History of Rome, books 1-10

Why then have you got arms, why did you begin an unprovoked war; you who are ever turbulent in peace and laggards in war? What do you expect to gain by standing here? Do you suppose that some deity will protect you and snatch you out of danger? A path must be made by the sword.

Come on in the way you see me go. You who are hoping to visit your homes and parents and wives and children, come with me. It is not a wall or a stockade which is in your way; arms are met by arms. Their equals in courage, you are their superiors by force of necessity, which is the last and greatest weapon.”

He then rushed forward and his men followed him, raising again their battle-shout, and flung the weight of their charge where Postumius Albus had interposed his cohorts. They forced the victors back, until the Dictator came up to his retreating men, and all the battle rolled to this part of the field.

The fortunes of the enemy rested solely on Messius. Many were wounded, many killed in all directions. By this time even the Roman generals were not unhurt.

Postumius, whose skull was fractured by a stone, was the only one who left the field. The Dictator was wounded in the shoulder, Fabius had his thigh almost pinned to his horse, the consul had his arm cut off, but they refused to retire while the battle was undecided.

Messius with a body of their bravest troops charged through heaps of slain and was carried on to the Volscian camp, which was not yet taken; the entire army followed.

The consul followed them up in their disordered flight as far as the stockade and began to attack the camp, whilst the Dictator brought up his troops to the other side of it.

The storming of the camp was just as furious as the battle had been. It is recorded that the consul actually threw a standard inside the stockade to make the soldiers more eager to assault it, and in endeavouring to recover it the first breach was made. When the stockade was torn down and the Dictator had now carried the fighting into the camp, the enemy began everywhere to throw away their arms and surrender.

After the capture of this camp, the enemy, with the exception of the senators, were all sold as slaves. A part of the booty comprised the plundered property of the Latins and Hernicans, and after being identified, was restored to them, the rest the Dictator sold “under the spear”. After placing the consul in command of the camp, he entered the City in triumph and then laid down his dictatorship.

Some writers have cast a gloom over the memory of this glorious dictatorship by handing down a tradition that the Dictator's son, who, seeing an opportunity for fighting to advantage, had left his post against orders, was beheaded by his father, though victorious.

I prefer to disbelieve the story, and am at liberty to do so, as opinions differ. An argument against it is that such cruel displays of authority are called “Manlian” not “Postumian,” for it is the first man who practiced such severity to whom the stigma would have been affixed. Moreover, Manlius received the soubriquet of “Imperiosus”; Postumius was not distinguished by any invidious epithet. The other consul, C. Julius, dedicated the temple of Apollo in his colleague's absence, without waiting to draw lots with him as to who should do it.

Quinctius was very angry at this, and after he had disbanded his army and returned to the City, he laid a protest before the senate, but nothing came of it. In this year so memorable for great achievements an incident occurred which at the time seemed to have little to do with Rome.

Owing to disturbances amongst the Sicilians, the Carthaginians, who were one day to be such powerful enemies, transported an army into Sicily for the first time to assist one of the contending parties.

In the City the tribunes made great efforts to secure the election of consular tribunes for the next year, but they failed. L. Papirius Crassus and L. Julius were made consuls. Envoys came from the Aequi to ask from the senate a treaty as between independent States; instead of this they were offered peace on condition they acknowledged the supremacy of Rome; they obtained a truce for eight

years. After the defeat which the Volscians had sustained on Algidus, their State was distracted by obstinate and bitter quarrels between the advocates of war and those of

peace. There was quiet for Rome in all

quarters. The tribunes were preparing a popular measure to fix the scale of fines, but one of their body betrayed the fact to the consuls, who anticipated the tribunes by bringing it in themselves. The new consuls were L. Sergius Fidenas, for the second time, and Hostius Lucretius Tricipitinus. Nothing worth recording took place in their

consulship. They were followed by A. Cornelius Cossus, and T. Quinctius Poenus for the second time. The Veientines made inroads into the Roman territory, and it was rumoured that some of the Fidenates had taken part in

them. L. Sergius, Q. Servilius, and Mamercus Aemilius were commissioned to investigate the affair. Some were interned at Ostia, as they were unable to account satisfactorily for their absence from Fidenae at that

time. The number of colonists was increased, and the lands of those who had perished in the war were assigned to them. Very great distress was caused this year by a

