Sylla entered Italy at the head of an army, and defeated in a battle
Norbanus, the consul, by whom his ambassadors, sent to negotiate a
peace, had been maltreated. Having ineffectually tried every means with
Lucius Scipio, the other consul, to bring about a peace, he prepared to
attack his camp, when the consul’s whole army deserted to Sylla, having
been seduced by some soldiers sent out by him. Scipio was set free, when
he could have been killed. Cneius Pompeius, the son of Pompeius, who
took Asculum, raised an army of volunteers, and went over to Sylla with
three legions; also the whole body of the nobility quit the city and
joined his camp. Sundry actions in different parts of Italy are recorded
in the book.