The History of Rome (Books 6–10) — Livy
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AB URBE CONDITA
Translation/edition: Rev. Canon Roberts (1912)
Language: English
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## Book VI

Translated by B. O. Foster
1. THE HISTORY of the Romans from the founding of the City of Rome to the capture of the same — at first under kings and afterwards under consuls and dictators, decemvirs and consular tribunes — their [2] foreign wars and their domestic dissensions, I have set forth in five books, dealing with matters which are obscure not only by reason of their great antiquity — like far-off objects which can hardly be descried — but also because in those days there was but slightly and scanty use of writing, the sole trustworthy guardian of the memory of past events, and because even such records as existed in the commentaries of the pontiffs and in other public and private documents, nearly all perished in the conflagration of the City. [3] From this point onwards a clearer and more definite account shall be given of the City’s civil and military history, when, beginning for a second time, it sprang up, as it were from the old roots, with a more luxuriant and fruitful growth.
[6.4] Now it stood at first by leaning on the same support by which it had raised itself up, that is on Marcus Furius, its foremost citizen; [5] neither would men suffer him to resign the dictatorship till the completion of the year. [6] That elections for the ensuing year should be held by the tribunes, in whose magistracy the City had been captured, was considered inadvisable, and the state reverted to an interregnum. While the citizens were engrossed in unremitting toil and labour to restore the City, Quintus Fabius had no sooner quitted his magistracy than he was indicted by Gnaeus Marcius, a tribune of the plebs, on the ground of his having fought in violation of the [7] law of nations against the Gauls, to whom he had been sent as an envoy — a trial which he escaped by a death so opportune that the majority believed it voluntary. [8] The interregnum began: Publius Cornelius Scipio was interrex; and after him Marcus Furius Camillus, who effected the election, as tribunes of the soldiers with consular authority, of Lucius Valerius Publicola (for the second time) Lucius Verginius, Publius Cornelius, Aulus Manlius, Lucius Aemilius, and Lucius Postumius.
[6.9] Having, immediately after the interregnum, entered upon their term, they consulted the senate before everything else on questions of religious observance. [10] Among the first decrees they passed was one for searching out the treaties and laws — to wit, the twelve tables and certain laws of the kings, — so far as they could be discovered. Some of these were made accessible even to the common people, but such as dealt with sacred rites were kept private by the pontiffs, chiefly that they might hold the minds of the populace in subjection through religious fear. [11] Then they proceeded to deliberate about days of evil omen. The 18th of July was notorious for a double misfortune, since it was on that day that the Fabii were massacred at the Cremera and that subsequently the rout at the Allia occurred, which resulted in the destruction of the City. From the latter disaster they named it the Day of the Allia, and forbade any public or private business to be done that day. [12] Some think, because Sulpicius had, on the day after the Ides of July, made an unacceptable sacrifice, and, without having gained the divine approval, had two days later exposed the Roman army to the enemy, that therefore religious rites were omitted also on the days after the several Ides; and that afterwards it became traditional that the morrow after Kalends and Nones should likewise be avoided, from the same scruple.
2. But the Romans were not left long to the peaceful consideration of plans for raising their state after its grievous fall. [2] On the one hand the Volsci, their ancient foes, had armed for the purpose of extinguishing the Roman name: on the other, merchants brought word from Etruria that the leading men of all her nations had met at the shrine of Voltumna and conspired to make war. [3] A fresh alarm, too, was occasioned by the revolt of the Latins and the Hernici, who since the battle fought at Lake Regillus had continued for close upon a hundred years, with unquestioned loyalty, in the friendship of the Roman People. [4] And so, when such dangers threatened them on every side, and it was clear to all that the name of Rome was not only held in hatred by her enemies, but even in contempt by her allies, it was [5] resolved that the republic should be defended under the same auspices under which it had been redeemed and that Marcus Furius Camillus should be named dictator. [6] Being appointed dictator he designated Gaius Servilius Ahala master of the horse, and after proclaiming a cessation of legal business, held a levy of the juniors, yet without excluding such of the older men as still possessed any vigour, to whom also he administered the oath and mustered them into centuries.
[6.7] Having enrolled the army and equipped it, he divided it into three parts. [8] One division he stationed in the Veientine district to confront Etruria; a second he ordered to encamp before the City. These divisions were put under the command of military tribunes, Aulus Manlius for the home troops, Lucius Aemilius for those which were being dispatched against the Etruscans. [9] The third division he led himself against the Volsci, and not far from Lanuvium — ad Mecium the place is called — advanced to attack their camp. The enemy had gone to war from a feeling of contempt for the Romans, believing that their fighting strength had been nearly wiped out by the Gauls, but merely on hearing that Camillus was their general, they were so terrified that they protected themselves with a rampart and [10] the rampart with a barricade of logs, that the Romans might nowhere be able to penetrate to their defences. On perceiving this, Camillus ordered his men to throw fire on the barrier. [11] It so happened that there was a high wind blowing towards the enemy, which not only caused the blaze to open a path, but what with the flames making towards the camp, and the heat and smoke and the crackling of the green wood, so alarmed the enemy, that the Roman soldiers experienced less difficulty in scaling the fortifications of the Volscian camp than they had met with in crossing the burnt barricade. [12] Having routed and slain his enemies and taken their camp by assault, the dictator gave the booty to his soldiers, an act which, coming unexpectedly from a commander who was by no means open-handed, was all the more acceptable to the men. [13] Then after pursuing the fugitives and laying waste all the Volscian countryside, he forced the Volsci to surrender at last, after seventy years of war. [14] The victor, leaving the Volsci, crossed over to the Aequi, who were themselves making preparations for war; their army he surprised at Bolae, and carried not only their camp but their city, too, at the first assault.
3. While affairs were thus prosperous in that region where Camillus commanded for Rome, in another direction a great danger threatened. Well-nigh the whole of Etruria was in arms and was laying siege to Sutrium, an ally of the Roman People. [2] Envoys of the Sutrines had appeared before the senate to beg for assistance in their distress, and had obtained a decree that the dictator should march to the aid of their people at the earliest opportunity. [3] But the plight of the besieged would not admit of their waiting till this hope was realized; and the population of the little town, exhausted with the labour, guard-mounting, and wounds, which fell always to the lot of the same men, had come to terms, and having surrendered their city to the enemy, were leaving their homes in a sad procession, unarmed and with but a single garment each, when, as it chanced, Camillus appeared on the scene with a Roman army. [4] The disconsolate rabble cast themselves at his feet, while their leading men addressed him with words drawn from them by the direst necessity and accompanied by the wailing of the women and children, who were being dragged along as the companions of their exile. He bade the Sutrines spare their lamentations; the Etruscans were those to whom he was bringing grief and tears. [5] He then gave orders that the packs should be set down; that the Sutrines should stop there, with a small guard which he left them; and that his soldiers should take their weapons and follow him. So, with his army in light marching order, he set out for Sutrium, where he was not surprised to find everything at loose ends, as a consequence — common enough — of their success; there was no outpost before the walls; the gates were open; and the victors had dispersed and were fetching the booty out of the houses of their enemies. [6] For the second time, therefore, on the same day, Sutrium was captured. [7] The victorious Etruscans were everywhere slaughtered by the new enemy, and had no time given them to assemble and unite their forces or to arm. As they tried, every man for himself, to reach the gates, if by chance they might somehow escape out into the fields, they found them shut, for so the general had ordered in the beginning. [8] After that some caught up their swords; others, whom the sudden attack had found already armed, tried to call their fellows together for a battle, and this would have been hotly fought, because of the enemy’s despair, had not heralds been dispatched through the town who made proclamation that arms should be laid down and the unarmed receive quarter, and that none should suffer any violence except those that carried weapons. [9] Then even such as had in their extremity resolved to fight to the death, now that hope of life was held out to them, began everywhere to throw down their swords, and to go unarmed — for fortune had made this the safer way — to meet their enemies. [10] The great throng was divided among companies of guards; and before night the town was restored to the Sutrines, unharmed and without scathe of war, because it had not been carried by assault, but had been surrendered upon terms.
4. Camillus returned to the City and triumphed for his victories in three simultaneous wars. [2] By far the greatest number of the captives led before his chariot were Etruscans; they were sold under the spear, and fetched so large a sum that after the matrons had been repaid for their gold, the surplus sufficed to make three golden bowls, which were inscribed, as is well known, with [3] the name of Camillus, and kept, until the burning of the Capitol, in the chapel of Jupiter, at Juno’s feet.
[6.4] This year were received into the state such of the Veientes, Capenates, and Faliscans as had come over to the Romans in the course of these wars, and lands were allotted to these new citizens. [5] There were also recalled from Veii to the City, by senatorial decree, those who being too indolent to build in Rome had taken possession of empty houses in Veii and had gone there to live. They had indeed murmured at first, and had flouted the order; but the designation of a day and the threat of a capital penalty for failure to return to Rome reduced them from a defiant group to obedient individuals, as each became alarmed for himself. [6] Rome was now growing in numbers, and in every part at once new buildings were springing up; the state contributed towards the costs, and the aediles forwarded the work as though it had been public business, while the citizens themselves, incited by their desire to be using it, hurried their building to a conclusion; and within the year there was a new City standing.
[6.7] At the close of the year an election of military tribunes with consular powers was held. Those chosen were Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus, Quintus Servilius Fidenas (for the fifth time), Lucius Julius Iulus, Lucius Aquilius Corvus, Lucius Lucretius Tricipitinus, and Servius Sulpicius Rufus. [8] These men led one army against the Aequi, not to war — for they confessed themselves vanquished — but from hatred, in order to waste, their territories and leave them with no strength to make new trouble; with another they invaded the district of Tarquinii, where they captured by assault the Etruscan towns Cortuosa and Contenebra. [9] At Cortuosa there was no struggle: in a surprise attack they carried the place at the first shout and onset, and then sacked and burned it. Contenebra held out for a few days, but the continuous fighting, without respite either day or night, overcame them. [10] The Roman army had been divided into six corps, of which each in its turn went into battle for six hours; while the townsmen were so few that the same men were exposed to an attack that was constantly renewed, until at last they gave way and afforded the Romans an opening to enter the City. [11] The tribunes decided that the booty should go to the state, but were less prompt in issuing orders than in planning; and, while they procrastinated, it was already in the hands of the soldiers and could not be taken away without offending them.
[6.12] That same year, that the City might not grow in private buildings only, the Capitol was provided with a substructure of hewn stone, a work which even amidst the present splendours of the City is deserving of remark.
5. And now, while the citizens were taken up with building, the tribunes of the plebs were trying to attract crowds to their meetings by proposals for agrarian laws. [2] They held out hopes of the Pomptine district, of which the Romans had then for the first time — since the defeat inflicted on the Volsci by Camillus — acquired undisputed control. [3] The tribunes brought the charge that this district was worse plagued by the nobility than it had been by the Volsci; for the latter, as long as they were strong enough and had arms, had done no more than make incursions into it; [4] but the nobles were taking violent possession of the public domain, and unless it should be parcelled out before they seized it all, there would be no room there for the commons. [5] They made no great impression on the plebs, who were seldom in the Forum, because they were so intent on building, and, exhausted with the expense thereby incurred, had no thought of land, which they lacked the means of stocking.
[6.6] The citizens were much given to religious fears, and at that time, owing to the recent calamity, even the leaders were a prey to superstition; so, in order that new auspices might be had, the state went into an interregnum. [7] The office of interrex was successively held by Marcus Manlius Capitolinus, Servius Sulpicius Camerinus, and Lucius Valerius Potitus. Finally, the last-named held an election of military tribunes and announced that the choice had fallen on Lucius Papirius, Gaius Cornelius, Gaius Sergius, Lucius Aemilius (for the second time), Lucius Menenius and Lucius Valerius Publicola (for the third time). These men took office at the conclusion of the interregnum.
[6.8] In that year the temple of Mars vowed in the Gallic war was dedicated by Titus Quinctius, duumvir for sacrifices. Four additional tribes were formed out of the new citizens, the Stellatina, Tromentina, Sabatina, and Arniensis; these filled up the number of tribes to twenty-five.
6. The question of the Pomptine territory was brought up by Lucius Sicinius, a tribune of the plebs, in popular meetings which were now more numerously attended, and by men more easily induced to covet land, than had been the case before. [2] The senate talked also of war with the Latins and the Hernici, but dread of a greater war — Etruria being up in arms — caused them to defer it.
[6.3] The government passed to Camillus, as tribune of the soldiers with consular authority. He was given five colleagues: Servius Cornelius Maluginensis, Quintus Servilius Fidenas (for a sixth term), Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, Lucius Horatius Pulvillus, and Publius Valerius. [4] Early in the year the general concern was diverted from the Etruscan war, when a band of fugitives from the Pomptine district suddenly appeared in Rome with tidings that the Antiates were in arms. [5] The Latin communities, so they reported, had sent their soldiers to help in the war, but asserted that their government was not involved, since they had merely, as they said, not forbidden their young men to serve, as volunteers, where they liked.
[6.6] The Romans had ceased by this time to make light of any wars. And so the senate gave thanks to the gods that Camillus was in office, for in sooth they would have been obliged to make him dictator, if he had been a private citizen; [7] and his colleagues declared that the general control, when any warlike danger threatened, belonged to one man alone, and that they were resolved to subordinate their own authority to Camillus; nor did they believe that there was any derogation of their own dignity in such concessions as they might make to his. The senate commended the tribunes, and Camillus himself, deeply moved, expressed his thanks. [8] A heavy responsibility he said, was placed upon him by the Roman People, who had now elected him for the fourth time; no small one by the senate, in so judging of him; but the greatest of all proceeded from the deference accorded him by such distinguished colleagues. [9] Accordingly, if it were possible to add to his exertions and his vigilance, he should vie with himself in an effort to make the very high opinion which his fellow citizens so unanimously entertained of him an abiding one. [10] As for the war with the men of Antium, there was more bluster in that quarter than real danger; nevertheless, as he would have them fear nothing, so he would counsel them to despise nothing. [11] The City of Rome was ringed about by the envy and ill-will of her neighbours; consequently there needed several generals and armies to administer the interests of the state. [12] “It is my wish,” said he, “that you, Publius Valerius, should share my authority and deliberations, and join me in leading the legions against the enemy at Antium; [13] that you, Quintus Servilius, should organize and equip a second army, and maintain your camp near Rome, on the alert, in case any move should be made in the meantime from Etruria, as happened recently, or from this new source of anxiety, the Latins and Hernici; certain I am that you will discharge the commission in a manner worthy of your father, your grandfather, and yourself, and of your six tribuneships. [14] Let a third army be enrolled by Lucius Quinctius, out of those who are invalided or over age, to defend the City and the walls. Let Lucius Horatius provide arms, missiles, corn, and what else the exigencies of the war demand. [15] You, Servius Cornelius, we, your colleagues, appoint to be president of this state council, guardian of religious rites, of the elections, the laws, and all the affairs of the City.”
[6.16] All promised loyally to do their best in their respective departments of their office; and Valerius, who had been selected to share in the command, added that he should regard Marcus Furius as a dictator and himself as his master of the horse; [17] in proportion therefore to men’s confidence in their unique commander should be their hopes of the outcome of the war. [18] Whereat the senators in their enthusiasm shouted that they hoped right well of the war, and of the peace, and of the common weal in general; adding that the state would never need a dictator if it might have such men in office, united in such loving concord, equally ready to command and obey, and rather contributing to the common stock of glory than drawing upon it for their own behoof.
7. After proclaiming a suspension of legal business and holding a levy, Furius and Valerius set out for Satricum, where the Antiates had collected not only the fighting men of the Volsci, recruited from a new generation, but also a large force of Latins and Hernici, nations which, having been long at peace, were extremely strong. The consequence of this addition of new enemies to their old ones was to trouble the spirit of the Roman soldiers. [2] But when the centurions reported to Camillus, as he was already drawing up his line, that the men were demoralized; that they had been loath to arm and had hesitated and delayed in leaving the camp, nay, that some had even been heard to say that they would be one against a hundred in the battle, and that so great a host could hardly be withstood even though unarmed, much less when provided with weapons — being [3] told of this, I say, Camillus vaulted upon his horse, and riding along the ranks in front of the standards, faced his troops and thus addressed them:
“Soldiers, what means this gloom and this unwonted reluctance? Are you strangers to the enemy, or to me, or to yourselves? [4] The enemy — what else are they but inexhaustible material for you to fashion into glorious deeds of valour? As for yourselves, when acting as my soldiers, though I say nothing of your capturing Falerii and Veii and routing the Gallic legions in your captured City, you celebrated, only the other day, a three-fold triumph for a triple victory over these very Volsci and Aequi and over Etruria. [5] Or is it that I, having given you the signal not as dictator but as tribune of the soldiers, am not recognized as your commander? And yet neither do I desire supreme authority over you, nor ought you to regard in me anything but myself; for the dictatorship could never give me resolution, nor could even exile deprive me of it. [6] We are all, therefore, exactly as we were, and since we bring the same qualities in all respects to this campaign that we brought to earlier ones, let us look forward to the same result. As soon as you have joined battle, every man will do what he has learned and has become accustomed to: you will conquer, they will run away.
8. He then sounded the charge, and leaping from his horse, caught hold of the nearest standard bearer and hurried him towards the enemy, calling out: “Forward soldiers!” [2] But when they saw Camillus, who for bodily feats was now grown old and infirm, advancing in person against the foe, they all gave a cheer and rushed forward together, and every man took up the cry of “Follow the General!” [3] It is even said that Camillus bade the standard-bearer hurl his ensign into the press of enemies, and urging the front ranks to recover it, then for the first time discomfited the Antiates. [4] The panic did not stop with the first line, but spread even to the troops in support. [5] It was not only the dash of the Roman soldiers, inspired by their leader’s presence, which overcame them; for nothing so daunted the spirits of the Volsci as the sight of Camillus himself, when they happened to encounter him — so surely, wherever he went, did he carry victory with him. [6] This was especially apparent on the left. That wing had already nearly given way, when Camillus suddenly threw himself upon a horse, and, armed with an infantry-shield, rode up and by his presence retrieved the battle, calling out that the rest of the army was conquering. [7] The fortune of the day had now turned, but the enemy’s numbers were an obstacle even to their flight, and a great multitude remained for the weary soldiers to dispatch with long-drawn massacre, when suddenly great gusts of wind brought on a downpour of rain, which broke off what was rather a certain victory than a battle. [8] Thereupon the recall was sounded, and the night that followed finished the campaign for the Romans, while they slept. For the Latins and Hernici abandoned the Volsci and marched off to their homes, their evil counsels rewarded with as evil an outcome; [9] and the Volsci, perceiving themselves to be deserted by those on whom they had relied in their rebellion, forsook their camp and shut themselves up within the walls of Satricum. [10] Camillus at first set about confining them with a palisade and mound, intending to lay siege to them; but finding the enemy made no sorties to interrupt the work, he concluded they had not sufficient resolution to make him wait so long for victory. He therefore encouraged his troops not to wear themselves out with protracted toil, as though they were besieging Veii, when victory was within their grasp; and with great alacrity on the part of the soldiers, he approached the walls from every side and captured the town with scaling ladders. The Volsci threw away their weapons and surrendered.
9. But the general’s thoughts were turning to a matter of greater moment, namely Antium, which, as being the Volscian capital, he held responsible for the last war. [2] But because, without extensive equipment of artillery and engines, it was impossible to take so strong a town, he left his colleague in command of the army and proceeded to Rome, that he might urge the senate to undertake the destruction of Antium. [3] While he was speaking — I suppose it was Heaven’s will that the Antian state should continue somewhat longer — envoys from Nepete and Sutrium appeared, who asked for help against the Etruscans, saying that the opportunity of lending aid would soon be past. To this quarter Fortune diverted the energies of Camillus, away from Antium. [4] For since these places were on the frontier of Etruria, and were the barriers, so to speak, and gateways of that region, the Etruscans were concerned to seize them, as often as they had any new design in hand, and the Romans to recover or defend them. [5] The senate therefore resolved to request of Camillus that he should relinquish Antium and undertake the Etruscan war, and voted him the city levies which had been under the command of Quinctius. [6] Although Camillus would have preferred the army, disciplined and used to his authority, which lay in the Volscian country, he made no objection, only stipulating that Valerius should be associated with him in the command. [7] Quinctius and Horatius were dispatched to succeed Valerius against the Volsci.
Leaving the City and marching to Sutrium, Furius and Valerius found that a part of the town was already captured by the Etruscans, and that in the other part the townspeople had barricaded the streets and were defending themselves with great difficulty from the onslaughts of their enemies. [8] The arrival of succour from Rome, and particularly the great reputation which Camillus enjoyed with both friends and foes, checked for the moment the disastrous course of events and afforded time to render assistance. [9] Accordingly, Camillus divided the army, and directed his colleague to make a circuit with his forces and to attack the walls on the side which was held by the enemy. His hope was not so much that the city would be taken by escalade, as that the enemy might be diverted to that quarter — easing thereby the strain upon the townsmen, who were already worn out with fighting — and that he might himself have an opportunity of entering the place without encountering resistance. [10] But on this plan being put into effect simultaneously at both points, the Etruscans, finding themselves threatened on either side and seeing that the walls were being violently assailed and that the enemy was inside the city, threw themselves out by the only gate which chanced to be unguarded, in one panic-stricken throng. [11] Great was the carnage they suffered as they fled, both in the city and in the fields. Furius’s men slew more within the walls; the soldiers of Valerius were more lightly equipped for pursuit, and kept up the massacre until night made it impossible to see.
[6.12] Having retaken Sutrium and restored it to our allies, the army marched to Nepete, which had surrendered to the Etruscans, who were now in complete possession.
10. It appeared likely that this town would be more troublesome to recover, not only because it was wholly in the hands of the enemy, but also because a faction of the Nepesini had betrayed their state and arranged the capitulation. [2] It was nevertheless decided to send word to their leaders, that they should sever themselves from the Etruscans and extend to the Romans the same trusty aid which they had requested at their hands. [3] When the reply came back that they were powerless, that the Etruscans held the walls and guarded the gates, the Romans first laid waste their fields, in an effort to frighten the townsfolk; [4] then, when the sanctity of their surrender proved to be more binding on them than that of their alliance, they gathered osiers from the fields and made fascines, and the army being led against the walls filled up the moat, erected scaling ladders, and carried the town at the first shout and charge. [5] The Nepesini were then commanded to lay down their weapons and the order was given to spare such as were unarmed. The Etruscans were put to death, whether armed or not. Of the Nepesini, too, those who were responsible for the surrender were executed; the innocent populace were given back their possessions, and the town was left with a garrison. [6] After thus regaining from the enemy two cities of the allies, the victorious army under its tribunes marched gloriously back to Rome.
The same year demands for reparation were made upon the Latins and the Hernici, and they were asked why, during recent years, they had furnished no soldiers, as they had agreed to do. [7] Both nations replied in plenary assemblies that no blame or evil purpose attached to the state because a few of their young men had served with the Volsci. [8] These men had, for that matter, paid the penalty for their distorted judgment, and not one of them had come back; as to their having furnished no soldiers, this had been due to their constant fear of the Volsci — a pest that clung so fast to them that with all that long succession of wars they had been unable to shake it off. [9] On learning of this answer, the senators were of opinion that they lacked not so much the ground for war as a favourable opportunity.
11. In the following year, when the consular tribunes were Aulus Manlius, Publius Cornelius, Titus and Lucius Quinctius Capitolinus, Lucius Papirius Cursor (for the second time) and Gaius Sergius (for the second time), a serious foreign war broke out, and an even more serious domestic schism. [2] The war was set on foot by the Volsci, in conjunction with a revolt on the part of the Latins and Hernici; the schism originated where such a thing was least to be apprehended, with a man of patrician family and high renown, Marcus Manlius Capitolinus. [3] This man, scorning, in his overweening pride, the other nobles, but envying the one who excelled them all in honours and good qualities, namely Marcus Furius, could ill endure that Camillus should at last have attained to such solitary eminence, both amongst the magistrates and in the armies, as to have those who had been chosen under the same auspices not for colleagues but for servants; [4] whereas — if one considered the situation fairly — it would have been impossible for Marcus Furius to redeem his native City from the leaguer of her enemies, unless Manlius himself had before that saved the Capitol and Citadel. [5] Camillus had assailed the Gauls while they were receiving the gold and while their resolution was relaxed by thoughts of peace; but he himself had driven them back, as they came on, sword in hand, in the act of taking the Citadel. Of the glory of Camillus a goodly portion belonged to all the soldiers who had conquered with him: in his own victory it was acknowledged that no mortal soever had a share. [6] Puffed up with these opinions, and being besides, through a defect of nature, impetuous and passionate, when he perceived that his abilities did not bring him that leadership amongst the nobles [7] which he thought they merited, he was the first of all the patricians to turn demagogue and to cast in his lot with the plebeian magistrates. He abused the nobles, he courted the favour of the plebs; and swept along by the breath of popularity and not by good counsel chose rather to be reputed great than virtuous. [8] Moreover, not content with agrarian proposals, which had ever served the tribunes to stir up sedition, he began an attack on credit; for he held that debt was a sharper goad, since it not only threatened poverty and shame, but terrified the freeman with the thought of shackles and imprisonment. [9] And in fact there had been a vast piling up of debts, by reason of a thing that is ruinous even to the rich, to wit, building. And so the Volscian war, grave in itself and made still graver by the defection of the Latins and Hernici, was alleged as a reason for seeking a greater authority; [10] but the revolutionary schemes of Manlius were the more compelling cause of the senate’s naming a dictator. They appointed Aulus Cornelius Cossus, who appointed as his master of the horse Titus Quinctius Capitolinus.
12. The dictator perceived that a greater struggle was impending at home than abroad. But either the war demanded haste, or he believed that by a victory and triumph he could add power to the dictatorship itself. So he mustered his forces and proceeded to the Pomptine territory, which he had heard was invaded by a Volscian army.
[6.2] I doubt not that those who are surfeited with reading in all these books about endless wars waged with the Volsci will ask, as with great astonishment I did myself, on examining the historians who were nearer in point of time to those events, where the so oft defeated Volsci and Aequi got their supply of soldiers. [3] But since the ancients have passed over this question in silence, what can I adduce other than an opinion such as everyone can by conjecture arrive at for himself? [4] It is probable either that in the intervals between wars successive generations sprang up — as happens nowadays in the levies of the Romans — which they used for their frequent renewals of war; or that it was not always the same tribes from which they enrolled their armies — though it was always the same nation which made war; [5] or else that there was an innumerable multitude of freemen in those regions which in our day scarce afford a scanty seed-plot for soldiers, and are only saved from becoming a waste desert by gangs of Roman slaves. [6] In any case, all the authorities would agree that the army of the Volsci was an enormous one, although their state had recently suffered a heavy blow from the generalship and auspices of Camillus. There were, besides, additional forces of Latins and Hernici, as well as a certain number from Circeii, and even Roman colonists from Velitrae.
[6.7] On the morning after he had made his camp, the dictator took the auspices, and coming forth from his tent offered up a victim and besought the favour of Heaven. He then with great cheerfulness presented himself before the soldiers, who were already arming by the first rays of light, as they had been warned to do when the signal for battle should be displayed. [8] “Ours is the victory, soldiers,” he exclaimed, “if the gods and the soothsayers who interpret them can at all see what is coming. And so, as befits men who with sure confidence are about to fight with those who are no match for them, let us lay our javelins at our feet and arm our right hands with swords only. I would have none run out from the line, but all stand firmly planted and receive the onset of our enemies. [9] When they have discharged their missiles without effect, and come thronging upon you where you stand, then let your blades flash out, and let every man of you bethink him that the gods are the Roman’s helpers, that the gods have with fair omens sent him into battle. [10] Do you, Titus Quinctius, hold back your cavalry and watch for the first beginning of the mellay; when you see that the lines are already close-locked, foot to foot, then loose the terrors of your horse against them, while they are taken up with another fear; charge them as they fight, and break their ranks.” [11] so horse and foot fought exactly as they had been ordered; the general failed not his legions, nor fortune the general.
13. The hostile multitude, relying on numbers only and measuring both armies with their eyes, recklessly began the fight and as recklessly gave it up; [2] their boldness went no further than the battle-cry, the discharge of missiles, and the first fury of the onset; the play of swords, when foot met foot, and the glance of the foeman that darted out the fire of his spirit, they could not abide. [3] Their front was first driven in and communicated its disorder to the supports; the horsemen, too, inspired a terror of their own; next the ranks were broken at many points, and all was in commotion, and the line resembled a surging wave. Then, as soon as each began to see that with the fall of those in front his own turn to be killed would soon be coming, they turned and fled. [4] The Romans pressed on after them, and as long as they retained their arms and withdrew in masses, it was the infantry’s task to pursue them; but when the enemy were seen to be throwing away their weapons on every hand and their army to be dispersed in flight over the fields; then the cavalry squadrons were let loose, with orders not to stop to kill single fugitives and afford meanwhile an opportunity to the main body of escaping; [5] it was sufficient if by darting missiles at them to alarm them, and by riding across their path, they should hold the column in check, till the infantry could overtake the enemy and utterly destroy them. [6] Flight and pursuit continued until nightfall. The Volscian camp was also captured the same day and sacked, and all the booty except the persons of freemen was turned over to the soldiers. [7] The chief part of the prisoners consisted of Latins and Hernici, not all of whom were plebeians, such as might be supposed to have served as mercenaries, but certain youths of high rank were discovered, a clear proof that their states had publicly countenanced the Volscian enemy. [8] Some, again, were recognized as being from Circeii and from the colony at Velitrae. They were all sent to Rome, and being questioned by the chief senators, gave the same answers they had given the dictator, and in no uncertain terms laid bare the defection of their respective peoples.
14. The dictator maintained his army in camp, not doubting in the least that the senate would declare war on those nations; when a greater disturbance broke out at home and obliged them to summon him to the City, where the sedition was increasing from day to day, and occasioned more than the usual alarm by reason of the man who was behind it. [2] For now not only the speeches of Marcus Manlius, but his actions as well, while ostensibly democratic, were really revolutionary, considering the purpose which inspired them. [3] A centurion renowned for military prowess had been condemned for debt. As he was being led away, Manlius caught sight of him, and hastening to his side through the midst of the Forum with his band of retainers, he laid hold of him, and exclaiming at the arrogance of the patricians, the heartlessness of the money-lenders, the sufferings of the plebs, and the merits and misfortunes of this man, [4] “Then in very truth,” he cried, “was it all in vain that with this right hand I saved the Capitol and the Citadel, if I am to see my fellow citizen and fellow soldier carried off a captive — as though the Gauls had conquered us — to servitude and chains!” [5] He then paid the money to the creditor in full sight of the people, and with the ceremony of the scales and bronze redeemed the debtor and set him free, to invoke the blessing of gods and men on Marcus Manlius, his liberator, the father of the Roman plebs. [6] The man was at once received into the midst of a tumultuous throng, and added to the tumult by displaying the scars he had received in the Veientine, the Gallic, and other successive wars. [7] While he had himself been fighting, he said, and rebuilding his ruined home, he had been overwhelmed with usury, though he had paid already many times the amount of the capital debt, for the interest always swallowed up the principal; [8] that he beheld the light of day, the Forum, the faces of his fellow citizens, he owed to the generosity of Marcus Manlius, at whose hands he had experienced all the loving-kindness of parents; to him he solemnly devoted his remaining strength and life and blood; what ties soever bound him to native land and the gods of his state and family, bound him to one man alone. [9] Excited by these words, the commons were already at the beck of a single man, when Manlius did another thing even better calculated to promote a general embroilment. [10] For he gave a farm in the Veientine district, which formed the main part of his fortune, to an auctioneer to sell,— “that I may not suffer one of your number, Quirites,” said he, “to be condemned, made over, and carried off to slavery, so long as anything of my estate remains.” At this their ardour was so kindled that it was clear that in every measure, right or wrong, they would follow the champion of their liberty.
[6.11] Besides this he delivered in his house harangues that were full of accusation against the patricians; amongst other things, he declared, with reckless indifference to truth or falsehood, that the patricians were concealing treasures of Gallic gold, and were no longer content with possessing the state lands, unless they could also divert to their own use the money of the state — money which, if it were employed for the common weal, would suffice to clear the plebs of debt. On this hope being held out to them, the commons felt that they were indeed ill-used. [12] When, they said, it had been necessary to raise gold for the redemption of their City from the Gauls, it had been collected by taxation; but this same gold, after being captured from the enemy, had become the spoil of a few. [13] They therefore persistently demanded to be told where all that stolen money was hid; and when he put them off with the promise that he would tell them at the proper time, they dropped their other concerns and became one and all so absorbed in this, that it was evident he would reap no little gratitude if his report proved true, and no small offence if it turned out to be false.
15. Such was the critical state of affairs when the dictator was sent for from the army and came to Rome. Next day he held a meeting of the senate, and having satisfied himself of the people’s support, he commanded the senators not to leave him, and coming forth with a great company of them into the Comitium, he there set up his curule chair and dispatched an officer for Marcus Manlius. [2] Being thus summoned by order of the dictator, Manlius signalled to his friends that the struggle was [3] at hand, and advanced with a great train of followers to the tribunal. [4] On this side were ranged the senators, on that the plebs, looking, every man of them, to his respective leader, as though they had formed up for battle. Then, having obtained silence, the dictator began: “I would,” said he, “that I arid the senators of Rome might agree with the plebs in all things else as readily as I am confident we shall do regarding you, Manlius, and the demand I am about to make of you. [5] I perceive that you have caused the citizens to hope that the money which has been lent may be repaid, without injury to credit, out of Gallic treasure which prominent patricians are concealing. [6] This proposal I am so far from hindering, that on the contrary I exhort you, Marcus Manlius, to free the Roman plebs from usury, and dislodge from their secret hoards those men who are brooding jealously over the public treasure; which if you do not, whether that you may share the spoil yourself, or because your story is a lie, I shall order you into custody, nor suffer you any longer to excite the multitude with delusive hopes.”
[6.7] To this Manlius replied that he had not failed to perceive that the appointment of a dictator was aimed, not at the Volsci, who were enemies whenever it suited the convenience of the patricians, nor at the Latins and Hernici, whom they were driving by false accusations to take up arms, but at himself and the Roman plebs. [8] And now they had dropped their pretended war and were attacking him; now the dictator was coming out as the champion of the money-lenders against the plebs; and they were seeking now to derive from the people’s friendliness to him some charge that might lead to his destruction. [9] “Does it offend you,” he asked, “Aulus Cornelius, and you, Conscript Fathers, that a crowd attends me? Why do you not take it from me by doing, each of you, acts of kindness, by saving debtors, by rescuing your fellow citizens from prison, by preventing the enslavement of those who have been condemned and assigned, by employing your superfluity of wealth to sustain the necessities of others? [10] But why should I ask of you that you spend of your own money? Receive what is outstanding of the original debts, after deducting from the principal what has been paid in interest, and my retinue will soon attract no more notice than any man’s. But why, you will ask, am I the only man to be concerned for my fellow citizens? [11] I can no more answer you than if you were to ask why I was the only man to save the Capitol and Citadel. [12] As then — to the best of my ability — I helped the people at large, so now will I help single persons. And touching the Gallic treasure — the thing itself is simple, but your questioning makes it difficult. For why do you ask about a thing you know? Why do you bid us shake out what is in your purses, and not rather lay it down yourselves — unless there is some cheat involved? [13] The more you bid us expose your sleight-of-hand, the more I fear you may have robbed us even of our eyes, while we were watching you. And so it is not I that must be forced to tell of your plunder, but you that must be compelled to give it up.”
16. But the dictator bade him cease to quibble, and insisted that he should either make his indictment good or confess to the crime of having accused the senate falsely and exposed it to the unmerited odium of a charge of theft; and when Manlius refused to speak at the pleasure of his enemies, he commanded him to be imprisoned. [2] On being arrested by the attendant, Manlius cried out, “Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and Queen Juno and Minerva, and all ye other gods and goddesses that dwell in the Capitol and in the Citadel, is it thus ye suffer your soldier and protector to be tormented by his adversaries? [3] Shall this right arm wherewith I routed the Gauls from your shrines be now chained and fettered?” There was none that could endure to behold or hear this shame; but there were certain rules of conduct which the citizens, deeply submissive to regular authority, had made inviolable; nor did either the tribunes of the plebs or the plebs themselves dare to lift their eyes or open their mouths against the power of the dictator. [4] But after Manlius was cast into gaol, it is certain that a great part of the people put on mourning, and that many men permitted their hair and beards to grow, and that a mournful throng hung about the entrance to the prison.
[6.5] The dictator triumphed over the Volsci, but gained more ill-will thereby than glory; for men murmured that he had earned it, not in the field, but at home, not over an enemy, but over a citizen; one thing only had been lacking to his arrogance, in that Marcus Manlius had not been led before his car. [6] By this time the feeling was grown well-nigh seditious; and to appease it the senate — though none demanded it — became all at once a voluntary giver, and commanded two thousand Roman citizens to be led out to plant a colony at Satricum. [7] Two iugeraand a half of land were allotted them; but since they chose to regard it as too little, and only given to a few, and as being the price of Manlius’s condemnation, the remedy but aggravated the sedition. [8] And now the Manlian party were more conspicuous than before, both for their sordid dress and for the sorrowful countenances of defendants; men’s fears had been removed by the abdication of the dictator, following his triumph, and their tongues and spirits had been set free.
17. Accordingly one began to hear the opinion openly expressed that the people were to blame, because they always by their favours raised their champions to a dizzy eminence, and then at the critical juncture left them in the lurch: [2] it had been so with Spurius Cassius and with Spurius Maelius, of whom the former was destroyed while summoning the people to the land, and the latter while endeavouring at his own expense to stave off starvation from his fellow citizens; [3] it was so with Marcus Manlius, who, finding a part of the citizens overwhelmed and sunk in debt, was dragging them out into light and liberty, when they betrayed him to his adversaries; the plebs fattened their own defenders for the shambles. Was this the penalty a consular must undergo, if he answered not when the dictator nodded to him? [4] Let them assume that he had lied before, and for that reason was then unable to reply: what slave had ever been cast into prison for a lie? Did they not recall that night which had almost been the last eternal night of the Roman name? Could they not see the line of Gauls scaling the Tarpeian Rock? Could they not see Marcus Manlius himself, as they had seen him, covered with sweat and blood, when he had rescued as it were Jupiter himself from the hands of our enemies? [5] Had their half-pound measures of meal requited the saviour of their country? Would they suffer one whom they had well-nigh made a god, and in surname, at any rate, the equal of Jupiter Capitolinus, to be confined in prison, and to draw his breath in darkness, at the mercy of the executioner? When one man had been quite able to help them all, was there no help in so many men for one? [6] By this time the crowd would not even leave the place at night and were threatening that they would force the gaol, when suddenly, just as they were about to rescue Manlius, the senate voted to release him — an act which, instead of ending the sedition, supplied it with a leader.
[6.7] At about this time came Latins and Hernici, with colonists from Circeii and from Velitrae, to clear themselves of the charge of joining in the Volscian war and to ask for the release of the captives, that they might punish them in accordance with their own laws. They were harshly answered — especially the colonists, because, though Roman citizens, they had formed the impious design of attacking their native country. [8] And so they were not only denied the captives, but received a rebuke which the allies were spared; being commanded in the name of the senate to make haste and depart the City, out of the presence and sight of the Roman People, lest they should find no protection in the rights of envoys, which were meant for foreigners, not for citizens.
18. The sedition of Manlius was breaking out afresh, towards the end of the year, when an election was held which resulted in the choice of the following consular tribunes: Servius Cornelius Maluginensis (for the second time), Publius Valerius Potitus (for the second), Marcus Furius Camillus (for the fifth), Servius Sulpicius Rufus (for the second), Gaius Papirius Crassus, and (for the second time) Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus. [2] The peace which was enjoyed in the early part of this year was equally advantageous to the patricians and to the plebs; to the plebs because, not being called to service by the levy, they had hopes that they might be able under their powerful leader to storm the stronghold of usury; to the patricians, because they desired not to be diverted by any foreign peril from healing the sores of the state. [3] Accordingly both sides had taken the field with much more spirit, and the hour of conflict was now at hand. Manlius indeed was inviting the plebeians to his house, and night and day discussing with their leaders plans for accomplishing the revolution, for he was much bolder and more resentful than before. [4] His wrath had been kindled by his recent humiliations, for his pride was a stranger to insult; and his courage had waxed, as he considered that the dictator had not dared to serve him as Quinctius Cincinnatus had served Spurius Maelius, and that his imprisonment had aroused such hatred as not only the dictator had resigned his office to escape, but even the senate had been unable to endure. [5] At once elated and exasperated by these thoughts, he began to work upon the already excited emotions of the plebs.
“How long, pray,” he asked them, “will you remain ignorant of your own strength, which nature has willed that even brutes shall know? At least count up your numbers and the number of your adversaries. For as many as you were that gathered as clients about a single patron, so many shall you now be against a single enemy. [6] If you were going to meet them man for man, I should still believe that you would fight more fiercely for your liberty than they for domination. [7] Make but a show of war, and you shall have peace. Let them see you ready to resist, and they will give you your rights of their own accord. [8] We must all unite in some bold stroke, or else, divided, submit to every evil. How long will you keep looking round for me? It is true I shall not fail a single one of you; but you must see to it that fortune fail not me. I myself, your champion, was suddenly brought to naught, when it pleased your enemies; and you all beheld that man dragged off to prison who had protected each of yourselves from imprisonment. [9] What can I expect, if my enemies grow bolder? Must I look forward to dying like Cassius and Maelius? You do well to express abhorrence. The gods will forbid such a thing; but they will never come down from heaven on my account; they must give you the inspiration to forbid it, as they gave me, in war and in peace, the inspiration to defend you from the barbarity of your foes and the arrogance of your fellow citizens. [10] Is there so little spirit in this great people that you are always satisfied with the help your tribunes lend you against your adversaries, and never quarrel with the senators, save as to the length you will suffer them to go in ruling you? And this is no native trait in you, but you are slaves by use. [11] Why, pray, are you so high and mighty with foreigners as to deem yourselves meet to be their lords? [12] It is because you have been used to vie with them for sovereignty; but against these men, though you make attempts at gaining your liberty, you are not used to defend it. Nevertheless, with such leaders as you have had, and such courage as you yourselves could muster, you have thus far obtained, by violence or good fortune, whatever you have sought. [13] The time has come to attempt even greater things. Do but make trial of your own good fortune and of me, whom, as I think, you have already happily proved; you will find it less trouble to impose a ruler on the patricians, than you encountered in imposing tribunes on them to resist their rule. [14] Dictatorships and consulships must be levelled with the ground, that the Roman plebs may be enabled to lift its head. [15] Stand by me, then; prevent all court-proceedings regarding moneys; I avow myself the patron of the commons — a title with which my zeal and loyalty have invested me: if you choose to give your leader a more striking title of authority or honour, you will find him the more able to make good your wishes.” [16] It was thus, they say, that the agitation for kingly power was begun; but there is no very clear tradition with whom or to what length his plans were matured.
19. On the other side the senate were discussing the secret gathering of the plebs in a private house — a house, too, that, as it happened, was situated in the Citadel — and the grave danger that threatened liberty. [2] The majority exclaimed that a Servilius Ahala was needed, one who would not exasperate a public enemy by ordering his imprisonment, but would sacrifice a single citizen to end a domestic war. [3] However, they had recourse to a proposal which sounded milder, though its force was identical, namely, that the magistrates should see to it that the republic took no harm by the ruinous devices of Marcus Manlius. [4] Thereupon the consular tribunes and the tribunes of the plebs — for they too, perceiving that their own authority would come to an end with the general liberty, had made their submission to the Fathers — all these men, I say, thereupon took counsel together, what was needful to be done. [5] They could none of them see any way but violence and bloodshed, which would clearly involve a mighty struggle, when Marcus Menenius and Quintus Publilius, tribunes of the plebs, addressed them as follows: “Why do we make a conflict between patricians and plebeians out of what ought to be the quarrel of the state with a single pestilent citizen? [6] Why in attacking him do we attack the plebs as well, when it is safer to attack him by the help of this same plebs, that his very strength may bring about his ruin? [7] We propose to summon him to trial. Nothing is less popular than kingly power. As soon as the populace, perceiving that our quarrel is not with them, are changed from supporters into judges, and see that the prosecutors are plebeians, the defendant a patrician, and the accusation that of seeking to set up a kingdom, they will not favour any man at the expense of their own liberty.”
20. This argument won universal approbation, and Manlius was indicted. The first effect of this was to rouse [2] great feeling in the commons, especially when they saw the defendant meanly clad and not attended by a single senator, or even by his kinsmen or connexions, or indeed by his own brothers, Aulus and Titus Manlius. That a man’s nearest friends should not join him in assuming mourning in an hour so fraught with danger to him, was something that had never until that day occurred. [3] They remembered that on the imprisonment of Appius Claudius, his enemy Gaius Claudius and all the Claudian family had gone into mourning; and they concluded that there must be a general conspiracy to put down the people’s friend because he had been the first to forsake the patricians for the plebs.
[6.4] The day of the trial came, but I do not find it stated in any authority what facts were alleged by his accusers that bore directly on the charge of plotting to establish a kingdom, except gatherings of the populace and seditious expressions and his largesses and false charge; [5] and yet I doubt not they were of moment, since the reluctance of the plebs to condemn him was not owing to his cause but to the place. One thing appears worthy of remark, that men may know what great and glorious achievements a vile lust for regal power rendered not merely thankless but actually hateful. [6] It is said that he brought forward nearly four hundred men to whom he had lent money without interest, thus saving their goods from being sold and their persons from enslavement; [7] that besides this the military distinctions which he not only enumerated but produced for all to see, comprised the spoils of thirty enemies whom he had slain, and some forty decorations from his generals, amongst which were conspicuous two mural and eight civic crowns; [8] that he told, besides, of citizens saved from the enemy, and among these named Gaius Servilius, the master of the horse, who was not present. [9] And after rehearsing his services in war, in a speech as magnificent as the height of his achievements and equalling his deeds with its words, he is said to have bared his breast, marked with the scars of battle, and gazing steadily at the Capitol to have called on Jupiter and the other gods to help him, that they might inspire the Roman People in his hour of danger with the same spirit they had given him when he- defended the Capitoline Hill; and to have implored the Romans one and all to fix their eyes on the Capitol and Citadel, and turn to the immortal gods while they judged him.
[6.10] In the Campus Martius, when the people were being called by centuries, and the defendant, stretching forth his hands to the Capitol, had turned from men to make his prayers to the gods, the tribunes clearly saw that unless they could also emancipate men’s eyes from the associations of so glorious a deed, no accusation, however true, could ever find lodgment in their grateful hearts. [11] And so they adjourned the day of trial and appointed a council of the people to meet in the Peteline Wood outside the Flumentane Gate, whence no prospect of the Capitol was afforded. There they made good their charge; men steeled their hearts and pronounced a dolorous judgment, abhorrent to the very ones who rendered it. [12] Some authorities assert that he was condemned by duumvirs appointed to deal with a charge of treason. The tribunes flung him from the Tarpeian Rock, and the same spot served to commemorate extraordinary fame and the extremity of punishment, as experienced by the self-same man.
[6.13] To his death were added marks of ignominy: one of a public nature, because the people were asked to vote that, since his house had stood where the temple and mint of Moneta now are, no patrician might dwell in the Citadel or the Capitol; [14] the other proceeding from his family, in that the Manlian clan made a decree forbidding anyone thenceforth to bear the name of Marcus Manlius. Such was the end of a man who, had he not been born in a free state, would have left a memorable name. [15] In a short time the people, remembering — now that he was no longer a source of danger — only his good qualities, regretted him. Moreover a pestilence soon ensued, and caused a heavy mortality for which there were no obvious causes, and this many people ascribed to the execution of Manlius: [16] the Capitol, they said, had been polluted by the blood of its saviour, and the gods had not been pleased that the man who had rescued their temples from the hands of the enemy, should be punished almost under their very eyes.
21. The pestilence was succeeded by a scarcity of corn, and in the following year, when the rumour of these two misfortunes had got abroad, by various wars. The consular tribunes were Lucius Valerius (for the fourth time), Aulus Manlius (for the third), Servius Sulpicius (for the third), Lucius Lucretius, Lucius Aemilius (for the third time) and Marcus Trebonius. [2] Besides the Volsci, who had been provided, as it were by a kind of fatality, to furnish perpetual occupation for the Roman arms, and the colonies of Circeii and Velitrae, which had long been scheming a rebellion, and the Latins, whose loyalty was suspected, a new enemy suddenly rose up at Lanuvium, a city which until then had been very faithful. [3] Believing that they were now actuated by contempt, on finding the revolt of the Veliterni, who were Roman citizens, to go so long unpunished, the senate decreed that a proposal should be laid before the people, at the earliest possible moment, for declaring war on them; [4] and, to make the plebs readier for this campaign, they appointed five commissioners to divide up the Pomptine land, and three to conduct a colony to Nepete. [5] They then asked the people for a declaration of war, and notwithstanding the opposition of the plebeian tribunes, all the tribes voted for war. [6] Preparations for the campaign were made that year, but owing to the pestilence the army did not take the field. This delay would have given the colonists time to sue the senate for pardon — and in fact a majority of them were in favour of sending an embassy to Rome to make submission — [7] but danger to the commonwealth was bound up, as often happens, with that of individuals, and the ring-leaders of the revolt were so afraid of the Romans — lest they alone might be charged with the crime and offered up as a sacrifice to Roman indignation — that they turned the colonies away from peaceful counsels. [8] Moreover, not content with merely opposing the embassy in their senate, they egged on a great part of the commons to go out and pillage the Roman lands; and this new outrage destroyed all hope of peace. [9] The Praenestines, too, were that year, for the first time, reported as disloyal; evidence against them was given by the Tusculans, the Gabini, and the Labicani, whose borders they had invaded; but the senate returned so mild an answer that it was evident that they refused to believe in the charges because they wished them not to be true.
22. The next year Spurius and Lucius Papirius, the new consular tribunes, led the levies to Velitrae, while their four colleagues, Servius Cornelius Maluginensis (in his third term), Quintus Servilius, Gaius Sulpicius, and Lucius Aemilius (in his fourth term), remained behind to protect the City and to guard against any fresh commotion which might be reported from Etruria — a quarter from which everything was suspected. [2] Near Velitrae the Romans defeated an army in which auxiliaries from Praeneste almost outnumbered the colonists themselves; but the city was so close at hand that, as it occasioned their early retreat, so it afforded them their only refuge. The tribunes abstained from attacking the place; they were not certain of succeeding, nor did they think it right to aim at the extermination of the colony. [3] In the letter which they sent to the senate in Rome, announcing the victory, they were more severe upon the enemies from Praeneste than upon those of Velitrae.
[6.4] And so, by resolution of the senate and popular enactment, war was proclaimed against the people of Praeneste; who, uniting in the following year with the Volsci, attacked the Roman colony of Satricum, and having carried it, despite the obstinate resistance of the colonists, abused their victory by cruel treatment of the captives. [5] This incensed the Romans, and they elected Marcus Furius Camillus tribune of the soldiers, for the sixth time. To be his colleagues they gave him Aulus and Lucius Postumius Regillensis and Lucius Furius, together with Lucius Lucretius and Marcus Fabius Ambustus.
[6.6] The Volscian war was entrusted, out of the regular course, to Marcus Furius. Of the other tribunes, Lucius Furius was assigned him by lot for his assistant, not so much (it should seem) for the good of the commonwealth, as that he might be the source of all honour to his colleague; who gained it in his public capacity because he made good what the other’s rashness had lost, and as a man because he used the error of Lucius to earn his gratitude rather than glory for himself. Camillus was now extremely old. [7] At the election he was prepared to excuse himself by taking the customary oath on the score of health, had not the unanimous wishes of the people prevented him. But a lusty spirit flourished in his sturdy breast, and his senses were as keen as ever; and though he no longer much concerned himself with politics, wars excited him. [8] He enrolled four legions, each of four thousand men, appointed the army to assemble on the following day at the Esquiline Gate, and marched on Satricum. There the conquerors of the colony were waiting for him, undismayed, for they confided in their numbers, in which they possessed a considerable superiority. [9] On perceiving the approach of the Romans they formed up at once. It was their purpose to engage immediately in a decisive battle; for so the numerical weakness of their enemies would derive no help from the skill of their unique commander, which constituted — so they assumed — their sole reliance.
23. There was the same ardour in the Roman army, and in one of its generals. The hazard of an immediate battle was only postponed by the wisdom and the authority of one man, who sought an opportunity to supplement his resources with strategy, by prolonging the campaign. [2] This made the enemy the more urgent, and, no longer content with deploying their line before the camp, they advanced into the middle of the field, and, marching up almost to the rampart of the Romans, displayed the proud confidence which their strength gave them. [3] The Roman soldiers were mortified at this, and even more mortified was one of their two tribunes, Lucius Furius. His youth and native disposition made him head strong, and the utterly baseless enthusiasm of the rank and file filled him with assurance. [4] The soldiers were already in a state of excitement, but he further instigated them by disparaging his colleague in the only possible way, on the score of age. [5] Wars, he insisted, were the province of youth; the growth and decay of the spirit kept pace with those of the body; the most energetic of soldiers was become a procrastinator, and he who had been wont to storm a camp or a city on the first approach, was sitting still and wasting time behind intrenchments. [6] What accession to his own strength did he look for, or what diminution of the enemy’s? What opportunity, what favourable moment, what ground for an ambush was he making ready? [7] The old man’s strategy was cold and torpid. But why, though Camillus had had enough both of life and of glory, should they permit the state, which ought to be immortal, to sink into decrepitude in company with the mortal body of one man?
[6.8] When he had won over the entire army by these speeches, and the men were everywhere demanding battle, he said to his colleague: “Marcus Furius, we can no longer resist the enthusiasm of the soldiers; and the enemy, whose courage we have augmented by our delay, is insulting us with an arrogance no longer to be endured. Give way, for you are alone against us all, and suffer yourself to be overcome in counsel, that you may overcome the sooner in war.” [9] To this Camillus replied that in the wars which up to that day had been conducted under his sole auspices neither the Roman People nor himself had repented of his strategy or fortune; he was aware that he had now a colleague of equal commission and authority, and of more vigorous years; [10] and so, although — as regarded the army — he was accustomed not to be governed but to govern, yet he had no power to thwart the authority of his associate. [11] Let him proceed, with Heaven’s blessing, to do what he thought best for the commonwealth: for his own grey hairs he begged this favour, that he might not be assigned to the front; of such duties as belonged in war to an old man he would not be negligent. One thing he entreated of the immortal gods: that no mischance might occur, to make his own appear to have been the wiser plan. [12] But neither did men heed these salutary words, nor the immortal gods his loyal prayers. The man responsible for the engagement marshalled the battle-line. Camillus provided adequate supports, and stationed a strong out-guard before the camp; he then took up his post on an eminence, and watched intently for the issue of another’s strategy. 24. At the very instant of the first clash of arms the enemy gave ground, not out of fear, but guile. [2] Behind them the ground sloped gently up from the battle-line to their camp; and having plenty of men they had left a few strong cohorts armed and drawn up within the camp, which were to sally forth when the fighting had got under way, and the Romans had approached the rampart. [3] The Romans pursued the retreating enemy without order, and were drawn into an unfavourable position, where this attack could be made upon them with advantage. Thus the victors were threatened in their turn, and, what with the new foe and the declivity, the Roman line gave way. [4] They were closely pressed by the fresh Volsci who had made the sortie, and those, too, who had pretended flight renewed the battle. [5] And now the Roman soldiers were no longer retiring in order, but regardless of their late impetuosity and their ancient fame, had turned their backs and were everywhere in full flight towards the camp; when Camillus was lifted into the saddle by his attendants, and rapidly throwing his reserves into the fight, “Soldiers,” he cried, “is this the battle you demanded? What man, what god is there, whom you could accuse? Yours was the rashness then, now the infamy is yours. [6] You have followed another leader: follow now Camillus, and, as your habit is when I am leading, conquer. Why do you look on the rampart and the camp? Not one of you shall find entrance there, save as a victor.”
[6.7] A sense of shame at first checked their headlong flight; then, as they saw the standards face about and the line form up against the enemy, while their general, distinguished for his many triumphs and rendered venerable by his age, exposed himself at the front amidst the ensigns, where the fighting and the danger were the greatest, they began each and every one to cry out against themselves and their fellows, and their mutual encouragements ran through the entire army in a ringing cheer. [8] Nor was the other tribune behindhand, but being sent by his colleague — who was re-forming the line of foot — to rally the horse, he did not chide them — for his share in their fault would have made this of little use — but turning wholly from commands to entreaties, he besought them one and all to save him from the guilt of that day’s mishap, for which he was responsible. [9] “Notwithstanding,” he said, “the refusal and the opposition of my colleague, I gave my adhesion to the general recklessness in preference to the prudence of one man. [10] Camillus sees glory for himself, whichever way your fortune turns; but I, if the battle is not restored, shall experience the utter misery of sharing with everybody the disaster, while enduring the infamy alone.” It seemed best, as the battle-line was wavering, to dismiss the horses and attack the enemy on foot. Conspicuous for their arms and their courage, they advanced where they saw the foot-soldiers hardest pressed. [11] Neither generals nor soldiers relaxed their utmost efforts, and the help afforded by their brave exertions was felt in the result. The Volsci fled in a genuine panic over the ground where they had lately pretended fear. Great numbers of them were slain both in the battle itself and in the flight which followed; the others were cut down in the camp, which was captured in the same charge; but more were made prisoners than were slain.
25. In taking account of the prisoners, they recognized some as being Tusculans. These were separated from the rest and brought before the tribunes, to whom they confessed, on being questioned, that they had served at the bidding of the state. [2] The danger of so near a war disturbed Camillus, who declared that he would straight-way carry the prisoners to Rome, that the Fathers might not be kept in ignorance how the Tusculans had broken the alliance. [3] In the meantime he proposed that his colleague should, if agreeable, take charge of the camp and the army. A single day had taught Lucius Furius not to prefer his own to wiser counsels, yet neither he nor anyone in the army supposed that Camillus would condone his fault, which had plunged the commonwealth into such desperate peril; [4] and everybody, not in the army only, but also in Rome, agreed in saying, that in the ups and downs of the Volscian war, the responsibility for the defeat and flight lay with Lucius Furius, and all the credit for the victory with Camillus. [5] But when the prisoners had been introduced into the senate, and the Fathers, having decided that they must make war on Tusculum, had designated Camillus to conduct it, he requested that he might have a single lieutenant to assist him, and being permitted to select any one of his colleagues whom he might desire, contrary to everybody’s expectation he selected Lucius Furius — an instance of magnanimity which, while it lightened the disgrace of his colleague, also brought great honour to himself.
[6.6] But no war was, in fact, waged with the Tusculans: by their steadfast adherence to peace they saved themselves from violation by the Romans, as they could not have done by resorting to arms. [7] When the Romans entered their territory, they did not withdraw from the places near the line of march, nor break off their labour in the fields; the gates of their city stood wide open; the citizens, wearing the toga, came out in great numbers to meet the generals; [8] and provisions for the army were obligingly brought into the camp from the city and the farms. [9] Camillus set up his camp before the gates, and desirous of knowing whether the same aspect of peace prevailed within the walls that was displayed in the country, entered the city and beheld the house-doors open, the shops with their shutters off and all their wares exposed, the craftsmen all busy at their respective trades, the schools buzzing with the voices of the scholars, crowds in the streets, and women and children going about amongst the rest, this way and that, as their several occasions called them — with [10] never anywhere an indication of surprise, much less of fear. [11] He looked everywhere for any visible evidence that a war had been on foot; but there was no sign that anything had been either removed or brought out for the moment; everything looked so undisturbed and peaceful that it seemed scarce credible that so much as a rumour of war should have come there.
26. Overcome therefore by the enemy’s submissiveness, he commanded their senate to be called. “Men of Tusculum,” he said, “until now you alone have discovered the right weapons and the right resources with which to defend your possessions from the resentment of the Romans. [2] Go to Rome, to the senate; the Fathers will determine whether you have deserved more punishment hitherto or pardon now. I will not forestall them by accepting your gratitude for a favour that must be granted by the state; from me you shall have an opportunity to solicit mercy; the answer to your suit must be such as the senate sees fit to make.”
[6.3] When the Tusculans arrived in Rome, and the senators of a people who before had been faithful allies appeared in the vestibule of the Curia, covered with dejection, the Fathers were straightway moved, and in a spirit that had already more in it of hospitality than hostility bade them be at once admitted. [4] The Tusculan dictator thus addressed them: “Though you declared war on us and invaded our country, Conscript Fathers, we went forth to meet your generals and your legions armed and accoutred exactly as you now behold us standing in the entrance of your senate-house. [5] Such has ever been our garb and the garb of our people — ay, and ever shall be — save at such times as we have been armed by you and for your defence. We give thanks to your commanders and your armies, since they have believed their eyes more than their ears, and where they encountered no hostility, themselves have showed none. [6] The peace we have used towards you, we ask of you in return; direct your war, we beseech you, to that quarter where war, if anywhere, exists; if we must try, by suffering, what your arms can achieve against ourselves, we will try unarmed. [7] Such is our resolution; Heaven send it be not less fortunate than loyal. As to the charges which stirred you to declare a war, though it skills not to disprove with words what facts have already confuted, still, even were they true, we think we might safely plead guilty to them, since our repentance is so evident. Let men wrong you, so long as you continue worthy to receive such amends.” [8] To this purport was the speech of the Tusculans. They were granted peace for the present, and not long after were even admitted to be citizens. The legions were withdrawn from Tusculum.
27. Renowned for his strategy and courage in the Volscian war and his success in the expedition against Tusculum, and for his singular gentleness and generosity on both occasions towards his colleague, Camillus laid down his office, after announcing the election of military tribunes for the ensuing year. [2] The successful candidates were Lucius and Publius Valerius (Lucius for the fifth and Publius for the third time), Gaius Sergius (for the third time), Lucius Menenius (for the second time), Publius Papirius, and Servius Cornelius Maluginensis. [3] There was need also this year of censors, chiefly on account of the uncertain reports which were going about in regard to debt. The tribunes of the plebs even exaggerated the extent of this grievance, whereas it was understated by those who were interested in having it appear that loans were more in danger from the bad faith than the bad fortune of the debtors. [4] The censors chosen were Gaius Sulpicius Camerinus and Spurius Postumius Regillensis, and they had already set about their task, when it was interrupted by the death of Postumius; for there were religious scruples against replacing the colleague of a censor. [5] So then, Sulpicius resigned, and other censors were elected, but, owing to a defect in the election, did not serve. The senate could not bring itself to proceed to a third election, being persuaded that the gods would permit no censorship that year. [6] But this irresolution the tribunes characterized as an intolerable mockery of the plebs. The senate, they said, was seeking to avoid the evidence of witnesses and public records regarding the property of every man, because they were unwilling it should be seen how great was the volume of debt, which would show that half of the state had been ruined by the other half, while the debt-ridden plebs were in the meantime being exposed to one enemy after another; [7] wars were now sought indiscriminately, far and wide; from Antium the legions had been marched to Satricum, from Satricum to Velitrae, from there to Tusculum; now it was the Latins, the Hernici and the Praenestini who were threatened with attack, more out of hatred of Rome’s citizens than of her enemies. The object was to wear the plebeians out with service and give them no time to take breath in the City, or leisure to bethink them of liberty or to stand in the assembly, where they might sometimes hear the voice of a tribune urging the reduction of interest and the removal of their other grievances. [8] But if the plebs had the spirit to recall their fathers’ liberty, they would allow no Roman citizen to be bound to a creditor, nor any levy to be held, until the amount of indebtedness had been examined and a plan for lessening it put into operation, that every man might know what was his own and what another’s, and whether his person was still free, or whether even that was owing to the gaol.
[6.9] The reward held out to sedition soon brought sedition to a head. For many were being bound over, and the senate had voted to enlist new levies on the rumour of hostilities at Praeneste. Both these proceedings began at the same time to be interfered with by the exercise of the tribunician protection and the common action of the plebs; for the tribunes would not allow those who had been bound over to be led away, nor would the young men give in their names. [10] The patricians were for the moment less concerned with enforcing the law of debt than with the levy — not unnaturally, since the enemy were reported as having already set out from Praeneste and encamped in the territory of Gabii — but [11] on the tribunes of the plebs this intelligence had acted more as an incentive to the struggle they had undertaken than as a deterrent, and the only thing that was able to allay the quarrel in the City was the approach of the enemy to its very walls.
28. For when the Praenestini were informed that no army had been enrolled in Rome, that there was no one definitely in command, that patricians and plebeians had turned against each other, their leaders [2] concluded that their opportunity had come, and quickly putting their troops in motion, they devastated the fields along their line of march and advanced against the Colline Gate. [3] Great was the consternation in the City. The call to arms was given, and men hurried to the walls and gates. [4] They had turned at last from domestic strife to war, and proceeded to make Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus dictator, who named Aulus Sempronius Atratinus master of the horse. No sooner was this known — so great was the terror the dictatorship inspired — than the enemy at once withdrew from before the walls, and the Romans of military age assembled without offering objection, in accordance with the edict.
[6.5] While the army was being enrolled at Rome, the enemy had gone into camp not far from the Allia. [6] From this centre they pillaged in all directions, and boasted to one another that they had occupied a position that was fraught with fate for the City of Rome; there would be another rout there like the one in the Gallic war; for if the Romans feared a day infected with evil omen and marked it with the name of that place, how much more than the Day of the Allia would they dread the Allia itself, that memorial of their great defeat? [7] They were sure to behold there apparitions of ruthless Gauls, and to have the sound of their voices in their ears. Indulging these idle speculations on idle themes, they had rested their hopes on the fortune of the place. [8] The Romans on the other hand were well assured that wherever their Latin enemy was, he was one whom they had conquered at Lake Regillus and had held in peaceable subjection for a hundred years; a place notorious for the memory of disaster would rather inspire them to wipe out the recollection of the disgrace than cause them to fear that any ground was inauspicious for their victory; [9] nay, if the Gauls themselves should confront them on that spot, they would fight as they had fought at Rome in recovering their City and on the following day at Gabii, when they left no enemy who had entered the walls of Rome, to bear home tidings either of weal or woe.
29. Such were the feelings on either side when the Romans arrived at the Allia. As they came within sight of the enemy, drawn up and eager for the fray, the dictator addressed Sempronius. “Do you see,” he said, “how they have made their stand at the Allia, putting their trust in the fortune of the place? We shall find the immortal gods have given them no surer grounds for confidence nor any more substantial help. [2] But do you confide in arms and valour, and charge their centre at the gallop; I, with the legions, will attack them when they are in disorder and confusion. Be with us, gods of the treaty, and exact the penalties due to you for the injury you have suffered and to us for the deception put upon us in your holy name!” [3] The men of Praeneste could cope with neither horse nor foot. Their ranks were broken at the first shout and charge; then, as their line yielded at every point, they turned and fled, and in their confusion were carried even beyond their own camp; neither did they check their headlong flight until they had come within sight of Praeneste. [4] There the scattered remnants of the rout took up a position which lent itself to hasty fortification, lest, if they sought refuge within the walls, they might immediately find the torch put to their crops, and, after losing everything, be subjected to a siege. [5] But no sooner had the victorious Romans appeared, fresh from plundering the camp on the Allia, than they abandoned these defences also, and, regarding even walls as little enough protection, immured themselves in the town of Praeneste. [6] There were eight other towns which were under the sway of the Praenestini. [7] Against these the Romans directed their campaign, and having taken them, with no great exertion, one after the other, marched to Velitrae and stormed that place also. [8] Coming then to Praeneste, the fountain-head of the war, they got possession of it not by force but through capitulation. Titus Quinctius had gained one pitched battle, captured two camps, taken nine towns by assault, and received the surrender of Praeneste. He returned to Rome bringing with him from Praeneste the image of Jupiter Imperator. [9] This he bore in triumph to the Capitol, where he dedicated it, between the shrine of Jupiter and that of Minerva. [10] Below it he placed a tablet, in commemoration of his deeds, with an inscription to the following effect: “Jupiter and all the gods granted Titus Quinctius the dictator that he should take nine towns.” On the twentieth day after his appointment he resigned the dictatorship.
