Sulla

thumb|No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full. Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (c. 138 BC – 78 BC) was a Roman General and Dictator. Quotes How is this? Ought not the petitioner to speak first, and the conqueror to listen in silence? To Mithridates VI of Pontus, at a peace conference; in Plutarch, Life of Sulla (tr. John Dryden) I forgive...the many for the sake of the few, the living for the dead. On calling an end to the sacking of Athens, after a plea on its behalf by two Athenians loyal to Rome; in Plutarch, Life of Sulla (tr. John Dryden) No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full. His self-made epitaph, as quoted in Will Durant, Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age (2001). Variant: ". . . nor enemy harmed me". Paraphrase: "No better friend, no worse enemy." He ought to have worked at the oar before steering the vessel. Upon being handed the head of his enemy Gaius Marius the Younger; in William Smith, ed., A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1873), "Marius (II)". Variant: "First you must learn to pull an oar, only then can you take the helm." External links Plutarch's Life of Sulla Category:Military leaders from Rome Category:Heads of state Category:People from Rome Category:BCE births Category:BCE deaths