<P> Sulla's life was habitually included in the ancient biographical collections of leading generals and politicians, originating in the biographical compendium of famous Romans published by Marcus Terentius Varro . In Plutarch's Parallel Lives Sulla is paired with the Spartan general and strategist Lysander . </P> <P> In older sources, his name may be found as Sylla . This is a Hellenism, like sylva for classical Latin silva, reinforced by the fact that our two major sources, Plutarch and Appian, wrote in Greek, and call him Σύλλα . </P> <P> Sulla, the son of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the grandson of Publius Cornelius Sulla, was born into a branch of the patrician gens Cornelia, but his family had fallen to an impoverished condition at the time of his birth . Lacking ready money, Sulla spent his youth amongst Rome's comics, actors, lute - players, and dancers . He retained an attachment to the debauched nature of his youth until the end of his life; Plutarch mentions that during his last marriage--to Valeria--he still kept company with "actresses, musicians, and dancers, drinking with them on couches night and day". </P> <P> It seems certain that Sulla received a good education . Sallust declares him well - read and intelligent, and he was fluent in Greek, which was a sign of education in Rome . The means by which Sulla attained the fortune which later would enable him to ascend the ladder of Roman politics, the Cursus honorum, are not clear, although Plutarch refers to two inheritances; one from his stepmother and the other from a low - born but rich unmarried lady . </P>

Who filled the leadership gap after the fall of rome