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10.1
During the consulship of L. Genucius and Ser. Cornelius there was almost
a complete respite from foreign wars. Colonists were settled at Sora and
Alba. The latter was in the country of the Aequi; 6000 colonists were settled
there. Sora had been a Volscian town, but the Samnites had occupied it;
4000 men were sent there. The right of citizenship was conferred this year
upon the Arpinates and the Trebulans. The Frusinates were mulcted in a
third of their territory, for it had been ascertained that they were the
instigators of the Hernican revolt. The senate decreed that the consuls
should hold an inquiry, and the ringleaders were scourged and beheaded.
However, in order that the Romans might not pass a whole year without any
military operations, a small expeditionary force was sent into Umbria.
A certain cave was reported to be the rendezvous of a body of freebooters,
and from this hiding-place they made armed excursions into the surrounding
country. The Roman troops entered this cave, and many of them were wounded,
mostly by stones, owing to the darkness of the place. At length they discovered
another entrance, for there was a passage right through the cave, and both
mouths of the cavern were filled up with wood. This was set on fire, and,
stifled by the smoke, the bandits, in trying to escape, rushed into the
flames and 2000 perished. M. Livius Denter and M. Aurelius were the new
consuls, and during their year of office hostilities were resumed by the
Aequi. They resented the planting within their borders of a colony which
was to be a stronghold of Roman power, and they made a desperate effort
to capture it, but were beaten off by the colonists. In their weakened
condition it seemed almost incredible that the Aequi could have begun war,
relying solely upon themselves, and the fear of an indefinitely extended
war necessitated the appointment of a Dictator. C. Junius Bubulcus was
nominated, and he took the field, with M. Titinius as Master of the Horse.
In the very first battle he crushed the Aequi, and a week later he returned
in triumph to the City. Whilst Dictator he dedicated the temple of Salus
which he had vowed as consul and the construction of which he had contracted
for when censor.
10.2
During the year a fleet of Greek ships under the command of the Lacedaemonian
Cleonymus sailed to the shores of Italy and captured the city of Thuriae
in the Sallentine country. The consul, Aemilius, was sent to meet this
enemy, and in one battle he routed him and drove him to his ships. Thuriae
was restored to its former inhabitants, and peace was established in the
Sallentine territory. In some annalists I find it stated that the Dictator,
Junius Bubulcus, was sent into that country, and that Cleonymus left Italy
to avoid a conflict with the Romans. He sailed round the promontory of
Brundisium, and was carried up the Adriatic, where he had on his left the
harbourless shores of Italy and on his right the countries occupied by
the Illyrians, the Liburnians, and the Histrians, savage tribes chiefly
notorious for their acts of piracy. He dreaded the possibility of falling
in with these, and consequently directed his course inland until he reached
the coasts of the Veneti. Here he landed a small party to explore the neighbourhood.
The information they brought back was to the effect that there was a narrow
beach, and on crossing it they found lagoons which were affected by the
tide; beyond these level cultivated country was visible, and in the further
distance hills could be seen. At no great distance was the mouth of a river
deep enough to allow of ships being brought up and safely anchored-this
was the Meduacus. On hearing this he ordered the fleet to make for that
river and sail up-stream. As the river channel did not admit the passage
of his largest ships, the bulk of his troops went up in the lighter vessels
and came to a populous district belonging to the maritime villages of the
Patavii, who inhabit that coast. After leaving a few to guard the ships
they landed, seized the villages, burnt the houses, and carried off the
men and cattle as booty. Their eagerness for plunder led them too far from
their ships. The people of Patavium were obliged to be always under arms
owing to their neighbours, the Gauls, and when they heard what was going
on, they divided their forces into two armies. One of these was to proceed
to the district where the invaders were reported to be carrying on their
depredations; the other was to go by a different route, to avoid meeting
any of the plunderers, to where the ships were anchored, about fourteen
miles from the town. The latter attacked the ships, and after killing those
who resisted them, they compelled the terrified sailors to take their vessels
over to the opposite bank. The other army had been equally successful against
the plunderers, who in their flight to their ships were intercepted by
the Veneti, and, hemmed in between the two armies, were cut to pieces.
Some of the prisoners informed their captors that King Cleonymus, with
his fleet, was only three miles distant. The prisoners were sent to the
nearest village for safe-keeping, and some of the defenders got into their
river boats, which were flat-bottomed to allow of their passing over the
shallows in the lagoons, whilst others manned the vessels they had captured
and sailed down the river. When they reached the Greek fleet they surrounded
the large ships, which were afraid to stir and dreaded unknown waters more
than the enemy, and pursued them to the mouth of the river. Some which
in the confused fighting had run aground were captured and burnt. After
this victory they returned. Failing to effect a successful landing in any
part of the Adriatic, Cleonymus sailed away with barely a fifth part of
his fleet undamaged. There are many still living who have seen the beaks
of the ships and the spoils of the Lacedaemonians hung up in the old temple
of Juno in Patavium, and the anniversary of that battle is celebrated by
a sham fight of ships on the river which flows through the town.
10.3
The Vestinians had requested to be placed on the footing of a friendly
State, and a treaty was made with them this year. Subsequently several
incidents created alarm in Rome. Intelligence was received of the renewal
of hostilities by the Etruscans, owing to disturbances in Arretium. The
powerful house of the Cilnii had created widespread jealousy through their
enormous wealth, and an attempt was made to expel them from the city. The
Marsi also were giving trouble, for a body of 4000 colonists had been sent
to Carseoli, and they were prevented by force from occupying the place.
In view of this threatening aspect of affairs, M. Valerius Maximus was
nominated Dictator, and he named M. Aemilius Paulus Master of the Horse.
I think that this is more probable than that Q. Fabius was made Master
of the Horse and, therefore, in a subordinate position to Valerius, in
spite of his age and the offices he had held; but I am quite prepared to
admit that the error arose from the cognomen Maximus, common to both men.
The Dictator took the field and routed the Marsi in one battle. After compelling
them to seek shelter in their fortified cities, he took Milionia, Plestina,
and Fresilia within a few days. The Marsi were compelled to surrender a
portion of their territory, and then the old treaty with Rome was renewed.
The war was now turned against the Etruscans, and an unfortunate incident
occurred during this campaign. The Dictator had left the camp for Rome
to take the auspices afresh, and the Master of the Horse had gone out to
forage. He was surprised and surrounded, and after losing some standards
and many of his men, he was driven in disgraceful flight back to his camp.
Such a precipitate flight is contradictory to all that we know of Fabius;
for it was his reputation as a soldier that more than anything else justified
his epithet of Maximus, and he never forgot the severity of Papirius towards
him, and could never have been tempted to fight without the Dictator's
orders.
10.4
The news of this defeat created a quite unnecessary alarm in Rome. Measures
were adopted as though an army had been annihilated; all legal business
was suspended, guards were stationed at the gates, watches were set in
the different wards of the City, armour and weapons were stored in readiness
on the walls, and every man within the military age was embodied. When
the Dictator returned to the camp he found that, owing to the careful arrangements
which the Master of the Horse had made, everything was quieter than he
had expected. The camp had been moved back into a safer position; the cohorts
who had lost their standards were punished by being stationed outside the
rampart without any tents; the whole army was eager for battle that they
might all the sooner wipe out the stain of their defeat. Under these circumstances
the Dictator at once advanced his camp into the neighbourhood of Rusella.
The enemy followed him, and although they felt the utmost confidence in
a trial of strength in the open field, they decided to practice stratagem
on their enemy, as they had found it so successful before. At no great
distance from the Roman camp were some half-demolished houses belonging
to a village which had been burnt when the land was harried. Some soldiers
were concealed in these and cattle were driven past the place in full view
of the Roman outposts, who were under the command of a staff-officer, Cnaeus
Fulvius. As not a single man left his post to take the bait, one of the
drovers, coming up close to the Roman lines, called out to the others who
were driving the cattle somewhat slowly away from the ruined cottages to
ask them why they were so slow, as they could drive them safely through
the middle of the Roman camp. Some Caerites who were with Fulvius interpreted
the words, and all the maniples were extremely indignant at the insult,
but they did not dare to move without orders. He then instructed those
who were familiar with the language to notice whether the speech of the
herdsmen was more akin to that of rustics or to that of town-dwellers.
On being told that the accent and personal appearance were too refined
for cattle-drovers, he said, "Go and tell them to unmask the ambush they
have tried in vain to conceal; the Romans know all, and can now no more
be trapped by cunning than they can be vanquished by arms." When these
words were carried to those who were lying concealed, they suddenly rose
from their lurking-place and advanced in order of battle on to the open
plain, which afforded a view in all directions. The advancing line appeared
to Fulvius to be too large a body for his men to withstand, and he sent
a hasty message to the Dictator to ask for help; in the meantime he met
the attack single-handed.
10.5
When the message reached the Dictator, he ordered the standards to go forward
and the troops to follow. But everything was done almost more rapidly than
the orders were given. The standards were instantly snatched up, and the
troops were with difficulty prevented from charging the enemy at a run.
They were burning to avenge their recent defeat, and the shouts, becoming
continually louder in the battle that was already going on, made them still
more excited. They kept urging each other on, and telling the standard-bearers
to march more quickly, but the more haste the Dictator saw them making
the more determined was he to check the column and insist upon their marching
deliberately. The Etruscans had been present in their full strength when
the battle began. Message after message was sent to the Dictator telling
him that all the legions of the Etruscans were taking part in the fight
and that his men could no longer hold out against them, whilst he himself
from his higher ground saw for himself in what a critical position the
outposts were. As, however, he felt quite confident that their commander
could still sustain the attack, and as he was himself near enough to save
him from all danger of defeat, he decided to wait until the enemy became
utterly fatigued, and then to attack him with fresh troops. Although his
own men were advancing so slowly there was now only a moderate distance
over which to charge, at all events for cavalry, between the two lines.
The standards of the legions were in front, to prevent the enemy from suspecting
any sudden or secret maneuver, but the Dictator had left intervals in the
ranks of infantry through which the cavalry could pass. The legions raised
the battle-shout, and at the same moment the cavalry charged down upon
the enemy, who were unprepared for such a hurricane, and a sudden panic
set in. As the outposts, who had been all but cut off, were now relieved
at the last moment, they were all allowed a respite from further exertions.
The fresh troops took up the fighting, and the result did not long remain
in doubt. The routed enemy sought their camp, and as they retreated before
the Romans who were attacking it, they became crowded together in the furthest
part. In trying to escape, they became blocked in the narrow gates, and
a good many climbed on to the mound and stockade in the hope of defending
themselves on higher ground, or possibly of crossing ramparts and fosse
and so escaping. In one part the mound had been built up too loosely, and,
owing to the weight of those standing on it, crumbled down into the fosse,
and many, both soldiers and non-combatants, exclaiming that the gods had
cleared the passage for their flight, made their escape that way. In this
battle the power of the Etruscans was broken up for the second time. After
undertaking to provide a year's pay for the army and a two months' supply
of corn, they obtained permission from the Dictator to send envoys to Rome
to sue for peace. A regular treaty of peace was refused, but they were
granted a two years' truce. The Dictator returned in triumphal procession
to the City. Some of my authorities aver that Etruria was pacified without
any important battle being fought simply through the settlement of the
troubles in Arretium and the restoration of the Cilnii to popular favour.
No sooner had M. Valerius laid down the Dictatorship than he was elected
consul. Some have thought that he was elected without having been a candidate
and, therefore, in his absence, and that the election was conducted by
an interrex. There is no question, however, that he held the consulship
with Apuleius Pansa.
10.6
During their year of office foreign affairs were fairly peaceful; the ill-success
the Etruscans had met with in war and the terms of the truce kept the Etruscans
quiet; the Samnites, after their many years of defeat and disaster, were
so far quite satisfied with their recent treaty with Rome. In the City
itself the large number of colonists sent out made the plebs less restless
and lightened their financial burdens. But to prevent anything like universal
tranquillity a conflict between the most prominent plebeians and the patricians
was started by two of the tribunes of the plebs, Quintus and Cnaeus Ogulnius.
These men had sought everywhere for an opportunity of traducing the patricians
before the plebs, and after all other attempts had failed they adopted
a policy which was calculated to inflame the minds, not of the dregs of
the populace, but of the actual leaders of the plebs, men who had been
consuls and enjoyed triumphs, and to whose official distinctions nothing
was lacking but the priesthood. This was not yet open to both orders. The
Ogulnii accordingly gave notice of a measure providing that as there were
at that time four augurs and four pontiffs, and it had been decided that
the number of priests should be augmented, the four additional pontiffs
and five augurs should all be co-opted from the plebs. How the college
of augurs could have been reduced to four, except by the death of two of
their number, I am unable to discover. For it was a settled rule amongst
the augurs that their number was bound to consist of threes, so that the
three ancient tribes of the Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres might each have
their own augur, or if more were needed, the same number should be added
for each. This was the principle on which they proceeded when by adding
five to four the number was made up to nine, so that three were assigned
to each tribe. But the co-optation of the additional priests from the plebs
created almost as much indignation amongst the patricians as when they
saw the consulship made open. They pretended that the matter concerned
the gods more than it concerned them; as for their own sacred functions
they would see for themselves that these were not polluted; they only hoped
and prayed that no disaster might befall the republic. Their opposition,
however, was not so keen, because they had become habituated to defeat
in these political contests, and they saw that their opponents in striving
for the highest honours were not, as formerly, aiming at what they had
little hopes of winning; everything for which they had striven, though
with doubtful hopes of success, they had hitherto gained-numberless consulships,
censorships, triumphs.
10.7
Appius Claudius and P. Decius are said to have been the leaders in this
controversy, the former as the opponent, the latter as the supporter of
the proposed measure. The arguments they advanced were practically the
same as those employed for and against the Licinian Laws when the demand
was made for the consulship to be thrown open to the plebeians. After going
over much of the old ground, Decius made a final appeal on behalf of the
proposals. He began by recalling the scene which many of those present
had witnessed, when the elder Decius, his father, vested in the Gabine
cincture and standing upon a spear, solemnly devoted himself on behalf
of the legions and people of Rome. He proceeded, "The offering which the
consul Decius made on that occasion was in the eyes of the immortal gods
as pure and holy as that of his colleague, T. Manlius, would have been
if he had devoted himself. Could not that Decius also have been fitly chosen
to exercise priestly functions on behalf of the Roman people? And for me,
are you afraid that the gods will not listen to my prayers as they do to
those of Appius Claudius? Does he perform his private devotions with a
purer mind or worship the gods in a more religious spirit than I do? Who
has ever had occasion to regret the vows which have been made on behalf
of the commonwealth by so many plebeian consuls, so many plebeian Dictators,
when they were going to take command of their armies, or when they were
actually engaged in battle? Count up the commanders in all the years since
war was for the first time waged under the leadership and auspices of plebeians,
you will find as many triumphs as commanders. The plebeians, too, have
their nobility and have no cause to be dissatisfied with them. You may
be quite certain that, if a war were suddenly to break out now, the senate
and people of Rome would not put more confidence in a general because he
was a patrician than in one who happened to be a plebeian. Now, if this
is the case, who in heaven or earth could regard it as an indignity that
the men whom you have honoured with curule chairs, with the toga praetexta,
the tunica palmata, and the toga picta, with the triumphal crown and the
laurel wreath, the men upon whose houses you have conferred special distinction
by affixing to them the spoils taken from the enemy-that these men, I say,
should have in addition to their other marks of rank the insignia of the
pontiffs and the augurs? A triumphing general drives through the City in
a gilded chariot, apparelled in the splendid vestments of Jupiter Optimus
Maximus. After this he goes up to the Capitol; is he not to be seen there
with capis and lituus? Is it to be regarded as an indignity, if he with
veiled head slay a victim, or from his place on the citadel take an augury?
