Accidents of Birth vs. Merit

Marius, who becomes the First Man in Rome and consul seven times, is born to an undistinguished family of small landowners in Italy. Sulla, who eventually becomes distinguished but starts off as a degenerate loafer, is descended from one of the oldest and most important families in Rome. In both these characters one sees accidents of birth. Marius is not born to a noble family, and because of this fact the Patrician senators will always consider him an outsider. Sulla is born poor, which forces him to prostitute himself at an early age and to live with his stepmother and mistress. He lives a life of vice, a life he never truly gives up, and murders several people to gain the money that he needs to seek political distinction. Sulla, unlike Marius, comes from a noble family. This makes him a Patrician, giving him...