Forms and Spirit
A constitution is not only offices, laws, procedures, and voting arrangements. It is also habit, trust, restraint, and expectation. Sulla could rebuild the first category far more easily than the second.
Sulla’s Error
Sulla believed that sharper law and stronger senatorial control could restore order. But order imposed by terror is not the same as civic health.
The Livarva Question
The problem of restoration lies at the heart of Livarva. Can a damaged political order be brought back by force, or does the act of forcing it back prove that the old order has already gone?