In 81 BC, during the dictatorship of his uncle, Cicero records that Publius used what influence he had through his close familial connection to request mercy for several of the proscribed, and was successful in having them spared.
This was the second time Catiline had been denied his chance at the consulship, and, incensed, he formed a conspiracy along with the deposed Sulla and Autronius, as well as Gnaeus Piso, against Cotta and Torquatus.
Following the disgrace of his conviction and expulsion from the Senate, Sulla's political career and reputation was completely destroyed and he could play no further part in public life.
Humiliated and impoverished, Sulla reputedly joined the disreputable circle of desperate and dissolute nobles gathering around Catiline to form the Second Catilinarian Conspiracy.
Following the failure of the Conspiracy in late 63 and Catiline's death in January 62, Sulla was put on trial for his alleged complicity by Lucius Manlius Torquatus, the son of the man who had impeached him in 66.
Sulla managed to secure both Marcus Tullius Cicero and Quintus Hortensius, the two greatest orators of the age, for his defence, and was acquitted of all charges.
[11] In 49 BC, when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and ignited the Civil War, Sulla chose to support him against the Senate.
Caesar remarks in his commentaries that if Sulla had instead pursued the fleeing enemy and followed up on his victory, the entire Civil War might have been ended on that day.