30. In the ensuing election of military tribunes with consular powers, patricians and plebeians came off alike. [2] Of the patricians Publius and Gaius Manlius were successful, along with Lucius Julius; the plebs returned Gaius Sextilius, Marcus Albinius, and Lucius Antistius. The Manlii were superior in birth to their plebeian colleagues, and in popularity to Julius. [3] To them, therefore, by special enactment, without reference to the lot or to mutual agreement, was given the command against the Volsci — an honour which they rued in the upshot, as did also the senators who had conferred it. [4] Without reconnoitring they sent some troops to forage, and believing them to be cut of, for they had received a false report that such was the case, they hastened to their assistance, without so much as securing the author of the story — a Latin enemy who had deceived them in the guise of a Roman soldier, — and plunged into an ambuscade. [5] While they were making a stand there on unfavourable ground, by the sheer courage of the men, who were selling their lives dearly, the Roman camp which lay in the plain was attacked by the enemy on the opposite side. In both places victory was thrown away by the rashness and ignorance of the generals. [6] Whatever was left of the good fortune of the Roman People was saved by the pluck of the soldiers, which continued steadfast even when it lacked guidance. [7] On the announcement of these events at Rome, it was at first resolved to appoint a dictator; but later, when word came that things were quiet in the Volscian country, and it appeared that the enemy knew not how to use his victory and opportunity, even the armies and commanders which were there were withdrawn, and thereafter there was no trouble as far as the Volsci were concerned; [8] the only disturbance — towards the close of the year — was a mutiny of the Praenestini, who had stirred the peoples of Latium to revolt.
[6.9] That same year new colonists were enrolled for Setia, whose inhabitants themselves were complaining of their lack of men. For the ill success of the war there was consolation in the tranquillity at home, which was due to the influence of the plebeian military tribunes and the honour in which their order held them.
31. The following year started off in a blaze of party strife. The military tribunes with consular powers were Spurius Furius, Quintus Servilius (for the second time), Lucius Menenius (for the third), Publius Cloelius, Marcus Horatius, and Lucius Geganius. [2] Now the subject and reason of the strife was debt. But when Spurius Servilius Priscus and Quintus Cloelius Siculus had been made censors in order that they might investigate the situation, they were prevented from doing so by a war; [3] for first frightened messengers, and then the country-folk fleeing from the fields, brought word that the Volscian legions had crossed the border, and were everywhere devastating Roman territory. [4] Yet with all this alarm, the danger from abroad was so far from restraining dissensions at home, that on the contrary the tribunes but acted with the greater violence, in exerting their powers to block the levy; until the senate submitted to their terms, and agreed that till the war was finished no one should pay a war-tax or give judgment in a case of debt. [5] The plebs, on obtaining this relief, ceased to obstruct the levy. When the new legions had been enrolled, it was resolved to divide them and form two armies to invade the country of the Volsci. Spurius Furius and Marcus Horatius marched to the right, towards Antium and the coast; Quintus Servilius and Lucius Geganius to the left, in the direction of Ecetra and the mountains. [6] In neither region did they find the enemy. They accordingly laid waste the country, not in the desultory fashion of the Volsci, who like bandits, trusting in the discord of their foes but fearing their courage, had made a hasty foray in fear and trembling, — but with a regular army, justly provoked, and the more destructive in that they took more time. [7] In fact, the Volsci had confined their pillaging to the borders, because of their fear lest an army might come out from Rome while they were at it; the Romans, on the contrary, were partly actuated, in remaining on hostile ground, by the desire of luring the enemy into a battle. [8] So they burned all the farm-houses everywhere, and even certain villages, and leaving not a single fruit-tree nor the standing corn with its hope of harvest, they carried off as booty all the men and beasts outside the towns, and led both armies back to Rome.
32. The debtors had been given a little time for breathing, but no sooner did hostilities cease than the courts began once more to be alive with prosecutions, and not only was there no prospect of obtaining relief from the old debts, but further debts were incurred through the levying of a tax to build a wall of hewn stone, which the censors had contracted for. [2] To this burden the plebs were forced to submit, in the absence of any levy which their tribunes could obstruct. [3] The nobles even possessed sufficient influence to oblige the plebs to elect all patricians to the millitary tribunate; these were Lucius Aemilius, Publius Valerius (for the fourth time), Gaius Veturius Servius Sulpicius, Lucius and Gaius Quinctius Cincinnatus. [4] The same influence enabled them to carry through their plans against the Latins and the Volsci, who had united their forces and were encamped near Satricum. [5] No one objected when the men of military age were all compelled to take the oath, and three armies were enrolled: one was intended to defend the City; another was for use in sudden expeditions, if a revolt should break out anywhere; a third — much the strongest — marched to Satricum, under Publius Valerius and Lucius Aemilius. [6] There they found the enemy drawn up in a strong position, and at once attacked them; [7] and though victory was not yet assured, yet the battle was in a hopeful state, when great gusts of wind brought on a heavy downpour of rain and interrupted it. [8] Next day the combat was renewed, and for some little time the enemy — particularly the Latin legions, schooled in Roman discipline by their long alliance — resisted with equal courage and success. But the cavalry were sent against them and threw their ranks into confusion, and before they could recover, the infantry were upon them; [9] in proportion as the Roman line advanced, was the enemy forced out of his position; and when once the tide of battle turned, there was no stopping the onrush of the Romans. [10] The routed enemy made for Satricum, two miles away, instead of their camp, and suffered great slaughter, especially at the hands of the cavalry. Their camp was taken and sacked. The night after the battle they fled rather than marched towards Antium; and though the Roman army followed hard after, fear proved swifter than wrath. [11] So the enemy got within the walls before the Romans could harass or delay their rear. A few days were then consumed in ravaging the land, since the Romans had not enough equipment to attack the walls, nor the enemy to risk a battle.
33. A quarrel now broke out between the Antiates and the Latins. The men of Antium, overwhelmed by their misfortunes and worn out by a war which had lasted from their birth to their old age were minded to capitulate: [2] the Latins had but just revolted after a long peace; their spirits were still fresh; and they meant to continue boldly with the war. The dispute came to an end as soon as each party saw that the other could not prevent it in any way from carrying out its policy. [3] The Latins departed, and freed themselves from all share in what they considered a degrading peace; the Antiates, being rid of inconvenient witnesses to their salutary measures, surrendered their city and lands to the Romans. [4] The frenzied wrath of the Latins sought relief — since they could neither do the Romans any injury in war nor retain the Volsci under arms — in burning Satricum, the town which had been their first place of refuge after their defeat. [5] They applied the torch without discrimination both to sacred and to secular buildings, and not one escaped destruction, except the temple of Mater Matuta; from this they were kept away, according to the story, neither by their own scruples, nor by their reverence for the gods, but by an awe-inspiring voice that issued from the temple and threatened dire retribution if they did not remove those impious fires to a distance from the sacred walls. [6] Crazed and infuriated, a sudden impulse carried them to Tusculum. They were angry that the Tusculans had deserted the common council of the Latins and had yielded themselves to be not only allies but citizens of Rome. [7] The gates were open, for their attack was unexpected, and the first shout had not died away when the town was taken, all except the citadel. To this the townsfolk fled for safety, with their wives and children, and sent off messengers to Rome to let the senate know of their predicament. [8] With a promptness worthy of the honour of the Roman People, an army marched to Tusculum, commanded by the military tribunes Lucius Quinctius and Servius Sulpicius. [9] They found the gates of Tusculum closed and the Latins at once besiegers and besieged; on the one hand they were defending the walls of the town, on the other assailing the fortress, and they experienced themselves the same terror they inspired. [10] The arrival of the Romans produced a change in the spirits of both sides: the Tusculans were roused from the depths of despair to the greatest cheerfulness; the Latins, who had felt almost certain that since the town was theirs they would soon possess the citadel, were reduced almost to despair of their own lives. [11] The Tusculans in the citadel gave a cheer and were answered by one much louder from the Roman army. On both sides the Latins were hard pressed: they could neither resist the charges of the townsmen, as they rushed down from above, nor drive back the Romans, who were coming up under the walls and forcing the bars of the gates. [12] The walls were first scaled and captured; then the fastenings of the gates were burst. The Latins were caught between two enemies, who assailed them hotly in front and rear; they had no strength to fight and no room to escape, and were slain where they stood, to the very last man. Having recovered Tusculum from its enemies, the army returned to Rome.
34. But in proportion as the successful wars of that year had everywhere secured tranquillity abroad, in the City the violence of the patricians and the sufferings of the plebs were increasing from one day to another, since the very fact that payment was compulsory made it more difficult to pay. [2] And so, now that a man could make no compensation with his property, his reputation and his person were made over and assigned to his creditor by way of satisfaction, and punishment had come to take the place of payment. [3] So abject indeed was the surrender not only of the lowest of the plebs but even of their leaders, that, far from contending with patricians for the military tribuneship — a [4] privilege for which they had striven with such energy — there was not a man of them of sufficient force and enterprise to seek or to administer the plebeian magistracies. The patricians seemed therefore to have regained possession in perpetuity of an office which the plebeians had merely assumed for some few years.
[6.5] That this state of affairs might not inspire excessive joy in the patricians, a trivial cause — as often happens — set on foot a mighty change. Marcus Fabius Ambustus was very influential, not only amongst his fellows, but with the plebs as well, for the members of that class felt that he was far from looking down upon it. This man had married his two daughters, the elder to Servius Sulpicius, the younger to Gaius Licinius Stolo, a man of mark, albeit a plebeian; and the very fact that he had not rejected such an alliance had won regard for Fabius with the common people. [6] It fell out that the sisters Fabia were together in the house of Servius Sulpicius, then a consular tribune, and were whiling away the time in talk, as women will, when a lictor of Sulpicius, who was returning from the Forum, rapped on the door, in the usual manner, with his rod. At this the younger Fabia, being unused to the custom, went white, which made the elder laugh with surprise at her sister’s ignorance. But that laugh rankled in the other’s mind, for a woman’s feelings are influenced by trifles. [7] I suppose, too, that the crowd of people who attended the tribune and took a ceremonious leave of him made her look upon her sister’s marriage as a fortunate one and regret her own, in that ill-judging spirit which makes us all so very loath to be outdone by our nearest friends. [8] She was still suffering from the smart of wounded pride, when her father, happening to see her, asked if anything was wrong. [9] She would fain have concealed the reason of her grief, which was too little consistent with sisterly affection and did no great honour to her husband; but he brought her by tender inquiries to confess that she was unhappy in being mated to one beneath her, having married into a house where neither dignities nor influence could enter. [10] Ambustus then comforted his daughter and bade her be of good cheer: she would see ere long in her own home the same state she beheld at her sister’s. [11] From that moment he began to make plans with his son-in-law, taking into their counsels also Lucius Sextius, a strenuous youth, whose aspirations were thwarted only by his lack of patrician blood.
35. An opportunity for innovation was presented by the enormous load of debt, which the plebs could have no hope of lightening but by placing their representatives in the highest offices. [2] They therefore argued that they must gird themselves to think of this: with toil and effort the plebeians had already advanced so far that it was in their power, if they continued to exert themselves, to reach the highest ground, and to equal the patricians in honours as well as in worth. [3] For the present it was resolved that Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius should be elected tribunes of the plebs, a magistracy in which they might open for themselves a way to the other distinctions. [4] Once elected, they proposed only such measures as abated the influence of the patricians, while forwarding the interests of the plebs. One of these had to do with debt, providing that what had been paid as interest should be deducted from the original sum, and the remainder discharged in three annual instalments of equal size. [5] A second set a limit on lands, prohibiting anyone from holding more than five hundred iugera. A third did away with the election of military tribunes, and prescribed that of the consuls one, at any rate, should be chosen from the plebs. These were all matters of great moment, and it would not be possible to carry them without a tremendous struggle.
[6.6] Now when all the things that men immoderately covet, lands, money, and promotion, were jeopardized at once, the patricians became thoroughly alarmed; and failing, after frightened conference in public and private gatherings, to devise any other remedy than that veto which they had already tried before in many struggles, provided themselves with friends amongst the colleagues of the tribunes, to oppose their measures. [7] These men, seeing Licinius and Sextius summon the tribes to vote, came up in the midst of a body-guard of patricians, and refused to permit the bills to be recited or anything else to be done that was usual in passing a resolution of the plebs. [8] And now the assembly had been summoned repeatedly without avail, and the rogations were as though they had been voted down, when Sextius cried out, “So be it! Since it is your pleasure that the intercession should be so powerful, we will use that very weapon for the protection of the plebs. [9] Come now, senators, and proclaim an assembly for the choice of military tribunes; I warrant you shall have no joy of that word veto, which you now hear with such satisfaction from the chorus of our colleagues.” [10] His threats were no idle ones: except for the aediles and tribunes of the plebs, there was not an election held. Licinius and Sextius were chosen again, and suffered no curule magistrates to be elected; and this dearth of magistrates continued in the City for five years, while the plebs continued to re-elect the two men tribunes, and they to prevent the election of military tribunes.
36. There was fortunately a respite from other wars, but the colonists of Velitrae, growing insolent in time of peace, because they knew that the Romans had no army, not only made several incursions into Roman territory, but went so far as to lay siege to Tusculum. [2] This circumstance affected not only the senators but even the plebeians; that the Tusculans, who had long been their friends and were now their fellow citizens, should be imploring aid filled them with shame. [3] The tribunes of the plebs relaxing their opposition, elections were held by an interrex, which resulted in the choice of the following military tribunes: Lucius Furius, Aulus Manlius, Servius Sulpicius, Servius Cornelius, and Publius and Gaius Valerius. [4] They found the plebs much less submissive to the levy than they had been to the election; but by strenuous efforts they enrolled an army, and, marching out, not only drove the enemy away from [5] Tusculum, but even shut him up within his own walls, and Velitrae was besieged with far more vigour than Tusculum had been. Yet those who had begun the siege were not able to conclude it before the election of new military tribunes. [6] The candidates chosen were Quintus Servilius, Gaius Veturius, Aulus and Marcus Cornelius, Quintus Quinctius, and Marcus Fabius. Even these tribunes accomplished nothing memorable at Velitrae.
At home the situation was more dangerous. [7] For besides Sextius and Licinius, who had proposed the laws and were now for the eighth time re-elected tribunes of the plebs, the military tribune Fabius, Stolo’s father-in-law, was openly advocating the adoption of the measures he had himself suggested. [8] And whereas there had been at first eight members of the college of plebeian tribunes who opposed the bills, there were now but five; and these, puzzled and confounded, as is apt to be the case with men who forsake their party, were no more than mouthpieces, repeating in justification of their vetoes only what they had been privately schooled to say, to wit, that a majority of the plebeians were absent at Velitrae with the army; [9] and that the assemblies ought to be put off until the return of the soldiers, so that the entire body of the plebs might vote on matters that concerned them. [10] Sextius and Licinius, with some of their colleagues and one of the military tribunes, Fabius, being experts now — after so many years of practice — in the art of playing on the passions of the commons, would bring the leading senators forward and ply them with questions about each of the measures they were laying before the people: Had they the hardihood to demand that, when land was being assigned to the plebs in parcels of two iugera, they themselves should be authorized to hold more than five hundred iugera? [11] Did they desire that single patricians should possess the allotments of almost three hundred citizens; and that the plebeian should have a farm scarce large enough to contain a shelter for his necessities or a place of burial? [12] Or was it their wish that the plebs, undone with usury, should give up their bodies to imprisonment and torture, instead of paying the principal sums they owed? Did they mean every day to drag off gangs of condemned debtors from the Forum? to fill with prisoners the houses of the nobles? to make of every patrician’s dwelling a private gaol?
37. The shame and pity of these conditions awoke more indignation in their hearers, who feared for their own safety, than the speakers had themselves felt in denouncing them. [2] And yet the patricians — as they proceeded to assert — would never check their greed for land, nor cease murdering the plebs with usury, until the commons should elect one of the two consuls from their own number, to guard their liberties. [3] Contempt, they argued, was now become the portion of the plebeian tribunes, for they used the veto to break down their own power. [4] There could be no question of equal rights, where the other side commanded and they themselves could do nothing but protest. Until they shared in the authority, the plebs would never have an equal footing in the state. And let no one think that it would be sufficient if plebeians were accepted as candidates at the consular elections: unless it were required that at least one consul must be chosen from the commons, none ever would be. [5] Had they already forgotten, that although the election of tribunes of the soldiers rather than consuls had been resolved upon, expressly in order that the highest honour might be open even to plebeians, yet for four and forty years no commoner had been chosen to that office? [6] How could they suppose, that with two places only now available, the patricians would of their own volition bestow the office on the plebs, when they had habitually claimed eight places in electing military tribunes? Would those men allow the consulship to be approached, who had blocked so long the road to the tribuneship? [7] The law must make good for them what they could not gain by favour at the elections; one of the two consulships must be set apart for the undisputed use of the plebs, for if left in dispute it would always fall a prize to the more powerful. [8] Neither could it any longer be maintained — as the nobles had been wont to assert — that among the plebeians were none who were suitable for curule magistracies. Had the public administration been a jot more indifferent or slipshod since the tribuneship of Publius Licinius Calvus, who was the first man elected from the plebs, than it had been during those years in which none but patricians had been military tribunes? [9] Nay, on the contrary, several patricians had been impeached after holding the tribuneship, but not one plebeian. Quaestors, too, like military tribunes, had begun a few years before to be elected from the commons, nor had the Roman People regretted it in a single case. [10] The consulship remained for the commons to achieve; this was the citadel of liberty, this its pillar. If they attained to this, then would the Roman People hold that the kings had been really driven from the City, and their freedom firmly based; [11] for the commons would thenceforward be partakers in all that made the patricians now surpass them, — authority and honour, martial renown, birth and nobility, — great things for themselves to enjoy, but even greater to bequeath to their children.
[6.12] Perceiving that speeches of this sort were well received, they introduced a new measure, providing that in place of two men vested with superintendence of the sacred rites, a board of ten should be elected, with a proviso that half the number should be of the plebs, and half patricians; the voting on all these bills they deferred until the return of the army which was besieging Velitrae.
38. A year rolled round before the legions could be brought back from Velitrae; consequently the question of the laws remained in abeyance and was put off until the coming in of the new military tribunes; for as to the tribunes of the plebs, the commons chose the same men over again — the two, at any rate, who had brought in the bills. [2] The military tribunes chosen were Titus Quinctius, Servius Cornelius, Servius Sulpicius, Spurius Servilius, Lucius Papirius, and Lucius Veturius. [3] At the very outset of the year came a final struggle over the laws; and when the tribes were summoned to vote, and the proposers of the measures would not yield to the vetoes of their colleagues, the frightened patricians were put to their two last shifts — the greatest office, and the greatest of the citizens. [4] They voted to name a dictator, and appointed Marcus Furius Camillus, who chose Lucius Aemilius for his master of the horse. To meet these formidable preparations of their adversaries, the proposers of the laws on their side armed the commons with tremendous enthusiasm for the cause, and proclaiming a council of the plebs, called up the tribes to vote.
[6.5] Attended by a body of patricians, and breathing wrath and menaces, the dictator took his seat, and the affair began with the usual skirmish between the tribunes of the plebs, some of whom urged the passing of the law while others interposed their vetoes. But powerful as the veto was on the legal side, it was being overcome by the popularity of the bills themselves and their proposers, and the tribes which had been summoned first were voting “Ay,” when Camillus addressed the people. [6] “Quirites,” he said, “since you are now swayed not by the authority of the tribunes but by their lawlessness, and are bringing to naught the right of protest — obtained through the secession of the plebs — with the same violence with which you won it; for your own sake no less than for the sake of tile whole republic, I shall, as dictator, sustain the veto, and safeguard with my absolute authority your defence which you are overthrowing. [7] If then Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius yield to the protest of their colleagues, I will in no way intrude a patrician magistracy upon a council of the plebs; but if, in defiance of the protest, they try to impose their terms, as though upon a conquered state, I will not permit the tribunician power to work its own undoing.”
[6.8] This warning the tribunes treated with contempt, and were proceeding with unabated energy to carry out their plans, when Camillus, in high dudgeon, sent his lictors to turn the commons out; and threatened, that if they continued in their course, he would administer the oath to all of military age, and forthwith lead the army out of the City.
[6.9] The plebs were greatly dismayed; but the courage of their leaders was rather kindled than damped by his vehemence. Yet before the matter had been decided either way, Camillus resigned his office, whether because there had been a flaw in his election — as certain writers have held — or because the tribunes proposed to the plebs and the plebs decreed, that if Marcus Furius should take any action in the capacity of dictator, he should be fined five hundred thousand asses. [10] But that the auspices, and not a law without a precedent, were responsible for his withdrawal, the very nature of the man inclines me to believe; also the fact that Publius Manlius was at once made dictator in his place — for what good would his appointment do, in a struggle in which Marcus Furius had been beaten? [11] Besides, Marcus Furius himself was dictator again in the following year, and he would surely have been ashamed to resume an authority which had broken down in his own hands the year before. [12] Moreover at the time when the proposal to fine him is said to have been made, either he had the power to resist this order — which [13] deprived him, as he could see, of all authority, — or else he lacked the power to obstruct even those measures in defence of which this order had been proposed. Finally, whatever conflicts have occurred between tribunes and consuls, down to the times we can ourselves remember, the dictatorship has always towered above them.
39. In the interval between the abdication of the earlier dictator and the entrance upon his office of the new one, Manlius, the tribunes — as though there were an interregnum — held a council of the plebs, and it became evident which of the measures proposed were more acceptable to the plebeians, and which to their introducers. [2] For the tribes were on the point of passing the bills relating to interest and land, and of rejecting the one about the plebeian consul, and both policies would have been finally [3] disposed of, if the tribunes had not said that they were putting all these questions to the plebs collectively. [4] Then Publius Manlius, becoming dictator, gave the affair a turn in favour of the plebs by naming Gaius Licinius, who had been military tribune and was a commoner, his master of the horse. I find that the patricians took offence at this, but that the dictator was wont to excuse himself to them by alleging his close relationship to Licinius, and asserting that a master of the horse possessed no greater authority than a consular tribune.
[6.5] Licinius and Sextius, when an assembly had been proclaimed for the election of plebeian tribunes, so bore themselves that while professing an unwillingness to be re-elected, they furnished the plebs with the strongest incentives to give them what they pretended not to covet. [6] They said it was now nine years that they had stood embattled, as it were, against the optimates, with the greatest danger to themselves and no advantage to the public. [7] The measures they had proposed and the whole power of the tribunate had, like themselves, grown old and useless. First the intercession of their colleagues had been employed to attack their laws; then the young men had been banished to the seat of war at Velitrae; finally they had themselves been menaced with the thunderbolt of the dictatorship. [8] At present they were thwarted neither by their colleagues, nor by war, nor even by the dictator, for he had actually given them a presage of plebeian consuls by appointing a plebeian master of the horse: [9] no, it was the plebs themselves who stood in the way of their own advancement. [10] A City and a Forum rid of creditors, and lands delivered from unlawful occupation, were things they might enjoy at once, if they would. When, pray, did they expect to weigh these blessings and be duly grateful, if at the very moment of entertaining measures for their own advantage they cut off all hope of office from the men who introduced them? It was not like the reasonableness of the Roman People to ask to be relieved themselves of usury and settled on lands which the nobles had unjustly held, while leaving the men to whom they owed these advantages to grow old as tribunicians — not only without honours, but even without the hope of them. [11] So let them first make up their minds what it was they wished; and then declare their wishes at the election of the tribunes. [12] If they desired to enact together the measures which the tribunes had brought forward, there was some reason for re-electing them; for they would carry through what they had advocated; but if every man cared only for the adoption of such clauses as concerned him personally, there was no use in an invidious prolongation of their term; they would do without the tribuneship, and the people would do without the proposed reforms.
40. On hearing the tribunes make this stubborn speech, though the other senators were dazed and dumbfounded by such outrageous arguments, they [2] say that Appius Claudius Crassus, the decemvir’s grandson, moved more by hate and resentment than by hope, came forward to oppose them, and spoke to the following purpose: [3] “It would be no strange or surprising thing to me, Quirites, if on this occasion I, too, should be taunted with the one reproach that rebellious tribunes have ever directed at our family, to wit, that the Claudian gens from its very origin has regarded no feature of our public life as more important than the majesty of the senate and has always opposed the interests of the plebs. [4] The former of these charges I neither deny nor seek to refute — namely, that we have striven with all our might, from the day we were first called to be citizens and senators, that, so far as in us lay, the dignity of those families with which you proposed to rank us might truthfully be said to have rather gained than lost; [5] as to the other charge, I would venture to maintain, Quirites, speaking for myself and for my forefathers, that unless one should assume that what is done for the good of the whole nation is opposed to the welfare of the plebs, — as though they inhabited another city, — we have never wittingly done anything, whether as private citizens or magistrates, disadvantageous to the plebs; and that no word or act of ours can be truthfully alleged as being against your interests, though some there may have been which ran counter to your wishes. [6] But were I not a Claudius, nor sprung from a patrician line, but were merely any one of the Quirites, assuming only that I knew my parents had both been born to freedom and that I lived in a free state, could I pass this by in silence? [7] Are Lucius Sextius yonder and Gaius Licinius, our perpetual tribunes — save the mark! — grown so presumptuous in the nine years of their reign, as to threaten that they will leave you free to exercise your right of suffrage neither in elections nor in enacting laws?
[6.8] “‘ On a certain condition,’ says one of them, ‘ you shall elect us tribunes for the tenth time ‘; as though he were to say,’ What others sue for we are so surfeited withal that we will not accept it without a great reward.’ [9] But what in short is that reward by the grant of which we may always have you for tribunes of the plebs? ‘ That you adopt,’ says he, ‘all our rogations in a lump, whether you like them or detest them, — be they good or bad.’ [10] I beseech you, Tarquin tribunes of the plebs, imagine me a simple citizen calling out from the midst of the assembly, ‘ By your good leave, suffer us to choose from these proposals those we regard as wholesome for us, and to reject the rest.’ [11] ‘No,’ he answers, ‘you shall not have leave to enact the measures that concern you all, touching interest and lands, unless you will put up with the monstrous sight in Rome of Lucius Sextius and Gaius Licinius here as consuls — an idea you loathe and abominate; — accept everything, or I offer nothing.’ [12] As though a man were starving, and one should serve poison to him with his food, and command him either to abstain from what would give him life, or mix the deadly with the life-giving. Well then! If this state were free, would not the people have cried out to you in full assembly, ‘Begone, with your tribuneships and your rogations!’ Come! If you will not propose what is profitable to the people to accept, shall there be none to do it? [13] Suppose that some patrician, or — what those fellows would make out to be still more hateful — some Claudius, should say, ‘ Either take all or I will propose nothing,’ which of you, Quirites, would endure it? [14] Will you never choose rather to look at facts than at advocates, but always lend ready ears to the utterances of that noble magistrate, and refuse to hear what is said by any of us?
[6.15] “His language, you will admit, is far from appropriate in a free state; well, what of his rogation, which they resent your refusal to accept? Quirites, it is all of a piece with his words. ‘ I propose,’ he says, ‘that it shall not be permitted you to choose such consuls as you will.’ [16] For can aught else be his meaning, when he commands that in any case one consul be chosen from the plebs, and deprives you of the power to name two patricians? [17] If wars should arise in these days, like the Etruscan war, when Porsinna held Janiculum, or like the Gallic war a little while ago, when all this City — except the Capitol and the Citadel — was in the hands of your enemies; and if Lucius Sextius were standing for the consulship, along with Marcus Furius here, and any other patrician whomsoever; could you endure that Lucius Sextius should be certain of election, while Camillus had to risk defeat? [18] Is it thus they would equalize the opportunities of office? Would they authorize the election of two plebeian consuls, and forbid the choice of two patricians? Must we perforce take one plebeian, while for both places we may pass the patricians by? What sort of fellowship, of partnership, is this? Are you not satisfied to get a part of that in which you had no part before, unless in reaching for the part you can seize the whole? [19] ‘I fear’ he replies, ‘lest if it be permitted to choose two patricians, you may choose no one from the plebs.’ His meaning is: ‘Since of your own accord you will never choose unworthy men, I will make it obligatory on you to elect those whom you do not wish.’ [20] What follows? Why, a man would not owe the people so much as thanks, if he were the sole plebeian candidate along with two patricians: he would say that he had been elected not by your suffrages, but by the statute.
41. “They would force us, not invite us, to grant them office; and thus they mean to win the very highest honours without incurring even such obligations as would be imposed by the least important. They would make their canvass not on worth but on opportunity. [2] There is many a man who resents being investigated and appraised, who thinks it right that he alone should be certain of success, while his competitors are struggling for office; who would withdraw himself from your judgment; who would have you vote for him from compulsion, not from choice — not as freemen, but as slaves. [3] I say nothing of Licinius and Sextius, whose years of continuous power you reckon like those of the kings on the Capitol: who is there in the state to-day so lowly that the opportunities afforded by that law would not make access to the consulship easier for him than for us and for our children? To elect us will sometimes be beyond your power, even though you wish it; but those persons you would be compelled to elect, even against your inclinations.
[6.4] “Of the indignity of the thing I have said enough. But dignity after all is concerned with men: what of religious observances and auspices — for the immortal gods are involved in insult and disrespect to these? That this City was founded under auspices; that all measures, warlike and peaceful, at home and in the field, are carried out with auspices, who does not know? [5] Who then control the auspices, by the tradition of our fathers? The patricians, to be sure; for no plebeian magistrate is elected under auspices; [6] the auspices belong so exclusively to us, that not only are the patrician magistrates whom the people elect no otherwise elected than with auspices, but we ourselves even — without the people’s suffrage — take auspices and nominate an interrex; and have, as private citizens, the right of taking them, which you plebeians have not even in your magistracies. [7] He therefore deprives the state outright of auspices, who by electing plebeian consuls deprives the patricians of them — for they alone can take them. They may jeer now, if they like, at religious scruples. [8] ‘After all,’ they will say, ‘what difference does it make if the sacred chickens will not feed; if they are slow to come out from the coop; if a bird utters an ill-omened cry? ‘ These are trivial things; but because they did not scorn these trivial things, your fathers were able to build this great republic; and now we, as though we had no further use for Heaven’s favour, are polluting all [9] the ceremonies. Let pontiffs then, augurs, and kings of the sacrifices, be chosen from the vulgar herd; let us set the mitre of the Flamen Dialis on anybody’s head, so he but be a man; let us make over the sacred shields, the inner shrine, the gods and the service of the gods, to those whom we may not without sin intrust [10] with them; let laws be proposed and magistrates elected without the approval of the auspices; neither to centuriate nor curiate comitia let the fathers give their sanction; let Sextius and Licinius bear sway in Rome, like Romulus and Tatius — because they give away the moneys and the lands [11] of others. Is it so sweet to plunder others of their fortunes? Does it not occur to them that one of their laws will make vast deserts in the country-side, by driving the landlords out from their demesnes, while the other will wipe out credit, and with it all [12] human intercourse? Upon every account I urge you to reject these bills; and may Heaven prosper what you do!”
42. The speech of Appius availed no further than to put off the passing of the measures. [2] Returned for the tenth time to office, the tribunes Sextius and Licinius obtained the enactment of a law requiring that half the board of ten who had charge of sacred rites should be plebeians. Having elected five patricians and five plebeians, the people felt that they had set a precedent for the consulship. [3] Satisfied with their victory, the plebs gave way to the patricians, and relinquishing for the moment discussion about the consuls, permitted the election of military tribunes. Those chosen were Aulus and Marcus Cornelius (for their second terms), Marcus Geganius, Publius Manlius, Lucius Veturius, and (for the sixth time) Publius Valerius.
[6.4] Rome’s foreign relations were now peaceful everywhere except for the siege of Velitrae — the result of which, though delayed, was scarce in doubt — when a sudden rumour of a Gallic war drove the state to appoint Marcus Furius to his fifth dictatorship. He nominated Titus Quinctius Poenus to be master of the horse. [5] Claudius relates that the battle with the Gauls took place that year near the river Anio; and that this was the occasion of the famous duel on the bridge in which Titus Manlius slew a Gaul who had challenged him to combat, and despoiled him of his chain, while the two armies looked on. [6] But I am more inclined to believe, with the majority of our authorities, that this exploit took place no less than ten years later, and that in the year of which I am now writing, the dictator, Marcus Furius, fought a battle against the Gauls on Alban soil. [7] Notwithstanding the great terror occasioned by the invasion of the Gauls and the recollection of their old defeat, the Romans gained a victory that was neither difficult nor uncertain. [8] Many thousands of barbarians fell in battle, and many after the camp was taken. The others roamed about, making mostly towards Apulia, and owed their escape from the Romans to their distant flight and the dispersion which resulted from their panic and their straggling. [9] The dictator was awarded a triumph with the consent of both senate and plebs.
Hardly had Camillus brought the war to an end, when he was confronted with a fiercer opposition in the City. After desperate struggles the senate and the dictator were beaten, and the measures advocated by the tribunes were adopted. [10] An election of consuls was held, against the wishes of the nobles, and resulted in the choice of Lucius Sextius, the first of the plebeians to attain that honour. Even this did not end their disputes. [11] The patricians declared that they would not ratify the election, and the affair had almost led to a secession of the plebs and threatened other terrible embroilments, when the dictator finally proposed a compromise which allayed the discord; the nobles gave way to the plebs in regard to the plebeian consul, and the plebs conceded to the nobles that they might elect from the patricians one praetor to administer justice in the City. [12] Thus after their long quarrel the orders were reconciled at last. The senate decided that this was a fitting occasion to honour the immortal gods — who deserved it then, if ever at any time — by celebrating the Great Games, and voted that one day should be added to the customary three; [13] this burden the aediles of the plebs refused to shoulder, whereupon the young patricians called out that they would willingly do it for the sake of honouring the gods. [14] The entire people united in thanks to them, and the senate decreed that the dictator should hold a popular election of two aediles to be chosen from the patricians, and that the Fathers should ratify all the elections of that year.
SUMMARY OF BOOK VI
THE book contains the victorious campaigns against the Volsci, the Aequi, and the Praenestini. Four tribes were added, the Stellatina, the Tromentina, the Sabatina, and the Arniensis. Marcus Manlius, who had defended the Capitol against the Gauls, after liberating the debtors and releasing those whose persons had been seized, was found guilty of aiming at sovereignty, and was flung from the Rock; to stigmatize him the senate decreed that none of the Manlian family should bear the name of Marcus. Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius, tribunes of the plebs, proposed a law that the consuls, who were formerly chosen from the patricians, might be elected from the plebs, and in a strenuous struggle against the opposition of the patricians, carried their point, after these same tribunes of the plebs had for five years been the only magistrates, and Lucius Sextius was the first plebeian to be elected consul. Another law was also passed, that none might hold above five hundred iugera of land.

## Book VII

Translated by B. O. Foster
1. THIS YEAR will stand out as the one in which a “new man” held the consulship, and also for the establishment of two new magistracies, the praetorship and the curule aedileship. These dignities the patricians had devised for themselves, to compensate them for the second consulship, which they had granted to the commons. [2] The plebs bestowed their consulship on Lucius Sextius, by whose law it had been won. The patricians, through their influence in the Campus Martius, obtained the praetorship for Spurius Furius Camillus, the son of Marcus, and the aedileship for Gnaeus Quinctius Capitolinus and Publius Cornelius Scipio, who belonged to their own houses. [3] Lucius Aemilius Mamercus was chosen from the patricians as colleague of Lucius Sextius. Early in the year there was some talk about the Gauls — who having at first scattered through Apulia were now rumoured to be gathering — and about a defection on the part of the Hernici. [4] The patricians purposely deferred all action, in order that the plebeian consul might have no hand in anything; [5] it seemed from the general hush and lack of bustle as though a cessation of the courts had been proclaimed; save that the tribunes would not suffer it to pass in silence that the nobles, in return for one plebeian consul, had got three patrician magistrates for themselves, who wore the purple-bordered toga and sat, like consuls, in curule chairs, while the praetor even dealt out justice — having [6] been elected as a colleague to the consuls and under the same auspices. In consequence of this criticism the senate was ashamed to order that the curule aediles be chosen from the patricians. [7] At first it was arranged to take them from the plebs in alternate years: later the election was thrown open without distinction.
Then came the consulship of Lucius Genucius and Quintus Servilius. There was neither party strife nor war to disturb the peace, but lest there should ever be freedom from fear and danger, a great pestilence broke out. [8] It is stated that a censor, a curule aedile, and three plebeian tribunes died, with a correspondingly large number from the rest of the population. But what chiefly made this pestilence noteworthy was the death of Marcus Furius, who, though ripe in years, was bitterly regretted. [9] For he was truly a man of singular excellence whether in good or evil fortune; foremost in peace and in war before his banishment, and in exile even more distinguished, whether one thinks of the yearning of his countrymen who called on him in his absence to save their captured City, or of the success with which on being restored to his country he restored the country itself at the same time; [10] after this for five and twenty years — for he survived so long — he maintained his glorious reputation, and was deemed worthy of being named next after Romulus, as Rome’s second Founder.
2. The pestilence lasted during both this and the following year, the consulship of Gaius Sulpicius Peticus and Gaius Licinius Stolo. [2] In the latter year nothing memorable occurred, except that with the object of appeasing the divine displeasure they made a lectisternium, or banquet to the gods, being the third in the history of the City; [3] and when neither human wisdom nor the help of Heaven was found to mitigate the scourge, men gave way to superstitious fears, and, amongst other efforts to disarm the wrath of the gods, are said also to have instituted scenic entertainments. [4] This was a new departure for a warlike people, whose only exhibitions had been those of the circus; but indeed it began in a small way, as most things do, and even so was imported from abroad. Without any singing, without imitating the action of singers, players who had been brought in from Etruria danced to the strains of the flautist and performed not ungraceful evolutions in the Tuscan fashion. [5] Next the young Romans began to imitate them, at the same time exchanging jests in uncouth verses, and bringing their movements into a certain harmony with the words. [6] And so the amusement was adopted, and frequent use kept it alive. The native professional actors were called histriones, from ister, the Tuscan word for player; they no longer — as before — alternately [7] threw off rude lines hastily improvised, like the Fescennines, but performed medleys, full of musical measures, to melodies which were now written out to go with the flute, and with appropriate gesticulation.
Livius was the first, some years later, to abandon 364 saturae and compose a play with a plot. [8] Like everyone else in those days, he acted his own pieces; and the story goes that when his voice, owing to the frequent demands made upon it, had lost its freshness, he asked and [9] obtained the indulgence to let a boy stand before the flautist to sing the monody, while he acted it himself, with a vivacity of gesture that gained considerably from his not having to use his voice. [10] From that time on actors began to use singers to accompany their gesticulation, reserving only the dialogue parts for their own delivery. When this type of performance had begun to wean [11] the drama from laughter and informal jest, and the play had gradually developed into art, the young men abandoned the acting of comedies to professionals and revived the ancient practice of fashioning their nonsense into verses and letting fly with them at one another; this was the source of the after-plays which came later to be called exodia, and were usually combined with Atellan farces. [12] The Atellan was a species of comedy acquired from the Oscans, and the young men kept it for themselves and would not allow it to be polluted by the professional actors; that is why it is a fixed tradition that performers of Atellan plays are not disfranchised, but serve in the army as though they had no connexion with the stage. [13] Amongst the humble origins of other institutions it has seemed worth while to set down the early history of the play, that it might be seen how sober were the beginnings of an art that has nowadays reached a point where opulent kingdoms could hardly support its mad extravagance.
3. However, the plays thus for the first time introduced by way of expiation neither freed men’s minds of religious fears nor their bodies of disease. [2] Indeed, it fell out quite otherwise; for the games were in full swing when an inundation of the Tiber flooded the circus and put a stop to them, an accident which — as though the gods had already turned away, rejecting the proffered appeasement of their anger — filled the people with fear. [3] And so when Gnaeus Genucius and Lucius Aemilius Mamercus (for the second time) were consuls, and men’s minds were more troubled by the search for means of propitiation than were their bodies by disease, it is said that the elders recollected that a pestilence had once been allayed by the dictator’s driving a nail. [4] Induced thereto by this superstition, the senate ordered the appointment of a dictator to drive the nail. [5] Lucius Manlius Imperiosus was appointed, and named Lucius Pinarius master of the horse.
There is an ancient law, recorded in archaic words and letters, that the chief magistrate shall on the thirteenth of September drive a nail; the tablet was formerly affixed to the right side of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, where Minerva’s chapel is. [6] This nail served, they say, in those days of little writing, to mark the number of years, and the law was confided to the chapel of Minerva, for the reason that number was an invention of that goddess. [7] (Cincius, a careful student of such memorials, asserts that at Volsinii, too, nails may be seen in the temple of Nortia, an Etruscan goddess, driven in to indicate the number of [8] years.) Marcus Horatius the consul dedicated the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in accordance with this law, in the year after the expulsion of the kings; later the ceremony of driving the nail was transferred from consuls to dictators, because theirs was the higher authority. Then, after the custom had been allowed to lapse, it was thought to be of sufficient importance to warrant the appointment of a dictator for that very [9] purpose. It was for this reason that Manlius was designated, who, however, as though appointed to wage war and not to discharge a religious obligation, aspired to conduct the war with the Hernici, and hunted down the men of military age in a rigorous levy; but in the upshot, opposed by the united efforts of all the tribunes of the plebs, he yielded either to force or to a sense of shame, and resigned his dictatorship.
4. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the ensuing year — the consulship of Quintus Servilius Ahala and Lucius Genucius — Manlius was put upon his trial by Marcus Pomponius, a tribune of the plebs. [2] The people hated him for the severity of his levy, in which they had endured not only fines but bodily distress, some having suffered stripes for failure to respond to their names and others having been dragged off to prison; [3] but more than all else they hated the man’s cruel disposition and his surname, Imperiosus, which offended a free state and had been assumed in ostentation of the truculence which he used as freely with his nearest friends and his own family as with strangers. [4] Amongst other charges the tribune cited the man’s behaviour to his son: the youth, he said, had been found guilty of no misconduct, yet Manlius had excluded him from the City, from his home and household gods, from the Forum, the light of day, and the fellowship of his young friends, [5] consigning him to slavish drudgery in a kind of gaol or work-house, where a youth of distinguished birth and the son of a dictator might learn by his daily wretchedness how truly “imperious” was the father that had begot him. [6] Yes, but what was the young man’s fault? Why, he had been a little slow of speech — unready with his tongue! But ought not his father to have healed and mended this infirmity of nature — if he had a particle of humanity about him — instead of chastising it and by persecution making it conspicuous? Why even the dumb brutes, if one of their young is unfortunate, do none the less cherish it and foster it. [7] But Lucius Manlius was aggravating his son’s evil plight by evil treatment, and was doubling the burden on his heavy wits; and any spark of native talent that might be there he was quenching in the rustic life and clownish bringing up amongst the dumb brutes where he kept him.
5. Everyone was incensed by these charges, except the young man himself. He, on the contrary, was vexed to be the cause of additional dislike and accusation of his father; [2] and that all gods and men might know that he had rather help his father than his father’s enemies, he conceived a plan, in keeping to be sure with his rude and uncouth spirit, which, though it set no pattern of civic conduct, was yet praiseworthy for its filial piety. [3] Without anybody’s knowledge, he girded himself with a knife in the early morning, and coming to the City, made his way at once from the gate to the house of Marcus Pomponius, the tribune. There he told the porter that he must see his master instantly, and bade him say that it was Titus Manlius, the son of Lucius. [4] Being presently admitted — for it seemed likely that he was moved with wrath against his father, or was bringing some fresh charge or plan of action — he received and returned the salutation of his host, and then announced that there were matters of which he wished to speak to him without witnesses. [5] When they had all been sent away, he drew his knife, and standing over the tribune’s couch with his weapon ready, he threatened that unless the man should swear, in the terms he himself should dictate, never to hold a council of the plebs for the purpose of accusing his father, he would immediately stab him. [6] The frightened tribune, seeing the blade flash in his face, and perceiving himself to be alone and unarmed, and the other to be a stalwart youth, and, what was no less terrifying, foolhardy by reason of his strength, took the oath that was required of him, and afterwards publicly declared that he had been compelled by force to relinquish his undertaking. [7] And the plebs, however much they would have liked to be given the opportunity to cast their votes in the case of so cruel and insolent a defendant, were yet not displeased that a son had dared such a deed in defence of his parent; and they praised it all the more, because the father’s shocking harshness had made no difference in the son’s filial devotion. [8] And so not only was the arraignment of the father dismissed, but the youth himself gained distinction from the affair; [9] for in the election of military tribunes for the legions, which had that year for the first time been resolved upon — until then the generals themselves had nominated them, as they do to-day those who are known as Rufuli — he was chosen second of the six, though neither at home nor in the field had he done aught to merit popularity, and no wonder, since his youth had been passed in the country, remote from the gatherings of men.
6. That same year, whether owing to an earthquake or to some other violent force, it is said that the ground gave way, at about the middle of the Forum, and, sinking to an immeasurable depth, left a prodigious chasm. [2] This gulf could not be filled with the earth which everyone brought and cast into it, until admonished by the gods, they began to inquire what it was that constituted the chief strength of the Roman People; [3] for this the soothsayers declared that they must offer up, as a sacrifice to that spot, if they wished the Roman Republic to endure. Thereupon Marcus Curtius, a young soldier of great prowess, rebuked them, so the story runs, for questioning whether any blessing were more Roman than arms and valour. [4] A hush ensued, as he turned to the temples of the immortal gods which rise above the Forum, and to the Capitol, and stretching forth his hands, now to heaven, and now to the yawning chasm and to the gods below, devoted himself to death. [5] After which, mounted on a horse caparisoned with all possible splendour, he plunged fully armed into the gulf; and crowds of men and women threw offerings and fruits in after him. It was he, they say, and not Curtius Mettius, the soldier of Titus Tatius in days of old, who gave his name to the Curtian Lake. [6] Diligence would not be wanting, were there any path which could lead the inquirer to the truth; as it is, one must hold by the tradition, where antiquity will not allow us to be certain; and the name of the pool is better known from this more recent legend.
[7.7] After the expiation of this great portent, the senate dealt in the same year with the question of the Hernici, and having dispatched fetials to demand reparations, without avail, resolved to submit to the people for their approval, at the earliest possible day, a declaration of war against that nation. In a crowded assembly the people voted for war, and the consul Lucius Genucius was by lot intrusted with the conduct of it. [8] The citizens were in a fever of suspense, since he would be the first plebeian consul to conduct a war under his own auspices, and they would judge by the sequel whether they had done well or ill to throw these honours open. [9] It so happened that Genucius, marching in great force against the enemy, plunged into an ambuscade. The legions, in a sudden panic, were put to flight, and the consul was surrounded and slain by men who knew not whom they had taken. [10] When the news reached Rome, the patricians, by no means so cast down by the general disaster as elated at the unlucky generalship of the plebeian consul, filled the City with their taunts. Let them go and choose consuls from the plebs! Let them transfer the auspices to those who might not have them without sin! [11] They had been able by a plebiscite to expel the patricians from their rightful honours: had their unsanctioned law prevailed also against the immortal gods? The gods themselves had vindicated their divine authority and their auspices; for these had no sooner been touched by one who had no legal or religious warranty for so doing, than the army and its general had been annihilated, as a lesson never again to overturn the rights of the patrician families in conducting an election. Such words as these resounded through the Curia and the Forum. [12] Appius Claudius had urged the rejection of the law, and this now gave his words the greater weight, as he denounced the outcome of a policy which he himself had censured. Him, therefore, the consul Servilius, with the approval of the patricians, appointed dictator. An enrolment was proclaimed, and the courts were suspended.
7. But before the dictator and his new levies were got to the country of the Hernici, the lieutenant Gaius Sulpicius, profiting by a favourable opportunity, had fought a brilliant engagement. [2] The Hernici, whom the consul’s death had made contemptuous, approached the Roman camp with every expectation of taking it by storm; but the soldiers, heartened by their general and bursting with anger and resentment, made a sortie, and so far were the Hernici from attacking the stockade, as they had hoped to do, that they actually fell back in confusion from the ground. [3] Then came the dictator, and the new army was joined to the old and the forces doubled. Calling the men together, Appius lauded the lieutenant and his soldiers, by whose bravery the camp had been defended; thus at the same stroke he encouraged those who heard themselves deservedly commended, and stimulated the others to emulation of their conduct. [4] Nor were the enemy less energetic in making ready for the war; mindful of the glory they had won before, and aware that the forces of their adversaries had been augmented, they also strengthened theirs. All who bore the name of Hernici and were of military age were called upon, and eight cohorts were formed, each numbering four hundred of their best men. [5] This choice flower of their manhood they inspired with additional hope and courage by a decree which allowed them double pay. They were exempted, also, from military tasks, in order that, being reserved for the one labour of fighting, they might be sensible of an obligation to exert themselves beyond the capacity of ordinary men. [6] Finally, they were assigned a post in the battle outside the line, to make their bravery the more conspicuous.
A plain extending for two miles separated the Roman camp from the Hernici. In the middle of this plain, at a spot almost equidistant from both camps, the battle was fought. [7] At first the event of the struggle was in doubt and nothing came of the oft-repeated attempts of the Roman horse to break the enemy’s line. [8] Finding their charges ineffectual, despite their efforts, they consulted the dictator and with his permission left their horses, and, rushing to the front with a mighty cheer, inaugurated a new kind of fighting. [9] There would have been no stopping them, had it not been for the special cohorts, who flung themselves across their path with a vigour and gallantry equal to their own.
8. The struggle then lay between the best men of both nations, and whatever losses the chance of war inflicted on either side were serious out of all proportion to their number. The common herd of soldiers, as though they had made over the battle to their betters, rested their future on the bravery of others. Many on both sides were slain and more were wounded. [2] At length the knights began to rail at one another. What else, they asked, was there to do, if they had neither beaten the enemy when mounted, nor were able to accomplish anything on foot? What third kind of battle were they waiting for? [3] What good had they done by dashing boldly out in front of the line and fighting in a place that belonged to others? Stirred by these mutual reproaches, they advanced with renewed cheering, and first they made the enemy yield, then forced them back, and finally routed them in no uncertain fashion. [4] What it was that turned the scale, where forces were so evenly matched, would be hard to say, unless the fortune regularly attendant on each nation had the power to quicken or to daunt their resolution. [5] The Romans chased the fleeing Hernici clear to their camp, which, owing to the lateness of the hour, they refrained from attacking; — the dictator had been unable to give the battle-signal before noon, having failed for a long time to obtain favourable omens, for which reason the struggle had been protracted until night. [6] — On the following day the camp was discovered to have been deserted by the fleeing Hernici, and a few of their wounded were found, whom they had left behind. The column of fugitives was passing the walls of Signia, when the townsfolk espied their thinly attended ensigns, and falling upon them, scattered them in headlong flight across the country. [7] Yet the Romans got no bloodless victory: they lost a fourth part of their foot, and a number of Roman horsemen fell, which was no less grave a loss.
9. Next year the consuls Gaius Sulpicius and Gaius Licinius Calvus led an army against the Hernici, and not finding the enemy abroad, captured their city of Ferentinum by assault. As they were returning thence, the men of Tibur closed their gates against them. [2] Many complaints had before this been bandied back and forth between the two peoples, but this new offence made the Romans finally determine that after sending the fetials to demand redress they would declare war on the Tiburtine people.
[7.3] It is well established that Titus Quinctius Poenus was dictator that year and that Servius Cornelius Maluginensis was master of the horse. [4] Licinius Macer states that the appointment was for the purpose of holding an election and was made by Licinius the consul, who, because his colleague was in haste to hold the election before the campaign, so that he might succeed himself in the consulship, felt obliged to thwart his evil designs. [5] But the praise which he seeks to bestow on his own family makes the testimony of Licinius less weighty, and since I find no mention of the circumstance in the older annals, I am more disposed to think that it was a Gallic war which occasioned the appointment of a dictator. [6] In any case, this was the year in which the Gauls encamped at the third milestone on the Salarian road, beyond the bridge over the Anio.
The dictator having, by reason of the Gallic rising, proclaimed a suspension of the courts, administered the oath to all of military age. Then marching out of the City with a great army he pitched his camp on the hither bank of the stream. [7] The bridge lay between, and neither side would break it down, lest it be regarded as a sign of fear. There were frequent skirmishes for the possession of the bridge, and yet, so evenly matched were their forces, it could not be determined who were masters of it. [8] Then a Gaul of extraordinary size advanced upon the empty bridge, and making his voice as loud as possible, cried out, “Let him whom Rome now reckons her bravest man come out and fight, that we two may show by the outcome which people is the superior in war.”
10. The young Roman nobles were for a long time silent. Ashamed to decline the challenge, they were loath to volunteer for a service of transcendent peril. [2] Then Titus Manlius, the son of Lucius, who had rescued his father from the persecution of the tribune, left his station and went to the dictator. “Without your orders, General,” he said, “I would fain never leave my place to fight, not though I saw that victory was assured; [3] but if you permit me, I would show that beast who dances out so boldly before the standards of the enemy, that I come of the family that hurled the column of Gauls from the Tarpeian Rock.” To whom the dictator made answer, “Success attend your valour, Titus Manlius, and your loyalty to father and to country! [4] Go, and with Heaven’s help make good the unconquerable Roman name.” The young man’s friends then armed him; he assumed the shield of a foot-soldier, and to his side he buckled a Spanish sword, convenient for close fighting. Armed and accoutred, they led him forth to the Gaul, who in his stupid glee — for the ancients have thought even this worth mentioning — thrust his tongue out in derision. They then retired to their station, and the two armed men were left by themselves in the midst, like gladiators more than soldiers, and by no means evenly matched, to judge from [6] outward show. One had a body extraordinary for its size, and resplendent in a coat of shifting hues and armour painted and chased with gold: the other was of a middling stature for a soldier, and his arms were but indifferent to look at, being suitable but [7] not ornate. He neither sang nor danced about with idle flourishes of his weapons, but his bosom swelled with courage and silent wrath, and all his ferocity was reserved for the crisis of [8] the combat. When they had taken their ground between the two embattled armies, while the hearts of the surrounding multitude were suspended betwixt hope and fear, the Gaul, whose huge bulk towered [9] above the other, advanced his shield with the left arm, to parry the attack of his oncoming enemy, and delivered a slashing stroke with his sword, that made a mighty clatter but did [10] no harm. The Roman, with the point of his weapon raised, struck up his adversary’s shield with a blow from his own against its lower edge; and slipping in between the man’s sword and his body, so close that no part of his own person was exposed, he gave one thrust and then immediately another, and gashing the groin and belly of his enemy brought him headlong to the ground, where he lay stretched out over a [11] monstrous space. To the body of his fallen foe he offered no other indignity than to despoil it of one thing — a chain which, spattered with blood, he cast round his [12] own neck. The Gauls were transfixed with fear and wonder, while the Romans, quitting their station, ran eagerly to meet their champion and brought him with praise and gratulation to [13] the dictator. Amidst the rude banter thrown out by the soldiers in a kind of verse, was heard the appellation of Torquatus, and thereafter this was given currency as an honoured surname, used even by descendants of [14] the family. The dictator gave him, besides, a golden chaplet, and loudly extolled that fight of his in a public speech.
11. And in fact the combat was of so great consequence to the issue of the whole war, that the army of the Gauls withdrew in trepidation from their camp on the succeeding night and crossed over into the territory of Tibur. There they formed a military alliance with the Tiburtes, and having been liberally assisted by them with provisions, they soon departed and went into Campania. [2] This was the reason why in the following year the consul Gaius Poetelius Balbus, when his colleague Marcus Fabius Ambustus had been appointed to the campaign with the Hernici, was commanded by the people to march against the men of Tibur. [3] To aid their allies, the Gauls returned from Campania, and the cruel devastations which ensued in the districts of Labici, Tusculum, and Alba were clearly instigated and directed by the Tiburtes. [4] Against the Tiburtine foe the state was satisfied to be commanded by a consul; but the Gallic invasion required the appointment of a dictator. The choice fell on Quintus Servilius Ahala, who designated Titus Quinctius master of the horse, and, instructed by the senate, made a vow to celebrate the great games, in the event of a successful termination of the war. [5] Directing the consular army to remain where they were, in order to confine the Tiburtes to their own field of action, the dictator administered the oath to all the young men, none of whom endeavoured to avoid the service. [6] The battle was fought not far from the Colline Gate. The Romans put forth all their strength in full sight of their parents and their wives and children. These are powerful incentives to courage even when unseen, but being then in full view, set the soldiers on fire with a sense of honour and compassion. [7] The slaughter was great on both sides, but at last the Gallic army was driven off. In their flight they turned towards Tibur, as though it had been the stronghold of the Gallic war; as they straggled on, they encountered the consul Poetelius, not far from the town, and when the Tiburtes came out to their assistance they were beaten back through the gates along with the Gauls. [8] The affair was admirably handled by the consul as well as by the dictator. And the other consul Fabius defeated the Hernici — at first in little skirmishes, but ultimately in one remarkable battle, in which the enemy attacked with all their forces. [9] The dictator, having handsomely lauded the consuls in the senate and before the people, even giving them the credit for his own achievements, resigned his office. Poetelius celebrated a double triumph over the Gauls and the Tiburtes: it was thought enough for Fabius that he should enter the City in an ovation.
The Tiburtes ridiculed the triumph of Poetelius. Where was it, they asked, that he had fought a battle with them? [10] A handful of people had gone outside the gates to look on at the flight and panic of the Gauls, and finding that they too were attacked and that all who came in the way of the Romans were cut down without discrimination, had retired within their walls; this was the great achievement that the Romans had deemed worthy of a triumph! [11] That they might not regard it as too wonderful and great a thing to cause a flurry at their enemy’s gates, they should themselves behold a greater panic in front of their own walls.
12. Accordingly, in the following year, when Marcus Popilius Laenas and Gnaeus Manlius were consuls, a hostile expedition set out from Tibur and arrived in the first silence of the night, at the walls of Rome. [2] It was terrifying to be suddenly waked out of sleep by a surprise and a night alarm; moreover many of the people knew not who their enemies were nor whence they had come; nevertheless the call to arms was quickly given, and watches were set at the gates and the walls were manned. [3] And when the first light showed the enemy before the City to be in no great force, and only the men of Tibur, the consuls sallied out at two gates and assailed them on both flanks as they were now drawing near the walls. [4] It was evident that in coming they had relied more on opportunity than on courage, for they scarcely withstood the first shock of the Roman onset. [5] In fact their expedition was confessedly a good thing for the Romans, and the fear occasioned by so near an enemy repressed a quarrel that was already in the air, between the patricians and the plebs.
[7.6] Another hostile incursion was more terrifying to the countryside. The Tarquinienses, bent on plundering, ranged over the Roman territory, particularly that part which adjoins Etruria; and demands for reparation proving futile, the new consuls, Gaius Fabius and Gaius Plautius, declared war against them, as commanded by the people. This campaign fell to Fabius, that against the Hernici to Plautius.
[7.7] Rumours of a Gallic war began also to be rife. But with many perils, there was this consolation, that they had granted peace to the Latins, at their desire, and had received a large force of soldiers from them, under the terms of an ancient treaty which the Latins had for many years disregarded. [8] Thus strengthened, the Romans heard soon after with small concern that the Gauls had come to Praeneste and had then pitched their camp in the vicinity of Pedum. [9] They resolved on making Gaius Sulpicius dictator, and sent for Gaius Plautius the consul to appoint him; Marcus Valerius was named as his master of the horse. These two marched against the Gauls, with the choicest troops from both the consular armies.
[7.10] The war was considerably more protracted than was pleasing to either side. At first only the Gauls had been eager for battle; but later the Romans far exceeded the Gauls in the ardour with which they would run to arm themselves and fight. [11] Yet the dictator was by no means willing, being under no compulsion, to hazard his fortune against an enemy whom each day made less formidable, as he lingered on in an unfriendly country, without a magazine of food, and without adequate defences — an enemy, too, whose strength and courage lay wholly in attacking, and languished as soon as there came a slight delay.
[7.12] Upon these considerations the dictator spun out the war and threatened to punish anyone severely who should fight the enemy without his orders. The soldiers were mortified at this. At first they grumbled among themselves about the dictator, when on picket-duty or watching in the night, and sometimes railed at the senators collectively for not having given the consuls charge of the war; a fine general they had chosen, a unique commander, who thought that without his lifting a finger victory would fly down from heaven into his lap! [13] But they presently began to utter these same sentiments quite openly and in the light of day, and even bolder things than these: they would not wait, they declared, for the general’s orders, but would either fight or go in a body to Rome. [14] The centurions began to mingle with the soldiers; the murmuring was not confined to little knots of men, but in the main street and before the commander’s tent there was now one general clamour; the throng increased to the bigness of an assembly, and on every side shouts were heard that they should go instantly to the dictator, and that Sextus Tullius should be spokesman for the army, as became his courage.
13. It was now the seventh campaign in which Tullius had served as first centurion, nor was there anyone in the army, at least among the foot-soldiers, more distinguished for his services. [2] At the head of the men, who followed in a body, he approached the platform, where the amazement of Sulpicius on seeing the mob was not greater than at seeing it led by Tullius, a soldier most obedient to authority. [3] “By your leave, Dictator,” he began, “the entire army, deeming itself condemned in your mind for cowardice and almost deprived of its arms by way of humiliation, has asked me to plead its cause with you. [4] For my part, even if we could be taunted with anywhere quitting a post, with turning our backs on the foe, with shamefully losing our standards, I should still think you ought to hearken to our entreaty that we be permitted to redeem our fault with valour, and by winning new renown blot out the memory of our disgrace. [5] Even the legions that were routed at the Allia afterwards set out from Veii and by manful conduct won back the very City their cowardice had lost. In our case, thanks to the kindness of the gods and to your good fortune and that of the Roman People, both our cause and our glory are unimpaired. [6] Yet I hardly dare to mention glory, since the enemy flout us with every species of insult, as though we were women cowering behind our rampart; and since you, our general — a thing far harder to bear — regard us as an army without spirit, without swords, and without hands, and ere you have given us a trial, have so despaired of us as to reckon yourself a commander of cripples and weaklings. [7] For how else can we account for it, that you, an experienced and fearless general, should, as they say, be sitting down with folded hands? Indeed, however this may be, it is more reasonable that you should seem to distrust our bravery, than that we should seem to distrust yours. [8] But if this is not your own but public policy, and if some agreement amongst the senators, and not the Gallic war, keeps us in exile from the City and from our homes, then I beg you to hear what I have to say, as though it were spoken not by his soldiers to a general but by the plebs to the patricians — for if the plebs, even as you have your policies, should assert that they proposed likewise to have theirs, who, pray, could be angry with them? [9] I say, then, we are your soldiers, not your slaves; you have sent us to war, not into banishment; if anyone would give us the signal and lead us into battle, we are ready to quit us in the fight like men and Romans: but if there be no occasion for our arms, we had rather spend our leisure in Rome than in a camp. [10] Thus much we would say to the patricians. But of you, our general, we, your soldiers, beg that you give us an opportunity of fighting. We are eager not only to conquer, but to conquer under your leadership; to win for you the glorious laurel; to enter the City with you in the march of triumph; and following your chariot, to approach the throne of Jupiter Optimus Maximus with gratulations and rejoicings.” [11] The speech of Tullius was supported by the entreaties of the crowd, who on all sides clamoured for the signal and the command to arm.
14. Though the dictator felt that a good thing had been carried out in a way to set a bad example, yet he undertook to do as the soldiers wished. [2] In private he questioned Tullius what this proceeding meant and on what precedent he had acted. Tullius earnestly besought the dictator not to believe that he had forgotten the training of a soldier, nor forgotten himself and the honour due to his commander: the crowd, he said, had become excited; crowds were generally like their leaders, and he had not refused to lead it, for fear that some other might come forward, of the sort that an unruly mob was likely to choose; for his own part he would do nothing without the approval of his general. [3] But Sulpicius, he continued, must none the less be very wary himself, to keep the army in hand; postponement would not do, where feelings were so exasperated; the men would choose for themselves a time and place for fighting, if their general did not provide them. [4] While they were talking thus, it chanced that a Gaul attempted to drive off certain sumpter animals that were grazing outside of the stockade, and two Roman soldiers took them away from him. These men were stoned by the Gauls. Whereupon a shout arose in the Roman outpost, and men ran forward on both sides. [5] And now the mellay was likely to end in a regular battle, had not the centurions speedily parted the combatants. Sulpicius was assured by this incident that Tullius spoke truth, and, the situation admitting of no delay, he announced a general engagement for the morrow.
Yet the dictator was entering a struggle in which he relied more on the spirit of his troops than on their strength. [6] He began therefore to cast about and every way to consider how he might strike terror into the enemy by some stratagem. His cleverness produced a new expedient, which many generals both of our own and foreign countries — some even in the present age — have since employed. [7] Commanding the muleteers to remove the packsaddles from the mules, leaving only a pair of saddle-cloths on each, and arming them, partly with captured weapons, partly with those belonging to the sick, he mounted them. [8] Having in this way made out near a thousand, he mixed a hundred cavalrymen with them and ordered them to go up by night on to the mountains above the camp and conceal themselves in the woods, and not to stir from thence until they received a signal from him. [9] The dictator himself, as soon as it was light, began to deploy his front along the lower slopes, on purpose to make the enemy take their stand facing the mountains where the preparations had been made for inspiring them with a fear which, groundless though it was, yet served the Romans almost better than actual strength. [10] At first the Gallic leaders supposed that the Romans would not come down into the plain; then, when they saw that they had suddenly begun to descend, they also, being themselves eager for the combat, rushed into battle, and the fighting began before the signal could be given by the generals.
15. The right wing of the Gauls attacked fiercely, and it would have been impossible to stop them, if the dictator had not happened to be there. Calling out to Sextus Tullius by name, he chid him and asked if this was the kind of fighting he had promised that the men should do. [2] Where were those shouts with which they had called for arms? Where were their threats that they would begin the battle without the general’s orders? Here was their general himself, who with a loud voice summoned them to fight, and advanced, sword in hand, in the very van! [3] Of those who but now were ready to lead, was there none to follow? They might swagger in camp; in the field they were arrant cowards. What he said was the truth, and so stung them with shame that they rushed on the weapons of the enemy in utter forgetfulness of danger. [4] This well-nigh frenzied onset first threw their enemies into disarray, and before they could recover their confusion the cavalry charged and routed them. The dictator himself, as soon as he saw that a part of their line was wavering, turned the infantry attack against their left, where he descried a throng of the enemy gathering, and made the appointed signal to those on the mountain. [5] And when they too raised a shout and were seen to be moving obliquely down the mountain in the direction of the Gallic camp, the enemy, fearing to be shut out, ceased fighting and rushed pell-mell for their entrenchments. [6] There however they were met by Marcus Valerius, the master of the horse, who, having scattered the enemy’s right wing, was then riding up to their works; [7] whereupon they turned and fled towards the mountains and the woods, where very many of them were intercepted by the muleteers masquerading as cavalry; and those whose fright had carried them into the woods were pitilessly slaughtered, after the battle had died down. [8] Not since the time of Marcus Furius has anyone celebrated a Gallic triumph that was better deserved than that of Gaius Sulpicius. He also collected from the spoils a considerable weight of gold, which he walled up with hewn stone in the Capitol, and so dedicated.
[7.9] In the same year the consuls, too, waged war with varying success. Gaius Plautius defeated the Hernici and reduced them to subjection; his colleague Fabius showed neither prudence nor skill in his battle with the Tarquinienses. [10] And yet the disaster experienced on the field was overshadowed by the fact that the Tarquinienses slew three hundred and seven captured Roman soldiers as a sacrifice — an act of savage cruelty that greatly emphasized the humiliation of the Roman People. [11] In addition to this defeat, the Romans suffered the devastation of their fields in sudden incursions made by the Privernates, and afterwards by the Veliterni.
[7.12] In the same year two tribes were added; the Pomptine and the Publilian; the votive games, which Marcus Furius had vowed as dictator, were given; and a statute against bribery was then for the first time laid before the people by Gaius Poetelius, tribune of the plebs, with the approbation of the senate. [13] By this measure they thought to have suppressed corrupt practices, particularly on the part of men risen from the people, who were wont to haunt the country fairs and gathering-places.
16. Less agreeable to the senate was a measure which came up in the following year, in the consulship of Gaius Marcius and Gnaeus Manlius. It fixed the rate of interest at one per cent., and was carried through by Marcus Duillius and Lucius Menenius, tribunes of the plebs. [2] The commons ratified it much more eagerly than they had done the other law.
Besides the new wars determined on in the previous year, the Faliscans also rose up as enemies. They were charged with two offences: their youth had fought on the side of the Tarquinienses; and they had refused the demand of the fetials that they should give up the Romans who had taken refuge in Falerii, after the defeat. [3] This command was assigned to Gnaeus Manlius. Marcius led an army into the territory of Privernum, unravaged during a long period of peace, and loaded his troops with booty. This abundance he administered bountifully, and sequestering nothing to the public treasury, encouraged the men to augment their private fortunes. [4] The Privernates having encamped in front of their town, within strong intrenchments, Marcius called his soldiers together and thus addressed them: “I give you now for booty the camp and city of our enemies, if you promise me that in the battle you will play the part of men, and be not more ready to plunder than to fight.” [5] They clamoured loudly for the signal and entered the battle with spirit, emboldened by no uncertain expectations. There in the fore-front Sextus Tullius, who has been mentioned before, cried out, “Look, general, and see how your army keeps the promises it gave you!” Then, laying down his javelin, he drew his sword and charged the foe. [6] All of the front line followed Tullius, and putting the enemy to flight at the first shock, pursued them to the town, where the Romans were already bringing up their scaling ladders to the wall, when the place surrendered. A triumph was celebrated over the Privernates.
