Anno...sexcentesimo septuagesimo octavo:
Lucullus was given the province in 72 BCE.
qui ... bellum gerebat:Qui refers to Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who was given the original command
against Mithridates.
novum bellum:
While the Roman senate faced uprisings across the Mediterranean, there was
also a rebellion of slaves in the Italian peninsula as we will read in the next section of VI.7.