B. At Pontius Telesinus, dux Samnitium, vir animi bellique fortissimus penitusque Romano nomini infestissimus, contractis circiter XL milibus fortissimae pertinacissimaeque in retinendis armis iuventutis Kal. Novembribus ita ad portam Collinam cum Sulla {10} dimicavit, ut ad summum discrimen et eum et rempublicam perduceret, quae non maius periculum adiit Hannibalis intra tertium miliarium conspicata castra, quam eo die, quo circumvolans ordines exercitus sui Telesinus dictitansque adesse Romanis ultimum {15} diem vociferabatur eruendam delendamque urbem, adiciens numquam deluturos raptores Italicae libertatis lupos, nisi silva, in quam refugere solerent, esset excisa. Post primam demum horam noctis et Romana acies respiravit et hostium cessit. Telesinus {20} postera die semianimis repertus est, victoris magis quam morientis vultum praeferens, cuius abscisum caput ferro figi gestarique circa Praeneste Sulla iussit. VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, ii. 27. [Linenotes: 6. +Pontius Telesinus+, ‘a kinsman in name and temper of the hero of 321 B.C.’ 12-14. +quae ... castra.+ ‘As Hannibal had tried to relieve the closely pressed Capua by a direct attack on Rome, Pontius Telesinus thought to draw off the besieging army from Praeneste by threatening the Capital.’ --Ihne. 20. +Romana acies respiravit.+ Sulla, with the left wing, was driven back by the Samnites to the walls of Rome, but Crassus with the right wing was completely victorious, and to him the final victory was due. ‘The issue of the whole war, at least on Italian ground, was decided by the battle of the Colline Gate.’ --Ihne.] B16 SECOND CIVIL WAR, 83-82 B.C. (2) A. _Death of the Younger Marius. Sulla Felix._ Tum demum desperatis rebus suis C. Marius adulescens per cuniculos, qui miro opere fabricati in diversas agrorum partes fuerunt, conatus erumpere, cum foramine e terra emersisset, a dispositis in id ipsum interemptus est. . . . De quo iuvene quid {5} existimaverit Sulla, in promptu est; occiso enim demum eo Felicis nomen adsumpsit, quod quidem usurpasset iustissime, si eundem et vincendi et vivendi finem habuisset. VELL. PAT. ii. 27. [Linenotes: 1. +Tum+, i.e. after Sulla’s victory at the Colline Gate, 82 B.C. +C. Marius.+ ‘He possessed his father’s martial spirit, courage and unyielding perseverance.’ --Ihne. 2. +per cuniculos+ = _through subterranean passages_.] B. _The Sullan Proscriptions._