[7.7] The other consul accomplished nothing worth recording, except that without precedent he got a law passed in his camp before Sutrium — the men voting by tribes — which levied a tax of one-twentieth on manumissions. The Fathers ratified this law, since it brought in no small revenue to the empty treasury; but the tribunes of the plebs, troubled less by the law than by the precedent established, had it made a capital offence for anyone thereafter to summon the people to the comitia away from Rome. [8] If this should be permitted, there was nothing, they argued, however baneful to the people, which could not be carried through by the votes of soldiers sworn to obey their consul.
[7.9] In the same year Gaius Licinius Stolo was prosecuted under his own statute by Marcus Popilius Laenas, and condemned to pay a fine of ten thousand asses, on the charge that he held with his son a thousand iugera of land, and by emancipating his son had evaded the law.
17. New consuls now came in, Marcus Fabius Ambustus and Marcus Popilius Laenas, each for the second time. They had two wars. [2] One of these was easy; it was waged by Laenas against the Tiburtes, and he shut up the enemy within their city and pillaged their fields. The other consul was routed by the Faliscans and Tarquinienses in his first engagement. [3] The panic was chiefly due to this, that their priests, bearing serpents and blazing torches before them, came rushing on like Furies, and utterly dismayed the Roman soldiers with the extraordinary sight. At first they were like men frantic and distraught, and flung themselves in a disordered mob into their own works. [4] Then when the consul, the lieutenants and the tribunes laughed at them and upbraided them for being scared like children at idle tricks, shame caused a sudden revulsion in their feelings, and they rushed, as if blinded, on the very objects from which they had fled. [5] In this spirit they brushed aside the enemy’s vain paraphernalia, and hurling themselves on his real fighting men, they routed the whole army, and even captured the camp that day. As they returned victorious with the rich plunder they had won, they jested in soldier-fashion and scoffed not only at the enemy’s devices but at their own fright as well. [6] All who bore the Etruscan name then rose in arms, and led by the men of Tarquinii and Falerii, advanced as far as Salinae. To meet this fearful danger Gaius Marcius Rutulus was made dictator, the first that was ever appointed from the plebs, and he named a plebeian also, Gaius Plautius, to be master of the horse. [7] But the patricians thought it shameful that even the dictatorship should now be common; and they exerted all their influence to prevent anything being decreed or made ready for the dictator, to carry on that war. [8] For which reason the people voted the more promptly everything that the dictator proposed. Marching out from the City and setting his army across the Tiber by means of rafts, wherever a rumour [9] of the enemy called him, he surprised many straggling pillagers as they roamed about the fields, on both sides of the river; he also captured their camp in a surprise attack, and with it eight thousand soldiers; [10] and having slain the rest, or driven them out of Roman territory, was granted a triumph by the people, but without the authorization of the senate.
[7.11] The patricians were not willing that a consular election should be held by a plebeian, whether dictator or consul, and the other consul being detained by the war, the state relapsed into an interregnum. The office of interrex was held successively by Quintus Servilius Ahala, Marcus Fabius, Gnaeus Manlius, Gaius Fabius, Gaius Sulpicius, Lucius Aemilius, Quintus Servilius, and Marcus Fabius Ambustus. [12] In the second interregnum a controversy arose because two patricians were on the point of being named as consuls; and when the tribunes sought to veto the announcement, the interrex Fabius declared that the Twelve Tables enacted that whatsoever the people decreed last should have the binding force of law, and their votes were also a decree. [13] The tribunes gained nothing more by their intervention than a postponement of the comitia, and two patrician consuls were elected, namely Gaius Sulpicius Peticus (for the third time) and Marcus Valerius Publicola. They entered office that very day, 18. in the four hundredth year from the founding of Rome and the thirty-fifth from its recovery from the Gauls, depriving the plebs of the consulship they had enjoyed for ten years. [2] Empulum was won that year from the Tiburtes without any memorable battle being fought; whether, as some writers state, the campaign was conducted there under the auspices of the two consuls; or whether the lands belonging to Tarquinii were ravaged by the consul Sulpicius at the same time that Valerius led his legions against the Tiburtes.
The consuls had a harder struggle at home, with the plebs and the tribunes. [3] They held that honour as well as courage required of them that, even as two patricians had received the consulship, so they should hand it over to successors who were both patricians: [4] indeed they ought rather to withdraw from the consulship altogether, that it might at once become a plebeian magistracy, or else retain undivided that control which they had inherited entire from their fathers. [5] On the other side, the plebeians were asking angrily why they lived, why they were counted a part of the state, if they were unable by their collective efforts to maintain what the courage of two men, Lucius Sextius and Gaius Licinius, had won for them. [6] It were better to put up with kings or decemvirs, or — if possible — a [7] more stern type of government than theirs, rather than see the consuls both patricians and have no turns at obeying and commanding, while a part of the people thought themselves established forever in authority and the commons born for no other end than servitude. [8] There was no lack of tribunes to promote disturbances, but where all were so excited, to begin with, the leaders were hardly to be discerned. [9] After the people had several times gone down to the Campus Martius to no purpose, and many meeting days had been spent in rioting, the persistence of the consuls finally prevailed. The plebs, thereupon, in a burst of resentment, followed their tribunes, who cried out that liberty was lost and that they ought now to leave not only the voting-field but the City, too, which was taken captive and enslaved by the tyranny of the patricians. [10] The consuls, being deserted by half the people, nevertheless, despite the paucity of voters, completed the election. The successful candidates were both patricians, Marcus Fabius Ambustus (for the third time) and Titus Quinctius. In certain annals I find Marcus Popilius given as consul instead of Titus Quinctius.
19. Two wars were successfully prosecuted this year, and the Tarquinienses and Tiburtes were forced to make submission. From the latter their city of Sassula was taken, and the rest of their towns would have met with the same fortune, had the whole nation not laid down their arms and cast themselves upon the mercy of the consul. [2] A triumph was celebrated over them, but in all other respects the victory was used with clemency. The men of Tarquinii were shown no ruth; many were slain in the field of battle, and out of the vast number taken prisoners three hundred and fifty-eight were selected — the noblest of them all — to be sent to Rome, and the rest of the populace were put to the sword. [3] Neither were the People less stern towards those who had been sent to Rome, but scourged them all with rods in the middle of the Forum and struck off their heads. Such was the vengeance they exacted of their enemies for the Romans sacrificed in the market-place of Tarquinii. [4] Their success in war induced the Samnites also to apply for their friendship. The senate made a courteous answer to their ambassadors, and granted them a treaty of alliance.
[7.5] The Roman commons were not so fortunate at home as in the field. For notwithstanding they had been relieved of usury by the adoption of a one per cent. rate, the very poor found even the principal sum a crushing burden, and were being bound over to their creditors. Hence it was that neither the incumbency of two patrician consuls, nor concern for the elections or affairs of state, could divert the thoughts of the plebeians from their personal distresses. [6] Accordingly both consulships continued in the hands of the patricians; Gaius Sulpicius Peticus was elected for the fourth time, and Marcus Valerius Publicola for the second.
While the citizens were occupied with thoughts of an Etruscan war — for it was rumoured that the people of Caere, out of compassion for their kinsmen of Tarquinii, had made common cause with them — came envoys from the Latins and turned their thoughts upon the Volsci, with a report that they had mustered and equipped an army, which was even then descending upon Latium, from whence it would invade and devastate the territory of the Romans. [7] The senate therefore resolved that neither threat must be neglected; and ordered that legions should be enrolled for both campaigns, and that the consuls should decide the commands by lot. [8] But the Etruscan war afterwards came to be their chief concern, on the receipt of a dispatch from the consul Sulpicius, who had received the assignment to Tarquinii, with the news that the countryside lying near the Roman salt-works had been pillaged, and a part of the booty carried into the borders of the Caerites, whose soldiers had, without question, been amongst the depredators. [9] And so the senate recalled Valerius the consul, who was opposing the Volsci and had his camp close to the Tusculan frontier, and ordered him to nominate a dictator. [10] His choice fell upon Titus Manlius, the son of Lucius, who appointed as master of the horse Aulus Cornelius Cossus. Asking for no more than the consular army, the dictator, by the senate’s authority, and at the bidding of the people, proclaimed war on the Caerites.
20. It was then that the Caerites realized for the first time the full danger of war, as if the words of their enemies conveyed a more emphatic hint of it than their own acts, though they had pillaged the Romans and harried them. Beginning then to perceive how inadequate was their strength to such a quarrel, they repented of their raid, and cursed the Tarquinienses, who had encouraged them to fall away. [2] Nobody made ready his arms and prepared for war, but one and all bade dispatch ambassadors to Rome, to beg forgiveness for their error. The envoys, having approached the senate, were sent by them to be dealt with by the people. [3] Calling on the gods whose sacred emblems they had received and religiously protected in the Gallic war, they besought them to inspire the Romans in their prosperity with such compassion for the men of Caere as they themselves had formerly shown for Rome in her time of tribulation. Then, turning to the shrine of Vesta, they invoked the flamens and Vestals whom they had entertained with a pure and scrupulous hospitality. [4] Could anyone, they asked, believe that those who had deserved so well of the Romans had suddenly turned enemies without reason? [5] or that if they had in fact committed an act of hostility, it had been deliberately planned, and had not rather been owing to a fit of madness? Would they undo their own kindness of old, especially kindness to such grateful friends, with new misdeeds; and choose to be enemies of the Roman People in their flourishing state and at the height of their success in war, when they had sought their friendship in the hour of their adversity? Let them not give the name of “purpose” to what should properly be called “force” and “necessity.” [6] The Tarquinienses, marching in hostile array through their territories, had sought nothing of them save permission to pass, but had drawn certain rustics after them in their train, who had borne a part in the pillaging with which the people of Caere were now taxed. [7] If it pleased the Romans that these men should be surrendered, they would surrender them; if they would have them punished, they should be made to suffer. But Caere, the sanctuary of the Roman People, the hostel of its priests and refuge of the Roman religion, let them preserve intact and unstained by the imputation of making war, for the sake of the hospitality it had shown their Vestals and the reverence it had paid their gods. [8] The people were moved, not so much by their present claims as by their ancient merits, and chose rather to forget an injury than a kindness. So peace was granted to the people of Caere, and it was resolved that a truce of a hundred years be made, and recorded on a table of bronze. [9] The brunt of the war was turned against the Faliscans, who lay under the same accusation; but the enemy were nowhere encountered. Having ranged over their lands and laid them waste, the Romans refrained from attacking their cities, and led their legions home. The rest of the year was consumed in repairing the walls and towers, and a temple was dedicated to Apollo.
21. In the latter part of the year the consular election was broken off by a quarrel between the patricians and the plebs: the tribunes refused to permit the assembly to be held unless it were held agreeably to the Licinian law, and the dictator was obstinately determined rather to remove the consulship root and branch out of the state than to throw it open to patricians and plebs without distinction. [2] The assembly was therefore repeatedly adjourned, until the dictator’s term had expired, and the state reverted to an interregnum. The interreges found the commons hostile to the patricians, and the factional struggle continued until there had been eleven interreges. [3] The tribunes continually vaunted their backing of the Licinian law: the plebs were more concerned with the distress they suffered from the increasing weight of usury, and their private worries broke out into public quarrels. [4] Worn out with these, the senate ordered Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the interrex, for harmony’s sake to observe the Licinian law at the consular election. Publius Valerius Publicola was elected, with a plebeian colleague named Gaius Marcius Rutulus. [5] Now that the minds of men were once inclined to concord, the new consuls set themselves to obtain relief in the matter of usury also, which appeared to be the sole obstacle to harmony. They made the discharge of debts a concern of the state, appointing five commissioners, whom they called bankers, from their having the disposition of the money. [6] These men by their impartiality and diligence fairly earned the distinction which attaches, in all the histories, to the names of Gaius Duillius, Publius Decius Mus, Marcus Papirius, Quintus Publilius, and Titus Aemilius. [7] In the discharge of a very difficult duty, involving always a hardship for one of the parties, and in most instances for both, they managed matters wisely in other respects, and, in particular, they expended without throwing away the public funds. [8] For with long-standing accounts, embarrassed more by the debtors’ neglect than by their lack of means, they dealt in one of the following ways: either they paid them out of the treasury — taking security for the people first — at the banking tables they had set up in the Forum; or they settled them upon a valuation, at fair prices, of the debtor’s effects. And so, not only without injustice, but even without complaint from either side, a vast amount of indebtedness was cleared off.
[7.9] A groundless fear of war with Etruria, on a report that the twelve nations had conspired, compelled the appointment of a dictator. The appointment was made in camp — for thither had the resolution of the senate been sent to the consuls — and Gaius Julius became dictator, with Lucius Aemilius for master of the horse. But abroad all was serene, 22. while at home an attempt, made through the dictator, to obtain the return of patricians to both consulships, brought the state to an interregnum. [2] The two interreges who were put in, Gaius Sulpicius and Marcus Fabius, brought to pass what the dictator had vainly striven for; and the plebs being now grown more tractable, thanks to the help lately granted them in the relief of debt, both men elected consuls were patricians. [3] These were that very Gaius Sulpicius Peticus, who was the earlier of the two interreges, and Titus Quinctius Poenus. (Some give Caeso, others Gaius, as the praenomen of Quinctius.) [4] Both marched out to fight, Quinctius against the Faliscans, Sulpicius against the Tarquinienses; but nowhere encountering their enemies in battle, they warred rather with the land, which they burnt and pillaged, than with men; [5] until the obstinacy of both peoples was overcome, as by the wasting of a lingering illness, and they requested a truce, first of the consuls, and later, by their permission, of the senate. They were granted one for forty years.
[7.6] The anxiety arising from two threatening wars being thus allayed, it was resolved that while there was some rest from arms they would take the census; for the settlement of debts had brought about the change of ownership in many properties. [7] But when notice had been given of an assembly for the election of censors, an announcement that he should be a candidate on the part of Gaius Marcius Rutulus, who had been the first plebeian dictator, played havoc with the harmony of the orders; [8] for he seemed to have taken this step at an untoward time, since both the consuls, as it fell out, were then patricians, who declared that they would receive no votes for him; [9] but Rutulus himself held firmly to his purpose, and the tribunes aided him with all their power, in the hope of recovering what they had lost in the election of consuls; and not only was the man’s own greatness equal to any honour, however lofty, but the plebs desired that they might be called to share the censorship by the same man who had opened up for them a path to the dictatorship. [10] There was no dissenting opinion shown at the assembly, and Marcius was elected, along with Manlius Naevius.
There was a dictator in this year also, namely, Marcus Fabius, not because of any threatened war, but to prevent the observance of the Licinian law in the consular election. [11] Quintus Servilius was assigned to the dictator as master of the horse. But the dictatorship made the unanimity of the patricians no more potent in the election of consuls than it had been in the election of censors. 23. Marcus Popilius Laenas was chosen from the plebs, Lucius Cornelius Scipio from the patricians.
[7.2] Fortune even made the plebeian consul the more illustrious, for the news that a huge army of Gauls had encamped in Latium found Scipio afflicted with a grave disorder, and the conduct of the war was entrusted by special arrangement to Popilius. [3] He levied troops with energy, and ordered all the young men to assemble under arms outside the Porta Capena, at the temple of Mars, commanding the quaestors to convey the standards thither, from the treasury. After filling up four legions, he turned over the supernumeraries to the praetor, Publius Valerius Publicola, urging the senators to enroll a second army as a national reserve against the uncertain emergencies of war. [4] Having at length concluded all the necessary preparations, he himself marched against the enemy; [5] and that he might first learn their strength before putting it to the test of a decisive battle, he seized and began to fortify an eminence as close as he could find to the camp of the Gauls. [6] These, being a fierce people and by nature eager for the combat, on beholding the Roman ensigns in the distance, at once drew out their line, as if for instant battle. But perceiving that the Romans did not descend into the plain, but sought to protect themselves not only by their position but even with a rampart, they supposed them to be panic-stricken and at the same time the more open to attack for being just then taken up with their task. They advanced, therefore, with hideous yells. [7] The Romans without a pause in their work, on which the reserves were engaged, began the action with their troops of the first and second lines, who had been standing alert and armed in front of the working party. [8] Besides their valour, they had an advantage from the elevation, for their javelins and spears, instead of falling without effect, as they mostly do when thrown on a level field, were steadied by their own weight and all struck home. [9] The Gauls were burdened with the missiles which had either transfixed their bodies, or, sticking in their shields, had made them very heavy; their dash had carried them almost up the slope, but first they halted, uncertain what to do, and then — for [10] the mere delay had abated their ardour and increased that of their foes — they were thrown back, and falling one upon another wrought greater carnage than even their enemies had done; for so headlong was the rout, that more were trodden under foot than slain with the sword.
24. But the Romans were not yet sure of victory; on descending into the plain they found another fight awaiting them. [2] For the Gallic host, superior to any feeling for such losses, sprang up like a new army, and urged their fresh troops against the victorious foe. [3] The Romans, slowing down, came to a halt, for they were confronted, weary as they were, with a second struggle, and the consul, rashly exposing himself in the van, had received a javelin in his left shoulder that had like to have gone clean through it, and had withdrawn for a brief space from the fight. [4] And now the delay had almost lost them the victory, when the consul, whose wound had been dressed, rode up again to the front. “Why are you standing there, my men?” he exclaimed. “You have no Latin or Sabine foe to deal with, whom you may overcome in fight and transform from an enemy into an ally; we have drawn the sword against wild beasts, and we must have their blood or yield them ours. [5] You have repulsed them from your camp, you have driven them headlong down a sloping valley, you stand on heaps of your slain enemies; cover the plain with the same carnage you have spread upon the mountains. [6] Do not wait for the enemy to flee from you, while you stand still; you must move forward and attack them.” [7] Roused once more to action by these exhortations, they drove back the foremost of the Gallic maniples, and then, forming in wedges, burst through into the midst of the main array; [8] whereat the barbarians were thrown into confusion, having no definite orders nor commanders, and, turning, charged upon their fellows; and so, dispersed about the fields, and even carried past their own camp in the rout, they made for the highest point in the range of hills that met their eyes, namely, the Alban Citadel. [9] The consul did not pursue them beyond their camp, for his wound was troubling him, and he was unwilling to send his troops against the hills which the enemy had occupied. Giving over to his soldiers the entire booty of the camp, he led back his army, flushed with victory and enriched with the Gallic spoils, to Rome. [10] The consul’s triumph was delayed by reason of his wound, which also made the senate wish for a dictator, that there might be someone — in the illness of the consuls — who could hold the election. [11] Lucius Furius Camillus was appointed to that office, and Publius Cornelius Scipio was made his master of the horse. Camillus restored to the patricians their ancient possession of the consulship, and in recognition of this service was himself, with their warm support, elected consul, and announced the election of Appius Claudius Crassus as his colleague.
25. Before the new consuls entered office, Popilius celebrated his triumph over the Gauls, with great enthusiasm on the part of the plebeians, who, muttering low, would often ask each other if anyone regretted the choice of a plebeian [2] consul. At the same time they railed against Camillus, who by declaring himself elected consul, when he was dictator, had got a reward, they said, for his contempt of the Licinian law more disgraceful for his personal cupidity than for the injury done the [3] commonwealth.
The year was signalized by many and various disturbances. The Gauls came down from the Alban hills, having been unable to endure the sharpness of the winter, and ranging over the plains and sea-coast, laid waste the [4] country. The sea was infested by fleets of Greeks, and so were the seaboard of Antium, the Laurentine district, and the mouth of the Tiber. It happened once that the sea-robbers encountered the land-raiders, and a hard-fought battle ensued, from which the Gauls withdrew to their camp and the Greeks to their ships, alike uncertain whether they had been defeated or [5] victorious. But by far the greatest of these alarms was occasioned by councils of the Latin tribes, assembled at the grove of Ferentina, and the unambiguous reply vouchsafed by them to a demand for [6] soldiers. Let the Romans, they said, have done with issuing commands to those whose assistance they required: the Latins would sooner bear arms in behalf of their own liberty than of an alien [7] domination. Involved in two foreign wars at once, and worried besides by the defection of their allies, the senate perceived that those whom loyalty had not restrained must be restrained by fear, and bade the consuls exert the full extent of their authority in levying troops: for they must depend on a soldiery of citizens, when their allies were leaving [8] them. They say that soldiers were enlisted everywhere, not in the City alone but in the country, and ten legions were embodied, each of four thousand two hundred foot and three hundred [9] horse. The raising of a new army of this size to-day, in case of any aggression from abroad, could not easily be compassed by the concentration on one object of the existing resources of the Roman People, though the world hardly contains them; so strictly has our growth been limited to the only things for which we strive, — wealth and [10] luxury.
Among the untoward occurrences of this year was the death of one of the consuls, Appius Claudius, in the midst of the preparations for [11] war. The administration of the state passed to Camillus, over whom, as sole consul, — whether owing to his general high standing, which deserved not to be subordinated to the dictatorship, or to the happy omen, in a Gallic rising, of his surname, — the Fathers concluded it not meet to set a [12] dictator. The consul appointed two legions to defend the City, and divided the other eight with Lucius Pinarius the praetor. Having a lively recollection of his father’s prowess, he took upon himself, without drawing lots, the conduct of the Gallic war, and commanded the praetor to secure the seaboard and prevent the Greeks from [13] landing. Then, marching down into the Pomptine district, he chose a suitable site for a permanent camp; for he had no mind to meet the enemy in the field, unless compelled to do so, believing that he should effectually subdue them if he kept them from making raids, since they subsisted necessarily on plunder.
26. While they were there quietly passing the time in guard-duty, a Gaul came out to them, remarkable for his great stature and his armour, and, smiting his spear against his shield and thereby obtaining silence, challenged the Romans, through an interpreter, to send a man to fight with him. [2] There was a young tribune of the soldiers, named Marcus Valerius, who, regarding himself as no less worthy of that honour than Titus Manlius had been, first ascertained the consul’s wishes, and then armed himself and advanced into the midst. [3] But the human interest of the combat was eclipsed by the intervention of the gods; for the Roman was in the very act of engaging, when suddenly a raven alighted on his helmet, facing his adversary. [4] This the tribune first received with joy, as a heaven-sent augury, and then prayed that whosoever, be it god or goddess, had sent the auspicious bird might attend him with favour and protection. [5] Marvellous to relate, the bird not only held to the place it had once chosen, but as often as the combatants closed, it rose on its wings and attacked the enemy’s face and eyes with beak and talons, till he was terror-struck with the sight of such a portent, and bewildered at once in his vision and his mind, was dispatched by Valerius, — whereupon the raven flew off towards the east and was lost to sight. [6] Hitherto the outguards on either side had stood quietly by; but when the tribune began to despoil the corpse of his fallen foe, the Gauls remained no longer at their station, and the Romans ran up even more swiftly to the victor. [7] There a scuffle, arising over the body of the prostrate Gaul, led to a desperate fight that was not long confined to the maniples of the nearest outposts, for the legions, rushing out on both sides, carried on the battle. Camillus ordered his soldiers to fall on, elated as they were by the tribune’s victory, elated too by the present assistance of the gods; and pointing to the tribune, decked out in his spoils, he cried, “Here is your pattern, soldiers! [8] Bring down the Gauls in troops around their prostrate leader!” Both gods and men helped in that battle, and they fought it out with the Gauls to a conclusion that was never doubtful, so clearly had each side foreseen the result implicit in the outcome of the single combat. [9] Between those who began the fray, and by their conflict drew in the others, there was a bitter struggle; but the rest of the Gallic host turned tail ere they came within the cast of a javelin. At first they scattered among the Volsci and through the Falernian countryside; from there they made their way into Apulia or to the Tuscan Sea.
[7.10] The consul assembled his soldiers, and having eulogized the tribune, bestowed on him ten oxen and a golden coronet; Camillus himself was commanded by the senate to take charge of the operations on the coast, and accordingly joined forces with the praetor. [11] The campaign there seemed likely to be long drawn out, for the Greeks were poltroons and refused to risk an engagement. [12] He therefore, on the authorization of the senate, appointed Titus Manlius Torquatus to be dictator, that an election might be held. The dictator, after naming Aulus Cornelius Cossus master of the horse, presided over a consular election, and announced, amid great popular rejoicings, that the choice had fallen — in his absence — upon a youth of twenty-three, the Marcus Valerius Corvus — for this was his surname from that time — who had rivalled Manlius’s own glorious achievement. [13] As colleague of Corvus they elected the plebeian Marcus Popilius Laenas to be for the fourth time consul. With the Greeks, Camillus fought no memorable action; they were no warriors on land, nor were the Romans on the sea. [14] In the end, being kept off shore, and their water giving out, as well as other necessaries, they abandoned Italy. [15] To what people or race their fleet belonged is uncertain. I am most inclined to think that they were Sicilian tyrants; for Greece proper was at that time exhausted with civil wars and trembled, even then, at the power of the Macedonians.
27. When the armies had been disbanded, and there was peace with other nations, and — thanks to the goodwill betwixt the orders — quietness at home, that the happiness of the citizens might not pass all bounds, a pestilence attacked them and the senate was compelled to order the ten commissioners to consult the Sibylline Books. [2] By their direction a lectisternium was held. In the same year a colony was sent out to Satricum by the Antiates, and that city, which had been destroyed by the Latins, was rebuilt. [3] Further, a treaty was entered into at Rome with envoys of the Carthaginians, who had come seeking friendship and an alliance.
The same peaceful conditions continued at home and abroad during the consulship of Titus Manlius Torquatus and Gaius Plautius. But the rate of interest was reduced from one to one-half per cent., [4] and debts were made payable, one-fourth down and the remainder in three annual instalments; even so some of the plebeians were distressed, but the public credit was of greater concern to the senate than were the hardships of single persons. What did the most to lighten the burden was the omission of the war-tax and the levy.
[7.5] In the second year after the rebuilding of Satricum by the Volsci, Marcus Valerius Corvus became consul for the second time, with Gaius Poetelius. [6] A report having come out of Latium that emissaries of the Antiates were circulating amongst the Latin peoples with a view to stir up war, Valerius was ordered to deal with the Volsci before more enemies should arise, and marched to the attack of Satricum. There he was opposed by the Antiates and the other Volsci, with forces which they had levied in advance, in case any measures should be taken by the Romans; and both sides being actuated by inveterate hatred, the battle was joined without delay. [7] The Volsci, a race more spirited in beginning than in prosecuting war, were defeated in the struggle and fled in disorder to the walls of Satricum. Indeed, they put no great reliance even in their walls, for when the city had been encircled with troops and was on the point of being escaladed, they surrendered, being in number about four thousand soldiers, besides the unarmed populace. [8] The town was dismantled and burnt; only the temple of Mater Matuta was saved from the flames. All the booty was given to the soldiers. The four thousand who had surrendered were not reckoned a part of the spoils; these the consul sent in chains before his chariot when he triumphed, and they were subsequently sold, and brought in a great sum to the treasury. [9] Some think that this multitude of captives consisted of slaves, and this is more likely than that surrendered men were sold.
28. These consuls were succeeded by Marcus Fabius Dorsuo and Servius Sulpicius Camerinus. War then broke out with the Aurunci, in consequence of a raid which they unexpectedly executed. [2] It was feared that this act of a single nation might be the joint design of all of the Latin name, and a dictator was appointed — as though to oppose a Latium already up in arms — in the person of Lucius Furius. [3] After naming Gnaeus Manlius Capitolinus to be his master of the horse, he suspended the courts, and having levied troops without exemptions — as was customary in great emergencies — he led them with all possible speed against the Aurunci. These he discovered to possess the spirit of freebooters rather than of enemies, and so brought the war to a conclusion in the first engagement. [4] Howbeit the dictator, considering that they had been the aggressors in the war and were accepting battle without shrinking, saw fit to summon even the gods to help him, and in the heat of the encounter vowed a temple to Juno Moneta. This vow the result made binding, and the dictator having returned to Rome victorious, resigned his authority. [5] The senate ordered that two commissioners should be designated to erect the temple in a style becoming to the grandeur of the Roman People, and a site was appointed for it in the Citadel, where once had stood the house of Marcus Manlius Capitolinus. [6] The consuls, employing the dictator’s army for the Volscian war, made a surprise attack upon the enemy and captured Sora.
The temple of Moneta was dedicated the next year after it was vowed, when Gaius Marcius Rutulus was consul for the third time and Titus Manlius Torquatus for the second. [7] The dedication was immediately followed by a prodigy like the one which had happened long before on the Alban Mount; for a shower of stones fell, and a curtain of night seemed to stretch across the sky; and when the Books had been consulted and the City was filled with forebodings of divine displeasure, the senate resolved on the appointment of a dictator, to establish days of worship. [8] The choice fell on Publius Valerius Publicola, who was given Quintus Fabius Ambustus as master of the horse. They determined that not only the Roman tribes but the neighbouring peoples also should offer supplications; and they appointed an order for them, on what day each should make entreaty. [9] It is handed down that during this year the people rendered severe judgments against usurers, who had been brought to trial by the aediles. [10] The state — for no specially memorable reason — reverted to an interregnum, which was followed — so that this might appear to have been intended — by the election to both consulships of patricians, namely Marcus Valerius Corvus, for the third time, and Aulus Cornelius Cossus.
29. Wars of greater magnitude, in respect both of the forces of our enemies and of the remoteness of their countries and the long periods of time involved, now fall to be related. [2] For in that year the sword was drawn against the Samnites, a people powerful in arms and in resources; and hard upon the Samnite war, which was waged with varying success, came war with Pyrrhus, and after that with the Carthaginians. How vast a series of events! How many times the extremity of danger was incurred, in order that our empire might be exalted to its present greatness, hardly to be maintained! [3] Now the cause of the war between the Romans and the Samnites, who had been united in friendship and alliance, was of external origin and not owing to themselves. [4] The Samnites had unjustly attacked the Sidicini, because they happened to be more powerful than they, and the Sidicini, driven in their need to fly for succour to a more wealthy nation, had attached themselves to the Campanians. [5] The Campanians had brought reputation rather than real strength to the defence of their allies; enervated by luxury, they had encountered a people made hardy by the use of arms, and being defeated in the territory of the Sidicini, had then drawn down the full force of the war upon themselves. [6] For the Samnites, disregarding the Sidicini and attacking the Campanians — the very stronghold of their neighbours, — from whom they would gain full as easy a victory and more plunder and renown, had seized and with a strong force occupied Tifata — a range of hills looking down on Capua — and thence had descended in battle-order into the plain that lies between. [7] There a second battle had been fought, and the Campanians, being worsted, had been shut up within their walls; and having, after the loss of their choicest troops, no prospect of relief at hand, had been driven to seek assistance of the Romans.
30. Their ambassadors, on being introduced into the senate, spoke substantially as follows: “The Campanian people has sent us to you as ambassadors, Conscript Fathers, to solicit your lasting friendship and present help. [2] Had we sought this amity when our affairs were prosperous, though it had been begun more quickly, yet had it been contracted with a weaker bond; for in that case, as those who remembered that they had joined with you in friendship on an equal footing, though perhaps as much your friends as now, we should have been less subject and beholden to you; [3] as it is, attached to you by your compassion and defended in our time of trouble by your aid, we must lovingly remember the benefit also, lest we appear as ingrates and undeserving of any help, divine or human. [4] Nor do I think, in sober truth, that the circumstance of the Samnites having become your allies and friends before ourselves should make against our being received into your friendship, though it entitle them to an advantage over us in respect of priority and rank; and indeed there was no stipulation in your treaty with the Samnites that you should make no further treaties.
[7.5] “It has ever been with you a sufficiently just cause for friendship that he who sought you desired to be friends with you. [6] We Campanians, though our present plight will not suffer us to boast, are inferior neither in the splendour of our city, nor yet in the fertility of our soil, to any people but yourselves; and in associating ourselves with you we bring, as I think, no small accession to your prosperity. [7] As often as the Aequi and the Volsci — perpetual enemies of this city — shall stir abroad, we shall be upon their backs, and what you will have done first for our preservation, that we will ever do for your empire and your glory. [8] When once you have subdued these nations that lie between our boundaries and your own — a thing which your valour and good fortune guarantee will speedily come to pass — your rule will extend unbroken all the way to our frontier. [9] Grievous and pitiful is the confession that our misfortune obliges us to make: to that pass, Conscript Fathers, are we Campanians come that we must be the chattels either of our friends or of our enemies. [10] Defend us, and we are yours; desert us, and the Samnites will possess us. Consider therefore whether it be your preference that Capua and all Campania augment Rome’s power, or that of Samnium.
[7.11] “It is meet that your compassion, Romans, and your succour should be open to all mankind, but especially to those who in endeavouring beyond their strength to grant these blessings to the prayers of others, have come themselves to require them most of all. [12] And yet we fought but ostensibly for the Sidicini, in reality for ourselves, since we saw that a people on our borders was being cruelly despoiled by the brigand Samnites, and that, once that conflagration had consumed the Sidicini, it would spread to us. [13] Nor at this very moment are the Samnites come to attack us out of resentment for any injury received, but rejoicing rather that a pretext has been afforded them. [14] Otherwise, if this were the satisfaction of revenge and not an opportunity to appease their greed, was it not enough that first in the territory of Sidicinum, and again in Campania itself, they made slaughter of our legions? [15] What wrath is this, that is so implacable that the blood two armies have poured out cannot appease it? Add to this the devastation of our lands and the booty they have driven off, both men and cattle; add the burning and destruction of our farm-houses and the general havoc fire and sword have wrought. [16] Could not all this placate their wrath? Nay, but their greed must be appeased. It is this that hurries them to the siege of Capua; they must needs either destroy the fairest of cities, or themselves become its masters. [17] But do you, Romans, sooner gain it by your generosity than suffer them to have it by their malice. I am not speaking before a people that refuses righteous wars; still, if you make but a show of helping us, you will have, I think, no need of going to war. [18] As far as to ourselves does the scorn of the Samnites reach, it mounts not higher; accordingly the shadow of your help is able, Romans, to protect us, and whatever thereafter we shall have, whatever we ourselves shall be, we shall consider wholly yours. [19] For you shall be ploughed the Campanian plain, for you shall the city of Capua be crowded; you shall be to us as founders, parents, and immortal gods; you shall have no colony that surpasses us in obedience and loyalty.
[7.20] “Grant the favour of your countenance, Conscript Fathers, and of your unconquered might, to the Campanians, and bid them hope that Capua will be saved. [21] With what thronging crowds of every sort were we accompanied, think you, at our setting out? How did we leave on every hand prayers and tears! [22] In what suspense are now the senate and the people of Campania, our wives and our children! Well I know that all the people are standing at the gates, their eyes fixed on the northern road. What message, Conscript Fathers, do you hid us carry back to their perplexed and troubled spirits? [23] One answer would bring salvation, victory, light, and liberty; the other — I shrink from the ominous prediction! Do you therefore deliberate regarding us, as regarding those who shall either be your allies and friends, or else have no being anywhere.”
31. The ambassadors were then made to withdraw while the senate considered their request. It was evident to many that the largest and wealthiest city of Italy, with a very fertile territory near the sea, would in times of scarcity be a store-house for the Roman People. [2] Yet this great advantage was of less moment with them than their honour, and the consul, being so instructed by the senate, returned the following answer to the ambassadors: “Men of Campania, the senate holds you worthy of assistance; but on such terms only can we become your friends as shall not violate an older friendship and alliance. The Samnites and we are united by a covenant; we must therefore refuse to make war in your behalf upon the Samnites, for this would be to wrong first gods, and then men; we will, however, dispatch envoys, as is right and just, to entreat our allies and friends to do you no violence.” [3] To this the leader of the delegation answered — in accordance with instructions they had brought with them:— “Since you decline to use a righteous violence to protect from violence and injustice what belongs to us, you will at least defend your own; [4] to your sovereignty, therefore, Conscript Fathers, and to the sovereignty of the Roman People, we surrender the people of Campania and the city of Capua, with our lands, the shrines of our gods, and all things else, whether sacred or profane; whatever we endure henceforth, we shall endure as your surrendered subjects.”
[7.5] When these words had been pronounced, they all stretched forth their hands in supplication to the consul, and weeping bitterly, threw themselves face downwards on the floor of the entrance to the Curia. [6] The Fathers were profoundly moved by the vicissitudes of human fortune, considering how that great and opulent people, famed for its luxury and pride, of whom a little while before its neighbours had sought assistance, was become so broken in spirit as to yield itself up with all its possessions to the dominion of another. [7] They now held it to be a point of honour not to betray those who were become their subjects; neither did they think that the Samnite people would deal justly, if they attacked a country and a city, which, by surrendering, had become the property of the Roman People. [8] The senate accordingly voted to dispatch ambassadors to the Samnites, without loss of time. Their instructions were to inform the Samnites what the Campanians had asked, how the senate, mindful of the friendship of the Samnites, had replied to them, and lastly how they had surrendered; [9] they were then to request that the Samnites, out of regard for the friendship and alliance of the Romans, would spare their subjects, and make no hostile incursion into a territory which belonged now to the Roman People; [10] if soft words proved ineffectual, they were to warn the Samnites, in the name of the Roman People and the senate, not to meddle with the city of Capua or the Campanian domain. [11] But the Samnites, when these things were represented to them in their council by the envoys, behaved so insolently as not only to declare that they meant to carry on the war, but their magistrates stepping out of the senate-house — while the envoys stood by — summoned [12] the commanders of their cohorts, and with a loud voice gave them orders to proceed at once to make a raid upon Campania.
32. When the news of this embassy reached Rome, the Fathers, putting aside all other business, sent fetials to demand redress, and failing to obtain it, declared war after the customary fashion. [2] They then voted that the people be asked to ratify this action at the earliest possible moment; and being commanded so to do, both consuls took the field; and Valerius marching into Campallia and Cornelius into Samnium, the one encamped at the foot of Mount Gaurus, the other near Saticula. It was Valerius whom the Samnite levies encountered first — for that was the direction which they expected the invasion to take. [3] The Campanians moreover had incurred their sharp resentment, having been so ready now to render aid against them, now to invoke it. [4] But when they beheld the Roman camp, they began, every man for himself, to call loudly on their leaders for the battle-signal, affirming that the Romans would have no better fortune in helping the Campanians than these had experienced in helping the Sidicini.
Valerius, having delayed not many days for the purpose of testing the enemy in small skirmishes, hung out the signal for a battle. [5] But first he spoke a few words of encouragement to his soldiers, bidding them have no fear of a strange war and a strange enemy. [6] With every advance of their arms from Rome, he said, they came to nations that were more and more unwarlike. [7] They must not judge of the courage of the Samnites by the defeats they had administered to the Sidicini and Campanians. Whatever their respective qualities, it was inevitable that when they fought together, one side should be vanquished. As for the Campanians, there was no question they had been beaten rather by the enervation resulting from excessive luxury and by their own effeminacy, than by the strength of their enemies. [8] Furthermore, what were the Samnites’ two successful wars in so many ages, as against the many glorious achievements of the Roman People, who could count almost more triumphs than the years since their City had been founded; [9] who had subjugated by their arms all the nations round about them, the Sabines, Etruria, the Latins, the Hernici, the Aequi, the Volsci, and the Aurunci; who after beating the Gauls time after time in battle, had ended by compelling them to flee to the sea-board and their ships? [10] He said that they ought, as they went into action, not only to rely every man on his own courage and martial glory, but also to consider under whose command and auspices they would have to fight; [11] whether he were one who only merited a hearing as a brilliant orator, warlike only in his words, and ignorant of military operations, or one who knew himself how to handle weapons, to advance before the standards, and to play his part in the press and turmoil of a battle. [12] “Soldiers,” he cried, “it is my deeds and not my words I would have you follow, and look to me not only for instruction but for example. Not with factions, nor with the intrigues common amongst the nobles, but with this right hand, have I won for myself three consulships and the highest praise. [13] Time was when it might have been said: Ah, but you were a patrician and sprung from the liberators of your country, and your family held the consulship in the very year that saw the institution of that office.’ [14] But now the consulship lies open on equal terms to us, the nobles, and to you plebeians, nor is it any longer a reward of birth, but of merit. Have regard, therefore, soldiers, in every instance, to great honours. [15] Though you men have given me, with Heaven’s sanction, my surname of Corvinus, I have not forgot the ancient surname of our family — the [16] Publicolae: at home and in the field, as a private citizen, in little magistracies and in great ones, as consul no less than as tribune, and with the same undeviating course through all my successive consulships, have I cherished, and cherish still, the Roman plebs. [17] Now, with Heaven’s good help, to the work we have in hand! Seek with me a novel triumph never yet won from the Samnites!”
33. There was never a commander who more endeared himself to his men by cheerfully sharing all their duties with the meanest of the soldiers. [2] At the military sports, too, in which those of a like age contend with one another in strength and swiftness, he was easy-going and good-natured; he would win or lose without changing countenance, nor did he scorn to match himself with anyone who challenged him; [3] in his acts his kindness was suited to the circumstances, in his speech he had regard to the liberty of others no less than to his own dignity; finally — and nothing can be more popular than this — he [4] was the same in office that he had been while a candidate. [5] It was therefore with incredible eagerness that the whole army, after listening to the general’s speech, marched out of camp.
The battle began, if ever battle did, with like hopes on both sides and equal strength, and a self-confidence which yet was not mixed with contempt for the enemy. [6] The Samnites were’ emboldened by their recent exploits and by their double victory of a few days before, the Romans on their part by the glories of four centuries and a victorious career that dated from the founding of the City; [7] each side nevertheless experienced some anxiety at meeting an untried foe. The engagement testified how resolute they were, for they so fought that for some time neither battle-line gave ground. [8] Then the consul, thinking that he must inspire his enemies with fear, since he could not drive them back by force, attempted by sending in the cavalry to ‘throw their front ranks into disorder. [9] But when he saw that nothing came of the confused fighting of the squadrons, as they tried to manœuvre in a narrow space, and that they could not break the enemy’s line, he rode back: to the front ranks of his legions, and, dismounting from his horse, exclaimed, “Soldiers, it is for us, the infantry, to accomplish yonder task! [10] Come, as you shall see me making a path for myself with my sword wherever I advance against the enemy’s line, so do you every man strike down whom you encounter; all that array where now uplifted spears are glancing you shall see laid open with great carnage.” [11] No sooner had he said these words, than the horsemen, by the consul’s order, drew off towards the wings and left the legions room to attack the centre. [12] The consul was the very foremost in the charge, and slew the man he chanced to meet with. Kindled by this sight, the Romans on the right and on the left pushed forward, every man of them, and fought a memorable combat; the Samnites stood manfully at bay, but they took more strokes than they delivered.
[7.13] The battle had now lasted a considerable time; there was dreadful slaughter about the standards of the Samnites, but as yet no retreating anywhere, so determined were they to be overcome by naught but death. [14] And so the Romans, who saw that their strength was fast ebbing away in weariness and that little daylight yet remained, were filled with rage, and hurled themselves against the enemy. [15] Then for the first time were there signs of giving way and the beginning of a rout; then were the Samnites captured or slain; nor would many have survived, if night had not ended what was now a victory rather than a battle. [16] The Romans admitted that never had they fought with a more stubborn adversary; [17] and the Samnites, on being asked what it was that first had turned them, resolute as they were, to flight, replied that it was the eyes of the Romans, which had seemed to blaze, and their frenzied expression and infuriated looks; this it was more than anything else that had caused their panic. And this panic stood confessed not alone in the outcome of the fight but in the night-retreat that followed. [18] On the morrow the Romans took possession of the deserted camp, and thither the whole population of Capua streamed out to congratulate them.
34. But this rejoicing came near to being marred by a great reverse in Samnium. For the consul Cornelius, marching from Saticula, had unwarily led his army into a forest which was penetrated by a deep defile, and was there beset on either hand by the enemy; [2] nor, until it was too late to withdraw with safety, did he perceive that they were posted on the heights above him. [3] While the Samnites were only holding back till he should send down the whole column into the bottom of the valley, Publius Decius, a tribune of the soldiers, espied a solitary hill, which rising above the pass, commanded the enemy’s camp, and though arduous of access to an army encumbered with baggage, was not difficult for men in light marching order. [4] He accordingly said to the consul, who was much perturbed: “Do you see, Aulus Cornelius, that summit that rises above the enemy? [5] It is the fortress of our hope and safety, if we are prompt to seize it, since the Samnites have been so blind as to neglect it. Give me no more than the first and second lines of a single legion; when with these I have mounted to the top, do you go forward fearlessly and save yourself and the army; for the enemy, exposed to all our missiles, will not be able to stir without bringing destruction on themselves. [6] As for us, thereafter the fortune of the Roman People or our own manhood will extricate us.” [7] Being commended by the consul and receiving his detachment, he advanced under cover through the wood, nor did the enemy perceive him till he had nearly reached the place which he wished to gain. [8] They were then all overcome with astonishment and dread, and while they turned, every man of them, and gazed at him, the consul was given time to withdraw his army to more favourable ground, and Decius himself took his post on the top of the hill. [9] The Samnites, turning their standards now this way and now that, threw away both opportunities; they could not pursue the consul, except through the same defile where a little before they -had held him at the mercy of their javelins, nor could they charge up the hill which Decius had captured over their heads. [10] But not only did their resentment urge them rather against those who had snatched victory from their grasp, but so also did the nearness of the place and the fewness of its defenders; [11] and first they would be for surrounding the hill with troops, so as to cut Decius off from the consul, and next for leaving his road open, so that they might attack him when he was got down into the valley. [12] Before they had made up their minds, night overtook them.
Decius at first had hopes of fighting from the higher ground, as they mounted the hill; then he marvelled that they neither began to attack, nor, if they were deterred from that design by the difficulty of the ground, attempted to shut him in with trench and rampart. [13] Then, calling the centurions to him, he said: “What want of military skill, what slothfulness can that be? How did those people conquer the Sidicini and Campanians? You see their standards moving now this way, now that, first closing in together, then deploying, while no man falls to work, though we might ere this have been fenced in with a palisade. [14] Then in truth should we be no better than they, were we to tarry here longer than suits our interest. Come on then and follow me, so that while there is yet a little light we may find out where they post their guards, and where the way out from this place lies open.” [15] Wrapped in a common soldier’s cloak and accompanied by his centurions, who were also dressed like privates, lest the enemy should notice that the general was on his rounds, he investigated all these matters.
35. Next, having disposed the sentries, he commanded that the word be passed to everybody, that on hearing the trumpet sound for the second watch they should silently arm and present themselves before him. [2] When they had assembled there without a word, as he had ordered, he thus began: “You must preserve this silence, soldiers, as you listen to me, omitting all soldier-like acclaim. When I have finished explaining my plan, then those of you who find it good will quietly pass over to the right; on whichever side the majority shall be, we will abide by their decision. [3] Hear now what I have in mind. The enemy has not invested you here as men who ran away or were left behind through laziness: it was by valour that you took the place, and by valour you must escape from it. [4] By coming hither you saved a splendid army for the Roman People; save yourselves by breaking out. You are worthy to have carried help, though few, to greater numbers, and to have needed no man’s help yourselves. [5] You have an enemy to deal with who neglected yesterday through indolence an opportunity of destroying our whole army; who failed to see the importance of this hill by which he is commanded, until we had taken it; who, though we were so few and his own thousands so many, neither kept us from gaining the ascent, nor, when the place was ours and much daylight still remained, surrounded us with entrenchments. [6] An enemy whom you thus eluded while he was wide awake and watching, you ought to baffle when he is overcome with sleep. [7] Indeed it is necessary that you do so, for our situation is such that I am rather pointing out your necessity to you than advocating a plan. [8] Nor truly can it be a debatable question whether you should stay or go away from here, since Fortune has left you nothing but your arms and the spirit to employ them, and we must die of hunger and thirst, if we dread the sword’s point more than it is fitting men and Romans should. [9] Our one way of safety, then, is to break through and get away. We must do this either in the day-time or at night. [10] But this, look you, is a question that is even less in doubt, for if we should wait for dawn, what hope is there that the enemy would not hem us in with a continuous trench and rampart, who has now, as you see, encompassed the hill on every hand with the bodies of his men lying below us. And yet, if night is favourable for our sally, as it is, this is surely the fittest hour of the night. [11] You have come together on the signal of the second watch, when sleep lies heaviest on mortals;: you will make your way among drowsy forms, either eluding them unsuspected in your silence, or ready, if they should perceive you, to affright them with a sudden shout. [12] Do but follow me, whom you have followed hitherto; I will follow that same Fortune that has led us hither. Now then let those who approve my plan step over-to the right.”
36. They all crossed over. Decius then made his way through the spaces left unguarded, and they followed him. [2] They had already got half way through the camp, when a soldier in stepping over the bodies of some sleeping sentries struck his shield and made a sound. A sentry was awakened by this, and having shaken his neighbour, they stood up and began to rouse the rest, not knowing whether they had to do with friends or foes, whether the party on the hill were escaping, or the consul had captured the camp. [3] Decius, seeing that they were discovered, gave the order to his men, and they set up such a shout that the Samnites, who had been stupefied with sleep, were now in addition [4] breathless with terror, which prevented them from either arming promptly or making a stand against the Romans or pursuing them. [5] During the fright and confusion amongst the Samnites, the Romans cut down such guards as they came across, and proceeded towards the consul’s camp.
It wanted yet some time till daylight, and they now appeared to be in safety, when Decius said, “All honour to your courage, Roman soldiers! [6] Your expedition and return shall be renowned through all the ages. But the light of day is needed to set off such gallantry, nor do you merit that your glorious return to camp should be accomplished in silence and under cover of night. Let us wait here quietly until the dawn.” [7] They did as he sail. With the first rays of light they sent forward a courier to the consul, and the camp was woke with loud rejoicings. When word was sent round that those were returning safe and sound, who in behalf of the general safety, had exposed their bodies to no uncertain peril, they all poured out to meet them, and, each for himself, praised and congratulated them, calling them their saviours, one and all. To the gods they offered praise and thanks, and Decius they extolled to the skies. [8] Now followed a triumph for Decius in the camp, as he marched through the midst with his battalion under arms. All eyes were directed towards him, and paid the tribune equal homage with the consul. [9] When they reached headquarters, the consul bade the trumpet sound an assembly, and fell to lauding Decius, as he deserved. But Decius, interrupting him, induced him to defer his speech; then, urging that all other considerations should be postponed whilst they had such an opportunity at hand, he persuaded him to attack the enemy. [10] They were now, he said, bewildered by the night alarm and dispersed about the: hill in separate detachments, and he doubted not that a party would have been sent out after him and would be wandering through the forest. [11] The troops were commanded to arm, and marching out of camp, were led by a more open route — for, thanks to their scouts, the forest was now better known to them — in the direction of the enemy. [12] These they caught quite off their guard by a surprise attack, for the Samnite soldiers were scattered far and wide, and most of them were without their weapons, Unable either to assemble or to arm or to regain their works, they were first driven headlong into their camp, and then the outposts were routed and the camp itself was taken. The shouting was heard all round the hill and sent the detachments flying from their several stations. [13] Thus a great part of the Samnites fled without coming into contact with the enemy. Those whom panic had driven within the? enclosure — to the number of some thirty thousand — were all put to the sword, and the camp was spoiled.
37. The battle having sped thus, the consul called an assembly, and pronounced a panegyric upon Decius, in which he rehearsed, in addition to his former services, the fresh glories which his bravery had achieved. Besides other military gifts, he bestowed on him a golden chaplet and a hundred oxen, and one choice white one, fat, and with gilded horns. [2] The soldiers who had been on the hill with him were rewarded with a double: ration in perpetuity, and for the present an ox apiece and two tunics. Following the consul’s award, the legions, accompanying the gift with their cheers, placed on Decius’s head a wreath of grass, to signify his rescuing them from a siege; and his own detachment crowned him with a second wreath, indicative of the same honour. [3] Adorned with these insignia, he sacrificed the choice ox to Mars, and presented the hundred others to the soldiers who had served with him on the expedition. To these same soldiers the legions contributed a pound of spelt and a pint of wine for each man. All these awards were carried out amid the greatest cheerfulness, the shouts of the soldiers testifying to the general approval.
[7.4] A third engagement was fought at Suessula, for the Samnites, after the rout inflicted on them by Marcus Valerius, had called out all the men they had of military age, determined to try their fortune in a final encounter. [5] From Suessula the alarming news was carried to Capua, whence gallopers were dispatched to Valerius the consul, to implore assistance. [6] The troops were immediately set in motion, and leaving behind the baggage and a strong garrison for the camp, made a rapid march, and being got within a short distance of the enemy, encamped in a very small compass, for they had only their horses with them and neither beasts of burden nor a crowd of camp-followers.
[7.7] The Samnites, assuming that the battle would not be delayed, formed up in line; then, as no one came out to meet them, they advanced against the enemy’s camp. [8] When they saw the soldiers on the rampart, and when the scouts whom they had dispatched to spy out the camp on every hand reported how straitened its dimensions were, inferring thence the paucity of their foes, the whole army began to murmur that they ought to fill up the trenches, breach the rampart, and burst into the enclosure; [9] and their rashness would have brought the war to a conclusion, had not the commanders restrained the ardour of their men. [10] But since their numbers were a burden on the commissariat, and since, owing first to their sitting down before Suessula and afterwards to the delay in fighting, they were almost reduced to want for everything, they decided that while the enemy were cowering within their works, they would send their soldiers over the country-side to forage: [11] meantime the Romans, remaining inactive, would be reduced to destitution, for they had come in light marching order, with only so much corn as they could carry, along with their armour, on their shoulders.
[7.12] Seeing the Samnites dispersed about the fields, and their stations thinly manned, the consul addressed a few words of encouragement to his soldiers and led them to the assault of the enemy’s camp. [13] Having taken it at the first shout and rush, and slain more men in their tents than at the gates and on the breastworks, he ordered the captured standards to be collected in one spot. [14] Then, leaving two legions to guard them and defend the place, — with strict injunctions to refrain from spoiling until he himself returned, — he marched out in serried column, and sending the cavalry on before to surround the scattered Samnites, as with a cordon of hunters, and so drive them in, he made a prodigious slaughter of them. [15] For in their terror they were unable to agree either under what standard they should rally, or whether they should make for their camp or direct their flight towards some more remote place; [16] and so great was their discomfiture and panic, that the Romans brought in to the consul no less than forty thousand shields — though not near so many men were slain — and of military standards, including those which had been captured in the camp, no fewer than a hundred and seventy. [17] The victors then returned to the enemy’s camp and there the plunder was all given to the soldiers.
38. The fortunate outcome of this war not only impelled the Faliscans, with whom there was a truce, to ask the senate for a treaty, but caused the Latins, whose armies were ready to take the field, to transfer their attack from Rome to the Paeligni. [2] Nor was the fame of this success confined to Italy; even the Carthaginians sent their envoys to Rome, with congratulations and the gift of a golden crown, weighing five and twenty pounds, to be placed in the shrine of Jupiter on the Capitol. [3] Both consuls triumphed over the Samnites, and after them came Decius, conspicuous in his decorations and so renowned, that the soldiers in their rude jests named the tribune no less often than the consuls.
[7.4] The deputations of the Campanians and the Suessulani were then heard, and a favourable reply was made to their petition that a garrison should be dispatched, to remain through the winter with them and protect them against inroads by the Samnites.
[7.5] Capua was even then a far from wholesome place for military discipline, and with its means for gratifying every pleasure proved so fascinating to the soldiers that they forgot their native land, and formed a project, while in winter quarters, for taking the city away from the Campanians by the same wicked practice by which the Campanians had taken it from its ancient inhabitants. [6] There would be a certain justice, they argued, in turning their own example against them. Besides, why should the most fertile land in Italy, and a city worthy of the land, belong to the Campanians, who were incapable of defending either themselves or their possessions? Why, rather, should it not belong to the conquering army, which had toiled and bled to drive the Samnites out of it? [7] Was it fair that their surrendered subjects should enjoy that fertile and agreeable tract, while they, exhausted with campaigning, wrestled with the arid and noxious soil in the neighbourhood of Rome, or endured the ruinous usury that had fastened on the City and was increasing from one day to the next?
[7.8] These schemes, discussed in secret cabals and not yet communicated to all the troops, were discovered by the new consul, Gaius Marcius Rutulus, to whom the lot had assigned Campania for his province, leaving Quintus Servilius, his colleague, in charge at Rome. [9] And so having found out through his tribunes exactly what had taken place, Rutulus, who was of ripe years and experience, — for the present consulship was his fourth and he had been both dictator and censor — thought that his best course would be to frustrate the men’s impetuosity, by encouraging the hope that they would be able at any time they chose to carry out their plan. [10] He accordingly set on foot a rumour that the garrisons would winter in the same towns in the following year also, — for they had been distributed among the cities of Campania and from Capua their designs had spread to the entire army, — and the conspirators being thus afforded time for breathing, the sedition subsided for the present.
39. The consul having led out his troops to the summer encampment, and finding the Samnites quiet, resolved to purge the army of its troublemakers by discharging them.: Of some of them he said that they had served out their time; of others, that they were now too old or deficient in sturdiness. [2] To some he granted furlough, singling out individuals at first, but later dismissing certain cohorts, on the ground that they had passed the winter far from their homes and their affairs. Many, too, were sent off on some pretext of military employment, some one way, some another. [3] All these the other consul and the praetor detained at Rome, alleging a variety of reasons. And at first, not suspecting a trick, they were far from sorry to visit their homes again. [4] Later on, when they saw that the first to go failed to rejoin the colours, and that practically none were dismissed but those who had wintered in Campania, and particularly such of these as had encouraged the conspiracy, they marvelled at first, and presently began to entertain very definite fears that their designs had come to light: [5] soon there would be investigations, soon informations would be lodged, they would soon be punished in secret, one by one, and would be made to feel the unrestrained and cruel despotism with which the consuls and the senate governed them. [6] Such were the fears that were secretly put about by the soldiers in the camp, for they saw that the sinews of their plot had been plucked out by the consul’s artifice.
[7.7] One cohort which was stationed not far from Anxur went into camp near Lautulae, in the narrow pass between the sea and the mountains, where they could intercept those whom the consul continued to dismiss, on one pretext or another, as has been said before. [8] They were soon a very numerous body, and lacked no essential element of an army except a general. And so, without order, and pillaging as they went, they proceeded as far as the Alban country, and under the ridge of Alba Longa encamped and threw up a rampart. [9] Having finished the work, they employed the remainder of the day in wrangling over the choice of a general, for they had no great confidence in anyone there present. [10] But whom could they summon from Rome? What patrician or plebeian was there who would wittingly expose himself to so great a danger, or to whom the cause of the army, maddened by its wrongs, could fitly be committed? [11] On the following day, while-they were debating the same question, certain of their roving foragers reported having learned that Titus Quinctius was living on a farm near Tusculum, with no thoughts of the City or its honours. [12] This man, who belonged to a noble family, had won great distinction in the wars, but a lameness in one of his feet, resulting from a wound, had put an end to his campaigning, and had determined him to take up his residence in the country, far from the Forum and from politics. [13] On hearing his name they remembered the man at once, and bade send for him, invoking a blessing on this step. But there being little prospect that he would voluntarily assist them, they resolved on employing threats and violence. [14] Coming therefore to his farm-house in the silence of the night, those who had been dispatched upon this errand caught Quinctius sound asleep, and offering him no choice but authority and rank, or death, — with which, when he held back, they threatened him, unless he would go along with them — they carried him off to the camp. [15] Once there they immediately hailed him General, and dazed as he was by the astounding suddenness of it all, conferred on him the insignia of that office and bade him lead them to the City. [16] Then, more on their own impulse than by the counsel of their general, they pulled up their standards and marched in warlike array as far as the eighth milestone, on what is now the Appian Way; [17] whence they would at once have gone on to the City, had they not learned that an army was coming to oppose them, under Marcus Valerius Corvus, who had been created dictator for that purpose, with Lucius Aemilius Mamercus as master of the horse.
40. As soon as they came within sight of one another and recognized one another’s arms and ensigns, all were at once reminded of their fatherland, and their anger cooled. [2] Men were not yet so hardy in shedding the blood of countrymen; they knew no wars but those with outside nations, and thought that frenzy could go no further than secession from their people. [3] And so on either side both the leaders and their men began to seek for ways to meet and confer together. For Quinctius was sated with war, even war in behalf of his country, to say nothing of fighting against it; and the affection of Corvinus embraced all his fellow-citizens, particularly the soldiers, and above all others, his own army. [4] He now came forward to parley, and being recognized, was instantly accorded a silent attention, in which his opponents showed as great respect for him as did his followers.
“Soldiers,” he began, “as I was setting forth from the City, I adored your gods and mine, and humbly besought them of their goodness to vouchsafe to me the glory of reconciling, not of conquering you. [5] There have been wars in plenty, and will be others, where men may win renown: in this crisis we must seek for peace. [6] The petition which I made to the immortal gods, as I offered up my prayer, you are able of yourselves to grant me, if you are willing to reflect that your camp is pitched not in Samnium nor among the Volsci, but on Roman soil; that those hills which you see are in your native land; that this army is made up of your fellow-citizens; that I am your consul, under whose command and auspices you twice last year defeated the Samnite legions, and twice stormed their camp. [7] I am Marcus Valerius Corvus, soldiers, whose patrician blood has declared itself in kindnesses done you, not in injuries; I have urged no insolent law against you, no cruel senatorial resolution; in every position of authority I have been sterner to myself than to you. [8] And in truth if any man’s family, if any man’s own worth, if any man’s dignities and honours have been able to inspire pride in him, my birth was such, I had given such proof of my capacity, and had achieved so young the highest magistracy, that I might easily, on becoming consul at the age of three and twenty, have been overbearing even towards the nobles, not merely towards the plebs. [9] But what have you heard that I said or did, when consul, more tyrannical than my words and deeds as tribune? In that same spirit I administered two subsequent consulships; in that same spirit shall this dictatorship with its dread power be administered; so that I shall be no gentler to these my soldiers and the soldiers of my country, than to you — I shudder to say the word, — our enemies. [10] You shall therefore sooner draw sword on me than I on you. It is on your side that the trumpets will sound, on your side that the battle-cry will be raised and the attack begin, if fight we must. [11] Steel your hearts to do that which neither your fathers nor yet your grandfathers could resolve upon — neither those who seceded to the Sacred Mount, nor those who later encamped upon the Aventine. [12] Wait until to each of you — as once to Coriolanus — your mothers and wives come forth from the City with dishevelled hair. On that day the legions of the Volsci ceased fighting, because they had a Roman leader: will you, an army of Romans, not relinquish this impious war? [13] Titus Quinctius, whatever be your position over there — whether you have taken it voluntarily or against your will, — if we must do battle, do you retire to the rear; you will even flee with less discredit, turning your back upon your fellow-citizens, than you will incur in fighting against your country. [14] Now, however, to make peace you will stand with honour and credit amongst the foremost, and will be a salutary mediator at this conference. Let your men ask what is reasonable, and receive it; yet must we rather put up with what is not, than join together in impious strife.”
[7.15] Titus Quinctius turned with streaming eyes and addressed his people: “I, too, soldiers, if I am of any use to you, can better lead you to peace than into war. [16] For it was no Volscian or Samnite that just spoke those words, but a Roman. It was your consul, your general, soldiers. You have proved his auspices in your own behalf; seek not to prove their worth against you. [17] The senate had other leaders who would have made more ruthless war on you; but they have chosen him who would deal most mercifully with you, his men; one in whom, as in your general, you might place the most utter confidence. [18] Peace is the goal desired even by those who are able to conquer: what then ought our desire to be? [19] Nay, let us abandon wrath and hope — deceitful counsellors — and commit ourselves and all our cause to a man of known fidelity!”
41. A shout of approval burst from every throat, and Titus Quinctius, advancing in front of the standards, announced that the soldiers would submit to the dictator’s authority. He begged him to undertake the cause of his wretched fellow-citizens, and having done so to forward it with the same fidelity with which he had been used to deal with the interests of the state. [2] For himself privately, he said, he demanded no assurance, he had no wish to found a hope on aught but innocence. But the soldiers must be assured, as in their fathers’ day the plebs had been, and, on a second occasion, the legions, that they should not be punished for secession.
[7.3] After praising Quinctius and bidding the rest be of good cheer, the dictator galloped back to the City, and having secured the authority of the Fathers, got the people to enact a law, in the Peteline Wood, that none of the soldiers should be held to answer for the secession. [4] He begged them also, as citizens, to grant him the favour that none would make the incident a matter of reproach to any, either in jest or in earnest. There was also passed a military law, under penalty of devotion, to the effect that the name of no one enrolled as a soldier might be struck off the list, except with his own consent. [5] To this a provision was added that no one might later command a century in the legion where he had been a military tribune. [6] This clause was demanded by the conspirators on account of Publius Salonius, who in almost regular alternation was tribune of the soldiers one year, and chief centurion — whom they now call “centurion of the first javelin” — the next. The men were incensed at Salonius because lie had always opposed their mutinous schemes, and had fled from Lautulae that he might not share in them. [7] And so, when this one provision would have failed of enactment by the senate, out of consideration for Salonius, he himself besought the Fathers not to think more highly of his distinction than of harmony in the state, and induced them to pass this also. [8] An equally shameless demand was made that the pay of the cavalry should be reduced — they served at that time for treble pay — on the ground that they had opposed the conspiracy.
42. In addition to these transactions, I find in certain writers that Lucius Genucius, a tribune of the plebs, proposed to the plebs that it should be unlawful to lend at interest. [2] Also that it was provided in other plebiscites that no one might hold the same office twice within ten years, nor two offices in one year; and that it should be legal for both consuls to be chosen from the plebs. If all these concessions were made to the commons, it is evident that the revolt possessed no little strength. [3] Other annalists have recorded that Valerius was not made dictator, but that the whole affair was managed through the consuls, and that it was not before they came to Rome, but in Rome, that this great company of conspirators was dismayed into arming; [4] further, that the night attack was made, not on the farm of Titus Quinctius, but on the town house of Gaius Manlius, and that it was he whom the conspirators seized and made their leader. Thence they proceeded — according to this account — to the fourth milestone, where they entrenched a camp. [5] Nor was it the leaders who suggested a reconciliation, but suddenly, when the two armies had marched out in [6] battle array, salutations were exchanged, and the soldiers, mingling together, began tearfully to clasp hands and embrace each other, so that the consuls, seeing the men to be in no mood for fighting, had been compelled to lay proposals before the senate for the re-establishment of harmony. [7] Thus in no single instance do the ancient authorities agree, except that there was a sedition, and that it was composed.
[7.8] The report of this sedition, in conjunction with the dangerous war entered upon with the Samnites, caused several nations to forsake their alliance with the Romans, and not only were the Latins unfaithful to the treaty — as they had been for some time — but the Privernates even, in a sudden raid, laid waste the neighbouring Roman colonies of Norba and Setia.
SUMMARY OF BOOK VII
Two new magistracies were added, the praetorship and the curule aedileship. The citizens were afflicted with a pestilence, and this the death of Furius Camillus rendered memorable. While a remedy for stopping it was being sought in new religious observances, scenic exhibitions were given for the first time. Lucius Manlius having been cited by Marcus Pomponius, tribune of the plebs, to answer for his ruthless conduct of the levy and for having relegated his son to the country without making any charge against him, the young man himself whose relegation was being used against his father entered the bed-room of the tribune, and drawing his sword, compelled him to swear, after a form which he dictated to him, that he would not go on with the prosecution. At this time all sorts of precious things were cast into a chasm which had opened to a great depth in Rome. Into it leaped Curtius, fully armed and bestriding his horse; and so it was closed over. Titus Manlius, the youth who had saved his father from the persecution of the tribune, went down to confront a Gaul who had challenged any Roman soldier to single combat; and, having slain him, took from him a golden necklace, which he afterwards wore himself and from it was given the name of Torquatus. Two tribes were added, the Pomptina and the Publilia. Licinius Stolo was condemned, under a statute that had been enacted, because he possessed more than five hundred iugera of land. Marcus Valerius, a tribune of the soldiers, killed a Gaul by whom he had been challenged, while a raven perched on the Roman’s crest and with beak and talons attacked his enemy; from this circumstance he received the name of Corvus, and the next year was, for his bravery, elected consul, at the age of twenty-three. Friendship was made with the Carthaginians. The Campanians, when hard pressed in war by the Samnites, asked aid against them from the senate, and, failing to obtain it, surrendered their city and territory to the Roman People. In view of this action, the Roman People voted to go to war with the Samnites, to defend these their possessions. The army was led by Aulus Cornelius, the consul, into a difficult position, and was in great danger, but was saved by the act of Publius Decius Mus, a tribune of the soldiers, who by occupying a hill which commanded the ridge on which the Samnites had encamped, afforded the consul an opportunity of withdrawing to more favourable ground; after which, though encircled by the enemy, Decius himself broke through. The Roman soldiers who had been left in garrison at Capua conspired to seize the city, and fearful of punishment, on the detection of their crime, revolted from the Roman People, but were restored to their country through the influence of the dictator, Marcus Valerius Corvus, who by his counsel had recalled them from their madness. The book also comprises victorious campaigns against the Hernici, Gauls, Tiburtes, Privernates, Tarquinienses, Samnites, and Volsci.

