History of Rome, books 1-10

quiet, not, however, through any distrust of their own strength or any feeling of contempt for the enemy.

Meantime the Romans were meeting with success in Etruria, for in an engagement with the Umbrians the enemy were unable to keep up the fight with the spirit with which they began it, and, without any great loss, were completely routed. An engagement also took place at Lake Vadimonis, where the Etruscans had concentrated an army raised under a lex sacrata, in which each man chose his comrade.

As their army was more numerous than any they had previously raised, so they exhibited a higher courage than they had ever shown before. So savage was the feeling on both sides that, without discharging a single missile, they began the fight at once with swords.

The fury displayed in the combat, which long hung in the balance, was such that it seemed as though it was not the Etruscans who had been so often defeated that we were fighting with, but some new, unknown people. There was not the slightest sign of yielding anywhere; as the men in the first line fell, those in the second took their places, to defend the standards.

At length the last reserves had to be brought up, and to such an extremity of toil and danger had matters come that the Roman cavalry dismounted, and, leaving their horses in charge, made their way over piles of armour and heaps of slain to the front ranks of the infantry.

They appeared like a fresh army amongst the exhausted combatants, and at once threw the Etruscan standards into confusion.

The rest of the men, worn out as they were, nevertheless followed up the cavalry attack, and at last broke through the enemy's ranks. Their determined resistance was now overcome, and when once their maniples began to give way, they soon took to actual flight.

That day broke for the first time the power of the Etruscans after their long-continued and abundant prosperity. The main strength of their army was left on the field, and their camp was taken and plundered.

Equally hard fighting and an equally brilliant success characterised the campaign which immediately followed against the Samnites. In addition to their usual preparations for war, they had new glittering armour made in which their troops were quite resplendent.

There were two divisions; one had their shields plated with gold, the other with silver. The shield was made straight and broad at the top to cover the chest and shoulders, then became narrower towards the bottom to allow of it being more easily moved about.

To protect the front of the body they wore coats of chain armour; the left leg was covered with a greave, and their helmets were plumed to give them the appearance of being taller than they really were.

The tunics of the men with gold plated shields were in variegated colours, those with the silver shields had tunics of white linen. The latter were assigned to the right wing, the former were posted on the left.

The Romans knew that all this splendid armour had been provided, and they had been taught by their generals that a soldier ought to inspire dread not by being decked out in gold and silver but by trusting to his courage and his sword.

They looked upon those things as a spoil for the enemy rather than a defence for the wearer, resplendent enough before a battle but soon stained and fouled by wounds and bloodshed.

They knew that the one ornament of the soldier was courage, and all that finery would belong to whichever side won the victory; an enemy however rich was the prize of the victor, however poor the victor might be. With this teaching fresh in their minds, Cursor led his men into battle.

He took his place on the right wing, and gave the command of the left to the Master of the Horse.

As soon as the two lines came into collision, a contest began between the Dictator and the Master of the Horse, quite as keen as the struggle against the enemy, as to whose division should be the first to win the victory. Junius happened to be the first to dislodge the enemy.

Bringing up his left wing against the enemy's right, where the "devoted" soldiers were posted, conspicuous in their white tunics and glittering armour, he declared that he would sacrifice them to Orcus, and, pushing the attack, he shook their ranks and made them visibly give way.

On seeing this, the Dictator exclaimed, “Shall the victory begin on the left wing? Is the right wing, the Dictator's own division, going to follow where another had led the way in battle, and not win for itself the greatest share of the victory?”

This roused the men; the cavalry behaved with quite as much gallantry as the infantry, and the staff-officers displayed no less energy than the generals.

M. Valerius on the right wing, and P. Decius on the left, both men of consular rank, rode up to the cavalry who were covering the flanks and urged them to snatch some of the glory for themselves. They charged the enemy on both flanks, and the double attack increased the consternation of the enemy.

To complete their discomfiture, the Roman legions again raised their battleshout and charged home. Now the Samnites took to flight, and soon the plain was filled with shining armour and heaps of bodies.

At first the terrified Samnites found shelter in their camp, but they were not able even to hold that; it was captured, plundered, and burnt before nightfall. The senate decreed a triumph for the Dictator.

By far the greatest sight in the procession was the captured armour, and so magnificent were the pieces considered that the gilded shields were distributed amongst the owners of the silversmiths' shops to adorn the Forum.