And if in the inscription on his bust the words 'consulship,' 'censorship,'
'triumph' are read without arousing any indignation, in what mood will
the reader regard the words which you are going to add, 'augurship' and
'pontificate'? I do indeed hope, please heaven, that, thanks to the good
will of the Roman people, we now possess sufficient dignity to be capable
of conferring as much honour on the priesthood as we shall receive. For
the sake of the gods as much as for ourselves let us insist that as we
worship them now as private individuals so we may worship them for the
future as officials of the State.
10.8
"But why have I so far been assuming that the question of the patricians
and the priesthood is still an open one, and that we are not yet in possession
of the highest of all offices? We see plebeians amongst the ten keepers
of the Sacred Books, acting as interpreters of the Sibyl's runes and the
Fates of this people; we see them, too, presiding over the sacrifices and
other rites connected with Apollo. No injustice was inflicted on the patricians
when an addition was made to the number of the keepers of the Sacred Books
on the demand of the plebeians. None has been inflicted now, when a strong
and capable tribune has created five more posts for augurs and four more
for priests which are to be filled by plebeians, not, Appius, with the
design of ousting you patricians from your places, but in order that the
plebs may assist you in the conduct of divine matters as they do to the
utmost of their power in the administration of human affairs. "Do not blush,
Appius, to have as your colleague in the priesthood a man whom you might
have had as colleague in the censorship or in the consulship, who might
be Dictator with you as his Master of Horse, just as much as you might
be Dictator with him for your Master of the Horse. A Sabine immigrant Attius
Clausus, or if you prefer it, Appius Claudius, the founder of your noble
house, was admitted by those old patricians into their number; do not think
it beneath you to admit us into the number of the priests. We bring with
us many distinctions, all those, in fact, which have made you so proud.
L. Sextius was the first plebeian to be elected consul, C. Licinius Stolo
was the first plebeian Master of the Horse, C. Marcius Rutilus the first
plebeian who was both Dictator and censor, Q. Publilius Philo was the first
praetor. We have always heard the same objection raised-that the auspices
were solely in your hands, that you alone enjoy the privileges and prerogatives
of noble birth, that you alone can legitimately hold sovereign command
and take the auspices either in peace or war. Have you never heard the
remark that it was not men sent down from heaven who were originally created
patricians, but those who could cite a father, which is nothing more than
saying that they were freeborn. I can now cite a consul as my father, and
my son will be able to cite him as his grandfather. It simply comes to
this, Quirites, that we can get nothing without a struggle. It is only
a quarrel that the patricians are seeking, they do not care in the least
about the result. I for my part support this measure, which I believe will
be for your good and happiness and a blessing to the State, and I hold
that you ought to pass it."
10.9
The Assembly was on the point of ordering the voting to proceed, and it
was evident that the measure would be adopted, when, on the intervention
of some of the tribunes, all further business was adjourned for the day.
On the morrow, the dissentient tribunes having given way, the law was passed
amid great enthusiasm. The co-opted pontiffs were P. Decius Mus, the supporter
of the measure, P. Sempronius Sophus, C. Marcius Rutilus, and M. Livius
Denter. The five augurs who were also taken from the plebs were C. Genucius,
P. Aelius Paetus, M. Minucius Faesus, C. Marcius, and T. Publilius. So
the number of the pontiffs was raised to eight and that of the augurs to
nine. In this year the consul, M. Valerius, carried a proposal to strengthen
the provisions of the law touching the right of appeal. This was the third
time since the expulsion of the kings that this law was re-enacted, and
always by the same family. I think that the reason for renewing it so often
was solely the fact that the excessive power exercised by a few men was
dangerous to the liberties of the plebs. The Porcian law, however, seems
to have been passed solely for the protection of the citizens in life and
limb, for it imposed the severest penalties on any one who killed or scourged
a Roman citizen. The Valerian law, it is true, forbade any one who had
exercised his right of appeal to be scourged or beheaded, but if any one
transgressed its provisions it added no penalty, but simply declared such
transgression to be a "wicked act." Such was the self-respect and sense
of shame amongst the men of those days, that I believe that declaration
to have been a sufficiently strong barrier against violations of the law.
Nowadays there is hardly a slave who would not use stronger language against
his master.
Valerius also conducted a war against the Aequi, who had recommenced
hostilities, but who retained nothing of their earlier character except
their restless temper. The other consul, Apuleius, invested the town of
Nequinum in Umbria. It was situated where Narnia now stands, on high ground
which on one side was steep and precipitous, and it was impossible to take
it either by assault or by regular siege works. It was left to the new
consuls, M. Fulvius Paetus and T. Manlius Torquatus, to carry the siege
to a successful issue. According to Licinius Macer and Tubero, all the
centuries intended to elect Q. Fabius consul for this year, but he urged
them to postpone his consulship until some more important war broke out,
for he considered that he would be more useful to the State as a City magistrate.
So without dissembling his real wishes or ostensibly seeking the post,
he was elected curule aedile along with L. Papirius Cursor. I cannot, however,
be certain on this point, for the earlier annalist, Piso, states that the
curule aediles for this year were Cn. Domitius, Cn. F. Calvinus, Sp. Carvilius,
and Q. F. Maximus. I think that the cognomen of the last-mentioned aedile-Maximus-was
the cause of the error, and that a story in which the lists of both elections
were combined was constructed to fit in with the mistake. The lustrum was
closed this year by the censors, P. Sempronius Sophus and P. Sulpicius
Saverrio, and two new tribes were added, the Aniensis and the Teretina.
These were the principal events of the year in Rome.
10.10
Meantime the siege of Nequinum was dragging slowly on and time was being
wasted. At length two of the townsmen, whose houses abutted on the city
wall, made a tunnel, and came by that secret passage to the Roman outposts.
They were conducted to the consul, and undertook to admit a detachment
of soldiers within the fortifications and the city walls. It did not seem
right to reject their proposal, nor yet to accept it offhand. One of them
was instructed to conduct two spies through the underground passage; the
other was detained as a hostage. The report of the spies was satisfactory,
and 300 soldiers, led by the deserter, entered the city by night and seized
the nearest gate. This was broken open, and the consul with his army took
possession of the place without any fighting. Thus Nequinum passed into
the power of Rome. A colony was sent there as an outpost against the Umbrians,
and the place was called Narnia from the river Nar. The army marched back
to Rome with a large amount of spoil. This year the Etruscans determined
to break the truce, and began to make preparations for war. But the invasion
of their country by an enormous army of Gauls-the last thing they were
expecting-turned them for a time from their purpose. Trusting to the power
of money, which with them was very considerable, they endeavoured to convert
the Gauls from enemies into allies in order that they might combine their
forces in an attack on Rome. The barbarians did not object to an alliance,
the only question was as to the amount of pay. After this had been agreed
upon and all the other preparations for war had been completed, the Etruscans
called upon the Gauls to follow them. They refused to do so, and asserted
that they had not taken the money to make war on Rome. Whatever they had
received had been accepted as compensation for not devastating the land
of Etruria or subjecting its inhabitants to armed violence. However, they
expressed their willingness to serve if the Etruscans really wished them
to do so, but only on one condition, namely that they should be admitted
to a share of their territory and be able to settle at last in a permanent
home. Many councils were held in the various cantons to discuss this proposal,
but it was found impossible to accept the terms, not so much because they
would not consent to any loss of territory as because they dreaded the
prospect of having as their neighbours men belonging to such a savage race.
The Gauls were accordingly dismissed, and carried back with them an enormous
sum of money gained without labour and without risk. The rumour of a Gaulish
invasion in addition to the Etruscan war created alarm in Rome, and there
was less hesitation in concluding a treaty with the Picentes.
10.11
The campaign in Etruria fell to the consul T. Manlius. He had scarcely
entered the hostile territory when, as he was wheeling his horse round
in some cavalry exercises, he was flung off and almost killed on the spot.
Three days later the consul ended his life. The Etruscans derived encouragement
from this incident, for they took it as an omen, and declared that the
gods were fighting for them. When the sad news reached Rome, not only was
the loss of the man severely felt, but also the inopportuneness of the
time when it occurred. The senate were prepared to order the nomination
of a Dictator, but refrained from doing so as the election of a successor
to the consul went quite in accordance with the wishes of the leading patricians.
Every vote was given in favour of M. Valerius, the man whom the senate
had decided upon as Dictator. The legions were at once ordered to Etruria.
Their presence acted as such a check upon the Etruscans that no one ventured
outside their lines; their fears shut them up as closely as though they
were blockaded. Valerius devastated their fields and burnt their houses,
till not only single farms but numerous villages were reduced to smoking
ashes, but he failed to bring the enemy to action. While this war was progressing
more slowly than had been anticipated, apprehensions were felt as to another
war which, from the numerous defeats sustained formerly on both sides,
was not unreasonably regarded with dread. The Picentes had sent information
that the Samnites were arming for war, and that they had approached the
Picentes to induce them to join them. The latter were thanked for their
loyalty, and the public attention was diverted to a large extent from Etruria
to Samnium. The dearness of provisions caused widespread distress amongst
the citizens. Those writers who make Fabius Maximus a curule aedile for
that year assert that there would have been actual famine if he had not
shown the same wise care in the control of the market and the accumulation
of supplies which he had so often before displayed in war. An interregnum
occurred this year-tradition assigns no reason for it. The interreges were
Ap. Claudius and P. Sulpicius. The latter held the consular elections,
at which L. Cornelius Scipio and Cn. Fulvius were returned. At the beginning
of their year a deputation came from the Lucanians to lay a formal complaint
against the Samnites. They informed the senate that that people had tried
to allure them into forming an offensive and defensive alliance with them,
and, finding their efforts futile, they invaded their territory and were
laying it waste, and so, by making war upon them, trying to drive them
into a war with Rome. The Lucanians, they said, had made too many mistakes
already; they had now quite made up their minds that it would be better
to bear and suffer everything than to attempt anything against Rome. They
implored the senate to take them under its protection and to defend them
from the wanton aggressions of the Samnites. They were fully aware that
if Rome declared war against Samnium their loyalty to her would be a matter
of life and death, but, notwithstanding that, they were prepared to give
hostages as a guarantee of good faith.
10.12
The discussion in the senate was brief. The members unanimously decided
that a treaty of close alliance should be made with the Lucanians and satisfaction
demanded from the Samnites. When the envoys were readmitted, they received
a favourable reply and a treaty was concluded with them. The fetials were
sent to insist upon the evacuation by the Samnites of the territories of
the allies of Rome and the withdrawal of their forces from the Lucanian
frontiers. They were met by emissaries from the Samnites, who warned them
that if they appeared in any of the Samnite councils their inviolability
would be no longer respected. On this being reported in Rome, the Assembly
confirmed the resolution passed by the senate and ordered war to be made
upon the Samnites. In the allotment of their respective commands Etruria
fell to Scipio and the Samnites to Fulvius. Both consuls took the field.
Scipio, who was anticipating a tedious campaign similar to the one of the
previous year, was met by the enemy in battle formation at Volaterrae.
The contest lasted the greater part of the day, with heavy loss on both
sides. Night came on whilst they were still uncertain with whom the victory
lay; the following morning made it clear, for the Etruscans had abandoned
their camp in the dead of the night. When the Romans marched out to battle
and saw that the enemy had by their action admitted their defeat, they
went on to the deserted camp. This they took possession of, and as it was
a standing camp and had been hurriedly abandoned, they secured a considerable
amount of booty. The troops were marched back into the neighbourhood of
Falerii, and after leaving the baggage with a small escort there they proceeded,
in light marching order, to harry the Etruscan land. Everything was laid
waste with fire and sword; prey was driven in from all sides. Not only
was the soil left an absolute waste for the enemy, but their fortified
posts and villages were burnt. The Romans refrained from attacking the
cities in which the terrified Etruscans had sought shelter. Cnaeus Fulvius
fought a brilliant action at Bovianum in Samnium, and gained a decisive
victory. He then carried Bovianum by storm, and not long afterwards Aufidena.
10.13
During the year a colony was settled at Carseoli, in the country of the
Aequicoli. The consul Fulvius celebrated a triumph over the Samnites. Just
as the consular elections were coming on, a rumour spread that the Etruscans
and Samnites were levying immense armies. According to the reports which
were sent, the leaders of the Etruscans were attacked in all the cantonal
council meetings for not having brought the Gauls over on any terms whatever
to take part in the war; the Samnite government were abused for having
employed against the Romans a force which was only raised to act against
the Lucanians; the enemy was arising in his own strength and in that of
his allies to make war on Rome, and matters would not be settled without
a conflict on a very much larger scale than formerly. Men of distinction
were amongst the candidates for the consulship, but the gravity of the
danger turned all eyes to Quintus Fabius Maximus. He at first simply declined
to become a candidate, but when he saw the trend of popular feeling he
distinctly refused to allow his name to stand: "Why," he asked, "do you
want an old man like me, who has finished his allotted tasks and gained
all the rewards they have brought? I am not the man I was either in strength
of body or mind, and I fear lest some god should even deem my good fortune
too great or too unbroken for human nature to enjoy. I have grown up to
the measure of the glory of my seniors, and I would gladly see others rising
to the height of my own renown. There is no lack of honours in Rome for
the strongest and most capable men, nor is there any lack of men to win
the honour." This display of modesty and unselfishness only made the popular
feeling all the keener in his favour by showing how rightly it was directed.
Thinking that the best way of checking it would be to appeal to the instinctive
reverence for law, he ordered the law to be rehearsed which forbade any
man from being re-elected consul within ten years. Owing to the clamour
the law was hardly heard, and the tribunes of the plebs declared that there
was no impediment here; they would make a proposition to the Assembly that
he should be exempt from its provisions. He, however, persisted in his
refusal, and repeatedly asked what was the object in making laws if they
were deliberately broken by those who made them; "we," said he, "are now
ruling the laws instead of the laws ruling us." Notwithstanding his opposition
the people began to vote, and as each century was called in, it declared
without the slightest hesitation for Fabius. At last, yielding to the general
desire of his countrymen, he said, "May the gods approve what you have
done and what you are going to do. Since, however, you are going to have
your own way as far as I am concerned, give me the opportunity of using
my influence with you so far as my colleague is concerned. I ask you to
elect as my fellow-consul, P. Decius, a man whom I have found to work with
me in perfect harmony, a man who is worthy of your confidence, worthy of
his illustrious sire." The recommendation was felt to be well deserved,
and all the centuries which had not yet voted elected Q. Fabius and P.
