On the right wing of the enemy were the Gauls, and on the left the Samnites, Quintus Fabius being set to fight against these, and Decius Mus against the Gauls. At the first when the battle was begun the strength on either side was so equal that, if only the Etrurians or the men of Umbria had been there, the Romans had doubtless suffered some great loss either in the field or in the camp. Nevertheless the fashion of the battle was not the same in both wings. For Fabius and his legions defended themselves rather than attacked; Fabius judging that the Gauls and Samnites were most to be feared at their first charge, and that if only this could be sustained the day would go well with the Romans; the Samnites growing slack in valour, and the Gauls being unaccustomed to endure toil and heat for a long space of time, so that at the first they would fight with more than the strength of men, and at the last with less than the strength of women. Wherefore he kept the best strength of his soldiers till such time as the enemy were accustomed to be worsted. But Decius, being vigorous in body and of a high spirit, used his whole strength to the utmost in the very beginning of the battle. And because the foot soldiers seemed to him to fight with a certain slackness, he brought up the horsemen to their help. Then riding into the midst of one of the squadrons in which were many youths of noble birth, he cried to them, saying, "Follow me against the enemy. Ye shall win for yourselves a double share of glory if the victory shall be first won on this side." Twice did they put to flight the horsemen of the Gauls; but when they charged now for a third time, riding far on among the enemy, they were thrown into confusion by a certain new and strange manner of fighting. For suddenly there came upon them a number, of the enemy that stood upon chariots, and who, advancing against them with a great noise both of horses' hoofs and of wheels, affrighted their horses. Thus there came a sudden panic upon them in the very hour of their victory, and turning their backs they fled headlong. Then the legions also were disordered, many that stood in the front rank being cast to the ground and crushed, both by their horsemen and by the chariots of the enemy. And when the Gauls saw how the Romans gave way they pressed on, giving them no breathing space nor time of recovery. Then cried the Consul Decius, "Whither do ye fly? what hope have ye in flight?" And he strove to stay them as they fled, and call them back into the battle. But when he saw that he could avail nothing, so overwhelmed were they with fear, he called aloud on the name of Publius Decius, his father, and said, "Why do I delay any longer the fate that belongs to my race? This is the privilege of my house, to be victims whereby the dangers of the commonwealth may be expiated. Therefore I give myself, and together with me the army of the enemy, to Mother Earth, and to the Gods of the dead." When he had so spoken, he bade Marcus Livius, the high priest (on whom, when he went into the battle, he had laid his commands that he should never depart from his side), dictate the words by which he might devote himself and the army of the enemy for the army of the Roman people. Then he arrayed himself in the same manner and prayed the same words as his father had done in the battle by Mount Vesuvius. To this he added these words, "Lo! I carry before me terror and flight, slaughter and blood, and the wrath of the Gods of heaven and of hell; with the curses of death will I smite the standards, weapons, and armour of the enemy, accomplishing in one and the same place my own destruction and the destruction of the Gauls and of the Samnites." And when he had thus cursed both himself and the enemy he spurred his horse into the lines of the Gauls, where he saw them to be thickest, and so fell pierced through with many spears.
After the death of Decius the Romans fought with such strength and courage as seemed beyond the nature of men. For the Romans, when their leader was dead (a thing that commonly is wont to be the cause of much fear), stayed from their flight and took heart to begin the battle afresh. But as for the Gauls, and those especially that stood about the dead body of the Consul, they cast their javelins at random and to no purpose, as though they were beside themselves; and some were so stupefied with fear that they could neither fight nor fly. Then Livius the high priest, to whom the Consul Decius had given over his lictors, bidding him take upon himself the command, cried aloud, "The Romans have conquered, being delivered from peril by the death of the Consul. The Gauls and the Samnites are the possession of Mother Earth and of the Gods of the dead. Decius is calling and drawing to him the army that he devoted to death together with himself; and the whole host of the enemy is full of madness and fear." And while he set the battle in order again on this side of the field there came up two lieutenants whom Fabius the Consul had sent from the rereward to the help of his colleague. And when they heard that Decius was dead, and in what manner, they all addressed themselves to the battle with fresh courage. So when the Gauls stood in close array, with their shields set up before them, and it seemed no easy thing to come to close combat with them, the lieutenants commanded that they should gather together the javelins which lay on the ground in the space between the two armies, and cast them against the shields of the enemy. And when most of these pierced their shelter, and some that had the longer points were even driven into their bodies, the army was overthrown, not a few falling to the ground though their bodies were unhurt. Such changes of fortune were there in the left wing of the Romans.
