At the first Decius thought that the enemy would come up the hill against him, and that he should fight against them with advantage from the higher ground, but when they neither came nor yet began to build a rampart round the hill, he called his centurions to him and said, "What ignorance or indolence is this in these men, that they sit still and do nothing when they might by this time have shut us in? Surely we shall be as bad as they if we stop longer in this place than shall be convenient to us. Come then with me, and while there is yet some light, let us see where they have set their guards, and where we may find a way of departing from this place." So the centurions, having clad themselves in the garb of common soldiers, lest the enemy should know them, spied out the nature of the place. Afterwards, when he had posted the sentinels, he commanded that the rest of the soldiers should assemble at the second watch. To them he said, "Ye must hear my words in silence, not signifying your assent by a shout in soldiers' fashion. Such as shall approve my counsel let them come over to the right side; and if the greater part of you shall so come, we will abide by it. The enemy having neglected to occupy this place at the first, have neglected also to to shut us in with a rampart. Stay we cannot, lest we perish with hunger and thirst. Sally forth we must, if we are to be delivered. And if we wait for day, can we doubt that the enemy will do that which he should have done long since, and make a ditch and a rampart about the place? Night therefore is the better time, and if the night, then also this hour of the night is better than all others; for at this second watch the sleep of men is commonly the deepest. Follow me therefore even as ye have followed me hitherto. Let them to whom this counsel seems good come over to the right side." They came over all of them, and followed Decius as he led the way by a place which the enemy had left without guards. But when they were now come to the middle of the camp, one of the Romans, as he would have stepped over a sleeping man, stumbled upon his shield and so woke him. The man roused his neighbour, and he again others; and Decius, perceiving that he was discovered, commanded his men to shout; and the Samnites, being confused and scarcely yet awake, nor able to bestir themselves, could not hinder him and his men from escaping. The next day, after he had entered the camp of the Consul (for though he reached it before the night was spent, he would not enter till it was day, thinking that they came back to their countrymen with such glory as should not be concealed by darkness), Cornelius summoned the soldiers to assembly and began to set forth the praises of Decius. But Decius said, "I would counsel, Cornelius, that you postpone everything to the occasion of victory that is now given you. Attack the enemy while they are in confusion and scattered, for doubtless many have been sent to pursue me." This the Consul did, and won a great victory over the Samnites, and took their camp, wherein were slain, it is said, thirty thousand men.
As for Decius, the Consul gave him a golden crown and a hundred oxen, whereof one was white and of surpassing beauty, having gilded horns. And to each of the soldiers that had followed him he gave a double portion of corn for ever and an ox and two garments. And the legion set on the head of Decius a crown of grass, by which was signified deliverance from siege; his own men also gave him another such crown. Then Decius sacrificed the white ox to Mars, and gave the other oxen to his soldiers. To these men the rest of the legions made a contribution, a pound of corn and a pint of wine for each.
In the third year after these things, Decius being then Consul together with Manlius, there was a great war with the Latins. And while the armies lay over against each other in a place near to the city of Capua, there appeared to both Consuls, as they slept, the same figure of a man, only of greater stature and of more dignity than belongs to man, which figure spake to each the same words: "There is due to the Gods that dwell below, and to Mother Earth, from the one side a general, and from the other an army. And on which side soever of these two a general shall devote himself, together with the army of the enemy, to the Gods below and to Mother Earth, that side shall have the victory." When the Consuls had told their dreams one to the other, they ordered that sacrifices should be offered to avert the wrath of the gods; and that if the soothsayers examining the entrails of the beasts should find the signs therein to agree with the dreams that they had dreamed, one or other of the Consuls should fulfil the decree of fate. So they sacrificed the beasts, and hearing from the soothsayers that such signs had been found, they called the officers together and told them how they agreed that if either side began to give way the consul then commanding should devote himself for the Roman people and for his country.
