The property of the
proscribed was confiscated. Proscription was not the result of any
trial but of the caprice of the general, and that too without any
warning. Sulla thus massacred not only his enemies but the rich whose
property he coveted. It is related that a citizen who was unaccustomed
to politics glanced in passing at the list of proscriptions and saw
his own name inscribed at the top of the list. "Alas!" he cried, "my
Alban house has been the death of me!" Sulla is said to have
proscribed 1800[142] knights.
After having removed his enemies, he endeavored to organize a
government in which all power should be in the hands of the Senate. He
had himself named Dictator, an old title once given to generals in
moments of danger and which conferred absolute power. Sulla used the
office to make laws which changed the entire constitution. From that
time all the judges were to be taken from the Senate, no law could be
discussed before it had been accepted by the Senate, the right of
proposing laws was taken from the tribunes of the plebs.
After these reforms Sulla abdicated his functions and retired to
private life (79).
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