nemy,
taken in front and rear, was routed, and Pompeius began the siege of
Asculum. It was not taken till the next year, 89, and only after a
desperate battle before its walls. Judacilius, who had come to relieve
the town of which he was a native, though the day was lost, forced his
way inside the walls, and held out for several months longer. Finally,
when it was impossible to protract the defence, he had a pile of wood
made, and a table placed on it at which he feasted with friends. Then,
taking poison, he had the pile fired. When the Romans got in they
took fearful vengeance, slaying all the officers and men of position,
expelling the rest of the inhabitants, and confiscating their
property. Such was the fate of the ringleaders of the rebellion.

[Sidenote: The confederates assail the towns which cling to Rome.] As
Asculum was the first object of Roman vengeance, so the confederates
directed their first efforts against the towns in their neighbourhood
which refused to join them. Silo assailed Alba and Mutilus Aesernia.
The consul Caesar, sending ahead Marcellus and Crassus into Samnium
and Lucania, followed in person as soon as he could. Put he was beaten
by Vettius Scato in Samnium with the loss of 2,000 men. [Sidenote:
They take Aesernia and are joined by Venafrum.] Venafrum thereupon
revolted; and, though one account says that Sulla relieved Aesernia,
it was at best only a partial or a temporary relief, for it
capitulated before the close of the year. How the siege of Alba
ended we do not know. Defeat after defeat was now announced at Rome.
[Sidenote: Perperna defeated.] Perperna lost 4,000 men, and most of
his other soldiers threw away their arms on the battlefield. For this
Lupus deprived him of his command and attached his troops to those
of Marius. [Sidenote: Crassus defeated. Grumentum taken by the
confederates.] Crassus was beaten in Lucania and shut up in Grumentum,
which was besieged and taken. [Sidenote: Story of the generosity of
some slaves.] A pleasant story is told about some slaves of this
town. They had deserted to the confederates, and when the town was
taken made straight for the house where they had lived and dragged
their mistress away, telling people they were going to have their
revenge on her at last. And so they saved her. [Sidenote: Nola taken
by the confederates.] While the troops of Crassus were cooped up in
Grumentum Mutilus descended into Campania and obtained possession of
Nola by tre