Decius consuls. During the year a large number of people were prosecuted
by the aediles for occupying more than the legal quantity of land. Hardly
one could clear himself from the charge, and a very strong curb was placed
upon inordinate covetousness.
10.14
The consuls were busy with their arrangements for the campaign, deciding
which of them should deal with the Etruscans, and which with the Samnites,
what troops they would each require, which field of operations each was
best fitted for, when envoys arrived from Sutrium, Nepete, and Falerii
bringing definite information that the local assemblies of Etruria were
being convened to decide upon a peace policy. On the strength of this information
the whole weight of war was turned against the Samnites. In order to facilitate
the transport of supplies, and also to make the enemy more uncertain as
to the line of the Roman advance, Fabius led his legions by way of Sora,
while Decius proceeded through the Sidicine district. When they had crossed
the frontiers of Samnium they marched on a widely extended front, laying
the country waste as they went on. They threw out their scouting parties
still more widely, and so did not fail to discover the enemy near Tifernum.
They had concealed themselves in a secluded valley, prepared to attack
the Romans, should they enter the valley, from the rising ground on each
side. Fabius removed the baggage into a safe place and left a small guard
over it. He then informed his men that a battle was impending, and massing
them into a solid square came up to the above-mentioned hiding-place of
the enemy. The Samnites, finding all chance of a surprise hopeless, since
matters would have to be decided by an action in the open, thought it better
to meet their foes in a pitched battle. Accordingly they came down to the
lower ground, and placed themselves in the hands of Fortune with more of
courage than of hope. But whether it was that they had got together the
whole strength out of every community in Samnium, or that their courage
was stimulated by the thought that their very existence as a nation depended
upon this battle, they certainly did succeed in creating a good deal of
alarm in the Roman ranks, even though they were fighting in a fair field.
When Fabius saw that the enemy were holding their ground in every part
of the field, he rode up to the first line with his son, Maximus, and Marcus
Valerius, both military tribunes, and ordered them to go to the cavalry
and tell them that if they remembered any single occasion on which the
republic had been aided by the efforts of the cavalry, they should that
day strive their utmost to sustain the reputation of that invincible arm
of the State, for the enemy were standing immovable against the infantry
and all their hopes rested on the cavalry. He made a personal appeal to
each of them, showering commendations upon them and holding out the prospect
of great rewards. Since, however, the cavalry charge might fail in its
object, and attacking in force prove useless, he thought he ought to adopt
a stratagem. Scipio, one of his staff, received instructions to draw off
the hastati of the first legion and, attracting as little observation as
possible, take them to the nearest hills. Then climbing up where they could
not be seen, they were suddenly to show themselves in the enemy's rear.
The cavalry, led by the two young tribunes, dashed out in front of the
standards, and their sudden appearance created almost as much confusion
amongst their own people as amongst the enemy. The Samnite line stood perfectly
firm against the galloping squadrons, nowhere could they be forced back
or broken. Finding their attempt a failure, the cavalry retired behind
the standards and took no further part in the fighting. This increased
the courage of the enemy, and the Roman front could not have sustained
the prolonged contest, met as they were by a resistance which was becoming
more stubborn as its confidence rose, had not the consul ordered the second
line to relieve the first. These fresh troops checked the advance of the
Samnites, who were now pressing forward. Just at this moment the standards
were descried on the hills, and a fresh battle-shout arose from the Roman
ranks. The alarm which was created among the Samnites was greater than
circumstances warranted, for Fabius exclaimed that his colleague Decius
was coming, and every soldier, wild with joy, took up the cry and shouted
that the other consul with his legions was at hand. This mistake occurring
so opportunely filled the Samnites with dismay; they dreaded, exhausted
as they were by fighting, the prospect of being overwhelmed by a second
army, fresh and unhurt. Unable to offer any further resistance they broke
and fled, and owing to their scattered flight, the bloodshed was small
when compared with the greatness of the victory; 3400 were killed, about
830 made prisoners, and 23 standards were captured.
10.15
Before this battle took place the Samnites would have been joined by the
Apulians had not the consul Decius anticipated their action by fixing his
camp at Maleventum. He drew them into an engagement and routed them, and
in this battle also there were more who escaped by flight than were slain;
these amounted to 2000. Without troubling himself further about the Apulians,
Decius led his army into Samnium. There the two consular armies spent five
months in ravaging and desolating the country. There were forty-five different
places in Samnium where Decius at one time or another had fixed his camp;
in the case of the other consul there were eighty-six. Nor were the only
traces left those of ramparts and fosses, more conspicuous still were those
which attested the devastation and depopulation of all the country round.
Fabius also captured the city of Cimetra, where 2900 became prisoners of
war, 830 having been killed during the assault. After this he returned
to Rome for the elections and arranged for them to be held at an early
date. The centuries who voted first declared without exception for Fabius.
Amongst the candidates was the energetic and ambitious Appius Claudius.
Anxious to secure the honour for himself, he was quite as anxious that
both posts should be held by patricians, and he brought his utmost influence,
supported by the whole of the nobility, to bear upon the electors so that
they might return him together with Fabius. At the outset Fabius refused,
and alleged the same grounds for his refusal as he had alleged the year
before. Then all the nobles crowded round his chair and begged him to extricate
the consulship from the plebeian mire and restore both to the office itself
and to the patrician houses the august dignity which they possessed of
old. As soon as he could obtain silence he addressed them in terms which
calmed their excitement. He would, he said, have arranged to admit votes
for two patricians if he saw that any one else than himself was being elected,
but as matters were he would not allow his name to stand, since it would
be against the law and form a most dangerous precedent. So L. Volumnius,
a plebeian, was elected together with Appius Claudius; they had already
been associated in a previous consulship. The nobles taunted Fabius and
said that he refused to have Appius Claudius as a colleague because he
was unquestionably his inferior in eloquence and state-craft.
10.16
When the elections were over, the previous consuls received a six months'
extension of their command and were ordered to prosecute the war in Samnium.
P. Decius, who had been left by his colleague in Samnium and was now proconsul,
continued his ravages of the Samnite fields until he had driven their army,
which nowhere ventured to encounter him, outside their frontiers. They
made for Etruria, and were in hopes that the object which they had failed
to secure by their numerous deputations might be achieved now that they
had a strong force and could back up their appeals by intimidation. They
insisted upon a meeting of the Etruscan chiefs being convened. When it
had assembled they pointed out how for many years they had been fighting
with the Romans, how they had tried in every possible way to sustain the
weight of that war in their own strength, and how they had proved the assistance
of their neighbours to be of small value. They had sued for peace because
they could no longer endure war, they had taken to war again because a
peace which reduced them to slavery was heavier to bear than a war in which
they could fight as free men. The only hope left to them now lay in the
Etruscans. They knew that they of all the nations of Italy were the richest
in arms and men and money, and they had for their neighbours the Gauls,
trained to arms from the cradle, naturally courageous to desperation and
especially against the Romans, a nation whom they justly boast of having
captured and then allowing them to ransom themselves with gold. If the
Etruscans had the same spirit which Porsena and their ancestors once had
there was no reason why they should not expel the Romans from the whole
of their land as far as the Tiber and compel them to fight, not for their
insupportable dominion over Italy, but for their very existence. The Samnite
army had come to them completely provided with arms and a war chest, and
were ready to follow them at once, even if they led them to an attack on
Rome itself.
10.17
While they were thus busy with their intrigues in Etruria the warfare which
the Romans were carrying on in Samnium was terribly destructive. When P.
Decius had ascertained through his scouts the departure of the Samnite
army he summoned a council of war. "Why," he asked, "are we foaming through
the country districts, making war only upon the villages? Why are we not
attacking the walled cities? There is no army to defend them, the army
has abandoned its country and gone into voluntary exile." His proposal
was unanimously adopted and he led them to the attack of Murgantia, a powerfully
fortified city. Such was the eagerness of the soldiers, due partly to the
affection they felt for their commander and partly to the expectation of
a larger amount of plunder than they were securing in the country districts,
that they stormed and captured the city in a single day. Two thousand one
hundred combatants were cut off and made prisoners and an enormous quantity
of plunder was seized. To avoid loading the army with a lot of heavy baggage
Decius called his men together and addressed them thus: "Are you going
to content yourselves with this one victory and this spoil? Raise your
hopes and expectations to the height of your courage. All the cities of
the Samnites and all the wealth left in them are yours now that their legions,
routed in so many battles, have at last been driven by you beyond their
frontiers. Sell what you now hold and attract traders by the hope of profit
to follow our armies; I shall frequently supply you with things for sale.
Let us go on to the city of Romulea where still greater spoil awaits you
but not greater exertions."
The booty was then sold and the men, urging on their commander, marched
to Romulea. Here, too, no siege works were constructed, no artillery employed,
the moment the standards were brought up to the walls no resistance on
the part of the defenders could keep the men back; they planted their scaling-ladders
just where they happened to be, and swarmed on to the walls. The town was
taken and sacked, 2300 were killed, 6000 taken prisoners, and a vast amount
of plunder secured, which the troops, as before, were obliged to dispose
of to the traders. The next place to be attacked was Ferentinum, and though
no rest was allowed the men, they marched thither in the highest spirits.
Here, however, they had more trouble and more risk. The position had been
made as strong as possible by nature and by art, and the walls were defended
with the utmost energy, but a soldiery habituated to plunder overcame all
obstacles. As many as 3000 of the enemy were killed round the walls; the
plunder was given to the troops. In some annalists the greater part of
the credit of these captures is given to Maximus; Decius they say took
Murgantia, Ferentinum and Romulea being captured by Fabius. Some again
claim this honour for the new consuls, while a few restrict it to L. Volumnius,
to whom they say Samnium was assigned as his sphere of action.
10.18
Whilst this campaign was going on in Samnium-whoever may have been the
commander-a very serious war against Rome was being organised in Etruria,
in which many nations were to take part. The chief organiser was Gellius
Egnatius, a Samnite. Almost all the Tuscan cantons had decided on war,
the contagion had infected the nearest cantons in Umbria, and the Gauls
were being solicited to help as mercenaries. All these, were concentrating
at the Samnite camp. When the news of this sudden rising reached Rome,
L. Volumnius had already left for Samnium with the second and third legions
and 15,000 allied troops; it was therefore decided that Appius Claudius
should at the earliest possible moment enter Etruria. Two Roman legions
followed him, the first and fourth, and 12,000 allies. He fixed his camp
not far from the enemy. The advantage gained by his prompt arrival did
not, however, show itself in any wise or fortunate generalship on his part
so much as the check imposed by the fear of Rome upon some of the Etrurian
cantons which were meditating war. Several engagements took place in unfavourable
positions and at unfortunate times, and the more the enemy's hopes of success,
the more formidable he became. Matters almost reached the point when the
soldiers distrusted their general and the general had no confidence in
his soldiers. I find it stated by some annalists that he sent a letter
to his colleague summoning him from Samnium, but I cannot assert this as
a fact since this very circumstance became a subject of dispute between
the two consuls, who were now in office together for the second time; Appius
denying that he had sent any letter and Volumnius insisting that he had
been summoned by a letter from Appius.
Volumnius had by this time taken three fortified posts in Samnium in
which as many as 3000 men were killed and almost half that number made
prisoners. He had also sent Q. Fabius, the proconsul, with his veteran
army, much to the satisfaction of the Lucanian magnates, to repress the
disturbances which had been got up in that part of the country by the plebeian
and indigent classes. Leaving the ravaging of the enemy's fields to Decius
he proceeded with his whole force to Etruria. On his arrival he was universally
welcomed. As to the way Appius treated him, I think that if he had a clear
conscience in the matter, that is, if he had written nothing, his anger
was justifiable, but if he had really stood in need of help he showed a
disingenuous and ungrateful spirit in concealing the fact. When he went
out to meet his colleague, almost before they had had time to exchange
mutual greetings, he asked: "Is all well, Volumnius? How are things going
in Samnium? What induced you to leave your allotted province?" Volumnius
replied that all was going on satisfactorily and that he had come because
he had been asked to do so by letter. If it was a forgery and there was
nothing for him to do in Etruria he would at once countermarch his troops
and depart. "Well then," said Appius, "go, let nobody keep you here, for
it is by no means right that whilst perhaps you are hardly able to cope
with your own war you should boast of having come to the assistance of
others." "May Hercules guide all for the best," replied Volumnius. "I would
rather have taken all this trouble in vain than that anything should happen
which would make one consular army insufficient for Etruria."
10.19
As the consuls were parting from each other, the staff-officers and military
tribunes stood round them; some of them implored their own commander not
to reject the assistance of his colleague, assistance which he himself
ought to have invited and which was now spontaneously offered; many of
the others tried to stop Volumnius as he was leaving and appealed to him
not to betray the safety of the republic through a wretched quarrel with
his colleague. They urged that if any disaster occurred the responsibility
for it would fall on the one who abandoned the other, not on the other
who was abandoned; it came to this-all the glory of success and all the
disgrace of failure in Etruria was transferred to Volumnius. People would
not inquire what words Appius had used, but what fortune the army was meeting
with; he may have been dismissed by Appius, but his presence was demanded
by the republic and by the army. He had only to test the feelings of the
soldiers to find this out for himself. Amidst appeals and warnings of this
character they almost dragged the reluctant consuls into a council of war.
There the dispute which had previously been witnessed by only a few went
on at much greater length. Volumnius had not only the stronger case, but
he showed himself by no means a bad speaker, even when compared with the
exceptional eloquence of his colleague. Appius remarked sarcastically that
they ought to look upon it as due to him that they had a consul who was
actually able to speak, instead of the dumb inarticulate man he once was.
In their former consulship, especially during the first months of office,
he could not open his lips, now he was becoming quite a popular speaker.
Volumnius observed, "I would much rather that you had learnt from me to
act with vigour and decision than that I should have learnt from you to
be a clever speaker." He finally made a proposal which would settle the
question who was-not the better orator, for that was not what the republic
needed, but-the better commander. Their two provinces were Etruria and
Samnium; Appius might choose which he preferred, he, Volumnius, was willing
to conduct operations either in Etruria or in Samnium. On this the soldiers
began to clamour; they insisted that both consuls should carry on the war
in Etruria. When Volumnius saw that this was the general wish he said,
"Since I have made a mistake in interpreting my colleague's wishes I will
take care that there shall be no doubt as to what it is that you want.
Signify your wishes by acclamation; do you wish me to stay or to go? "Such
a shout arose in reply that it brought the enemy out of their camp; seizing
their arms they came down to the battlefield. Then Volumnius ordered the
battle signal to be sounded and the standards to be carried out of the
camp. Appius, it is said, was for some time undecided, as he saw that whether
he fought or remained inactive the victory would be his colleague's, but
at last, fearing lest his legions also should follow Volumnius, he yielded
to their loud demands and gave the signal for battle.
