Roman Republic Coin
Lucius Cornelius Sulla, as Imperator, and Lucius Manlius Torquatus, as Proquaestor
Struck circa 82 BC by Military mint traveling with Sulla in Italy
Silver AR Denarius (16mm, 4h)
Reference: Crawford 367/5. Sydenham 757a
Certification: NGC Choice VF
Obverse: L•MANLI-PROQ, head of Roma right, wearing pendant earring, pendant necklace, and winged helmet surmounted by griffin crest.
Reverse: L•SVLLA•IM, Triumphator in slow quadriga right, with reins in left hand, caduceus in right; crowned by Victory flying left above. 

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Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.

Sulla had the distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as reviving the dictatorship. A gifted and innovative general, he achieved numerous successes in wars against foreign and domestic opponents. Sulla rose to prominence during the war against the Numidian king Jugurtha, whom he captured as a result of Jugurtha's betrayal by the king's allies, although his superior Gaius Marius took credit for ending the war. He then fought successfully against Germanic tribes during the Cimbrian War, and Italian allies during the Social War. He was awarded the Grass Crown for his bravery at the Battle of Nola. Sulla was closely associated with Venus, adopting the title Epaphroditos meaning favored of Aphrodite/Venus.

Sulla played an important role in the long political struggle between the optimates and populares factions at Rome. He was a leader of the optimates, which sought to maintain senatorial supremacy against the populist reforms advocated by the populares, headed by Marius. In a dispute over the command of the war against Mithridates, initially awarded to Sulla by the Senate, but withdrawn as a result of Marius' intrigues, Sulla marched on Rome in an unprecedented act and defeated Marian forces in battle. The populares nonetheless seized power once he left with his army to Asia. He returned victorious from the east in 82 BC, marched a second time on Rome, and crushed the populares and their Italian allies at the Battle of the Colline Gate. He then revived the office of dictator, which had been inactive since the Second Punic War, over a century before. He used his powers to purge his opponents, and reform Roman constitutional laws, to restore the primacy of the Senate and limit the power of the tribunes of the plebs. Resigning his dictatorship in 79 BC, Sulla retired to private life and died the following year. Later political leaders such as Julius Caesar would follow precedent set by Sulla and his military coup in attaining political power through force.

Lucius Manlius Torquatus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 65 BC, elected after the condemnation of Publius Cornelius Sulla and Publius Autronius Paetus.

Torquatus belonged to the patrician gens Manlii, one of the oldest Roman houses. He was proquaestor in Asia under Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 84 BC, for whom he issued gold and silver coinage. He returned to Rome with Sulla in 82 BC where he fought at the Battle of the Colline Gate. He was elected Praetor by 68 BC, and was possibly a legate under Pompey before taking up his new post of propraetor of the Roman province of Asia in 67 BC.

In 66 BC, Torquatus stood for election as Roman consul, but was defeated by Publius Cornelius Sulla and Publius Autronius Paetus. However, Torquatus and Lucius Aurelius Cotta accused the consul designates for the following year of bribery in connection with the elections; they were condemned under the Lex Acilia Calpurnia, and Cotta and Torquatus elected in their places. This, allegedly, led to the so-called First Catilinian Conspiracy where Catiline, together with Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, Autronius, and Sulla, conspired to murder the new consuls on 1 January 65 BC, when they were due to enter office. Autronius and Sulla were to install themselves as consuls, while Piso was to take possession of the provinces of Hispania. The plot failed when the Senate became suspicious and issued bodyguards to the incoming consuls. However, during Catiline's trial for corruption when he was governor of Africa in 65 BC, he was supported by Torquatus, and an investigation undertaken by the consul into the circumstances of the aborted plot was inconclusive.

In 64 BC, Torquatus obtained Macedonia as his allotted proconsular province and while there was awarded the title of Imperator by the Senate on the recommendation of Cicero when Cicero reported Torquatus's achievements to the Senate. By the autumn of 63 BC he was back in Rome. He took an active part in suppressing the Second Catilinarian conspiracy late that year, and he also supported Cicero when Cicero was banished in 58 BC.

Torquatus was married to a woman from Asculum. He had at least one son, Lucius Manlius Torquatus who died during Caesar's Civil War. He may also have had a daughter who married Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus.