Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix

(b. 138 BC - d. 78 BC, Puteoli), was the great Roman general who as dictator carried out remarkable constitutional reforms in an attempt to preserve the Republic, and reinforce the traditional power of the Senate. Yet in spite of these reforms, his most lasting impact was not the preservation of the Republic, but its destruction. For in the precedent of his dictatorship and his march on Rome, he paved the way for Julius Caesar and the rise of the Imperial Monarchy.