Sylla replied to deputies sent by the senate, that he would yield to the
authority of the senate, upon condition that those who, being banished
by Cinna, had fled to him, should be restored; which proposition
appeared reasonable to the senate, but was opposed and rejected by Carbo
and his faction, who conceived that they would derive more advantage
from a continuance of the war. Carbo, requiring hostages from all the
towns and colonies of Italy, to bind them more firmly in union against
Sylla, was overruled by the senate. The right of voting was given to the
new citizens by a decree of the senate. Quintus Metellus Pius, who had
taken part with the chief men of the state, being prepared for war in
Africa, was crushed by Caius Fabius, the prætor, [Y. R. 660. B. C. 83.]
Carbo’s faction and the Marian party procured a decree of the senate,
that the armies should every where be disbanded. The sons of freed-men
were distributed among the thirty-five tribes. Preparations were made
for war against Sylla.