This is said to be the origin of the custom of the aediles decorating the Forum when the symbols of three Capitoline deities are conducted in procession through the City on the occasion of the Great Games. Whilst the Romans made use of this armour to honour the gods, the Campanians, out of contempt and hatred towards the Samnites, made the gladiators who performed at their banquets wear it, and they then called them “Samnites.”

The consul Fabius fought a battle this year with the remnants of the Etruscans at Perusia, for this city had broken the truce.

He gained an easy and decisive victory, and after the battle he approached the walls and would have taken the place had not envoys been sent on to surrender it.

After he had stationed a garrison in Perusia, deputations came to him from different cities in Etruria to ask for a restoration of amicable relations; these he sent on to the senate at Rome.

Then he entered the city in triumphal procession, after achieving a more solid success than the Dictator, especially as the defeat of the Samnites was put down largely to the credit of the staff-officers, P. Decius and M. Valerius. These men were chosen by an almost unanimous vote at the next elections —one as consul, the other as praetor.

Owing to his splendid services in the subjugation of Etruria, the consulship of Fabius was extended to another year, Decius being his colleague.

Valerius was elected praetor for the fourth time.

The consuls arranged their respective commands; Etruria fell to Decius, and Samnium to Fabius. Fabius marched to Nuceria, where the people of Alfaterna met him with a request for peace, but as they had refused it when offered to them before, he declined to grant it now.

It was not till he actually began to attack the place that they were forced into unconditional surrender. He fought an action with the Samnites and won an easy victory.

The memory of that battle would not have survived if it had not been that the Marsi engaged for the first time on that occasion in hostilities with Rome. The Peligni, who had followed the example of the Marsi, met with the same fate. The other consul, Decius, was also successful.

He inspired such alarm in Tarquinii that its people provided his army with corn and asked for a forty years' truce.

He captured several fortified posts belonging to Volsinii, some of which he destroyed that they might not serve as retreats for the enemy, and by extending his operations in all directions he made his name so dreaded that the whole Etruscan league begged him to grant a treaty. There was not the slightest chance of their obtaining one, but a truce was granted them for one year.

They had to provide a year's pay for the troops and two tunics for every soldier. That was the price of the truce.

While matters were thus quieted in Etruria fresh trouble was caused by the sudden defection of the Umbrians, a people hitherto untouched by the ravages of war beyond what their land had suffered from the passage of the Romans. They called out all their fighting men and compelled a large section of the Etruscan population to resume hostilities. The army which they mustered was so large that they began to talk in very braggart tones about themselves and in very contemptuous terms about the Romans.

They even expressed their intention of leaving Decius in their rear and marching straight to attack Rome.

Their intentions were disclosed to Decius; he at once hastened by forced marches to a city outside the frontiers of Etruria and took up a position in the territory of Pupinia, to watch the enemy's movements.

This hostile movement on the part of the Umbrians was regarded very seriously in Rome, even their menacing language made people, after their experience of the Gaulish invasion, tremble for the safety of their City.

Instructions were accordingly sent to Fabius, ordering him, if he could for the time being suspend operations in Samnium, to march with all speed into Umbria.

The consul at once acted upon his instructions and proceeded by forced marches to Mevania, where the forces of the Umbrians were stationed. They were under the impression that he was far away in Samnium, with another war on his hands, and his sudden arrival produced such consternation amongst them,

that some advised a retreat into their fortified cities, while others were in favour of abandoning the war.

There was one canton —the natives call it Materina —which not only kept the rest under arms but even induced them to come to an immediate engagement. They attacked Fabius while he was fortifying his camp. When he saw them making a rush towards his entrenchments he called his men off from their work and marshalled them in the best order that the ground and the time at his disposal allowed. He reminded them of the glory they had won in Etruria and in Samnium, and bade them finish off this wretched aftergrowth of the Etruscan war and exact a fitting retribution for the impious language in which the enemy had threatened to attack Rome.

His words were received with such eagerness by his men that their enthusiastic shouts interrupted their commander's address, and without waiting for the word of command or the notes of the trumpets and bugles they raced forward against the enemy.

They did not attack them as though they were armed men; marvellous to relate, they began by snatching the standards from those who bore them, then the standardbearers were themselves dragged off to the consul, the soldiers were pulled across from the one army to the other, the action

was everywhere fought with shields rather than with swords, men were knocked down by the bosses of shields and blows under the arm-pits. More were captured tan killed, and only one cry was heard throughout the ranks: “Lay down your arms!”