Meanwhile, in the right wing, when Fabius perceived that the enemy shouted not as loudly as before, nor cast their javelins with as much strength, he commanded the captains of the horsemen to take a compass with their squadrons and fall upon the Samnites in the rear when he should give the signal. This done he bade the legions advance their standards. And when he saw that the enemy were beyond all doubt wearied with fighting, he called to him all the reserves that he had kept back for this end, and gave the signal, so that the legions fell upon the enemy from before and the horsemen fell upon them from behind at one and the same time. Thereupon the Samnites turned their backs and fled with all speed to their camp; but the Gauls, locking their shields in close array, stood fast. And now there came tidings to Fabius how that his colleague was dead; and when he heard them he bade the Companion Knights, being a company of about five hundred horsemen, leave the line and fall upon the Gauls in the rear; with whom went also a part of the third legion, to fall upon the enemy wherever their line should be broken by the horsemen. And he himself, having first vowed a temple and all the spoils of victory to Jupiter the Conqueror, marched to the camp of the Samnites. Then again was there a battle, for the multitude of them that fled was so great that they could not enter by the gates, so that they fought perforce. Then Egnatius, captain of the host of the Samnites, was slain. And in no great space of time the Samnites were driven within the ramparts and the camp also was taken. The Gauls also, being surrounded on all sides, could withstand the Romans no more. That day there fell five and twenty thousand of the enemy, and eight thousand were taken alive. Nor did the Romans escape without damage, for in the army of Decius were slain seven thousand and in the army of Fabius one thousand seven hundred. Fabius, having first sent men to search for the body of his colleague, gathered together in a great heap all the spoils of the enemy, and offered them for a burnt offering to Jupiter the Conqueror. On the morrow they found the body of Decius, covered with dead bodies of the Gauls, and brought it back to the camp amidst much weeping of the soldiers. And Fabius made for him as great a funeral as he could prepare.
CHAPTER XVII. ~~ THE STORY OF THE PASSES OF CAUDIUM.
In the four hundred and thirty-third year after the building of the city there was war between the Romans and the Samnites. Now there is in the land of the Samnites a certain pass which men call the Pass of Caudium. Near to this the captain of the host of the Samnites, a man very skilful in war, Caius Pontius by name, pitched his camp, hiding it from sight as much as might be. This done he sent twelve soldiers, clad as shepherds, to Calatia, in which place he knew the Consuls to be with the army of the Romans. He commanded these men that they should feed their flocks not far from the camp of the Romans, one in one place and another in another, and that when the plunderers should fall upon them and take them they should tell all of them the same tale, that the legions of the Samnites were in Apulia, laying siege to the town of Luceria with all their might, and were on the point to take it. Now this same report had been spread abroad before of set purpose, and had come to the ears of the Romans; and now when these prisoners said the same words, agreeing all of them one with another, the Romans must needs believe it to be true. Now that the Romans would help the men of Luceria was manifest, because they were good allies and faithful, and because also, if it should be taken, all Apulia would fall away from them from present fear of the enemy. But by which way they would go men doubted much: for there were two ways, the one broad and easy, along the coast of the Upper Sea; but this way, as it was safe, so also was long. The other way, and this the shorter by far, lay through the Passes of Caudium. Now the nature of these passes is this. There are two deep glens, narrow and grown with woods, having mountains on either side of them; and between these there is a plain, of no small extent, grassy and well watered, and the road passes through the midst of it. But before a man can come to this plain he must needs go through the first pass; and when he would leave, if he will not return by the way by which he came, he must needs go through the second, and this is yet more narrow and difficult than the first. Into this plain, therefore, the Romans marched with their whole army through a cleft in the rocks—that is to say, through the first pass; but when they came to the second, they found it shut with the trunks of trees and great stones. And now the stratagem of the enemy became manifest, and at the same time also there was seen on the mountains above them a great army of the Samnites. And when they went back in all haste to the pass by which they had entered, they found this also shut by a fence of the like sort, kept by armed men. Thereupon they halted, though no man had given the word, for they were utterly confounded, neither was there any strength left in their limbs; and they stood speechless, looking upon each other as men that sought for help. Nevertheless, the tents of the Consuls were set up, and the tools for fortifying the camp got ready, though it seemed an idle thing for men that were in such plight to fortify a camp; but because they would not make their trouble worse by neglect they addressed themselves to work, and, without bidding or command from any man, fortified a camp; but not the less they knew their labour to be in vain; nor did the enemy cease to mock at them. This being done, the lieutenants and the tribunes came together without any bidding, for the Consuls called no council, as knowing that there was no device or knowledge that could avail them. The soldiers also ran together to the Consuls' tent, asking from their leaders such help as the gods themselves could scarce have given. And while they doubted what might be done darkness came upon them. Some said, "Let us make our way through these things that bar the way," and others, "Why should mountains and wood hinder us while we have swords in our hands? Suffer us only to come at the enemy, whom we have conquered now for thirty years; there is no place whereon the Romans cannot prevail over the Samnites, how many soever they may be."
