1Meanwhile, while this was going on, the quaestor Lucius Sulla came into the camp with a large body of cavalry, which he had been left behind at Rome to raise from Latium and the allies. 2But since the matter has reminded us of so great a man, it has seemed fitting to speak in a few words of his character and way of life. 2For we shall not speak of Sulla's affairs in any other place, and Lucius Sisenna, who treated them best and most carefully of all who have written of them, seems to me to have spoken with too little freedom. 3Sulla, then, was a noble of patrician family, of a house by then almost extinct through the indolence of his forebears, learned in Greek and Latin letters alike, of great spirit, eager for pleasures but more eager for glory; 3he lived in luxurious leisure, yet pleasure never kept him from business, except that he could have acted more honourably in regard to his wife; 3he was eloquent, shrewd and ready in friendship, of incredible depth of mind in disguising his intentions, and lavish with many things, above all with money.
4And though he was the most fortunate of all men before his victory in the civil war, his fortune was never greater than his industry, and many have doubted whether he was braver or luckier. 4For as to what he did afterwards, I am uncertain whether it would cause me more shame or more distaste to discuss it.