I shall stand this year, which means I must stay in Rome." "Reconsider, please," said Scaurus, rising to his feet. "I cannot, Marcus Aemilius." "If you stand, Lucius Cornelius, I assure you, you won't get in. Nor will you get in next year, or the year after that, or the year after that," said Scaurus evenly. "So much I promise you. Believe my promise! Leave Rome." "I repeat, Marcus Aemilius, I am very sorry. But remain in Rome to stand for praetor, I must," said Sulla. And so it had all fallen out. Injured in both auctoritas and dignitas though he may have been, Marcus Aemilius Scaurus Princeps Senatus was still able to marshal more than enough influence to ensure that Sulla was not elected a praetor. Other, lesser men saw their names entered on the fasti; nonentities, mediocrities, fools. But praetors nonetheless.

* * *

It was from his niece Aurelia that Publius Rutilius Rufus learned the true story, and he in turn had passed the true story on to Gaius Marius. That Scaurus Princeps Senatus had set his face against Sulla's becoming a praetor was obvious to everyone; the reason why was less obvious. Some maintained it was because of Dalmatica's pathetic crush on Sulla, but after much discussion, it was generally felt this was too slight an explanation. Having given her ample time to see the error of her ways for herself (he said), Scaurus then dealt with the girl (kindly yet firmly, he said), and made no secret of it among his friends and in the Forum. "Poor little thing, it was bound to happen," he said warmly to several senators, making sure there were plenty more drifting in the background well within hearing distance. "I could wish she had picked someone other than a mere creature of Gaius Marius's, but ... He's a pretty fellow, I suppose." It was very well done, so well done that the Forum experts and the members of the Senate decided the real reason behind Scaurus's opposition to Sulla's candidacy lay in Sulla's known association with Gaius Marius.