On both sides the dispositions were far from complete. The Samnite captain-general,
Gellius Egnatius, had gone off with a few cohorts on a foraging expedition,
and his troops commenced the battle in obedience to their own impulses
rather than to any word of command. The Roman armies again were not both
led to the attack at the same time, nor was sufficient time allowed for
their formation. Volumnius was engaged before Appius reached the enemy,
so the battle began on an irregular front, and the usual opponents happened
to be interchanged, the Etruscans facing Volumnius and the Samnites, after
a short delay owing to their leader's absence, closing with Appius. The
story runs that he lifted up his hands to heaven so as to be visible to
those about the foremost standards and uttered this prayer: "Bellona! if
thou wilt grant us victory today, I, in return, vow a temple to thee."
After this prayer it seemed as though the goddess had inspired him, he
displayed a courage equal to his colleague's, or indeed to that of the
whole army. Nothing was lacking on the part of the generals to ensure success,
and the rank and file in each of the consular armies did their utmost to
prevent the other from being the first to achieve victory. The enemy were
quite unable to withstand a force so much greater than any they had been
accustomed to meet, and were in consequence routed and put to flight. The
Romans pressed the attack when they began to give ground, and when they
broke and fled, followed them up till they had driven them to their camp.
There the appearance of Gellius and his cohorts led to a brief stand being
made; soon, however, these were routed and the victors attacked the camp.
Volumnius encouraging his men by his own example led the attack upon one
of the gates in person, whilst Appius was kindling the courage of his troops
by repeatedly invoking "Bellona the victorious." They succeeded in forcing
their way through rampart and fosse; the camp was captured and plundered,
and a very considerable amount of booty was discovered and given to the
soldiery; 6900 of the enemy were killed, 2120 made prisoners.
10.20
Whilst both the consuls with the whole strength of Rome were devoting their
energies more and more to the Etruscan war, fresh armies were raised in
Samnium for the purpose of ravaging the territories which belonged to the
feudatories of Rome. They passed through the Vescini into the country round
Capua and Falernum and secured immense spoil. Volumnius was returning to
Samnium by forced marches, for the extended command of Fabius and Decius
had almost expired, when he heard of the devastations which the Samnites
were committing in Campania. He at once diverted his route in that direction
to protect our allies. When he was in the neighbourhood of Cales he saw
for himself the fresh traces of the destruction that had been wrought,
and the inhabitants informed him that the enemy were carrying off so much
plunder that they could hardly keep any proper formation on the march.
In fact their generals had openly given out that they dared not expose
an army so heavily laden to the chances of battle, and they must at once
return to Samnium and leave their plunder there, after which they would
return for a fresh raid. However true all this might be, Volumnius thought
he ought to get further information, and accordingly he despatched some
cavalry to pick up any stragglers they might find among the raiders. On
questioning them he learnt that the enemy were halted at the river Volturnus,
and were going to move forward at the third watch and take the road to
Samnium. Satisfied with this information he marched on and fixed his camp
at such a distance from the enemy that while it was not close enough for
his arrival to be detected it was sufficiently near to allow of his surprising
them while they were leaving their camp. Some time before daylight he approached
their camp and sent some men familiar with the Oscan language to find out
what was going on. Mingling with the enemy, an easy matter in the confusion
of a nocturnal departure, they found that the standards had already gone
with only a few to defend them, the booty and those who were to escort
it were just leaving, the army as a whole were incapable of any military
evolution, for each was looking after his own affairs, without any mutually
arranged plan of action or any definite orders from their commander. This
seemed the moment for delivering his attack, and daylight was approaching,
so he ordered the advance to be sounded and attacked the enemy's column.
The Samnites were encumbered with their booty, only a few were in fighting
trim; some hurried on and drove before them the animals they had seized,
others halted, undecided whether to go on or retreat to the camp; in the
midst of their hesitation they were surrounded and cut off. The Romans
had now got over the rampart, and the camp became a scene of wild disorder
and carnage. The confusion created in the Samnite column by the swiftness
of the attack was increased by the sudden outbreak of their prisoners.
Some after releasing themselves broke the fetters of those round them,
others snatched the weapons which were fastened up with the baggage and
created in the centre of the column a tumult more appalling even than the
battle which was going on. Then they achieved a most extraordinary feat.
Statius Minacius, the general commanding, was riding up and down the ranks
encouraging his men, when the prisoners attacked him, and after dispersing
his escort, hurried him off, whilst still in the saddle, as a prisoner
to the Roman consul. The noise and the tumult recalled the cohorts who
were at the head of the column, and the battle was resumed, but only for
a short time, as a long resistance was impossible. As many as 6000 men
were killed, there were 2500 prisoners, amongst them four military tribunes,
thirty standards were taken, and, what gave the victors more pleasure than
anything else, 7400 captives were rescued and the immense booty which had
been taken from the allies recovered. Public notice was given inviting
the owners to identify and recover what belonged to them. Everything for
which no owner appeared on the appointed day was given to the soldiers,
but they were obliged to sell it all that nothing might distract their
thoughts from their military duties.
10.21
This predatory incursion into Campania created great excitement in Rome,
and it so happened that just at this time grave news was received from
Etruria. After the withdrawal of Volumnius' army, the whole country, acting
in concert with the Samnite captain-general, Gellius Egnatius, had risen
in arms; whilst the Umbrians were being called on to join the movement,
and the Gauls were being approached with offers of lavish pay. The senate,
thoroughly alarmed at these tidings, ordered all legal and other business
to be suspended, and men of all ages and of every class to be enrolled
for service. Not only were the freeborn and all within the military age
obliged to take the oath, but cohorts were formed of the older men, and
even the freedmen were formed into centuries. Arrangements were made for
the defence of the City, and P. Sempronius took supreme command. The senate
was, however, relieved of some of its anxiety by the receipt of despatches
from L. Volumnius, from which it was ascertained that the raiders of Campania
had been routed and killed. Thanksgivings for this success were ordered
in honour of the consul, the suspension of business was withdrawn after
lasting eighteen days, and the thanksgivings were of a most joyous character.
The next question was the protection of the district which had been devastated
by the Samnites, and it was decided to settle bodies of colonists about
the Vescinian and Falernian country. One was to be at the mouth of the
Liris, now called the colony of Menturna, the other in the Vescinian forest
where it is contiguous with the territory of Falernum. Here the Greek city
of Sinope is said to have stood, and from this the Romans gave the place
the name of Sinuessa. It was arranged that the tribunes of the plebs should
get a plebiscite passed requiring P. Sempronius, the praetor, to appoint
commissioners for the founding of colonies in those spots. But it was not
easy to find people to be sent to what was practically a permanent outpost
in a dangerously hostile country, instead of having fields allotted to
them for cultivation. The attention of the senate was diverted from these
matters to the growing seriousness of the outlook in Etruria. There were
frequent despatches from Appius warning them not to neglect the movement
that was going on in that part of the world; four nations were in arms
together, the Etruscans, the Samnites, the Umbrians, and the Gauls, and
they were compelled to form two separate camps, for one place would not
hold so great a multitude. The date of the elections was approaching, and
Volumnius was recalled to Rome to conduct them, and also to advise on the
general policy. Before calling upon the centuries to vote he summoned the
people to an Assembly. Here he dwelt at some length upon the serious nature
of the war in Etruria. Even, he said, when he and his colleague were conducting
a joint campaign, the war was on too large a scale for any single general
with his one army to cope with. Since then he understood that the Umbrians
and an enormous force of Gauls had swollen the ranks of their enemies.
The electors must bear in mind that two consuls were being elected on that
day to act against four nations. The choice of the Roman people would,
he felt certain, fall on the one man who was unquestionably the foremost
of all their generals. Had he not felt sure of this he was prepared to
nominate him at once as Dictator.
10.22
After this speech no one felt the slightest doubt that Q. Fabius would
be unanimously elected. The "prerogative" centuries and all those of the
first class were voting for him and Volumnius, when he again addressed
the electors very much in the terms he had employed two years before, and
as on the former occasion when he yielded to the universal wish, so now
he again requested that P. Decius might be his colleague. He would be a
support for his old age to lean upon, they had been together as censors,
and twice as consuls, and he had learnt by experience that nothing went
further to protect the State than harmony between colleagues. He felt that
he could hardly at his time of life get accustomed to a new comrade in
office, he could so much more easily share all his counsels with one whose
character and disposition he knew. Volumnius confirmed what Fabius had
said. He bestowed a well-deserved encomium on Decius, and pointed out what
an advantage in military operations is gained by harmony between the consuls,
and what mischief is wrought when they are at variance. He mentioned as
an instance the recent misunderstanding between him and his colleague which
almost led to a national disaster, and he solemnly admonished Decius and
Fabius that they should live together with one mind and one heart. They
were, he continued, born commanders, great in action, unskilled in wordy
debate, possessing, in fact, all the qualifications of a consul. Those,
on the other hand, who were clever and cunning in law, and practiced pleaders,
like Appius Claudius, ought to be employed in the City and on the bench;
they should be elected praetors to administer justice. The discussion in
the Assembly lasted the whole day. On the morrow the elections were held
for both consuls and praetors. The consul's recommendation was acted upon;
Q. Fabius and P. Decius were elected consuls, and Appius Claudius was returned
as praetor; they were all elected in their absence. The senate passed a
resolution, which the Assembly confirmed by a plebiscite, that Volumnius'
command should be extended for a year.
10.23
Several portents occurred this year and, with the view of averting them,
the senate passed a decree that special intercessions should be offered
for two days. The wine and incense were provided at the public cost, and
both men and women attended the religious functions in great numbers. This
time of special observance was rendered memorable by a quarrel which broke
out amongst the matrons in the chapel of the Patrician Pudicitia, which
is in the Forum Boarium, against the round temple of Hercules. Verginia,
the daughter of Aulus Verginius, a patrician, had married the plebeian
consul, L. Volumnius, and the matrons excluded her from their sacred rites
because she had married outside the patriciate. This led to a brief altercation,
which, as the women became excited, soon blazed up into a storm of passion.
Verginia protested with perfect truth that she entered the temple of Pudicitia
as a patrician and a pure woman, the wife of one man to whom she had been
betrothed as a virgin, and she had nothing to be ashamed of in her husband
or in his honourable career and the offices which he had held. The effect
of her high-spirited language was considerably enhanced by her subsequent
action. In the Vicus Longus, where she lived, she shut off a portion of
her house, sufficient to form a moderately sized chapel, and set up an
altar there. She then called the plebeian matrons together and told them
how unjustly she had been treated by the patrician ladies. "I am dedicating,"
she said, "this altar to the Plebeian Pudicitia, and I earnestly exhort
you as matrons to show the same spirit of emulation on the score of chastity
that the men of this City display with regard to courage, so that this
altar may, if possible, have the reputation of being honoured with a holier
observance and by purer worshippers than that of the patricians." The ritual
and ceremonial practiced at this altar was almost identical with that at
the older one; no matron was allowed to sacrifice there whose moral character
was not well attested, and who had had more than one husband. Afterwards
it was polluted by the presence of women of every kind, not matrons only,
and finally passed into oblivion. The curule aediles, Cnaeus and Quintus
Ogulnius, brought up several money-lenders for trial this year. The proportion
of their fines which was paid into the treasury was devoted to various
public objects; the wooden thresholds of the Capitol were replaced by bronze,
silver vessels were made for the three tables in the shrine of Jupiter,
and a statue of the god himself, seated in a four-horsed chariot, was set
up on the roof. They also placed near the Ficus Ruminalis a group representing
the Founders of the City as infants being suckled by the she-wolf. The
street leading from the Porta Capena to the temple of Mars was paved, under
their instructions, with stone slabs. Some graziers were also prosecuted
for exceeding the number of cattle allowed them on the public land, and
the plebeian aediles, L. Aelius Paetus and C. Fulvius Curvus, spent the
money derived from their fines on public games and a set of golden bowls
to be placed in the temple of Ceres.
10.24
Q. Fabius and P. Decius were now entering their year of office, the former
being consul for the fifth time, the latter for the fourth. Twice before
they had been consuls together, they had held the censorship together and
the perfect unanimity between them, quite as much as their discharge of
its duties, made their tenure of office a distinguished one. But this was
not to last for ever; the conflict which broke out between them was, however,
I think, due more to the antagonism of the two orders to which they belonged
than to any personal feeling on their part. The patrician senators were
extremely anxious that Fabius should have Etruria assigned to him without
going through the usual procedure; the plebeian senators urged Decius to
insist upon the question being settled in the usual way by lot. There was,
at all events, a sharp division of opinion in the senate, and, when it
became apparent that the Fabian interest was the stronger, the matter was
referred to the people. As both were first of all soldiers, trusting more
to deeds than to words, their speeches before the Assembly were brief.
Fabius declared that it would be an unworthy proceeding if another should
gather up the fruit beneath the tree which he had planted; he had opened
up the Ciminian forest and made a way through pathless jungle for the arms
of Rome. Why had they troubled him at his time of life, if they were going
to carry on the war under another general? Then he turned to Decius: "Surely,"
he said, "I have chosen an opponent, not a comrade, in office; Decius is
annoyed at our three years of joint power having been so harmonious." Finally,
he asserted that he desired nothing more than that if they thought him
worthy of that command, they should send him there; he had bowed to the
will of the senate and should accept the decision of the people.
P. Decius, in reply, protested against the injustice of the senate.
The patricians, he said, had done their utmost to exclude the plebeians
from the great offices of the State. Since personal merit had so far won
the day that it no longer failed of recognition in any class of men, their
object was now not only to stultify the deliberate decisions of the people
as expressed by their votes, but even to turn the judgments which Fortune
is ever passing into so many reasons for retaining their power, small as
their number was. All the consuls before his time had drawn lots for their
commands, now the senate was giving Fabius his province independently of
the lot. If this was simply as a mark of honour, then he would admit that
Fabius had rendered services both to the republic and to himself and he
would gladly consent to anything that would add to his reputation, provided
it did not involve casting a slur upon himself. But who could fail to see
that when a peculiarly difficult and formidable war is entrusted to one
consul without any resort to the lot, it means that the other consul is
regarded as superfluous and useless? Fabius pointed with pride to his achievements
in Etruria; Decius wished to be able to do so too, and possibly he might
succeed in totally extinguishing the fire which the other had only smothered,
and smothered in such a way that it was constantly breaking out where one
least expected in fresh conflagrations. He was prepared to concede honours
and rewards to his colleague out of respect to his age and position, but
when it was a question of danger or of fighting he did not give way, and
would not voluntarily. If he gained nothing else from this dispute, he
would at least gain this much, that the people should decide a question
which was theirs to decide, rather than that the senate should show undue
partiality. He prayed Jupiter Optimus Maximus and the immortal gods to
grant to him the impartial chance of the lot with his colleague, if they
were going to grant them each the same courage and good fortune in the
conduct of the war. It was, at all events, a thing eminently fair in itself,
and an excellent precedent for all time, and a thing which touched the
good name of Rome very closely, that both the consuls should be men by
either of whom the Etruscan war could be conducted without any risk of
failure. Fabius' only reply was to entreat the people to listen to some
despatches which had been sent by Appius before they proceeded to vote.
He then left the Assembly. The people were no less strong in his support
than the senate had been, and Etruria was decreed to Fabius without any
casting of lots.