## Book VIII

Translated by B. O. Foster
1. THE CONSULS were now Gaius Plautius (for the second time) and Lucius Aemilius Mamercus, when the men of Setium and Norba brought tidings to Rome that the Privernates were in revolt, with complaints of a defeat suffered at their hands. [2] it was also reported that a Volscian army, conducted by the Antiates, had encamped at Satricum. both wars were by lot assigned to Plautius. [3] he marched first on Privernum and at once gave battle. without much ado he overcame the enemy, captured Privernum, and putting in it a strong garrison, restored it to the inhabitants, but deprived them of two — thirds of their territory. [4] thence he led his victorious army towards Satricum, to oppose the Antiates. The battle there, which was desperately fought, with heavy losses on both sides, was interrupted by a storm before victory had inclined to either army. [5] The Romans, not a whit discouraged by so indecisive a struggle, prepared to do battle on the morrow; but the Volsci, when they reckoned up the men they had lost in the fighting, were by no means so eager to incur the danger a second time, and in the night marched off like beaten men for Antium, with fear and trembling, abandoning their wounded and a part of their baggage. [6] a great quantity of arms was found, not only amongst the slain but also in the enemy’s camp. declaring that he gave these arms to Lua Mater, the consul proceeded to lay waste the enemy’s country as far as the coast.
[8.7] The other consul, Aemilius, having entered the Sabellian territory, nowhere encountered a Samnite camp or levies. as he was ravaging their fields with fire and sword, he was approached by Samnite envoys, who begged for peace. [8] being referred by Aemilius to the senate, they obtained an audience, and giving over their air of arrogance, besought the Romans to grant them peace and the right to war against the Sidicini. [9] These requests, they said, were the more justifiable, inasmuch as they had become friends of the Roman People when their state was flourishing and not, like the Campanians, in their adversity; [10] moreover, it was against the Sidicini that they were drawing the sword, a people always their enemies and never friendly to the Romans, of whom they had never, like the Samnites, sought friendship in time of peace, nor assistance, like the Campanians, in time of war; neither were they under the protection of the Roman People, nor yet their subjects.
2. Titus Aemilius the praetor laid the petition of the Samnites before the senate, and the Fathers voted to renew the treaty with them. [2] The praetor then replied to the ambassadors that the Roman People had not been to blame for the interruption of the friendship, and that, since the Samnites were themselves grown weary of a war contracted through their own fault, they had no objection to renewing the covenant; [3] as for the Sidicini, the Romans would not interfere with the free judgment of the Samnite People regarding peace and war. [4] on the ratification of the treaty, the ambassadors went home, and the Roman army was at once recalled, after receiving a year’s pay and rations for three months, which the consul had stipulated should be the price of a truce, to last until the envoys should return.
[8.5] The Samnites marched against the Sidicini with the same forces which they had employed in the war with Rome, and were confidently hoping to capture the city of their enemies in a little while, when the Sidicini attempted to anticipate them by surrendering to the Romans. [6] then, after the Fathers had rejected their offer, on the ground that it came too late and had been wrung from them only by the direst necessity, they carried it to the Latins, who had already risen in arms on their own account. [7] even the Campanians — so much more vivid was their recollection of the injury done them by the Samnites than of the kindness of the Romans — could not refrain from joining in this expedition. [8] one great army, gathered out of all these nations, invaded the borders of the Samnites, under a Latin general, but wrought more havoc by pillage than in battle; and although the Latins came off best in all encounters, they were not unwilling to retire from the enemy’s country, that they might not have to fight so often. [9] The Samnites thus had time to send ambassadors to Rome. appearing before the senate, they complained that they were suffering the same treatment as allies that they had experienced while enemies, and besought the Romans, with the utmost humility, that they [10] would be satisfied to have snatched from the grasp of the Samnites a victory over their Campanian and Sidicinian foes, and not suffer them actually to be conquered by the most cowardly of nations. [11] if the Latins and Campanians were subject to the Roman People, let the Romans use their authority and keep them from invading Samnium; but if they rejected that authority, let them hold them in check by force of arms. [12] to this plea the Romans returned an ambiguous reply, since they were loath to confess that the Latins were no longer under their control, and feared to estrange them if they censured them. [13] The Campanians, they said, were upon a different footing, having come under their protection not by treaty but by surrender; accordingly the Campanians, whether willing or not, should keep the peace; but there was nothing in their treaty with the Latins which entitled them to prevent their going to war with whom they chose.
3. this answer, as it left the Samnites quite at a loss to forecast the Roman policy, so it alienated the Campanians with fear, while it persuaded the Latins that there was no longer any concession the Romans would not make them, and rendered them yet more audacious. [2] accordingly their leaders, under colour of forwarding the war against the Samnites, appointed numerous councils, and in all their deliberations secretly concocted war with Rome. in this war, too, the Campanians took part, against their preservers. [3] but though all their measures were sedulously concealed — for they wished to shake off the Samnite foe behind them before the Romans should take the alarm — yet through certain persons connected by private ties of hospitality and kinship, information of the conspiracy leaked out and was brought to Rome. [4] The consuls were commanded, before their time was up, to resign their office, in order that new consuls might the sooner be chosen to confront so momentous an invasion; but a scruple arose at allowing the election to be held by those whose authority had been abridged, and so they had an interregnum. [5] there were two interreges, Marcus Valerius and Marcus Fabius: the latter announced the election to the consulship of Titus Manlius Torquatus (for the third time) and Publius Decius Mus.
[8.6] it is believed to have been in this year that Alexander, king of Epirus, sailed with a fleet to Italy — a war which, had it prospered in its beginning, would doubtless have extended to the Romans. [7] this was also the era of the exploits of Alexander the Great, who was the son of this man’s sister, and was doomed to be cut off by sickness while a young man, in another quarter of the world, after proving himself to be invincible in war.
[8.8] but the Romans, though quite certain that the allies and all the Latins were going to revolt, nevertheless, as if concerned not for themselves but for the Samnites, summoned to Rome the ten chief men of the Latins, that they might give them such commands as they might wish. [9] Latium at that time had two praetors, Lucius Annius Setinus and Lucius Numisius Circeiensis, both from Roman colonies, through whose contrivance, besides Signia and Velitrae — likewise Roman colonies — even the Volsci had been induced to draw the sword. [10] it was determined to summon these men by name. nobody could be in doubt why they were sent for; accordingly, before setting out for Rome the praetors held a council, and explaining how they had been summoned by the Roman senate, asked instructions touching the answers they should give to the questions which they supposed would be put to them.
4. while one was suggesting this thing and another that, Annius arose. “notwithstanding I have myself referred to you,” said he, “the question as to what our reply should be, nevertheless I consider that what we are to do is of more importance to the welfare of our nation than what we are to say. [2] it will be easy, when we have straightened out our plans, to frame words suitable to our conduct. for if we are able even now to endure slavery under a shadowy pretence of equal treaty — rights, what is left for us but to give up the Sidicini, and obeying the behest not of the Romans only but also of the Samnites, make answer to the Romans that we are ready to lay down our arms at their beck and call? [3] but if our hearts are pricked at last with a longing for liberty; if treaties, if alliances, mean equality of rights; if we may now glory in the kinship of the Romans, of which we were formerly ashamed; if they mean by “allied army” one which added to their own doubles its numbers, one which they would not wish to make its own war and peace, apart from them; — if [4] these things are so, I say, why are not all things equalized? [5] why is not one consul furnished by the Latins? where a portion of the strength is, there, too, should be a portion of the authority. [6] for us, indeed, this is not in itself any too great an honour, since we suffer Rome to be the capital of Latium; but we have made it seem an honour by our prolonged submissiveness. [7] and yet, if ever at any time you have desired to share in the government and to use your freedom, behold, now is your opportunity, bestowed on you by your valour and by Heaven’s favour! [8] you have tried their patience by denying them troops; who can doubt that they were enraged when we broke the tradition of two hundred years? yet they swallowed their resentment. we waged war on our own account with the Paeligni; those who aforetime withheld from us even the right to defend our own borders by ourselves, never interposed. [9] they have heard how we received the Sidicini into our protection, how the Campanians have left them and joined us, how we are raising armies against the Samnites, their confederates, — and have not stirred from the City. [10] whence comes this great restraint on their part, if it come not from the consciousness of our strength — and their own? Ihave good authority for saying that when the Samnites were complaining of us, the Roman senate answered in such wise that it might readily appear that even the Romans themselves no longer demanded that Latium should be under their authority. [11] do but take up in your demands what they tacitly concede to you. if there is any man whom fear prevents from saying this, lo, I declare that I myself will say it, in the hearing not of the Roman People only and their senate, but of Jupiter himself, who dwells in the Capitol; that if they wish us to observe the treaty of alliance, they must receive from us one consul and a moiety of the senate.” [12] These bold encouragements, and even promises, were received with a general shout of approval, and Annius was empowered to act and speak as might seem conducive to the welfare of the Latin state and befitting his own honour.
5. on the arrival of the Latins in Rome, they were given audience of the senate in the Capitol. there, after Titus Manlius the consul had pleaded with them, as directed by the senate, to make no war upon the Samnites, [2] united as they were by treaty with the Romans, Annius held forth like some conqueror who had taken the Capitol by storm, not like an envoy protected by the law of nations. [3] “it was high time, Titus Manlius,” he said, “and you, Conscript Fathers, that you should cease at length to deal with us as in any sort our rulers, perceiving, as you have, that Latium, by Heaven’s blessing, is flourishing exceedingly in arms and men, after vanquishing the Samnites in war and receiving as allies the Sidicini and Campanians, and now even the Volsci besides, and that your own colonies as well have preferred the Latin to the Roman sway. [4] but, since you cannot make up your minds to bring your impotent sovereignty to a close, we — though able by force of arms to give Latium her freedom — will [5] nevertheless concede so much to kinship as to offer terms of peace fair and equal to both sides, since the immortal gods have willed that we should be of equal strength. [6] one consul should be chosen from Rome, the other from Latium, the senate should be drawn in equal proportions from both nations, there should be one people and one state; and that we may have the same seat of empire and the same name for all, by all means let this rather be our city, since one side must make concessions, — and may good come of it to both peoples! [7] — and let us all be known as Romans.”
it so happened that the Romans had, in their consul Titus Manlius, a man who was a match for Annius in boldness. so far was he from controlling his indignation, that he openly declared that if the Fathers were so demented as to receive terms from a Setine, he would gird on his sword, and entering the senate would slay with his own hand any Latin he might see within the Curia. [8] and turning to the statue of the god, “hear, Jupiter,” he cried, “these wicked words! hear ye, Law and Right! [9] shalt thou behold, O Jupiter, alien consuls and an alien senate in thy consecrated temple, thyself overpowered and taken captive? [10] are these the covenants, Latins, that Tullus, the Roman king, made with your Alban forefathers, that Lucius Tarquinius afterwards made with you? remember you not the battle at Lake Regillus? have you so forgot your old disasters. and our goodness to you?”
6. The consul’s speech having been warmly seconded by the indignant senators, it is recorded that in answer to the numerous supplications of the gods, whom the consuls repeatedly invoked as the witnesses of treaties, the voice of Annius was heard spurning the power of the Roman Jupiter. [2] at all events, as he hurried, beside himself with rage, from the entrance of the temple, he slipped on the stairs, and struck his head so hard on the lowest stone that he lost consciousness. [3] that he was killed is not asserted by all writers, wherefore I, too, may leave the question undecided, as also the tradition that while men were calling on the gods to witness the breaking of the treaty, there was a loud crash in the heavens, and a hurricane burst forth; for these things may be true, or they may be apt inventions to express in a lively manner the wrath of Heaven. [4] Torquatus, who had been sent by the senate to dismiss the envoys, saw Annius lying there, and exclaimed in a voice that was heard alike by the people and the senators: “it is well; the gods have begun a righteous war. [5] there is a heavenly power; thou dost exist, great Jupiter; not in vain have we established thee in this holy seat, the Father of gods and men. [6] why do you hesitate to arm, Quirites, and you Conscript Fathers, with the gods to lead you? as you behold their ambassador brought low, even so will I cast down the Latin legions.” [7] The consul’s words were received with approval by the people, and so enraged them, that the envoys, at their setting out, owed their protection from men’s wrath and fury more to the care of the magistrates — who attended them at the consul’s bidding — than to the law of nations.
[8.8] The senate also agreed on war; and the consuls, enrolling two armies, marched out through the country of the Marsi and Paeligni, and having added to their forces the army of the Samnites, went into camp near Capua, where the Latins and their allies had already assembled. [9] there in the stillness of the night both consuls are said to have been visited by the same apparition, a man of greater than human stature and more majestic, who declared [10] that the commander of one side, and the army of the other, must be offered up to the Manes and to Mother Earth; and that in whichever host the general should devote to death the enemy’s legions, and himself with them, that nation and that side would have the victory. [11] when the consuls had compared these visions of the night, they resolved that victims should be slain to tum away the wrath of Heaven; and, at the same time, that if the warning of the entrails should coincide with what thay had seen in their dream, one or other of the consuls should fulfil the decrees of fate. [12] The report of the soothsayers agreed with the secret conviction which had already found lodgment in their breasts; [13] whereupon they sent for their lieutenants and the tribunes, and having openly declared the pleasure of the gods, that so the consul’s voluntary death might not terrify the soldiers in the fray, they agreed with one another that on whichever flank the Roman army should begin to yield, there the consul should devote himself in behalf of the Roman People and Quirites. [14] it was also urged in the council that if ever any war had been conducted with stern authority, now was the occasion of all others for recalling military descipline to its ancient courses. [15] their anxiety was sharpened by the fact that they must fight against the Latins, who were like themselves in language, customs, fashion of arms, and above all in military institutions; soldiers had mingled with soldiers, centurions with centurions, tribunes with tribunes, as equals and colleagues in the same garrisons and often in the same maniples. [16] lest this might betray the soldiers into some blunder, the consuls proclaimed that no man should quit his place to attack the foe.
7. it chanced that amongst the other squadron — leaders who had been sent off in all directions to reconnoitre, Titus Manlius the consul’s son had ridden out with his troopers beyond the enemy’s camp, till he was hardly the cast of a spear from their nearest outpost. [2] there the Tusculan horse were stationed, under the command of Geminus Maecius, who enjoyed a reputation amongst his fellows for his achievements no less than for his noble birth. [3] this man recognized the Roman cavalry, and, conspicuous in their van, the consul’s son — for they were all known to one another, particularly the men of mark. [4] “come now,” he cried, “will you Romans wage war on the Latins and their allies with a single squadron? what will the consuls, what will two consular armies be doing in the meantime?” [5] “they will be here soon enough,” said Manlius, “and with them will be Jupiter himself, the witness of those covenants which you have violated, who is mightier and more powerful than they. [6] if at Lake Regillus we gave you your fill of fighting, here likewise we shall certainly see to it that you have no great joy of meeting us in the serried ranks of battle.” [7] at this, Geminus rode out a little in front of his men, and asked, “would you like then, while waiting for that great day to come, when with a mighty effort you are to set your hosts in motion — would you like meanwhile, I say, to do battle with me, yourself, that from the outcome of our duel men may see at once how far the Latin horse surpass the Roman?” [8] The youth’s bold heart was stirred, whether by anger, or by shame at the thought of refusing the combat, or by the irresistible force of destiny. and so, forgetting the commands of his father and the edict of the consuls, he allowed himself to be swept headlong into an encounter where it would make little difference to him whether he won or lost. [9] they caused the rest of the horsemen to stand back, as though it had been a spectacle, and spurred their steeds against one another across the vacant space between. [10] with lances levelled they rushed together; but the lance of Manlius glanced off the helmet of his enemy, and that of Maecius passed over the neck of the other’s horse. then, as they pulled their horses round, Manlius, who was the first to gather himself up for a second thrust, pricked his enemy’s charger between the ears. [11] The smart of this wound made the horse rear and toss his head so violently that he threw off his rider, who, raising himself with spear and shield, was struggling to his feet after the [12] heavy fall, when Manlius plunged his lance into his throat so that it came out between the ribs and pinned him to the ground. [13] he then gathered up the spoils and rode back to his troopers, who attended him with shouts of triumph to the camp, where he sought at once the headquarters of his father, knowing not what doom the future held for him, or whether praise or punishment were his appointed guerdon.
[8.14] “Father,” he said, “that all men might truly report me to be your son, I bring these equestrian spoils, stripped from the body of an enemy who challenged me.” [15] on hearing this, the consul straightway turned from his son and commanded a trumpet to sound the assembly. when the men had gathered in full numbers, the consul said, “inasmuch, Titus Manlius, as you [16] have held in reverence neither consular authority nor a father’s dignity, and despite our edict have quitted your place to fight the enemy, and so far as in you lay, have broken military discipline, whereby the Roman state has stood until this day unshaken, thus compelling me to forget either the republic or myself, we will sooner endure the punishment of our wrong — doing [17] than suffer the republic to expiate our sins at a cost so heavy to herself; we will set a stern example, but a salutary one, for the young men of the future. [18] for my own part, I am moved, not only by a man’s instinctive love of his children, but by this instance you have given of your bravery, perverted though it was by an idle show of honour. [19] but since the authority of the consuls must either be established by your death, or by your impunity be forever abrogated, and since I think that you yourself, if you have a drop of my blood in you, would not refuse to raise up by your punishment the military discipline which through your misdemeanour has slipped and fallen, — go, lictor, bind him to the stake.”
[8.20] all were astounded at so shocking a command; every man looked upon the axe as lifted against himself, and they were hushed with fear more than with reverence. [21] and so, after standing, as if lost in wonder, rooted to the spot, suddenly, when the blood gushed forth from the severed neck, their voices burst out in such unrestrained upbraiding that they spared neither laments nor curses; [22] and covering the young man’s body with his spoils, they built a pyre outside the rampart, where they burned it with all the honours that can possibly attend a soldier’s funeral; and the “orders of Manlius” not only caused men to shudder at the time, but became a type of severity with succeeding ages.
8. nevertheless the brutality of the punishment made the soldiers more obedient to their general; and not only were guard — duties, watches, and the ordering of outposts, everywhere more carefully observed, but in the final struggle, as well, when the troops had gone down into battle, that stern act did much good. [2] now the battle was exceedingly like the battles in a civil war, so little did the Latins differ from the Romans in anything but courage.
[8.3] The Romans had formerly used small round shields; then, after they began to serve for pay, they made oblong shields instead of round ones; [4] and what had before been a phalanx, like the Macedonian phalanxes, came afterwards to be a line of battle formed by maniples, with the rearmost troops drawn up in a number of companies. [5] The first line, or hastati, comprised fifteen maniples, stationed a short distance apart; the maniple had twenty light — armed soldiers, the rest of their number carried oblong shields; moreover those were called “light — armed” who carried only a spear and javelins. [6] this front line in the battle contained the flower of the young men who were growing ripe for service. behind These came a line of the same number of maniples, made up of men of a more stalwart age; these were called the principes; they carried oblong shields and were the most showily armed of all. [7] this body of thirty maniples they called antepilani, because behind the standards there were again stationed other fifteen companies, each of which had three sections, the first section in every company being known as pilus. [8] The company consisted of three vexilla or “banners”; a single vexillum had sixty soldiers, two centurions, one vexillarius, or colourbearer; the company numbered a hundred and eighty — six men. The first banner led the triarii, veteran soldiers of proven valour; the second banner the rorarii, younger and less distinguished men; the third banner the accensi, who were the least dependable, and were, for that reason, assigned to the rear most line.
[8.9] when an army had been marshalled in this fashion, the hastati were the first of all to engage. if the hastati were unable to defeat the enemy, they retreated slowly and were received into the intervals between the companies of the principes. The principes then took up the fighting and the hastati followed them. [10] The triarii knelt beneath their banners, with the left leg advanced, having their shields leaning against their shoulders and their spears thrust into the ground and pointing obliquely upwards, as if their battle — line were fortified with a bristling palisade. [11] if the principes, too, were unsuccessful in their fight, they fell back slowly from the battle — line on the friarii. (From this arose the adage, “to have come to the triarii,” when things are going badly.) [12] The friarii, rising up after they had received the principes and hastati into the intervals between their companies, would at once draw their companies together and close the lanes, as it were; then, with no more reserves behind to count on, they would charge the enemy in one compact array. [13] this was a thing exeedingly disheartening to the enemy, who, pursuing those whom they supposed they had conquered, all at once beheld a new line rising up, with augmented numbers. [14] there were customarily four legions raised of five thousand foot each, with three hundred horse to every legion.
[8.15] An equivalent contingent used to be added from the levy of the Latins, who were now the enemies of the Romans and had drawn up their battle — line in the same formation; and they knew that not only must section meet in battle with section, hastati with hastati, principes with principles, but even — if the companies were not disordered — centurion with centurion. [16] in either army the prinus plus, or chief centurion, was with the triarii. The Roman was far from strong in body, but was an energetic man and an experienced soldier; the Latin was a man of might and a first — rate [17] warrior; they were well acquainted with each other, because they had always commanded companies of equal rank. [18] The Roman, putting no confidence in his strength, had obtained permission from the consuls before leaving Rome to choose whom he liked for his deputy — centurion, to defend him from the one man marked out for his opponent. this youth, encountering the Latin centurion in the battle, won the victory over him.
[8.19] The engagement came off not far from the foot of Mount Vesuvius, where the road led to Veseris. 9. The Roman consuls before leading their troops into battle offered sacrifices. it is said that the soothsayer pointed out to Decius that the head of the liver was wounded on the friendly side; but that the victim was in all other respects acceptable to the gods, and that the sacrifice of Manlius had been greatly successful. [2] “it is well enough,” said Decius, “if my colleague has received favourable tokens,” in the formation already described they advanced into the field. Manlius commanded the right wing, Decius the left. [3] in the beginning the strength of the combatants and their ardour were equal on both sides; but after a time the Roman hastati on the left, unable to withstand the pressure of the Latins, fell back upon the principes. [4] in the confusion of this movement Decius the consul called out to Marcus Valerius in a loud voice: “we have need of Heaven’s help, Marcus Valerius. come therefore, state pontiff of the Roman People, dictate the words, that I may devote myself to save the legions.” [5] The pontiff bade him don the purple — bordered toga, and with veiled head and one hand thrust out from the toga and touching his chin, stand upon a spear that was laid under his feet, and say as follows: [6] “janus, Jupiter, Father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Lares, divine Novensiles, divine Indigites, ye gods in whose power are both we and our enemies, and you, divine Manes, — I [7] invoke and worship you, I beseech and crave your favour, that you prosper the might and the victory of the Roman People of the Quirites, and visit the foes of the Roman People of the Quirites with fear, shuddering, and death. [8] as I have pronounced the words, even so in behalf of the republic of the Roman People of the Quirites, and of the army, the legions, the auxiliaries of the Roman People of the Quirites, do I devote the legions and auxiliaries of the enemy, together with myself, to the divine Manes and to Earth.”
[8.9] having uttered this prayer he bade the lictors go to Titus Manlius and lose no time in announcing to his colleague that he had devoted himself for the good of the army. [10] he then girded himself with the Gabinian cincture, and vaulting, armed, upon his horse, plunged into the thick of the enemy, a conspicuous object from either army and of an aspect more august than a man’s, as though sent from heaven to expiate all anger of the gods, and to tum aside destruction from his people and bring it on their adversaries. [11] thus every terror and dread attended him, and throwing the Latin front into disarray, spread afterwards throughout their entire host. [12] this was most clearly seen in that, wherever he rode, men cowered as though blasted by some baleful star; but when he fell beneath a rain of missiles, from that instant there was no more doubt of the consternation of the Latin cohorts, which everywhere abandoned the field in flight. [13] at the same time the Romans — their spirits relieved of religious fears — pressed on as though the signal had just then for the first time been given, and delivered a fresh attack; [14] for the rorarii were running out between the antepilani and were joining their strength to that of the hastati and the principles, and the triarii, kneeling on the right knee, were waiting till the consul signed to them to rise.
10. while the struggle continued, and in some parts of the field the Latins were prevailing by reason of their numbers, the consul Manlius learned of his colleague’s end, and having paid to so memorable a death — as justice and piety demanded — its well — merited [2] meed of tears as well as praise, he was for a little while in doubt whether the moment were yet come for the triarii to rise; but afterwards deeming it better to keep them fresh for the final push, he commanded the accensi to advance from the rear before the standards. [3] no sooner had they gone up, than the Latins, supposing their enemies had done the same, sent in their own triarii. These having fought fiercely for some time, and worn themselves out and broken or blunted their spears, yet were driving back the foe, and supposed that they had already won the field and penetrated the last line, when the consul cried out to the Roman triarii: [4] “rise up now, and with fresh strength confront the weary enemy, remembering your country and your parents, your wives and your children, remembering the consul who lies dead that you may conquer.” [5] when the triarii had got to their feet, fresh and sound in their glittering armour, a new and unforeseen array, they received the antepilani into [6] the gaps between their files, and, raising a shout, threw the enemy’s front ranks into disorder, and thrusting their spears into their faces, disposed of the fine flower of their manhood and went through the other maniples almost scatheless, as though their opponents had been unarmed, penetrating their masses with such slaughter as scarce to leave a fourth part of their enemies alive. [7] The Samnites, too, drawn up a little way off at the base of the mountain, were a source of terror to the Latins.
[8.8] for the rest, of all the citizens and allies, the chief glory of that war went to the consuls; of whom the one had drawn all the threats and menaces of the supernal and infernal gods upon himself alone, and the other had shown such valour and ability in the battle that it is readily agreed by both Romans and Latins who have handed down an account of this engagement that whichever side had been led by Titus Manlius would undoubtedly have been victorious. [9] The Latins fled to Minturnae. their camp was captured after the battle and many men — chiefly Campanians — were caught and slain there. [10] The body of Decius could not be found that day, for night overtook the searchers; on the following day it was fond, covered with missiles, in a great heap of enemies, and was given burial by his colleague in a manner befitting his death.
[8.11] it seems proper to add here that the consul, dictator, or praetor who devotes the legions of the enemy need not devote himself, but may designate any citizen he likes from a regularly enlisted Roman legion if the man who has been devoted dies, it is deemed that all is well; [12] if he does not die, then an image of him is buried seven feet or more under ground and a sin — offering is slain; where the image has been buried tither a Roman magistrate may not go up. [13] but if he shall choose to devote himself, as Decius did, if he does not die, he cannot sacrifice either for himself or for the people without sin, whether with a victim or with any other offering he shall choose. he who devotes himself has the right to dedicate his arms to Vulcan, or to any other god he likes. [14] The spear on which the consul has stood and prayed must not fall into the hands of an enemy; should this happen, expiation must be made to Mars with the sacrifice of a swine, a sheep, and an ox. 11. These particulars, even though the memory of every religious and secular usage has been wiped out by men’s preference of the new and outlandish to the ancient and homebred, I have thought it not foreign to my purpose to repeat, and in the very words in which they were formulated and handed down.
[8.2] i find in certain writers that it was not until the battle was over that the Samnites, who had been waiting [3] for the outcome of the engagement, came up to support the Romans. [4] The Latins, too, were already defeated when the Lavinians, who were consuming time in deliberation, began to march to their assistance; and receiving word of the disaster to the Latins just as their foremost ensigns and a portion of their column had passed out through the gates, they faced about and returned into the city, their praetor, Milionius, remarking, so it is said, that they would have to pay a large price to the Romans for that little march.
[8.5] such of the Latins as survived the battle, after being dispersed over many roads, were reunited, and took refuge in the town of Vescia. [6] in the councils which they held there, Numisius, their commander — inchief, asserted that the fortune of war had in truth been common, overwhelming both armies with equal carnage. [7] The Romans, he said, were victorious only in name, in all else they too were as though they had been defeated; both consular headquarters were polluted, the one by the blood of a son, the other by the death of the devoted consul; their whole army had been cut to pieces, their first and second lines had been massacred, and the slaughter had extended from the troops before the standards to those behind them; finally the veterans had restored the day; [8] but though the Latin forces had been equally cut up, yet, for recruiting, either Latium or the Volscian country was nearer than Rome; [9] if therefore it seemed good to then, he would speedily summon the fighting men front the Latin and Volscian tribes, and would return with an embattled host to Capua, where the unexpectedness of his arrival would strike dismay into the Romans, who just then were looking for anything rather than a battle. [10] misleading letters were sent out to all parts of Latium and the country of the Volsci, and since those who received them had not been present at the battle, gained ready credence; and an army of militia was levied in hot haste and brought together from every quarter.
[8.11] this force Torquatus the consul met near Trifanum, a place situated between Sinuessa and Minturnae. both armies, without waiting to choose sites for their camps, piled their baggage and fell to fighting, and the war was ended then and there; [12] for the enemy’s strength was brought so low that, when the consul led his victorious army to pillage their fields, the Latins all surrendered, and the Campanians followed their example. Latium and Capua were deprived of territory. [13] The Latin territory, with the addition of that belonging to Privernum, together with the Falernian — which had belonged to the Campanian people — as far as the river Volturnus, was parcelled out amongst the Roman plebs. [14] The assignment was two iugera in Latium supplemented with three — fourths of a iugerum from the land of Privernum, or three iugera in the Falernian district, — a fourth of a iugerum being added to compensate for its remoteness. [15] The Laurentes and the Campanian knights were exempted from the punishment inflicted on the Latins, because they had not revolted; it was ordered that the treaty with the Laurentes should be renewed, and it has been renewed every year from that time, on the tenth day after the Latin Festival. [16] The Campanian knights received Roman citizenship, and to commemorate the occasion a bronze tablet was fastened up in the temple of Castor at Rome. moreover, the Campanian people were commanded to pay them each a yearly stipend — there were sixteen hundred of them — amounting to four hundred and fifty denarii. 12. The war being thus dispatched, and rewards and penalities distributed in accordance with everyone’s deserts, Titus Manlius returned to Rome; it is said that on his approach only the seniors went out to meet him, and that the young men, then and for all the remainder of his days, abhorred and execrated him.
[8.2] The Antiates committed depredations upon the lands of Ostia, Ardea, and Solonium. Manlius, the consul, having been unable himself to conduct this war because of ill — health, appointed as dictator Lucius Papirius Crassus, who at that time happened to be praetor, and he in tum named Lucius Papirius Cursor master of the horse. [3] The dictator accomplished nothing noteworthy against the Antiates, though he lay some months encamped in their territory.
[8.4] to a year that was famous for its victory over so many and so powerful nations, and also for the glorious death of one of the consuls and the other’s severity of discipline, which though cruel was nevertheless renowned through the ages, succeeded the consulship of Tiberius Aemilius Mamercinus and Quintus Publilius Philo. [5] These men had no such opportunities, and were, besides, more concerned for their own or their party’s interests than for the country. The Latins took up arms again, being incensed at the confiscation of their land, and suffered a defeat and the loss of their camp, in the Fenectane Plains. [6] while Publilius, under whose command and auspices the campaign had been conducted, was receiving the surrender of the Latin peoples whose soldiers had fallen there, Aemilius led his army against Pedum. The Pedani were supported by the people of Tibur, Praeneste, and Velitrae, and auxiliaries had also come from Lanuvium and Antium. [7] though the Romans proved superior in certain engagements, yet the town of Pedum and the camp [8] of the allied nations, which adjoined it, still remained intact to be dealt with, when suddenly the consul, hearing that his colleague had been decreed a triumph, left the war unfinished [9] and returned to Rome to demand a triumph for himself as well, without staying to obtain a victory. this self — seeking disgusted the Fathers, who denied him a triumph, unless he should capture Pedum or receive its surrender. [10] estranged from the senate by this rebuff, Aemilius thereafter administered his consulship in the spirit of a seditious tribune. [11] for, all the time that he was consul, he ceased not to accuse the senators to the people, while his colleague. since he too was of the plebs, offered not the smallest opposition. [12] The ground of his accusations was the niggardly apportionment of land to the plebeians in the Latin and Falernian districts. and when the senate, desiring to put an end to the authority of the consuls, ordered that a dictator should be appointed to oppose the rebellious Latins, Aemilius, who then had [13] the rods, named his colleague dictator, by whom Junius Brutus was designated master of the horse. [14] Publilius was a popular dictator, both because of his denunciation of the senate and because he carried through three laws very advantageous to the plebs and prejudicial to the nobles: [15] one, that the decisions of the plebs should be binding on all the Quirites; another, that the Fathers should ratify the measures proposed at the centuriate comitia before they were voted on; and a third, that at least one censor should be chosen from the plebs — since [16] they had gone so far as to make it lawful for both to be plebeians. [17] The harm that was wrought at home in that year by the consuls and the dictator outweighed — in the belief of the patricians — the increase in empire that resulted from their victory and their management of the war.
13. in the following year, when Lucius Furius Camillus and Gaius Maenius were consuls, the senators, in order to render more conspicuous the negligence of Aemilius in the year before, insisted angrily that men and arms and every kind of force must be employed to capture Pedum and destroy it; and the new consuls were forced to put aside all other matters and set out for that place. [2] The Latins were now come to such a pass that they could endure neither war nor peace; for war they lacked the means, and they scorned peace, for they still smarted under the confiscation of their land. [3] it seemed necessary to adopt a compromise, and keep to their towns — lest they might provoke the Romans and afford them a pretext for hostilities — and if tidings were brought that any town was beleaguered, to send in help to the besieged from all the surrounding peoples. [4] for all that, the cities that aided Pedum were very few. [5] The Tiburtes and Praenestini, whose territories lay near by, reached Pedum; the Aricini, Lanuvini, and Veliterni, as they were effecting a juncture with the Antiate Volsci at the river Astura, were suddenly attacked by Maenius and routed. [6] Camillus dealt with the very powerful army of the Tiburtes in the vincinity of Pedum; the struggle was harder, but the issue was equally successful. [7] The greatest confusion was occasioned by a sudden sally of the townsfolk during the battle; but Camillus, sending a part of his army against them, not only drove them back into their city, but having discomfited both them and their allies, even took the place by escalade that very day. [8] The consuls then resolved, with the added energy and courage that came with the capture of one city, to proceed with their victorious army to the thorough conquest of the Latins; nor did they rest until, by storming every city or receiving its surrender, they had brought all Latium under their dominion. [9] then, distributing garrisons amongst the recovered towns, they departed for Rome, to enjoy the triumph by general consent awarded them. in addition to the triumph, they were granted the honour — a rare one in those days — of equestrian statues put up in the Forum.
[8.10] before the consular elections for the following year were held, Camillus referred to the senate the disposition of the Latin peoples, and spoke as follows: [11] “Conscript Fathers, what was needful to be done in Latium in the way of war and arms has now by Heaven’s favour and the valour of our troops been brought to a conclusion. [12] The armies of our enemies have been cut to pieces at Pedum and on the Astura; all the Latin towns, and Antium in the land of the Volsci, have either been carried by storm or have made submission, and are in the keeping of your garrisons. [13] it remains to consider, since they so often occasion us anxiety by a renewal of hostilities, how we may hold them quietly to a lasting peace. [14] The immortal gods have given you such absolute control of the situation as to leave the decision in your hands whether Latium is henceforward to exist or not. you are therefore able to assure yourselves of a permanent peace, in so far as the Latins are concerned, by the exercise of either cruelty or forgiveness, at your discretion. [15] would you adopt stern measures against those who have surrendered or been vanquished? you may blot out all Latium, and make vast solitudes of those places where you have often raised a splendid army of allies and used it through many a momentous war. [16] would you follow the example of your fathers, and augment the Roman state by receiving your conquered enemies as citizens? you have at hand the means of waxing great and supremely glorious. that government is certainly by far the strongest to which its subjects yield obedience gladly. [17] but whatever it pleases you to do, you must determine promptly; you are holding so many peoples in suspense betwixt hope and fear, that it behoves you both to resolve your own anxiety regarding them as soon as may be, and to be beforehand with them, whether in the way of punishment or kindness, while they are waiting in a dull amazement. [18] our task has been to give you the power to decide regarding everything; it is yours to determine what is best for yourselves and for the state.”
14. The leading senators praised the motion of Camillus on the national policy, but said that, since the Latins were not all in like case, his advice could best be carried out if the consuls would introduce proposals concerning the several peoples by name, as each should seem to merit. they were therefore taken up and disposed of separately. [2] The Lanuvini were given citizenship, and their worship was restored to them, with the stipulation that the temple and grove of Juno Sospita should be held in common by the burghers of Lanuvium and the Roman [3] People. The Aricini, Nomentani, and Pedani were received into citizenship on the same terns as the [4] Lanuvini. The Tusculans were allowed to retain the civic rights which they enjoyed, and the charge of renewing the war’ was laid to a few ringleaders, without endamaging the [5] community. The Veliterni, Roman citizens of old, were severely punished, because they had so often revolted: not only were their walls thrown down, but their senate was carried off and commanded to dwell across the Tiber, with this [6] understanding: that if any should be caught on the hither side, his redemption should be set at a thousand pounds of bronze, and that he who had captured him might not release his prisoner from bondage until the fine was paid. colonists were settled on the senators’ lands, and on their enrolment Velitrae regained its former appearance of [7] populousness. to Antium likewise a colony was dispatched, with an understanding that the Antiates might be permitted, if they liked, themselves to enroll as [8] colonists; their war — ships were taken from them and their people were forbidden the sea; they were granted [9] citizenship. The Tiburtes and Praenestini were deprived of territory, not only because of the fresh charge of rebellion brought against them in common with the other Latins, but because they had once, in disgust at the power of Rome, united in arms with the Gauls, a race of savages. The rest of the Latin peoples were deprived of the rights of mutual trade and intermarriage and of holding common [10] councils. The Campanians, out of compliment to their knights, because they had not consented to revolt along with the Latins, were granted citizenship without the suffrage; so too were the Fundani and Formiani, because they had always afforded a safe and peaceful passage through their territories. it was voted to give the people of Cumae and Suessula the same rights and the same terms as the [11] Capuans. The ships of the Antiates were some of them laid up in [12] the Roman dockyards, and some were burnt and a motion passed to employ their beaks for the adornment of a platform erected in the Forum. this place was dedicated with augural ceremonies and given the name of Rostra or The Beaks.
15. in the consulship of Gaius Sulpicius Longus and Publius Aelius Paetus the good — will which their generous conduct had procured for the Romans had been no less efficacious than their power in maintaining a general peace, when a war broke out between the Sidicini and the Aurunci. [2] The Aurunci had surrendered in the consulship of Titus Manlius and had given no trouble since that time, for which reason they had the better right to expect assistance from the Romans. [3] but before the consuls marched from Rome — for the Senate had directed them to defend the Aurunci — tidings [4] were brought that the Aurunci had abandoned their town, in their alarm, and had taken refuge, with their wives and children, in Suessa — now called Aurunca — which they had fortified: and that their ancient walls and their city had been destroyed by the Sidicini. [5] this news made the senate angry with the consuls, by whose tardiness the allies had been betrayed, and they ordered a dictator to be appointed. The nomination fell to Gaius Claudius Inregillensis, who named as his master of horse Gaius Claudius Hortator. [6] Areligious difficulty was then raised about the dictator, and on the augurs’ reporting that there seemed to have been a flaw in his appointment, the dictator and his master of the horse resigned.
[8.7] in that year the Vestal Minucia, suspected in the first instance because of her dress, which was more ornate than became her station, was subsequently accused before [8] the pontiffs on the testimony of a slave, and having been by their decree commanded to keep aloof from the sacred rites and to retain her slaves in her own power, was convicted and buried alive near the Colline Gate, to the right of the paved road in the Polluted Field — so called, I believe, on account of her unchastity.
[8.9] in the same year Quintus Publilius Philo was made praetor, — the first to be chosen from the plebs. Sulpicius the Consul opposed his election and declared that he would receive no votes for him; but the senate, having failed in its opposition to plebeian candidates for the highest magistracies, was less obstinate in the matter of the praetorship.
16. The following year, being the consulship of Lucius Papirius Crassus and Caeso Duillius, was remarkable for a war more novel than important, [2] to wit with the Ausonians, who inhabited the city of Cales. [3] they had joined forces with their neighbours, the Sidicini, and the army of the two peoples having suffered a defeat in one — by no means memorable — battle, was by the nearness of their cities not only the more disposed to flight, but found in that same flight the readier safety. The senators, however, did not cease to be concerned over this war, so many times before had the Sidicini either drawn the sword themselves, or lent aid to those who were drawing it, or been the occasion of hostilities. [4] they accordingly bent every effort to elect to his fourth consulship the greatest soldier of that age, Marcus Valerius Corvus. [5] to be his colleague, they gave him Marcus Atilius Regulus; and lest there should by chance be some miscarriage, they requested of the consuls that Corvus be given the command, without the drawing of lots. [6] taking over the victorious army from the previous consuls, he marched on Cales, where the war had originated, and routing the enemy — who had as yet not even recovered from the panic of the earlier encounter — at the first cheer and onset, he attacked the town itself. [7] The soldiers, for their part, were so eager that they wished to attempt the walls at once with scaling — ladders, and insisted that they could carry the place; but Corvus, since this would have been an arduous achievement, preferred to accomplish his purpose at the cost of labour rather than of danger to his men. [8] he therefore constructed a terrace and brought up mantlets, and moved his towers close to the walls, but a fortunate circumstance made it unnecessary to employ them. [9] for Marcus Fabius, a Roman prisoner, being neglected by his guards on a day of merrymaking, broke his bonds, let himself down by the wall, hand over hand, into the Roman works, by a rope which he had made fast to a battlement, and induced the general to attack the enemy while they were overcome with feasting and drinking. [10] The result was that the Ausonians and their city were captured with no greater effort than they had been defeated in the field. huge spoils were taken, a garrison was established in the town, and the legions were led back to Rome. [11] The consul triumphed, in pursuance of a senatorial decree, and lest Atilius should go without his meed of glory, both consuls were directed to march against the Sidicini. [12] but first — being so instructed by the senate — they named a dictator to preside at the elections, their choice falling on Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus, who selected Quintus Publilius Philo to be master of the horse. under the presidency of the dictator, Titus Veturius and Spurius Postumius were chosen consuls. [13] These men, although a half of the war — with the Sidicini — yet remained, nevertheless, in order to anticipate the desires of the plebs by doing them a service, brought in a proposal for sending out a colony to Cales. [14] The senate resolved that twenty — five hundred men should be enrolled for it, and appointed Caeso Duillius, Titus Quinctius, and Marcus Fabius a commission of three to conduct the settlers to the land and apportion it amongst them.
17. The new consuls then took over the army from their predecessors, and entering the enemy’s territory laid it waste as far as their city walls. [2] at this juncture, since the Sidicini had themselves raised an enormous army and seemed likely to make a desperate struggle in behalf of their last hope, and since the rumour went that Samnium was arming, the senate authorized the consuls to nominate a dictator. [3] they appointed Publius Cornelius Rufinus, and Marcus Antonius was made master of the horse. [4] ascruple was subsequently raised about the regularity of their appointment, and they resigned their office; and when a pestilence ensued, it was supposed that all the auspices were affected by that irregularity, and the state reverted to an interregnum.
[8.5] finally Marcus Valerius Corvus, the fifth interrex from the beginning of the interregnum, achieved the election to the consulship of Aulus Cornelius (for the second time) and Gnaeus Domitius. [6] coming, as it did, when all was tranquil, the rumour of a Gallic war worked like an actual rising, and caused the senate to have recourse to a dictator. Marcus Papirius Crassus was the man, and he named Publius Valerius Publicola master of the horse. [7] while they were conducting their levy, more strenuously than they would have done for a war against a neighbouring state, scouts were sent out, and returned with the report that all was quiet amongst the Gauls. [8] Samnium likewise had now for two years been suspected of hatching revolutionary schemes, for which reason the Roman army was not withdrawn from the Sidicine country. [9] but an invasion by Alexander of Epirus drew the Samnites off into Lucania, and these two peoples engaged in a pitched battle with the King, as he was marching up from Paestum. [10] The victory remained with Alexander, who then made a treaty of peace with the Romans; with what faith he intended to keep it, had the rest of his campaign been equally successful, is a question.
[8.11] in this same year the census was taken and new citizens were assessed. on their account the Maecian and Scaptian tribes were added. The censors who added them were Quintus Publilius Philo and Spurius [12] Postumius. The people of Acerra became Romans under a statute, proposed by the praetor Lucius Papirius, which granted them citizenship without the suffrage. such were the events of this year at home and in the field.
18. a terrible year succeeded, whether owing to the unseasonable weather or to man’s depravity. The consuls were Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Gaius Valerius. [2] i find Flaccus and Potitus severally given in the annals, as the surname of Valerius; but it does not greatly signify where the truth lies in regard to this. [3] one thing, however, I should be glad to believe had been falsely handed down — and indeed not all the authorities avouch it — namely, that those whose deaths made the year notorious for pestilence were in reality destroyed by poison; still, I must set forth the story as it comes to us, that I may not deprive any writer of his credit. [4] when the leading citizens were falling ill with the same kind of malady, which had, in almost every case the same fatal termination, a certain serving — woman [5] came to Quintus Fabius Maximus, the curule aedile, and declared that she would reveal the cause of the general calamity, if he would give her a pledge that she should not suffer for her testimony. Fabius at once referred the matter to the consuls, and the consuls [6] to the senate, and a pledge was given to the witness with the unanimous approval of that body. [7] she then disclosed the fact that the City was afflicted by the criminal practices of the women; that they who prepared these poisons were matrons, whom, if they would instantly attend her, they might take in the very act. [8] they followed the informer and found certain women brewing poisons, and other poisons stored away. These concoctions were brought into the Forum, and some twenty matrons, in whose houses they had been discovered, were summoned thither by an apparitor. two of their number, Cornelia and Sergia, of patrician houses both, asserted that these drugs were salutary. [9] on the informer giving them the lie, and bidding them drink and prove her charges false in the sight of all, they took time to confer, and after the crowd had been dismissed they referred the question to the rest, and finding that they, like themselves, would not refuse the draught, they all drank off the poison and perished by their own wicked practices. [10] their attendants being instantly arrested informed against a large number of matrons, of whom one hundred and seventy were found guilty; [11] yet until that day there had never been a trial for poisoning in Rome. their act was regarded as a prodigy, and suggested madness rather than felonious intent. [12] accordingly when a tradition was revived from the annals how formerly in secessions of the plebs a nail had been driven by the dictator, and how men’s minds, which had been distracted by dissension, had by virtue of that expiation regained their self — control, they resolved on the appointment of a dictator to drive the nail. [13] The appointment went to Gnaeus Quinctilius, who named Lucius Valerius master of the horse. The nail was driven and they resigned their posts.
19. The consular election resulted in the choice of Lucius Papirius Crassus (for the second time) and Lucius Plautius Venox. [2] at the outset of this year Volscian ambassadors from Fabrateria and Luca came to Rome asking protection, and promising that, if defended from Samnite aggressions, they would be loyal and obedient subjects of the Roman People. The senate thereupon sent envoys to the Samnites and warned them to do no violence to the territories of those cities. [3] The embassy was effective, not so much because the Samnites desired peace, as because they were unprepared, as yet, for war.
The same year saw the beginning of the war with Privernum. [4] The enemy had the Fundanians for allies, and even a Fundanian general, by the name of Vitruvius Vaccus. he was a man of distinction, not only in his own city, but in Rome as well, where he had a house on the Palatine, at the place which, after the building had been demolished and the area confiscated, was known as the Meadows of Vaccus. [5] he was spoiling, far and wide, the territories of Setia, Norba, and Cora, when Lucius Papirius marched out to confront him, and took up a position not far from the other’s camp. [6] Vitruvius had neither the strength of mind to remain behind his rampart in the face of a more powerful opponent, nor the courage to fight at a distance from his works. [7] The last of his troops were scarcely clear of the camp gates and his line deployed, and the soldiers were thinking more of flight than of battle or the enemy, when he began, without showing either prudence or audacity, a critical engagement. [8] he was easily and decisively defeated; yet, because his camp was so near and so readily accessible, he was able without great difficulty to save his men from heavy losses; indeed, there were hardly any slain in the battle itself, and in the flight only a few amongst the stragglers, as they rushed into the camp. [9] under cover of the earliest dusk they sought Privernum in a panic — stricken throng, to obtain for themselves the protection of walls in place of a rampart.
from Privernum the other consul Plautius, after everywhere pillaging the fields and driving off the cattle, led his army into the domain of Fundi. [10] as he crossed the border he was met by the Fundanian senate, who said that they had come to plead, not for Vitruvius and his followers, but for the people of Fundi, whom even Vitruvius himself had cleared of responsibility for the war, when he sought refuge in Privernum and not in his native city. [11] it was therefore in Privernum that the Roman People should seek out and punish its enemies, who had fallen away at the same time from Fundi and from Rome, unmindful of either allegiance: the Fundani were peaceful, their sympathies were Roman, and they held in grateful recollection the gift of citizenship. [12] they begged the consul to make no war upon an innocent people, and declared that their lands, their city, their persons, and those of their wives and children were subject to the dominion of the Roman People and would so remain. [13] The consul heartily commended them, and announcing in a dispatch to Rome that the Fundanians were loyal, turned aside and marched against Privernum. [14] Claudius writes that before he set out, the consul executed the leaders of the plot, and sent some three hundred and fifty of the conspirators in chains to Rome; but that the senate would not accept of their surrender, being persuaded that the people of Fundi sought to escape with the punishment of their poor and lowly.
20. while the two consular armies were laying siege to Privernum, the other consul was recalled to Rome to hold the elections. [2] chariot cells were built this year for the first time in the Circus.
The war with Privernum was not yet out of the way, when there came an alarming report of a Gallic rising, a warning which the senate almost never disregarded. [3] accordingly, without a moment’s hesitation, the new consuls, Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus and Gaius Plautius, were directed, on the very day on which they entered office — the Kalends of July — to divide the commands between them, and Mamercinus, to whom the Gallic war had fallen, was bidden to enlist an army without granting a single exemption; [4] indeed it is said that a rabble of craftsmen even, and sedentary mechanics, was called out — a type the least qualified of all for military service. [5] An enormous army was brought together at Veii, which was to be the base for the campaign against the Gauls; further afield they would not go, lest the enemy, advancing upon the City, might slip by them on another road. after a few days it became quite evident that no disturbance on the part of the Gauls was to be apprehended at that time, whereupon the whole array was directed against Privernum.
[8.6] from this point there is a twofold tradition: some say that the city was carried by storm, and that Vitruvius was taken alive; others, that before the final assault was made, the people came out with a flag of truce to the consul and surrendered, and that Vitruvius was betrayed by his own followers. [7] The senate, being consulted regarding Vitruvius and the Privernates, commanded the consul Plautius to raze the walls of Privernum, and placing a strong garrison in the town, to come to Rome and triumph. [8] Vitruvius was to be held a prisoner till the consul should return, and then scourged and put to death; his house on the Palatine was to be pulled down, and his goods dedicated to Semo Sangus. out of the bronze which his chattels realized were fashioned bronze disks, which were placed in the shrine of Sangus, over against the temple [9] of Quirinus. concerning the senate of Privernum, it was decreed that any senator who had remained in Privernum after its defection from the Romans should dwell across the Tiber on the same terms as [10] the Veliterni. These decrees having been promulgated, no more was said about the Privernates, until Plautius had triumphed. after his triumph the consul caused Vitruvius and his associates in wrongdoing to be executed, and deeming it now safe to take up the question of the Privernates with men who were already sated with the punishment of the guilty, spoke [11] as follows: “since the authors of rebellion have now received the reward they merited, at the hands of the immortal gods, and at your own hands, Conscript Fathers, what is your pleasure regarding the [12] innocent multitude? for my own part, though it becomes me rather to ask opinions than to offer one, yet when I see that the Privernates are neighbours to the Samnites, whose peaceful relations with ourselves are at this time most precarious, I could wish that as little bad feeling as possible might be left between them and us.”
21. The question was of itself a hard one to decide, and every senator argued, as his own nature prompted him, for severity or mercy; but the whole situation was rendered even more uncertain by one of the deputation from Privernum, who possessed a livelier sense of the condition in which he had been born than of the exigencies of the actual crisis. [2] this man, on being asked by a certain advocate of harsher measures what punishment he thought the Privernates merited, replied, “that punishment which is merited by those who deem themselves worthy to be free.” [3] The consul perceived that this proud answer had increased the hostility of those who were before assailing the cause of the Privernates. [4] in the hope that he might himself, by putting a more kindly question, elicit a friendlier response, “what,” said lie, “if we remit your punishment? what sort of peace may we hope to have with you?” [5] “if you grant us a good one,” was the answer, “you may look to find it faithfully and permanently kept; if a bad one, you must not expect that it will long endure.” [6] whereat some cried out that the Privernate was threatening them, and in no ambiguous terms, and asserted that by such words as those pacified peoples were roused up to rebellion. but the more merciful party in the senate put a better construction on his answer, and pronounced it the utterance of a man, and a man free — born. was it credible, they asked, that any nation, or for that matter any man, should abide longer than he must in a condition that was painful? [7] that peace, they asserted, was faithfully observed where the terms were willingly accepted; they must not hope for loyalty in a quarter where they sought to impose servitude.
[8.8] The consul himself did the most to bring about the adoption of these views, by remarking repeatedly to the consulars, who led in the [9] expression of opinion, in a voice loud enough for many to overhear, that only those who took no thought for anything save. [10] liberty were worthy of becoming Romans. accordingly they gained their cause in the senate, and on the authorization of the Fathers a measure was brought before the people conferring citizenship on the Privernates.
[8.11] in that same year three hundred colonists were sent to Anxur, where they received each two iugera of land.
22. The following year, when Publius Plautius Proculus and Publius Cornelius Scapula were consuls, was not signalised by any military or domestic event, except that a colony was sent out to Fregellae — the [2] territory had belonged to the people of Signia, and afterwards to the Volsci — and a dole of meat was given to the people by Marcus Flavius, at the funeral of his mother. [3] some thought that under colour of honouring his mother he had paid a price that he owed the people, because they had acquitted him, when brought to trial by the aediles, of the charge of corrupting a married woman. [4] though the dole was made for the past favour shown him in the trial, it was also the cause of his receiving an office; and at the next election he was chosen tribune of the plebs in his absence, in preference to some who canvassed.
[8.5] there was a city called Palaepolis, not far from the spot where Neapolis is now, and the two cities were inhabited by one people. Cumae was their mother city, and the Cumani derive their origin from Chalcis in Euboea. [6] thanks to the fleet in which they had sailed from their home, they enjoyed much power on the coast of that sea by which they dwell; having landed first on the island of Aenaria and the Pithecusae, they afterwards ventured to transfer their seat to the mainland. [7] this nation, relying in part on its own strength, in part on the faithlessness shown by the Samnites in their alliance with the Romans, or perhaps on the plague which was reported as having assailed the City of Rome, committed many hostile acts against the Romans dwelling in the districts of Campania and Falerii. [8] when therefore Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Quintus Publilius Philo (for the second time) were consuls, fetials were dispatched to Palaepolis to demand redress; and on their bringing back a spirited answer from the Greeks — a race more valiant in words than in deeds — the people acted upon a resolution of the senate and commanded that war be made upon Palaepolis. [9] by the division of the commands between the consuls, the war with the Greeks fell to Publilius; Cornelius, with another army, was ordered to be ready for the Samnites, in case they should take the field; [10] and since it was rumoured that they were only waiting to bring up their army the moment the Campanians began a revolt, that seemed to be the best place for the permanent encampment of Cornelius.
23. both consuls informed the senate that there was very little hope of peace with the Samnites: Publilius reported that two thousand soldiers from Nola and four thousand Samnites had been received into Palaepolis, — rather under compulsion from the Nolani than by the good — will [2] of the Greeks; Cornelius, that the Samnite magistrates had proclaimed a levy, and that all Samnium was up, while the neighbouring cities of Privernum, Fundi, and Formiae were being openly solicited to join. [3] The senate having, in view of these facts, voted to send ambassadors to the Samnites before declaring war, received a defiant answer from them. [4] indeed they actually accused the Romans of improper conduct, yet without neglecting to clear their own skirts — if they could — of the charges brought against them: [5] the Greeks, they said, were receiving no public counsel or support from them, nor had they asked the Fundani or Formiani to revolt; indeed they were quite strong enough to look out for themselves, if they chose to fight; [6] on the other hand, they could not dissemble the chagrin of the Samnite nation that Fregellae, which they had captured from the Volsci and destroyed, should have been restored by the Roman People, and a colony planted in the territory of the Samnites which the Roman settlers called by that name; [7] this was an insult and an injury, which, if its authors did not themselves recall it, they proposed to resist with might and main. [8] when the Roman legate invited them to discuss the question with the common allies and friends of both, the Samnite spokesman said, “why do we beat about the bush? our differences, Romans, will be decided, not by the words of envoys nor by any man’s arbitration, but by the Campanian plain — where we must meet in battle, — by the sword, and by the common chance of war. [9] let us encamp then face to face betwixt Suessula and Capua, and settle the question whether Samnite or Roman is to govern Italy.” [10] The Roman legates having replied that they should go, not where the enemy summoned them, but where their generals led then . . .
by taking up a favourable position between Palaepolis and Neapolis, Publilius had already deprived the enemy of that mutual exchange of assistance which they had made use of, as one place after another was hard pressed. [11] accordingly, since the time drew near for the elections, and it was not for the advantage of the state that Publilius, who was threatening the enemy’s walls, should be called away from the prospective capture of their city, which might happen any day, the senate got [12] the tribunes to propose a popular enactment, providing that Quintus Publilius Philo should, on the expiration of his consulship, conduct the campaign as proconsul until the Greeks should have been conquered.
[8.13] to Lucius Cornelius, who had already entered Samnium, and whom they were equally unwilling to withdraw from the vigorous prosecution of the war, they sent a letter directing him to name a dictator for conducting the elections. [14] he named Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who named Spurius Postumius master of the horse. but the comitia were not held by the dictator, inasmuch as the regularity of his appointment was called in question. The augurs were consulted, and announced that the procedure appeared faulty. [15] this sentence the tribunes by their accusations made suspect and infamous; for the flaw, as they pointed out, could not easily have been discovered, since the consul rose in the night and appointed the dictator in silence, neither had the consul written to anyone regarding the transaction, whether officially or privately, nor was there a single mortal living who could say that he had seen or heard a thing that would bring to naught the auspices; [16] nor yet could the augurs have divined, as they sat in Rome, what obstacle the consul had met with in the camp. was there anyone, they would like to know, who could not see that the plebeian standing of the dictator was the thing which had seemed irregular to the augurs? [17] These and other objections were made by the tribunes to no purpose; the state at length reverted to an interregnum, and after the comitia had been again and again postponed, on one pretext or another, at last the fourteenth interrex, Lucius Aemilius, procured the election of consuls, viz. Gaius Poetelius and Lucius Papirius Mugillanus — in other annals I find the name of Cursor.
24. it is recorded that in that same year Alexandria in Egypt was founded, and that Alexander, king of Epirus, being murdered by a Lucanian exile, fulfilled by his death the oracle of Jupiter at Dodona. [2] on his being summoned to Italy by the Tarentines, the oracle had warned him to beware of the Acherusian water and the city Pandosia, for there he was destined to end his days. [3] on this account he had passed over with the more speed into Italy, that he might be as far removed as possible from the city of Pandosia in Epirus and from the river Acheron, which, debouching from Molossis into the Infernal Marshes, discharges its waters into the Thesprotian Gulf. [4] but, as generally happens, in seeking to escape his doom he ran full upon it. having repeatedly defeated the Bruttian and Lucanian levies; having taken Heraclea, a Tarentine colony, from the Lucanians, and Sipontum belonging to the Apulians, and the Bruttian towns Consentia and Terina, and after that other towns of the Messapians and Lucanians; [5] and having sent to Epirus three hundred illustrious families, to be held as hostages, he took up his station not far from the city Pandosia, which looks down upon the borders of Lucania and Bruttium, on three hills that stand some little distance apart from one another, that he might thence make incursions into every quarter of the enemy’s country. [6] he had about him some two hundred Lucanian exiles, whom he trusted; but their loyalty, like that of most men of that nation, was prone to change with the change of fortune.
[8.7] continuous rains, which flooded all the fields, having isolated the three divisions of the army and cut them off from mutual assistance, the two bodies other than the king’s were surprised and overpowered by the enemy, who, after putting them all to the sword, proceeded with their entire strength to blockade Alexander himself. [8] whereupon the Lucanian exiles sent messengers to their countrymen, and promised that, if assured of restoration, they would give up the king, alive or dead, into their hands. [9] but Alexander, with a chosen band, made a daring attempt, and broke out through the midst of his foes, cutting down the Lucanian general in a hand — to — hand encounter. [10] then, rallying his followers, who had become scattered in the flight, he came to a river, where the fresh ruins of a bridge, which the violence of the current had swept away, pointed out the road. [11] as his company were making their way across the stream by a treacherous ford, a discouraged and exhausted soldier cried out, cursing the river’s ill — omened name, “you are rightly called the Acheros!” When the king heard this, he at once bethought him of the oracle, and stopped, undecided whether he should cross or [12] not. whereat Sotimus, one of the young nobles who attended him, asked why he hesitated in so dangerous a crisis, and pointed out the Lucanians, who were looking for a chance to waylay [13] him. with a backward glance the king perceived them at a little distance coming towards him in a body, and drawing his sword, urged his horse through the middle of the stream. he had already gained the shallow water, when a Lucanian exile cast a javelin that transfixed [14] him. he fell with the javelin in his lifeless body, and the current carried him down to the enemy’s guard. by them his corpse was barbarously mangled, for they cut it in two through the middle, and sending a half to Consentia, kept the other half to make sport for [15] themselves. they were standing off and pelting it with javelins and stones, when a solitary woman, exposing herself to the inhuman savagery of the raging crowd, besought them to forbear a little, and with many tears declared that her husband and children were prisoners in the hands of the enemy, and that she hoped that with the body of the king, however much disfigured, she might redeem [16] them. this ended the mutilation. what was left of the corpse was cremated at Consentia by the care of none other than the woman, and the bones sent back to Metapontum, to the [17] enemy; whence they were conveyed by ship to Epirus, to his wife Cleopatra and his sister Olympias, of whom the latter was mother, the former sister, to Alexander the [18] Great. this brief account of the sad end of Alexander may be excused on the score of his having warred in Italy, albeit Fortune held him back from attacking the Romans.
25. a lectisternium, the fifth since the founding of the City, was held this year, to propitiate the same deities as before. [2] then the new consuls, having sent fetials, as commanded by the people, to declare war on the Samnites, not only began themselves to make ready for it, on a much greater scale in every respect than they had done against the Greeks, but received new and at that time quite unlooked for help. [3] for the Lucanians and Apulians, nations which until then had had no dealings with the Roman People, put themselves under their protection and promised arms and men for the war, and were accordingly received into a treaty of friendship. [4] at the same time, the Romans conducted a successful campaign in Samnium. three towns — Allifae, Callifae, and Rufrium — fell into their hands, and the rest of the country was devastated far and wide at the first coming of the consuls.
[8.5] while this war was beginning in so prosperous a fashion, the other, against the Greeks, was in a fair way to be concluded. for not only were a part of the besieged cut off from the rest by the intervening entrenchments of the Romans, but things were going on within their walls much more dreadful than the perils with which the enemy threatened them; [6] and as though the inhabitants had been made prisoners by their own defenders, they were subjected to outrage even in the persons of their children and their wives, and suffered all the horrors of captured cities. [7] and so, on a report that reinforcements were on their way, both from Tarentum and from the Samnites, they felt that they had within their city more Samnites than they wanted, but being Greeks, [8] looked forward to the coming of their fellow Greeks, the young men of Tarentum, to enable them to resist the Samnites and the Nolani, no less than their enemies, the Romans. in the end it appeared to them that surrender to the Romans was the least intolerable evil. [9] Charilaus and Nymphius, their principal citizens, took counsel together, and arranged the part that each should play in order to bring this about. one was to go over to the Roman general, the other to remain behind and make the city ready for the accomplishment of their design. [10] it was Charilaus who went to Publilius Philo, and praying that it might tum out a good and favourable and fortunate thing for Palaepolis and for the Roman People, announced that he had resolved to deliver up the walls. [11] it depended, he said, upon the honour of the Romans whether, having accomplished his intention, he should appear to have betrayed his country or to have saved it. [12] for himself in particular he neither stipulated nor requested anything; for his people he requested — though he did not stipulate — that if the enterprise succeeded, the Roman People should consider with what eagerness they had resumed the friendship, and the hazard which they ran, rather than the folly and temerity which had led them to forget their duty. [13] The general commended him, and gave him three thousand soldiers to seize that part of the city where the Samnites were established, appointing Lucius Quinctius, a military tribune, to command the force.
26. at the same time Nymphius for his part had gone craftily to work with the Samnite commander, and pointing out that all the forces of the Romans were either about Palaepolis or in Samnium, got him to consent that he should take a fleet and sail round them to the Roman seaboard, where he proposed, so he said, to ravage not only the coastal region, but the vicinity of Rome itself; [2] it would however be necessary, in order to slip past the enemy unobserved, to put out at night, and the ships must be drawn down at once. [3] that this might be accomplished the more expeditiously, all the Samnite soldiers, except the few who were needed to mount guard in the city, were sent down to the shore. while Nymphius was killing time there in the darkness, purposely issuing contradictory orders to confuse the throng, which was so large as to get in its own way, Charilaus, having been received into the city, as agreed upon by the conspirators, had occupied the highest part of it with Roman soldiers, whom he now commanded to give a cheer. [4] on hearing this, the Greeks, who had received a signal from their leaders, remained still, but the Nolani fled through the opposite quarter of the city by the road that leads to Nola. The Samnites, being shut out from the town, enjoyed a momentary advantage in the ease with which they fled, but appeared in a more disgraceful light, when the danger had been left behind. [5] unarmed — for they had abandoned everything to the enemy — they returned to their homes despoiled and destitute, a laughingstock not only to strangers but to their own countrymen. [6] i am not unaware of the other tradition which ascribes the capture to betrayal by the Samnites, but have followed the authorities who are more deserving of credence; moreover, the treaty with Neapolis — to which place the Greeks now transferred the seat of government — makes it more likely that they renewed the friendship voluntarily. Publilius was decreed a triumph, in consequence of a belief that the enemy had surrendered because they were forced to do so by the siege. he was the first to enjoy these two distinctions: an extension of his command, never before granted to any, and a triumph after the expiration of his term.
27. this war was immediately followed by the outbreak of another, with the Greeks of the eastern coast. [2] for the Tarentines, after sustaining the people of Palaepolis for some time with delusive hopes of succour, when they learned that the Romans had got possession of the city, inveighed against the Palaepolitans, as though, instead of deserting them, they themselves had been deserted, and were raging with hatred and envy against the Romans: the more so, because they learnt that the Lucanians and Apulians had made their submission to the Roman People — for an alliance was formed that year with both these nations. [3] The Romans, they said, were almost at the gates of Tarentum, and matters would soon be come to such a pass, that they must needs have them for enemies or masters; [4] it was clear that their own future hinged on the outcome of the war then being waged by the Samnites; [5] this was the only nation that continued to hold out, and indeed that nation was none too strong since the defection of the Lucanians; but the latter might even yet be brought back and induced to repudiate the Roman alliance, if a little art were employed in sowing discord.
[8.6] These counsels having prevailed — for they were eager to fall in with novel schemes — they [7] bribed certain young Lucanians, of greater prominence among their countrymen than respectability, who lacerated one another with rods and then exhibited their naked bodies before a concourse of their fellow citizens, crying out that for having dared to enter the Roman camp they had been ordered by the consuls to be scourged, and had narrowly escaped losing their heads. [8] this spectacle, so hideous in itself, pointed clearly to injury and not to guile. in an uproar of excitement, the people obliged their magistrates to convoke the senate. [9] at the meeting some crowded round and clamoured for war against the Romans, while others hurriedly departed this way and that, to rouse the inhabitants of the countryside to arms, till even the prudent lost their heads in the tumult, and it was voted to renew the alliance with the Samnites; and ambassadors were sent off to arrange it. [10] this impulsive action, as it had no cause, so it carried no conviction; they were forced by the Samnites both to give hostages and also to admit garrisons within their strongholds; but, blinded by the cheat and by resentment, they stuck at nothing. [11] a little later, when the false witnesses had retired to Tarentum, they began to see through the imposition; but having lost all power of independent action, they could only indulge in vain regrets.
