@isabella,
Take away a Populares leader and another one will emerge. Their name is a clue here: oligarchic rule without concessions to the masses was not, well, popular. (Understandably.)
Likewise, the violent counter-reaction is also structurally determined even without Sulla. His personal biography really notwithstanding.
Avoiding what I associate with Sulla's tyranny cannot be reached by removing Marius or preventing cases against sulla's family. It needs avoiding the class wars, and that requires more consensual reforms decades earlier.
Take away a Populares leader and another one will emerge. Their name is a clue here: oligarchic rule without concessions to the masses was not, well, popular. (Understandably.)
Likewise, the violent counter-reaction is also structurally determined even without Sulla. His personal biography really notwithstanding.
Avoiding what I associate with Sulla's tyranny cannot be reached by removing Marius or preventing cases against sulla's family. It needs avoiding the class wars, and that requires more consensual reforms decades earlier.