But others said, "Whither shall we go? and by what way? Shall we move these mountains from their place? for while they yet hang over us how can we come at our enemies? Truly we are given into their hands bound hand and foot, and they will conquer us without so much as moving from their place." Thus did they talk one to the other; and that night they thought neither of food nor of sleep.
The Samnites also doubted much what they should best do now that their counsels had so greatly prospered. With one consent, therefore, they wrote letters to Herennius Pontius, father to Pontius their general, seeking for his advice. Now Pontius was a very old man, and had long since withdrawn himself not from war only, but also from all affairs of state. Nevertheless, though his body was weak, the power of his mind was not abated. When he heard that the Roman army had been shut in between the Passes of Caudium, and that his son would fain have his counsel, he said, "Let the men go, and harm them not." And when, despising this counsel, they sent the messenger again, asking the same question, he answered, "Slay them all; spare not one." When they heard these two answers, being so different the one from the other, it seemed to Pontius that his father's mind had failed him, even as his body had failed him. Nevertheless, when all would have it that the old man himself should be sent for, he yielded to their desire. And Pontius the elder agreeing was carried to the camp, they say, in a waggon; and when he was come they brought him into the council. There he spoke, changing indeed nothing of that which he had said, but adding his reasons. "My first counsel I yet judge to be the best, for thus by a great benefit ye will make peace and friendship for ever with a very powerful nation. If ye follow my second counsel ye will put off war with Rome for many generations; since, losing two great armies, they will not readily recover their strength. But counsel other than these two there is none." And when his son and others of the captains asked him whether there were not some middle way, so that the prisoners should be sent away unhurt but with conditions according to the right of war, "That," said he, "is a counsel which will neither get friends for you nor rid you of enemies. For think who they are that ye will provoke by such disgrace. The Romans cannot endure to sit quiet under defeat, nor will they rest till they have got manifold vengeance for that which present necessity shall have compelled them to suffer." Then, the Samnites not approving either counsel, Pontius departed to his home.
And now the Romans, having sought many times in vain to break forth, and being now destitute of everything, sent ambassadors to the Samnites to seek peace, and, if peace were not given, to challenge the enemy to battle. To these Pontius made answer, "Since ye will not confess your plight, prisoners though ye be, I will send you under the yoke without arms, each having one garment only. As to the conditions of peace, they shall be equal and right. Ye shall depart from the land of the Samnites, and take away your colonies; and hereafter both Romans and Samnites shall live under their own laws. If these conditions please the Consuls, I will make a treaty with them; if they please them not, return not hither again." When this message was brought back there arose a general lamentation; for it seemed better to die than to suffer such disgrace. And when the Consuls knew not what to say, Lucius Lentulus, being first of the lieutenants, both in respect of valour and of the honours which he had received, then spake: "Consuls, I have often heard from my father that he only gave counsel to the Senate that they should not ransom their country for gold, and that he did this because the Gauls had not enclosed the capital, and that therefore they might sally forth, not indeed without danger, yet without certainty of destruction. I also would give like advice this day if we could come near our enemies to fight with them. But seeing this may not be, and that if this army be destroyed, Rome is destroyed with it (for how can an unarmed multitude defend it?) my counsel is that we accept these conditions. So shall we deliver our country, not indeed by our death, yet by our disgrace."
Thereupon the Consuls going to Pontius made with him, not indeed, a treaty, for such could not be made without the consent of the people and the ministry of the heralds, but a covenant, for which the Consuls, lieutenants, quaestors, and tribunes were made sureties. And because peace could not be confirmed forthwith it was agreed that six hundred horsemen should be given as hostages, who should suffer death if the covenant should not be fulfilled. But when the Consuls came back to the camp the grief in the camp broke out afresh, and the soldiers could scarcely be kept from doing them violence. "Your rashness," they cried, "brought us into this place, and through your cowardice we come out of it with disgrace. No guide had ye, nor sent scouts to explore, but went blindly, even as beasts fall into a pit. As for us, we have been overcome and yet have not suffered a wound or struck a blow." While they thus murmured the time came when they must endure this great disgrace. First they were bidden to come without the rampart, having no arms and one garment only for each man. Afterwards the hostages were given up and led away to prison. Then the lictors were commanded to leave the Consuls; and these had their soldiers cloaks taken from them, so that they who had just cursed them, crying out that they should be delivered to the torturers, now pitied them, turning their eyes away, and thinking not of their own condition for shame that the majesty of so high an office should be so brought low. First the Consuls were sent under the yoke, half naked, and after them the other officers, according to their rank, and lastly the soldiers according to their legions. The enemy stood about, mocking and reviling them; some they threatened with their swords, and others that seemed to bear themselves too proudly they wounded and even slew.