drought. Not only was there an absence of water from the heavens, but the earth, through lack of its natural moisture, barely sufficed to keep the rivers flowing. In some cases the want of water made the cattle die of thirst round the dried-up springs and brooks, in others they were carried off by the

mange. This disease spread to the men who had been in contact with them; at first it attacked the slaves and agriculturists, then the City was infected. Nor was it only the body that was affected by the pest, the minds of men also became a prey to all kinds of superstitions, mostly foreign

ones. Pretended soothsayers went about introducing new modes of sacrificing, and did a profitable trade amongst the victims of

superstition, until at last the sight of strange un-Roman modes of propitiating the wrath of the gods in the streets and chapels brought home to the leaders of the commonwealth the public scandal which was being

caused. The aediles were instructed to see to it that none but Roman deities were worshipped, nor in any other than the established fashion. Hostilities with the Veientines were postponed till the following year, when Caius Servilius Ahala and L. Papirius Mugilanus were the

consuls. Even then the formal declaration of war and the despatch of troops were delayed on religious grounds; it was considered necessary that the fetials should first be sent to demand

satisfaction. There had been recent battles with the Veientines at Nomentum and Fidenae, and a truce had been made, not a lasting peace, but before the days of truce had expired they had renewed hostilities. The fetials, however, were sent, but when they presented their demands, in accordance with ancient usage, they were refused a

hearing. A question then arose whether war should be declared by the mandate of the people, or whether a resolution passed by the senate was sufficient. The tribunes threatened to stop the levying of troops and succeeded in forcing the consul Quinctius to refer the question to the

people. The centuries decided unanimously for war. The plebs gained a further advantage in preventing the election of consuls for the next year.

Four consular tribunes were elected-T. Quinctius Poenus, who had been consul, C. Furius, M. Postumius, and A. Cornelius Cossus.

Cossus was warden of the City, the other three after completing the levy advanced against Veii, and they showed how useless a divided command is in war. By each insisting on his own plans, when they all held different views, they gave the enemy his opportunity.

For whilst the army was perplexed by different orders, some giving the signal to advance, whilst the others ordered a retreat, the Veientines seized the opportunity for an attack.

Breaking into a disorderly flight, the Romans sought refuge in their camp which was close by; they incurred more disgrace than loss. The commonwealth, unaccustomed to defeat, was plunged in grief; they hated the tribunes and demanded a Dictator; all their hopes rested on that. Here too a religious impediment was met with, as a Dictator could only be nominated by a consul.

The augurs were consulted and removed the difficulty. A. Cornelius nominated Mamercus Aemilius as Dictator, he himself was appointed by him Master of the Horse.

This proved how powerless the action of the censors was to prevent a member of a family unjustly degraded from being entrusted with supreme control when once the fortunes of the State demanded real courage and ability. Elated by their success, the Veientines sent envoys round to the cantons of Etruria, boasting that three Roman generals had been defeated by them in a single battle.

As, however, they could not induce the national council to join them, they collected from all quarters volunteers who were attracted by the prospect of booty.

The Fidenates alone decided to take part in the war, and as though they thought it impious to begin war otherwise than with a crime, they stained their weapons with the blood of the new colonists, as they had previously with the blood of the Roman ambassadors.

Then they joined the Veientines. The chiefs of the two peoples consulted whether they should make Veii or Fidenae the base of operations. Fidenae appeared the more suitable; the Veientines accordingly crossed the Tiber and transferred the war to Fidenae.

Very great was the alarm in Rome.

The army, demoralised by its ill-success, was recalled from Veii; an entrenched camp was formed in front of the Colline gate, the walls were manned, the shops and law courts closed, and a cessation of all business in the Forum ordered. The whole City wore the appearance of a camp. The Dictator despatched criers through the streets to summon the anxious citizens to an Assembly.

When they were gathered together he reproached them for allowing their feelings to be so swayed by slight changes of fortune that, after meeting with an insignificant reverse, due not to the courage of the enemy or the cowardice of the Roman army, but simply to want of harmony amongst the generals, they should be in a state of panic over the Veientines, who had been defeated six times, and Fidenae, which had been captured almost more frequently than it had been attacked.

Both the Romans and the enemy were the same that they had been for so many centuries, their courage, their prowess, their arms were what they had always been. They had as Dictator the same Mamercus Aemilius who at Nomentum defeated the combined forces of Veii and Fidenae supported by the Faliscans;

the Master of the Horse would in future battles be the same A. Cornelius who killed Lars Tolumnius, king of Veii, before the eyes of the two armies and carried the spolia opima to the temple of Jupiter Feretrius.