10.25
When this decision was come to, all the men of military age flocked to
the consul, and every one began to give in his name, so eager were they
to serve under him as their general. Seeing himself surrounded by this
crowd, he called out: "I do not intend to enlist more than 4000 infantry
and 600 cavalry, and will take with me those of you who give in your names
today and tomorrow. I am more concerned to bring you all back wealthy men
than to have a large number of men for my fighting force." With this compact
army full of confidence and hope-all the more so because he felt no need
of a great host-he marched to the town of Aharna, which was not far from
the enemy, and from there went on to Appius' camp. He was still some miles
distant from it when he was met by some soldiers sent to cut wood who were
accompanied by an armed escort. When they saw the lictors marching in front
of him, and heard that it was Fabius their consul, they were overjoyed
and thanked the gods and the people of Rome for having sent him to them
as their commander. As they pressed round the consul to salute him, Fabius
asked them where they were going, and on their replying that they were
going to cut wood, "What do you say?" he inquired; "surely you have a ramparted
camp?" They informed him that they had a double rampart and fosse round
the camp, and yet they were in a state of mortal fear. "Well, then," he
replied, "go back and pull down your stockade, and you will have quite
enough wood." They returned into camp and began to demolish the rampart,
to the great terror of those who had remained in camp, and especially of
Appius himself, until the news spread from one to another that they were
acting under the orders of Q. Fabius, the consul. On the following day
the camp was shifted, and Appius was sent back to Rome to take up his duties
as praetor.
From that time the Romans had no standing camp. Fabius said that it
was bad for the army to remain fixed in one spot; it became more healthy
and active by frequent marches and change of position. They made as long
and frequent marches as the season allowed, for the winter was not yet
over. As soon as spring set in, he left the second legion at Clusium, formerly
called Camars, and placed L. Scipio in charge of the camp as propraetor.
He then returned to Rome to consult the senate as to future operations.
He may have taken this step on his own initiative after finding from personal
observation that the war was a bigger thing than he had believed it to
be from the reports received, or he may have been summoned home by the
senate; both reasons are assigned by our authorities. Some want to make
it appear that he was compelled to return, owing to the action of Appius
Claudius, who had sent alarming despatches about the state of things in
Etruria, and was now adding to the alarm by his speeches in the senate
and before the Assembly. He considered one general with only one army quite
insufficient to cope with four nations; whether they combined their forces
against him or acted separately, there was the danger of his being unable,
single-handed, to meet all emergencies. He had left only two legions there,
and less than 5000 infantry and cavalry had arrived with Fabius, and he
advised that P. Decius should join his colleague in Etruria as soon as
possible. Samnium could be handed over to L. Volumnius, or, if the consul
preferred to keep to his own province, Volumnius should go to the support
of Fabius with a full consular army. As the praetor's representations were
producing a considerable impression, we are told that Decius gave it as
his opinion that Fabius ought not to be interfered with, but left free
to act as he thought best until he had either himself come to Rome, if
he could do so with safety to the State, or had sent some member of his
staff from whom the senate could learn the actual state of things in Etruria,
what force would be necessary, and how many generals would be required.
10.26
Immediately on his arrival in Rome, Fabius addressed the senate and also
the Assembly on the subject of the war. His tone was calm and temperate,
he did not exaggerate, nor did he underrate the difficulties. If, he said,
he accepted a colleague's assistance it would be more out of consideration
for other people's fears than to provide against any danger either to himself
or to the republic. If, however, they did give him a coadjutor to be associated
with him in the command, how could he possibly overlook P. Decius, who
had been so frequently his colleague, and whom he knew so well? There was
no one in the world whom he would sooner have; if Decius were with him
he should always find his forces sufficient for the work and never find
the enemy too numerous for him to deal with. If his colleague preferred
some other arrangement they might give him L. Volumnius. The people, the
senate, and his own colleague all agreed that Fabius should have a perfectly
free hand in the matter, and when Decius made it clear that he was ready
to go either to Samnium or to Etruria, there was universal joy and congratulation.
Victory was already regarded as certain, and it looked as though a triumph,
and not a serious war, had been decreed to the consuls. I find it stated
in some authorities that Fabius and Decius both started for Etruria immediately
on entering office, no mention being made of their not deciding their provinces
by lot, or of the quarrel between the colleagues which I have described.
Some, on the other hand, were not satisfied with simply narrating the dispute,
but have given in addition certain charges which Appius brought against
the absent Fabius before the people. and the bitter attacks he made upon
him in his presence, and mention is made of a second quarrel between the
colleagues caused by Decius insisting that each should keep the province
assigned to him. We find more agreement amongst the authorities from the
time that both consuls left Rome for the scene of war.
But before the consuls arrived in Etruria the Senonian Gauls came in
immense numbers to Clusium with the intention of attacking the Roman camp
and the legion stationed there. Scipio was in command, and thinking to
assist the scantiness of his numbers by taking up a strong position, he
marched his force on to a hill which lay between his camp and the city.
The enemy had appeared so suddenly that he had had no time to reconnoitre
the ground, and he went on towards the summit after the enemy had already
seized it, having approached it from the other side. So the legion was
attacked in front and rear and completely surrounded. Some authors say
that the entire legion was wiped out there, not a man being left to carry
the tidings, and that though the consuls were not far from Clusium at the
time, no report of the disaster reached them until Gaulish horsemen appeared
with the heads of the slain hanging from their horses' chests and fixed
on the points of their spears, whilst they chanted war-songs after their
manner. According to another tradition they were not Gauls at all, but
Umbrians, nor was there a great disaster; a foraging party commanded by
L. Manlius Torquatus, a staff officer, was surrounded, but Scipio sent
assistance from the camp, and in the end the Umbrians were defeated and
the prisoners and booty recovered. It is more probable that this defeat
was inflicted by Gauls and not by Umbrians, for the fears of an irruption
of Gauls which had been so often aroused were especially present to the
minds of the citizens this year, and every precaution was taken to meet
it. The force with which the consuls had taken the field consisted of four
legions and a large body of cavalry, in addition to 1000 picked Campanian
troopers detailed for this war, whilst the contingents furnished by the
allies and the Latin League formed an even larger army than the Roman army.
But in addition to this large force two other armies were stationed not
far from the City, confronting Etruria; one in the Faliscan district, another
in the neighbourhood of the Vatican. The propraetors, Cnaeus Fulvius and
L. Postumius Megellus, had been instructed to fix their standing camps
in those positions.
10.27
After crossing the Apennines, the consuls descended into the district of
Sentinum and fixed their camp about four miles' distance from the enemy.
The four nations consulted together as to their plan of action, and it
was decided that they should not all be mixed up in one camp nor go into
battle at the same time. The Gauls were linked with the Samnites, the Umbrians
with the Etrurians. They fixed upon the day of battle, the brunt of the
fighting was to be reserved for the Gauls and Samnites, in the midst of
the struggle the Etruscans and Umbrians were to attack the Roman camp.
These arrangements were upset by three deserters, who came in the secrecy
of night to Fabius and disclosed the enemy's plans. They were rewarded
for their information and dismissed with instructions to find out and report
whatever fresh decision was arrived at. The consuls sent written instructions
to Fulvius and Postumius to bring their armies up to Clusium and ravage
the enemy's country on their march as far as they possibly could. The news
of these ravages brought the Etruscans away from Sentinum to protect their
own territory. Now that they had got them out of the way, the consuls tried
hard to bring on an engagement. For two days they sought to provoke the
enemy to fight, but during those two days nothing took place worth mentioning;
a few fell on both sides and enough exasperation was produced to make them
desire a regular battle without, however, wishing to hazard everything
on a decisive conflict. On the third day the whole force on both sides
marched down into the plain. Whilst the two armies were standing ready
to engage, a hind driven by a wolf from the mountains ran down into the
open space between the two lines with the wolf in pursuit. Here they each
took a different direction, the hind ran to the Gauls, the wolf to the
Romans. Way was made for the wolf between the ranks; the Gauls speared
the hind. On this a soldier in the front rank exclaimed: "In that place
where you see the creature sacred to Diana lying dead, flight and carnage
will begin; here the wolf, whole and unhurt, a creature sacred to Mars,
reminds us of our Founder and that we too are of the race of Mars." The
Gauls were stationed on the right, the Samnites on the left. Q. Fabius
posted the first and third legions on the right wing, facing the Samnites;
to oppose the Gauls, Decius had the fifth and sixth legions, who formed
the Roman left. The second and fourth legions were engaged in Samnium with
L. Volumnius the proconsul. When the armies first met they were so evenly
matched that had the Etruscans and Umbrians been present, whether taking
part in the battle or attacking the camp, the Romans must have been defeated.
10.28
But although neither side was gaining any advantage and Fortune had not
yet indicated in any way to whom she would grant the victory, the fighting
on the right wing was very different from that on the left. The Romans
under Fabius were acting more on the defensive and were protracting the
contest as long as possible. Their commander knew that it was the habitual
practice of both the Gauls and the Samnites to make a furious attack to
begin with, and if that were successfully resisted, it was enough; the
courage of the Samnites gradually sank as the battle went on, whilst the
Gauls, utterly unable to stand heat or exertion, found their physical strength
melting away; in their first efforts they were more than men, in the end
they were weaker than women. Knowing this, he kept the strength of his
men unimpaired against the time when the enemy usually began to show signs
of defeat. Decius, as a younger man, possessing more vigour of mind, showed
more dash; he made use of all the strength he possessed in opening the
attack, and as the infantry battle developed too slowly for him, he called
on the cavalry. Putting himself at the head of a squadron of exceptionally
gallant troopers, he appealed to them as the pick of his soldiers to follow
him in charging the enemy, for a twofold glory would be theirs if victory
began on the left wing and, in that wing, with the cavalry. Twice they
swept aside the Gaulish horse. Making a third charge, they were carried
too far, and whilst they were now fighting desperately in the midst of
the enemy's cavalry they were thrown into consternation by a new style
of warfare. Armed men mounted on chariots and baggage wagons came on with
a thunderous noise of horses and wheels, and the horses of the Roman cavalry,
unaccustomed to that kind of uproar, became uncontrollable through fright;
the cavalry after their victorious charges, were now scattered in frantic
terror; horses and men alike were overthrown in their blind flight. Even
the standards of the legionaries were thrown into confusion, and many of
the front rank men were crushed by the weight of the horses and vehicles
dashing through the lines. When the Gauls saw their enemy thus demoralised
they did not give them a moment's breathing space in which to recover themselves,
but followed up at once with a fierce attack. Decius shouted to his men
and asked them whither they were fleeing, what hope they had in flight;
he tried to stop those who were retreating and recall the scattered units.
Finding himself unable, do what he would, to check the demoralisation,
he invoked the name of his father, P. Decius, and cried: "Why do I any
longer delay the destined fate of my family? This is the privilege granted
to our house that we should be an expiatory sacrifice to avert dangers
from the State. Now will I offer the legions of the enemy together with
myself as a sacrifice to Tellus and the Dii Manes." When he had uttered
these words he ordered the pontiff, M. Livius, whom he had kept by his
side all through the battle, to recite the prescribed form in which he
was to devote "himself and the legions of the enemy on behalf of the army
of the Roman people, the Quirites." He was accordingly devoted in the same
words and wearing the same garb as his father, P. Decius, at the battle
of Veseris in the Latin war. After the usual prayers had been recited he
uttered the following awful curse: "I carry before me terror and rout and
carnage and blood and the wrath of all the gods, those above and those
below. I will infect the standards, the armour, the weapons of the enemy
with dire and manifold death, the place of my destruction shall also witness
that of the Gauls and Samnites." After uttering this imprecation on himself
and on the enemy he spurred his horse against that part of the Gaulish
line where they were most densely massed and leaping into it was slain
by their missiles.
10.29
From this moment the battle could hardly have appeared to any man to be
dependent on human strength alone. After losing their leader, a thing which
generally demoralises an army, the Romans arrested their flight and recommenced
the struggle. The Gauls, especially those who were crowded round the consul's
body, were discharging their missiles aimlessly and harmlessly as though
bereft of their senses; some seemed paralysed, incapable of either fight
or flight. But, in the other army, the pontiff Livius, to whom Decius had
transferred his lictors and whom he had commissioned to act as propraetor,
announced in loud tones that the consul's death had freed the Romans from
all danger and given them the victory, the Gauls and Samnites were made
over to Tellus the Mother and the Dii Manes, Decius was summoning and dragging
down to himself the army which he had devoted together with himself, there
was terror everywhere among the enemy, and the Furies were lashing them
into madness. Whilst the battle was thus being restored, L. Cornelius Scipio
and C. Marcius were ordered by Fabius to bring up the reserves from the
rear to the support of his colleagues. There they learnt the fate of P.
Decius, and it was a powerful encouragement to them to dare everything
for the republic. The Gauls were standing in close order covered by their
shields, and a hand-to-hand fight seemed no easy matter, but the staff
officers gave orders for the javelins which were lying on the ground between
the two armies to be gathered up and hurled at the enemy's shield wall.
Although most of them stuck in their shields and only a few penetrated
their bodies, the closely massed ranks went down, most of them falling
without having received a wound, just as though they had been struck by
lightning. Such was the change that Fortune had brought about in the Roman
left wing.
On the right Fabius, as I have stated, was protracting the contest.
When he found that neither the battle-shout of the enemy, nor their onset,
nor the discharge of their missiles were as strong as they had been at
the beginning, he ordered the officers in command of the cavalry to take
their squadrons round to the side of the Samnite army, ready at a given
signal to deliver as fierce a flank attack as possible. The infantry were
at the same time to press steadily forwards and dislodge the enemy. When
he saw that they were offering no resistance, and were evidently worn out,
he massed all his support which he had kept in reserve for the supreme
moment, and gave the signal for a general charge of infantry and cavalry.
The Samnites could not face the onslaught and fled precipitately past the
Gauls to their camp, leaving their allies to fight as best they could.
The Gauls were still standing in close order behind their shield wall.
Fabius, on hearing of his colleague's death, ordered a squadron of Campanian
horse, about 500 strong, to go out of action and ride round to take the
Gauls in the rear. The principes of the third legion were ordered to follow,
and, wherever they saw the enemy's line disordered by the cavalry, to press
home the attack and cut them down. He vowed a temple and the spoils of
the enemy to Jupiter Victor, and then proceeded to the Samnite camp to
which the whole crowd of panic-struck fugitives was being driven. As they
could not all get through the gates, those outside tried to resist the
Roman attack and a battle began close under the rampart. It was here that
Gellius Egnatius, the captain-general of the Samnites, fell. Finally the
Samnites were driven within their lines and the camp was taken after a
brief struggle. At the same time the Gauls were attacked in the rear and
overpowered; 25,000 of the enemy were killed in that day's fighting and
8000 made prisoners. The victory was by no means a bloodless one, for P.
