Upon this, Cinna, quite furious at their disobedience, rushed forward to persuade them to their duty.  In the mean time one of the most mutinous of the soldiers being struck by an officer, returned the blow, and was apprehended for his crime.  This ill-timed severity produced a tumult and a mutiny through the whole army; and, while Cinna did all he could to appease it, he was run through the body by one of the crowd. 19.  Scip’io, the consul, who commanded against Sylla, was soon after allured by proposals for a treaty; but a suspension of arms being agreed upon, Sylla’s soldiers went into the opposite camp, displaying those riches which they had acquired in their expeditions, and offering to participate with their fellow-citizens, in case they changed their party. 20.  In consequence of this the whole army declared unanimously for Sylla; and Scip’io scarcely knew that he was forsaken and deposed, till he was informed of it by a party of the enemy, who, entering his tent, made him and his son prisoners.

21.  In this manner both factions, exasperated to the highest degree, and expecting no mercy on either part, gave vent to their fury in several engagements.  The forces on the side of young Ma’rius, who now succeeded his father in command, were the most numerous, but those of Sylla better united, and more under subordination. 22.  Carbo, who commanded for Ma’rius in the field, sent eight legions to Praenes’te, to relieve his colleague, but they were met by Pompey, afterwards surnamed the Great, in a defile, who slew many of them, and dispersed the rest.  Carbo soon after engaged Metel’lus, but was overcome, with the loss of ten thousand slain, and six thousand taken prisoners. 23.  In consequence, Urba’nus, one of the consuls, killed himself, and Carbo fled to Africa, where, after wandering a long time, he was at last delivered up to Pompey, who, to please Sylla, ordered him to be beheaded. 24.  Sylla, now become undisputed master of his country, entered Rome at the head of his army.  Happy, had he supported in peace the glory which he had acquired in war; or, had he ceased to live when he ceased to conquer!

25.  Eight thousand men, who had escaped the general carnage, surrendered themselves to the conqueror; he ordered them to be put into the Villa Pub’lica, a large house in the Campus Mar’tius; and, at the same time, convoked the senate:  there, without discovering the least emotion, he spoke with great fluency of his own exploits, and, in the mean time, gave private directions that all those wretches whom he had confined, should be slain. 26.  The senate, amazed at the horrid outcries of the sufferers, at first thought that the city was given up to plunder; but Sylla, with an unembarrassed air, informed them, that it was only some criminals who were punished by his order, and that the senate ought not to make themselves uneasy at their fate. 27.  The day after he proscribed forty senators, and sixteen hundred knights; and after an intermission of two days, forty