[7] He orchestrated the election of his successors, Scipio Asiaticus and Gaius Norbanus to the consulship for 83 BC and assumed the proconsulship of the nearby province of Cisalpine Gaul.
[8] Shortly thereafter, he induced the Senate to deliver a senatus consultum ultimum declaring Sulla an enemy of the state and giving the consuls, Asiaticus and Norbanus, the province of Italy.
[11] In response to these setbacks, Carbo marched south from Cisalpine Gaul, but the Marian-allied forces were unable to mount an effective defence against Sulla and his allies.
Unable to relieve Praeneste he decided to leave Italy, ostensibly to raise forces in Africa, but never made it farther than Sicily.
[19] As with several of the notable politicians of the 90s and 80s BC, such as Publius Sulpicius, Marcus Antonius the Orator, and Lucius Crassus, Carbo had a reputation for effective oratory.
For instance, Cicero writes of one occasion when Carbo made use of a certain clausula (a dichoreus or double trochee – u – x), which was so effective that the audience all gave a shout.