So, on the field of battle, the prime authors of the war surrendered. During the next few days the rest of the Umbrian communities submitted. The Ocriculans entered into a mutual undertaking with Rome and were admitted to her friendship.

After bringing to a victorious close the war which had been allotted to his colleague, Fabius returned to his own sphere of action.

As he had conducted operations with such success the senate followed the precedent set by the people in the previous year and extended his command for a third year in spite of the strenuous opposition of Appius Claudius who was now consul, the other consul being L. Volumnius.

I find in some annalists that Appius was a candidate for the consulship while he was still censor, and that L. Furius, a tribune of the plebs, stopped the election until he had resigned his censorship.

A new enemy, the Sallentines, had appeared, and the conduct of this war was assigned to his colleague; Appius himself remained in Rome with the view of strengthening his influence by his domestic administration, as the attainment of military glory was in other hands.

Volumnius had no cause to regret this arrangement, he fought many successful actions and took some of the enemy's cities by storm.

He was lavish in distributing the spoil, and this generosity was rendered still more pleasing by his frank and cordial manner; by qualities such as these he made his men keen to face any perils or labours. Q. Fabius, as proconsul, fought a pitched battle with the Samnites near the city of Allifae. There was very little uncertainty as to the result; the enemy were routed and driven to their camp, and they would not have held that had more daylight been left.

Before night, however, their camp was completely invested, so that none could escape. On the morrow while it was still twilight they made proposals for surrender, and their surrender was accepted on condition that the Samnites should be dismissed with one garment apiece after they had all passed under the yoke.

No provision had been made for their allies, and as many as 7000 of them were sold into slavery.

Those who declared themselves Hernicans were separated and placed under guard; subsequently Fabius sent them all to the senate in Rome.

After inquiries had been made as to whether they had fought for the Samnites against Rome as conscripts or as volunteers, they were committed to the custody of the Latin cities. The new consuls, P. Cornelius Arvina and Q. Marcius Tremulus, were ordered to bring the whole question of the prisoners before the senate.

The Hernicans resented this, and a national council was held at Anagnia in what they call the Maritime Circus; the whole nation thereupon, with the exception of Aletrium, Ferentinae, and Verulae, declared war against Rome.

Now that Fabius had evacuated the country the Samnites became restless. Calatia and Sora and the Roman garrisons there were taken by storm, and the soldiers who had been taken prisoners were cruelly massacred. P. Cornelius was despatched thither with an army.

The Anagnians and Hernicans had been assigned to Marcius. At first the enemy occupied such a well-chosen position

between the camps of the two consul that no messenger, however active, could get through, and for some days both consuls were kept in ignorance of everything

and in anxious suspense as to each other's movements. Tidings of this alarming state of things reached Rome, and every man liable to service was called out; two complete armies were raised against sudden emergencies. But the progress of the war did not justify this extreme alarm, nor was it

worthy of the old reputation which the Hernicans enjoyed. They attempted nothing worth mentioning, within a few days they were stripped of three camps in succession, and begged for a thirty days'

armistice to allow of their sending envoys to Rome. To obtain this they consented to supply the troops with six months' pay and one tunic per man. The envoys were referred by the senate to Marcius, to whom they had given full powers to treat,

and he received the formal surrender of the Hernicans. The other consul in Samnium, though superior in strength, was more hampered in his movements. The enemy had blocked all the roads and secured the passes so that no supplies could be brought in, and though the consul drew up his line and offered battle each day

he failed to allure the enemy into an engagement. It was quite clear that the Samnites would not risk an immediate conflict, and

that the Romans could not stand a prolonged campaign. The arrival of Marcius, who after subjugating the Hernicans had hurried to the assistance of his colleague, made it

impossible for the enemy to delay matters any longer. They had not felt themselves strong enough to meet even one army in the open field, and they knew that their position would be perfectly

hopeless if the two consular armies formed a junction; they decided, therefore, to attack Marcius while he was on the march before he had time to deploy his men . The soldiers' kits were hurriedly thrown together in the centre, and the fighting

line was formed as well as the time allowed. The noise of the battle-shout rolling across and then the sight of the cloud of dust in the distance

created great excitement in the standing camp of Cornelius. He at once ordered the men to arm for battle, and led them hurriedly out of the camp into line. It would, he exclaimed, be a scandalous disgrace if they allowed the other army to win a victory which both ought to share, and failed to maintain their claim to the