On the morning of the day when the battle was fought (the place being near to Mount Vesuvius) the Consuls offered sacrifice each for himself. Then the soothsayer showed the Consul Decius how, the signs being in other respects altogether favourable, the head of the liver was wounded on that side that regarded himself. Manlius, on the other hand, found all things altogether favourable. Then said Decius, "It is well if the offering of my colleague has been accepted." After these things they marched forth to the battle, Manlius commanding the right wing and Decius the left.
For a while both armies fought with equal courage and strength. Then the Roman spearmen, being the front rank, gave way before the Latins, and fell back upon the rank behind them. Thereupon Decius cried with a loud voice to Valerius, "Valerius, we have need of the help of the Gods. Come therefore, and, as high priest of the Roman people, dictate to me the words in which I may devote myself for the legions." Then the high priest bad him put on the robe that is called Prætexta—that is to say, having a stripe of purple about it-and to cover his head, and, thrusting his hand under his gown up to his chin, to say after him these words: "O Janus, Jupiter, Father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Gods of the households, Gods of the land, Gods of the dwellings below, I beseech you that ye grant strength and victory to the Roman people, and send upon the enemies of the Roman people terror, and panic, and death. And now I devote myself, and with me the legions of our enemies, to the infernal Gods, on behalf of the commonwealth of Rome and the legions of the Roman people."
Then girding himself after the manner of Gabii, and taking his sword, he leapt upon his horse and hastened into the midst of the enemy. To both armies he seemed to be more than man, being sent, as it were, from heaven, to avert the anger of the gods, to avert destruction from his countrymen, and to bring it upon his enemies; and the Latins were overwhelmed with terror, giving way before him wherever his horse carried him, and when at last he fell slain by a shower of javelins, flying from the place where he lay. As for the Romans, they fought with greater hope and courage, as knowing that they had been delivered from the anger of the gods.
When the battle had now lasted many hours, and the Latins had no fresh soldiers to bring up, the consul Manlius cried to the veterans whom he had kept behind, kneeling on one knee, till they should be needed, "Rise, and deal with the enemy as men that are fresh to the battle should deal with the weary. Remember your wives and children; remember also your Consul that has died that ye may have, victory." So the veterans rose and advanced, bringing up a fresh line against the enemy; nor could these withstand them, but turned and fled. Many were slain in the field, and many also in the camp, which was taken that same day. The day following the body of Decius was found, covered with javelins, with many dead corpses of the enemy about it; and the consul Manlius made for this a great funeral.
In the forty-second year after these things, Publius Decius Mus, being son to that Decius who devoted himself for the army in the battle of Mount Vesuvius, was made consul together with Quintus Fabius, having been consul three times before. In that year the Gauls had leagued together with the Etrurians against the Romans, having also upon their side the Umbrians and the Samnites. And the armies pitched their camps near to Sentinum, having a space of about four miles between them. Now it had been agreed among the enemy that on the day of battle the Gauls with the Samnites should fight with the army, and that the Etrurians with the men of Umbria should attack the camp. But this counsel certain deserters from Clusium declared to the Consuls. Thereupon the Consuls sent word by letter to their lieutenants that they should lay waste the country of the Etrurians. And this they did, working such destruction that the Etrurians with the men of Umbria straightway departed, that they might defend their own possessions. Then the Consuls made haste that they might fight before these should come back. For two days, therefore, they challenged the enemy to battle; but though a few were killed on either side, nothing worthy of note was done. But on the third day both the armies came down into the plain ready to do battle, and, while they stood, a hind that fled from a wolf ran down from the mountains across the plain that lay between the two hosts, and the two beasts went different ways, the hind among the Gauls and the wolf among the Romans. The hind, indeed, the Gauls slew, but the Romans gave place to the wolf to pass through their lines. Then a soldier that stood in the front rank cried aloud, "Look ye, flight and slaughter go that way where ye see the hind, a beast that is sacred to the goddess Diana, lie dead; but to us the wolf of Mars, whom we have left unharmed, is a pledge of victory, reminding us of him of whose race we come."