Ostensibly the talks were supposed to settle the political dispute and avoid open war. But Sulla’s negotiators entered talks “not because they hoped or desired to come to an agreement, but because they expected to create dissensions in Asiaticus’s army, which was in a state of dejection.” While he stalled in the negotiating tent, Sulla sent his men to mingle with the soldiers in Asiaticus’s camp to spread the word that Sulla was great, his promises would be kept, that this was really only about settling business with a few personal enemies. Sulla was the enemy of neither Rome nor Italy.
...more