glory of a war which was especially their own. He then made a flank attack, and breaking through

the enemy's centre pushed on to their camp, which was denuded of defenders, and burnt it As soon as Marcius' troops caught sight of the flames, and the enemy looking behind them saw them too, the Samnites took to flight in all directions, but no place

afforded them a safe refuge, death awaited them everywhere. After 30,000 of the enemy had

been killed the consuls gave the signal to retire. They were recalling and collecting the troops together amidst mutual congratulations when suddenly fresh cohorts of the enemy were seen in the distance, consisting of recruits who had been sent up as reinforcements. This renewed the carnage, for, without any orders from the consuls or any signal given, the victorious Romans attacked them, exclaiming as they charged that the Samnite

recruits would have to pay dearly for their training. The consuls did not check the ardour of their men, for they knew well that raw soldiers would not even attempt to fight

when the veterans around them were in disorderly flight. Nor were they mistaken; all the Samnite forces,

veterans and recruits alike, fled to the nearest mountains. The Romans went up after them, no place afforded safety to the beaten foe, they were routed from the heights they had occupied, and at last with one voice they all begged for peace. They were ordered to supply corn for three months, a year's pay, and a tunic for each soldier, and envoys were

despatched to the senate to obtain terms of peace. Cornelius was left in Samnium; Marcius entered the City in triumphal procession alter his subjugation of the Hernicans. An equestrian statue was decreed to him which was erected in

the Forum in front of the Temple of Castor. Three of the Hernican communities —Aletrium, Verulae, and Ferentinum —had their municipal independence restored to them as they preferred that to the Roman franchise, and the right of intermarriage with each other was granted them, a privilege which for a considerable period they

were the only communities amongst the Hernicans to enjoy. The Anagnians and the others who had taken up arms against Rome were

admitted to the status of citizenship without the franchise, they were deprived of their municipal self-government and the right of intermarriage with each other, and their magistrates were forbidden

to exercise any functions except those connected with religion. In this year the censor C. Junius Bubulcus signed a contract for the building of the temple to Salus which he had vowed when engaged as consul in the Samnite war. He and his colleague, M. Valerius Maximus, also undertook the construction of roads

through the country districts out of the public funds. The treaty with the Carthaginians was renewed for the third time this year and munificent presents were made to the plenipotentiaries who had come over for the purpose.

P. Cornelius Scipio was nominated Dictator this year, with P. Decius Mus as Master of the Horse, for the purpose

of holding the elections, as neither of the consuls could leave the seat of war. The consuls elected were L. Postumius and Tiberius Minucius.

Piso places these consuls immediately after Q. Fabius and P. Decius, omitting the two years in which I have inserted the consulships of Claudius and Volumnius and of Cornelius and Marcius.

Whether this was due to a slip of memory in drawing up the lists or whether he purposely omitted them, believing them to be wrongly inserted, is uncertain.

The Samnites made forays this year into the district of Stellae in Campania. Both consuls accordingly were despatched to Samnium.

Postumius marched to Tifernum, Minucius made Bovianum his objective. Postumius was the first to come into touch with the enemy and a battle was fought at Tifernum.

Some authorities state that the Samnites were thoroughly beaten and 24,000 prisoners taken. According to others the battle was an indecisive one, and

Postumius, in order to create an impression that he was afraid of the enemy, withdrew by night into the mountains, whither the enemy followed him and took up an entrenched position two miles away from him.

To keep up the appearance of having sought a safe and commodious place for a standing camp —and such it really was —the consul strongly entrenched himself and furnished his camp with all necessary stores.

Then, leaving a strong detachment to hold it, he started at the third watch and led his legions in light marching order by the shortest possible route to his colleague, who was also encamped in front of another Samnite army.

Acting on Postumius' advice Minucius engaged the enemy, and after the battle had gone on for the greater part of the day without either side gaining the advantage, Postumius brought up his fresh legions and made an unsuspected attack upon the enemy's wearied lines.

Exhausted by fighting and by wounds they were incapable of flight and were practically annihilated. Twenty-one standards were captured.

Both armies marched to the camp which Postumius had formed, and there they routed and dispersed the enemy, who were demoralised by the news of the previous battle. Twenty-six standards were captured, the captain-general of the Samnites, Statius Gellius, and a large number of men were made prisoners, and both camps were taken.