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.