 Proscribing or outlawing every one of those whom he perceived to have acted against the best interests of the Republic while he was in the East, Sulla ordered some 1,500 nobles ("i.e.," senators and equites) executed, although it is estimated that as many as 9,000 people were killed.The purge went on for several months.Helping or sheltering a proscribed person was punishable by death, while killing a proscribed person was rewarded.