The Discussion On Sulla’s Constitutional Reforms

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was an eminent statesman and strategist in ancient Rome. Sulla, as well as his constitutional reform, occupied an important position in the history of Roman. From the perspective of Sulla’s reform, he was the last reformer who restored the constitution of the Roman Republic. His constitutional reform, based on the status that Rome had expanded overseas, tried to rebuild the republican system under the existing historical conditions at that time. From the perspective of the objective results of Sulla’s reform, he played an important role in the generation of the Roman Empire. Sulla was the first military dictator of the late Roman Republic; his dictatorship provided a template for the later Caesar. Military dictatorship was a radical reform means, and it masked the people’s perception of the essence of his reform. His intention of maintaining the republic seriously deviated from track in the reform process, and the reform actually promoted the transformation of the Roman Republic towards the Roman Empire.This paper is divided into three parts:introduction, text and conclusion.The text is divided into four chapters to discuss the specific circumstances of Sulla’s constitutional reform and its historical status.Parts I:Discussion on Sulla’s time:The middle of the second century BC, Roman expansion to become a great empire across Europe Asian and three continents Because of the expansion of country’s ruling base, various social conflicts and class struggles emerged in the late republic, such as the civilians struggle for land, the shortage of troops and the demands of citizenship of Italy. All kinds of social contradictions interwoven, lead to the end of the Roman republic political instability, social contradictions.In this case, Both the Gracchi and Marius had successively implemented the reforms. On the one hand, their reforms eased the social contradictions; on the other hand the reforms also brought new social problems for Sulla’s Rome.Parts II:Discussion on the guiding ideology and means of implementation of Sulla’s constitutional reform.The paper emphasizes main purpose of Sulla’s reform is that restore the Roman republic which has been severely damaged before. It is worthy of promoting the reform that definitely keep up with the trend of the history development and also stabilizing the Roman political situation. To protect its constitutional reform smoothly, Sulla unprecedented promotes his dictatorship in his reform in Rome.PartⅢ:The key of the paper, discuss the main content of Sulla’s constitutional reform:The paper stresses that Sulla’s constitutional reform is based on the experience of previous reformers, and fully takes into account the real needs of the country’s development in Rome, and then promotes a series of reform measures which follow the historical development. Specifically, Sulla’s constitutional reform takes from the adjustment of internal relations of the ruling class, which involves politics, economy, ethics, and other fields.Parts IV:Comprehensive explanation on Sulla himself, the historical status and impact of his constitutional reform: Sulla was the first military dictators in the Roman history. His ultimate aim was to restore republican system with the Senate as the core and the revival of the republic’s past glory was the ultimate end-result of the constitutional reform. From the perspective of the objective results of Sulla’s reform, he did not achieve the desired goal. In fact the reform only repaired the republic building from outside, essentially leading the whole nation onto the path of empire development. The base expansion of the Roman state rule forced the new formations of domination, and the trend of social progress was irresistible. But for the Roman history progress, there is no denying on Sulla’s personal behavior and his constitutional reform. For the historical position of Sulla’s constitutional reform, we should put aside the view of modern, recognize era characteristics and be aware of the ear task of Sulla. So, considering his era mission, Sulla actually completed his task in the main and the reform plays a positive role in history regardless of the contradictions between his subjective purpose and the objective reform results. It can be said that Sulla basically completed the mission of the era have entrusted to him, his constitutional reform has a positive role in history.