most powerful in Italy, in respect of arms, men, and money; to have the Gauls their closest neighbours, born in the midst of war and arms, of furious courage, both from their natural temper, and particularly against the people of Rome, whom they boasted, without infringing the truth, of having made their prisoners, and of having ransomed for gold. If the Etrurians possessed the same spirit which formerly Porsena and their ancestors once had, there was nothing to prevent their obliging the Romans, driven from all the lands on this side of the Tiber, to fight for their own existence, and not for the intolerable dominion which they assumed over Italy. The Samnite army had come to them, in readiness for action, furnished with arms and pay, and were willing to follow that instant, even should they lead to the attack of the city of Rome itself."
17
While they were engaged in these representations, and intriguing at Etruria, the operations of the Romans in their own territories distressed them severely. For Publius Decius, when he ascertained through his scouts the departure of the Samnite army, called a council, and there said, "Why do we ramble through the country, carrying the war from village to village? Why not attack the cities and fortified places? No army now guards Samnium. They have fled their country; they are gone into voluntary exile." The proposal being universally approved, he marched to attack Murgantia, a city of considerable strength; and so great was the ardour of the soldiers, resulting from their affection to their commander, and from their hopes of richer treasure than could be found in pillaging the country places, that in one day they took it by assault. Here, two thousand one hundred of the Samnites, making resistance, were surrounded and taken prisoners; and abundance of other spoil was captured. Decius, not choosing that the troops should be encumbered in their march with heavy baggage, ordered them to be called together, and said to them, "Do ye intend to rest satisfied with this single victory, and this booty? or do ye choose to cherish hopes proportioned to your bravery? All the cities of the Samnites, and the property left in them, are your own; since, after so often defeating their legions, ye have finally driven them out of the country. Sell those effects in your hands; and allure traders, by a prospect of profit, to follow you on your march. I will, from time to time, supply you with goods for sale. Let us go hence to the city of Romulea, where no greater labour, but greater gain awaits you." Having sold off the spoil, and warmly adopting the general's plan, they proceeded to Romulea. There, also, without works or engines, as soon as the battalions approached, the soldiers, deterred from the walls by no resistance, hastily applying ladders wherever was most convenient to each, they mounted the fortifications. The town was taken and plundered. Two thousand three hundred men were slain, six thousand taken prisoners, and the soldiers obtained abundance of spoil. This they were obliged to sell in like manner as the former; and, though no rest was allowed them, they proceeded, nevertheless, with the utmost alacrity to Ferentinum. But here they met a greater share both of difficulty and danger: the fortifications were defended with the utmost vigour, and the place was strongly fortified both by nature and art. However, the soldiers, now inured to plunder, overcame every obstacle. Three thousand of the enemy were killed round the walls, and the spoil was given to the troops. In some annals, the principal share of the honour of taking these cities is attributed to Maximus. They say that Murgantia was taken by Decius; Romulea and Ferentinum by Fabius. Some ascribe this honour to the new consuls: others not to both, but to one of these, Lucius Volumnius: that to him the province of Samnium had fallen.
18
While things went on thus in Samnium, whoever it was that had the command and auspices, powerful combination, composed of many states, was formed in Etruria against the Romans, the chief promoter of which was Gellius Egnatius, a Samnite. Almost all the Etrurians had united in this war. The neighbouring states of Umbria were drawn in, as it were, by the contagion; and auxiliaries were procured from the Gauls for hire: all their several numbers assembled at the camp of the Samnites. When intelligence of this sudden commotion was received at Rome, after the consul, Lucius Volumnius, had already set out for Samnium, with the second and third legions, and fifteen thousand of the allies; it was, therefore, resolved, that Appius Claudius should, at the very earliest opportunity, go into Etruria. Two Roman legions followed him, the first and fourth, and twelve thousand allies; their camp was pitched at a small distance from the enemy. However, advantage was gained by his early arrival in this particular, that the awe of the Roman name kept in check some states of Etruria which were disposed to war, rather than from any judicious or successful enterprise achieved under the guidance of the consul. Several battles were fought, at times and places unfavourable, and increasing confidence rendered the enemy daily more formidable; so that matters came nearly to such a state, as that neither could the soldiers rely much on their leader, nor the leader on his soldiers. It appears in three several histories, that a letter was sent by the consul to call his colleague from Samnium. But I will not affirm what requires stronger proof, as that point was a matter of dispute between these two consuls of the Roman people, a second time associated in the same office; Appius denying that the letter was sent, and Volumnius affirming that he was called thither by a letter from Appius. Volumnius had, by this time, taken three forts in Samnium, in which three thousand of the enemy had been slain, and about half that number made prisoners; and, a sedition having been raised among the Lucanians by the plebeians and the more indigent of the people, he had, to the great satisfaction of the nobles, quelled it by sending thither Quintus Fabius, proconsul, with his own veteran army. He left to Decius the ravaging of the enemy's country; and proceeded with his troops into Etruria to his colleague; where, on his arrival, the whole army received him with joy. Appius, if he did not write the letter, being conscious of this, had, in my opinion, just ground of displeasure; but if he had actually stood in need of assistance, his disowning it, as he did, arose from an illiberal and ungrateful mind. For, on going out to receive him, when they had scarcely exchanged salutations, he said, "Is all well, Lucius Volumnius? How stand affairs in Samnium? What motive induced you to remove out of your province?" Volumnius answered, that "affairs in Samnium were in a prosperous state; and that he had come thither in compliance with the request in his letter. But, if that were a forged letter, and that there was no occasion for him in Etruria, he would instantly face about, and depart." "You may depart." replied the other; "no one detains you: for it is a perfect inconsistency, that when, perhaps, you are scarcely equal to the management of your own war, you should vaunt of coming hither to succour others." To this Volumnius rejoined, "May Hercules direct all for the best; for his part, he was better pleased that he had taken useless trouble, than that any conjuncture should have arisen which had made one consular army insufficient for Etruria."
19
As the consuls were parting, the lieutenants-general and tribunes of Appius's army gathered round them. Some entreated their own general that he would not reject the voluntary offer of his colleague's assistance, which ought to have been solicited in the first instance: the greater number used their endeavours to stop Volumnius, beseeching him "not, through a peevish dispute with his colleague, to abandon the interest of the commonwealth; and represented to him, that in case any misfortune should happen, the blame would fall on the person who forsook the other, not on the one forsaken; that the state of affairs was such, that the credit and discredit of every success and failure in Etruria would be attributed to Lucius Volumnius: for no one would inquire, what were the words of Appius, but what the situation of the army. Appius indeed had dismissed him, but the commonwealth, and the army, required his stay. Let him only make trial of the inclinations of the soldiers." By such admonitions and entreaties they, in a manner, dragged the consuls, who almost resisted, to an assembly. There, longer discourses were made to the same purport, as had passed before in the presence of a few. And when Volumnius, who had the advantage of the argument, showed himself not deficient in oratory, in despite of the extraordinary eloquence of his colleague; Appius observed with a sneer, that "they ought to acknowledge themselves indebted to him, in having a consul who possessed eloquence also, instead of being dumb and speechless, when in their former consulate, particularly during the first months, he was not able so much as to open his lips; but now, in his harangues, even aspired after popularity." Volumnius replied, "How much more earnestly do I wish, that you had learned from me to act with