28. in that year the liberty of the Roman plebs had as it were a new beginning; for men ceased to be imprisoned for debt. [2] The change in the law was occasioned by the notable lust and cruelty of a single usurer, Lucius Papirius, to whom Gaius Publilius had given himself up for a debt owed by his father. The debtor’s youth and beauty, which might well have stirred the creditor’s compassion, did but inflame his heart to lust and contumely. [3] regarding the lad’s youthful prime as additional compensation for the loan, he sought at first to seduce him with lewd conversation; later, finding he turned a deaf ear to the base proposal, he began to threaten him and now and again to remind him of his condition; [4] at last, when he saw that the youth had more regard to his honourable birth than to his present plight, he had him stripped and scourged. [5] The boy, all mangled with the stripes, broke forth into the street, crying out upon the money — lender’s lust and cruelty; [6] and a great throng of people, burning with pity for his tender years, and with rage for the shameful wrong he had undergone, and considering, too, their own condition and their children’s, rushed down into the Forum, and from there in a solid throng to the Curia. [7] The consuls were forced by the sudden tumult to convene the senate; and as the Fathers entered the Curia, the people threw themselves at the feet of each, and pointed to the young lad’s mutilated back. [8] on that day, owing to one man’s outrageous injury, was broken a strong bond of credit, and the consuls were ordered to carry a proposal to the people that none should be confined in shackles or in the stocks, save those who, having been guilty of some crime, were waiting to pay the penalty; and that for money lent, the debtor’s goods, but not his person, should be distrainable. [9] so those in confinement were released, and it was forbidden that any should be confined thereafter.
29. in that same year, though the Samnite war and the sudden revolt of the Lucanians, together with the Tarentines their abettors, were enough of themselves to fill the senators with concern, yet the Vestini added to their cares by uniting with the Samnites. [2] this action was widely discussed in private conversations, without being made the subject, in that year, of any public deliberations; but the consuls of the following year, Lucius Furius Camillus (for the second time) and Junius Brutus Scaeva, deemed it a matter that should take precedence over all other business to come before the senate. [3] there, notwithstanding it was no news to them, the situation occasioned the Fathers so great anxiety as to make them equally afraid to deal with it or to let it alone, lest the impunity of the Vestini might inspire the neighbouring tribes with licence and insolence, or a punitive war inflame them with apprehensions of imminent danger and with resentment; [4] moreover the race as a whole was fully equal to the Samnites in military power, comprising, as it did, the Marsi, and the Paeligni and Marrucini, — all of whom must be had for enemies, should the Vestini be molested. [5] The day, however, was carried by that party which might have seemed at the moment to have on its side a greater share of courage than of wisdom; but the sequel showed that Fortune favours the brave. [6] being authorized by the senate, the people voted a war against the Vestini. [7] this command was assigned by lot to Brutus, that against the Samnites to Camillus. armies were dispatched in both directions, and the enemy, concerned to protect their borders, were kept from joining forces. [8] but one of the consuls, Lucius Furius, on whom the heavier burden had been laid, had the misfortune to fall dangerously ill and was compelled to relinquish his command; [9] being ordered to nominate a dictator for the purpose of carrying on the war, he named by far the most distinguished soldier of that time, Lucius Papirius Cursor, by whom Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus was appointed master of the horse. [10] they were a pair famous for the victories won while they were magistrates; but their quarrelling, which almost went the length of a mortal feud, made them more famous still.
[8.11] The other consul, in the country of the Vestini, carried on a war of many phases, but of unvarying success at every point. [12] for he ravaged their farms, and by pillaging and burning their houses and their crops, compelled them against their will to take the field; and then in a single battle wrought such havoc with the Vestinian power — though his own troops came off by no means scatheless — that the enemy not only retreated to their camp, but, no longer trusting to their parapet and trenches, slipped away to their several towns, seeking protection in the situation of the places and their walls. [13] finally, the consul addressed himself to the capture of these towns. The soldiers fought with great fury to revenge their wounds, for hardly a man had come unhurt out of the battle; and first Cutina was carried by escalade, and then Cingilia. [14] The consul gave the booty of both these cities to his men, because neither the gates nor the walls of the enemy had held them back.
30. The expedition into Samnium was attended with ambiguous auspices; but the flaw in them took effect, not in the outcome of the war, which was waged successfully, but in the animosities and madness of the generals. [2] for Papirius, the dictator, as he was setting out for Rome, on the advice of the keeper of the sacred chickens, to take the auspices afresh, warned the master of the horse to remain in his position, and not to engage in battle with the enemy while he himself was absent. [3] when Quintus Fabius had ascertained from his scouts — after the departure of the dictator — that [4] the enemy were in all respects as careless and unguarded as if there had been not a single Roman in Samnium, whether it was that the spirited young man felt aggrieved that all power should seem to be vested in the dictator, or that lie was tempted by the opportunity of striking a successful blow, he put the army in fighting trim, and advancing upon a place they call Imbrinium, engaged in a pitched battle with the Samnites. [5] this engagement was so fortunate that no greater success could have been gained, had the dictator been present; the general failed not his men, nor the men their general. [6] The cavalry, too — at the suggestion of Lucius Cominius, a tribune of the soldiers — after charging a number of times without being able to break the enemy’s lines, pulled the bridles off their horses and spurred them on so hotly that nothing could resist the shock, and arms and men went down before them over a wide front. [7] The foot soldiers, following up the cavalry charge, advanced on the disordered enemy, of whom it is said that twenty thousand were slain that day. i find it stated by certain writers that Quintus Fabius twice fought the enemy while the dictator was absent, and twice gained a brilliant victory. The oldest historians give but this one battle, and in certain annals the story is omitted altogether.
[8.8] The master of the horse found himself, after so great a slaughter, in possession of extensive spoils. he piled the enemy’s arms in a great heap, applied a torch to them, and burnt them. [9] this may have been done in fulfilment of a vow to one of the gods, or — if one chooses to accept the account of Fabius — to prevent the dictator reaping the harvest of his glory and inscribing his name on the arms, or having them carried in his triumph. [10] a dispatch, too, reporting the victory, which Fabius sent to the senate and not to the dictator, argues that he had no mind to share the credit with him. at all events, the dictator so received the news, that while everyone else was rejoicing at the victory, he showed no uncertain signs of anger and discontent. [11] and so, having hastily dismissed the senate, he rushed out of the Curia, repeatedly asserting that in that battle the master of the horse had defeated and overthrown the prestige of the dictatorship and military discipline not less decisively than the Samnite legions, should it end in his having flouted orders with impunity. [12] and so lie set out for the camp, breathing wrath and menaces; but though he travelled by exceedingly long stages, he was unable to arrive before the report of his being on the way. [13] for couriers had hastened from the City, bringing word that the dictator was coming, athirst for vengeance and praising with almost every other word the deed of Titus Manlius.
31. Fabius at once convened an assembly of the soldiers, and reminding them how their bravery had saved the state from the most determined of enemies, conjured them to be no less brave in defending him — under whose command and auspices they had gained the victory — from the ungovernable wrath of the dictator. [2] he was coming, said Fabius, crazed with jealousy, and exasperated that another should have been both brave and fortunate; it enraged him that the state should have won a glorious victory in his absence; he would prefer — could he effect a change of fortune — that [3] the Samnites and not the Romans had been the victors; he repeatedly declared that his authority had been despised, as though his orders against fighting had not been inspired by the same motive as was his grief over the battle! [4] on the former occasion envy had made him wish to thwart the bravery of others; he would have stripped the most willing of soldiers of their arms, that they might be unable to use them in his absence. at present his rage and resentment were due to this, that his troops, though lacking the help of Lucius Papirius, had lacked neither swords nor hands to wield them, and that Quintus Fabius had regarded himself as master of the horse, and not as the dictator’s orderly. [5] what would he have done, had the chances of war and the common lot of armies resulted in defeat? despite the conquest of the enemy and a campaign so well directed that not even his own peerless leadership could have bettered it, he was now threatening the master of the horse with punishment, victorious though he was. [6] for that matter, he was no angrier with the master of the horse than with the tribunes of the soldiers, the centurions, and the men. had he been able, he would have vented his rage upon them all: this being imposible, he was pouring it out on one. [7] The truth is that envy, like lightning, seeks out the highest places; he was hurling himself upon the head of their counsels, upon their general; should he succeed in destroying Fabius, and with him the glory of their achievement, he would then follow up his victory — as though lording it over a captured army — and would visit upon the soldiers all the cruelty he had been permitted to inflict upon the master of the horse. [8] let them defend, he cried, the liberty of all by defending him. if that same singleness of purpose which the army had displayed in battle should appear in the way they stood up for their victory and made one man’s safety the safety of them all, the dictator would incline his heart to a more merciful determination. [9] he ended by committing himself, his life, and his fortunes to their loyalty and valour.
32. a shout arose from the whole concourse, bidding him be of good courage; no one, they cried, should do him violence, while the Roman legions were safe.
not long after came the dictator, and forthwith by sound of trumpet summoned an assembly. [2] then a herald, having obtained silence, cited Quintus Fabius the master of the horse, who was no sooner come up from below to the tribunal, than the dictator cried out: [3] “i ask you, Quintus Fabius, seeing that the dictator’s authority is paramount, and the consuls obey him, though they possess the might of kings, and the praetors, too, who have been elected under the same auspices with the consuls, whether or no you deem it to be reasonable that the master of the horse should hearken to his word; [4] and I put this further question to you — whether, when I knew that I had set out from home with uncertain auspices, it was my duty, in view of our troubled relations with the gods, to jeopardize the public safety, or to seek auspices again, that I might take no steps while the will of Heaven was in doubt; [5] and I likewise ask whether that which a religious scruple has prevented the dictator from doing can be freely and unrestrainedly undertaken by the master of the horse. but why do I put these questions, since, had I gone off without a word, nevertheless your thoughts should have been directed to the interpretation of my will? [6] come, answer me: Did I forbid you to take any measures in my absence? did I forbid you to engage the enemy? [7] but you spurned this order; and notwithstanding the uncertainty of the auspices and our uneasy scruples, you had the hardihood, against all military precedent, and the discipline of our fathers, and the divine will of the gods, to encounter with the enemy. [8] answer these questions I have put to you; but have a care that you utter no word besides’ Stand ready, lictor.”
to answer the separate indictments was far from easy. [9] now complaining that the same man was his accuser and his judge in a matter of life and death, and again crying out that he could more easily be robbed of his life than of the glory of his deeds, he defended himself [10] and accused the general by turns, until Papirius in a fresh burst of anger bade them strip the master of the horse and make ready rods and axes. [11] then Fabius, imploring the protection of the soldiers, escaped from the clutches of the lictors with his clothes in tatters, and sought refuge in the midst of the triarii, who were stirring up riot in the rear of the assembly.
[8.12] thence the outcry spread to the entire host. in one place were heard entreaties, in another threats. those who chanced to be standing next to the tribunal, and being under the general’s eyes were able to be marked by him, implored him to spare the master of the horse, and not condemn the army with him. [13] those in the outskirts of the meeting, and the crowd that surrounded Fabius, railed at the dictator’s cruelty, and were near to mutiny. [14] not even the tribunal itself was quiet; the lieutenants, standing about the dictator’s chair, besought him to put the matter off until the morrow and allow time for consideration and for his anger to cool; [15] he had sufficiently chastened the youth of Fabius, they said, and discredited his victory; it would not be well to carry out his punishment to the end, nor to fasten such humiliation upon a young man of extraordinary merit, nor on that most distinguished man, his father, and the Fabian family. [16] finding that neither prayers nor arguments did any good, they bade him look at the turmoil in the assembly; when the passions of the soldiers were so overwrought, it was not, they said, for one of his years and discretion to furnish fuel to the flames of mutiny; [17] no one would ascribe the fault to Quintus Fabius — who was but deprecating his own punishment — but all would blame the dictator, if, blinded with resentment, he should bring down the angry multitude upon himself by an ill — judged contention. [18] finally, that he might not suppose that they argued thus out of any personal regard for Fabius, they were ready, they said, to take an oath that it appeared to be inconsistent with the interests of the state that Quintus Fabius should then be punished.
33. but the lieutenants by these words rather stirred up the wrath of the dictator against themselves than lessened his rancour against the master of the horse, and he ordered them to go down from the tribunal. [2] he then sought by the mouth of a herald to procure silence, but without success, for the din and uproar were so great that it was impossible for the dictator himself or his attendants to be heard; [3] and it was left for darkness, as though descending on a battle — field, to end the struggle.
[8.4] The master of the horse was commanded to appear next day; but since everyone assured him that Papirius would be more violent than ever, aroused as he was and exasperated by the opposition he had met with, he slipped out of the camp and fled to Rome. [5] there, with the approval of his father, who had thrice been consul, and dictator to boot, he at once assembled the senate, and had reached, in his speech to the senators, the very point where he was complaining of the violence and injury offered him by the dictator, when a sudden noise was heard outside the Curia, as the lictors cleared the way, and Papirius himself, in high dudgeon, appeared before them; [6] for he had learned of the other’s departure from the camp, and taking a troop of light horse had pursued him. [7] The dispute was now renewed, and the dictator ordered Fabius to be seized. both the leading members and the senate as a body sought to pacify his wrath; but he would not relent, and persisted in his purpose. [8] then the father of the young man said: “inasmuch as neither the senate’s authority nor my old age — which you are going about to bereave — nor the merits and noble lineage of a master of the horse whom you yourself appointed, are of any weight with you, nor yet entreaties, which have often moved an enemy to mercy, which can persuade the gods to put away their anger, — I invoke the tribunes of the plebs, and appeal to the people; and since you would shun the judgment of your own army and shun the judgment of the senate, I propose to you a judge that singly has more might and power — be well assured — than has your dictatorship. [9] we shall see whether you will submit to an appeal to which a Roman king, Tullus Hostilius, submitted!”
[8.10] leaving the senate — house, they repaired to the speaker’s platform, which the dictator mounted with only a few attendants, while the master of the horse was accompanied thither by the whole body of the leading men. [11] then Papirius bade Fabius be removed from the Rostra to the ground below; and his father followed him, exclaiming, “you do well to bid us be removed to a place where even as private citizens we can say our say!” [12] at first there were not so much set speeches to be heard above the tumult as an interchange of angry words. [13] but presently the strong voice and the indignation of the elder Fabius prevailed over the din, as he inveighed against the pride and cruelty of Papirius. he reminded him that he too had been dictator at Rome, and that no man — not even a plebeian, a centurion, or a common soldier — had [14] been misused by him; but Papirius was seeking a victory and triumph over a Roman general, as if over commanders of the enemy. how great was the difference betwixt the moderation of the ancients and this new — fangled arrogance and ruthlessness! [15] when Quinctius Cincinnatus had been dictator, and had rescued the consul Lucius Minucius from the toils of the enemy, his anger had gone no further than to leave Minucius in command of the army as his lieutenant, in place of being consul. [16] Marcus Furius Camillus, when Lucius Furius, in contempt of his great age and his authority, had fought a battle, with the direst results, not only controlled his indignation at the moment and made no animadversions upon his colleague in writing to the senate or the people, but, on being permitted by the senate, after his return, to choose a partner in command, selected Lucius Furius in preference to all the other consular tribunes, his associates. [17] as to the people, who had all power in their hands, their indignation against those who by recklessness or lack of skill had lost their armies had never burned so fiercely that they punished them with anything worse than a fine; a capital charge on account of a defeat had never until that day been lodged against a general. [18] but now the generals of the Roman People, who even if beaten might not be so dealt with without sin, were, despite their victories and their well — earned title to a triumph, being threatened with scourging and decapitation. [19] what, pray, would his son have suffered, if he had lost his army, if he had been discomfited, routed, and driven from his camp? to what higher pitch could the passionate violence of Papirius have mounted than to scourge him and put him to death? [20] how proper it was that because of Quintus Fabius the citizens should exult in victory with thanksgivings and rejoicings; while he on whose account the shrines of the gods were open, and the altars smoked with sacrifices and were heaped high with incense and with offerings, should be stripped [21] and mangled with rods in full sight of the Roman People, as he looked up to the Capitol and the Citadel and the gods whose help in battle he had twice invoked, and not in vain! [22] in what spirit would this be taken by the army, which under his conduct and his auspices had gained the victory? what grief would there be in the Roman camp, what rejoicings amongst their enemies!
[8.23] so he made his plea, now chiding and now complaining, now calling on gods and men to help him, now bursting into tears, as he embraced his son.
34. on his side were ranged the countenance of the senate, the favour of the populace, the assistance of the tribunes, the remembrance of the absent army. [2] his opponent urged the invincible authority of the Roman People, and military discipline, and the edict of a dictator — which had ever been revered as the will of Heaven — and the severity of Manlius, who had preferred the general good to the love he bore his son, even as Lucius Brutus, the founder of Roman liberty, had done before, in the case of his two children. [3] but nowadays — the dictator proceeded — fathers were indulgent; and the older generation, little caring if another man’s authority were flouted, excused the young for overturning military discipline, as a thing of no importance. [4] he should nevertheless persist in his undertaking, nor remit an iota of his due punishment to one who had fought against his orders, while the rites of religion were confused and the auspices uncertain. [5] whether the majesty of the supreme authority were to endure or not was beyond his power to determine; but Lucius Papirius would do nothing to diminish it. [6] he prayed that the tribunes might not employ their power — itself inviolate — to violate by their interference the authority of Rome; that the people might not single out the very time of his holding that office to extinguish the lawful might of the dictatorship. [7] should they do so, it would not be Lucius Papirius, but the tribunes and the crooked judgment of the people, that posterity would censure, and censure without avail. [8] for let military discipline be once broken, and soldier would not obey centurion, nor centurion tribune, nor tribune lieutenant, nor lieutenant consul, nor master of the horse dictator — none would have respect for men, none reverence for the gods; [9] neither edicts of generals nor auspices would be regarded; the soldiers, without leave, would roam in hostile as in peaceful territory; with no thought of their oath they would quit the service by their own permission, when they pleased; [10] the standards would be deserted, the men would not come together at command; they would fight without reference to night or day, to the advantage or disadvantage of the ground, to the orders or prohibition of the general; they would neither wait for the word nor keep to their ranks; blind and haphazard brigandage would supplant the time — honoured and hallowed ways of war. [11]— “on such charges, tribunes of the plebs, expose yourselves to be arraigned through all the ages! let your own heads bear the guilt of the licence of Quintus Fabis!”
35. The tribunes were dumbfounded, more troubled now on their own account than on his, for whom their help was being solicited; but the Roman People relieved them of their burden of responsibility, when they turned as one man to the dictator, and entreated and adjured him to remit for their sake the punishment of the master of the horse. [2] The tribunes, too, fell in with the prevailing mood, and earnestly besought Papirius to allow for human frailty, to allow for the youth of Quintus Fabius, who had suffered punishment enough. [3] now the young man himself, now his father Marcus Fabius, forgetting all contention, threw themselves down at the dictator’s knees and attempted to avert his anger. [4] then said the dictator, when silence was obtained, “it is well, Quirites. The discipline of war, the majesty of government, have got the victory, despite the danger that this day would see the end of them. [5] Quintus Fabius is not found guiltless, seeing that he fought against the orders of his general; but, convicted of that guilt, is granted as a boon to the Roman People, is granted to the authority of the tribunes, who plead for him but can bring him no legal relief. [6] live, Quintus Fabius, more blest in this consent of your fellow citizens to save you, than in the victory over which, a little while ago, you were exulting! live, though you dared a deed which not even your sire would have pardoned, had he been in the place of Lucius Papirius! [7] with me you shall again be on good terms when you will; for the Roman People, to whom you owe your life, you can do nothing greater than to show that you have learned what this day clearly teaches — to submit in war and in peace to lawful authority.” [8] then, declaring that the master of the horse was free to depart, he descended from the platform, and the joyful senators and yet more joyful people thronged about them and attended them, congratulating now the master of the horse and now the dictator. [9] it seemed that the peril of Fabius had been not less efficacious than the pitiful punishment of young Manlius in the establishment of military authority.
[8.10] it so fell out that year, that as often as the dictator left the army, there was a rising of the enemy in Samnium. but with the example of Quintus Fabius before his eyes, Marcus Valerius, the lieutenant who commanded in the camp, could not fear any violence of the enemy more than the dread displeasure of the dictator. [11] and so when a party of foragers had fallen into an ambush and fighting at a disadvantage had been slain, it was commonly believed that the lieutenant might have rescued them, had he not quailed at the thought of those harsh orders. [12] their resentment of this still further estranged the soldiers from the dictator, angry as they already were at his unwillingness to pardon Quintus Fabius, and his having granted to the Roman People a boon he had denied to their own entreaties.
36. when the dictator had set Lucius Papirius Crassus over the City and had forbidden Quintus Fabius, the master of the horse, to exercise his magistracy in any way, he returned to the camp, where his arrival occasioned no great satisfaction to the Romans nor the slightest apprehension to their enemies. [2] for on the following day, whether unaware that the dictator was come or caring little whether he were there or not, the Samnites formed in order of battle and approached the camp. [3] so great however was the importance of one man, Lucius Papirius, that if the goodwill of the soldiers had seconded the measures taken by their general, it was held as certain that the war with Samnium might that day have been brought to a successful termination — so [4] skilfully did he dispose his army, so well secure it with every advantage of position and reserves, and with every military art. but the men were listless, and, on purpose to discredit their commander, threw away the victory. there were more Samnites killed, more Romans wounded. [5] The experienced general perceived what stood in the way of his success: he must qualify his native disposition, and mingle geniality with his sternness. [6] so, calling together his lieutenants, he made the round of his wounded soldiers in person, and putting his head into their tents and asking each how he was doing, he commended them by name to the care of the lieutenants, the tribunes, and the prefects. [7] this of itself was a popular thing to do, and Papirius managed it with such tact, that in healing their bodies he gained their affections much more rapidly; and indeed there was nothing that more promoted their recovery than the pleasurable feelings with which they accepted these attentions. [8] when the army was restored, he met the enemy, with no doubt as to the result, either on his own part or on that of his soldiers, and so routed and dispersed the Samnites that this was the last time they joined battle with the dictator. [9] The victorious army then marched on where the prospect of booty beckoned them, and traversed the territories of the enemy without encountering any armed resistance whatsoever, either face to face or from an ambush. [10] The dictator had increased the alacrity of his troops by proclaiming that the booty should all be theirs, and private gain did as much as the public resentment to whet their zeal against the enemy. [11] discouraged by these reverses, the Samnites sought peace of Papirius, and agreed with him to give every soldier a garment and a year’s pay. [12] he directed them to go before the senate, but they replied that they would attend him thither, committing their cause wholly to his honour and integrity. so the army was withdrawn from Samnium.
37. The dictator, having entered the City in triumph, would have laid down his office, but was commanded by the senate first to hold a consular election; he announced that Gaius Sulpicius Longus had been chosen for the second time, together with Quintus Aemilius Cerretanus. [2] The treaty was not completed, owing to a disagreement over terms, and the Samnites left the City with a truce for a year; nor did they scrupulously hold even to that; so encouraged were they to make war, on learning that Papirius had resigned.
[8.3] in the consulship of Gaius Sulpicius and Quintus Aemilius — some annals have Aulius — the defection of the Samnites was followed by a new war with Apulia. armies were sent out in both directions. [4] The lots assigned the Samnites to Sulpicius, the Apulians to Aemilius. some say that the war was not waged against the Apulians, but in defence of some of the allies of that people whom the Samnites had wantonly invaded; [5] but the circumstances of the Samnites, who at that time could hardly ward off invasion from themselves, render it more probable that they did not attack the Apulians but that they and the Apulians were at war with Rome simultaneously. [6] there was, however, no memorable engagement. The Romans laid waste Apulia and Samnium, without encountering the enemy in either country.
at Rome a nocturnal alarm awoke the sleeping citizens with such a fright that Capitol and Citadel, walls and gates, were crowded with armed men; and after all the hurrying to posts and crying “to arms!” [7] in every quarter, day broke and discovered neither author nor occasion of the panic.
in the same year, the Tusculans were tried before the people in accordance with the Flavian rogation. [8] Marcus Flavius, a plebeian tribune, had proposed to the people that the Tusculans be punished for having lent their countenance and aid to the Veliterni and Privernates in their war with the Roman People. [9] The citizens of Tusculum, with their wives and children, came to Rome; and the great throng, putting on the sordid raiment of defendants, went about amongst the tribes and clasped the knees of the citizens in supplication. [10] and so it happened that pity was more effective in gaining them remission of their punishment than were their arguments in clearing away the charges. [11] all the tribes rejected the proposal, save only the Pollian, which voted that the grown men should be scourged and put to death, and their wives and children sold at auction under the laws of war. [12] it seems that the resentment engendered in the Tusculans by so cruel a proposal lasted down to our fathers’ time, and that a candidate of the Pollian tribe almost never got the vote of the Papirian.
38. in the following year, when Quintus Fabius and Lucius Fulvius were consuls, the dread of a serious war with the Samnites — who were said to have gathered an army of mercenaries from neighbouring tribes — occasioned the appointment of Aulus Cornelius Arvina as dictator and Marcus Fabius Ambustus as master of the horse. [2] by a vigorous levy these men raised an excellent army, and marching against the Samnites, went into camp on hostile soil with as little regard to their position as if the enemy had been far away. suddenly the Samnite legions appeared, and advancing with great hardihood entrenched themselves close to the Roman outposts. [3] night was now drawing on, which prevented them from assaulting the Roman works; but they made no secret of their intention to do so with the morrow’s earliest light. [4] The dictator saw that the battle was coming sooner than he had anticipated, and feared that the courage of his men would be affected by their cramped position. so, leaving behind him numerous fires to deceive the enemy, he silently led the legions out. but the camps were so near each other that he could not elude their observation. [5] their cavalry at once pursued him, but though they hung upon the fringe of his column, they refrained from attacking until the day began to break; as for the infantry, they did not even leave their stockade before the dawn. [6] finally, when it was light, the cavalry ventured to charge the Romans, and by harassing their rear and pressing them when they came to places that were difficult to cross, delayed their march. [7] meanwhile the foot had caught up with the horse, and the Samnites were throwing all their forces into the assault. then the dictator, finding that he could make no headway without great distress, gave orders to lay out a camp on the very spot where he had halted. but enveloped, as they were, by the enemy’s horse, it was impossible to gather stakes and begin the work.
[8.8] and so, when he saw that he could neither advance nor encamp, he removed the baggage from his column and formed a line of battle. The enemy then formed up against him, being inferior neither in spirit nor in strength. [9] their encouragement was due chiefly to ignorance that their enemies had retreated from an awkward position, and not from them; for they assumed that their own doughty appearance had driven the Romans before them in a panic. [10] this held the fighting in balance for a while, though the Samnites had now for some time been unused to abide the battle — cry of a Roman army. indeed it is said that on that day from the third hour to the eighth the outcome was so much in doubt, that there was never a second cheer after that which was once given when the armies rushed together; nor were standards either moved forward or withdrawn; nor did the combatants anywhere give ground. [11] facing each other with every man squarely in his place, they pressed forward with their shields and fought without stopping to breathe or to look behind. The monotonous din and changeless tenor of the battle made it seem probable that sheer exhaustion or the night would put an end to it. [12] and now men’s strength was ebbing, and the sword was forgetting its keenness and the generals their strategy; — when the Samnite horsemen, learning from one of their squadrons that had pushed on ahead how the baggage of the Romans lay remote from their fighting men, without defenders or a rampart to protect it, were seized with the lust of pillaging, and made a sudden dash for it. [13] but when a frightened messenger brought word of this to the dictator, he said, “only let them cumber themselves with spoil!” after that came others and still others, crying aloud that the soldiers’ possessions were being plundered and carried clean away. [14] then Cornelius called the master of the horse and said, “do you not see, Marcus Fabius, how the enemy’s cavalry have ceased to fight? [15] they are caught fast and entangled in our baggage. have at them while they are dispersed, as any body of men will be in pillaging! you shall find few in the saddle, few sword in hand; while they are loading themselves and their horses with spoils, cut them down unarmed and make it a bloody booty for them. [16] i will see to the legions and the battle of the infantry; be yours the glory of the cavalry fight.”
39. The cavalry, drawn up in the most perfect order, charged their scattered and embarrassed enemies and cut them down on every hand. [2] they had hastily flung aside their packs — which lay all about and impeded the terrified horses as they tried to run away — and, powerless either to resist or to escape, were massacred where they stood. [3] then Marcus Fabius, having almost annihilated the enemy’s cavalry, fetched a short compass with his squadrons and attacked from behind their line of infantry. [4] The shouts that were now heard in that quarter struck terror into the hearts of the Samnites; and the dictator, seeing the men in their fighting line glance nervously behind them, and their standards become disordered, and their line begin to waver, then cried out to his men, then urged them on, and called by name on tribunes and company — commanders to join him in a new attack. [5] with a fresh cheer the ranks pressed forward, and at each advance perceived the Samnites to be more and more confused. [6] The horse themselves could now be seen by those in the van; and Cornelius, looking back on the maniples of soldiers, made them understand as best he could with hand and voice that he saw the banners and round shields of their comrades. [7] on hearing and at the same time seeing them, they straightway forgot the toil they had endured for well — nigh the entire day, and forgot their wounds, and, like troops who were but that moment fresh from camp and had received the battle — signal, they flung themselves upon the enemy. [8] The Samnites could support no longer the fury of the cavalry and the violent onset of the foot; some were slaughtered in the midst, others were scattered abroad in flight. [9] The foot — soldiers surrounded those who resisted and put them to the sword; the cavalry made havoc of the fugitives, amongst whom perished their general himself.
[8.10] this defeat, after all that had gone before, so broke the spirit of the Samnites, that in all their councils they began to murmur that it was no wonder if they met with no success in an impious war, undertaken in violation of a treaty, for the gods had even more right than men to be incensed with them. [11] they would have to pay a heavy price to expiate this war and atone for it; the only question was, should they offer atonement with the blood of the guilty few or with that of the innocent multitude? some ventured at this juncture to name those who had been responsible for the war. [12] one name in particular could be distinguished; for all agreed in denouncing Papius Brutulus, a powerful noble who had without question been the breaker of the latest truce. [13] The praetors were compelled to refer his case to the council, which decreed that Papius Brutulus should be surrendered to the Romans, and that all the Roman booty and all the prisoners should be sent with him to Rome; and further, that all the property which the fetials had sought to recover under the provisions of the treaty should be restored in compliance with law and with religion. [14] The fetials proceeded to Rome, in accordance with this resolution, taking with them the lifeless body of Brutulus, who had escaped the humiliation and punishment by a voluntary death. [15] it was voted to surrender his goods also with his body. but of all these things the Romans would accept none but the prisoners and such articles of booty as they recognized as theirs; the surrender of all the rest was of no effect. The dictator triumphed by resolution of the senate.
40. some writers hold that this war was waged by the consuls, and that it was they who triumphed over the Samnites; they say that Fabius even advanced into Apulia and thence drove off much booty. [2] but that Aulus Cornelius was dictator in that year is not disputed, and the doubt is only whether he was appointed to administer the war, or in order that there might be somebody to give the signal to the chariots at the Roman Games — since [3] the praetor, Lucius Plautius, happened to be very sick — and whether, having discharged this office, which is, to be sure, no very noteworthy exercise of power, he resigned the dictatorship. it is not easy to choose between the accounts or the authorities. [4] The records have been vitiated, I think, by funeral eulogies and by lying inscriptions under portraits, every family endeavouring mendaciously to appropriate victories and magistracies to itself — a practice which has certainly wrought confusion in the achievements of individuals and in the public memorials of events. [5] nor is there extant any writer contemporary with that period, on whose authority we may safely take our stand.
SUMMARY OF BOOK VIII.
THE Latins and Campanians revolted, and sending envoys to the senate proposed as a condition of peace that one of the two consuls should be chosen from the Latins. after delivering these terms, their praetor Annius fell from the Capitol, and so lost consciousness. Titus Manlius the consul had his son beheaded, because he had fought — albeit successfully — against the Latins in defiance of his edict. in a battle which was going against the Romans, Publius Decius, who was then consul, along with Manlius, devoted himself in behalf of the army, and having spurred his horse among the enemy, was slain, and by his death restored the victory to the Romans. The Latins surrendered. Titus Manlius, returning to the City, was met by none of the young men. Minucia, a Vestal virgin, was convicted of unchastity. The Ausonians were defeated; and their town being taken from them, the colonies of Cales and Fregellae were established. a number of matrons were discovered to be guilty of poisoning, of whom very many drank off at once the drugs they had prepared, and died. a law about poisoning was then for the first time enacted. The Privernates, having gone to war, were defeated and given citizenship. The Neapolitans were beaten in war and in a siege, and made submission. Quintus Publilius, who had besieged them, was the first to have his authority extended and to be granted a triumph as proconsul. The plebs were relieved of imprisonment for debt on account of the lust of Lucius Papirius, a creditor, who had sought to violate the chastity of his debtor, Gaius Publilius. when Lucius Papirius Cursor the dictator had returned from the army to the City in order to renew the auspices, Quintus Fabius, the master of the horse, tempted by the opportunity for a successful action, fought the Samnites, against orders, and gained a victory. for this reason it appeared that the dictator would punish the master of the horse; but Fabius fled to Rome, and though his cause was weak, was begged off by the people. The book also contains victories over the Samnites.

## Book IX

Translated by B. O. Foster
1. IN THE following year came the Caudine Peace, the notorious sequel of a disaster to the Roman arms. [2] Titus Veturius Calvinus and Spurius Postumius were consuls. The Samnites had that year for their general Gaius Pontius, whose father Herennius far excelled them all in wisdom, while the son was their foremost warrior and captain. [3] when the envoys who had been dispatched to make restitution returned without having achieved a peace, Pontius said: “you must not think that this embassy has been of no avail: whatever divine resentment we incurred by breaking the treaty has been appeased. [4] well do I know that whatever gods desired that we might be compelled to restore the spoils which had been demanded again of us in accordance with the treaty did not desire that our expiation of the treaty should be so scornfully rejected by the Romans. [5] for what more could have been done to mollify the gods and to placate men than we have done? The goods of the enemy which we had taken as booty, and regarded as our own by the laws of war, we restored to them; [6] the authors of the war, whom we could not surrender living, we surrendered dead; their possessions — that no guilt might remain with us from touching them — we carried to Rome. [7] what more do I owe to you, Romans, or to the treaty, or to the gods, its witnesses? whom can I proffer as umpire betwixt your anger and my punishment? i refuse no nation, no private citizen. [8] but if, in dealing with the mighty, the weak are left no human rights, yet will I seek protection of the gods, who visit retribution on intolerable pride, and will beseech them that they tum their anger against those who are not content with the restitution of their own possessions, nor the heaping up in addition of [9] other men’s; whose rage is not sated with the death of the guilty, nor with the surrender of their lifeless bodies, nor with the master’s goods going with that surrender — unless we yield them our blood to drink and our flesh to rend. [10] Samnites, that war is just which is necessary, and righteous are their arms to whom, save only in arms, no hope is left. [11] since, therefore, it is of the utmost moment in the affairs of men whether what they undertake be pleasing in the sight of Heaven or whether it be offensive, be well assured that you waged your former war rather against gods than men, but that you will wage this war now threatening with the gods themselves for your leaders.”
2. having pronounced these words, as prophetic as they were encouraging, he led his army out and encamped with all possible secrecy in the vicinity of Caudium. [2] thence he dispatched in the direction of Calatia, where he heard that the Roman consuls were already in camp, ten soldiers in the guise of shepherds, with orders to graze their flocks — dispersed one here another there — at no great distance from the Romans. [3] on encountering pillagers, they were all to tell one story; namely, that the Samnite levies were in Apulia, where they were laying siege with all their forces to Luceria, and were on the point of taking it by assault. [4] this rumour, which had designedly been given out before, had already come to the ears of the Romans, but the prisoners strengthened their belief in it, especially since they all gave the same account. [5] The Romans did not hesitate about helping the Lucerini, their good and faithful allies, and preventing Apulia at the same time from a general defection in the face of instant peril: the only subject of deliberation was by what route they should march.
[9.6] there were two roads to Luceria. one skirted the Adriatic, and though open and unobstructed, was long almost in proportion to its safety. [7] The other led through the Caudine Forks, and was shorter, but this is the nature of the place: two deep defiles, narrow and wooded, are connected by an unbroken range of mountains on either hand; shut in between them lies a rather extensive plain, grassy and well — watered, with the road running through the middle of it; [8] but before you come to it, you must enter the first defile, and afterwards either retrace the steps by which you made your way into the place, or else — should you go forward — pass out by another ravine, which is even narrower and more difficult.
[9.9] into this plain the Romans debouched from the rocky gorge of one of the two passes; and advancing forthwith to the other pass, found it blocked with a barrier of felled trees and huge boulders. The enemy’s stratagem now stood revealed, and indeed a body of troops was descried at the head of the defile. [10] The Romans thereupon hastened back to regain the road by which they had come, but found that this was likewise closed with its own barricade and armed men. at this they came to a halt, without any command, and a stupor came over the minds of all, and a strange kind of numbness over their bodies; and looking at one another — for [11] every man supposed his neighbour more capable of thinking and planning than himself — they stood for a long time motionless and silent. [12] afterwards, when they saw the tents of the consuls going up and some of the men getting out entrenching tools, although they perceived that in their desperate plight, deprived of every hope, it would be ridiculous for them to entrench [13] themselves, nevertheless, that they might not add a fault to their misfortunes, they fell to digging — each for himself with no encouragement or command from anyone — and fortified a camp close to the water; [14] meanwhile not only did their enemies insolently scoff at them, but they jested themselves, with pathetic candour, at the futility of their works and the pains they took. [15] The dejected consuls did not even call a council, for the situation admitted neither of discussion nor of help, but the lieutenants and tribunes assembled of their own accord, and the soldiers, turning to the headquarters tent, called on their generals for help, which the immortal gods could scarce have given them.
3. night came, and found them not so much consulting as lamenting, while each murmured as his nature prompted him. “let us force the barriers of the road,” said one, “let us scale the mountains, penetrate the forests, go wherever we can carry [2] arms, if only we may come at the enemy, whom we have now been conquering for close upon thirty years; any field will be smooth and level to a Roman who fights against a treacherous Samnite!” [3] Another would ask: “where or by what way can we go? do we think to remove the mountains from their seat? so long as these ridges tower over you, how shall you come at the enemy? armed and unarmed, the brave and the cowardly, we are all alike captured and beaten men. The foe will not even draw his sword on us, that we may die with honour; he will end the war by sitting still.” [4] with such — like exchange of talk the night wore on, neither was there any thought of food or sleep.
even the Samnites were at a loss what course to follow in such happy circumstances; and accordingly they agreed unanimously to dispatch a letter to Herennius Pontius, the father of their general, asking his advice. [5] this man, bowed down with years, had already withdrawn not only from military but even from civic duties; yet, despite his bodily infirmity, his mind and judgment retained their vigour. [6] when he learned that the Roman armies had been hemmed in between two defiles at the Caudine Forks, and was asked by his son’s messenger for his opinion, he advised that they should all be dismissed unscathed, at the earliest possible moment. [7] this policy having been rejected, and the messenger returning a second time to seek his counsel, he recommended that all, to the last man, be slain. [8] having received these answers, as inconsistent as the riddling responses of an oracle, the younger Pontius was among the first to conclude that his father’s mind had now given way along with his failing body, but yielded to the general desire and sent for him to advise with them in person. [9] The old man made no objection; he was brought to the camp in a waggon — so the story runs — and being invited to join the council of war, spoke to such purpose as merely, without changing his opinion, to add thereto his reasons: If, he said, they adopted his first proposal — which [10] he held to be the best — they would establish lasting peace and friendship with a very powerful people by conferring an enormous benefit upon them; by adopting the other plan they would postpone the war for many generations, in which time the Roman State, having lost two armies, would not easily regain its strength; there was no third plan. [11] when his son and the other leading men pressed him to say what would happen if they took a middle course, and while letting them go unhurt imposed terms upon them by the rights of war, as upon the vanquished, “that,” he answered, “is in sooth a policy that neither wins men friends nor rids them of their enemies. [12] spare, if you will, those whom you have stung to anger with humiliation; the Roman race is one that knows not how to be still under defeat. [13] whatever shame you brand them with in their present necessity, the wound will ever rankle in their bosoms, nor will it suffer them to rest until they have exacted many times as heavy a penalty of you,” neither proposal was accepted, and Herennius was carried home from the camp.
4. in the other camp the Romans, finding themselves now, after many fruitless efforts to break out, in want of everything, were reduced to the necessity of sending envoys; [2] who were first to treat for an equal peace, and, if peace could not be had, to provoke the enemy to fight. [3] to them Pontius made answer, that the war was already fought and won; and since they knew not how to admit their plight, even when beaten and made prisoners, he intended to send them unarmed and with a single garment each under the yoke; [4] in all else the peace should be one of equal terms to the vanquished and the victors; for if the Romans would evacuate the Samnite territory and withdraw their colonies, Romans and Samnites should thenceforward live by their own laws in an equal alliance. [5] on these terms he was ready to conclude a treaty with the consuls; if they were any of them unacceptable, he forbade the envoys to return to him. [6] when the upshot of this embassy was made known to the Romans, they all straightway fell to groaning, and so overcome were they with sorrow that it seemed as though they [7] could not possibly take it more to heart if they should be told that they must all die in that place.
finally, after a long silence — for the consuls were incapable of uttering a word, either for a treaty so disgraceful or against a treaty so necessary — [8] Lucius Lentulus, at that time first of the lieutenants both for his valour and his dignities, spoke as follows: “consuls, I have often heard my father say that on the Capitol he was the only man who would not have the senate ransom the City from the Gauls with gold, since their enemies, who were most indolent besiegers, had not shut them in with trench and rampart, and they were able to make a sortie, if not without great danger, yet without certain destruction. [9] but if, in like manner as they had it in their power to run down from the Capitol, sword in hand, against their enemy, even as the besieged have often sallied out against the besiegers, so we were able, whether on favourable ground or no, only to come to grips with our antagonist, I should not lack my father’s spirit in advising you. [10] i do indeed confess that it is glorious to die for one’s country, and I am ready to devote myself for the Roman People and the legions, or to throw myself into the midst of the enemy; [11] but it is here I see my country, here all the legions Rome possesses, and unless they would rush on death to please themselves, what have they to save by dying? [12] ‘The roof — trees of the City,’ someone may say, ‘and its walls, and the multitude by whom it is inhabited.’ nay, not so! for all these are betrayed, not saved, if this army is wiped out! [13] for who shall preserve them? The unwarlike, unarmed rabble? ay, even as it preserved them from the onset of the Gauls! [14] or will they pray perhaps that an army may be sent from Veii, and a Camillus to command it? here are all our hopes and our resources, which if we save we save our country; whereas if we give these up to die, we abandon our country and betray it. [15] ‘ But surrender is shameful and humiliating.’ true, but our country is so dear that we would save it by enduring shame, as we would, if need were, by our death. [16] let us submit then to that indignity, however great, and obey necessity, to which even gods are not superior. go, consuls, at the cost of arms redeem the City which your sires paid gold to redeem.”
5. The consuls then went to confer with Pontius. The victor proposed a treaty, but they declared that a treaty could not be made without the authorization of the people, nor without fetials and the rest of the customary ceremonial. [2] consequently the Caudine Peace was not entered into by means of a treaty, as people in general believe and as Claudius actually states, but by a guarantee. for what need would there have been for guarantors or for hostages in a treaty, where the agreement is concluded with a prayer that the nation responsible for any departure from the recited terms may be smitten by Jupiter even as the swine is smitten by the [4] fetials? The guarantors were the consuls, the lieutenants, the quaestors, and the tribunes of the soldiers, and the names of all who gave the guarantee are extant, whereas, if the agreement had been entered into as in making a treaty, none would be preserved except those of the two [5] fetials; and because of the inevitable postponement of the treaty, hostages were also required to the number of six hundred knights, whose lives were to be forfeit if the Romans should fail to keep the [6] terms. a time was then set for the delivery of the hostages and the dismissal of the army without their arms.
fresh lamentations broke out in the camp when the consuls returned; and the men could hardly keep from laying violent hands on those through whose rashness they had been led into that place, and through whose cowardice they were now to depart more shamefully than they had [7] come. they bethought them how they had been unprovided either with guides or with patrols, but had been driven blindly, like wild beasts, into a [8] trap. they looked at one another; they gazed on the arms that they must presently surrender, on the right hands that would be helpless and the bodies that would be at the mercy of the [9] foe. they pictured to their mind’s eye the hostile yoke, the victor’s taunts, and fleering countenance; and how they must pass unarmed between the ranks of their armed enemies, and then wend their wretched way, a pitiful band, through the cities of their allies; and finally the return to their own city and their parents, whither they themselves and their ancestors had often returned in [10] triumph. they alone had been defeated without a wound, without a weapon, without a battle; to them it had not been granted to draw the sword, nor to join in combat with the enemy; on them in vain had arms, in vain had strength, in vain had bravery been [11] bestowed.
as they uttered these complaints, the fateful hour of their humiliation came, an hour destined to transcend all anticipations in the bitterness of its [12] reality. to begin with, they were ordered to pass outside the rampart, clad in their tunics and unarmed, and the hostages were at once handed over and led off into [13] custody. next, the lictors were commanded to forsake the consuls, who then were stripped of their generals’ cloaks, — a thing which inspired such compassion in those very men who a little while before had cursed them and had declared that they deserved [14] to be given up and put to torture, that every man, forgetting his own evil case, averted his eyes from that degradation of so majestic an office, as from a spectacle of horror.
6. first the consuls, little better than half — naked, were sent under the yoke, then their subordinates were humbled, each in the order of his rank; and then, one after another, the several legions. [2] The enemy under arms stood on either side, reviling them and mocking them; many they actually threatened with the sword, and some, whose resentment of the outrage showing too plainly in their faces gave their conquerors offence, they wounded or slew outright.
[9.3] thus they were sent under the yoke, and, what was almost harder to bear, while their enemies looked on. on emerging from the pass, although they seemed like men raised from the dead, who beheld for the first time the light of day, yet the very light itself, which allowed them to see that dismal throng, was gloomier than any death. [4] and so, although it was in their power to have made Capua before nightfall, yet, questioning the loyalty of their allies, and withheld also by shame, they threw themselves upon the ground along the roadside, not far from the city, with nothing to supply their wants. [5] when tidings of this were brought to Capua, a feeling of pity, natural to allies, overcame the ingrained arrogance of the Campanians. [6] ungrudgingly, without an instant’s hesitation, they dispatched the insignia of their office to the consuls, together with arms, horses, clothing, and provisions, for the men; [7] and as they drew near Capua, the whole senate and people going forth to meet them used towards them all the rites of hospitality and every public and private courtesy. [8] yet the kindness of their allies and their friendly looks and words were so far from drawing the Romans into talk that they could not even be got to raise their eyes or look their friends and comforters in the face; [9] so constrained were they by a kind of humiliation — over and above their grief — to [10] avoid the speech and assemblages of men.
[9.11] on the following day, when the young nobles sent from Capua to attend them to the borders of Campania had returned, and were called into the senatehouse and questioned by the elders, they reported that they had seemed to be much more sorrowful and dejected than before: their column had marched on in silence and almost as though dumb; [12] the old Roman spirit was quite dashed; they had lost their courage with their arms; being saluted, they returned not the salutation; they responded to no questions; not a man of them had been able to open his mouth for shame, as if they still bore on their necks the yoke under which they had been sent; [13] the Samnites had won not only a famous but a lasting victory, for they had conquered, not Rome — as the Gauls had done before — but a thing which demanded far greater prowess — the Roman valour and independence. 7. such were the opinions that were spoken and listened to, and the Roman name had well — nigh [2] been given up for lost in the council of Rome’s faithful allies, when Aulus Calavius, son of Ovius, a man of famous birth and achievements and at that time venerable also for his age, asserted that the case was very different: [3] that obstinate silence, those eyes fixed on the ground and ears deaf to every consolation, that shame at looking on the light, were signs, he argued, of bosoms bursting with passionate resentment; [4] either he knew nothing of the Roman character, or that silence was destined ere long to draw from the Samnites cries and groans of anguish, and the Caudine Peace to become a far more bitter memory to Samnites than to Romans; [5] for each people would have its own native spirit wherever they might encounter, but the Samnites would not everywhere have a Caudine Pass.
by this time Rome, too, had heard of her shameful calamity. [6] The first news was that the army was entrapped; then came a gloomier report, more by reason of the disgraceful peace than because of the peril. [7] on the rumour of a blockade they had begun to hold a levy; but they afterwards gave over their measures for relief, when they learned that there had been so infamous a capitulation, and immediately, without official sanction of any sort, betook themselves with one mind to every form of mourning. [8] The booths round about the Forum were shut up, and ere proclamation could be made, all business was suspended; tunics with the broad stripe of purple were discarded, as were golden rings. [9] The citizens were almost more dejected than the army; and not only were they enraged against their generals and those who had favoured and guaranteed the peace, but they even visited their hate upon the innocent soldiers and proposed to exclude them from the City and from their homes. [10] but this flurry of resentment was dispelled by the arrival of the army, which even angry men could not but pity. [11] for they came not like men returning in safety to their homes, after all hope of them had been abandoned; but entering the City late in the day, with the bearing and looks of prisoners, they slipped away every man to his own house, and on the next and the succeeding days not one of them would look into the Forum or the streets. [12] The consuls shut themselves up in their houses and would transact no public business, except that they were forced by a senatorial decree to name a dictator to preside at the election. [13] they designated Quintus Fabius Ambustus, with Publius Aelius Paetus to be master of the horse. [14] a flaw in their appointment occasioned the substitution in their room of Marcus Aemilius Papus, as dictator, and Lucius Valerius Flaccus, as master of the horse. however, even they did not hold an election; and because the people were dissatisfied with all the magistrates of that year, the state reverted to an interregnum. [15] The interreges were Quintus Fabius Maximus and Marcus Valerius Corvus. The latter announced the election to the consulship of Quintus Publilius Philo (for the third time) and Lucius Papirius Cursor (for the second) with the unmistakable approval of the citizens, for there were at that time no leaders more distinguished.
8. on the day of their election — for so the Fathers had ordained — they entered upon the duties of their magistracy, and having disposed of the routine resolutions, raised the question of the Caudine Peace. [2] Publilius had the fasces, and called on Spurius Postumius to speak. having risen to his feet, he said, with the same expression on his countenance as when he had been sent [3] under the yoke, “i am not ignorant, consuls, that I have been called on first and bidden to speak because of my disgrace, and not to honour me; not as a senator, but as one charged with the guilt not only of an unlucky war but of a shameful peace. [4] however, you have not raised the question of our wrongdoing or our punishment; I will therefore attempt no defence — though it should be no difficult cause to plead before judges not unacquainted with the fortunes of men and their necessities — but will briefly formulate a motion concerning the subject you have asked us to consider. [5] my motion will bear witness whether it was myself or your legions that I spared, when I bound myself by a base, or, perhaps, a necessary pledge, — by which, however, the Roman People is not held, since it was given without the people’s authorization; nor by its terms is aught but our own persons due to the Samnites. [6] let us be given up, I propose, by the fetials, stripped and bound; let us release the people from their religious obligation, if in any such we have involved them, that no obstacle, divine or human, may block the way to a just and righteous renewal of the war. [7] meantime I move that the consuls enroll an army and arm it and lead it forth, yet without crossing the borders of the enemy, until all the ceremonies incident to our surrender shall have been completed. [8] do you, immortal gods, I beseech and pray you, if you were not pleased that the consuls Spurius Postumius and Titus Veturius should [9] wage a successful war with the Samnites, yet deem it enough to have seen us sent beneath the yoke, to have seen us bound by an infamous agreement, to behold. [10] us, naked and in bonds, delivered to the enemy, receiving on our own heads all the resentment of our foes; and vouchsafe to the new consuls and the Roman legions so to wage war with the Samnites, as, until our consulship, all Rome’s wars were waged.”
[9.11] when he had finished speaking, such a thrill of astonishment, and at the same time of pity for the man, ran through the senate, that at first men could hardly believe it was the same Spurius Postumius who had been the author of a peace so shameful; [12] and presently they were all compassion, to think that such a man should suffer what would be no ordinary punishment at the hands of enemies enraged by the rupture of the peace. [13] as they were all crossing over to support his motion, with nothing but praises for his heroism, Lucius Livius and Quintus Maelius, tribunes of the plebs, endeavoured for a moment to interpose their veto. [14] The people, they said, could not be freed from their obligation by surrendering them, unless every advantage which the Samnites had possessed at Caudium were restored to them; [15] moreover, they had merited no punishment for having preserved by their pledge of peace the army of the Roman People; nor, finally, seeing that they were sacrosanct, could they be surrendered to the enemy or violated.
9. then said Postumius: “meanwhile, surrender us, who are unconsecrate, as you may do without offence to Heaven; [2] afterwards you shall surrender also those sacrosanct ones, when once they have retired from their magistracy; but, if you should listen to me, before surrendering them you would have them scourged here in the Comitium, that they might receive in advance this extra punishment, by way of interest. [3] for when they deny that the people can be freed of their obligation by surrendering us, who is so unacquainted with the fetial law as not to be aware that they say this, more that they may not be surrendered than because the case is so? [4] and yet, Conscript Fathers, I do not dispute the fact that guarantees as well as treaties are sacred in the eyes of those who cherish honour among men on an equal footing with obligations due to the gods; but I deny that without the people’s authorization any sanction can be given which shall be binding on the people. [5] what! If the Samnites with that same arrogance with which they extorted this capitulation from us had compelled us to pronounce the solemn form of words of those who surrender cities, would you tribunes assert that the Roman People had been surrendered, and that this City, with its temples, its holy places, its bounds and waters, was become the property of the Samnites? [6] but enough of surrender; we are talking of a guarantee. how, pray, if we had guaranteed that the Roman People should forsake this City? that they should burn it? [7] that it should cease to have magistrates, a senate, laws? that it should be subject to the rule of kings? ‘ The gods forbid!’ you say. and yet the unworthiness of the conditions cannot lessen the force of a guarantee; if there is anything for which the people can be bound, it can be bound for everything. [8] nor does it matter, either, as some are perhaps inclined to think, whether consul or dictator or praetor have given the guarantee. and this the very Samnites themselves deemed to be true, for not content with the guarantee of consuls, they obliged the lieutenants, the quaestors, and the tribunes of the soldiers to add theirs.
[9.9] “and let no man now demand of me why I gave this guarantee, seeing that a consul has no right so to do and that I could not pledge them a peace which was not [10] mine to grant, nor in your behalf, who had given me no mandate. [11] there was nothing done at Caudium, Conscript Fathers, by man’s wisdom: the immortal gods deprived of understanding both your commanders and the enemy’s. We, on our part, took no sufficient precautions in the war: while, as for them, they threw away their ill — got victory by their ill — guided conduct, for they hardly trusted the very ground that had given them their conquest, in their haste to deprive of arms, on any terms, men born to the use of arms. [12] why, had they had their wits about them, would it have been hard, while summoning old men from home for consultation, to dispatch envoys to Rome? [13] to treat with senate and with people for a peace and covenant? it was only three days’ journey to those who travel light; meantime hostilities would have been suspended, until their envoys should return from Rome with either certain victory or a peace. [14] then, and then only, would there have been a guarantee in which our pledge was backed by the mandate of the people. but neither would you have voted one, nor should we have given it; [15] nor was it Heaven’s will that the affair should have any other ending, but that they should be beguiled with a dream too joyful for their comprehension, and that our army should be extricated by the same fortune which had entrapped it; that their idle victory should evaporate in a yet idler peace, and a guarantee be proffered that should bind none but the guarantor. [16] for what negotiation, Conscript Fathers, has there been with you or with the Roman People? who can appeal to you, who can say that he has been deceived by you? can the enemy, can a fellow — citizen? [17] you have pledged nothing to the enemy, you have given no authority to make a pledge to any fellow — citizen. [18] you have therefore naught to do with us, to whom you gave no mandate, or with the Samnites, with whom you have had no dealings. The Samnites have in us guarantors who are responsible and quite competent, so far as concerns what belongs to ourselves and what we are able to deliver, namely, our persons and our lives; against these let them storm, against these direct their swords, against these make sharp their anger. [19] as for the tribunes, you must determine whether their surrender can take place at once or had better be deferred; meantime, Titus Veturius, let us, and you others, offer these caitiff heads of ours in satisfaction of our pledge, and by our suffering liberate the Roman arms.”
10. both the cause itself and the speaker greatly stirred the Conscript Fathers and the others present, including even the tribunes of the plebs, who declared that they would obey the senate, and having forthwith [2] resigned their office were delivered over to the fetials to be led with the rest to Caudium. when the senate had acted on this motion, it somehow seemed as though day had dawned upon the State. [3] Postumius was on all men’s lips; they extolled him to the skies, and compared his conduct to the devotion of Publius Decius, the consul, and to other glorious deeds. [4] The state, they said, had emerged — thanks to his wisdom and his services — from a slavish peace; he was freely giving himself up to the tortures of a resentful foe, that he might make expiation for the Roman People. [5] men thought of nothing but war and arms. [6] would ever the hour come, they asked, when they might encounter the Samnites, sword in hand?
in a city ablaze with wrath and hate, the levy was almost wholly made up with volunteers. The same soldiers were enrolled into new legions, and the army marched on Caudium. [7] before them went the fetials, who, when they had come to the gate, bade the guarantors of peace be stripped and their hands be bound behind their backs. [8] as the officer, awed by the dignity of Postumius, would have left him loosely bound, “nay, draw the thong tight,” he exclaimed, “that the surrender may be duly carried out,” then, on arriving at the assembly of the Samnites and the tribune of Pontius, Aulus Cornelius Arvina the fetial spoke as follows: [9] “whereas these men, unbidden by the Roman People of the Quirites, have guaranteed that a treaty should be ratified, and by so doing have committed an injury; to the end that the Roman People may be absolved of heinous guilt, I deliver up these men to you. [10] as the fetial spoke these words, Postumius thrust his knee into the other’s thigh, with all the force he could summon up, and proclaimed in a loud voice that he was a Samnite citizen, who had maltreated the envoy in violation of the law of nations, whereby the Romans would make war with the better right.
11. then said Pontius, “I will not receive this surrender, nor will the Samnites hold it valid. [2] and you, Spurius Postumius, if you believe in the existence of the gods, why not either reject the whole negotiation or abide by your agreement? The Samnite People is entitled to all whom it had in its power, or to peace in place of them. [3] but why do I appeal to you, who yield yourself a prisoner as honourably as you can? i appeal to the Roman People; if they repent them of the pledge that was given at the Caudine Forks, let them replace their legions in the defile where they were surrounded. [4] let no one deceive anybody; let as though it had not happened; let them resume the arms they laid down in accordance with the compact; let them go back to their camp; whatever they had on the day before the conference, let them have again; then let them vote for war and warlike measures, then let them reject the guarantee and the peace! [5] let us fight it out in those circumstances, and in those positions, which were ours before peace was mentioned; let the Roman People not blame the pledge given by the consuls, nor let us blame the honour of the Roman People. [6] will you never, when you have been beaten, lack excuses for not holding to your covenants? you gave hostages to Porsinna — and withdrew them by a trick. you ransomed your City from the Gauls with gold — and cut them down as they were receiving the gold. you pledged us peace, on condition that we gave you back your captured legions — and you nullify the peace. and always you contrive to give the fraud some colour of [8] legality. does the Roman People not approve the preservation of its legions by a disgraceful peace? let it keep its peace, and give back the captured legions to the victor; that would be conduct worthy of its promise, its covenants, its fetial [9] ceremonies. that you, on your side, should have what you aimed at in your compact, the safety of these many citizens, but that I should not have the peace I stipulated for, when I released them, — is this the judgment which you, Aulus Cornelius, and you, fetials, render to the nations?
[9.10] “as for me, I will none of these whom you pretend to be surrendering, nor do I deem them to be surrendered, neither do I stand in the way of their returning, despite the wrath of all the gods, whose divinity they have made a mock, to the City which is committed by their [11] guarantee. aye, go to war, since Spurius Postumius has just now jostled the envoy with his knee! so shall the gods believe that Postumius is a Samnite — not a Roman — citizen, and that a Roman envoy has been maltreated by a Samnite, and that you, in consequence of this, have justly made war on [12] us! does it not shame you to bring forth into the light of day these mockeries of religion, and, old men and consulars as you are, to devise such quibbles to evade your promise as were scarce worthy of [13] children? go, lictor, strike their fetters from the Romans; let no man hinder them from departing when they list,” and the guarantors, released it may be from the nation’s pledge, but at all events from their own, returned from Caudium, inviolate, to the Roman camp.
12. The Samnites now perceived that instead of their domineering peace they were confronted with the renewal of a most bitter war, and not only imagined but almost saw all the consequences which afterwards proceeded from it. [2] too late and all in vain did they praise the alternative policies suggested by the aged Pontius, between which they had fallen, and exchanged a victory already in their possession for an uncertain peace; they had let slip the opportunity both of doing good and of doing harm, and were going to fight with men whom they might permanently have removed from their path, as enemies, or have made their permanent friends. [3] and though there had so far been no battle since the Caudine Peace to give an advantage to either side, yet such a change of feeling had come about that Postumius enjoyed more fame among the Romans for his surrender than did Pontius among the Samnites for his bloodless victory; [4] and while the Romans regarded their being able to make war as certain victory, the Samnites felt that the Romans had at one and the same moment renewed the war and won it.
[9.5] meanwhile the Satricans revolted to the Samnites, and the colony of Fregellae, in a surprise attack by the Samnites — accompanied, it would seem, by people from Satricum — was seized during the night. [6] mutual fear then caused both sides to remain quiet until the morning, when the light ushered in a battle which for a long time was equally sustained — for the townsfolk were fighting for their hearths and altars and a throng of those unfit for arms gave them assistance from the housetops, — still, [7] the people of Fregellae held their own, until presently a ruse decided the victory; for they permitted a herald to be heard, who promised safety to any who laid down his arms. [8] The hope of this relaxed the tension of their courage and on every side they began throwing their arms away. The more determined portion of them retained their weapons and burst out by the opposite gate, and their boldness stood them in better stead than did their too credulous timidity the others; for these the Samnites compassed about with fire, and, despite their appeals to Heaven and to the promise of their captors, burnt them alive.
[9.9] The consuls having divided the provinces between them, Papirius took his way into Apulia towards Luceria, where the Roman knights given up at Caudium for hostages were being guarded, while Publilius stopped behind in Samnium to oppose the Caudine legions. [10] this plan distracted the minds of the Samnites, since they neither dared move towards Luceria, lest they should bring the enemy down upon their rear, nor remain where they were, for fear that Luceria would meanwhile be lost. [11] The best course seemed to be to entrust their cause to Fortune and fight it out with Publilius. they accordingly formed up in line of battle.
13. Publilius the consul was ready to engage them, but thinking it best to encourage his soldiers first, he bade summon them to an assembly. but though they came running to the praetorium with vast alacrity, yet the outcry of those who demanded battle was so loud that the general’s exhortation could not be heard; still, every man’s own heart, remembering the late humiliation, was there to exhort him. [2] so they went forward into battle, urging on their standard — bearers; and, that there might be no delay in coming to grips while they were discharging their javelins and drawing their swords, they threw away their javelins, as if a signal had been given them, and, sword [3] in hand, pushed forward at the double against the enemy. [4] no tactical skill was there employed in ranging centuries or reserves: the wrath of the soldiers swept everything along in its mad rush. and so not only were the Samnites routed, but not daring to interrupt their flight even at their camp, they dispersed and struck out for Apulia; yet they afterwards rallied again and came to Luceria in one body. [5] The same fury that took the Romans through their enemy’s battle — line, carried them also into his camp. there was more bloodshed and carnage there than in the battle, and the greater part of the booty was destroyed in anger.
[9.6] The other army, under the consul Papirius, marching along the coast as far as Arpi, had found all peaceably disposed, more because of the wrongs done by the Samnites and the hatred they had engendered than owing to any favour shown by the Roman People. [7] for the Samnites, who in those days dwelt in villages among the mountains, used to ravage the regions of the plain and coast, despising their cultivators, who were of a softer character, and one that — as often happens — resembled their country, while they themselves were rude highlanders. [8] if this district had been faithful to the Samnites, it would either have been impossible for a Roman army to have got as far as Arpi, or the utterly barren nature of the intervening country would have destroyed them, cut off as they would have been from their supplies. [9] even as it was, when they had proceeded to the vicinity of Luceria, besiegers and besieged suffered alike from scarcity of food: everything was carried up from Arpi for the Romans, but so precarious were their supplies, that while the foot — soldiers were busy with outpost — duty, guard — mounting, [10] and entrenching, the cavalry brought up corn for them from Arpi in leather pouches, and, now and then, encountering the enemy, were forced to throw off the corn from their horses and fight; the besieged, until the arrival of the other consul with his victorious army, had got in their provisions — and auxiliary forces too — from the mountains of the Samnites. [11] The coming of Publilius tightened up the lines; for, turning the siege over to his colleague, he was free to range the country — side, where he made things difficult for the supply — trains of the enemy. [12] The Samnites, therefore, who were encamped about Luceria, in despair of being able to endure the scarcity, if the siege continued, were obliged to gather up their forces from every quarter and give battle to Papirius.
14. at this juncture, while both sides were making ready for the struggle, came ambassadors from Tarentum, admonishing both Samnites and Romans to desist from war. whichever party should oppose the cessation of hostilities, against that they proposed to fight in behalf of the other. [2] after listening to these envoys, Papirius, as though moved by what they said, replied that he would consult his colleague. having sent for Publilius, he employed every moment of the interval in making his preparations, and when he had conferred with him about a matter which admitted of no doubt, displayed the battle — signal. [3] The consuls were busy with matters pertaining to gods and to men, as they are wont to to be on the eve of an engagement, when the envoys from Tarentum approached them to receive their answer; [4] to whom Papirius replied, “Tarentines, the keeper of the chickens reports that the signs are favourable; the sacrifice too has been exceedingly auspicious; as you see, the gods are with us at our going into action.” [5] he then commanded to advance the standards, and marshalled his troops, with exclamations on the folly of a nation which, powerless to manage its own affairs, because of domestic strife and discord, presumed to lay down the limits of peace and war for others.
[9.6] The Samnites, on their side, having dismissed from their minds every anxiety regarding the war, either because they sincerely wished for peace, or because it was expedient for them to pretend that they wished it, in order to gain the support of the Tarentines, when they beheld [7] the Romans suddenly arrayed for battle, cried out that they would abide by the will of the Tarentines and would neither take the field nor advance beyond the rampart; [8] they had been deceived, but they chose rather to endure whatever Fortune might have in store for them than be thought to have spurned the peaceful advice of the Tarentines. [9] The consuls declared that they embraced the omen, praying that the enemy might be so minded as not even to defend his rampart. they themselves, dividing their troops between them, marched up to the earthworks of the Samnites, and attacked them at once from every side. some began to fill the trenches, others to pull up the palings and fling them into the trenches; besides their native courage they were goaded on by anger at the disgrace that rankled in their hearts. [10] forcing their way into the camp, while every man repeated that here were no Forks, no Caudium, no trackless passes, where guile had arrogantly triumphed over error, but Roman manhood, which neither rampart nor trenches could keep out, they cut down without distinction those who resisted and those who fled, the armed and the unarmed, slaves and [11] freemen, adults and children, men and beasts; [12] nor would anything living have survived, had not the consuls bade sound the recall and expelled the bloodthirsty soldiers from the enemy’s camp with commands and threats. [13] The men were incensed at the interruption of their sweet revenge, and accordingly the consuls at once addressed them and explained that they had neither yielded nor meant to yield to any of the soldiers in hatred of the enemy; [14] on the contrary, they would have led the way, as in war, so in the exaction of endless vengeance, had their indignation not been checked by thoughts of the six hundred knights who were being held as hostages in Luceria; [15] but they feared that the enemy, if they despaired of quarter, might be driven blindly to put their prisoners to death, choosing to slay before they were slain themselves. [16] These arguments the men applauded, and rejoiced that their wrath had been restrained; they confessed that it was better that they should suffer anything than betray the lives of so many distinguished young Romans.
