for battle, formed their line, each falling into his post. There was now but a small interval between the two armies, and both stood, waiting until the shout and onset should be begun by their adversary. Neither party had any inclination to fight, and they would have separated, and taken different roads, unhurt and untouched, but that each had a dread of being harassed, in retreat, by the other. Notwithstanding this shyness and reluctance, an engagement unavoidably began, but spiritless, and with a shout which discovered neither resolution nor steadiness; nor did any move a foot from his post. The Roman consul, then, in order to infuse life into the action, ordered a few troops of cavalry to advance out of the line and charge: most of whom being thrown from their horses and the rest put in disorder, several parties ran forward, both from the Samnite line, to cut off those who had fallen, and from the Roman, to protect their friends. In consequence the battle became a little more brisk, but the Samnites had come forward with more briskness, and also in greater numbers, and the disordered cavalry, with their affrighted horses, trod down their own party who came to their relief. Flight commencing in this quarter, caused the whole Roman line to turn their backs. And now the Samnites had no employment for their arms but against the rear of a flying enemy, when the consul, galloping on before his men to the gate of the camp, posted there a body of cavalry, with orders to treat as an enemy any person who should make towards the rampart, whether Roman or Samnite; and, placing himself in the way of his men, as they pressed in disorder towards the camp, denounced threats to the same purport: "Whither are you going, soldiers?" said he; "here also you will find both men and arms; nor, while your consul lives, shall you pass the rampart, unless victorious. Choose therefore which you will prefer, fighting against your own countrymen, or the enemy." While the consul was thus speaking the cavalry gathered round, with the points of their spears presented, and ordered the infantry to return to the fight. Not only his own brave spirit, but fortune likewise aided the consul, for the Samnites did not push their advantage; so that he had time to wheel round his battalions, and to change his front from the camp towards the enemy. The men then began to encourage each other to return to the battle, while the centurions snatched the ensigns from the standard-bearers and bore them forward, pointing out to the soldiers the enemy, coming on in a hurry, few in number, and with their ranks disordered. At the same time the consul, with his hands lifted up towards heaven, and raising his voice so as to be heard at a distance, vowed a temple to Jupiter Stator, if the Roman army should rally from flight, and, renewing the battle, cut down and defeat the Samnites. All divisions of the army, now, united their efforts to restore the fight; officers, soldiers, the whole force, both of cavalry and infantry; even the powers of heaven seemed to have looked, with favour, on the Roman cause; so speedily was a thorough change effected in the fortune of the day, the enemy being repulsed from the camp, and, in a short time, driven back to the spot where the battle had commenced. Here they stopped, being obstructed by the heap of baggage, lying in their way, where they had thrown it together; and then, to prevent the plundering of their effects, formed round them a circle of troops. On this, the infantry assailed them vigorously in front, while the cavalry, wheeling, fell on their rear: and, being thus enclosed between the two, they were all either slain, or taken prisoners. The number of the prisoners was seven thousand two hundred, who were all sent under the yoke; the killed amounted to four thousand eight hundred. The victory did not prove a joyous one, even on the side of the Romans: when the consul took an account of the loss sustained in the two days, the number returned, of soldiers lost, was seven thousand three hundred. During these transactions in Apulia, the Samnites with the other army having attempted to seize on Iteramna, a Roman colony situated on the Latin road, did not however obtain the town; whence, after ravaging the country, as they were driving off spoil, consisting of men and cattle, together with the colonists whom they had taken, they met the consul returning victorious from Luceria, and not only lost their booty, but marching in disorder, in a long train, and heavily encumbered, were themselves cut to pieces. The consul, by proclamation, summoned the owners to Interamna, to claim and receive again their property, and leaving his army there, went to Rome to hold the elections. On his applying for a triumph, that honour was refused him, because he had lost so many thousands of his soldiers; and also, because he had sent the prisoners under the yoke without imposing any conditions.
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The other consul, Postumius, because there was no employment for his arms in Samnium, having led over his forces into Etruria, first laid waste the lands of the Volsinians; and afterwards, on their marching out to protect their country, gained a decisive victory over them, at a small distance from their own walls. Two thousand two hundred of the Etrurians were slain; the proximity of their city protected the rest. The army was then led into the territory of Rusella, and there, not only were the lands wasted, but the town itself taken. More than two thousand men were made prisoners, and somewhat less than that number killed on the walls. But a peace, effected that year in Etruria, was still more important and honourable than the war had been. Three very powerful cities, the chief ones of Etruria, (Volsinii, Perusia, and Arretium,) sued for peace; and having stipulated with the consul to furnish clothing and corn for his army, on condition of being permitted to send deputies to Rome, they obtained a truce for forty years, and a fine was imposed on each state of five hundred thousand asses,[6] to be immediately paid. When the consul demanded a triumph from the senate, in consideration of these services, rather to comply with the general practice, than in hope of succeeding; and when he saw that one party, his own personal enemies, another party, the friends of his colleague, refused him the triumph, the latter to console a similar refusal, some on the plea that he had been rather tardy in taking his departure from the city; others, that he had passed from Samnium into Etruria without orders from the senate; he said, "Conscript fathers, I shall not be so far mindful of your dignity, as to forget that I am consul. By the same right of office by which I conducted the war, I shall now have a triumph, when this war has been brought to a happy conclusion, Samnium and Etruria being subdued, and victory and peace procured. With these words he left the senate." On this arose a contention between the plebeian tribunes; some of them declaring that they would protest against his triumphing in a manner unprecedented; others, that they would support his pretensions, in opposition to their colleagues. The affair came at length to be discussed before the people, and the consul being summoned to attend, when he represented, that Marcus Horatius and Lucius Valerius, when consuls, and lately Caius Marcus Rutilus, father of the present censor, had triumphed, not by direction of the senate, but by that of the people; he then added that "he would in like manner have laid his request before the public, had he not known that some plebeian tribunes, the abject slaves of the nobles, would have obstructed the law. That the universal approbation and will of the people were and should be with him equivalent to any order whatsoever." Accordingly, on the day following, by the support of three plebeian tribunes, in opposition to the protest of the other seven, and the declared judgment of the senate, he triumphed; and the people paid every honour to the day. The historical accounts regarding this year are by no means consistent; Claudius asserts, that Postumius, after having taken several cities in Samnium, was defeated and put to flight in Apulia; and that, being wounded himself, he was driven, with a few attendants, into Luceria. That the war in Etruria was conducted by Atilius, and that it was he who triumphed. Fabius writes, that the two consuls acted in conjunction, both in Samnium and at Luceria; that an army was led over into Etruria, but by which of the consuls he has not mentioned; that at Luceria, great numbers were slain on both sides; and that in that battle, the temple of Jupiter Stator was vowed, the same vow having been formerly made by Romulus, but the fane only, that is, the area appropriated for the temple, had been yet consecrated. However, in this year, the state having been twice bound by the same vow, it became a matter of religious obligation that the senate should order the temple to be erected.
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