They must take up arms, remembering that on their side were triumphs and the spoils of victory, on the side of the enemy, the crime against the law of nations in the assassination of the ambassadors and the massacre of the colonists at Fidenae in a time of peace, a broken truce, a seventh unsuccessful revolt — remembering all this, they must take up arms.

When once they were in touch with their enemy, he was confident that the guilt-stained foe would not long rejoice over the disgrace that had overtaken the Roman army, and the people of Rome would see how much better service was rendered to the republic by those who

had, for the third time, nominated him Dictator, than by those who had cast a slur upon his second dictatorship because he had deprived the censors of their autocratic power. After reciting

the usual vows, he marched out and fixed his camp a mile and a half on this side of Fidenae, with the hills on his right and the Tiber on his left.

He ordered T. Quinctius to secure the hills and to seize, by a concealed movement, the ridge in the enemies' rear. On the following day, the Etruscans advanced to battle in high spirits at their success the previous day, which had been due rather to good luck than good fighting. After waiting a short time till the scouts reported that Quinctius had gained the height near the citadel of Fidenae, the Dictator ordered the attack and led the infantry at a quick double against the enemy.

He gave instructions to the Master of the Horse not to begin fighting till he got orders; when he needed the assistance of the cavalry he would give him the signal, then he must take his part in the action, inspired by the memory of his combat with Tolumnius, of the spolia opima, and of Romulus and Jupiter Feretrius.

The legions charged with great impetuosity. The Romans expressed their burning hatred in words as much as in deeds; they called the Fidenates “traitors,” the Veientines “brigands,” “breakers of truces,” “stained with the horrible murder of the ambassadors and the blood of Roman colonists,” “faithless as allies, cowardly as soldiers.”

The enemy were shaken at the very first onset, when suddenly the gates of Fidenae were flung open and a strange army sallied forth, never seen or heard of before.

An immense multitude, armed with firebrands, and all waving blazing torches, rushed like men possessed on the Roman line. For a moment this extraordinary mode of fighting put the Romans into a fright.

Then the Dictator called up the Master of the Horse with his cavalry, and sent to order Quinctius back from the hills, whilst he himself, encouraging his men, rode up to the left wing, which looked more like a conflagration than a body of combatants, and had given way through sheer terror at the flames.

He shouted to them: “Are you overcome with smoke, like a swarm of bees? Will you let an unarmed enemy drive you from your ground? Will you not put the fire out with your swords?

If you must fight with fire, not with arms, will you not snatch those torches away and attack them with their own weapons? Come! remember the name of Rome and the courage you have inherited from your fathers; turn this fire upon the enemies' city, and destroy with its own flames the Fidenae which you could not conciliate by your kindness.

The blood of ambassadors and colonists, your fellow-countrymen, and the devastation of your borders call upon you to do this.” At the Dictator's command the whole line advanced; some of the torches were caught as they were thrown, others were wrenched from the bearers; both armies were armed with fire.

The Master of the Horse, too, on his part, invented a new mode of fighting for his cavalry.

He ordered his men to take the bits off the horses, and, giving his own horse his head and putting spurs to it, he was carried into the midst of the flames, whilst the other horses, urged into a hard gallop, carried their riders against the enemy. The dust they raised, mixed with the smoke, blinded both horses and men. The sight which had terrified the infantry had no terrors for the horses.

Wherever the cavalry moved they left the slain in heaps. At this moment fresh shouts were heard, creating astonishment in both armies. The Dictator called out that Quinctius and his men had attacked the enemy in the rear, and on the shouts being renewed, he pressed his own attack with more vigour.

When the two bodies in two distinct attacks had forced the Etruscans back both in front and rear and hemmed them in, so that there was no way of escape either to their camp or to the hills —for in that direction the fresh enemy had intercepted them —and the horses, with their reins loose, were carrying their riders about in all directions, most of the Veientines made a wild rush for the Tiber; the survivors amongst the Fidenates made for their city.

The flight of the terrified Veientines carried them into the midst of slaughter, some were killed on the banks, others were driven into the river and swept away by the current; even good swimmers were carried down by wounds and fright and exhaustion, few out of the many got across.