15. The assembly was dismissed, and a council of war was held to determine whether they should press the siege with all their forces, or should employ one army and its general to test the dispositions of the Apulians around them — a people whose sympathies were still in doubt. [2] The consul Publilius set out on a march through Apulia and in a single expedition either subjugated, or by granting terms, received into alliance, a goodly number of states. [3] Papirius, too, who had remained behind at Luceria to conduct the siege, soon found the outcome answerable to his hopes; for all the roads by which supplies were wont to be brought in from Samnium were blocked, and the Samnite garrison were reduced by hunger to send a deputation to the Roman consul with an offer to release the horsemen who were the cause of the war, on condition that he would raise the siege. [4] Papirius replied that they ought to have gone to Pontius, the son of Herennius, at whose instance they had sent the Romans under the yoke, to find out what the vanquished deserved to suffer; [5] however, since they preferred that their enemies should decide on a just penalty for them, rather than propose one for themselves, he bade them take word to Luceria that they should leave their arms, packs, sumpter animals, and all the noncombatants, within the walls; [6] the soldiers he intended to send under the yoke, clad only in their tunics, inflicting on them no new disgrace, but requiting that which had first been put upon the Romans. [7] they made no objection, and seven thousand men were sent under the yoke. huge spoils were captured in Luceria, and all the standards and arms which had been lost at Caudium were retaken, and, to cap the climax of their joy, the horsemen were recovered whom the Samnites had assigned, as pledges of peace, to be guarded at Luceria. [8] there is scarce any other Roman victory more glorious for its sudden reversal of fortune, especially if it is true, as I find in certain annals, that Pontius the son of Herennius, the Samnite general — in — chief, was sent with the rest under the yoke, to expiate the humiliation of the consuls.
[9.9] be that as it may, I am not greatly surprised that there should be some doubt as to the general of the enemy who was surrendered and disgraced; the amazing thing is the uncertainty whether it was Lucius Cornelius, as dictator — with Lucius Papirius Cursor, as master of the horse — who [10] won these victories at Caudium and subsequently at Luceria, and, because of the signal vengeance that he exacted for Rome’s shame, enjoyed a triumph which I should be inclined to rate as the best — deserved of all down to that time, next after that of Furius Camillus; or whether that honour belongs to the consuls — and particularly to Papirius. [11] this doubt is attended with another — whether at the ensuing election Papirius Cursor was retained in office in recognition of his victory at Luceria, being returned for a third time to the consulship, together with Quintus Aulius Cerretanus — then chosen for the second time — or whether it was Lucius Papirius Mugillanus, and the mistake was a matter of the surname.
16. it is agreed that from this point onwards the war was brought to a conclusion by the consuls. Aulius finished in one successful battle the campaign against the Ferentani, and having exacted hostages, received the surrender of the city itself, in which their defeated army had taken [2] refuge. with no less good fortune the other consul overcame the Satricans, who — though Roman citizens — had revolted, after the Caudine misfortune, to the Samnites, of whom they had admitted a garrison into their [3] city. for when the Roman army had drawn near the walls of Satricum, the townspeople sent ambassadors to sue humbly for peace; but the consul returned them a harsh answer: that unless they put to death the Samnite garrison or delivered it up, they must come back to him no more — a saying which struck more terror into their hearts than the threatened [4] assault. and so the envoys persisted in demanding of the consul how he supposed that they, being few and weak, could force so strong and well — armed a [5] garrison. but he bade them seek advice from those same men at whose instigation they had received the garrison into their city; and after they had with no small difficulty persuaded him to suffer them to consult their senate in the matter and report to him its decision, they went back to their [6] people. two factions kept the senate divided: one of these had for leaders the men who had inspired the revolt from Rome, the other was composed of loyal citizens; both, however, were equally anxious to accommodate the consul, so that they might be granted [7] peace. one party, seeing that the Samnite garrison was intending to escape on the following night — for they had made no preparations for enduring a siege — deemed it sufficient to let the consul know at what hour and by what gate the enemy meant to leave, and what road he planned to [8] take. The others, who had opposed going over to the Samnites, that same night also opened a gate to the consul, and without letting the Samnites know, admitted his soldiers into the [9] city. in consequence of this double betrayal, the Samnite garrison was surprised and overpowered by an ambush laid in the woods about their road, while a shout went up in the city, which was filled with enemies. thus, in one crowded hour, the Samnites were slain and the Satricans captured, and all things brought under the power of the consul; who conducted an investigation, and, having ascertained who were responsible for the defection, had the guilty parties scourged and [10] beheaded; after which he imposed a strong garrison upon the Satricans and deprived them of their arms.
[9.11] Papirius Cursor then departed for Rome to celebrate his triumph, as those writers state who name him as the commander who recovered Luceria and sent the Samnites under the [12] yoke. no question, he was a man deserving of all praise as a soldier, excelling, as he did, not only in the vigour of his spirit, but in physical strength. he possessed remarkable fleetness of foot, which was even the source of his [13] surname. it is said that he vanquished all his mates at running, whether owing to the strength of his legs or to much exercise; that he had also the greatest capacity for food and [14] wine; and that no general was harder on his men, whether horse or foot, for his own constitution could never be overcome by [15] toil. it is related how his cavalrymen ventured once to ask him if in view of their good conduct he would not excuse them from some portion of their duties; to whom he answered, “that you may not say that I have excused you nothing, I freely excuse you from the duty of rubbing your backs when you [16] dismount,” and the man possessed a power of command which was equally effective with citizens and allies. a Praenestine praetor had, through timidity, been somewhat slow in bringing his men up from the supports to the fighting [17] line. Papirius strolled over to the praetor’s tent and having bidden them call him out, commanded a lictor to prepare his [18] axe. hearing this the praetor stood aghast, but Papirius said to the lictor, “come, cut out this root; it is a nuisance to those who walk,” he then fined the man and let him go, half — dead with the fear of capital [19] punishment. there can be no doubt that in his generation, than which none was ever more fruitful of great qualities, there was no single man who did more to uphold the Roman State. indeed people regard him as one who might have been a match in generalship for Alexander the Great, if the latter, after subjugating Asia, had turned his arms against Europe.
17. nothing can be thought to have been more remote from my intention, since I first set about this task, than to depart unduly from the order of events, and to aim, by the introduction of ornamental digressions, at providing as it were agreeable bypaths for the reader, and mental relaxation for myself. [2] nevertheless the mention of so great a prince and captain evokes certain thoughts which I have often silently pondered in my mind, and disposes me to enquire how the Roman State would have fared in a war with Alexander.
[9.3] it appears that in war the factors of chief importance are the numbers and valour of the soldiers, the abilities of the commanders, and Fortune, which, powerful in all the affairs of men, is especially so in war. [4] These factors, whether viewed separately or conjointly, afford a ready assurance, that, even as against other princes and nations, so also against this one the might of Rome would have proved invincible. [5] first of all — to begin by comparing commanders — I do not deny that Alexander was a remarkable general; still, his fame was enhanced by the fact that he was a sole commander, and the further fact that he died young, in the flood — tide of success, when as yet he had experienced no other lot. [6] not to speak of other distinguished kings and generals, illustrious proofs of human vicissitude, what else was it but length of days that exposed Cyrus, whom the Greeks exalt so high in their panegyrics, to the fickleness of Fortune? [7] and the same thing was lately seen in the case of Pompey the Great. need I repeat the names of the Roman generals, not all nor of every age, but those very ones with whom, as consuls or as dictators, Alexander would have had to fight — Marcus [8] Valerius Corvus, Gaius Marcius Rutulus, Gaius Sulpicius, Titus Manlius Torquatus, Quintus Publilius Philo, Lucius Papirius Cursor, Quintus Fabius Maximus, the two Decii, Lucius Volumnius, Manius Curius? [9] after these come some extraordinary men, if he had turned his attention to war with Carthage first and later with Rome, and had crossed into Italy when somewhat old. [10] any one of these was as highly endowed with courage and talents as was Alexander; and military training, handed down from the very beginning of the City, had taken on the character of a profession, built up on comprehensive principles. [11] so the kings had warred; so after them the expellers of the kings, the Junii and the Valerii, and so in succession the Fabii, Quinctii, Cornelii, and Furius Camillus, whom in his old age those had seen, as youths, who would have had to fight with Alexander. [12] but in the performance of a soldier’s work in battle — for which Alexander was no less distinguished — Manlius Torquatus or Valerius Corvus would, forsooth, have yielded to him, had they met him in a hand — to — hand encounter, famous though they were as soldiers before ever they won renown as captains! [13] The Decii, of course, would have yielded to him, who hurled their devoted bodies upon the foe! Papirius Cursor would have yielded, with that wondrous strength of body and of spirit! [14] The counsels of a single youth would no doubt have got the better of that senate — not to speak of individual members — which was called an assembly of kings by him who before all others had a true conception of the Roman Senate! [15] and I suppose there was the danger that Alexander would display more skill than any of these whom I have named, in selecting a place for a camp, in organizing his service of supply, in guarding against ambuscades, in choosing a time for battle, in marshalling his troops, in providing strong reserves! [16] he would have said it was no Darius whom he had to deal with, trailing women and eunuchs after him, and weighed down with the gold and purple trappings of his station. him he found a booty rather than an enemy, and conquered without bloodshed, merely by daring to despise vain shows. [17] far different from India, through which he progressed at the head of a rout of drunken revellers, would Italy have appeared to him, as he gazed on the passes of Apulia and the Lucanian mountains, and the still fresh traces of that family disaster wherein his uncle, King Alexander of Epirus, had lost his life.
18. and we are speaking of an Alexander not yet overwhelmed with prosperity, which none has ever been less able to bear. [2] for viewing him in the light of his new fortune and of the new character — if I may use the expression — which [3] he had assumed as conqueror, he would evidently have come to Italy more like Darius than like Alexander, at the head of an army that had forgotten Macedonia and was already adopting the degenerate customs of the Persians. [4] i am loath, in writing of so great a prince, to remind the reader of the ostentatious alteration in his dress, and of his desire that men should prostrate themselves in adulation, a thing which even conquered Macedonians would have found oppressive, much more then those who had been victorious; [5] of his cruel punishments and the murder of his friends as they drank and feasted; of the boastful lie about his origin. what if his love of wine had every day grown stronger? and his truculent and fiery anger? [6] i mention only things which historians regard as certain. can we deem such vices to be no detraction from a general’s good qualities? but there was forsooth the danger — as the silliest of the Greeks, who exalt the reputation even of the Parthians against the Romans, are fond of alleging — that [7] the Roman People would have been unable to withstand the majesty of Alexander’s name, though I think that they had not so much as heard of him; and that out of all the Roman nobles not one would have dared to lift up his voice against him, although in Athens, a city crushed by the arms of Macedonia, at the very moment when men had before their eyes the reeking ruins of the [8] neighbouring Thebes, they dared inveigh against him freely, as witness the records of their speeches.
[9.9] however imposing the greatness of the man may appear to us, still this greatness will be that of one man only, and the fruits of little more than ten years of success. those who magnify it for this reason, that the Roman People, albeit never in any war, have yet suffered defeat in a number of battles, whereas Alexander’s fortune was never aught but prosperous in any battle, fail to perceive that they are comparing the achievements of a man — and [10] a young man too — with those of a people that was now in its four hundredth year of warfare. [11] should it occasion us surprise if, seeing that upon the one side are counted more generations than are years upon the other, fortune should have varied more in that long time than in a life of thirteen years? [12] why not compare a man’s fortune with a man’s, and a general’s with a general’s? How many Roman generals could I name who never suffered a reverse in battle! in our annals and lists of magistrates you may run through pages of consuls and dictators of whom it never on any day repented the Roman People, whether of their generalship or fortune. [13] and what makes them more wonderful than Alexander or any king is this: some were dictators of ten or twenty days, and none held the consulship above a year; [14] their levies were obstructed by the tribunes of the plebs; they were late in going to war, and were called back early to conduct elections; [15] in the midst of their undertakings the year rolled round; now the rashness, now the frowardness of a colleague occasioned them losses or difficulties; they succeeded to affairs which others had mismanaged, they received an army of raw recruits, or one badly disciplined. [16] now consider kings: not only are they free from all impediments, but they are lords of time and circumstance, and in their counsels carry all things with them, instead of following in their train. [17] so then, an undefeated Alexander would have warred against undefeated generals, and would have brought the same pledges of Fortune to the crisis. [18] nay, he would have run a greater risk than they, inasmuch as the Macedonians would have had but a single Alexander, not only exposed to many dangers, but incurring them voluntarily, while there would have been [19] many Romans a match for Alexander, whether for glory or for the greatness of their deeds, of whom each several one would have lived and died as his own fate commanded, without endangering the State.
19. it remains to compare the forces on both sides, whether for numbers, or types of soldiers, or size of their contingents of auxiliaries. [2] The quinquennial enumerations of that period put the population at 250,000. And so at the time when all the Latin allies were in revolt it was the custom to enroll ten legions, by a levy which was virtually limited to the City. [3] in those years frequently four and five armies at a time would take the field, in Etruria, in Umbria (where they also fought the Gauls), in Samnium, and in Lucania. [4] later on Alexander would have found all Latium, with the Sabines, the Volsci and the Aequi, all Campania, and a portion of Umbria and Etruria, the Picentes and the Marsi and Paeligni, the Vestini and the Apulians, together with the whole coast of the Lower Sea, held by the Greeks, from Thurii as far as Naples and Cumae, and thence all the way to Antium and Ostia — all these, I say, he would have found either powerful friends of the Romans or their defeated enemies. [5] he himself would have crossed the sea with veteran Macedonians to the number of not more than thirty thousand foot and four thousand horse — mostly Thessalians — for this was his main strength. if to these he had added Persians and Indians and other nations, he would have found them a greater burden to have dragged about than a help.
[9.6] add to this, that the Romans would have had recruits ready to call upon, but Alexander, [7] as happened afterwards to Hannibal, would have found his army wear away, while he warred in a foreign land. [8] his men would have been armed with targets and spears: the Romans with an oblong shield, affording more protection to the body, and the Roman javelin, which strikes, on being thrown, with a much harder impact than the lance. [9] both armies were formed of heavy troops, keeping to their ranks; but their phalanx was immobile and consisted of soldiers of a single type; the Roman line was opener and comprised more separate units; it was easy to divide, wherever necessary, and easy to unite. moreover, what soldier can match the Roman in entrenching? who is better at enduring toil? [10] Alexander would, if beaten in a single battle, have been beaten in the war; but what battle could have overthrown the Romans, whom Caudium could not overthrow, nor Cannae? [11] nay, many a time — however prosperous the outset of his enterprise might have been — would he have wished for Indians and Persians and unwarlike Asiatics, and would have owned that he had before made war upon women, as Alexander, King of Epirus, is reported to have said, [12] when mortally wounded, contrasting the type of war waged by this very youth in Asia, with that which had fallen to his own share.
[9.13] indeed when I remember that we contended against the Carthaginians on the seas for four — andtwenty years, I think that the whole life of Alexander would hardly have sufficed for this single war; and perchance, inasmuch as the Punic State had been by ancient treaties leagued with the Roman, and the two cities most powerful in men and arms might well have made common cause against the foe whom both dreaded, he had been crushed beneath the simultaneous attacks of Rome and Carthage. [14] The Romans have been at war with the Macedonians — not, to be sure, when Alexander led them or their prosperity was unimpaired, but against Antiochus, Philippus, and Perses — and not only without ever suffering defeat, but even without incurring any danger. [15] proud word I would not speak, but never — and may civil wars be silent! — never have we been beaten by infantry, never in open battle, never on even, or at all events on favourable ground: [16] cavalry and arrows, impassable defiles, regions that afford no road to convoys, may well occasion fear in heavy — armed troops. [17] a thousand battle — arrays more formidable than those of Alexander and the Macedonians have the Romans beaten off — and shall do — if only our present love of domestic peace endure and our concern to maintain concord.
20. Marcus Polius Flaccina and Lucius Plautius Venox were the next consuls. in that year came ambassadors from many Samnite states to seek a renewal of the treaty. [2] prostrating themselves before the senate, they aroused the pity of that order, but on being referred to the people found their prayers by no means so efficacious. [3] accordingly they were refused the treaty, but after some days spent in importuning individual citizens, they succeeded in obtaining a two years’ truce. [4] in Apulia, likewise, the Teanenses and Canusini, exhausted by the devastation of their lands, gave hostages to Lucius Plautius the consul and made submission. [5] in the same year praefects began to be elected and sent out to Capua, after Lucius Furius, the praetor, had given them laws — both [6] steps being taken at the instance of the Capuans themselves, as a remedy for the distress occasioned by internal discord. at Rome two tribes were added, the Ufentina and the Falerna.
when affairs had once taken a tum in Apulia, the Apulian Teates also came to the new consuls, Gaius Junius Bubulcus and Quintus Aemilius Barbula, to sue for a treaty, engaging to insure the Roman People peace throughout [8] Apulia. by this bold pledge they prevailed so far as to obtain a treaty — not, however, on equal terms, but such as made them subject to the [9] Romans. after Apulia had been thoroughly subdued — for Forentum, a strong town, had also fallen into the hands of Junius — the campaign was extended to the Lucanians, from whom, on the sudden arrival of Aemilius the consul, Nerulum was taken by [10] assault. and once it had been noised abroad amongst the allies how the affairs of Capua were firmly established by Roman discipline, the Antiates, too, complained that they were living without fixed statutes and without magistrates, and the senate designated the colony’s own patrons to draw up laws for it. not Roman arms alone but also Roman law began to exert a widespread influence.
21. The consuls Gaius Junius Bubulcus and Quintus Aemilius Barbula gave over their legions, at the conclusion of the year, not to Spurius Nautius and Marcus Popilius, the consuls at whose election they had presided, but to a dictator — Lucius Aemilius. [2] The latter, with Lucius Fulvius, his master of the horse, laid siege to Saticula, and by so doing afforded the Samnites a pretext for renewing the war. [3] The Romans were thus threatened in two quarters: on the one side the Samnites, with a large army which they had mustered to relieve their besieged allies, were encamped at no great distance from the Roman camp; on the other side the Saticulani suddenly threw their gates wide open and charged pell — mell against the outposts of the Romans. [4] both hostile armies — each relying rather on the other’s help than on any strength of its own — then pressed home their attack, in what soon developed into a general engagement. but the dictator, despite the twofold struggle, was protected on both fronts, since he had chosen a position that was difficult to tum, and made his maniples face opposite ways. [5] however, he attacked the sallying party with the greater fury, and, encountering no very sharp resistance, drove them back into the town. he then directed his entire line against the Samnites. [6] there was more resistance here, but though the victory was slow in coming yet it was neither dubious nor partial. The Samnites fled in disorder to their camp, and in the night, putting out their fires, they silently stole away, and relinquishing all hope of saving Saticula, themselves laid siege to Plistica, an ally of Rome, that they might pay the enemy out in their own coin.
22. when the year had come round, the conduct of the war passed without a break into the hands of the dictator Quintus Fabius. The new consuls, as their predecessors had done, remained in Rome; Fabius took new forces to replace the old, and proceeded to Saticula, to receive the army from Aemilius. [2] for the Samnites had not continued before Plistica, but, summoning fresh troops from home and confiding in their numbers, had pitched their camp on the same spot as before, and were trying to provoke the Romans into giving battle, in the endeavour to divert them from the siege. [3] this but intensified the dictator’s concentration on the enemy’s walls, for he deemed the war to consist solely in the attack upon the city, and treated the Samnites with much indifference, save only that he posted out — guards to prevent their making any inroad upon his camp. [4] but this only made the Samnites the more audacious, and riding again and again up to the rampart, they gave no respite to the Romans. and now the enemy were almost in the gateway of the camp, when Quintus Aulius Cerretanus, the master of the horse, without consulting the dictator, sallied out with all his squadrons in a furious charge and drove them off. [5] at this juncture — though in a type of battle by no means marked by obstinacy — Fortune so used her powers as to bring extraordinary losses on both sides, and on the commanders themselves distinguished deaths. [6] The Samnite general first, indignant at being routed and put to flight from a position he had so boldly occupied, prevailed with his troopers by entreaties and encouragement to renew the conflict; [7] against whom, conspicuous amongst his followers as he urged them into battle, the Roman master of the horse rode such a tilt with levelled lance as at one lunge unhorsed and killed him. [8] yet the rank and file were not more dismayed by their leader’s death — though it often happens so — than they were angered; and as Aulius rode recklessly on through the enemy’s squadrons, all those about him darted their javelins at him. [9] but the glory of avenging the Samnite general was given by Heaven in largest measure to his brother, who, wild with grief and rage, dragged down the victorious Roman from his seat and slew him. indeed the Samnites almost got possession of the body, which had fallen in the midst of their troops. [10] but the Romans at once dismounted, and the Samnites were forced to do the same; and hurriedly forming up their lines, they began a battle on foot around the bodies of their generals, in which the Romans had easily the better. so they rescued the body of Aulius, which they bore back victoriously to their camp, with mingled feelings of sorrow and satisfaction. [11] The Samnites, having lost their commander, and having tried what they could do in a cavalry engagement, gave up Saticula, which they felt was holding out in vain, and returned to the siege of Plistica. within a few days’ time Saticula had surrendered to the Romans and the Samnites had carried Plistica by assault.
23. The seat of war was now shifted, and the legions were transferred from Samnium and Apulia to Sora, which had gone over to the Samnites, after putting to death the Roman colonists. [2] The Roman army, by a series of forced marches, undertaken to avenge their slaughtered fellow — citizens and regain the colony, came first upon the ground. [3] but the scouts who had scattered out along the roads reported one after the other that the Samnite legions were following and were already close at hand. [4] whereupon the Romans marched to meet the enemy, and an indecisive battle was fought near Lautulae. [5] it was not the losses nor the rout of either army that put a stop to the engagement, but darkness, which left them uncertain if they had lost or won. [6] i find in some authorities that the Romans were defeated in this battle, and that it was here that the master of the horse, Quintus Aulius, lost his life. to fill out the term of Aulius they appointed Gaius Fabius, who marched from Rome with a fresh army. sending messengers on ahead to the dictator, he consulted him as to where he should halt, and when, and from what quarter, attack the enemy. [7] on being accurately informed regarding every detail of the dictator’s plans, he halted where his army could lie concealed. [8] for some days after the battle the dictator had kept his soldiers within their works, more like one besieged than a besieger. then, suddenly, he displayed the battle — signal, and thinking it more efficacious for quickening the courage of brave men to leave none of them any hope but in himself, he concealed from his troops the arrival [9] of the master of the horse and his new army, and, as though their only salvation lay in cutting their way through, “soldiers,” he said, “we are trapped and have no way of escape save such as victory shall open to us. [10] our standing camp is sufficiently protected by its rampart, but for lack of provisions is untenable; for every place round about us from which supplies could be brought up has revolted, and even if men wished to help us, the character of the country is against it. [11] i will therefore not beguile you by leaving the camp standing here for you to make a refuge, if you fail of victory, as on the former occasion. entrenchments should be secured by arms, not arms by entrenchments. [12] let those have a camp, and retire to it, who have time to prolong the war: as for us, let us shut out all regard for everything but victory. [13] forward against the enemy! when the column is outside the rampart, let those who have been ordered to do so fire the camp! your losses, men, shall be made good with the spoils of all the revolted peoples round about!” [14] inflamed by the dictator’s speech, which pointed to the direst necessity, the soldiers advanced upon the foe; and the mere sight of their blazing camp as they glanced back, though only the nearest tents were set afire — for so the dictator had commanded — was no small whet to their resentment. [15] and so, charging like madmen, they threw the enemy’s ranks into confusion at the first assault; and in the nick of time the master of the horse, who had seen far away the burning camp — which was the signal they had agreed upon — assaulted the enemy from behind. [16] being thus hemmed in, the Samnites fled, as each best might, in different directions; a vast throng huddled up together, in their terror, and blocking each other’s way in the confusion, were cut down where they stood. [17] The enemy’s camp was seized and plundered, and the soldiers, laden with the spoils, were led back by the dictator to the Roman camp, rejoicing not so greatly in their victory as because, contrary to their expectation, they found all safe there, except for a trifling part that had been damaged by the flames.
24. The Romans then returned to Sora; and new consuls, Marcus Poetelius and Gaius Sulpicius, took over the army from Fabius the dictator, dismissing a great part of the veteran troops and bringing in new cohorts to replace them. [2] but the city lay in a troublesome position, where the Romans could devise no very certain way of getting at it, and it seemed that victory would either be long in coming, or fraught with fearful risks; [3] when a Soran deserter stole out of the town, and picking his way to the Roman sentinels, bade them bring him immediately to the consuls. arrived in their presence, he offered to betray the city. [4] on being questioned how he could accomplish it, he satisfied his interrogators that his plan was not unfeasible, and induced them to withdraw the Roman camp — which was almost in contact with the city walls — to a distance of six miles from the town; for so, he said, the sentinels would be less vigilant in guarding the place, whether by night or day. [5] he himself on the following night, having directed certain cohorts to seek cover in the woods below the town, took with him ten picked men, whom he conducted over steep and almost impassable ground up to the citadel. [6] here he had brought together a quantity of missiles out of all proportion to the number of men, besides which there were stones — both those which happened to be lying there, as is usual in rough country, and those which the townsmen had piled up on purpose, for the better protection of the place.
[9.7] on this height he posted the Romans, and, indicating to them a steep and narrow path which led up from the town to the citadel, lie said, “from an ascent like this three men would be enough to keep back a multitude, however numerous: you are not only ten, but Romans, and of Romans the very bravest. [8] you will have the advantage of position and of night, which makes everything loom greater in the eyes of frightened men, because of the obscurity. as for me, I will presently strike terror into every heart: do you hold the citadel and watch.” [9] he then ran down, making all the noise he could, as he cried “to arms!” and “help, help, my countrymen! The citadel has been taken by the enemy! defend us!” [10] These words he shouted as he knocked at the doors of the great, the same to all he met, the same to those who rushed out terrified into the streets. The panic begun by one man was spread by numbers through all the city. [11] quaking with fear, the magistrates dispatched scouts to investigate, and on hearing that armed men, in exaggerated numbers, held the citadel, relinquished all hope of regaining it. [12] The city was thronged with fugitives, and men who were hardly yet awake and most of them unarmed, began battering down the gates. through one of them rushed in the band of Romans, who had started up on hearing the outcry, and now running through the streets, cut down the frightened townsfolk. [13] Sora was already taken, when the consuls arrived at early dawn, and received the surrender of such as Fortune had spared in the rout and slaughter of the night. [14] of these, two hundred and twenty — five, who were designated on all hands as the authors of the revolt and the hideous massacre of the colonists, they sent to Rome in chains; the rest they left unharmed in Sora, only setting a garrison over them. [15] all those who were taken to Rome were scourged and beheaded in the Forum, to the great joy of the commons, whom it most nearly concerned that the people who were sent out here and there to colonies should in every case be protected.
25. The consuls on leaving Sora conducted a campaign against the lands and cities of the Ausones. [2] for everything had been disturbed by the coming of the Samnites, when the battle was fought at Lautulae, and conspiracies had been formed all about Campania. even Capua itself did not escape accusation; nay, the investigation actually led to Rome and to some of the prominent men there. [3] but the Ausones were brought into subjection by the betrayal of their cities, as had happened in the case of Sora. [4] from Ausona, from Minturnae, and from Vescia, twelve young nobles, having conspired to betray their cities, came to the consuls, and explained to them that their countrymen, after long looking forward to the coming of the Samnites, had no sooner heard of the [5] battle at Lautulae than they had concluded the Romans vanquished and had aided the Samnites with men and arms; [6] that since the expulsion of the Samnites from that region, they had been living in an uncertain kind of peace, not closing their gates upon the Romans, lest to do so should invite attack, but determined none the less to close them in case an army should approach; and that in that wavering state of mind they could be surprised and overcome. [7] by their advice the camp was moved up nearer and soldiers were simultaneously sent round to the three towns. some of these, in armour, were to lie in ambush in places near the walls, while others, wearing the toga and concealing swords under their dress, were to enter the cities, a little before day, by the open gates. [8] These latter fell upon the watchmen, at the same time making a signal to their fellows in armour to rush in from their ambuscade. thus the gates were captured, and three towns were taken in one hour and by one device. [9] but because the leaders were not present when the attack was made, there was no limit to the slaughter, and the Ausonian nation was wiped out — though it was not quite clear that it was guilty of defection — exactly as if it had contended in an internecine war.
26. in the same year Luceria, betraying its Roman garrison to the enemy, passed into the possession of the Samnites; but the traitors did not long go unpunished for their deed. [2] not far away there was a Roman army, which captured the city — situated as it was in a plain — at the first attack. [3] The Lucerini and Samnites were shown no quarter, and resentment ran so high that even in Rome, when the senate was debating the dispatch of colonists to Luceria, there were many who voted to destroy the town. [4] besides men’s hate, which was very bitter against those whom they had twice subdued, there was also the remoteness of the place, which made them shrink from condemning fellow — citizens to an exile so far from home and surrounded by such hostile tribes. [5] however, the proposal to send colonists prevailed, and twenty — five hundred were sent.
in that year also of general disloyalty to the Romans, there were secret conspiracies of the nobles, even at Capua. [6] on their being reported to the senate, the danger was by no means minimized, but tribunals of enquiry were voted and it was determined to appoint a dictator to conduct the investigations. [7] Gaius Maenius was nominated, and named Marcus Folius master of the horse. Great was the terror inspired by that magistracy; and so, whether from fear or a guilty conscience, the Calavii, Ovius and Novius, who had headed the conspiracy, before informations could be lodged against them with the dictator, avoided trial by a death which was undoubtedly self — inflicted.
[9.8] after that, the field of enquiry at Capua having been exhausted, the proceedings were transferred to Rome, on the theory that the senate had ordered an investigation, not of specified individuals in Capua, but, in general, of all who had anywhere combined or conspired against the State; and that cabals for obtaining magistracies had been made against the common weal. [9] The enquiry began to take a wider range, in respect both of charges and of persons, and the dictator was nothing loath that there should be no limit to the jurisdiction of his court. [10] certain nobles were accordingly impeached, and on appealing to the tribunes found none to help them by stopping the informations. [11] The nobles then declared — not those alone at whom the charge was levelled, but all of them conjointly — that this accusation did not lie against the nobility, to whom, unless fraudulently obstructed, the road to office lay wide open, but rather against upstart politicians; [12] that in fact the dictator and the master of the horse themselves were fitter to be tried on such a charge than to act as judges, and they would find this to be so the moment they resigned their places.
[9.13] then indeed Maenius, more mindful now of his reputation than of his authority, came forward and addressed the assembly. [14] “you are all of you,” he said, “Quirites, aware of my past life, and this very office which has been conferred upon me is witness to my innocence; for it was necessary to select as dictator for the administration of judicial investigations, not the most distinguished soldier — as has often been done at other times, when some crisis in the state required it — but the man who had lived a life most aloof from these cabals. [15] but since certain noblemen — for what cause it is better that you should form your own opinion than that I as magistrate should affirm anything not fully ascertained — have in the first place striven with might and main to defeat these very investigations; [16] and then, finding themselves not strong enough to escape pleading their cause in court, have sought refuge, patricians though they are, in the safeguards of their adversaries — the appeal, I mean, and the help of the tribunes; — [17] and since at last, repulsed in that quarter, they have fallen upon us — so much safer does any course appear to them than to try to vindicate their innocence and have not blushed, though private citizens, to demand the impeachment of a dictator; [18] — in order that all gods and men may know that they are attempting even impossibilities to avoid accounting for their lives, whereas I am ready to face their charge and to offer myself to my enemies to be tried, I hereby resign the dictator’s authority. [19] you, consuls, I beseech, if the task shall be devolved upon you by the senate, that you begin your investigations with me and with Marcus Folius here, that it may be seen that we are safe from these accusations by reason of our innocence, not by reason of the awe inspired by our office.” [20] he then resigned as dictator, and so at once did Folius as master of the horse. they were the first to go to trial before the consuls — for to these the senate had given the matter in charge — and, against the testimony of the nobles, were gloriously acquitted. [21] Publilius Philo, too, after all his famous achievements at home and in war, and after having repeatedly held the highest offices, had incurred the hate of the nobility, and was brought to trial and acquitted. [22] but the inquisition, as often happens, had the vigour to deal with illustrious defendants no longer than while its novelty lasted; after that it began to descend to the baser sort, until it was finally put down by the cabals and factions which it had been instituted to oppose.
27. The rumour of these events, and still more the hope of a Campanian insurrection, which had been the aim of the conspirators, recalled the Samnites from Apulia, on which their attention had been fixed, to Caudium; [2] in the hope that, being there so near, they might, if any disturbance should afford the opportunity, seize Capua from the Romans; and to Caudium came the consuls, with a powerful force. [3] both armies at first held back, each on its own side of the pass, for either would have been at a disadvantage in advancing against the other. [4] then the Samnites made a short detour over open ground, and brought their army down to the plain, where the hostile forces were, for the first time, encamped in sight of one another. some skirmishing followed, in which both sides made trial more often of their cavalry than their foot. [5] The Romans were not dissatisfied either with the outcome of these brushes or with the delays by which the campaign was protracted. [6] to the Samnite leaders, on the contrary, it appeared that their forces were daily diminishing with petty losses, and were wasting away with the prolongation of the war.
[9.7] they accordingly made ready for a general engagement, dividing their cavalry between the wings, with orders to pay more attention to the camp, to prevent any attack upon it, than to the battle; for the infantry would sufficiently safeguard the line. [8] of the consuls, Sulpicius took up his post on the right wing, Poetelius on the left. The formation on the right was spread out over a considerable distance, and on that wing the Samnites, too, were drawn up in ranks of little depth, either meaning to tum the Romans’ flank, or to keep their own from being turned. [9] The troops on the left, besides being drawn up in closer order, had received an accession to their strength from a plan conceived on the spur of the moment by Poetelius. [10] for those subsidiary cohorts which were wont to be kept fresh in reserve, to meet the chance needs of a long engagement, he sent immediately into the fighting line; and by using all his strength at once, he forced the enemy back at the first assault. as the Samnite infantry wavered, their cavalry moved up to support them. but while they came obliquely onward, in the interval between the armies, the Roman cavalry charged them at the gallop, confounding the ranks and the formations of horse and foot, until they had routed the entire army at that point. [11] on that wing Sulpicius was present, as well as Poetelius, to animate the soldiers, for when the shouting arose upon the left, he had ridden over there, leaving his own men, who were not yet come to grips with the enemy. [12] but perceiving his colleague’s victory to be safe, he left him and rode off with twelve hundred men to his own wing. [13] there he found affairs in a different posture; the Romans had been driven out of their position, and the victorious enemy were charging their disordered ranks. but all was quickly changed by the arrival of the consul. for the sight of their general revived the spirits of the soldiers, and the brave men who followed him were a greater succour than their numbers indicated; and the tidings of their comrades’ victory, which they soon saw for themselves, restored the battle. [14] presently the Romans had begun to conquer all along the line, while the Samnites, giving up the struggle, were massacred or made prisoners, except those who fled to Maleventum, the city which is now called Beneventum. tradition avers that some thirty thousand Samnites were slain or captured.
28. The consuls, who had won a brilliant victory, at once marched away to lay siege [2] to Bovianum, where they remained in winter quarters, until the new consuls, Lucius Papirius Cursor (for the fifth time) and Gaius Junius Bubulcus (for the second) appointed Gaius Poetelius dictator, who, with Marcus Folius as master of horse, took over the command. [3] Poetelius, hearing that the citadel of Fregellae was captured by the Samnites, raised the siege of Bovianum and proceeded to Fregellae. having got possession of the place without a struggle — for the Samnites fled from it in the night — he installed a strong garrison there, and leaving Fregellae, marched back into Campania, for the purpose, chiefly, of winning back Nola by force of arms. [4] within its walls, as the dictator drew near, the whole Samnite population and the Nolani of the country — side had taken refuge. [5] after examining the position of the city, the dictator, in order to open up approaches to the walls, caused all the buildings round them — and the tract was densely inhabited — to be burnt. not very long after this Nola was captured, whether by Poetelius the dictator or the consul Gaius Junius — for the story is told both ways. [6] those who ascribe the honour of capturing Nola to the consul, add that Atina and Calatia were won by the same man, but that Poetelius was made dictator on the outbreak of a pestilence, that lie might drive the nail.
[9.7] colonies were planted in that same year at Suessa and Pontiae. Suessa had belonged to the Aurunci; Volscians had inhabited Pontiae, an island which lay within sight of their own coast. [8] The senate also passed a resolution that a colony be sent out to Interamna Sucasina, but it was left for the next consuls, Marcus Valerius and Publius Decius, to appoint the three commissioners and send out four thousand settlers.
29. The war with the Samnites was practically ended, but the Roman senators had not yet ceased to be concerned about it, when the rumour of an Etruscan war sprang up. [2] in those days there was no other race — setting apart the risings of the Gauls — whose arms were more dreaded, not only because their territory lay so near, but also because of their [3] numbers. accordingly, while the other consul was in Samnium, dispatching the last remnants of the war, Publius Decius, who was very sick and had stopped behind in Rome, in pursuance of a senatorial resolution named Gaius Sulpicius Longus dictator, who appointed Gaius Junius Bubulcus to be his master of the [4] horse. Sulpicius, as the gravity of the circumstances required, administered the oath to all those of military age, and made ready arms and whatever else the situation called for, with the utmost assiduity. yet he was not so carried away with these great preparations as to plan for an offensive war, clearly intending to remain inactive, unless the Etruscans should first take the [5] field. but the Etruscans followed the same policy, preparing for war but preventing it from breaking out. neither side went beyond their own frontiers.
[9.6] noteworthy, too, in that year was the censorship of Appius Claudius and Gaius Plautius; but the name of Appius was of happier memory with succeeding generations, because he built a road, and conveyed a stream of water into the [7] City. These undertakings he carried out by himself, since his colleague had resigned, overcome with shame at the disgraceful and invidious manner in which Appius revised the list [8] of senators; and Appius, exhibiting the obstinacy which had marked his family from the earliest days, exercised the [9] censorship alone. it was Appius, too, by whose warranty the Potitian clan, with whom the priesthood of Hercules at the Ara Maxima was hereditary, taught the ritual of that sacrifice to public slaves, in order to devolve the service [10] upon them. tradition relates that after this a strange thing happened, and one that might well give men pause ere they disturb the established order of religious ceremonies. for whereas at that time there were twelve families of the Potitii, and grown men to the number of thirty, within the year they had perished, every man, and the stock had [11] become extinct; and not only did the name of the Potitii die out, but even the censor, by the unforgetting ire of the gods, was a few years later stricken blind.
30. and so the consuls of the following year, Gaius Junius Bubulcus (for the third time) and Quintus Aemilius Barbula (for the second), complained to the people, at the outset of their administration, that the senatorial order had been depraved by the improper choice of members, in which better men had been passed over than some that had been appointed. [2] they then gave notice that they should ignore that list, which had been drawn up with no distinction of right and wrong, in a spirit of favouritism and caprice; and proceeded to call the roll of the senate in the order which had been in use before Appius Claudius and Gaius Plautius were censors. [3] in that year, also, two commands — both military — began to be conferred by the people; for it was enacted, first, that sixteen tribunes of the soldiers should be chosen by popular vote for the four legions, whereas previously these places had been for the most part in the gift of dictators and consuls, very few being left to popular suffrage; secondly, that the people should likewise elect two naval commissioners to have charge of equipping and refitting the fleet. [4] The former of these measures was proposed by the tribunes of the plebs Lucius Atilius and Gaius Marcius; the latter by Marcus Decius, another tribune of the plebs.
[9.5] i should omit, as an incident hardly worth narrating, a little thing that happened in that same year, but that it seemed to concern religion. The flute — players, angry at having been forbidden by the last censors to hold their feast, according to old custom, in the temple of Jupiter, went off to Tibur in a body, so that there was no one in the City to pipe at sacrifices. [6] troubled by the religious aspect of the case, the senate dispatched representatives to the Tiburtines, requesting them to use their best endeavours to restore these men to Rome. [7] The Tiburtines courteously undertook to do so; and sending for the pipers to their senate — house, urged them to return. when they found it impossible to persuade them, they employed a ruse, not ill — adapted to the nature of the men. [8] on a holiday various citizens invited parties of the pipers to their houses, on the pretext of celebrating the feast with music. there they plied them with wine, which people of that profession are generally greedy of, until they got them stupefied. [9] in this condition they threw them, fast asleep, into waggons and carried them away to Rome; nor did the pipers perceive what had taken place until daylight found them — still suffering from the debauch — in the waggons, which had been left standing in the Forum. [10] The people then flocked about them and prevailed with them to remain. they were permitted on three days in every year to roam the City in festal robes, making music and enjoying the licence that is now customary, and to such as should play at sacrifices was given again the privilege of banqueting in the temple. These incidents occurred while men were preoccupied with two mighty wars.
31. The consuls divided the commands between them: to Junius the lot assigned the Samnites, to Aemilius the new war with Etruria. [2] in Samnium the Roman garrison at Cluviae, which had defended itself successfully against assault, was starved into submission. The Samnites, having scourged their prisoners in brutal fashion, put them to death, although they had surrendered. [3] incensed by this act of cruelty, Junius felt that nothing should take precedence over an attack on Cluviae. he carried the place by storm on the day he arrived before it, and slew all the grown — up males. [4] from there he led his victorious army to Bovianum. this was the capital of the Pentrian Samnites, a very wealthy city and very rich in arms and men. [5] against this town the soldiers were not so exasperated, but the hope of plunder spurred them on to capture it. and so there was less severity shown to the enemy, but there was almost more booty carried out than was ever collected from all the rest of Samnium, and the whole of it was generously made over to the soldiers.
[9.6] when the conquering arms of the Romans might now no longer be withstood by any embattled host or camp or city, the leaders of the Samnites all eagerly directed their attention to the seeking out a place for an ambush, on the chance that the army might somehow be permitted to disperse for plundering, and so be surprised and surrounded. [7] certain rustic deserters and prisoners, some falling into the consul’s hands by accident and some on purpose, by giving all the same account — and a true one, too — of enormous flocks that had been brought together in an inaccessible mountain meadow, persuaded him to lead thither his legions in light marching order to seize the booty. [8] there a great army of the enemy had secretly beset the ways, and seeing that the Romans had entered the pass, rose up suddenly with much din and shouting and fell upon them unawares. [9] at first the unexpectedness of the attack occasioned some trepidation, while the soldiers were putting on their armour and piling their packs in the midst. afterwards, when everyone had got rid of his encumbrance and had armed himself, they began to assemble from every side about their standards. in the course of a long training in the army they had become familiar with their places, and formed a line of their own accord, without anyone’s direction. [10] The consul, riding up to the place where the fighting was most critical, leaped down from his horse, and called on Jupiter and Mars and the other gods to witness that he had come there seeking no glory for himself, but only booty for his soldiers: [11] his sole fault, he said, was a too great desire to enrich his men; from this disgrace nothing could save him but their courage. [12] only let them all unite in singleness of purpose to assail an enemy conquered in battle, stripped of his camp, deprived of his cities, and pinning his last hopes to the treachery of an ambuscade, were his trust was in his position, not in arms. but what position was there now, he demanded, too strong for Roman valour to overwhelm? [13] he reminded them of Fregellae’s citadel and Sora’s, and all the places where they had triumphed over disadvantage of ground.
[9.14] roused by these words, the soldiers disregarded every obstacle and advanced against the battle — line which their enemies had formed above them. there was a little hard fighting there, while the column was mounting the slope; [15] but as soon as the foremost companies had reached the plateau at the top, and the soldiers perceived that their line was now established on level ground, the panic was straightway turned upon the waylayers, who fled, dispersing and throwing down their arms, in search of those very lurking — places where a little while before they had concealed themselves. [16] but the ground which they had sought out for the difficulties it presented to an enemy caught the Samnites themselves in a trap of their own devising. and so, very few were able to get off; about twenty thousand men were slain; and the victorious Romans struck out this way and that to collect the booty of cattle which the enemy had thrown in their way.
32. while these events were taking place in Samnium, all the peoples of Etruria, except the Arretini, had already armed, and beginning with the siege of Sutrium, a city in alliance with the Romans, and forming as it were the key to Etruria, had set on foot a tremendous war. [2] thither the other consul, Aemilius, came with an army, to relieve the blockade of the allies. as the Romans came up, the Sutrini obligingly brought provisions to their camp, which was formed before the city. [3] The Etruscans spent the first day in deliberating whether to accelerate the war or to draw it out. [4] on the following day, their generals having decided on the swifter plan in preference to the safer, the signal for battle was displayed at sunrise and their men in fighting array marched out upon the field. [5] when this was reported to the consul, he at once commanded the word to be passed round that the men should breakfast, and having recruited their strength with food, should then arm. The order was obeyed; and the consul, seeing them equipped and ready, bade advance the standards beyond the rampart, and drew up his troops a little way off from the enemy. [6] for some time both sides stood fast, observing one another closely, each waiting for the other to give a cheer and begin to fight, and the sun had begun his downward course in the heavens ere a missile was hurled on either side. [7] then the Etruscans, that they might not withdraw without accomplishing their purpose, set up a shout, and with sound of trumpets advanced their ensigns. [8] The Romans were equally prompt to begin the battle. The two armies rushed together with great fury, the enemy having a superiority in numbers, the Romans in bravery. [9] Victory hung in the balance and many perished on both sides, including all the bravest, and the event was not decided until the Roman second line came up with undiminished vigour to relieve their exhausted comrades in the first; and the Etruscans, whose fighting line was supported by no fresh reserves, all fell in front of their standards and around them. [10] there would never in any battle have been more bloodshed or less running away, but when the Etruscans were resolved to die, the darkness shielded them, so that the victors gave over fighting before the vanquished. [11] The sun had set when the recall was sounded, and in the night both armies retired to their camps.
thereafter there was nothing done that year at Sutrium worth recording. [12] The enemy had lost their whole first line in a single engagement, and had only their reserves remaining, who barely sufficed to garrison their camp; whilst the Romans had so many wounded that more died of their hurts after the battle than had fallen on the field.
33. Quintus Fabius, consul in the following year, took over the campaign at Sutrium. for colleague he was given Gaius Marcius Rutulus. [2] Fabius brought up replacements from Rome, and a new army came from Etruria to reinforce the enemy.
[9.3] for a great many years now there had been no contests between the patrician magistrates and the tribunes, when a dispute — arose through that family which was fated, as it seemed, to wrangle with the tribunes and with the plebs. [4] Appius Claudius the censor, on the expiration of the eighteen months which had been fixed by the Aemilian law as the limit of the censorship, although his colleague Gaius Plautius had abdicated, could himself by no compulsion be prevailed upon to do likewise. [5] it was Publius Sempronius, a tribune of the people, who commenced an action to confine the censorship to its legal limits — an action no less just than popular, and as welcome to every aristocrat as to the common people. [6] having repeatedly read out the Aemilian law, and praised its author, Mamercus Aemilius the dictator, for confining the censorship — which had until then been tenable for five years and was proving despotic by reason of the long continuance of its authority — within [7] the space of a year and a half, he said, “come, tell us, Appius Claudius, what you would have done had you been censor at the time when Gaius Furius and Marcus Geganius were censors.” [8] Appius replied that the tribune’s question had no particular bearing upon his own case; [9] for even though the Aemilian law had bound those censors in whose term of office it had been passed, because the people had enacted the law after their election to the censorship and their latest enactment was always the effective law, yet neither himself nor any one of those who had been chosen censors subsequently to the passage of that law could have been bound by it.
34. while Appius raised these quibbles, but found no one to support him, “behold, Quirites,” said Sempronius, “the descendant of that Appius, who having been elected decemvir for one year, himself declared his own election for a second year, and in the third, although a private citizen, with neither his own nor another’s warrant of election, retained [2] the fasces and authority, and relinquished not his hold on the magistracy until he was overwhelmed by his ill — gotten, ill — administered, and ill — continued powers. it was this same family, Quirites, under compulsion of whose violence and abuse you banished yourselves from your native City and occupied the Sacred Mount; the same against which [4] you provided yourselves with the help of tribunes; the same, because of which two armies of you encamped upon the Aventine; the same that has ever attacked the laws restricting usury and throwing open the public [5] lands. this same family broke off marriages between patricians and plebeians; this same family blocked the path of the plebeians to curule [6] offices. it is a name that is far more hostile to your liberty than that of the Tarquinii. so, Appius Claudius! though it is now a hundred years since Mamercus Aemilius was dictator, and in that time we have had all these censors, high — born and valiant men, has never one of them inspected the Twelve [7] Tables? has none of them known that the law was that which the people had last enacted? nay, all of them knew it; and they obeyed the Aemilian law in preference to that ancient ordinance which governed the first elections of censors, precisely because it was the latest which the people had enacted, and [8] because in a conflict of two laws the old is ever superseded by the new.
[9.9] “or will this be your contention, Appius, that the people is not bound by the Aemilian law? or that the people is bound, but that you alone are exempt? The Aemilian law bound those violent censors Gaius Furius and Marcus Geganius, who showed what mischief that magistracy could accomplish in the state, when, in their rage at the abridgment of their powers, they reduced Mamercus Aemilius, the foremost man of his time in war and peace, to the lowest class of [10] citizens; it bound all the censors who succeeded them, for the period of a hundred years; it binds Gaius Plautius, your colleague, who was given the office under the same auspices and with the same rights as [11] yourself. or did the people not make Plautius censor as one who had been elected with the fullest rights? are you the sole exception in whose case this holds, as a unique and peculiar [12] privilege? whom, pray, could men elect as king for sacrifice? he will seize on the title of sovereignty, and assert that he has been chosen as one elected with fullest rights to be king at Rome. who, think you, will be content with six months as dictator; who with five days as [13] interrex? whom would you be so rash as to make dictator for the purpose of driving the nail or celebrating games? how dull and lumpish must those men seem to Appius, who after accomplishing great feats resigned the post of dictator within twenty days, or laid down the reins of office because of a flaw in their [14] election! why should I cite antiquity? recently, within these ten years, Gaius Maenius the dictator, for conducting an inquisition with more severity than was safe for certain great men, was accused by his ill — wishers of being tainted with that very felony which he was searching out, and abdicated the dictatorship, that he might face the charge as a private [15] citizen. far be it from me to require such self — denial of you! fall not away from the most imperious and proud of families; quit not your magistracy one day, one hour, sooner than you must; only see that you overstep not the appointed [16] limit. is it enough to add a day, or a month, to his censorship? three years,’ quoth he, and six months beyond the time permitted by the Aemilian law will I administer the censorship, and administer it alone.’ surely this begins to look like [17] monarchy!
“or will you substitute a colleague for the other, though even in a dead man’s place such substitution is forbidden by [18] religion? you are not satisfied forsooth with having in your scrupulous exercise of a censor’s powers diverted the service of our most ancient cult, the only one inaugurated by the god himself in whose honour it is observed, from the priesthood of the most exalted nobles to the ministry of [19] slaves; it was not enough that a family more ancient than the beginnings of this City, and sanctified by the entertainment of the immortal gods, should through you and your censorship be within a year uprooted and [20] destroyed; no, you must needs involve the entire state in such heinous guilt as even to name is an omen that fills my mind with [21] dread. The city was captured in that lustrum when, on the death of his colleague Gaius Julius, Lucius Papirius Cursor, to avoid having to vacate his office, caused Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis to be substituted in the room of the dead man. and how much more moderate, Appius, was his ambition than [22] yours! The censorship of Lucius Papirius was neither a sole one nor one prolonged beyond the legally established term; yet he found none to follow his example; all succeeding censors have abdicated on the death of a colleague. but you neither the expiration of your time restrains nor the fact that your colleague has resigned, nor the law, nor a sense of decency: you reckon worth in terms of pride, of recklessness, of contempt for gods and [23] men.
“for my own part, Appius Claudius, when I think of the dignity of that office you have held and the reverence attaching to it, I could wish that I might spare you not only personal violence but even an ungentle [24] word; but your stubbornness and pride have compelled me to say what I have so far said, and unless you obey the Aemilian law, I shall order you to [25] prison; nor, seeing that our forefathers have ordained that in the election of censors, if either fall short of the legal vote, the election shall be put off and the other not be declared elected, will I now suffer you, who cannot be elected as sole censor, to administer the censorship alone.”
[9.26] having uttered these and similar remonstrances, he ordered the censor to be arrested and carried off to prison. six tribunes approved the action of their colleague: three protected Appius on his appeal, and, greatly to the indignation of all classes, he continued as sole censor.
35. during the progress of this affair in Rome, the Etruscans were already laying siege to Sutrium; and the consul Fabius, leading his army along the foot of the mountains to relieve the allies, and, if in any way practicable, to attack the works of the besiegers, encountered the enemy drawn up in line of battle. [2] The plain spreading out below him revealed to the consul their exceeding strength; and in order to make up for his own deficiency in numbers by the advantage of position, he altered slightly his line of march, so as to mount the hills — which were rough and covered with stones — and there turned and faced the enemy. [3] The Etruscans, forgetting everything but their numbers, in which alone they trusted, entered the combat with such haste and eagerness that they cast away their missiles in order to come the sooner to close quarters, and drawing their swords rushed at the enemy. [4] The Romans, on the contrary, fell to pelting them, now with javelins and now with stones, of which latter the ground itself provided a good supply; [5] and even such of the Etruscans as were not wounded were confused by the blows that rattled down on their helms and shields. [6] it was no easy matter to get close enough for fighting hand to hand, and they had no javelins for long — range work. there they stood, exposed to missiles, with no adequate cover of any sort, and as some of them gave ground and the line began to waver and be unsteady, the Roman first and second lines, giving a fresh cheer, charged them, sword in hand. [7] their onset was too much for the Etruscans, who faced about and fled headlong towards their camp. [8] but the Roman cavalry, riding obliquely across the plain, presented themselves in front of the fugitives, who then abandoned the attempt to reach their camp and sought the mountains; from which they made their way in a body, unarmed and suffering from their wounds, to the Ciminian Forest. The Romans, having slain many thousand Etruscans and captured eight — and — thirty standards, took possession also of the enemy’s camp, with a very large booty. they then began to consider the feasibility of a pursuit.
36. in those days the Ciminian Forest was more impassable and appalling than were lately the wooded defiles of Germany, and no one — not even a trader — had up to that time visited it. to enter it was a thing that hardly anyone but the general himself was bold enough to do: with all the rest the recollection of the Caudine Forks was still too vivid. [2] then one of those present, the consul’s brother Marcus Fabius, — some say that it was Caeso Fabius, others Gaius Claudius, a son of the same mother as the consul — offered to explore and return in a short time with definite information about everything. [3] he had been educated at Caere in the house of family friends, and from this circumstance was learned in Etruscan writings and knew the Etruscan language well. i have authority for believing that in that age Roman boys were regularly wont to be schooled in Etruscan literature, as nowadays they are trained in Greek; but it seems more probable that this man possessed some exceptional qualification to induce him to venture amongst enemies in so daring a disguise. [4] it is said that his only companion was a slave, brought up with him, and hence acquainted, like his master, with the language. [5] they set out, after acquiring no more than a summary knowledge of the nature of the region they must enter and the names of the chief men in those tribes, to save them from being detected in conversation by boggling at any well — known fact. [6] they went dressed as shepherds and armed with rustic weapons, namely billhooks and a brace of javelins apiece. but neither their familiarity with the tongue nor the fashion of their dress and weapons was so great a protection to them as the fact that it was repugnant to belief that any stranger would enter the Ciminian defiles. [7] they are said to have penetrated as far as Camerinum in Umbria, where the Roman, having ventured to tell who they were, was introduced into the senate, and treated with them in the consul’s name for friendship and an alliance. [8] having then been hospitably entertained, lie was bidden to carry word back to the Romans that thirty days’ provisions for their army would be waiting for them, if they came into that region, and that the young men of the Umbrian Camertes would be armed and ready to obey their orders.
[9.9] on their success being made known to the consul, he sent the baggage ahead, in the first watch, and directed the legions to follow the baggage. [10] he himself stopped behind with the cavalry, and at dawn of the following day made a demonstration against the enemy’s outposts, which had been stationed at the entrance to the pass. having kept the enemy in play for a sufficient time, he retired within his camp, and emerging from it by the opposite gate overtook the column before night. [11] next day, with the first rays of light, he was on the crest of the Ciminian mountain and, looking thence over the rich ploughlands of Etruria, sent his soldiers to plunder. [12] The Romans had already brought away out enormous booty when certain improvised bands of Etruscan peasants, called together in hot haste by the chief men of that country, encountered them, but with so little discipline that in seeking to regain the spoils they had nearly been made a spoil themselves. [13] having slain or driven off these men and wasted the country far and wide, the Romans returned to their camp, victorious and enriched with all manner of supplies. [14] there, as it happened, they found five legates, with two tribunes of the plebs, who had come to order Fabius in the name of the senate not to cross the Ciminian Forest. rejoicing that they had come too late to be able to hinder the campaign, they returned to Rome with tidings of victory.
37. this expedition of the consul’s, instead of putting an end to the war, only gave it a wider range. for the district lying about the base of Mount Ciminius had felt the devastation, and had aroused not only Etruria to resentment but the neighbouring parts of Umbria also. [2] so an army came to Sutrium that was larger than any they had raised before; and not only did they move forward their camp, out of the woods, but even, in their eagerness for combat, came down into the plain at the earliest opportunity in battle formation. [3] at first, after forming up, they stood still in their positions, having left their enemies room to draw up opposite. then, finding the Romans in no haste to engage them, they advanced up to the rampart. [4] when they saw that even the outguards had retired within the works, they began shouting to their generals, to have their rations for the day sent out to them from the camp; they would wait under arms, they said, and either that night, or at daybreak at the latest, attack the enemy’s stockade. The Roman army was every whit as restless, but was restrained by the general’s authority. [5] it was about the tenth hour of the day when the consul bade the soldiers sup, and commanded them to be armed and ready at whatever hour of the day or night he might give the signal. [6] in a brief address he magnified the Samnite wars and belittled the Etruscans: there was no comparison, he said, between the two enemies, or between their numbers; moreover, he had an additional weapon in concealment; they should know about it when the time came; until then it must remain a secret. [7] by these obscure hints he sought to engender a belief that the enemy were being betrayed, in order to revive the spirits of his men, which were damped by the numbers of their enemies; and the fact that the Etruscans had thrown up no breastworks where they lay lent colour to the insinuation.
refreshed with food, the soldiers gave themselves up to sleep, and at about the fourth watch were awakened without noise and put on their armour. [8] mattocks were issued to the soldiers’ servants, that they might level the rampart and fill up the trenches. [9] The line was drawn up inside the fortifications, and selected cohorts were posted at the exits. then, on the signal being given a little before dawn, which on summer nights is the time of deepest sleep, the rampart was thrown down, and the Romans, rushing out in battle — formation, fell upon their enemies, who were lying all about the field. [10] some were slain without even stirring in their sleep, some were but half awake, the greatest number were reaching in terror for their weapons. only a few were given time to arm themselves; and even these, with no definite standard to follow and no leader, the Romans routed and chased from the field. some made for the camp and others for the mountains, as they fled this way and that. The forests afforded the surer refuge; for the camp, being situated in the plain, was captured the same day. [11] orders were issued that all gold and silver be brought to the consul; the rest of the booty went to the soldiers. on that day the enemy lost sixty thousand slain or captured.
some historians relate that this famous battle was fought on the other side of the Ciminian Forest, near Perusia, and that Rome was in a panic lest the army should be surrounded and cut off in that dangerous defile by the Tuscans and Umbrians rising up on every hand. [12] but, wherever it was fought, the Romans were the victors. and so from Perusia and Cortona and Arretium, which at that time might be the chief cities of the nations of Etruria, ambassadors came to Rome to sue for peace and an alliance. they obtained a truce for thirty years.
38. while these things were going on in Etruria, the other consul, Gaius Marcius Rutulus, captured Allifae from the Samnites by assault. many forts and villages besides were either wiped out in the course of hostilities or came intact into the hands of the [2] Romans.
at about this time a Roman fleet, commanded by Publius Cornelius, whom the senate had placed in charge of the coast, sailed for Campania and put into Pompeii. from there the sailors and rowers set out to pillage the territory of Nuceria. having quickly ravaged the nearest fields, from which they might have returned in safety to their ships, they were lured on, as often happens, by the love of booty, and going too far abroad aroused the [3] enemy. while they roamed through the fields, nobody interfered with them, though they might have been utterly annihilated; but as they came trooping back, without a thought of danger, the country — folk overtook them not far from the ships, stripped them of their plunder, and even slew a part of them; those who escaped the massacre were driven, a disordered rabble, to their [4] ships.
Great as had been the fears excited in Rome when Quintus Fabius marched through the Ciminian Forest, the rejoicings that took place in Samnium amongst the enemy were no less on their hearing a report that the Roman army was intercepted and [5] besieged. they recalled the Caudine Forks as showing what the disaster would be [6] like; with the same temerity, they said, a race that was ever reaching out for what lay beyond had been led into pathless forests and there hemmed in, more by the difficulties of the ground than by the arms of their [7] enemy. soon their joy began to be mixed with a kind of envy, that Fortune should have transferred the glory of the Roman war from Samnites to [8] Etruscans. so they hastened to bring all their strength to bear upon crushing Gaius Marcius, the consul; and resolved, if Marcius should avoid an encounter, to march forthwith into Etruria, through the countries of the Marsi and the Sabines. The consul met them, and the battle was fiercely contested on both sides, but without a decision being reached. yet, doubtful though it was which side had suffered most, the report gained ground that the Romans had been worsted: they had lost certain members of the equestrian order, certain military tribunes, and one lieutenant, and — most conspicuous of their misfortunes — the consul himself was [9] wounded.
These reverses as usual were further exaggerated in the telling, and the senate in great dismay determined on the appointment of a [10] dictator. nobody could doubt that Papirius Cursor, who was regarded as the foremost soldier of his time, would be [11] designated. but the senators were not certain that a messenger could be got through in safety to Samnium, where all was hostile, nor that the consul Marcius was alive. The other consul, Fabius, had a private grudge against [12] Papirius; and lest this enmity might hinder the general welfare, the senate decided to send a deputation of former consuls, in the hope that their personal influence, when added to the wishes of the government, might induce him to forget those quarrels for the good of the [13] country. The ambassadors went to Fabius and delivered the resolution of the senate, with a discourse that suited their instructions. The consul, his eyes fixed on the ground, retired without a word, leaving the ambassadors uncertain what he proposed to [14] do. then in the silence of the night, as the custom is, he appointed Lucius Papirius dictator. when the envoys thanked him for nobly conquering his feelings, he continued obstinately silent, and dismissed them without making any reply or alluding to what he had done, so that it was clearly seen what agony his great [15] heart was suppressing.
Papirius named Gaius Junius Bubulcus master of the horse. when he began to lay before the curiate assembly a law confirming his authority, the proceedings were cut short by an evil omen, the first vote to be counted being that of the ward called Faucia, notorious for two calamities, the capture of the City and the Caudine Peace, which had both been incurred in years when this same curia had the right of [16] the first return. Licinius Macer makes this ward unlucky also for a third disaster — that of the Cremera.
39. next day the dictator sought the auspices afresh and carried the law through. then, setting out with the legions which had recently been recruited on account of [2] the fear occasioned by the army’s march through the Ciminian Forest, he came to the vicinity of Longula, and taking over from Marcius the consul his veteran troops, marched out and offered battle, which the enemy on their part seemed willing to accept. [3] but while the two armies stood armed and ready for the conflict, which neither cared to begin, night overtook them. [4] for some time after that they remained quietly in the camps they had established near one another, neither lacking confidence in themselves nor yet making light of their adversaries. [5] meanwhile the Etruscans, employing a lex sacrata, had raised an army in which each man had chosen his comrade, and joined battle, with greater forces, and at the same time with greater valour, than ever before. [6] The field was contested with such rivalry of rage that neither side discharged a missile. The battle began with swords, and, furious at the outset, waxed hotter as the struggle continued, for the victory was long undecided. it seemed as though the Romans were contending, not with the so oft defeated Etruscans, but with some new race. [7] no sign of flight was visible in any quarter. as the front — rankers fell, the second line moved up to replace the first, that the standards might not want defenders. [8] after that the last reserves were called upon; and to such extremity of distress and danger did the Romans come that their cavalry dismounted, and made their way over arms and over bodies to the front ranks of the infantry. like a fresh line springing up amongst the exhausted combatants, they wrought havoc in the companies of the Etruscans. [9] then the rest of the soldiers, following up their charge, despite of weariness, at last broke through the enemy’s ranks. [10] at this their stubbornness began to be overcome, and certain companies to face about; and when these had once turned tail, the rest likewise took to flight. [11] that day for the first time broke the might of the Etruscans, which had long flourished in prosperity. their strength was cut off in the battle, and their camp was taken and plundered in the same attack.
40. The war in Samnium, immediately afterwards, was attended with equal danger and an equally glorious conclusion. The enemy, besides their other warlike preparations, had made their battle — line to glitter with new and splendid arms. [2] there were two corps: the shields of the one were inlaid with gold, of the other with silver. The shape of the shield was this: the upper part, where it protected the breast and shoulders, was rather broad, with a level top; below it was somewhat tapering, to make it easier to handle. [3] they wore a sponge to protect the breast, and the left leg was covered with a greave. their helmets were crested, to make their stature appear greater. The tunics of the gilded warriors were parti — coloured; those of the silvern ones were linen of a dazzling white. [4] The latter had silver sheaths and silver baldrics: the former gilded sheaths and golden baldrics, and their horses had gold — embroidered saddle — cloths. [5] The right wing was assigned to these: the others took up their post on the left. The Romans had already learned of these splendid accoutrements, and their generals had taught them that a soldier should be rough to look on, not adorned with gold and silver but putting his trust in iron and in courage: [6] indeed those other things were more truly spoil than arms, shining bright before a battle, but losing their beauty in the midst of blood and wounds; [7] manhood they said, was the adornment of a soldier; all those other things went with the victory, and a rich enemy was the prize of the victor, however poor.
whilst his men were animated by these words, Cursor led them into battle. [8] he took up his own post on the right, and committed the left to the master of the horse. [9] from the moment of encountering, there was a mighty struggle with the enemy, and a struggle no less sharp between the dictator and the master of the horse, to decide which wing was to inaugurate the victory. it so happened that Junius was the first to make an impression on the Samnites. with the Roman left he faced the enemy’s right, where they had consecrated themselves, as their custom was, and for that reason were resplendent in white coats and equally white armour. [10] declaring that he offered up these men in sacrifice to Orcus ,Junius charged, threw their ranks into disorder, and clearly made their [11] line recoil. when the dictator saw this, he cried, “shall the victory begin upon the left? shall the right, the dictator’s division, follow the attack of others? shall it not carry off the honours of [12] the victory?” this fired the soldiers with new energy; nor did the cavalry display less valour than the foot, or the lieutenants less enthusiasm than the generals. Marcus Valerius on the right and Publius Decius on the left, both men of consular rank, rode out to the cavalry, which was posted on the wings, and, exhorting them to join with themselves in seizing a share of glory, charged obliquely against the [13] enemy’s flanks. thus a new and appalling danger enveloped their line on either side, and when the Roman legions, observing the terror of the Samnites, pressed forward with redoubled shouts, the enemy began [14] to flee. The fields were soon heaped with slain and with glittering armour. at first the frightened Samnites found a refuge in their camp, but presently even that had to be abandoned, and ere nightfall it had been taken, sacked, and set on fire.
[9.15] The dictator, as decreed by the senate, celebrated a triumph, in which by far the finest show was afforded by the [16] captured armour. so magnificent was its appearance that the shields inlaid with gold were divided up amongst the owners of the moneychangers’ booths, to be used in decking out the Forum. from this is said to have come the custom of the aediles adorning the Forum whenever the tensae, or covered chariots of the gods, were [17] conducted through it. so the Romans made use of the splendid armour of their enemies to do honour to the gods; while the Campanians, in consequence of their pride and in hatred of the Samnites, equipped after this fashion the gladiators who furnished them entertainment at their feasts, and bestowed on them the [18] name of Samnites.
in the same year the consul Fabius fought a battle with the remnants of the Etruscan forces near Perusia — which, together with other cities, had broken the truce — and gained an easy [19] and decisive victory. he would have taken the town itself — for after the battle he marched up to the walls — had not ambassadors come out and [20] surrendered the place. having placed a garrison in Perusia and having sent on before him to the senate in Rome the Etruscan deputations which had come to him seeking friendship, the consul was borne in [21] triumph into the City, after gaining a success more brilliant even than the dictator’s; indeed the glory of conquering the Samnites was largely diverted upon the lieutenants, Publius Decius and Marcus Valerius, of whom, at the next election, the people with great enthusiasm made the one consul and the other praetor.
41. in recognition of his remarkable conquest of Etruria, Fabius was continued in the consulship, and was given Decius for his colleague. [2] Valerius was for the fourth time chosen praetor. [3] The consuls cast lots for the commands, Etruria falling to Decius and Samnium to Fabius. The latter marched against Nuceria Alfaterna, and rejecting that city’s overtures of peace because its people had declined it when it was offered them, laid siege to the place and forced it to surrender. [4] a battle was fought with the Samnites, in which the enemy were defeated without much difficulty, nor would the engagement have been remembered but for the fact that it was the first time that the Marsi had made war against the Romans. [5] The Paeligni imitated the defection of the Marsi, and met with the same fate.