Decius lost 7000 killed and Fabius 1700. After sending out a search party
to find his colleague's body, Fabius had the spoils of the enemy collected
into a heap and burnt as a sacrifice to Jupiter Victor. The consul's body
could not be found that day as it was buried under a heap of Gauls; it
was discovered the next day and brought back to camp amidst the tears of
the soldiers. Fabius laid aside all other business in order to pay the
last rites to his dead colleague; the obsequies were conducted with every
mark of honour and the funeral oration sounded the well-deserved praises
of the deceased consul.
10.30
During these occurrences in Umbria, Cnaeus Fulvius, the propraetor, was
succeeding to the utmost of his wishes in Etruria. Not only did he carry
destruction far and wide over the enemy's fields, but he fought a brilliant
action with the united forces of Perusia and Clusium in which more than
3000 of the enemy were killed and as many as 20 standards taken. The remains
of the Samnite army attempted to escape through the Pelignian territory,
but were intercepted by the native troops, and out of 5000 as many as 1000
were killed. Great as the glory of the day on which the battle of Sentinum
was fought must appear to any writer who adheres to the truth, it has by
some writers been exaggerated beyond all belief. They assert that the enemy's
army amounted to 1,000,000 infantry and 46,000 cavalry, together with 1000
war chariots. That, of course, includes the Umbrians and Tuscans who are
represented as taking part in the battle. And by way of increasing the
Roman strength they tell us that Lucius Volumnius commanded in the action
as well as the consuls, and that their legions were supplemented by his
army. In the majority of the annalists the victory is assigned only to
the two consuls; Volumnius is described as compaigning during that time
in Samnium, and after driving a Samnite army on to Mount Tifernus, he succeeded,
in spite of the difficulty of the position, in defeating and routing them.
Q. Fabius left Decius' army to hold Etruria and led back his own legions
to the City to enjoy a triumph over the Gauls, the Etruscans, and the Samnites.
In the songs which the soldiers sang in the procession the glorious death
of Decius was celebrated quite as much as the victory of Fabius, and they
recalled the father's memory in their praises of the son who had rivalled
his father in his devotion and all that it had done for the State. Out
of the spoils each soldier received eighty-two ases of bronze, with cloaks
and tunics, rewards not to be despised in those days
10.31
In spite of these defeats neither the Etruscans nor the Samnites remained
quiet. After the consul had withdrawn his army the Perusians recommenced
hostilities, a force of Samnites descended into the country round Vescia
and Formiae, plundering and harrying as they went, whilst another body
invaded the district of Aesernum and the region round the Vulturnus. Appius
Claudius was sent against these with Decius' old army; Fabius, who had
marched into Etruria, slew 4500 of the Perusians, and took 1740 prisoners,
who were ransomed at 310 ases per head; the rest of the booty was given
to the soldiers. The Samnites, one body of which was pursued by Appius
Claudius, the other by L. Volumnius, effected a junction in the Stellate
district and took up a position there. A desperate battle was fought, the
one army was furious against those who had so often taken up arms against
them, the other felt that this was their last hope. The Samnites lost 16,300
killed and 2700 prisoners; on the side of the Romans 2700 fell. As far
as military operations went, the year was a prosperous one, but it was
rendered an anxious one by a severe pestilence and by alarming portents.
In many places showers of earth were reported to have fallen, and a large
number of men in the army under Appius Claudius were said to have been
struck by lightning. The Sacred Books were consulted in view of these occurrences.
During this year Q. Fabius Gurges, the consul's son, who was an aedile,
brought some matrons to trial before the people on the charge of adultery.
Out of their fines he obtained sufficient money to build the temple of
Venus which stands near the Circus.
The Samnite wars are still with us, those wars which I have been occupied
with through these last four books, and which have gone on continuously
for six-and-forty years, in fact ever since the consuls, M. Valerius and
A. Cornelius, carried the arms of Rome for the first time into Samnium.
It is unnecessary now to recount the numberless defeats which overtook
both nations, and the toils which they endured through all those years,
and yet these things were powerless to break down the resolution or crush
the spirit of that people; I will only allude to the events of the past
year. During that period the Samnites, fighting sometimes alone, sometimes
in conjunction with other nations, had been defeated by Roman armies under
Roman generals on four several occasions, at Sentinum, amongst the Paeligni,
at Tifernum, and in the Stellate plains; they had lost the most brilliant
general they ever possessed; they now saw their allies-Etruscans, Umbrians,
Gauls-overtaken by the same fortune that they had suffered; they were unable
any longer to stand either in their own strength or in that afforded by
foreign arms. And yet they would not abstain from war; so far were they
from being weary of defending their liberty, even though unsuccessfully,
that they would rather be worsted than give up trying for victory. What
sort of a man must he be who would find the long story of those wars tedious,
though he is only narrating or reading it, when they failed to wear out
those who were actually engaged in them?
10.32
Q. Fabius and P. Decius were succeeded in the consulship by L. Postumius
Megellus and M. Atilius Regulus. Samniurn was assigned to both of them
as the field of operations in consequence of information received that
three armies had been raised there, one being destined for Etruria, another
was to ravage Campania, and the third was intended for the defence of their
frontiers. Illness kept Postumius in Rome, but Atilius marched out at once
in accordance with the senate's instructions, with the view of surprising
the Samnite armies before they had started on their expeditions. He met
the enemy, as though they had had a previous understanding, at a point
where he himself was stopped from entering the Samnite country and at the
same time barred any movement on their part towards Roman territory or
the peaceable lands of her allies. The two camps confronted each other,
and the Samnites, with the recklessness that comes of despair, ventured
upon an enterprise which the Romans, who had been so often victorious,
would hardly have undertaken, namely an attack on the enemy's camp. Their
daring attempt did not achieve its end, but it was not altogether fruitless.
During a great part of the day there had been so dense a fog that it was
not only impossible to see anything beyond the rampart, but even people
who were together were unable to see each other. The Samnites, relying
on their movements being concealed, came on in the dim twilight-what light
there was being obscured by the fog-and reached the outpost in front of
the gate who were keeping a careless look-out, and who being thus attacked
unawares had neither the strength nor the courage to offer any resistance.
After disposing of the guard they entered the camp through the decuman
gate and got possession of the quaestor's tent, the quaestor, L. Opimius
Pansa, being killed. Then there was a general call to arms.
10.33
The consul roused by the tumult ordered two of the allied cohorts, those
from Luca and Suessa, which happened to be the nearest, to protect the
headquarters' tent, and then he mustered the maniples in the via principalis.
They got into line almost before they were in proper fighting trim, and
they located the enemy by the direction of the shouting rather than by
anything that they could see; as to his numbers they were quite unable
to form any estimate. Doubtful as to their position they at first retreated,
and thus allowed the enemy to advance as far as the middle of the camp.
Seeing this the consul asked them whether they were going to be driven
outside their rampart, and then try to recover their camp by assaulting
it. Then they raised the battle-shout and steadily held their ground until
they were able to take the offensive and force the enemy back, which they
did persistently without giving him a moment's respite, until they had
driven him outside the gate and past the rampart. Further than that they
did not venture to go in pursuit, because the bad light made them fear
the possibility of a surprise. Content with having cleared the enemy out
of the camp they retired within the rampart, having killed about 300. On
the Roman side, the outpost who were killed and those who fell round the
quaestor's tent amounted to 230. The partial success of this daring maneuver
raised the spirits of the Samnites, and they not only prevented the Romans
from advancing but they even kept the foraging parties out of their fields,
who had consequently to fall back on the pacified district of Sora. The
report of this occurrence which reached Rome, and which was a much more
sensational one than the facts warranted, compelled the other consul, L.
Postumius, to leave the City before his health was quite re-established.
He issued a general order for his men to assemble at Sora, and previous
to his departure he dedicated the temple to Victory which he had, when
curule aedile, built out of the proceeds of fines. On rejoining his army
he marched from Sora to his colleague's camp. The Samnites despaired of
offering an effectual resistance to two consular armies and withdrew; the
consuls then proceeded in different directions to lay waste their fields
and storm their cities.
10.34
Amongst the latter was Milionia, which Postumius unsuccessfully attempted
to carry by assault. He then attacked the place by regular approaches,
and after his vineae were brought up to the walls he forced an entrance.
From ten o'clock in the morning till two in the afternoon fighting went
on in all quarters of the town with doubtful result; at last the Romans
got possession of the place; 3200 Samnites were killed and 4700 made prisoners,
in addition to the rest of the booty. From there the legions marched to
Feritrum, but the townsfolk evacuated the place quietly during the night,
taking with them all their possessions, everything which could be either
driven or carried. Immediately on his reaching the vicinity, the consul
approached the walls with his men prepared for action, as though there
was going to be as much fighting there as there had been at Milionia. When
he found that there was a dead silence in the city and no sign of arms
or men was visible in the towers or on the walls, he checked his men, who
were eager to get into the deserted fortifications, for fear he might be
rushing blindly into a trap. He ordered two troops of cavalry belonging
to the Latin contingent to ride round the walls and make a thorough reconnaissance.
They discovered one gate open and another near it also open, and on the
road leading from these gates traces of the enemy's nocturnal flight. Riding
slowly up to the gates they obtained an uninterrupted view of the city
through the straight streets, and brought back report to the consul that
the city had been evacuated, as was clear from the unmistakable solitude
and the things scattered about in the confusion of the night-evidence of
their hasty flight. On receiving this information the consul led his army
round to that side of the city which the cavalry had examined. Halting
the standards near the gates, he ordered five horsemen to enter the city,
and after going some distance three were to remain where they were, and
two were to return and report to him what they had discovered. They reported
that they had reached a point from which a view was obtained in all directions,
and everywhere they saw a silent solitude. The consul immediately sent
some light-armed cohorts into the city, the rest of the army received orders
to form an entrenched camp. The soldiers who had entered the place broke
open some of the houses and found a few old and sick people and such property
left behind as they found too difficult to transport. This was appropriated,
and it was ascertained from the prisoners that several cities in the neighbourhood
had mutually agreed to leave their homes, and the Romans would probably
find the same solitude in other cities. What the prisoners had said proved
to be true, and the consul took possession of the abandoned towns.
10.35
The other consul, M. Atilius, found his task by no means so easy. He had
received information that the Samnites were besieging Luceria, and he marched
to its relief, but the enemy met him at the frontier of the Lucerine territory.
Exasperation and rage lent them a strength which made them a match for
the Romans. The battle went on with changing fortunes and an indecisive
result, but in the end the Romans were in the sorrier plight, for they
were unaccustomed to defeat, and it was after the two armies had separated
rather than in the battle itself that they realised how much greater the
loss was on their side in both killed and wounded. When they were once
more within their camp they became a prey to fears which, had they felt
them whilst actually fighting, would have brought upon them a signal disaster.
They passed an anxious night expecting that the Samnites would make an
immediate attack on the camp, or that they would have to engage their victorious
foe at daybreak. On the side of the enemy the loss was less, but certainly
the courage displayed was not greater. As soon as it began to grow light
the Romans were anxious to retire without fighting, but there was only
one way and that led past the enemy; if they took that route it would amount
to a challenge, for it would look as though they were directly advancing
to attack the Samnite camp. The consul issued a general order for the soldiers
to arm for battle and follow him outside the rampart. He then gave the
necessary instructions to the officers of his staff, the military tribunes,
and the prefects of the allies. They all assured him that as far as they
were concerned they would do everything that he wished them to do, but
the men had lost heart, they had passed a sleepless night amidst the wounded
and the groans of the dying, and had the enemy attacked the camp while
it was still dark, they were in such a state of fright that they would
have deserted their standards. As it was they were only kept from flight
by a feeling of shame, in every other respect they were practically beaten
men.
Under these circumstances the consul thought he ought to go round and
address the soldiers personally. When he came to any who were showing reluctance
to arm themselves he asked them why they were so slow and so cowardly;
the enemy would come up to their camp unless they met him outside; they
would have to fight to defend their tents if they refused to fight in front
of their rampart. Armed and fighting they had a chance of victory, but
the men who awaited the enemy unarmed and defenceless would have to suffer
either death or slavery. To these taunts and reproaches they replied that
they were exhausted with the fighting on the previous day, they had no
strength or blood left, and the enemy seemed to be in greater force than
ever. Whilst this was going on the hostile army approached, and as they
were now closer and could be seen more clearly the men declared that the
Samnites were carrying stakes with them, and there was no doubt they intended
to shut the camp in with a circumvallation. Then the consul loudly exclaimed
that it would indeed be a disgrace if they submitted to such a galling
insult from so dastardly a foe. "Shall we," he cried, "be actually blockaded
in our camp to perish ignominiously by hunger rather than, if we must die,
die bravely at the sword's point? Heaven forbid! Act, every man of you,
as you deem worthy of yourselves! I, the consul, M. Atilius, will go against
the enemy alone if none will follow and fall amongst the standards of the
Samnites sooner than see a Roman camp hedged in by circumvallation." The
consul's words were welcomed by all his officers, and the rank and file,
ashamed to hold back any longer, slowly put themselves in fighting trim
and slowly marched out of camp. They moved in a long irregular column,
dejected and to all appearance thoroughly cowed, but the enemy against
whom they were advancing felt no more confidence and showed no more spirit
than they did. As soon as they caught sight of the Roman standards a murmur
ran through the Samnite army from the foremost to the hindmost ranks that
what they feared was actually happening, the Romans were coming out to
oppose their march, there was no road open even for flight, they must either
fall where they were or make their escape over the bodies of their prostrate
foes.
10.36
They piled their knapsacks in the centre and formed up in order of battle.
There was by this time only a narrow space between the two armies, and
each side were standing motionless waiting for the others to raise the
battle-shout and begin the attack. Neither of them had any heart for fighting,
and they would have marched off in opposite directions if they were not
each apprehensive that the other would attack them on the retreat. In this
timid and reluctant mood they commenced a feeble fight, without receiving
any order to attack or raising any regular battle-shout, and not a man
stirred a foot from where he stood. Then the consul, in order to infuse
some spirit into the combatants, sent a few troops of cavalry to make a
demonstration; most of them were thrown from their horses and the rest
got into hopeless confusion. A rush was made by the Samnites to overpower
those who had been dismounted; this was met by a rush from the Roman ranks
to protect their comrades. This made the fighting somewhat more lively,
but the Samnites rushed forward with more dash and in greater numbers,
whilst the disordered Roman cavalry on their terrified horses were riding
down their own supports. The demoralisation which began here extended to
the whole army; there was a general flight, and the Samnites had none to
fight with but the rearmost of their foes. At this critical moment the
consul galloped back to the camp and posted a cavalry detachment before
the gate with strict orders to treat as an enemy any one who made for the
rampart whether Roman or Samnite. He then stopped his men who were running
back to the camp in disorder, and in menacing tones called out, "Where
are you going, soldiers? Here, too, you will find armed men, and not one
of you shall enter the camp while your consul is alive unless you come
as victors; now make your choice whether you would rather fight with your
own countrymen or with the enemy." While the consul was speaking, the cavalry
closed round the fugitives with levelled spears and peremptorily ordered
them to return to the battlefield. Not only did the consul's courage help
them to rally, but Fortune also favoured them. As the Samnites were not
in close pursuit there was space enough for the standards to wheel round
and the whole army to change front from the camp to the enemy. Now the
men began to encourage each other, the centurions snatched the standards
from the hands of the bearers and carried them forward, pointing out at
the same time to their men how few the enemy were, and in what loose order
they were coming. In the middle of it all the consul, raising his hands
towards heaven and speaking in a loud voice so that he might be well heard,
vowed a temple to Jupiter Stator if the Roman army stayed its flight and
renewed the battle and defeated and slew the Samnites. All officers and
men, infantry and cavalry alike, exerted themselves to the utmost to restore
the battle. Even the divine providence seemed to have looked with favour
on the Romans, so easily did matters take a favourable turn. The enemy
were repulsed from the camp, and in a short time were driven back to the
ground where the battle began. Here their movements were hampered by the
heap of knapsacks they had piled up in their centre; to prevent these from
being plundered they took up their position round them. But the Roman infantry
pressed upon them in front and the cavalry attacked them in rear, so between
the two they were all either killed or made prisoners. The latter amounted
to 7800, these were all stripped and sent under the yoke. The number of
those killed was reported to be 4800. The Romans had not much cause for
rejoicing over their victory, for when the consul reckoned up the losses
sustained through the two days' fighting the number of missing was returned
as 7800. During these incidents in Apulia, the Samnites made an attempt
with a second army upon the Roman colony at Interamna, situated on the
Latin road. Failing to get possession of the city, they ravaged the fields
and proceeded to carry off, along with their other plunder, a number of
men and several head of cattle and some colonists whom they had captured.
