But if i could go with any Roman, I'd like to have talked with Sulla. The lack of information about him when he was obviously so important has always made him a figure of interest to me.
I'd go with
Sulla. I think he's the most complex of documented
Roman leaders. The mixture of scandal, respect for
his competency, disrespect for
his atrocities, partician background, low-life associations, exercise of power, range of constitutional changes,
military competence, wiliness, and the fact that he retired voluntarily after holding supreme power despite having it in
his power to remain for life (which emperor has done that?). The fact that he remained well-regarded by
history despite
his proscriptions speaks volumes.
And of course the portrayal of the actor Chrysogonus and other dilettantes in Saylor's books suggest to me that dinner would be an amusing and unconventional affair,
I rely on this Uncyclopaedia entry for most of my factual information about
Sulla: There's a nice Faustus
Sulla denarius described as "A coin showing
Jugurtha (left) surrendering to
Sulla (seated centre), notice
his bare chested slave girl opposite, dirty womaniser!"
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Lucius_Cornelius_Sulla