Decius, the other consul, was also successful in war. [6] when he had frightened the Tarquinienses into furnishing corn for the army and seeking a truce for forty years, he captured by storm a number of strongholds belonging to the people of Volsinii. [7] some of these he dismantled, lest they should serve as a refuge for the enemy, and by devastating far and wide he made himself so feared that all who bore the Etruscan name begged the consul to grant them a treaty. this privilege they were denied, but a truce for a year was granted them. [8] they were required to furnish the Roman army with a year’s pay and two tunics for each soldier; such was the price they paid for a truce.
The tranquillity which now obtained in Etruria was disturbed by a sudden revolt of the Umbrians, a people which had escaped all the distress of war, except that an army had passed through their territory. [9] calling up all their fighting men, and inducing great part of the Etruscans to rebel, they mustered so large an army, that they boasted, with much glorifying of themselves and fleering at the Romans, that they would leave Decius behind them in Etruria and march off to the assault of Rome. [10] when this purpose of theirs was reported to the consul Decius, he hastened by forced marches from Etruria towards the City, and encamped in the fields belonging to Pupinia, eagerly waiting for word of their approach. [11] at Rome no one made light of an Umbrian invasion. their very threats had excited fear in those who had learnt from the Gallic disaster how unsafe was the City they inhabited. [12] accordingly envoys were dispatched to carry word to Fabius the consul, that if there were any slackening in the Samnite war he should with all speed lead his army into Umbria. [13] The consul obeyed the order, and advanced by long marches to Mevania, where the forces of the Umbrians at that time lay.
[9.14] The sudden arrival of the consul, whom they had believed to have his hands full with another war in Samnium, a long way from Umbria, so dismayed the Umbrians that some were for falling back on their fortified cities, and others for giving up the war; but one canton — which [15] they themselves call Materina — not only kept the rest to their arms, but brought them to an immediate engagement. [16] Fabius was entrenching his camp when they attacked him. as soon as he saw them rushing madly upon his ramparts, he recalled the soldiers from their work and drew them up, as time and the nature of the ground permitted, and encouraging them with a true relation of the honours they had won, some in Etruria and some in Samnium, bade them end this trivial sequel to the Etruscan war, and revenge upon the foe his impious threat that he would assault the City of Rome. [17] These words were received by the soldiers with such alacrity that the speech of the general was interrupted by a spontaneous cheer. then, before the command could be given, they hurled themselves — to the blare of horns and trumpets — with the wildest abandon against the enemy. [18] they fought not as though their opponents had been men and armed; but — marvellous to relate -began with tearing the standards out of the bearers’ hands, and then fell to dragging the bearers themselves before the consul and to bringing armed men over from the other line to their own; wherever they met with resistance, they did their work more with shields than with swords, swinging them from the shoulder and knocking down their enemies with the bosses. [19] The slain were outnumbered by the prisoners, and all along the battle line one cry was heard: that they should lay down their arms. [20] and so, while the battle was still going on, the surrender was made, by the men who had first advocated war. on the next and on succeeding days the other peoples of Umbria also capitulated: the men of Ocriculum were received into friendship under a stipulation.
42. Fabius, having won a war assigned by lot to another man, led his army back to his own province. [2] just as in the preceding year the people had rewarded his successful campaign by re — electing him to the consulship, so now the senate continued him in command for the year to follow. The new consuls were Appius Claudius and Lucius Volumnius, the former of whom had strongly opposed the resolution.
[9.3] i find in certain annals that Appius sought the consulship when censor, and that Lucius Furius, a tribune of the plebs, refused to let him stand until he should have resigned the censorship. [4] The election over, his colleague was decreed the command in the new war — with the Sallentini — and Appius remained in Rome, to strengthen his power by civil arts, since the means of acquiring repute in war remained with others.
[9.5] Volumnius had no cause to regret his assignment. he engaged in many successful battles and took several hostile towns by assault. generous in his distribution of the spoil, he enhanced the effect of a liberality which was pleasing in itself by his friendly bearing — traits which had made his soldiers eager for toil and danger.
[9.6] The proconsul Quintus Fabius fought near the city Allifae a pitched battle with the army of the Samnites. The result was anything but doubtful, for the enemy were routed and driven into their camp; and they could not have held the camp had there not been very little daylight left. even so they were invested before dark, and guards were posted in the night to prevent anyone’s escaping. [7] next day, before it was well light, they began to surrender. The Samnites among them bargained to be dismissed in their tunics; all these were sent under the yoke. [8] The allies of the Samnites were protected by no guarantee, and were sold into slavery, to the number of seven thousand. those who gave themselves out for Hernic citizens were detained apart in custody, and Fabius sent them all to the senate in Rome. [9] there an enquiry was held as to whether they had been conscripted or had fought voluntarily for the Samnites against the Romans; [10] after which they were parcelled out amongst the Latins to be guarded, and a resolution was passed directing the new consuls, Publius Cornelius Arvina and Quintus Marcius Tremulus — for these men had been elected — to refer the matter to the senate for fresh action. [11] this the Hernici resented. The people of Anagnia assembled a council of all the states in the circus which they call the Maritime Circus, and all of the Hernic name, excepting the inhabitants of Aletrium, Ferentinum and Verulae, declared war on the Roman People.
43. in Samnium, too, the departure of Fabius was the cause of fresh disturbances. Calatia and Sora with their Roman garrisons were taken by assault, and the captured soldiers were treated with shameful rigour. accordingly Publius Cornelius was dispatched in that direction with an army. [2] The new enemies — for by this time war had been declared on the men of Anagnia and the other Hernici — were allotted to Marcius. [3] at the outset of the campaign the enemy were so successful in seizing all the strategic points between the camps of the [4] consuls, that not even a nimble courier could get through, and for some days the consuls were kept in uncertainty regarding everything and could only speculate about one another’s state. fears for their safety even extended to Rome, where all of military age were given the oath and two full armies were enlisted, to meet any sudden emergencies. [5] but the war with the Hernici by no means answered to the present panic or to the nation’s old renown. [6] they ventured nothing to speak of at any point, and having lost three camps in the space of a few days they bargained for a thirty days’ truce, to enable them to send envoys to the senate in Rome, and delivered up two months’ pay and corn, and a tunic for every soldier. [7] The senate sent them back to Marcius, having passed a resolution empowering him to deal with the Hernici as he saw fit. he received, their submission on terms of unconditional surrender.
in Samnium the other consul was also stronger than the enemy, but was more embarrassed by the character of the ground. [8] The enemy had blockaded all the roads and seized the practicable passes, to prevent supplies being brought up anywhere. but though the consul offered battle daily, he could not entice them to fight. [9] it was quite apparent that the Samnites would not accept an immediate engagement, nor the Romans endure any prolongation of the war. [10] The arrival of Marcius, who, having subdued the Hernici, made haste to come to the assistance of his colleague, deprived the enemy of any power to delay the struggle. [11] for since they had not considered themselves equal to a battle with even one army, and believed that, once they had suffered two consular armies to unite, there would be no hope for them, they made an attack on Marcius as he was approaching in loose marching older. [12] hastily throwing down their packs in the midst, the Romans formed up as well as time permitted. The shouting was the first thing that was noticed in the camp of Cornelius. then, far off, a cloud of dust was descried, and caused a commotion in the camp. [13] The consul ordered his men to arm, and leading them quickly out into line attacked the enemy in the flank, when their hands were full with another struggle, crying out that it would be a burning shame if they [14] let the other army win both victories, and failed to claim for themselves the glory of their own campaign. [15] bursting through at the point where he had charged, he advanced through the enemy’s line, and capturing their camp, which was empty of defenders, set fire to it. [16] when the soldiers of Marcius saw the blaze, and the enemy, looking over their shoulders, saw it too, the flight of the Samnites soon became general; but at every point death blocked the way, and there was no escaping anywhere.
[9.17] thirty thousand of the enemy had already fallen, and the consuls had sounded the recall and were proceeding to assemble their forces in one body, amid the mutual congratulations and rejoicings of the men, when suddenly some new cohorts of the Samnites, which had been levied as reliefs, were made out in the distance, and occasioned a renewal of the slaughter. [18] The victors rushed upon them, without orders from the consuls or receiving any signal, exclaiming that the Samnites must begin their soldiering with a bitter lesson. [19] The consuls indulged the ardour of the legions, being well aware that the enemy’s recruits, in the midst of routed veterans, would scarce be equal to so much as an attempt at fighting. they were not mistaken. [20] all the forces of the Samnites, old and new, broke and fled to the nearest mountains, up which the Romans too advanced in pursuit of them. The conquered could find no refuge anywhere that afforded safety, but were driven pell — mell from the ridges where they had made a stand. and now with one voice they all begged for peace. [21] they were required to furnish corn for three months, with a year’s pay and a tunic for each Roman soldier, and envoys were then dispatched to the senate to sue for terms.
Cornelius was left in Samnium. [22] Marcius returned to the City, which he entered in a triumph over the Hernici. An equestrian statue in the Forum was decreed him and was erected in front of the temple of Castor. [23] to the three Hernic peoples of Aletrium, Verulae, and Ferentinum their own laws were restored, because they preferred them to Roman citizenship, and they were given the right to intermarry with each other — a privilege which for some time they were the only Hernici to enjoy. [24] The people of Anagnia and such others as had borne arms against the Romans were admitted to citizenship without the right of voting. they were prohibited from holding councils and from intermarrying, and were allowed no magistrates save those who had charge of religious rites.
[9.25] in the same year the censor Gaius Junius Bubulcus let the contract for the temple of Safety, which he had vowed, while consul, during the Samnite war. he and his colleague, Marcus Valerius Maximus, built roads through the countryside at the public [26] costs. in this year also the treaty with the Carthaginians was renewed for the third time, and their ambassadors, who had come for the purpose of arranging it, were treated with courtesy and given presents.
44. The same year had a dictator in the person of Publius Cornelius Scipio, the master of the horse being Publius Decius Mus. [2] These men held a consular election — for to this end they had been appointed, since neither consul had been able to leave the seat of war. [3] The consuls chosen were Lucius Postumius and Tiberius Minucius. Piso makes these men follow Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius, omitting the two years in which we have placed the consulship of Claudius and Volumnius and that of Cornelius and Marcius. [4] whether in the redaction of his annals he forgot them, or omitted two sets of consuls purposely, as not authentic, is uncertain.
[9.5] in that year also the Samnites made forays upon the Campus Stellatis in Campania. [6] both consuls were accordingly dispatched into Samnium in different directions, Postumius marching on Tifernum, and Minucius on Bovianum. The fighting began at Tifernum, where Postumius commanded. [7] some relate that the Samnites were decisively beaten and that twenty thousand prisoners were taken; [8] others that the armies quitted the field on even terms, and that Postumius, feigning fear, in the night withdrew his forces secretly to the mountains, where the enemy followed him and themselves entrenched a camp, at a distance of two miles from his. [9] The consul, that it might appear to have been his object to gain a position at once secure and abounding in supplies, — and such indeed it was — having [10] fortified his camp and equipped it with all manner of useful things, left in it a strong garrison, and in the third watch led his legions in light marching order by the most direct route to his colleague, who likewise lay in camp, facing another army. [11] there, at the instigation of Postumius, Minucius gave battle to the enemy; and when the doubtful struggle had been prolonged until late in the afternoon, Postumius with his fresh legions fell unexpectedly upon the now jaded forces of their opponents. [12] The Samnites, debarred by their weariness and wounds even from flight, were utterly annihilated, and the Romans, having taken twenty — one standards, set out for the camp of Postumius. [13] there the two victorious armies assailed the enemy, already dismayed by the tidings of the other battle, and overwhelmingly routed them, capturing six — and — twenty standards, the commander of the Samnites — Statius Gellius — and many other prisoners, besides both camps. [14] on the following day they began the siege of the city of Bovianum, and on its capture, which quickly ensued, the consuls crowned their glorious achievements with a triumph. [15] some writers state that Minucius the consul was severely wounded and expired after being carried back to his camp. they add that Marcus Fulvius was made consul suffect in his place, and that it was he who, being sent out to the army of Minucius, captured Bovianum.
[9.16] in that year Sora, Arpinum, and Cesennia were won back from the Samnites. The great statue of Hercules was set up and dedicated on the Capitol.
45. in the consulship of Publius Sulpicius Saverrio and Publius Sempronius Sophus, the Samnites, whether seeking to end or only to postpone hostilities, sent envoys to Rome to treat for peace. [2] to their humble supplications the answer was returned, that if the Samnites had not frequently sought peace while preparing for war, a treaty could have been arranged by mutual discussion: as it was, since words had hitherto proved of no effect, the Romans must needs take their stand on facts. [3] Publius Sempronius, the consul, would shortly be in Samnium with an army; he was one whom they would be unable to deceive as to whether their hearts inclined to peace or war; after a thorough investigation he would report his findings to the senate; and on his leaving Samnium their envoys might attend him. [4] The Roman army marched all over Samnium; the people were peaceable and furnished the army liberally with supplies; accordingly their ancient treaty was in that year restored again to the Samnites.
[9.5] The arms of Rome were then directed against the Aequi, who had been her enemies of old, but for many years past had remained quiet, under colour of a peace which they observed but treacherously. [6] The reason for making war on them was as follows: before the overthrow of the Hernici they had repeatedly joined with them in sending assistance to the Samnites, and after the subjugation of the Hernici, almost the entire nation had gone over to the enemy, without attempting to disguise their policy; [7] and when fetials had applied to them for reparation, after the adoption of the Samnite treaty at Rome, they had persistently asserted that the Romans were attempting under threats of war to intimidate them into becoming Roman citizens; and how little that was a thing to be desired had [8] been shown, they said, by the Hernici, since those who had been permitted to do so had chosen their own laws in preference to Roman citizenship, while those who had not been given an option were to have citizenship thrust upon them as a punishment. [9] because of such expressions, publicly uttered in their assemblies, the Roman People decreed that war should be made upon the Aequi. [10] both consuls set out for the new seat of operations, and took up a position four miles from the enemy’s camp.
[9.11] The army of the Aequi, who for many years had made no war on their own account, like a hastily levied militia, under no definite commanders and subject to no supreme authority, were in a state of panic. some were for offering battle, others for defending [12] the camp. The consideration that affected most of them was the devastation which their farms would suffer and the subsequent destruction of their cities, which they had left [13] inadequately garrisoned. and so when a proposal was heard — amongst many others — which disregarded the common welfare and made every one think of his own interest, to wit, that in the first watch they should leave the camp, and going their several ways, [14] carry off all their possessions from the fields and defend their cities by means of their walls, they all with loud acclaim adopted it. The enemy were scattered over the countryside when at break of day the Romans came out and formed in order of battle, and encountering nobody, advanced at a quick pace towards the [15] Aequian camp. but not perceiving any outposts before the gates or anybody on the rampart, and missing the usual noises of a camp, they were troubled by the unaccustomed silence, and apprehending an [16] ambush, halted. later, when they had scaled the rampart and found everything deserted, they attempted to follow the enemy by his tracks; but the tracks, which led in all directions — as they would when an army had dispersed — at first [17] bewildered them. afterwards they found out through their scouts what the enemy designed to do; and attacking his cities in succession, one after another, they captured thirty — one of them within fifty days, in every instance by assault. of these the greater number were dismantled and burnt, and the Aequian name was almost [18] blotted out. a triumph was celebrated over the Aequi; and warned by the example of their downfall, the Marrucini, Marsi, Paeligni, and Frentani sent ambassadors to Rome to sue for peace and friendship. These nations, at their request, were granted a treaty of alliance.
46. in the same year a government clerk, Gnaeus Flavius, the son of Gnaeus, was curule aedile. born in humble circumstances — his father being a freedman — he was, for the rest, a man of shrewdness and eloquence. [2] i find in certain annals that being in attendance upon the aediles, and perceiving that the tribes were supporting him for aedile, but that his name was thrown out because he was acting as a recorder, he put away his tablet and took an oath that he would keep no record. [3] Licinius Macer alleges that he had ceased some time before to act as secretary, having been already a tribune, and on two occasions a triumvir, once on the commission which had charge of the night — watch, and again on one appointed to found a colony. [4] at all events there is no difference of opinion about the stubbornness of his contention with the nobles, who despised his lowly birth. [5] he published the formulae of the civil law, which had been filed away in the secret archives of the pontiffs, and posted up the calendar on white notice — boards about the Forum, that men might know when they could bring an action. [6] he dedicated a temple of Concord in the precinct of Vulcan, greatly to the resentment of the nobles; [7] and Cornelius Barbatus, the chief pontiff, was forced by the unanimous wishes of the people to dictate the form of words to him, though he asserted that by custom of the elders none but a consul or commanding general might dedicate a temple. [8] so, in accordance with a senatorial resolution, a measure was enacted by the people providing that no one should dedicate a temple or an altar without the authorization of the senate or a majority of the tribunes of the plebs. — I will relate an incident, of no importance in itself, which may serve to show how the plebs asserted their liberties against the arrogance of the nobles. [9] Flavius had come to make a call upon a colleague who was sick, and the young nobles who were sitting by his bed with one consent omitted to rise on his entering; whereupon he ordered his curule chair to be fetched in, and from his official seat gazed at his adversaries, who were choking with resentment. [10] now Flavius had been elected aedile by the faction of the market — place, which had become powerful in consequence of the censorship of Appius Claudius. [11] Claudius had been the first to debase the senate by the appointment of the sons of freedmen, and afterwards, when no one allowed the validity of his selection, and he had failed to gain the influence in the senate — house [12] which had been his object, he had distributed the humble denizens of the City amongst all the tribes, and had thus corrupted the Forum and the Campus Martius. and so great was the indignation over the election of Flavius that many of the nobles laid aside their golden rings [14] and medals. from that time the citizens were divided into two parties; the men of integrity, who favoured and cherished right principles, tended one way, the rabble of the marketplace another; until Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius became censors, and Fabius, partly for the sake of harmony, partly that the elections might not be in the hands of the basest of the people, culled out all the market — place mob and cast them into four tribes, to which he gave the name [15] of Urban. The arrangement, they say, was so gratefully received, that by this regulation of the orders he purchased the surname of the Great, which not all his victories had been able to procure him. it was Fabius too, so it is said, who instituted the parade of the knights on the fifteenth of July.
SUMMARY OF BOOK IX
Titus Veturius and Spurius Postumius, the consuls, having led their army into a narrow place at the Caudine Forks, when there was no hope of escaping, made a treaty with the Samnites, and having given six hundred Roman knights as hostages, got their army off, on condition that all should be sent under the yoke. and these same men having been delivered up to the Samnites, together with two tribunes of the plebs and all those who had guaranteed the treaty — on the suggestion of Spurius Postumius the consul, who had advised the senate that the pledge of the State should be redeemed by the surrender of those by whose fault so disgraceful a treaty had been made — were by them rejected. not long after, the Samnites were routed by Papirus Cursor and sent beneath the yoke, and the six hundred Roman knights who had been given as hostages were recovered, thus wiping out the shame of the earlier disgrace. two tribes were added, the Oufentina and the Falerna. colonies were planted at Suessa and Pontia. Appius Claudius the censor completed an aqueduct; paved the road which was called the Appian Way; and admitted the sons of freedmen to the senate, for which reason, since that order appeared to have been polluted with unworthy members, the consuls of the following year kept the senate as it had been before the last censors. The book also contains successful campaigns against the Apulians, the Etruscans, the Umbrians, the Marsi, the Paeligni, the Aequi, and the Samnites, to whom their treaty was restored. Gnaeus Flavius, a government clerk and a freedman’s son, was elected curule aedile by the faction of the market — place, which since it threw into confusion the comitia and the Campus Martius, which it dominated by its overweening strength, was by Quintus Fabius the censor divided up into four tribes which he called “urban”; and this circumstance procured Fabius his surname of Maximus. in this book the author mentions Alexander, who lived in those times, and, after appraising the strength of the Roman people in that age, gathers that if Alexander had crossed into Italy, he would not have gained the victory over the Roman People, as he had done over those races which he subjugated in the Orient.

## Book X

Translated by B. O. Foster
1. IN THE consulship of Lucius Genucius and Servius Cornelius there was in general a respite from foreign wars. colonies were established at Sora and Alba. [2] six thousand settlers were enrolled for Alba, in the Aequian country. Sora had belonged to the territory of the Volsci, but the Samnites had got possession of it; to this place were sent four thousand men. [3] in this year also the Arpinates and Trebulani were granted citizenship. The Frusinates were mulcted in one — third of their land, because it was discovered that they had tampered with the Hernici; the ringleaders of the conspiracy, after the consuls, at the instance of the senate, had conducted an investigation, were scourged and beheaded. [4] nevertheless, that their year might not go by without any war whatever, the consuls made a little expedition into Umbria, because of a report that armed men issuing from a certain cave were making raids upon the farms. [5] The soldiers carried their standards into the cave, and there in the murk received many wounds, particularly from stones that were thrown at them; until, having found the other mouth of the cavern — for there was a way of going through it — they heaped up faggots at both openings and set them afire. [6] in this way about two thousand armed men perished in the cave from the smoke and heat, for they finally rushed into the very flames in their efforts to escape.
[10.7] when Marcus Livius Denter and Marcus Aemilius were consuls, the Aequi resumed hostilities. indignant that a colony had been established, like a citadel, within their borders, they attacked it with great fury. [8] they were beaten off by the colonists themselves, but occasioned such dismay at Rome — since it was scarce to be believed that the Aequi when in so weakened a condition should have begun a war relying solely on their own resources — that a dictator was appointed to cope with the outbreak, in the person of Gaius Junius Bubulcus. [9] setting out with Marcus Titinius, his master of the horse, he reduced the Aequi to submission at the first encounter, and having returned in triumph to the City eight days later, dedicated as dictator the temple of Safety which he had vowed as consul and for which as censor he had let the contract.
2. during the same year a Greek fleet commanded by Cleonymus the Lacedaemonian put in to the shores of Italy and seized the city of Thuriae in the country of the Sallentini. [2] The consul Aemilius was dispatched against this enemy, whom he routed in a single engagement and drove to his ships. [3] Thuriae was restored to its old inhabitants, and peace was established in the Sallentine territory. i find in some annals that Junius Bubulcus the dictator was sent among the Sallentini, and that Cleonymus withdrew from Italy before it became necessary to fight the Romans.
[10.4] rounding then the promontory of Brundisium, he was swept on by the winds in the mid gulf of the Adriatic, and dreading the harbourless coasts of Italy on his left and on his right the Illyrians, Liburnians, and Histrians, — savage tribes and notorious most of them for their piracies — kept straight on until he reached the coasts of the Veneti. [5] having sent a small party ashore to explore the country, and learning that it was a narrow beach that extended in front of them, on crossing which one found behind it lagoons which were flooded by the tides; that not far off level fields could be made out, and that hills were seen rising beyond them, and that a river of great depth — the [6] Mediacus — debouched there, into which they could bring round their ships to a safe anchorage — having learned all this, I say, he ordered the fleet to sail in and make its way up stream. [7] but the channel would not admit the heaviest ships, and the multitude of armed men, passing over into the lighter vessels, kept on till they came to thickly inhabited fields; for three maritime villages of the Patavini were situated there along the river — bank. [8] disembarking there they left a small body of men to defend the boats, burnt the houses, made spoil of men and cattle, and, lured on by the sweets of pillage, advanced to a greater and greater distance from their ships.
[10.9] when word of these events was brought to the Patavians, whom the vicinity of the Gauls kept always under arms, they divided their young men into two divisions. one of these marched into the region where the scattered marauding was reported; the other, taking a different road, to avoid falling in with any of the marauders, proceeded to the place where the ships were moored, fourteen miles from the town. [10] The latter party, slaying the guards, who were unaware of their approach, made a rush for the ships, and the terrified sailors were forced to get them over to the other side of the stream. onland, too, the battle waged against the straggling plunderers was equally successful, and when the Greeks would have fled back to their station, the Veneti stood in their way. thus the enemy were caught between two parties and were cut to pieces. [11] some of them, being taken prisoners, told how the fleet and King Cleonymus were three miles off. [12] thereupon the captives were consigned to the next village for safe — keeping, and armed men filling the river boats — suitably constructed with flat bottoms, to enable them to cross the shallow lagoons — and others manning the craft they had captured from the invaders, they descended upon the fleet and surrounded the unwieldy ships; [13] which, being more fearful of the unknown waters than of the enemy, and more bent on escaping to the deep sea than on resisting, they pursued clear to the river’s mouth, and having captured some of them and burnt them, after they had been run aground in the confusion, returned victorious. [14] Cleonymus sailed off with barely a fifth part of his ships intact. in no quarter of the Adriatic had his attempts succeeded. there are many now living in Patavium who have seen the beaks of the ships and the spoils of the Laconians which were fastened up in the old temple of Juno. [15] in commemoration of the naval battle a contest of ships is held regularly, on the anniversary of the engagement, in the river that flows through the town.
3. a treaty was entered into at Rome this year with the Vestini, who solicited friendship. [2] thereafter there were alarms in several quarters. it was reported that Etruria was up in arms, in consequence of an outbreak that had its origin in dissensions at Arretium, where a movement was begun to drive out the Cilnii — a very powerful family — because of the envy occasioned by their wealth. at the same time the Marsi forcibly resisted the confiscation of their land, where the colony of Carscoli had been planted with an enrolment of four thousand men. [3] in view, therefore, of these tumults, Marcus Valerius Maximus was appointed dictator and named Marcus Aemilius Paulus to be his master of the horse. [4] this I choose rather to believe than that Quintus Fabius, at his time of life and after the offices he had held, was made subordinate to Valerius; but I would not deny that the error might have originated in the surname of Maximus. [5] — Setting out with his army, the dictator overthrew the Marsi in a single battle; then shutting them up in their walled cities, he captured Milionia, Plestina, and Fresilia, in the course of a few days, and having fined the Marsi in a part of their territory, renewed the treaty with them. [6] The campaign was then directed against the Etruscans; [7] the dictator having set out for Rome, to take the auspices over again, the master of the horse went out to forage, and being ambushed, lost a number of standards and was driven back into his camp, with a shameful rout and slaughter of his soldiers. [8] — This discomfiture is very unlikely to have befallen Fabius, not only because if in any quality he came up to his surname, he assuredly did so in the glory of a soldier, but also because, remembering the severity of Papirius, he could never have been brought to engage in battle without the orders of the dictator.
4. The news of this reverse gave rise in Rome to a greater alarm than the situation warranted. for, as though the army had been destroyed, a cessation of legal business was proclaimed, guards were [2] called into service at the gates, and night — watches in the several streets, arms and missiles being heaped upon the walls. [3] after summoning all of military age to take the oath, the dictator was dispatched to the army, and there found everything more tranquil than he had expected and reduced to order by the careful measures of the master of the horse. [4] The camp had been withdrawn to a safer site, the cohorts that had lost their standards had been left outside the rampart [5] without tents, and the army was eager for battle, that it might the sooner wipe out its disgrace. [6] accordingly he advanced without delay into the district of Rusellae. to this place the enemy followed him; and although in consequence of their success they had every confidence in their ability to cope with the Romans even in the open field, yet they also attempted an ambuscade, which they had successfully essayed before. [7] not far from the Roman camp stood the half — ruined buildings of a village which had been burned when the country was laid waste. [8] concealing armed men in these ruins, they drove out some cattle in full sight of a Roman outpost, which was under the command of the lieutenant Gnaeus Fulvius. but when this tempting bait failed to lure any of the Romans from their post, one of the shepherds came up under the very works and called out to the others, who were hesitating to drive out their flock from amongst the tumble — down buildings, asking why they were so slow, for they could safely drive them through the midst of the Roman camp. [9] some men from Caere interpreted these words to the lieutenant, and great was the indignation aroused through all the maniples of soldiers; yet they dared not stir without the orders of their leader, who commanded those familiar with the language to mark whether the shepherds’ speech were more like that of rustics or of city — folk. [10] on their reporting that in accent, in carriage, and in complexion they were too refined for shepherds, “go then,” said he, “and bid them uncover the ambuscade they have laid in vain; for the Romans know all, and can now no more be entrapped than they can be conquered by force of arms.” [11] These words were no sooner heard and repeated to those who lay in ambush than they suddenly all rose up from their hiding — places and advanced in martial array into the plain which was spread open to the view on every side. [12] their army seemed to the lieutenant to be greater than his own detachment could withstand, and he therefore sent in all haste to the dictator to summon help, in the meantime resisting by himself the enemy’s charges.
5. on receiving his message the dictator bade advance the standards, and commanded his men to arm and follow them. [2] but everything was almost sooner done than ordered; standards and arms were hurriedly caught up, and the soldiers could hardly be restrained from pushing forward at a run. it was not anger alone that spurred them on, as they thought of the defeat they had recently sustained, but the shouts, as well, that fell faster on their hearing as the fight waxed more hot. [3] so they urged one another forward and exhorted the standard — bearers to a faster pace. but the more haste the dictator saw them make, the more earnest was he to hold them in, and commanded them to slow down their march. [4] The Etruscans, on the contrary, having been called out at the beginning of the battle, had taken the field with all their troops. one messenger after another informed the dictator that all the Etruscan legions were engaged and that his own men could hold out no longer; and looking down from the higher ground, he could see for himself the perilous situation of his people. [5] still, feeling fairly confident that his lieutenant was capable, even then, of maintaining the fight, and that he was himself not too far off to rescue him from danger, he desired the enemy to become completely exhausted, that he might fall upon them with undiminished vigour when their strength was spent. [6] yet although the Romans advanced but slowly, they had now but a little space to charge in, especially the horse. in the van were the standards of the legions, lest the enemy should be apprehensive of any concealed or rapid movement; but the dictator had left intervals between the files of the infantry, to allow ample room for the horses to go through. [7] The legionaries gave a cheer, and simultaneously the horsemen were let loose and with a free course galloped straight upon the enemy, who were not prepared to resist a shock of cavalry and were overwhelmed with a sudden panic. [8] and so, though the help had nearly come too late for men who were already well — nigh surrounded, yet they were now all given a respite, and the battle was taken over by fresh troops — a battle of no long duration nor of doubtful issue. [9] The routed enemy fled back to their camp, and when the Roman standard — bearers pressed in after them, they gave way and huddled up together in the farthest part of the enclosure. [10] The narrow gates became choked with fugitives and a great part of them climbed upon the mound and palisade, in hopes that from that elevation they might be able either to defend themselves, or to climb over somewhere and escape. [11] it chanced that in a certain place the mound had not been solidly rammed down, and this, overburdened with the weight of those who stood upon it, slid over into the trench. [12] by that opening — crying out that the gods were providing them a means of flight — they saved themselves, but more got away without their arms than with them.
in this battle the might of the Etruscans was broken for the second time. by promising a year’s pay for the soldiers, with two months’ corn, they obtained permission from the dictator to send envoys to Rome to negotiate a peace. [13] Peace was denied them, but they were granted a truce of two years. The dictator returned to Rome and triumphed. — I find historians who say that Etruria was pacified by the dictator without any memorable battle, only by settling the dissensions of the Arretini and reconciling the Cilnian family with the plebs. — Marcus. Valerius resigned as dictator, to enter immediately upon the consulship. [14] some authors have recorded that he was elected without seeking the office, indeed without even being present, and that the election was presided over by an interrex; this only is not disputed, that he held the consulship in company with Apuleius Pansa.
6. during their year of administration the foreign relations of the state were fairly peaceful: [2] the Etruscans were kept quiet by their failure in war and by the truce; the Samnites, tamed by the defeats of many years, had not wearied as yet of the new covenant. [3] at Rome also the relief afforded by the emigration of large numbers to the colonies had quieted the commons Nevertheless, that tranquillity might not be found everywhere, the plebeian tribunes Quintus and Gnaeus Ogulnius stirred up a quarrel among the first men of the state, both patrician and [4] plebeian. they had sought in every quarter occasions for maligning the Fathers to the plebs; and having tried everything else in vain, they set on foot a project by which they might inflame, not the lowest of the rabble, but the very leaders of the plebs [5] — the commones, namely, who had enjoyed consulships and triumphs, an who lacked nothing but priesthoods, which were not yet open to all, to complete their list of [6] honours. The Ogulnii accordingly proposed a law, that whereas there were then four augurs and four pontiffs and it was desired to augment the number of priests, four pontiffs and five augurs should be added, and should all be taken from the [7] plebs. — How this college could have been reduced to four augurs, unless by the death of two, I cannot discover; since it is a settled principle amongst the augurs that their number should be uneven, to the end that the three ancient tribes, the Ramnes, Titienses and Luceres, should each have its augur, or else [8] — if a larger number should be needed — that they should increase the priests in the same proportion; as in fact they were increased when five were added to the four, and, making up the number of nine, gave each tribe [9] three. — But since they were to be added from the plebs, the patricians were as distressed by the proposal as they had been when they saw the consulship thrown [10] open. they pretended that’ the gods were more concerned than they themselves were: the gods would see to it that their rites should not be contaminated; for their own part they only hoped that no disaster might come upon the [11] state. they made, however, no great struggle, accustomed as they now were to being worsted in contests of this kind; and they beheld their adversaries no longer reaching out after great honours which they had formerly scarce any hopes of attaining, but in full possession of all the things for which they had striven with dubious prospects of success — repeated consulships, censorships, and triumphs.
7. there is said, however, to have been a vigorous discussion as to the passage or rejection of the bill, in which Appius Claudius and Publius Decius Mus were the principal speakers. [2] after they had brought up nearly the same arguments concerning the rights of patricians and plebeians as had formerly been employed in behalf of and against the Licinian Law, when the plebeians sought access to the consulship, it [3] is related that Decius evoked the image of his father as he had been seen by many who were then present in the assembly, wearing his toga with the Gabine cincture, and standing over his weapon, as he had done when offering himself a sacrifice for the Roman People and the legions. [4] Publius Decius the consul had on that occasion seemed to the immortal gods an oblation no less pure and holy than if his colleague Titus Manlius had been offered up; could not then this same Publius Decius — he asked — have been duly chosen to solemnize the public sacrifices of the Roman People? [5] or was it to be feared that the gods would hearken less readily to the speaker’s prayers than to those of Appius Claudius? did Appius perform with more devotion the rites of domestic religion, and worship the gods more scrupulously than he did himself? [6] who was there that repented him of the vows that had been uttered in the state’s behalf by so many plebeian consuls and so many dictators, either on going to their armies or in the midst of their campaigns? [7] let them enumerate the generals of those years that had elapsed since campaigns were first conducted under the leadership and auspices of plebeians; let them enumerate the triumphs; even on the score of their nobility, the plebeians had now nothing to regret. [8] he felt quite sure that if suddenly some war should arise, the senate and the Roman People would rest their hopes no more on patrician than on plebeian generals.
[10.9] “since this is so,” he proceeded, “what god or man can deem it inappropriate that those heroes whom you have honoured with curule chairs, with the purple — bordered robe, with the tunic adorned with palms, and with the embroidered toga, the triumphal crown and the laurel wreath, whose houses you have made conspicuous amongst the rest with the spoils of your enemies which you have fastened to their walls, — who, I say, can object if such men add thereto the insignia of the pontiffs and the [10] augurs? may the man who, decked with the robes of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, has been borne through the City in a gilded chariot and has mounted the Capitol — may that man not be seen with chalice and crook, when, covering his head, he offers up the victim, or receives an augury from the [11] Citadel? if men shall read with equanimity, in the inscription that accompanies his portrait, of consulship, censorship, and triumph, will their eyes be unable to endure the brightness, if you add to these the augurate or [12] pontificate? for my own part — under Heaven’s favour be it spoken — I trust that we are now, thanks to the Roman People, in a position to reflect upon the priesthoods — in consequence of our recognized fitness for office — no less credit than we shall receive from them, and to seek, more for the service of the gods than for ourselves, that those whom we worship privately we may also worship in the name of the state.
8. “but why have I been reasoning hitherto as if the patrician claim on the priesthoods were intact, and we were not already in possession of the one supremely honourable priesthood? [2] we see that plebeians are members of the Ten charged with the sacred rites, interpreters of the Sibylline oracles and the destinies of this people, the same being also overseers of Apollo’s ritual and of other ceremonies. [3] and yet the patricians were in no way wronged at the time when the two commissioners in charge of sacred rites were increased in number on account of the plebeians; [4] and our brave and vigorous tribune, in proposing at the present time to add five augurs’ places and four pontiffs’, to which plebeians may be named, has not desired to oust you patricians, Appius, from your places, but that men of the plebs may help you in the administration also of divine affairs, even as they help you in other and human matters, to the measure of their strength. [5] blush not, Appius, to have a colleague in the priesthood whom you might have had in the censorship or consulship. it is quite as possible that he should be dictator and you his master of the horse as that it should be the other way about. [6] a Sabine immigrant, the first of your house to be ennobled — call him Attius Clausus or Appius Claudius, as you will — was admitted to their number by the patricians of that olden time: be not too proud to admit us into the number of the priests. [7] we bring many distinctions with us, aye, every one of those same distinctions that have made you so high and mighty. [8] Lucius Sextius was the first plebeian consul, Gaius Licinius Stolo the first master of the horse; Gaius Marcius Rutulus the first dictator and censor, Quintus Publilius Philo the first praetor. [9] from you we have heard always the same song — that the auspices belong to you, that you alone are of noble birth, that you alone have the full imperium and right to divination, both at home and in the field. but the authority and divination of plebeian and patrician have prospered in equal measure until now, and so they shall do in the future. [10] pray, has it ever been wafted to your ears that those who were first appointed to be patricians were not beings descended from celestial regions, but were such as could name their fathers — were free — born men, that is, and nothing more? [11] i can already name a consul for my father, and my son will presently be able to name one for his grandfather. in truth the matter is simply, Quirites, that we must always be first denied, and yet have our way in the end. a struggle is all that the patricians ask: they care not what may be the outcome of the struggle. [12] i hold that this law — and may good come of it and favour and prosperity, to yourselves and to the state! — should be ordered, as proposed.”
9. The people straightway commanded the tribes to be called, and it seemed that the measure would be accepted; nevertheless it was put off for that day on account of a veto. [2] on the following day the tribunes were cowed and the law was passed with acclamation. to be pontiffs were chosen the advocate of the law, Publius Decius Mus, with Publius Sempronius Sophus, Gaius Marcius Rutulus, and Marcus Livius Denter; the five augurs were likewise of the plebs, Gaius Genucius, Publius Aelius Paetus, Marcus Minucius Faesus, Gaius Marcius, and Titus Publilius. thus the number of pontiffs became eight and of augurs nine.
[10.3] in the same year Marcus Valerius the consul proposed a law of appeal with stricter sanctions. this was the third time since the expulsion of the kings that such a law had been introduced, by the same family in every instance. [4] The reason for renewing it more than once was, I think, simply this, that the wealth of a few carried more power than the liberty of the plebs. yet the Porcian law alone seems to have been passed to protect the persons of the citizens, imposing, as it did, a heavy penalty if anyone should scourge or put to death a Roman citizen. [5] The Valerian law, having forbidden that he who had appealed should be scourged with rods or beheaded, merely provided that if anyone should disregard these injunctions it should be deemed a wicked act. [6] this seemed, I suppose, a sufficiently strong sanction of the law, so modest were men in those days; [7] at the present time one would hardly utter such a threat in earnest.
The same consul conducted an insignificant campaign against the rebellious Aequi, who retained nothing of their ancient fortune but a warlike spirit. [8] Apuleius, the other consul, laid siege to the town of Nequinum in Umbria. it was a steep place and on one side precipitous — the site is now occupied by Narnia — and could be captured neither by assault nor by siege operations. [9] The enterprise was therefore still unfinished when Marcus Fulvius Paetus and Titus Manlius Torquatus, the new consuls, took it over.
[10.10] Licinius Macer and Tubero declare that all the centuries were for naming Quintus Fabius consul for this year, though he was not a candidate, but that Fabius himself urged them to defer his consulship to a year when there was more fighting; just then he would be of greater service to the state if invested with an urban magistracy. [11] and so, neither dissembling what he had in mind nor yet seeking it, he was elected curule aedile, with Lucius Papirius Cursor. [12] i have been unable to put this down for certain, because Piso, one of the older annalists, states that the curule aediles for that year were Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, the son of Gnaeus, and Spurius Carvilius Maximus, the son of Quintus. [13] i fancy that this surname occasioned an error in regard to the aediles, and that a story afterwards grew up in harmony with the error, from a confusion of the aedilician with the consular elections. [14] this year witnessed also the closing of the lustrum, by the censors Publius Sempronius Sophus and Publius Sulpicius Saverrio, and two tribes were added — the Aniensis and the Terentina. so much for affairs at Rome.
10. meantime, at the town of Nequinum, while the siege dragged slowly on, two of the townsmen, whose dwellings abutted on the wall, dug a tunnel and made their way in secret to the Roman outposts. [2] thence they were conducted to the consul, whom they assured of their readiness to admit a party of soldiers within the fortifications and the walls. [3] it was not thought wise to spurn this offer, nor yet rashly to confide in it. in company with one of these men — the other being held as a hostage — two scouts were sent through the tunnel; [4] the result of their investigation was satisfactory, and three hundred armed men, with the renegade as guide, effected an entrance by night into the city and seized the nearest gate. once this had been broken down, the Roman consul and his army captured the place without a struggle. [5] thus Nequinum came under the sway of the Roman People. a colony was sent there to make head against the Umbrians, and was given the name of Narnia from the river Nar. The army, enriched with spoil, marched back to Rome.
[10.6] The Etruscans planned to go to war that year in violation of the truce; but while they were busy with this project an enormous army of Gauls invaded their borders and diverted them for a little while from their purpose. [7] afterwards, putting their trust in money, of which they had great store, they endeavoured to convert the Gauls from enemies into friends, to the end that, uniting the Gallic army with their own, they might fight the Romans. [8] The barbarians made no objection to an alliance: it was only a question of price. when this had been agreed upon and received, and the Etruscans, having completed the rest of their preparations for the war, bade their new allies follow them, the Gauls demurred. [9] they had made no bargain, they said, for a war with Rome; whatever they had received had been. [10] in consideration of their not devastating the Etruscan territory and molesting its inhabitants; nevertheless they would take the field, if the Etruscans were bent on having them, but on one condition only — that the Etruscans admit them to a share in their land, where they might settle at last in a permanent home. [11] many councils of the peoples of Etruria were held to consider this offer, but nothing could be resolved upon, not so much from a reluctance to see their territory lessened as because everyone shrank from having men of so savage a race for neighbours. [12] so the Gauls were dismissed, and departed with a vast sum of money, acquired without any toil or risk. The Romans were alarmed by the rumour of a Gallic rising in addition to a war with the Etruscans, and lost no time in concluding a treaty with the people of Picenum.
11. The command in Etruria fell by lot to Titus Manlius the consul. he had barely entered the territory of the enemy, and was exercising with the cavalry, when, in wheeling his horse about after a swift gallop, he was thrown [2] and ere long breathed his last, for the third day following the accident saw the end of the consul’s life. taking this as an omen of the war, and declaring that the gods had begun hostilities in their behalf, the Etruscans plucked up courage. [3] it was sad news to the Romans; not only could they ill spare the man, but his death occurred at an embarrassing moment. [4] The Fathers would have ordered the nomination of a dictator had not the election held to choose a substitute for the consul fallen out in accordance with the wishes of the leaders. Marcus Valerius was the choice of all the centuries for consul. [5] it was he whom the senate had intended to have named as dictator, and they now commanded him to proceed forthwith to the legions in Etruria. [6] his arrival so damped the ardour of the Etruscans that none ventured outside their fortifications, and their own fear was like a besieging host. nor could the new consul entice them into giving battle by wasting their lands and firing their buildings, though the smoke was rising on every side from the conflagration not only of farm — houses but of many villages as well.
[10.7] while this war was prolonged beyond anticipation, another war — justly dreaded by reason of the many losses which the parties to it had inflicted on each other — was beginning to be talked of in consequence of information given by the Picentes, Rome’s new allies. [8] The Samnites, they said, were looking to arms and a renewal of hostilities, and had solicited their help. [9] The Picentes were thanked, and the senate’s anxiety was diverted, in great measure, from Etruria to the Samnites.
The citizens were also concerned at the dearness of provisions, and would have experienced the direst need, as those writers have recorded who are pleased to represent Fabius Maximus as having been aedile in that year, if that heroic man, who had on many occasions managed military undertakings, had not at this juncture shown himself equally expert in the administration of the market and the purchase and importation of corn.
[10.10] in this year — for no cause assigned — there befell an interregnum. The interreges were Appius Claudius, and afterwards Publius Sulpicius. The latter held a consular election, and announced that the choice had fallen on Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Fulvius.
[10.11] in the beginning of this year Lucanian envoys came to the new consuls to complain that the Samnites, since they had been unable by offering inducements to entice them into an armed alliance, had invaded their territories with a hostile army and by warring on them were obliging them to go to war. [12] The people of Lucania, they said, had on a former occasion strayed all too far from the path of duty, but were now so resolute as to deem it better to endure and suffer anything than ever again to offend the Romans. [13] they besought the Fathers both to take the Lucanians under their protection and to defend them from the violence and oppression of the Samnites. though their having gone to war with the Etruscans was necessarily a pledge of loyalty to the Romans, yet they were none the less ready to give hostages.
12. discussion in the senate was soon over. every opinion was for entering into a treaty with Lucania and demanding satisfaction of the Samnites. [2] The Lucanians received a friendly answer, and the league was formed. fetials were then sent to command the Samnites to leave the country belonging to Rome’s allies, and withdraw their army from the territory of Lucania. they were met on the way by messengers, whom the Samnites had dispatched to warn them that if they went before any Samnite council they would not depart unscathed. [3] when these things were known at Rome, the senate advised and the people voted a declaration of war against the Samnites.
The consuls divided the commands between them, Scipio getting Etruria and Fulvius the Samnites, and set out for their respective wars. Scipio looked forward to a slow campaign like that of the previous year, but was met near Volaterrae by the enemy drawn up in [4] column. The fighting, which lasted for the best part of a day, was attended with heavy losses on [5] both sides; and night came on while it was yet uncertain to which nation victory had been vouchsafed. The morning showed who was victor and who vanquished, for in the silence of the night the Etruscans [6] had decamped. The Romans marched out into line of battle; and when they saw that the enemy by his retreat had conceded their superiority, they advanced and possessed themselves of the camp, which was unoccupied and contained much booty, for it had been a permanent post and had been [7] hurriedly abandoned. Scipio then led his troops back into the Faliscan territory, and having left his baggage with a small guard in Falerii, set out with his army in light marching order to ravage the territory of [8] the enemy. The whole country was laid waste with fire and sword and booty was brought in from all directions. not only was the soil left bare for the enemy, but even strongholds and villages were burned. The consul stopped short of attacking the walled towns, into which the frightened Etruscans had fled [9] for refuge.
The other consul, Gnaeus Fulvius, fought a famous battle in Samnium, near Bovianum, and gained a victory that was by no means doubtful. he then attacked and captured Bovianum, and not long afterwards Aufidena.
13. a colony was founded in that same year at Carseoli in the land of the Aequicoli. The consul Fulvius triumphed over the Samnites. [2] as the consular elections drew near, a rumour arose that the Etruscans and the Samnites were levying huge forces; [3] it was said that in all their councils the leaders of the Etruscans were openly censured for not having brought the Gauls into the war, on whatever terms; and the Samnite magistrates were attacked for having confronted the Romans with an army raised to oppose a Lucanian foe; [4] thus their enemies were girding themselves for war, in their own might and the might of their allies, and they would have to contend with them on far from even terms.
[10.5] this danger, though illustrious men were candidates for the consulship, made everyone tum to Quintus Fabius Maximus, who was not a candidate, in the first place, and who, when he saw the direction of the people’s wishes, actually refused to stand. [6] why must they trouble him, he asked, who was an old man now and had done with toil and the rewards of toil? neither his body nor his mind retained their vigour undiminished, and he feared Fortune herself, lest some god might deem that she had already been too kind to him and more constant than human beings were meant to find her. [7] he himself had risen to the glory of his elders, and he rejoiced to see others growing up to the measure of his own. [8] there was no lack of great offices in Rome for the bravest men, nor of brave men for the offices.
[10.9] such moderation but intensified the well — merited enthusiasm of his friends; and Fabius, thinking that it would have to be restrained by respect for the laws, bade read aloud the statute which prohibited the re — election of the same man to the consulship within ten years. [10] whereupon there was such a clamouring that the law could scarce be heard, and the tribunes of the plebs declared that it should be no impediment, for they would propose to the people that he be granted a dispensation from the laws. Fabius, for his part, stoutly persisted in his refusal. [11] what, in that case, he demanded, was the good of making laws, when their very makers broke them? The laws were no longer in control, but were themselves controlled. [12] nevertheless the people proceeded to the election, and every century, as it was summoned within, in no uncertain terms named Fabius consul. then at last, overborne by the consent of all the citizens, “may Heaven,” he said, “approve, Quirites, of what you are doing and propose to do. [13] for the rest, since you are bound to have your way with me, grant me a favour in the matter of my colleague and make consul with me Publius Decius, a man whose friendliness I have experienced in the fellowship of office, a man worthy of you and worthy of his sire. [14] “The recommendation seemed a reasonable one. all the remaining centuries voted for Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius.
in that year many men were prosecuted by the aediles on the charge of possessing more land than the law allowed. hardly anybody was acquitted, and exorbitant greed was sharply curbed.
14. while the new consuls, Quintus Fabius Maximus (in his fourth term) and Publius Decius Mus (in his third), were laying plans together how one should take the field against the Samnites, [2] and the other against the Etruscans, and were considering what forces would suffice for these respective provinces and which of them was the better suited to the one command and which to [3] the other, there came deputies from Sutrium and Nepete and Falerii, with the news that the nations of Etruria were counselling together how they might sue for peace, and thus diverted upon Samnium the whole burden of war. [4] when the consuls set out, in order to lessen the difficulty of getting supplies and to keep the enemy uncertain where the attack would come, Fabius marched into Samnium by way of Sora, Decius through the territory of the Sidicini.
[10.5] arrived at the borders of the enemy, each spread his army over a wide front and pillaged. [6] yet they scouted more widely than they pillaged, and the enemy were therefore unable to surprise them near Tifernum, where they had drawn their forces up in a secluded valley, and were preparing to assail the Romans from above, once they should have entered it. [7] removing the baggage to a place of safety and appointing a small force to guard it, Fabius warned his troops that a struggle was at hand, and forming them into a hollow square, led them up towards the place where the enemy lay, as I have said, concealed. [8] balked of their surprise attack, the Samnites — since it must ultimately come to an open trial of strength — likewise preferred to fight a regular engagement. [9] they accordingly descended to level ground, and committed their cause to Fortune, with courage greater than their hopes. however, whether owing to their having assembled the fighting strength of all the Samnite nations, or because a contest on which everything was staked heightened their valour, they occasioned some perturbation amongst the Romans, even in an open battle.
[10.10] when Fabius saw that the enemy were nowhere giving way, he ordered Maximus his son and Marcus Valerius — military tribunes with whom he had hurried to the front — to [11] go to the horsemen and tell them that if they remembered ever an occasion when the state had been helped by the horse, now was the time for them to exert their strength to preserve untarnished the glory of that body: [12] in the struggle of infantry the enemy were yielding not an inch; no hope remained save in a charge of cavalry. addressing each of the young men by name, lie loaded them now with praise and now with promises. [13] but since it was conceivable that even their prowess might prove to be inadequate, he thought proper to resort to strategy, if strength should not achieve his purpose. [14] so he ordered Scipio, his lieutenant, to withdraw the hastati of the first legion from the battle and conduct them, as secretly as possible, by a circuitous route to the nearest mountains; they were then, concealing their ascent from observation, to climb the heights and suddenly show themselves on the enemy’s rear.
[10.15] The cavalry, led by the tribunes, occasioned hardly more confusion in their enemies than in their friends, as they rode out unexpectedly in front of the standards. [16] The Samnite line held firm against their galloping squadrons, and could at no point be forced back or broken, and the cavalry, finding their attack abortive, retired behind the lines and left the battle. [17] this gave the enemy a fresh access of spirits; and the front ranks would have been incapable of sustaining so long a struggle and the increasing violence with which the enemy’s confidence inspired him, had not the second line, by the consul’s order, come up to relieve them. [18] their fresh strength halted the Samnites, who were now pressing forward; and catching sight just at this juncture of our detachments descending from the mountains, and hearing the cheer they gave, the enemy was filled with terror of worse things than actually threatened him; [19] for Fabius shouted that his colleague Decius was approaching, and the soldiers themselves in their joy and eagerness cried out that the other consul was at hand — that [20] the legions were at hand; and this mistake, occurring in a good hour for the Romans, filled the Samnites with fear and bewilderment, for they dreaded nothing so much as that the other army, fresh and entire, might overwhelm them in their exhausted state. [21] The slaughter was less than is usual in so great a victory, for the enemy scattered far and wide in their flight. three thousand four hundred were slain; about eight hundred and thirty were made prisoners, and twenty — three standards were taken.
15. The Apulians would have joined the Samnites before the battle had not Publius Decius the consul encamped over against them at Maleventum, and then drawn them into an engagement and defeated them. [2] in this instance also the rout was greater than the slaughter: two thousand Apulians were killed, and Decius, scorning such an enemy, led his legions into Samnium. [3] there the two consular armies, overrunning the land in different directions, had laid all waste within four months’ time. [4] there were forty — five places in Samnium where Decius had encamped; the other consul had encamped in eighty — six. [5] nor did they leave behind them only the traces of their ramparts and their trenches, but other much more conspicuous memorials, in the havoc and devastation of the country round about. Fabius also captured the city of Cimetra. [6] in this siege two thousand nine hundred men — at — arms were taken and some nine hundred and thirty were slain fighting.
[10.7] after this he set out for Rome for the election, which he made haste to call. The centuries that voted first were all naming Quintus Fabius for consul, when Appius Claudius, who was a [8] candidate for that post and a pushing and ambitious man, but no more eager to gain the honour for himself than to have the patricians recover two consular places, exerted his own strength and that of the whole nobility to induce them to elect him as Fabius’s colleague. [9] Fabius would not have it so, raising virtually the same objections he had raised in the previous year. The nobles all thronged about his seat, and besought him to lift up the consulship out of the plebeian mire and restore both to the office and to the aristocratic families their old — time dignity. [10] obtaining silence, Fabius soothed their excited feelings with a temperate speech, in which he said that he would have done as they desired and have received the names of two patricians, if he had seen another than himself being made consul; [11] as it was, he would not entertain his own name at an election, for to do so would violate the laws and establish a most evil precedent. [12] so Lucius Volumnius, a plebeian, was returned, together with Appius Claudius, with whom he had also been paired in an earlier consulship. The nobles taunted Fabius with having avoided Appius Claudius for a colleague, as a man clearly his superior in eloquence and statecraft.
16. The election over, the old consuls were bidden to carry on the war in Samnium, having received an extension of their command for six months. [2] so in the following year likewise — the consulship of Lucius Volumnius and Appius Claudius — Publius Decius, who had been left behind in Samnium, when consul, by his colleague, ceased not as proconsul to lay waste the farms, until finally he forced the army of the Samnites — which would nowhere risk a battle — to withdraw from the country.
[10.3] they retreated into Etruria, and thinking that what they had often tried in vain to bring about by means of embassies they might with so great a body of armed men and the menace which would be added to their entreaties accomplish more effectually, called for a council of the Etruscan leaders. [4] on its assembling, they pointed out for how many years they had been fighting with the Romans for their liberty. [5] they had made every effort, they said, if haply they might of their own strength bear up under so great a war; and had also — but to little purpose — made trial of the help of neighbouring nations. unable to sustain the war, they had sought peace of the Roman People; but had renewed hostilities, because peace with servitude was harder to endure than war with liberty. [6] their sole remaining hope lay in the Etruscans, whom they knew for the richest nation of Italy, in arms, in men, and in money; a nation, too, that marched with the Gauls, men born amid the clash of arms and possessing not only an instinctive love of fighting but a feeling of enmity to the Roman People, whose defeat at their hands and ransom for gold they were wont to relate with no idle boast. [7] if the Etruscans had the spirit that once had animated Porsinna and their forefathers, there was no reason why they should not expel the Romans from all the country north of the Tiber, and compel them to fight, not for an intolerable sovereignty over Italy, but for their own existence. [8] here was a Samnite army, provided with arms and pay, and ready to follow on the instant, though they should lead it to the assault of Rome itself.
17. while they were thus boasting and intriguing in Etruria, the Roman invasion was distressing their countrymen at home. for Publius Decius, having ascertained through scouts that the Samnite army had departed, summoned a council, and said, “why do we range about the countryside, bringing war to this, that, and the other village? [2] why do we not assail cities and walled towns? there is no longer any army defending Samnium; they have withdrawn beyond their borders, sentenced to banishment by their own decree.” [3] with their unanimous approval he led them to the assault of Murgantia, a strong city; and such was the ardour of the troops, by reason both of affection for their general and the hopes that they entertained of greater booty than was to be got by ranging the country, that they took the place by force of arms in a single day. [4] there two thousand one hundred Samnites were surrounded and made prisoners as they fought, and vast spoils of other kinds were seized. [5] lest these should encumber the marching army with heavy baggage, Decius called the soldiers together and thus addressed them: “will this single victory or these spoils content you? will your expectations not be equal to your courage? all the cities of the Samnites and the riches left behind in them are yours, since, after defeating their legions in so many battles, you have in the end expelled them from their country. [6] sell these prizes and with hope of gain lure the traders on to follow your column; I will find you from time to time wares to dispose of. [7] let us go from here to the city Romulea, where no greater toil awaits you, but greater booty.”
The booty was sold off, and the men themselves urging on their general, they marched to Romulea. there, too, they used no siege — works or artillery; but once they had come up under the walls, no force could constrain them to retire; quickly setting up their ladders at the nearest places, they swarmed over the battlements. [8] The town was captured and sacked; two thousand three hundred were slain and six thousand made prisoners, and the soldiers came into possession of huge spoils which they were obliged, as before, to sell. [9] after that they marched with the utmost alacrity — though they had been allowed no time to rest — to Ferentinum. [10] but there they encountered more difficulty and danger: the city was defended with the utmost energy, and fortification and nature had combined to make it safe; yet all obstacles were overcome by a soldiery grown used to plunder. some three thousand of the enemy were slain about the walls; the spoils went to the men.
[10.11] of the glory accruing from these sieges the larger share is in certain annals assigned to Maximus; they allow that Murgantia was stormed by Decius, but give to Fabius Ferentinum and Romulea. [12] there are those who claim the credit for the new consuls, and some give it not to both but to one of them, Lucius Volumnius, to whom, they say, fell the command in Samnium.
18. whilst these operations were being carried out in Samnium — whoever had the command and auspices — a mighty war was preparing against the Romans in Etruria, on the part of many nations, at the instigation of a Samnite named Gellius Egnatius. [2] The Tuscans had almost all voted for war; the nearest Umbrian tribes had caught the contagion; and Gallic auxiliaries were being solicited for pay. [3] all this multitude was assembling at the camp of the Samnites. when news of this sudden rising was brought to Rome, Lucius Volumnius the consul, with the second and third legions and fifteen thousand of the allies, had already set out for Samnium, and it was resolved to send Appius Claudius into Etruria at the earliest possible moment. [4] two Roman legions followed him, the first and fourth, and twelve thousand of the allies. [5] they encamped not far from the enemy.
but the consul’s prompt arrival accomplished more, by checking, through dread of the Roman name, certain peoples of Etruria that were already meditating war, than he gained by his generalship, which was characterized neither by much ability nor by good fortune. [6] he repeatedly joined battle at untoward times and places, and the enemy grew every day more hopeful and more formidable, until now the soldiers were near losing confidence in their commander and he in them. [7] i find it recorded by three annalists that he dispatched a letter sending for his colleague out of Samnium; yet am I loath to set it down for certain, since the consuls of the Roman People, now holding that office for the second time, disputed about that very point-Appius denying that he had sent a letter, Volumnius affirming that a letter from Appius had summoned him.
[10.8] Volumnius had already captured three fortresses in Samnium, in which some three thousand of the enemy had been slain and about half as many taken prisoners; and dispatching Quintus Fabius as proconsul with a seasoned army into Lucania, he had suppressed — with the hearty approval of the optimates — certain insurrections which had broken out there at the instigation of necessitous plebeian agitators. [9] leaving to Decius the devastation of the fields, Volumnius himself with his own troops marched to join his colleague in Etruria, where he was welcomed on his arrival with general rejoicings. [10] but what Appius was feeling his conscience alone could tell! — indeed he was justly angered if he had sent no word, but illiberal and ungracious if he had needed help and now sought to dissemble — for [11] coming forth to meet his colleague, before they had fairly greeted one another, he demanded, “is all well, Lucius Volumnius? how stand affairs in Samnium? what has moved you to come out of your own province?” [12] Volumnius replied that affairs were prospering in Samnium, and that he was come being sent for by Appius’ own letter; but if this were a forgery and he were not needed in Etruria, he would immediately face about and march back. [13] “by all means go!” cried Appius. “no one hinders you! for truly it is no way fitting that when, perhaps, you are hardly equal to your own war, you should boast of coming hither to help others.” [14] Volumnius prayed that Hercules might direct all for the best; he had rather, he said, his trouble should go for naught than that anything should have befallen to make one consular army insufficient for Etruria.
19. The consuls were parting, when the lieutenants and tribunes from the army of Appius gathered round them. some of them besought their general not to spurn his colleague’s help — which [2] ought even to have been asked for — now that it was proffered voluntarily; the greater number threw themselves in the way of Volumnius, as he turned to go, and conjured him not to betray the welfare of the state by an unworthy quarrel with his colleague: [3] if any disaster should occur, the blame would lie more with the deserter than the deserted; to such a pass had matters come that the entire credit or disgrace of success or failure in Etruria was referred to Lucius Volumnius; [4] no one would enquire what the words of Appius had been, but what the fortune of the army; he was being dismissed by Appius, but retained by the republic and the army; let him but test the wishes of the soldiers.
[10.5] thus admonishing and entreating them they dragged the all but resisting consuls to the place of assembly. [6] there they spoke at greater length, but substantially to the same effect as they had argued before in the hearing of a few; and when Volumnius, besides having the better cause, likewise showed himself to be no mean orator in opposing the rare [7] eloquence of his colleague, Appius jeeringly remarked that they ought to give himself the credit, for that instead of a mute and tongue — tied consul they had got one who was actually fluent, since in his former consulship, at all events in its early months, he had been incapable of opening his mouth, but was now delivering popular orations. [8]— “how I could wish,” exclaimed Volumnius, “that you might rather have learnt from me to act with vigour than that I should have learnt to speak cleverly from you!” in conclusion he proposed a compact which would determine, not which was the better orator — for this was not what the republic wanted — but the better general. [9] Etruria and Samnium were the nations to be conquered; let Appius choose which he liked; with his own army he would campaign either in Etruria or in Samnium.
[10.10] then the soldiers began to cry out that both should undertake the Etruscan war together. [11] perceiving them to be of one mind in this, Volumnius said, “since I erred in interpreting my colleague’s wishes, I will not make the blunder of leaving yours in doubt: do you signify by a shout whether you would have me stay or go.” [12] then in truth they cheered so loud that the enemy were drawn out from their camp, and snatching up their arms went down into line of battle. Volumnius, too, bade sound the signal and advance the banners from the camp. [13] Appius, they say, was uncertain what to do, perceiving that, whether he fought or refrained from fighting, the victory would be his colleague’s; then, fearing that even his own legions would follow Volumnius, he, too, gave his men the signal for which they were clamouring.
[10.14] on neither side had the forces been very advantageously marshalled; for the Samnite commander Gellius Egnatius had taken a few cohorts and gone off to forage, and his soldiers were entering the battle more as their own impulse guided them than under [15] anybody’s leadership or orders, and the Roman armies were not both led out together nor had they sufficient time to form. [16] Volumnius was engaged before Appius came within reach of the enemy, and the line of attack was accordingly uneven. moreover, as though lots had been cast, there was a shifting of the customary opponents, the Etruscans confronting Volumnius, and the Samnites — after a little hesitation, owing to the absence of their general — meeting Appius. [17] it is said that when the conflict was at its hottest, Appius was seen to lift up his hands in the very forefront of the standards and utter this petition: “Bellona, if to — day thou grant us the victory, then do I vow thee a temple,” having pronounced this prayer, as though the goddess were inspiring him, he kept pace with the courage of his colleague and the army kept pace with his. [18] and now the generals were quitting themselves like true commanders, and the soldiers were striving that victory might not come first on the other wing. [19] they therefore routed and put to flight the enemy, who found it no easy task to withstand a greater force than they had been wont to engage with. [20] pressing hard upon them when they faltered and pursuing where they fled, the Romans drove them to their camp. there, on the appearance of Gellius and the Sabellian cohorts, the battle was renewed for a little while; [21] but presently, when these too had been dispersed, the conquering troops assailed the camp, and while Volumnius himself led a charge against the gate, and Appius, calling from time to time on Bellona, goddess of victory, inspirited his soldiers, they burst through the trenches and the rampart. [22] The camp was taken and pillaged, and the vast booty found there was given over to the soldiers. seven thousand eight hundred of the enemy were slain, two thousand one hundred and twenty taken prisoners.
20. while both consuls and all the strength of Rome were being devoted mainly to the Etruscan war, new armies rose up in Samnium to waste the territories under Roman sway, and crossing over into Campania and the Falernian district, through the land of the Vescini, gathered in huge spoils. [2] as Volumnius was returning by long marches into Samnium — for now the extension of authority granted to Fabius and Decius was drawing to a close — a rumour about the Samnite army and its depredations in the territory of Campania turned him aside to the defence of the allies. [3] when he came to the Calenian country, he saw for himself the fresh traces of the enemy’s ravages, and the Calenians informed him that the Samnites had already so great a train of booty as to march with difficulty, and their leaders were [4] saying openly that they must retire at once into Samnium, and leaving their plunder there, return to the invasion, and not subject an army so heavily burdened to the risks of battle. These reports were plausible enough; nevertheless he thought it right to obtain more authentic information. [5] he therefore sent out horsemen in various directions, to intercept straggling plunderers in the fields, from whom he learned, on questioning them, that [6] their army was encamped at the Volturnus river, whence they would set forward in the third watch and march towards Samnium.
[10.7] being satisfied of the truth of these reports, he followed the enemy and encamped at such a distance from them that while they could not learn of his arrival from his being too close at hand, he yet might surprise them as they were leaving their camp. [8] a little before dawn he approached the camp and sent ahead men who knew the Oscan language to find out what was being done. mingling with their enemies, as they could easily do in the confusion of the dark, they learned that the standards had gone forward with a scanty following of men — at — arms, that the booty and its escort were just setting out, but that the column was incapable of progress, since every man was intent upon his own affairs, with no common understanding among any of them nor any very definite leadership. [9] The time seemed highly suitable for delivering an attack, and the day was breaking. [10] Volumnius therefore ordered them to sound the charge and assailed the enemy’s column. The Samnites were impeded by their booty and few of them were armed; some quickened their pace and drove the cattle before them, some stood still, uncertain whether it were safer to go on or to return to camp; while they hesitated, the Romans were upon them, and now they had scaled the rampart and the camp was filled with carnage and commotion. [11] The Samnite column, besides being charged by the enemy, had also been disordered by a sudden outbreak of the prisoners, some of [12] whom, being loose, were releasing those who were bound, while others were catching up the weapons tied up in the soldiers’ packs, and, mixed up with the column as they were, caused a hurly — burly that was more terrifying than the battle itself. [13] they presently performed a remarkable exploit; for as Staius Minatius, the Samnite general, was riding along the ranks and encouraging them, they made a rush at him, and scattering the horsemen who were with him, surrounded him, and hurried him off a prisoner, horse and all, to the Roman consul. [14] this tumult had the effect of bringing back the vanguard of the Samnites, who renewed the battle, which had been almost finished. [15] but prolonged resistance was impossible. The slain amounted to six thousand men, and twenty — five hundred were captured — among them four military tribunes — as well as thirty standards. what caused most joy among the victors was the recovery of seven thousand four hundred prisoners and a vast quantity of spoils belonging to the allies. The owners were summoned by proclamation to identify and recover their property on an appointed day. [16] those things for which no owner appeared were made over to the soldiers, and they were compelled to sell their booty, that they might have no concern in anything but fighting.