The other body made their way through their camp to their city with the Romans in close pursuit, especially Quinctius and his men, who had just come down from the hills, and having arrived towards the close of the struggle, were fresher for the work.

The latter entered the gates pell-mell with the enemy, and as soon as they had mounted the walls they signalled to their friends that the city was taken.

The Dictator had now reached the enemies' abandoned camp, and his soldiers were anxious to disperse in quest of booty, but when he saw the signal he reminded them that there was richer spoil in the city, and led them up to the gate. Once within the walls he proceeded to the citadel, toward which he saw the crowd of fugitives rushing.

The slaughter in the city was not less than there had been in the battle, until, throwing down their arms, they surrendered to the Dictator and begged that at least their lives might be spared.

The city and camp were plundered. The following day the cavalry and centurions each received one prisoner, selected by lot, as their slave, those who had shown conspicuous gallantry, two; the rest were sold “under the chaplet.” The Dictator led back in triumph to Rome his victorious army laden with spoil.

After ordering the Master of the Horse to resign his office, he resigned office himself on the sixteenth day after his nomination, surrendering amidst peace

the sovereign power which he had assumed at a time of war and danger. Some of the annalists have recorded a naval engagement with the Veientines at Fidenae, an incident as difficult as it is incredible.

Even to-day the river is not broad enough for this, and we learn from ancient writers that it was narrower then. Possibly, in their desire for a vain-glorious inscription, as often happens, they magnified a gathering of ships to prevent the passage of the river into a naval victory.

The following year had for consular tribunes A. Sempronius Atratinus, L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, L. Furius Medullinus, and L. Horatius

Barbatus. A truce for eighteen years was granted to the Veientines and one for three years to the Aequi, though they had asked for a longer one. There was also a respite from civic

disturbances. The following year, though not marked by either foreign war or domestic troubles, was rendered memorable by the celebration of the Games vowed on the occasion of the war seven years before, which were carried out with great magnificence by the consular tribunes, and attended by large numbers from the surrounding

cities. The consular tribunes were Ap. Claudius Crassus, Spurius Nautius Rutilus, L. Sergius Fidenas, and Sex. Julius Julus. The spectacle was made more attractive to the visitors by the courteous reception which it had been publicly decided to give

them. When the Games were over, the tribunes of the plebs began to deliver inflammatory

harangues. They reproached the populace for allowing their stupid admiration of those whom they really hated to keep them in perpetual servitude. Not only did they lack the courage to claim their share in the chance of preferment to the consulship, but even in the election of consular tribunes, which was open to both patricians and plebeians, they never thought of their tribunes or their

party. They need be no longer surprised that no one interested himself in the welfare of the plebs. Toil and danger were incurred for those objects from which profit and honour might be expected. There was nothing which men would not attempt if rewards were held out proportionate to the greatness of the

effort. But that any tribune of the plebs should rush blindly into contests which involved enormous risks and brought no advantage, which he might be certain would make the patricians whom he opposed persecute him with relentless fury, whilst amongst the plebeians on whose behalf he fought he would not be in the slightest degree more honoured, was a thing neither to be expected nor demanded. Great honours made great

men. When the plebeians began to be respected, every plebeian would respect himself. Surely they might now try the experiment in one or two cases, to prove whether any plebeian is capable of holding high office, or whether it would be little short of a miracle for any one sprung from the plebs to be at the same time a strong and energetic

man. After a desperate fight, they had secured the election of military tribunes with consular powers, for which plebeians were eligible. Men of tried ability, both at home and in the field, became candidates. For the first few years they were knocked about, rejected, treated with derision by the patricians; at last they declined to expose themselves to these

affronts. They saw no reason why a law should not be repealed which simply legalised what would never happen. They would have less to be ashamed of in the injustice of the law than in being passed over in the elections as though unworthy to hold office.

Harangues of this sort were listened to with approval, and some were induced to stand for a consular tribuneship, each of them promising to bring in some measure in the interest of the plebs.

Hopes were held out of a division of the State domain and the formation of colonies, whilst money was to be raised for the payment of the soldiers by a tax on the occupiers of

the public land. The consular tribunes waited till the usual exodus from the City allowed a meeting of the senate to be held in the absence of the tribunes of the plebs, the members who were in the country being recalled by private notice.

A resolution was passed that owing to rumours of an invasion of the Hernican territory by the Volscians the consular tribunes should go and find out what was happening, and that at the forthcoming elections consuls should be chosen.