They fell in with the consul, who was returning from his victorious campaign
in Luceria, and not only lost their booty, but their long straggling column
was quite unprepared for attack and was consequently cut up. The consul
issued a notice summoning the owners of the plundered property to Interamna
to identify and recover what belonged to them, and leaving his army there,
started for Rome to conduct the elections. He requested to be allowed a
triumph, but this honour was refused him on the ground that he had lost
so many thousands of men, and also because he had sent his prisoners under
the yoke without its having been made a condition of their surrender.
10.37
The other consul, Postumius, finding nothing for his troops to do amongst
the Samnites, led them into Etruria and began to lay waste the district
of Volsinia. The townsmen came out to defend their borders and a battle
ensued not far from their walls; 2800 of the Etruscans were killed, the
rest were saved by the proximity of their city. He then passed over into
the Rusellan territory; there, not only were the fields harried, but the
town itself was successfully assaulted. More than 2000 were made prisoners,
and under 2000 killed in the storming of the place. The peace which ensued
this year in Etruria was more important and redounded more to the honour
of Rome than even the war which led to it. Three very powerful cities,
the chief cities in Etruria, Vulsinii, Perusia, and Arretium, sued for
peace, and after agreeing to supply the troops with clothing and corn,
they obtained the consul's consent to send spokesmen to Rome, with the
result that they obtained a forty years' truce. Each of the cities was
at once to pay an indemnity of 500,000 ases. For these services the consul
asked the senate to decree him a triumph. The request was made more as
a matter of form, to comply with the established custom, than from any
hope of obtaining it. He saw that some who were his personal enemies and
others who were friends of his colleague refused his request on various
grounds, some alleging that he had been too late in taking the field, others
that he had transferred his army from Samnium to Etruria without any orders
from the senate, whilst a third party were actuated by a desire to solace
Atilius for the refusal which he had met with. In face of this opposition
he simply said: "Senators, I am not so mindful of your authority as to
forget that I am consul. By the same right and authority by which I have
conducted wars, now that these wars have been brought to a successful close,
Samnium and Etruria subdued, victory and peace secured, I shall celebrate
my triumph." And with that he left the senate.
A sharp contention now broke out between the tribunes of the plebs.
Some declared that they should interpose to prevent his obtaining a triumph
in a way which violated all precedent, others asserted that they should
give him their support in spite of their colleagues. The matter was brought
before the Assembly, and the consul was invited to be present. In his speech
he alluded to the cases of the consuls M. Horatius and L. Valerius and
the recent one of Gaius Marcius Rutilus, the father of the man who was
censor at the time. All these, he said, had been allowed a triumph, not
on the authority of the senate but by an order of the people. He would
have brought the question before the people himself had he not been aware
that certain tribunes of the plebs who were bound hand and foot to the
nobles would veto the proposal. He regarded the goodwill and favour of
a unanimous people as tantamount to all the formal orders that were made.
Supported by three of the tribunes against the veto of the remaining seven
and against the unanimous voice of the senate he celebrated his triumph
on the following day amidst a great outburst of popular enthusiasm. The
records of this year vary widely from each other. According to Claudius,
Postumius, after taking some cities in Samnium, was routed and put to flight
in Apulia, he himself being wounded, and was driven with a small body of
his troops to Luceria; the victories in Etruria were won by Atilius and
it was he who celebrated the triumph. Fabius tells us that both consuls
conducted the campaign in Samnium and at Luceria, and that the army was
transferred to Etruria, but he does not say by which consul. He also states
that at Luceria the losses were heavy on both sides, and that a temple
was vowed to Jupiter Stator in that battle. This same vow Romulus had made
many centuries before, but only the fanum, that is the site of the temple,
had been consecrated. As the State had become thus doubly pledged, it became
necessary to discharge its obligation to the god, and the senate made an
order this year for the construction of the temple.
10.38
The year following was marked by the consulship of L. Papirius Cursor,
who had not only inherited his father's glory but enhanced it by his management
of a great war and a victory over the Samnites, second only to the one
which his father had won. It happened that this nation had taken the same
care and pains to adorn their soldiery with all the wealth of splendour
as they had done on the occasion of the elder Papirius' victory. They had
also called in the aid of the gods by submitting the soldiers to a kind
of initiation into an ancient form of oath. A levy was conducted throughout
Samnium under a novel regulation; any man within the military age who had
not assembled on the captain-general's proclamation, or any one who had
departed without permission, was devoted to Jupiter and his life forfeited.
The whole of the army was summoned to Aquilonia, and 40,000 men, the full
strength of Samnium, were concentrated there. A space, about 200 feet square,
almost in the centre of their camp, was boarded off and covered all over
with linen cloth. In this enclosure a sacrificial service was conducted,
the words being read from an old linen book by an aged priest, Ovius Paccius,
who announced that he was taking that form of service from the old ritual
of the Samnite religion. It was the form which their ancestors used when
they formed their secret design of wresting Capua from the Etruscans. When
the sacrifice was completed the captain-general sent a messenger to summon
all those who were of noble birth or who were distinguished for their military
achievements. They were admitted into the enclosure one by one. As each
was admitted he was led up to the altar, more like a victim than like one
who
was taking part in the service, and he was bound on oath not to divulge
what he saw and heard in that place. Then they compelled him to take an
oath couched in the most terrible language, imprecating a curse on himself,
his family, and his race if he did not go into battle where the commanders
should lead him or if he either himself fled from battle or did not at
once slay any one whom he saw fleeing. At first there were some who refused
to take this oath; they were massacred beside the altar, and their dead
bodies lying amongst the scattered remains of the victims were a plain
hint to the rest not to refuse. After the foremost men among the Samnites
had been bound by this dread formula, ten were especially named by the
captain-general and told each to choose a comrade-in-arms, and these again
to choose others until they had made up the number of 16,000. These were
called the "linen legion," from the material with which the place where
they had been sworn was covered. They were provided with resplendent armour
and plumed helmets to distinguish them from the others. The rest of the
army consisted of something under 20,000 men, but they were not inferior
to the linen legion either in their personal appearance or soldierly qualities
or in the excellence of their equipment. This was the number of those in
camp at Aquilonia, forming the total strength of Samnium.
10.39
The consuls left the City. The first to go was Spurius Carvilius, to whom
were assigned the legions which M. Atilius, the previous consul, had left
in the district of Interamna. With these he advanced into Samnium, and
while the enemy were taken up with their superstitious observance and forming
secret plans, he stormed and captured the town of Amiternum. Nearly 2800
men were killed there, and 4270 made prisoners. Papirius with a fresh army
raised by senatorial decree successfully attacked the city of Duronia.
He made fewer prisoners than his colleague, but slew a somewhat greater
number. In both towns rich booty was secured. Then the consuls traversed
Samnium in different directions; Carvilius, after ravaging the Atinate
country, came to Cominium; Papirius reached Aquilonia, where the main army
of the Samnites was posted. For some time his troops, while not quite inactive,
abstained from any serious fighting. The time was spent in annoying the
enemy when he was quiet, and retiring when he showed resistance-in threatening
rather than in offering battle. As long as this practice went on day after
day, of beginning and then desisting, even the slightest skirmish led to
no result. The other Roman camp was separated by an interval of 20 miles,
but Carvilius was guided in all his measures by the advice of his distant
colleague; his thoughts were dwelling more on Aquilonia, where the state
of affairs was so critical, than on Cominium, which he was actually besieging.
Papirius was at length perfectly ready to fight, and he sent a message
to his colleague announcing his intention, if the auspices were favourable,
of engaging the enemy the next day, and impressing upon him the necessity
of attacking Cominium with his full strength, to give the Samnites no opportunity
of sending succour to Aquilonia. The messenger had the day for his Journey,
he returned in the night, bringing word back to the consul that his colleague
approved of his plan. Immediately after despatching the messenger Papirius
ordered a muster of his troops, and addressed them preparatory to the battle.
He spoke at some length upon the general character of the war they were
engaged in, and especially upon the style of equipment which the enemy
had adopted, which he said served for idle pageantry rather than for practical
use. Plumes did not inflict wounds, their painted and gilded shields would
be penetrated by the Roman javelin, and an army resplendent in dazzling
white would be stained with gore when the sword came into play. A Samnite
army all in gold and silver had once been annihilated by his father, and
those trappings had brought more glory as spoils to the victors than they
had brought as armour to the wearers. It might, perhaps, be a special privilege
granted to his name and family that the greatest efforts which the Samnites
had ever made should be frustrated and defeated under their generalship
and that the spoils which they brought back should be sufficiently splendid
to serve as decorations for the public places in the City. Treaties so
often asked for, so often broken, brought about the intervention of the
immortal gods, and if it were permitted to man to form any conjecture as
to the feelings of the gods, he believed that they had never been more
incensed against any army than against this one of the Samnites. It had
taken part in infamous rites and been stained with the mingled blood of
men and beasts; it was under the two-fold curse of heaven, filled with
dread at the thought of the gods who witnessed the treaties made with Rome
and horror-struck at the imprecations which were uttered when an oath was
taken to break those treaties, an oath which the soldiers took under compulsion
and which they recall with loathing. They dread alike the gods, their fellow-countrymen,
and the enemy.
10.40
These details the consul had gathered from information supplied by deserters,
and his mention of them increased the exasperation of the troops. Assured
of the favour of heaven and satisfied that humanly speaking they were more
than a match for their foes, they clamoured with one voice to be led to
battle, and were intensely disgusted at finding that it was put off till
the morrow; they chafed angrily at the delay of a whole day and night.
After receiving the reply from his colleague, Papirius rose quietly in
the third watch of the night and sent a pullarius to observe the omens.
There was not a man, whatever his rank or condition, in the camp who was
not seized by the passion for battle, the highest and lowest alike were
eagerly looking forward to it; the general was watching the excited looks
of the men, the men were looking at their general, the universal excitement
extended even to those who were engaged in observing the sacred birds.
The chickens refused to eat, but the pullarius ventured to misrepresent
matters, and reported to the consul that they had eaten so greedily that
the corn dropped from their mouths on to the ground. The consul, delighted
at the news, gave out that the omens could not have been more favourable;
they were going to engage the enemy under the guidance and blessing of
heaven. He then gave the signal for battle. Just as they were taking up
their position, a deserter brought word that 20 cohorts of the Samnites,
comprising about 400 men each, had gone to Cominium. He instantly despatched
a message to his colleague in case he should not be aware of this movement,
and ordered the standards to be advanced more rapidly. He had already posted
the reserves in their respective positions and told off an officer to take
command of each detachment. The right wing of the main army he entrusted
to L. Volumnius, the left to L. Scipio, and two other members of his staff,
C. Caedicius and T. Trebonius, were placed in command of the cavalry. He
gave orders for Spurius Nautius to remove the pack-saddles from the mules
and to take them together with three of the auxiliary cohorts by a circuitous
route to some rising ground visible from the battlefield, where during
the progress of the fight he was to attract attention by raising as great
a cloud of dust as possible.
While the consul was busy with these arrangements an altercation began
between the pullarii about the omens which had been observed in the morning.
Some of the Roman cavalry overheard it and thought it of sufficient importance
to justify them in reporting to Spurius Papirius, the consul's nephew,
that the omens were being called in question. This young man, born in an
age when men were not yet taught to despise the gods, inquired into the
matter in order to make quite sure that what he was reporting was true
and then laid it before the consul. He thanked him for the trouble he had
taken and bade him have no fears. "But," he continued, "if the man who
is watching the omens makes a false report, he brings down the divine wrath
on his own head. As far as I am concerned, I have received the formal intimation
that the chickens ate eagerly, there could be no more favourable omen for
the Roman people and army." He then issued instructions to the centurions
to place the pullarius in front of the fighting line. The standards of
the Samnites were now advancing, followed by the army in gorgeous array;
even to their enemies they presented a magnificent sight. Before the battle-shout
was raised or the lines closed a chance javelin struck the pullarius and
he fell in front of the standards. When this was reported to the consul
he remarked, "The gods are taking their part in the battle, the guilty
man has met with his punishment." While the consul was speaking a crow
in front of him gave a loud and distinct caw. The consul welcomed the augury
and declared that the gods had never more plainly manifested their presence
in human affairs. He then ordered the charge to be sounded and the battle-shout
to be raised.
10.41
A savagely fought contest ensued. The two sides were, however, animated
by very different feelings. The Romans went into battle eager for the fray,
confident of victory, exasperated against the enemy and thirsting for his
blood. The Samnites were, most of them, dragged in against their will by
sheer compulsion and the terrors of religion, and they adopted defensive
rather than aggressive tactics. Accustomed as they had been for so many
years to defeat, they would not have sustained even the first shout and
charge of the Romans had not a still more awful object of fear possessed
their minds and stayed them from flight. They had before their eyes all
that paraphernalia of the secret rite-the armed priests, the slaughtered
remains of men and beasts scattered about indiscriminately, the altars
sprinkled with the blood of the victims and of their murdered countrymen,
the awful imprecations, the frightful curses which they had invoked on
their family and race-these were the chains which bound them so that they
could not flee. They dreaded their own countrymen more than the enemy.