21. this raid upon the Campanian countryside had occasioned a great alarm in Rome; [2] and just at that time, as it happened, there came news out of Etruria, that after the withdrawal of the army of Volumnius the Etruscans had been induced to arm, that Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite general, and the Umbrians were being invited to join in the revolt, and that the Gauls were being tempted with great sums of money. [3] terrified by these reports, the senate ordered that a cessation of the courts should be proclaimed, and that a levy should be held of every sort of men. [4] not only was the oath administered to free citizens of military age, but cohorts were also formed out of older men, and freedmen were mustered into centuries. [5] plans were discussed for defending the City, and the supreme command was given to the praetor, Publius Sempronius. but the senators were relieved of a part of their anxiety by a dispatch from Lucius Volumnius, the consul, apprising them of the slaughter and dispersion of the army that had ravaged Campania. [6] they accordingly voted a thanksgiving for the victory, in the consul’s name, and reopened the courts, which had been closed for eighteen days. [7] The thanksgiving was a very joyful one.
they next considered how they might protect the region devastated by the Samnites, and resolved to plant two colonies in the Vescinian and Falernian country, [8] one, which was named Minturnae, at the mouth of the river Liris, the other in the Vescinian forest, hard by the Falernian district, where the Greek city of Sinope is said to have stood, thereafter called Sinuessa by the Roman settlers. [9] The tribunes of the plebs were assigned the task of obtaining a plebiscite directing Publius Sempronius the praetor to appoint three commissioners to conduct the colonists to these places; [10] yet it was not easy to find men who would enroll, since they regarded themselves as sent, not to settle on the land, but to serve almost as a perpetual outpost in a hostile territory.
[10.11] The senate’s attention was diverted from these cares by the growing seriousness of the war in Etruria, and by a succession of dispatches from Appius, in which he warned them not to make light of the disturbance in that region. [12] four races, he said, were uniting their arms, the Etruscans, Samnites, Umbrians, and Gauls; and they had already divided their camp into two, one place not being able to hold so great a multitude. [13] for these reasons and because of the elections — the time for which was rapidly approaching — the consul Lucius Volumnius was recalled to Rome. before summoning the centuries to vote, he brought the people together in an assembly, and discoursed at length of the magnitude of the war in Etruria: [14] even earlier, when he himself and his colleague had campaigned there together, the war had been so great that one general and one army could not have conducted it; but it was said that the Umbrians had since then been added to the enemy’s forces, as well as a huge army of Gauls; [15] they should remember that on that day they were choosing consuls to oppose four peoples; for his own part, were he not confident that the Roman People would unanimously choose for consul the man who was then looked upon as unquestionably the first of all commanders, he would at once have named him dictator.
22. no one doubted that Fabius would by the common voice of all be for the fifth time elected; and in fact the prerogative centuries and all those which were summoned first were naming him consul, together with Lucius Volumnius. [2] Fabius then made a speech, to the same purport as he had done two years before; but, overborne by the general agreement, he ended by requesting that he might have for colleague Publius Decius, who would be a prop to his old age. [3] in the censorship and the two consulships which he had shared with Decius, he had found that nothing more tended to the preservation of the commonwealth than the harmony of colleagues. to a new partner in authority he could now hardly hope to adapt an old man’s mind: with one whose character he knew, it would be easier to share his counsels. [4] his plea was seconded by the consul, who bestowed well — merited [5] praise on Publius Decius, and recalling the advantages that accrued from harmony betwixt the consuls to the administration of military measures and the harm that resulted from their discord, reminded his hearers how dire had been the danger occasioned lately by the strife between himself and his colleague. [6] Decius and Fabius, he said, were of one heart and one mind, and were, besides, men born for war, great in their deeds, but unskilled in the strife of words and of the tongue. [7] theirs were talents meet for the consul’s office. but shrewd and clever men, masters of the law and of eloquence, like Appius Claudius, should be had to preside over the City and the Forum, and should be elected praetors to administer [8] justice. with these transactions the day was taken [9] up. on the following day, by the direction of the consul, elections were held both of consuls and of praetors. Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were chosen consuls and Appius Claudius praetor — all three being absent — and the senate passed a decree, which the people ratified, prolonging for a year the command of Lucius Volumnius.
23. in that year were many portents, to avert which the senate decreed supplications for two days. [2] wine and incense were provided by the state, and the people went in throngs to offer their prayers -both men and women. [3] The supplication was rendered memorable by a quarrel that broke out among the matrons in the chapel of Patrician Modesty, which stands in the Cattle Market, by the round temple of Hercules. Verginia, Aulus’s daughter, a patrician wedded to a commoner, Lucius Volumnius the consul, had been excluded by the matrons from their ceremonies, on the ground that she had married out of the [5] patriciate. this led to a short dispute, which the hot anger of the sex soon kindled to a blaze of passionate contention. Verginia boasted, and with reason, that she had entered the temple of Patrician Modesty both a patrician and a modest woman, as having been wedded to the one man to whom she had been given as a maiden, and was neither ashamed of her husband nor of his honours and his [6] victories. she then added a noble deed to her proud words. in the Vicus Longus, where she lived, she shut off a part of her mansion, large enough for a shrine of moderate size, and, erecting there [7] an altar, called together the plebeian matrons, and after complaining of the injurious behaviour of the patrician ladies, said, “i dedicate this altar to Plebeian [8] Modesty; and I urge you, that even as the men of our state contend for the meed of valour, so the matrons may vie for that of modesty, that this altar may be said to be cherished — if it be possible — more reverently than that, and by more modest [9] women,” this altar, too, was served with almost the same ritual as that more ancient one, so that no matron but one of proven modesty, who had been wedded to one man alone, should have the right to [10] sacrifice. afterwards the cult was degraded by polluted worshippers, not matrons only but women of every station, and passed finally into [11] oblivion.
in that same year Gnaeus and Quintus Ogulnius the curule aediles brought a number of usurers to [12] trial, and, confiscating their possessions, employed the share which came into the public treasury to put brazen thresholds in the Capitol, and silver vessels for the three tables in the shrine of Jupiter, and a statue of the god in a four — horse chariot on the roof, and at the fig — tree Ruminalis a representation of the infant Founders of the City being suckled by the wolf. they also made a paved walk of squared stone from the Porta Capena to the temple [13] of Mars. and the plebeian aediles Lucius Aelius Paetus and Gaius Fulvius Curvus, likewise with the money from fines, which they exacted from convicted graziers, held games and provided golden bowls for the temple of Ceres.
24. after that Quintus Fabius (for the fifth time) and Publius Decius (for the fourth) began their consulship, having thrice been colleagues in that office and once in the censorship, [2] and being not more distinguished for the renown, great though that was, of their achievements than for their harmonious co — operation. [3] this, however, was not destined to be permanent, though its interruption was due, I think, more to rivalry between the orders than to their own; for the patricians strove that Fabius should have the command in Etruria without drawing lots, and the plebeians insisted that Decius should demand that method of determining the question. [4] at all events there was a contention in the senate, and Fabius proving to be the stronger there, the case was carried before the people. in the assembly the speeches were short, as befitted soldiers and men who trusted more to deeds than to words.
[10.5] Fabius argued that when one man had planted a tree, it was unfair that another should gather the fruit that dropped from it; it was he that had opened up the Ciminian Forest and had made a path for Roman arms through remote and desert tracts. [6] why, pray, had they troubled him, old as he was, if they had meant to wage the war with another general? [7] it was only too clear, he said — taking gradually a more reproachful tone — that he had selected an adversary, not a partner in command, and that Decius had begrudged the friendly spirit in which they had administered three offices together. [8] finally, he asked no more than that if they thought him worthy of the command they should give it to him; he had submitted to the decision of the senate and would obey the people.
[10.9] Publius Decius complained of the senate’s injustice: as long as they were able, the Fathers had striven to deny the plebeians access to great honours; and since native worth had of its own strength won the right to be recognized in any class of men, they were seeking to make of none effect not only [10] the suffrages of, the people but also the awards of Fortune, and to subject them to the control of a few. [11] all the consuls who had preceded him had drawn lots for their commands, but the senate was now conferring a command on Fabius without the lot. if they were doing this to honour him, he would say that the man had deserved so well both of [12] himself and of the state that he stood ready to promote the glory of Fabius, provided only that its lustre were not purchased with insult to himself. but who could doubt, when there was one difficult, dangerous war, and this was entrusted without lots to one of the consuls, that the other was regarded as superfluous and useless? [13] Fabius gloried in his Etruscan victories: Publius Decius would fain glory too. and perhaps that fire which Fabius had left covered up, but so that it was continually breaking out into new flames, might be by him extinguished. [14] in short he was willing, for the reverence he bore his colleague’s years and dignity, to yield to him honours and rewards; but when peril, when strife, was set before them — he yielded not, of his own consent — nor ever would. [15] and if he got nothing else by this contest, one thing at any rate he would get — that what belonged to the people should be disposed of by the people, not bestowed by the Fathers as a favour. [16] to Jupiter Optimus Maximus and the immortal gods he prayed that they would grant him an equal chance in the lot with his colleague only if they were ready to grant him the same courage and the same good fortune in the administration of the war. [17] at least it was a thing in its nature reasonable, in its example salutary, and material to the reputation of the Roman People, that the consuls should be such that the Etruscan war could be managed aright under the leadership of either one of them.
[10.18] Fabius only prayed the Roman people to listen, before the tribes were called to vote, to a dispatch of Appius Claudius the praetor that had been brought in from Etruria. he then left the comitium, and the people then, as unanimously as the senate had done, decreed that Fabius should have the command in Etruria without drawing lots.
25. nearly all the younger men now flocked about the consul, and each gave in his name, so eager were they to serve under such a captain. [2] surrounded by this throng he said, “i have in mind to enrol no more than four thousand foot and six hundred horse; I will take with me those of you who give in your names to — day and to — morrow. [3] Iam more concerned to bring all my men back with their purses filled than to wage war with many soldiers.” [4] marching out with a fit army, which was all the more confident and hopeful because he had not desired a great host, he took his way towards the town of Aharna, from which the enemy were not far distant, to the camp of Appius the praetor. [5] a few miles this side the camp he encountered some men who had come out with an armed escort to gather wood. These people, seeing the lictors in the van and learning that Fabius was consul, with lively manifestations of satisfaction gave thanks to the gods and to the Roman People for having sent him to be their general. [6] then, as they trooped about him and hailed him consul, Fabius asked whither they were bound, and they answered that they were come out to get wood. [7] “is it possible,” he cried, “that you have no rampart round your camp?” and, on their shouting back that they had a double rampart and a trench and yet were in mortal fear, “then you have quite wood enough,” said he; “go back and pull up your stockade.” [8] Returning to camp they began pulling up the palings, to the terror of their comrades who had stayed behind, as [9] well as of Appius himself, till the news was spread, as each talked with his neighbours, that they were acting under orders of the consul Quintus Fabius. on the morrow the camp was removed and the praetor Appius was sent away to Rome. [10] thenceforward the Romans had no permanent camp anywhere. it was of no use, Fabius maintained, for the army to sit down in one place: by marching and shifting its position it grew more mobile and more healthy. [11] The marches, of course, were such as could be made at a season when winter was not yet over.
in the early spring, leaving the second legion in the neighbourhood of Clusium — which they used of old to call Camars — and [12] putting Lucius Scipio, as propraetor, in charge of the camp, Fabius himself returned to Rome to consult about the war, either voluntarily, because he had a task in prospect that was greater than he had believed the reports to signify, or, it may be, summoned by the senate; for both accounts are vouched for. [13] some would have it appear that he was compelled to return by Appius Claudius the praetor, who continued to exaggerate the perils of the Etruscan war in the senate and before the people, as he had done persistently in his dispatches. [14] it was not enough, he said, to have one commander and one army against four nations: the danger was — whether they united to overwhelm him or campaigned separately — that one man would be incapable of meeting simultaneously all emergencies. [15] he himself had left on the ground two Roman legions, and less than five thousand infantry and cavalry had come with Fabius. [16] it was his opinion that Publius Decius the consul should march at the very earliest moment to Etruria, to join his colleague, and that Lucius Volumnius should be given the command in Samnium; or, if the consul preferred to go out to his own province, that Volumnius should set out for Etruria with a regular consular army. [17] The majority were moved by the praetor’s speech, but Publius Decius — so they say — advised that all be left to the free and unhampered judgment of Quintus Fabius, until Fabius should either come to Rome himself — if this were compatible with public policy — or [18] send some one of his lieutenants, to inform the senate how great a war was on foot in Etruria, and with what forces, commanded by how many generals, it ought to be conducted.
26. Fabius, when he returned to Rome, both in the senate and afterwards in speaking to the people, steered a middle course, that he might appear neither to exaggerate the current reports about the war nor minimize them, and in accepting an additional commander to be rather consulting the fears of others than guarding against a danger to himself or the republic. [2] for the rest, if they chose to give him a helper in the war and a partner in authority, how — he asked — could he possibly forget Publius Decius the consul, whom he had proved so often when they had been colleagues? [3] there was no one living with whom he would sooner share his commission; he should have troops enough, if Decius were with him, and his enemies would never be too numerous. [4] but if his colleague preferred some other arrangement, let them give him Lucius Volumnius to be his coadjutor. The decision in regard to everything was left by the people and the senate, and by his colleague himself, entirely to Fabius; and when Publius Decius had made known his readiness to set out either for Samnium or Etruria, there were such rejoicings and congratulations that men tasted the sweets of victory in anticipation, and it seemed as though the consuls had been voted a triumph and not a war.
[10.5] i find in some historians that Fabius and Decius set out for Etruria at the very beginning of their consulship, and they make no mention of the casting of lots for provinces or of the disputes betwixt the colleagues which I have described. [6] on the other hand, even these disputes have not been enough for some, but they have added invectives pronounced by Appius before the people against the absent Fabius, and stubborn opposition on the praetor’s part to the consul who was present, and another quarrel between the colleagues, when Decius urged that each should attend to his allotted province. [7] The authorities begin to be in agreement from the moment that both consuls set out for the seat of war.
but before the consuls could reach Etruria, the Senonian Gauls were come with a great multitude to Clusium, to besiege the Roman legion in camp there. [8] Scipio, who was in command, thought it necessary that he should gain the advantage of position to eke out the smallness of his numbers, and marched his troops up a hill situated between the city and his camp; [9] but, as happens in sudden emergencies, he had sent no scouts ahead of him, and led his men up to a ridge which was held by the enemy, who had approached it from another direction. [10] thus the legion was attacked in the rear and found itself surrounded, with the enemy assailing it from every quarter. [11] some writers say that the legion was even annihilated there, so that none survived to bear away the tidings, and that the consuls, who were not far from Clusium, got no report of the disaster till some Gallic horsemen came in sight, with heads hanging at their horses’ breasts or fixed on their lances, and singing their customary song of triumph. [12] others allege that they were not Gauls but Umbrians, and that the reverse experienced was not so great. some foragers, according to their account, under Lucius Manlius Torquatus, a lieutenant, had been cut off and Scipio the propraetor sallied forth from the camp to their relief, and renewing [13] the battle defeated the victorious Umbrians and took from them their prisoners and their booty. [14] it is more probable that the discomfiture was incurred at the hands of a Gallic than of an Umbrian enemy, since apprehensions of a Gallic rising, which had often at other times troubled the Romans, were in that year particularly alarming. and so, not only did both consuls go out to war, having four legions and a strong body of Roman cavalry, together with a thousand picked horse from Campania — furnished for this campaign — and an army of allies and Latins that outnumbered the Romans; [15] but two other armies were posted over against Etruria, not far from the City, one in the Faliscan district and the other in the Vatican. Gnaeus Fulvius and Lucius Postumius Megellus — propraetors both — were ordered to maintain a standing camp there.
27. The consuls came up with the enemy — who had crossed the Apennines — in the territory round Sentinum, and went into camp about four miles off. [2] consultations were then held amongst the enemy and they decided not to unite all their forces in one camp nor to give battle all together; to the Samnites were joined the Gauls and to the Etruscans the men of Umbria. [3] a day was designated for the battle, and the Samnites and Gauls were appointed to make the attack; in the midst of the engagement the Etruscans and the Umbrians were to assault the Roman camp. [4] These plans were upset by three Clusinian deserters who came over secretly in the night to Fabius, and having informed him of the enemy’s designs were rewarded and sent back again, so that from time to time, as each new step should be decided on, they might find it out and report upon it. [5] The consuls wrote to Fulvius and Postumius to march from their respective posts in the Faliscan and Vatican districts to Clusium, and lay waste the territories of the enemy with the utmost rigour. [6] The reports of this devastation drew off the Etruscans from the region of Sentinum to the defence of their own frontiers. [7] thereupon the consuls strove to bring about an engagement in their absence. for the space of two days they harassed the enemy, but in these two days there was nothing done worth telling: a few were slain on either side and spirits were whetted for a downright battle, but the main issue was not brought to a decision. [8] on the third day the opposing armies descended in full strength into the field.
as they stood arrayed for battle, a hind, pursued by a wolf that had chased it down from the mountains, fled across the plain and ran between the two lines. they then turned in opposite directions, the hind towards the Gauls, the wolf towards the Romans. for the wolf a passage was opened between the ranks, but the hind was killed by the Gauls. [9] then one of the front — rankers on the Roman side called out, “that way flight and slaughter have shaped their course, where you see the beast lie slain that is sacred to Diana; on this side the wolf of Mars, unhurt and sound, has reminded us of the Martian race and of our Founder.”
[10.10] on the right wing stood the Gauls, on the left the Samnites. facing the Samnites, Quintus Fabius drew up the first and third legions, to form the Roman right, while Decius marshalled the fifth and sixth on the Roman left, against the Gauls. [11] The second and the fourth were campaigning in Samnium under Lucius Volumnius the proconsul. at the first shock the strength put forth on both sides was so equal that if the Etruscans and the Umbrians had been present either in the battle or at the camp, in whichever quarter they had thrown their weight the Romans must have suffered a disaster.
28. but, though so far it was a doubtful battle and Fortune had given no indication where she intended to bestow her might, the fighting was very different on the right wing from what it was on the left. [2] The Romans with Fabius were rather defending themselves than attacking, and were trying to prolong the struggle to as late an hour in the day as possible. [3] this was because their general was persuaded that both Samnites and Gauls fought fiercely at the outset of an engagement, but only needed to be withstood; [4] when a struggle was prolonged, little by little the spirits of the Samnites flagged, while the physical prowess of the Gauls, who could least of all men put up with heat and labour, ebbed away, and, whereas in the early stages of their battles they were more than men, they ended with being less than women. [5] so until the time should come when the enemy were wont to fail, he was keeping his men as fresh as he could contrive to do. [6] but Decius, with the greater impetuosity of his youth and spirits, expended all the strength he could muster in the first encounter. [7] and because the fighting of the infantry seemed to languish, he called on the cavalry to attack, and attaching himself to the bravest squadron of troopers besought the youthful nobles to join him in a charge. theirs, he said, would be a double share of glory, if victory should come first to the left wing and to the cavalry. twice they drove the Gallic cavalry back. [8] The second time they were carried on for a considerable distance and soon found themselves in the midst of the companies of infantry, when they were subjected to a new and terrifying kind of assault; [9] for, standing erect in chariots and waggons, armed enemies came rushing upon them with a mighty clattering of hoofs and wheels, frightening the horses of the Romans with the unfamiliar din. [10] thus the victorious cavalry were scattered, as if by a panic fit of madness, and, suddenly fleeing, were overthrown, both horse and rider. from them the disorder was communicated to the standards of the legions, and many of the first line were trodden underfoot, as horses and chariots swept through their ranks. [11] no sooner did the Gallic infantry perceive the confusion of their enemies than they charged, without leaving them a moment to recover or regain their breath.
[10.12] Decius cried out to them to tell him whither they were fleeing, or what hope they had in flight; he endeavoured to stop them as they broke and ran, and to call them back; then, his exertions proving powerless to stay their rout, he cried aloud on the name of his father Publius Decius. “why,” he asked, “do I seek any longer to postpone the doom of our house? [13] it is the privilege of our family that we should be sacrificed to avert the nation’s perils. now will I offer up the legions of the enemy, to be slain with myself as victims to Earth and the Manes.”
[10.14] on going down into the field of battle he had ordered Marcus Livius the pontifex not to leave his side. he now commanded this man to recite before him the words with which he proposed to devote himself and the enemy’s legions in behalf of the army of the Roman People, the Quirites. [15] he was then devoted with the same form of prayer and in the same habit his father, Publius Decius, had commanded to be used, when he was devoted at the Veseris, in the Latin war; and having [16] added to the usual prayers that he was driving before him fear and panic, blood and carnage, and the wrath of gods celestial and gods infernal, and should [17] blight with a curse the standards, weapons and armour of the enemy, and that one and the same place should witness his own destruction and that of the Gauls and Samnites, — having [18] uttered, I say, these imprecations upon himself and the enemy, he spurred his charger against the Gallic lines, where he saw that they were thickest, and hurling himself against the weapons of the enemy met his death.
29. from that moment the battle seemed scarce to depend on human efforts. The Romans, after losing their general — an occurrence that is wont to inspire terror — fled no longer, but sought to redeem the field; [2] the Gauls, and especially the press about the body of the consul, as though deprived of reason, were darting their javelins at random and without effect, while some were in a daze, and could neither fight nor run away. [3] but in the other army the pontifex Livius, to whom Decius had handed over his lictors, bidding him act as propraetor, cried aloud that the Romans had won the victory, being quit of all danger by the consul’s doom. [4] The Gauls, he said, and the Samnites were made over to Mother Earth and to the Manes; Decius was haling after him their devoted host and calling it to join him, and with the enemy all was madness and despair. [5] while the Romans were restoring the battle, up came Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Gaius Marcius, whom Quintus Fabius the consul had ordered to take reserves from the rearmost line and go to his colleague’s support. there they learned of Decius’s death, a great incentive to dare everything for the republic. [6] and so, though the Gauls stood crowded together with their shields interlocked in front of them, and it looked no easy battle at close quarters, the lieutenants bade their men gather up the javelins that were scattered about on the ground between the hostile lines and cast them against the testudo of their enemies; and as many of these missiles stuck fast in the shields and now and then one penetrated a soldier’s body, their phalanx was broken up — many falling, though unwounded, as if they had been [7] stunned. such were the shifts of Fortune upon the Roman left.
[10.8] on the right, Fabius had begun, as has been said before, by holding back and delaying the decision; later, when neither the shouts of the foe, nor their assaults, nor the missiles they discharged, seemed to have any longer the same force, he ordered the praefects of the cavalry to lead their squadrons [9] round the wing of the Samnites, that, on the signal being given, they might attack them in the flank with all possible vigour, and commanded his own men to push forward by degrees and dislodge the [10] enemy. when he saw that they made no resistance and there could be no question of their weariness, he gathered up all the troops which he had hitherto held in reserve, and, sending in his legions, made a signal to the cavalry to [11] charge. The Samnites could not withstand their onset and fled in confusion past the Gallic line itself, abandoning their comrades in the midst of the fighting and seeking refuge in their camp. The Gauls had formed a testudo and stood there closely packed [12] together. then Fabius, who had learned of his colleague’s death, commanded the squadron of Campanians, about five hundred lances, to withdraw from the line, and fetching a compass, assail the Gallic infantry in the [13] rear; these the principes, or middle line, of the third legion were to follow, and, pushing in where they saw that the cavalry charge had disordered the enemy’s formation, make havoc of them in their [14] panic. he himself, after vowing a temple and the enemy’s spoils to Jupiter Victor, kept on to the Samnite camp, whither the whole affrighted throng was being [15] driven. under the very rampart, since the gates could not receive so great a multitude, those who were shut out by the crowding of their fellows attempted some resistance; there Gellius Egnatius, the commander — in [16] — chief of the Samnites, fell; in the upshot the Samnites were driven within the rampart and after a short struggle their camp was taken and the Gauls were cut off in the [17] rear. there were slain that day five — and — twenty thousand of the enemy, and eight thousand were captured; nor was it a bloodless victory; for of the army of Publius Decius seven thousand were slain and seventeen hundred of the army of [18] Fabius. Fabius sent out men to search for the body of his colleague, and, piling up the spoils of the enemy, burned them in sacrifice to Jupiter the [19] Victor. The consul’s body could not be found that day, having been buried under heaps of Gauls who had been slain above him; on the day after, it was found and brought in, amidst the lamentations of the [20] soldiers. postponing his concern for everything else, Fabius celebrated the funeral of his colleague with every show of honour and well — merited eulogiums.
30. in Etruria too at the same time Gnaeus Fulvius the propraetor was succeeding according to his wishes, and, besides the enormous damage which his forays inflicted on the enemy, fought also a victorious battle with them. [2] The Perusini and Clusini lost upwards of three thousand men, and some twenty military standards were captured from them. [3] The Samnite army, as it fled through the Paelignian territory, was surrounded by the inhabitants, and of five thousand men about a thousand were slain.
[10.4] Great is the glory of that day on which the battle was fought in the district of Sentinum, even if a man hold fast to truth; [5] but some writers have so exaggerated as to over — shoot the credible, and have written that in the army of the enemy — including, of course, the Umbrians and Tuscans, for these, too, were present in the battle — there were six hundred thousand infantry, forty — six thousand horse, and a thousand cars; [6] and, to enlarge in like manner the forces of the Romans, they add to the consuls as a general Lucius Volumnius the proconsul, and his army to their legions. [7] in the majority of histories this victory is reserved to the two consuls, and Volumnius is waging war at the same time in Samnium, where, having driven the Samnite army up Mount Tifernus, he routs and scatters them, undeterred by the difficulties of the ground.
[10.8] Quintus Fabius, leaving the Decian army on guard over Etruria, led down his own legions to Rome and triumphed over the Gauls, the Etruscans, and the Samnites. [9] The soldiers followed his triumphal chariot and in their rude verses celebrated no less the glorious death of Publius Decius than the victory of Fabius, reviving by their praise of the son the memory of the father, whose death (and its service to the commonwealth) had now been matched. [10] every soldier received from the spoils a present of eighty — two asses of bronze, with a cloak and tunic, a reward for military service in those days far from contemptible.
31. despite these victories, there was not yet peace either with the Samnites or in Etruria; [2] for war had broken out afresh at the instigation of the Perusini, after the consul had withdrawn his army, and the Samnites were raiding the lands of Vescini and of Formiae on the one hand, and on the other the territory of Aesernia and the region adjacent to the Volturnus river. [3] against these the praetor Appius Claudius was dispatched with the army that Decius had commanded. Fabius dealt with the new outbreak in Etruria, where he slew four thousand five hundred of the Perusini and took one thousand seven hundred and forty prisoners, who were ransomed at three hundred and ten asses each, the rest of the [4] booty being made over to the soldiers. [5] The Samnite levies, of whom a part were being pursued by Appius Claudius the praetor and a part by Lucius Volumnius the pro — consul, effected a junction in the Stellate district, where they all took up a position near Caiatia. Appius and Volumnius also combined their forces. [6] The ensuing battle was very bitterly contested, the Romans being incited by resentment against a people who had so often rebelled, while those on the other side were staking their last hopes on the conflict. [7] The Samnites accordingly lost sixteen thousand three hundred slain and two thousand seven hundred captured; in the Roman army two thousand seven hundred fell.
[10.8] The year, though one of success in war, was saddened by a pestilence and vexed with prodigies. showers of earth were reported to have fallen in many places, and it was said that in the army of Appius Claudius many had been struck by lightning. [9] on account of these signs the Sibylline books were consulted. in this year Quintus Fabius Gurges, the consul’s son, assessed a fine of money against a number of married women who were convicted before the people of adultery, and with this money erected the temple of Venus which is near the Circus.
[10.10] there are more Samnite wars still to come, though we have dealt with them continuously throughout four books, covering a period of forty — six years, from the consulship of Marcus Valerius and Aulus Cornelius, who were the first that made war on Samnium; and — not [11] to go over now the disasters sustained in so many years on either side and the toils endured, by which nevertheless those sturdy hearts could not be daunted — in [12] the year just past the Samnites had fought in the territory of Sentinum, in the Pelignian country, at Tifernus, and in the Stellate plains, now by themselves, with their own levies, now in company with troops from other nations, and had been cut to pieces by four armies under four Roman generals; they had lost their nation’s most distinguished commander; [13] they beheld their comrades in war, the Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls, in the same plight as their own; nor could they longer maintain themselves, either by their own resources or by those of outside nations; yet would they not abstain from war; [14] — so far were they from wearying of a liberty which they had unsuccessfully defended, preferring rather to be conquered than not to try for victory. [15] who, pray, could grudge the time for writing or reading of these wars, when they could not exhaust the men who fought them?
32. Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were succeeded in the consulship by Lucius Postumius Megellus and Marcus Atilius Regulus. [2] Samnium was assigned them both for their province, in consequence of a report that the enemy had raised three armies, with one of which they meant to return into Etruria, with another to resume the devastation of Campania, while the third was making ready for the defence of their frontiers. [3] Postumius was detained in Rome by ill health: Atilius marched out at once, that he might put down the enemy in Samnium — for such was the senate’s plan — ere they could cross the border. [4] as though it had been prearranged, they encountered the foe in a place where they themselves were prevented from laying waste the territory of their enemies, while they prevented the Samnites from coming out into the district which had been pacified and the territory of the allies of the Roman People. [5] on the camps being established over against each other, what the Romans would hardly have dared to do, victorious as they had so often been, the Samnites ventured — such temerity does utter hopelessness beget, — that is, to assault the enemy’s camp; and although their desperate enterprise did not fully succeed, still, it was not altogether futile. [6] there was a fog which lasted well on into the day, so dense as to shut out the light and render it impossible to see, not only beyond the rampart, but even at a little way off, when people approached each other. [7] relying on this, as on a screen for their operations, the Samnites came up, when day had scarcely dawned, and even so was hidden behind the murk, to the Roman outpost that was negligently standing guard before the gate. [8] falling upon them unawares they encountered neither courage nor strength sufficient to hold them in check. [9] they charged in by the decuman gate in the rear of the camp, captured the quaestor’s tent, and slew the quaestor, Lucius Opimius Pansa; whereupon a general alarm was cried.
33. The consul, aroused by the din, commanded the two allied cohorts which happened to be nearest — those from Lucania and Suessa — to guard headquarters, and put himself at the head of the legionary maniples in the via principalis. The men fell in ere they had fairly fitted on their armour, and, knowing the enemy more by their shouting than by the sight of them, were unable to form any estimate of their [3] numbers. at first they gave ground, uncertain how fortune stood with them, and admitted the foe into the middle of the [4] camp; then, on the consul’s asking them whether they meant to be driven without the wall and afterwards make an assault on their own camp, they gave a cheer, and, exerting themselves, first made a successful stand, and afterwards pushed forward and forced their enemies back, and, having once repulsed them, left them no time to recover their first dismay, but thrust them out of gate and [5] rampart. not venturing then to go on and pursue them, since the dim light made them fear an ambush, they retired — content to have cleared their camp — within the palisade, having slain about three hundred of the [6] enemy. The Roman loss, at the outpost and amongst those who were taken by surprise at the quaestor’s tent, was some seven hundred and [7] thirty.
this bold and not unsuccessful venture of the Samnites raised their spirits; and not only would they not permit the Romans to go forward, but they would not even permit them to forage in their fields; the foragers fell back on the peaceful territory about [8] Sora. The rumour of these events — more startling even than the events themselves — being brought to Rome compelled the consul Lucius Postumius, though barely recovered, to take the [9] field. but after issuing a proclamation calling upon his soldiers to assemble at Sora, he himself, before leaving the City, dedicated a shrine to Victory, which he had built, as curule aedile, with money received from [10] fines. having then set out to join the army, he led it from Sora to his colleague’s camp in Samnium. The Samnites then retreated, having no confidence in their ability to resist two armies, and the consuls separated and marched in different directions to waste their fields and attack their cities.
34. Postumius essayed to capture Milionia. unsuccessful in his first attempt to storm the place, he proceeded against it by regular approaches, and, having brought his pent — houses into contact with the walls, effected an entrance. [2] thereupon, though the city was already taken, there ensued in every quarter without interruption, from the fourth hour till about the eighth, a desperate struggle, the result of which was long in doubt. at last the Romans made themselves masters of the place. [3] The Samnites lost three thousand two hundred slain and four thousand seven hundred captured, besides other booty.
[10.4] from there the legions were led to Feritrum, which the townspeople, with all their possessions which they could carry or drive away, evacuated in the silence of the night, by the opposite gate. [5] so, then, the consul was no sooner come than he advanced up to the walls with all the order and circumspection of one who looked for the same resistance that he had met with at Milionia; [6] but afterwards, finding the city as silent as a desert and neither arms nor men upon the battlements and towers, he restrained his soldiers, who were eager to scale the abandoned walls, lest they should rush improvidently into some hidden trap. he ordered two squadrons of Latin allies to make a circuit of the fortifications and effect a thorough reconnaissance. [7] The troopers discovered a wide — open gate, and near it in the same quarter another one, and saw in the roads leading out of them the traces of the enemy’s nocturnal flight. [8] riding up then slowly and cautiously to the gates, they saw that the city could be safely traversed by streets that led straight through it, and reported to the consul that it had been abandoned. this was evident, they said, from the unmistakable solitude and the fresh signs of flight and the objects that lay scattered about where they had been discarded in the confusion of the darkness. [9] on receiving this account, the consul led his army round to that side of the city which the horsemen had approached. halting the troops not far from the gate, he commanded five horsemen to enter and advance for a short distance; then, if all seemed safe, three of these were to remain there together, and the other two were to report to him what they had found. [10] when they came back and reported that they had advanced to a place from which a view could be had in all directions, and that silence and solitude reigned far and wide, the consul at once led some light — armed [11] cohorts into the city and ordered the rest to construct a camp in the meanwhile. [12] having entered the place and broken in the house — doors, the soldiers discovered some few decrepit or bed — ridden people and certain things abandoned as too difficult to remove. These things were seized. [13] it was learned from the prisoners that a number of communities in the vicinity had agreed together in planning flight; their own people had left in the first watch; they believed that the Romans would find the same solitude in the other cities. [14] The statements of the prisoners turned out to be true, and the consul took possession of the deserted towns.
35. The other consul, Marcus Atilius, had by no means so easy a war. he was marching, at the head of his legions, towards Luceria, which he had heard was being besieged by the Samnites, when the enemy met him at the Lucerine frontier. [2] on this occasion rage made their strength as great as his, and the battle was one of shifting fortunes and doubtful issue. yet its outcome was more discouraging to the Romans, both as having been unaccustomed to defeat, and because, as they were retiring from the field, they could see, even better than during the actual engagement, how much their side had got the worst of it in killed and wounded. [3] The consequence of this was such a panic in the camp as, had it come over them whilst they were fighting, must have led to a signal overthrow. [4] even so the night was an anxious one, for they thought that the Samnites would soon be attacking the camp, or else that they would have to fight their victorious enemy at break of day.
The enemy had suffered less, but was not less faint — hearted. as soon as it grew light they wished to retire without giving battle. but there was only one road, and this led past their enemies, and when they had started to go that way, they looked as if marching straight to attack the camp. [5] The consul ordered the soldiers to arm and follow him outside the rampart. [6] to the lieutenants, tribunes, and prefects of the allies he explained what part it was needful for their several commands to play. they all assured him that, as for themselves, they were ready for anything, but that the soldiers were dispirited; [7] all night long they had been kept awake by the groans of the wounded and the dying; had the enemy attacked the camp before daylight, their fear would have been so great as to cause them to desert their ranks; [8] as it was, they were withheld by shame from running away, but were otherwise as good as beaten.
[10.9] on hearing this, the consul thought he had best go about himself among the men and talk to them. wherever he went he scolded those who were hesitating to arm themselves: Why did they linger and hold back? [10] The enemy would come into the camp, unless they went out; and they would be fighting before their tents, if they were not willing to fight before the palisade. [11] if men armed themselves and fought, it was a question whose the victory would be; but a man who waited for the enemy, unarmed and helpless, must put up with either death or slavery. [12] to these objurgations and reproaches they replied that they were exhausted with the battle of the previous day and had no strength left nor blood to shed; while the enemy appeared to be in greater numbers than on the day before.
[10.13] meanwhile the column was approaching; and presently, as the soldiers obtained a closer view of them, they declared that the Samnites were carrying stakes and were doubtless going to fence in the camp. [14] at this the consul lost all patience, and shouted out that it was a shameful thing to suffer such disgrace and humiliation at the hands of the most cowardly of foes. “shall we even be pent up within our camp,” he cried, “to die shamefully of hunger, rather than, if need be, by the sword, like gallant men?” [15] Heaven prosper them! they must act as each thought worthy of himself; but the consul, Marcus Atilius — alone if there were none to follow him — would [16] charge the enemy, and sooner fall amongst the standards of the Samnites than see a Roman camp beleaguered. [17] The consul’s words were approved by the lieutenants and the tribunes and by all the squadrons of horse and the centurions of highest rank.
then the soldiers began, for very shame, to arm, and slowly emerged from the stockade; in a long and straggling column, discouraged and almost beaten, they advanced towards the enemy, who were no better off for hopefulness or courage. [18] accordingly, no sooner had they beheld the Roman standards than a murmur ran through the column of the Samnites, from the foremost to the hindmost, that the Romans — just [19] as they had feared — were coming out to dispute their passing; there was no way open even for flight; they must fall where they stood, or else cut down their foes and escape over their bodies.
36. they heaped up their baggage together, and, being armed, went every man to his own place in the ranks, and the battle — line was formed. [2] and now there was but a little space between the armies, and they halted, each waiting for the other to be first to attack and first to raise a cheer. [3] neither side had any stomach for fighting, and they would have gone off in opposite directions, scatheless and unhurt, had they not been afraid that, if they retired, their enemies would advance. [4] no signal was given, but though unwilling and reluctant, they began to fight, in a half — hearted manner, with an uncertain and unequal shout; nor would any man stir from his place.
then the Roman consul, to put some life into the work, detached a few troops of cavalry and sent them in. of these the most part were unhorsed, and, the rest being thrown into confusion, there was a rush on the part of the Samnites to dispatch the fallen and on that of the Romans to save their comrades. [5] this infused a little spirit into the fighting; but the Samnites had charged somewhat more briskly and in greater numbers, and the disordered cavalry, their horses becoming terrified, rode down their own supports, who began a flight that spread to the whole Roman army. [6] and now the Samnites were on the backs of the fugitives, when the consul, galloping [7] on before to the gate of the camp, posted there a guard of horse and commanded them, whosoever should make for the rampart, be he Roman or Samnite, to treat him as a foe. he likewise threatened the men himself, and stopped them as they made in disorder for the camp. [8] “where are you going, men?” he shouted: “here too you will find arms and soldiers, and while your consul lives you shall not enter the camp, except as victors. choose, therefore, whether you would sooner fight with fellow — citizens or enemies!”
[10.9] as the consul spoke these words, the cavalry gathered round the infantry and levelling their spears bade them return into the battle. not only the consul’s bravery but Fortune also helped; for the Samnites did not press their advantage, and he had time to reverse his standards and change his front from the camp to the enemy. [10] they then began to encourage each other to resume the fight; the centurions snatched the standards from the standard — bearers and carried them forward, pointing out to their men that the enemy were few in number and were coming on in irregular and ill — formed ranks. [11] at this juncture the consul lifted up his hands to heaven, and in a clear voice, so as to be overheard, vowed a temple to Jupiter the Stayer, if the Roman army should stay its flight, and renewing the struggle cut to pieces and overcome the legions of the Samnites. [12] everybody, all along the line — officers, soldiers, infantry and horse — made an effort to restore the day. it even seemed that the divine power of the gods was concerned for the renown of Rome, so easily was the struggle turned and the enemy repulsed from the camp, and in a short time driven back to the place where the fighting had begun. [13] there they were held up by the heap of bundles which they had piled together, and, to keep their effects from being rifled, they formed around them a circle of armed men. [14] then the foot — soldiers fell hotly upon them in the front, and the cavalry rode round and assailed them in the rear; and so between the two they were slaughtered or made prisoners. The number of the captives was seven thousand eight hundred, who were all stripped and sent under the yoke: the slain were reported at four thousand eight hundred. [15] even the Romans had no joy of their victory, for the consul found, on reckoning up the two days’ casualties, that he had lost seven thousand eight hundred men.
[10.16] whilst these affairs were taking place in Apulia, the Samnites with a second army attempted to seize Interamna, a Roman colony on the Latin Way, but could not take it; [17] having pillaged the farms, they were driving off a miscellaneous booty of men and beasts, together with the captured settlers, when they encountered the victorious consul returning from Luceria, and not only lost their spoils, but, marching without order in a long and encumbered column, were massacred themselves. [18] The consul made proclamation summoning the owners back to Interamna to identify and receive again their property, and, leaving there his army, went to Rome for the purpose of conducting the elections. [19] when he sought to obtain a triumph, the honour was denied him, on the ground that he had lost so many thousand men, and because he had sent the prisoners under the yoke, though they had made no terms.
37. The other consul, Postumius, in default of enemies in Samnium, transferred his army to Etruria. [2] there he first devastated the lands of the Volsinienses, and then, when they came out to defend their territory, defeated them at no great distance from their own walls. two thousand eight hundred Etruscans were slain; the rest were saved by their nearness to the city. [3] The army was then led into the territory of Rusellae. there not only were the fields laid waste, but the town was captured too. more than two thousand were made prisoners and somewhat fewer were killed in the fighting about the walls. [4] yet a peace was made that year in Etruria that was more glorious and of more importance than the fighting had been. three very powerful cities, the chief places in that country, namely Volsinii, Perusia, and Arretium, made overtures of peace, and arranged with the consul, in return for clothing and corn for his troops, to be permitted to send ambassadors to Rome, who obtained a truce for forty years. [5] a fine of five hundred thousand asses, to be paid at once, was assessed upon each state.
[10.6] in view of these achievements, the consul asked the senate for a triumph, more as a matter of custom than with any hope of obtaining his request. [7] when he perceived that some were for denying him on the ground of his tardiness in leaving the City, and others because he had gone over without the authorization of the senate from Samnium into Etruria — a part of these critics being his personal enemies, and the rest friends of his colleague, who were minded to console the latter for his rebuff by denying a triumph to Postumius also — seeing, [8] I say, how matters stood, he spoke as follows: “i shall not be so mindful, Conscript Fathers, of your dignity as to forget that I am consul. in virtue of the same authority with which I conducted my wars, I intend, now that those wars are happily concluded with the subjugation of Samnium and Etruria and the winning of victory and peace, to celebrate a triumph.” [9] so saying he left the senate. a dispute then arose amongst the tribunes of the plebs; some declared that they would interpose their veto to prevent this unprecedented kind of triumph, others that they would support his claims against the opposition of their colleagues. [10] The question was discussed in an assembly and the consul was asked to speak. he reminded them that Marcus Horatius and Lucius Valerius, the consuls, and lately Gaius Marcius Rutulus, father of him who was then censor, had triumphed not by authorization of the senate but by command of the people; [11] and he added that he, too, would have referred the question to the people, had he not known that there were tribunes who were owned by the nobles and would obstruct the law; but the wishes and approbation of the [12] people when they were of one accord had all the binding force with him — and ever would have of any orders whatsoever. [13] and so, on the following day, with the support of three tribunes of the plebs, against the opposition of seven who forbade the proceedings and a unanimous senate, Postumius triumphed, with the people thronging in attendance.
of this year, too, the tradition is uncertain. Postumius, if we follow Claudius, after capturing several cities in Samnium, was defeated in Apulia and put to flight, and, being wounded himself, was forced to take refuge with a few followers in Luceria; while Atilius campaigned in Etruria and obtained a triumph. [14] Fabius writes that both consuls fought in Samnium and at Luceria; that the army was led over into Etruria — by which consul he does not state — and [15] that at Luceria both sides suffered heavy losses; in the course of the battle a temple was vowed to Jupiter Stator, as Romulus had vowed one before; but only the fanum, or place set apart for the temple, had been consecrated; [16] this year, however, their scruples demanded that the senate should order the erection of the building, since the state had now been obligated for the second time by the same vow.
38. The following year brought with it a consul, Lucius Papirius Cursor, remarkable both for his father’s glory and for his own, and a mighty war, with a victory such as no one, save Lucius Papirius, the consul’s father, had until that day obtained over the Samnites. [2] and it happened that the enemy had made their preparations for the war with the same earnestness and pomp and all the magnificence of splendid arms, and had likewise invoked the assistance of the gods, initiating, as it were, their soldiers, in accordance with a certain antique form of oath. [3] but first they held a levy throughout Samnium under this new ordinance, that whosoever of military age did not report in response to the proclamation of the generals, or departed without their orders, should forfeit his life to Jupiter. [4] which done, they appointed all the army to meet at Aquilonia, where some forty thousand soldiers, the strength of Samnium, came together.
[10.5] there, at about the middle of the camp, they had enclosed an area, extending approximately two hundred feet in all directions, with wicker hurdles, and roofed it over with linen. [6] in this place they offered sacrifice in accordance with directions read from an old linen roll. The celebrant was one Ovius Paccius, an aged man, who claimed to derive this ceremony from an ancient ritual of the Samnites which the forefathers of those present had formerly employed when they had gone secretly about to get Capua away from the Etruscans. [7] on the conclusion of the sacrifice, the general by his apparitor commanded to be summoned all those of the highest degree in birth and deeds of arms; and one by one they were introduced. [8] besides other ceremonial preparations, such as might avail to strike the mind with religious awe, there was a place all enclosed, with altars in the midst and slaughtered victims lying about, and round them a guard of centurions with drawn swords. [9] The man was brought up to the altar, more like a victim than a partaker in the rite, and was sworn not to divulge what he should there see or hear. [10] they then compelled him to take an oath in accordance with a certain dreadful form of words, whereby he invoked a curse upon his head, his household, and his family, if he went not into battle where his generals led the way, or if he either fled from the line himself or saw any other fleeing and did not instantly cut him down. [11] some there were at first who refused to take this oath; these were beheaded before the altars, where they lay amongst the slaughtered victims — a warning to the rest not to refuse. [12] when the leading Samnites had been bound by this imprecation, the general named ten of them and bade them choose every man another, and so to proceed until they had brought their number up to sixteen thousand. These were named the “Linen Legion,” from the roof of the enclosure wherein the nobles had been sworn, and were given splendid arms and crested helmets, to distinguish them from the rest. [13] a little over twenty thousand men composed another corps, which neither in physical appearance nor in martial renown nor in equipment was inferior to the Linen Legion. this was the size of the army, comprising their effective forces, which encamped at Aquilonia.
39. The consuls set out from the City, Spurius Carvilius, to whom had been assigned the veteran legions which Marcus Atilius the consul of the previous year had left in the territory of Interamna, being the first to take the field. [2] proceeding with these forces into Samnium, while the enemy, busy with their superstitious rites, were holding secret councils, he carried the Samnite town of Amiternum by assault. [3] there about two thousand eight hundred men were slain and four thousand two hundred and seventy made prisoners. [4] Papirius, having levied a new army — for so it had been decreed — took by storm the city of Duronia, making fewer prisoners than his colleague but killing many more. in each place a rich booty was obtained. [5] afterwards, the consuls having ranged over Samnium and laid waste especially the district of Atina, Carvilius appeared before Cominium and Papirius before Aquilonia, where the main power of the Samnites lay encamped. [6] there for some days there was neither cessation from hostilities nor downright fighting, but the time was spent in provoking the enemy when they were quiet and retreating when they offered resistance — in a word, in feinting rather than attacking. [7] whatever was undertaken or given over, the result of every skirmish, no matter how trivial it might be, was reported at the other camp, which was twenty miles away. The other colleague, Carvilius, though absent, shared in every plan of operations, and was more intent upon Aquilonia, as the crisis became more imminent, than upon Cominium, to which he was laying siege.
[10.8] Lucius Papirius, being now prepared at all points for the battle, sent word to his colleague that he purposed, if the auspices permitted, to engage the enemy on the following day; [9] it was needful, he said, that Carvilius should also direct an assault, as violent as possible, on Cominium, that no relaxation of the pressure there might allow of the Samnites’ sending relief to Aquilonia. The messenger had a day for the journey. returning in the night, he reported that Carvilius approved the measures taken by his colleague. [10] Papirius had no sooner sent off the courier than he addressed his [11] troops, and said many things of war in general and much regarding the present equipment of the enemy, more vain and showy than effective. [12] for crests, said he, dealt no wounds, and painted and gilded shields would let the Roman javelin through, and their battle — array, resplendent in white tunics, would be stained with blood when sword met sword. long ago a gilt and silvern Samnite army had been utterly destroyed by his father, and the spoils had done their conquerors more credit than the arms had brought to their bearers. [13] it had perhaps been granted to his name and family to be sent forth as generals against the mightiest efforts of the Samnites, and to win such trophies as should strikingly adorn even public places. [14] The immortal gods, he said, were ready to intervene in behalf of treaties so often sought and so often broken. [15] if it were possible in any way to surmise the feelings of the gods, they had never been [16] more enraged with any army than with this one, which with horrid rites and stained with the commingled blood of men and beasts, doubly devoted to the wrath of Heaven, as it trembled now at the gods that attested the treaties it had made with the Romans, and now at the curses called down [17] when it undertook to break those treaties, had sworn unwillingly, hated its oath, and dreaded at one and the same moment its gods, its fellow — citizens, and its enemies.
40. These fears had been made known to Papirius by deserters; and when he had described them to his soldiers, incensed as they already were of themselves, their hopes both of gods and men ran high, and they called out in unison demanding battle; they were vexed at the postponement of the struggle until the morrow, and to wait for a day and night disgusted them. [2] in the third watch of the night, having now received his colleague’s answer, Papirius rose silently and sent the keeper of the chickens to take the auspices. [3] there was no class of men in camp who were not affected by the lust of battle; both high and low felt the same eagerness; the general could see the ardour of the men, the men that of their general. [4] this universal zeal spread even to those who took the auspices, for when the chickens refused to feed, their keeper dared to falsify the presage and reported that the corn danced on the ground as it fell from their greedy beaks. [5] The consul joyfully announced that the omens were most favourable, and that the gods would be with them as they fought. [6] so saying, he displayed the signal for a battle. it chanced, as he was already moving out to the field, that a deserter came up with the information that twenty cohorts of the Samnites — of about four hundred each — had set out for Cominium. [7] that his colleague might not be ignorant of this, he instantly dispatched a messenger to him, and ordered his own troops to advance in double time. [8] he had assigned supports to take their posts at favourable points and officers to command them; the right wing he had given to Lucius Volumnius, the left to Lucius Scipio; to lead the cavalry he appointed the other lieutenants, Gaius Caedicius and Titus Trebonius. Spurius Nautius he directed to remove the pack — saddles from the mules, and with three cohorts of auxiliaries to make a hasty detour to a hill which lay in full view, and thence to show himself, in the heat of the engagement, raising as much dust as possible.
while the general was thus employed, a dispute which broke out amongst the keepers of the chickens about the auspices for that day was overheard by some Roman cavalrymen, who, deeming it no negligible matter, reported to Spurius Papirius, the consul’s nephew, that the auspices were being called in [10] question. The young man had been born before the learning that makes light of the gods, and having inquired into the affair, that he might not be the bearer of an uncertain rumour, acquainted the consul with [11] it. The consul replied: “for yourself, I commend your conduct and your diligence; but he who takes the auspices, if he reports aught that is false, draws down the wrath of Heaven upon [12] himself; as for me, I was told that the corn had danced; it is an excellent omen for the Roman People and the army,” he then ordered the centurions to station the keepers of the chickens in the front rank. The Samnites, too, advanced their standards, which were followed by the battle — line in gorgeous armour — a splendid spectacle, though composed of [13] enemies. before the first shout and the clash of arms, a random javelin struck the chicken — keeper and he fell before the [14] standards. The consul, on being told of this, exclaimed, “The gods are present in the battle; the guilty wretch has paid the penalty!” in front of the consul a raven, just as he spoke, uttered a clear cry, and Papirius, rejoiced with the augury, and declaring that never had the gods been more instant to intervene in human affairs, bade sound the trumpets and give a cheer.
41. The battle was fought fiercely, but with far from equal spirit. The Romans were filled with rage and hope and ardour for the combat, and, thirsting for their enemies’ blood, rushed into the engagement. as for the Samnites, in most cases it was necessity and the fear of Heaven that compelled them, however reluctant, rather to resist than to attack. [2] nor would they have held out against the first battle — cry and onset of the Romans, accustomed, as they had now been for some years, to being beaten, had not another yet more powerful fear benumbed their hearts and prevented them from fleeing. [3] for their eyes beheld all that array of the secret rite, and the armed priests, and the mingled slaughter of men and beasts, and the altars spattered with the blood of victims — and with that other blood — and they could hear the baleful execrations and that dire oath, framed to invoke perdition on their families and on their stock. [4] These were the chains that stayed them from flight, and they feared their countrymen more than they feared their foes. on came the Romans from either wing and from the centre, and cut them down as they stood there dazed by the dread of gods and men. [5] they resisted, but sluggishly, like men whom cowardice restrained from running.
The carnage had now reached almost to the standards, when a cloud of dust appeared on their flank, as though raised by the oncoming of a mighty host. [6] it was Spurius Nautius — some say Octavius Maecius — with the auxiliary cohorts; they made more dust than their numbers warranted, for the grooms who rode the mules were dragging leafy branches along the ground. arms and standards were made out in the van through the murky air, and behind them another denser cloud of dust seemed to show that cavalry were closing the rear, and deceived not only the Samnites, but the Romans as well. [7] this mistake the consul confirmed by calling out in the front ranks, so loud that his voice carried even to the enemy, that Cominium was taken, and that his victorious colleague was at hand; let them therefore strive to conquer before the other army won the glory. [8] he was on horseback as he shouted these words. he then commanded the tribunes and centurions to open a path for the cavalry, having previously admonished Trebonius and Caedicius that when they saw him holding his lance aloft and shaking it, they should make their horsemen run full tilt against the enemy. [9] everything fell out according to his wishes, as happens when plans are laid beforehand. lanes were opened up between the files; the cavalry dashed out, and with levelled spears assailed the midst of the enemy’s array, and broke his ranks wherever they charged. [10] hard after them came Volumnius and Scipio, and made havoc of the disordered Samnites.
then at last, overwhelmed by gods and men, the Linen Cohorts were put to rout; the sworn and the unsworn fled alike, and knew no fear but fear of the enemy. [11] such portion of the foot as survived the battle was driven to the camp or to Aquilonium; the nobles and cavalry escaped to Bovianum. horse were pursued by horse, infantry by infantry. The Roman wings advanced on different objectives, the right on the Samnite camp, the left on their city. [12] Volumnius succeeded somewhat sooner in capturing the camp. from the city Scipio met with a more violent resistance — not that vanquished men are more courageous, but walls avail better to keep out armed enemies than does a rampart; and from thence they drove their assailants off with stones. [13] Scipio, fearing that it would be a tedious task to reduce a fortified city, unless the affair were concluded during the first panic of his enemies and before they should collect their spirits, asked his soldiers whether they could be content that the other wing should have taken the camp, while they, though victors, were repulsed from the city gates. [14] when they all together cried out “no!” he himself led the way to the gate, shield over head, and the others, following him, formed a testudo, burst into the city, and hurling down the defenders seized the walls adjoining the gate; they durst not venture into the middle of the city, because their numbers were so small.
42. of these events the consul was at first unaware, and was intent upon the withdrawal of his army; for the sun was now rapidly sinking in the west, and night coming on apace made all things dangerous and suspect, even to the victors. [2] as he rode farther forward, he saw on his right hand that the camp was taken, while from the city, on his left, a confused uproar was rising in which the shouts of the combatants were mingled with screams of terror; and it so happened that at that very moment the struggle at the gate was in progress. [3] then, riding nearer and perceiving that his men were on the walls and that his course was already marked out for him, since the adventurousness of a few men had provided him with a great opportunity, he gave orders that the troops withdrawn should be called back and advance against the city. [4] they entered it on the nearest side, and, as night was approaching, bivouacked; in the night the town was abandoned by the enemy.
[10.5] there were slain that day of the Samnites at Aquilonia twenty thousand three hundred and forty, and three thousand eight hundred and seventy were captured, with ninety — seven military standards. [6] tradition also avers that hardly had there ever been a general more joyous in combat, whether owing to his native temper or to his confidence that he should gain the victory. [7] it resulted from the same stoutness of heart that he was not to be recalled from giving battle by the dispute about the omen, and that in the hour of crisis, when it was customary to vow temples to the immortal gods, he made a vow to Jupiter the Victor that if he routed the legions of the enemy he would present him with a thimbleful of mead before he drank strong wine himself. this vow was pleasing to the gods and they gave a good tum to the auspices.
43. The same good fortune attended the other consul at Cominium. with the dawn he led up all his forces under the walls and invested the city, posting strong supports to prevent any sally from the gates. [2] he was in the act of giving the signal when the courier from his colleague came up with the alarming news about the twenty cohorts, thus delaying the assault and obliging him to recall a part of his troops who were already drawn up and eager to attack. [3] he commanded Decimus Brutus Scaeva, his lieutenant, to proceed with the first legion, ten auxiliary cohorts, and the cavalry, to confront the new forces of the enemy: [4] wherever he fell in with them, he was to block their path and delay them, giving battle if the situation happened to require it; but on no account must these troops be suffered to approach Cominium. [5] he himself gave orders to bring up scaling — ladders from every side against the walls of the city, and under a mantlet of shields approached the gates. thus at the same instant the gates were burst open and the walls assaulted. The Samnites, although, until they beheld armed men upon their walls, they had pluck enough to keep their enemies from coming near the city, yet when the combat was no longer carried on with missiles at long range, but was fought hand — to — hand, and when those who had mounted with difficulty from the. [6] plain on to the walls — overcoming the inequality of position, which was what they had chiefly dreaded — were [7] making easy work of it on the level ground with an enemy that was no match for them, they forsook their towers and battlements, and, huddled all together in the market — place, made there one last brief attempt to redeem the day. [8] then, throwing down their arms, some eleven thousand four hundred men cast themselves on the mercy of the consul; about four thousand eight hundred had been slain.
[10.9] such were the operations at Cominium and at Aquilonia. in the place between, where a third battle had been looked for, the enemy were not encountered. recalled by their leaders when seven miles from Cominium, they had not been present at either engagement. [10] as the evening shadows began to fall, when they had already come within sight of the camp and of Aquilonia, they had been halted by the shouts, which were equally loud from both directions. [11] but afterwards, from the direction of the camp, which had been fired by the Romans, the flames broke out so extensively, with their warning of an unmistakable disaster, as to keep them from advancing further, and throwing [12] themselves on the ground at random, just where they were, without stopping to remove their arms, they passed the whole weary night in waiting for the dawn, which at the same time they dreaded. [13] as the day broke, they were hesitating which way to march, when the Roman cavalry, who had pursued the Samnites when they left their town in the night, caught sight of the army, lying there without breastworks or outpost, and instantly routed them. [14] their mass had been seen, too, from the walls of Aquilonia, and presently the legionary cohorts were likewise in pursuit of them. but the infantry could not overtake the fugitives, though the cavalry killed some two hundred and eighty of the rear — guard, who in their fright abandoned a quantity of arms and eighteen military standards. [15] The rest of the column made good its escape, as safely as could be in so great a confusion, to Bovianum.
44. The rejoicing in each of the Roman armies was enhanced by the good fortune the other had enjoyed. each consul, with the approval of his fellow, made over the town he had captured to be sacked by the soldiers, and when the houses had been emptied, gave it to the flames. [2] so on the same day Aquilonia and Cominium were destroyed by fire, and the consuls, amid the mutual exultations and good wishes of their legions and themselves, united their camps. [3] in the full sight of both armies Carvilius commended his men as each had merited, and presented them with decorations; and Papirius, who had fought an engagement of many sorts — in line of battle, round the camp, and about the city — awarded armlets and wreaths of gold to Spurius Nautius and to his nephew Spurius Papirius, and to four centurions and a maniple of hastati [4] — to Nautius for the charge by which, as though with a huge force, he had dismayed the enemy; to the young Papirius for his valiant service with the cavalry, both in the battle and in the night when he harassed the flight of the Samnites after their secret departure from [5] Aquilonia; to the centurions and soldiers because they had been the first to capture the gate and wall of Aquilonia. all the horsemen, in recognition of their distinguished conduct in many places, he decorated with little silver horns and silver [6] armlets.
a council of war was then held, and the question was debated whether the time were now come for withdrawing both armies, or at any rate one of the two, from [7] Samnium. but they decided that the greater the damage they had inflicted on the Samnites, the more sharply and pertinaciously ought they to carry out such measures as remained, and to persist until they could hand over to the consuls who succeeded them a Samnium utterly [8] subdued.
since there was no longer any hostile army that seemed likely to engage in a pitched battle with them, one form of war alone remained, the storming of cities; by destroying which they would be able to enrich their troops with booty and crush their enemies, who would fight for their altars and their [9] hearths. accordingly, after dispatching letters to the senate and the Roman People recounting their achievements, the consuls parted company, Papirius marching to attack Saepinum, and Carvilius Velia.
45. The consuls’ letters were listened to with vast exultation both in Senate — house and in assembly, and the general rejoicing found expression in the eagerness with which a thanksgiving of four days’ duration was observed by individual citizens. [2] for the Roman People, moreover, it was not only a great but also a very seasonable victory, since it happened that they got news at about the same time that the Etruscans had commenced hostilities again. [3] men wondered how they could have withstood Etruria if anything had gone wrong in Samnium; for the Samnite coalition and the diversion of both consuls and all Rome’s military strength to Samnium had encouraged these other enemies to revolt while the Roman People had their hands full.
[10.4] deputations from the allies, introduced into the senate by Marcus Atilius the praetor, complained that their lands were being burnt and devastated by the neighbouring Etruscans, because they were not willing to forsake the Roman People, and besought the Conscript Fathers to defend them against the violence and injuries of their common foes. [5] answer was made to the deputations that the senate would see to it that the allies should not regret their loyalty: [6] the Etruscans would shortly meet with the same fortune as the Samnites, Nevertheless, the Etruscan business would have dragged but for intelligence that the Faliscans likewise, who had for many years been friendly, were now united in arms with the Etruscans. [7] The proximity of this people sharpened the anxiety of the Fathers, and they decreed that fetials should be dispatched to demand redress. on the refusal of this demand, war was declared against the Faliscans, by command of the people, on the authorization of the senate, and the consuls were bidden to cast [8] lots to determine which should cross over with his army from Samnium into Etruria.
[10.9] Carvilius had already taken Velia and Palumbinum and Herculaneum from the Samnites — Velia in a few days’ time, and Palumbinum the same day that he approached its walls. [10] at Herculaneum he even fought a regular engagement, of which the issue was for some time in doubt and his losses heavier than the enemy’s; he then pitched his camp and shut the enemy up within his walls, and finally stormed the town and captured it. [11] in these three places ten thousand or so of the enemy were taken or put to death, with the prisoners very slightly outnumbering the slain. when the consuls cast lots for their commands, Etruria fell to Carvilius, thus answering the prayers of his soldiers, who could endure no longer the rigorous cold in Samnium. [12] Papirius, before Saepinum, had a larger body of the enemy still to reckon with. his troops were many times engaged in regular battle, many times when marching, and many times about the city itself, in resisting the sorties of the enemy. it was not a siege, but war upon even terms; for the Samnites protected their walls with arms and men full as much as the walls protected them. [13] at length, fighting hard, he forced the enemy to submit to a regular blockade, and by assault and siege — works captured the place. [14] The exasperation of the Romans made the massacre more bloody when the city fell. seven thousand four hundred were slain and fewer than three thousand were made prisoners. The booty, which was very great, since the Samnites had gathered their wealth together in a few cities, was handed over to the soldiers.
46. The ground was now covered with snow and men could no longer live out of doors. The consul therefore withdrew his army from Samnium. [2] on his coming to Rome he was unanimously voted a triumph. this he celebrated, while still holding office, in a style which, for the circumstances of those days, was magnificent. [3] foot-soldiers and horsemen marched or rode past the crowds adorned with their decorations; many civic crowns were seen, and many that had been won at the escalade of a rampart or a city wall. men inspected the spoils that he had taken from the Samnites, and compared them for splendour and beauty with those his father had won, which were familiar to them from being often used in the decoration of public [5] places. a number of noble captives, famous for their own and their fathers’ deeds, were led in the procession. of heavy bronze there were carried past two million five hundred and thirty — three thousand pounds. this bronze had been collected, it was said, from the sale of captives. of silver which had been taken from the cities there were eighteen hundred and thirty [6] pounds. all the bronze and silver was placed in the Treasury, none of the booty being given to the soldiers. The ill — feeling which this gave rise to in the plebs was increased by the gathering of a war — tax to pay the troops, since, if the consul had forgone the glory of depositing the captured money in the Treasury, the booty would then have afforded the soldiers a donative, as well as providing for their [7] pay. Papirius dedicated the temple of Quirinus. i find no ancient authority who states that it was vowed in the hour of conflict, nor indeed could it possibly have been completed in so short a time; his father had vowed it when dictator, and the son as consul dedicated it, adorning it with the spoils of the [8] enemy. of these there was such a great quantity that not only were the temple and the Forum bedecked with them, but they were distributed also amongst the allies and the neighbouring colonies for the decoration of their temples and public [9] squares. after triumphing, Papirius led his army into the country of the Vescini — a district infested by the Samnites — to pass the [10] winter.
in Etruria meanwhile the consul Carvilius, having made his preparations to begin with an attack on Troilum, agreed with four hundred and seventy of the wealthiest inhabitants for a large sum of money to let them [11] go; the rest of the population and the town itself he took by assault. he then stormed five fortresses situated in positions of great [12] strength. there he slew two thousand four hundred of the enemy, making fewer than two thousand prisoners. he also granted a year’s truce to the Faliscans — who came to him seeking peace — having stipulated for a hundred thousand of heavy bronze and the year’s pay for his [13] soldiers. after these exploits he departed to enjoy his triumph, which, though less distinguished than his colleague’s had been for success against the Samnites, was a match for it when the Etruscan war was counted [14] in. - Of heavy bronze he lodged in the Treasury three hundred and eighty thousand pounds; with what remained he contracted for a temple to Fors Fortuna to be erected from the general’s spoils, near the temple of that goddess dedicated by [15] King Servius Tullius, while to the soldiers he apportioned from the rest of the booty one hundred and two asses each, and as much again to the centurions and horsemen. These allowances were all the more welcome because of the parsimony of his [16] colleague. The consul’s popularity served to shield his lieutenant Lucius Postumius from the people. he had been indicted by Marcus Scantius, a plebeian tribune, but had escaped trial before the people — so the story ran — through his appointment to the lieutenancy; so that it was easier to threaten him than to carry home the accusation.
47. The year having now run its course, new tribunes of the plebs came in, but owing to a flaw in their election they were themselves supplanted by others, five days later. [2] The lustrum was closed that year by the censors Publius Cornelius Arvina and Gaius Marcius Rutulus; there were enrolled two hundred and sixty — two thousand three hundred and twenty — one. The censors were the twenty — sixth pair from the first censors; the lustrum was the [3] nineteenth. this year for the first time those who had been presented with crowns because of gallant behaviour in the war wore them at the Roman games, and palms were then for the first time conferred upon the victors, in accordance with a custom borrowed from the [4] Greeks. The same year the curule aediles who gave those games procured the conviction of a number of graziers, and with their fines paved the road from the temple of Mars as far as [5] Bovillae.
The consular comitia were held by Lucius Papirius, who declared the election of Quintus Fabius Gurges, the son of Maximus, and Decimus [6] Junius Brutus Scaeva. Papirius himself was chosen praetor.
The year had been one of many blessings, which yet were hardly a consolation for one misfortune — a pestilence which ravaged both city and countryside. its devastation was now grown portentous, and the Books were consulted to discover what end or what remedy the gods proposed [7] for this misfortune. it was discovered in the Books that Aesculapius must be summoned to Rome from Epidaurus; but nothing could be done about it that year, because the consuls were occupied with the war, except that for one day a supplication to that god was held.
SUMMARY OF BOOK X
COLONIES were planted at Sora, at Alba, and at Carseoli. The surrender of the Marsi was received. The augural college was enlarged so that there were nine where before there had been four. a law about appeals was then for the third time laid before the people by the consul Murena. two tribes were added, the Aniensis and the Terentina. War was declared upon the Samnites and victories were often gained over them. when the Etruscans, Umbrians, Samnites, and Gauls were being fought under the leadership of Publius Decius and Quintus Fabius and the Roman army was in sore peril, Publius Decius, following the example of his father, devoted himself on behalf of the army and by his death gave the victory in that battle to the Roman People. Papirius Cursor routed the army of the Samnites, which had taken the field after binding itself with an oath, that it might fight with a more constant courage. The census was taken and the lustrum closed. there were enumerated 272,320 citizens.