay their creditors.

Page 173 - Deep in the Social War. The Italian allies attacked Latim colonies, then seized control of the roads to cut off Rome’s ability to communicate outside their own sphere in Latium. The author says: ”it was a simple and effective strategy that caught the Romans with their togas down”.