The Battle of the Colline Gate, fought on 1 November 82 BC, was the decisive battle of the civil war between Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the Marians, notably led by Carrinas and Damasippus. A large part of the Marians' forces were made of Italian troops, especially Samnites. Sulla won the battle on the north-east of Rome, near the Colline Gate, and secured control of Italy. Appian is the only source who provides details about the battle. The next day Sulla ordered the slaughter of the Marian leaders and Samnite prisoners in the Villa Publica. On 3 November, he started the proscription of his enemies. Prelude Much of the war was fought in northern Italy. The Lucanians, the Samnites, and the Gauls fought alongside the Marians. Following defection of the Gauls to the forces of Sulla and the defeat of some of his forces by Metellus (one of Sulla's lieutenants) near Placentia (Piacenza), Carbo, the leader of the Marians, fled to Africa. His lieutenants, Gaius Carrinas, Gaius Marcius Censorinus, and Damasippus tried to force their way through a pass controlled by Sulla's men with all their forces and with the Samnites. This failed and they marched on Rome. When Sulla found out the Samnites were moving on Rome he sent his cavalry ahead to hinder them while he himself force-marched his army to the capital. The Samnite army arrived first, at daybreak, causing a lot of consternation in the city. After the first shock wore off the Romans sent out a cavalry force to delay the attackers. Unfortunately for the Romans, the battle-hardened Samnites easily dispatched the cavalry attack killing many of them. However, the delay did allow a cavalry detachment sent ahead by Sulla to catch their breath, organize, and begin harassing the enemy. The arrival of Sulla's cavalry proved to the Romans and Samnites alike that Sulla was on his way. Telesinus decided to wait for Sulla's arrival and deployed his army slightly away from the Colline Gate. Sulla's main army arrived at noon and set up camp near to the temple of Venus Erucina, outside the walls of Rome, not far from the Colline Gate. Battle Sulla's commanders were concerned by the state of his soldiers after their forced-march. They pointed out that they were not up against the disorganized Marians, whom they had easily beat time and again, but against the Samnites and Lucanians − highly motivated,