The Romans pressed on from both wings and from the centre and cut down
men who were paralysed by fear of gods and men. Only a feeble resistance
could be offered by those who were only kept from flight by fear. The carnage
had almost extended to the second line where the standards were stationed
when there appeared in the side distance a cloud of dust as though raised
by the tread of an immense army. It was Sp. Nautius-some say Octavius Maecius-the
commander of the auxiliary cohorts. They raised a dust out of all proportion
to their numbers, for the camp-followers mounted upon the mules were dragging
leafy boughs along the ground. At first the arms and standards gradually
became visible through the beclouded light, and then a loftier and thicker
cloud of dust gave the appearance of cavalry closing the column. Not only
the Samnites but even the Romans were deceived, and the consul endorsed
the mistake by shouting to his front rank so that the enemy could hear:
"Cominium has fallen, my victorious colleague is coming on the field, do
your best to win the victory before the glory of doing so falls to the
other army!" He rode along while saying this, and commanded the tribunes
and centurions to open their ranks to allow passage for the cavalry. He
had previously told Trebonius and Caedicius that when they saw him brandish
his spear aloft they should launch the cavalry against the enemy with all
the force they could. His orders were carried out to the letter; the legionaries
opened their ranks, the cavalry galloped through the open spaces, and with
levelled spears charged the enemy's centre. Wherever they attacked they
broke the ranks. Volumnius and Scipio followed up the cavalry charge and
completed the discomfiture of the Samnites. At last the dread of gods and
men had yielded to a greater terror, the "linen cohorts " were routed;
those who had taken the oath and those who had not alike fled; the only
thing they feared now was the enemy.
The bulk of the infantry who survived the actual battle were driven
either into their camp or to Aquilonia, the nobility and cavalry fled to
Bovianum. The cavalry were pursued by cavalry, the infantry by infantry;
the wings of the Roman army separated, the right directed its course towards
the Samnite camp, the left to the city of Aquilonia. The first success
fell to Volumnius, who captured the Samnite camp. Scipio met with a more
sustained resistance at the city, not because the defeated foe showed more
courage there, but because stone walls are more difficult to surmount than
the rampart of a camp. They drove the defenders from their walls with showers
of stones. Scipio saw that unless his task was completed before the enemy
had time to recover from their panic, an attack on a fortified city would
be a somewhat slow affair. He asked his men whether they would be content
to allow the enemy's camp to be captured by the other army, whilst they
themselves after their victory were repulsed from the gates of the city.
There was a universal shout of "No!" On hearing this he held his shield
above his head and ran to the gate, the men followed his example, and roofing
themselves with their shields burst through into the city. They dislodged
the Samnites from the walls on either side of the gate, but as they were
only a small body did not venture to penetrate into the interior of the
city.
10.42
The consul was at first unaware of what was going on, and was anxious to
recall his troops, for the sun was now rapidly sinking and the approaching
night was making every place suspicious and dangerous, even for victorious
troops. After he had ridden forward some distance he saw that the camp
on his right hand had been captured, and he heard at the same time the
mingled clamour of shouts and groans arising in the direction of the city
on his left; just then the fighting at the gate was going on. As he approached
more closely he saw his men on the walls and recognised that the position
was no longer doubtful, since by the reckless daring of a few the opportunity
for a brilliant success had been won. He at once ordered the troops whom
he had recalled to be brought up and prepared for a regular attack on the
city. Those who were within bivouacked near the gate as night was approaching,
and during the night the place was evacuated by the enemy. The Samnite
losses during the day amounted to 20,340 killed and 3870 made prisoners,
whilst 97 standards were taken. It is noticed in the histories that hardly
any other general ever appeared in such high spirits during the battle,
either owing to his fearless temperament or to the confidence he felt in
his final success. It was this dauntless and resolute character which prevented
him from abandoning all idea of fighting when the omens were challenged.
It was this, too, that made him in the very crisis of the struggle, at
the moment when it is customary to vow temples to the gods, make a vow
to Jupiter Victor that if he routed the legions of the enemy he would offer
him a cup of sweetened wine before he drank anything stronger himself.
This vow was acceptable to the gods and they changed the omens into favourable
ones.
10.43
The same good fortune attended the other consul at Cominium. At the approach
of daylight he brought his whole force up to the walls so as to enclose
the city with a ring of steel, and stationed strong bodies of troops before
the gates to prevent any sortie from being made. Just as he was giving
the signal for assault the alarming message reached him from his colleague
about the 20 cohorts. This delayed the attack and necessitated the recall
of a portion of his troops, who were ready and eager to begin the storm.
He ordered D. Brutus Scaeva, one of his staff, to intercept the hostile
reinforcements with the first legion and ten auxiliary cohorts with their
complement of cavalry. Wherever he fell in with them he was to hold them
and stop their advance; if circumstances should make it necessary he was
to offer them battle; in any case he was to prevent those troops from reaching
Cominium. Then he went on with his preparations for the assault. Orders
were issued for scaling ladders to be reared against the walls in all directions
and an approach made to the gates under a shield roof. Simultaneously with
the smashing in of the gates the storming parties clambered up on the walls
on every side. Until they saw their enemy actually on the walls the Samnites
had sufficient courage to try to keep them from approaching the city, but
when they had to fight not by discharging their missiles from a distance,
but at close quarters, when those who had forced their way on to the walls
and overcome the disadvantage of being on lower ground were fighting on
even terms with an enemy who was no match for them, the defenders abandoned
their walls and towers and were driven back into the forum. Here they made
a desperate effort to retrieve their fortune, but after a brief struggle
they threw down their arms and 11,400 men surrendered after losing 4880
killed. Thus matters went at Cominium as they had gone at Aquilonia.
In the country between these two cities, where a third battle was expected,
nothing was seen of the 20 cohorts. When they were still seven miles from
Cominium they were recalled by their comrades, and so did not come in for
either battle. Just as twilight was setting in, when they had reached a
spot from which their camp and Aquilonia were both visible, a noise of
shouting from both quarters made them call a halt. Then in the direction
of their camp, which had been set on fire by the Romans, flames shooting
up far and wide, a more certain indication of disaster, stopped them from
going any further. They threw themselves down just where they were under
arms, and passed a restless night waiting for and dreading the day. When
it began to grow light, whilst they were still uncertain what direction
to take, they were espied by the cavalry who had gone in pursuit of the
Samnites in their nocturnal retreat from Aquilonia. The whole body were
plainly discernible, with no entrenchments to protect them, no outposts
on guard. They were visible, too, from the walls of the city, and in a
short time the legionary cohorts were on their track. They made a hasty
flight, and the infantry were unable to come up with them, but some 280
in the extreme rear were cut down by the cavalry. A great quantity of arms
and 22 standards were left behind in their hurry to escape. The other body
who had escaped from Aquilonia reached Bovianum in comparative safety,
considering the confusion which marked their retreat.
10.44
The rejoicings in each of the Roman armies were all the greater because
of the success achieved by the other. The consuls, by mutual agreement,
gave up the captured cities to be sacked by the soldiery. When they had
cleared out the houses they set them on fire and in one day Aquilonia and
Cominium were burnt to the ground. Amidst their own mutual congratulations
and those of their soldiers, the consuls united their camps. In the presence
of the two armies rewards and decorations were bestowed by both Carvilius
and Papirius. Papirius had seen his men through many different actions
in the open field, around their camp, under city walls, and the rewards
he bestowed were well merited. Spurius Nautius, Spurius Papirius, his nephew,
four centurions, and a maniple of hastati all received golden bracelets
and crowns. Sp. Nautius won his for his success in the maneuver by which
he frightened the enemy with the appearance of a large army; the young
Papirius owed his reward to the work he did with his cavalry in the battle
and in the following night, when he harassed the retreat of the Samnites
from Aquilonia; the centurions and men of the maniple were rewarded for
having been the first to seize the gate and wall of the city. All the cavalry
were presented with ornaments for their helmets and silver bracelets as
rewards for their brilliant work in various localities. Subsequently a
council of war was held to settle whether the time had come for withdrawing
both armies from Samnium, or, at all events, one of them. It was thought
best to continue the war, and to carry it on more and more ruthlessly in
proportion as the Samnites became weaker, in order that they might hand
over to the consuls who succeeded them a thoroughly subdued nation. As
the enemy had now no army in a condition to fight in the open field, the
war could only be carried on by attacking their cities, and the sack of
those which they captured would enrich the soldiers, whilst the enemy,
compelled to fight for their hearths and homes, would gradually become
exhausted. In pursuance of this plan the consuls sent despatches to Rome
giving an account of their operations and then separated, Papirius marching
to Saepinum, whilst Carvilius led his legions to the assault on Velia.
10.45
The contents of these despatches were listened to with every manifestation
of delight, both in the senate and in the Assembly. A four days' thanksgiving
was appointed as an expression of the public joy, and festal observances
were kept up in every house. These successes were not only of great importance
in themselves, but they came most opportunely for Rome, as it so happened
that at that very time information was received that Etruria had again
commenced hostilities. The question naturally occurred to people's minds,
how would it have been possible to withstand Etruria if any reverse had
been met with in Samnium? The Etruscans, acting upon a secret understanding
with the Samnites, had seized the moment when both consuls and the whole
force of Rome were employed against Samnium as a favourable opportunity
for recommencing war. Embassies from the allied states were introduced
by M. Atilius the praetor into the senate and complained of the ravaging
and burning of their fields by their Etruscan neighbours because they would
not revolt from Rome. They appealed to the senate to protect them from
the outrageous violence of their common foe, and were told in reply that
the senate would see to it that their allies had no cause to regret their
fidelity, and that the day was near when the Etruscans would be in the
same position as the Samnites. Still, the senate would have been somewhat
dilatory in dealing with the Etruscan question had not intelligence come
to hand that even the Faliscans, who had for many years been on terms of
friendship with Rome, had now made common cause with the Etruscans. The
proximity of this city to Rome made the senate take a more serious view
of the position, and they decided to send the fetials to demand redress.
Satisfaction was refused, and by order of the people with the sanction
of the senate war was formally declared against the Faliscans. The consuls
were ordered to decide by lot which of them should transport his army from
Samnium into Etruria.
By this time Carvilius had taken from the Samnites three of their cities,
Velia, Palumbinum, and Herculaneum. Velia he took after a few days' siege,
Palumbinum on the day he arrived before its walls. Herculaneum gave him
more trouble; after an indecisive battle in which, however, his losses
were somewhat the heavier he moved his camp close up to the town and shut
up the enemy within their walls. The place was then stormed and captured.
In these three captures the number of killed and prisoners amounted to
10,000, the prisoners forming a small majority of the total loss. On the
consuls casting lots for their respective commands, Etruria fell to Carvilius,
much to the satisfaction of his men, who were now unable to stand the intense
cold of Samnium. Papirius met with more resistance at Saepinum. There were
frequent encounters, in the open field, on the march, and round the city
itself when he was checking the sorties of the enemy. There was no question
of siege operations, the enemy met him on equal terms, for the Samnites
protected their walls with their arms quite as much as their walls protected
them. At last by dint of hard fighting he compelled the enemy to submit
to a regular siege, and after pressing the siege with spade and sword he
finally effected the capture of the place. The victors were exasperated
by the obstinate resistance, and the Samnites suffered heavily, losing
no less than 7400 killed, while only 3000 were made prisoners. Owing to
the Samnites having stored all their property in a limited number of cities
there was a vast amount of plunder, the whole of which was given to the
soldiery.
10.46
Everything was now deep in snow, and it was impossible to remain any longer
in the open, so the consul withdrew his army from Samnium. On his approach
to Rome a triumph was granted to him by universal consent. This triumph,
which he celebrated while still in office, was a very brilliant one for
those days. The infantry and cavalry who marched in the procession were
conspicuous with their decorations, many were wearing civic, mural, and
vallarian crowns. The spoils of the Samnites attracted much attention;
their splendour and beauty were compared with those which the consul's
father had won, and which were familiar to all through their being used
as decorations of public places. Amongst those in the victor's train were
some prisoners of high rank distinguished for their own or their fathers'
military services; there were also carried in the procession 2,533,000
bronze ases, stated to be the proceeds of the sale of the prisoners, and
1830 pounds of silver taken from the cities. All the silver and bronze
was stored in the treasury, none of this was given to the soldiers. This
created dissatisfaction amongst the plebs, which was aggravated by the
collection of the war tax to provide the soldiers' pay, for if Papirius
had not been so anxious to get the credit of paying the price of the prisoners
into the treasury there would have been enough to make a gift to the soldiers
and also to furnish their pay. He dedicated the temple of Quirinus. I do
not find in any ancient author that it was he who vowed this temple in
the crisis of a battle, and certainly he could not have completed it in
so short a time; it was vowed by his father when Dictator, and the son
dedicated it when consul. and adorned it with the spoils of the enemy.
There was such a vast quantity of these that not only were the temple and
the Forum adorned with them, but they were distributed amongst the allied
peoples and the nearest colonies to decorate their public spaces and temples.
After his triumph Papirius led his army into the neighbourhood of Vescia,
as that district was still infested by the Samnites, and there he wintered.
During this time Carvilius was making preparations to attack Troilum
in Etruria. He allowed 470 of its wealthiest citizens to leave the place
after they had paid al1 enormous sum by way of ransom; the town with the
rest of its population he took by storm. Going on from there he carried
five forts, positions of great natural strength. In these actions the enemy
lost 2400 killed and 2000 prisoners. The Faliscans sued for peace, and
he granted them a truce for one year on condition of their supplying a
year's pay to his troops, and an indemnity of 100,000 ases of bronze coinage.
After these successes he went home to enjoy his triumph, a triumph less
illustrious than his colleague's in regard of the Samnite campaign, but
fully equal to it considering his series of successes in Etruria. He brought
into the treasury 380,000 ases out of the proceeds of the war, the rest
he disposed of partly in contracting for the building of a temple to Fortis
Fortuna, near the temple of that deity, which King Servius Tullius had
dedicated, and partly as a donative to the soldiers, each legionary receiving
102 ases, the centurions and cavalry twice as much. This gift was all the
more acceptable to the men after the niggardliness of his colleague. L.
Postumius, one of his staff, was indicted before the people, but was protected
by the consul's popularity. His prosecutor was M. Scantius, a tribune of
the plebs, and the report was that he had evaded trial by being made a
staff-officer, proceedings, therefore, could only be threatened without
being carried out.
10.47
The year having now expired, new plebeian tribunes entered upon office,
but there was a flaw in their election, and five days later others took
their place. The lustrum was closed this year by the censors, P. Cornelius
Arvina and C. Marcius Rutilus. The census returns gave the population as
numbering 262,321. These were the twenty-sixth pair of censors since the
first, the lustrum was the nineteenth. This year, for the first time, those
who had been crowned for their deeds in war were allowed to wear their
decorations at the Roman Games, and then, too, for the first time, palms
were given to the victors after a custom borrowed from Greece. This year
also the road from the temple of Mars to Bovillae was paved throughout
its length by the curule aediles, who devoted to the purpose the fines
levied on cattle-breeders. L. Papirius conducted the consular elections.
The consuls elected were Q. Fabius Gurgites, the son of Maximus, and D.
Junius Brutus Scaeva. Papirius himself was made praetor. The many incidents
which helped to make the year a happy one served to console the citizens
for one calamity, a pestilence which raged in the City and country districts
alike. The mischief it did was looked upon as a portent. The Sacred Books
were consulted to see what end or what remedy would be vouchsafed by the
gods. It was ascertained that Aesculapius must be sent for from Epidaurus.
Nothing, however, was done that year, owing to the consuls being engrossed
with the war, beyond the appointment of a day of public intercession to
Aesculapius.
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