Their ambassadors, being introduced into the senate, spoke as near as possible to this purport: "Conscript fathers, the Campanian state has sent us to you, to solicit from you friendship for ever, and present aid, which if we had solicited whilst our affairs were prosperous, as it would have commenced more readily, so would it have been bound by a weaker tie. For then, as we should have recollected that we entered into friendship on equal terms, we might be equally friendly as now, but less submissive and compliant with your wishes. Now, won over by your compassion for us, and defended by your aid in our critical circumstances, it is incumbent on us that we show our sense also of the kindness received; lest we should seem ungrateful, and undeserving of aid from either god or man. Nor, indeed, do I think that because the Samnites first became your allies and friends, such a circumstance is sufficient to prevent our being admitted into friendship; but merely shows that they excel us in priority and in the degree of honour; for no provision has been made in your treaty with the Samnites that you should not form any new treaties. It has ever been with you a sufficient title to your friendship, that he who sought it desired to be a friend of yours. We, Campanians, though our present state forbids us to speak in high terms, not yielding to any state save you in the extent of our city, or in the fertility of our land, come into friendship with you, no inconsiderable accession in my opinion to your flourishing condition. We shall be in the rear of the Æquans and Volscians, the eternal enemies of this city, whenever they may stir; and whatever ye shall be the first to perform in defence of our safety, the same shall we ever do in defence of your empire and glory. Those nations which lie between us and you being reduced, which both your bravery and good fortune makes it certain will soon be the case, you will then have an uninterrupted empire extending even to us. It is distressing and painful, what our condition obliges us to confess. Conscript fathers, matters are come to this, that we Campanians must be the property either of friends or enemies. If you defend us, yours; if you desert us, we shall be the property of the Samnites. Consider, then, whether you would rather that Capua and all Campania should be added to your power or to that of the Samnites. Romans, it is surely but just, that your compassion and your aid should lie open to all men; to those, however, chiefly, who, whilst they afford it beyond their means to others imploring aid, have themselves been involved in this distress. Although we fought nominally for the Sidicinians, in reality for ourselves, when we saw a neighbouring state assailed by the nefarious plunder of the Samnites; and after the Sidicinians had been consumed, we saw that the conflagration would pass over to ourselves. For the Samnites do not come to attack us, because they resent an injury received, but because they are glad that a pretext has been presented to them. If this were the gratification of their resentment, and not an occasion for satiating their ambition, was it not sufficient that they cut down our legions once in the Sidicinian territory, a second time in Campania itself? What sort of resentment must that be, which the blood shed in two pitched battles cannot satiate? To this add the laying waste of our lands; the spoil of men and cattle driven away, the burning and ruin of our country-houses, every thing destroyed by fire and sword. Could not resentment be satisfied with this? But ambition must be satiated. That hurries them on to besiege Capua. They either wish to destroy that most beautiful city, or to possess it themselves. But, Romans, do you take possession of it in your kindness, rather than suffer them to hold it by injustice. I am not addressing a people who decline just wars; but still, if you make but a show of your aid, I do not think that you will have occasion for war. The contempt of the Samnites has just reached to us; it soars not higher. Accordingly, Romans, we may be protected even by the shadow of your aid: whatever after this we shall possess, whatever we ourselves shall be, determined to consider all that as yours. For you the Campanian field shall be ploughed; for you the city of Capua shall be made populous; you shall be to us in the light of founders, parents, ay, even immortal gods. There shall be no colony of your own which shall surpass us in attachment and loyalty to you. Grant to the Campanians, conscript fathers, your nod, and your irresistible favour, and bid us hope that Capua will be safe. With what crowds of persons of all classes attending us do you suppose that we set out from thence—how, think you, did we leave every place full of vows and tears? In what a state of expectation do you suppose that the senate are, the Campanian nation, our wives and our children? I am certain that the entire multitude are standing at the gates, looking forward to the road that leads from hence, anxious as to what answer you may order us, conscript fathers, to bring back to them, in their solicitude and suspense of mind. One kind of answer may bring them safety, victory, light, and liberty—what the other may, I feel horror to think. Determine therefore about us, as about persons who will be your future friends and allies, or as persons who are to have no existence any where."
The ambassadors then withdrawing, after the senate had been consulted, though to a great many, their city the greatest and wealthiest in Italy, their land the most fertile, and situated near the sea, seemed likely to prove a granary to the Roman people for all varieties of provision; still the faith of their engagements was more regarded than such great advantages, and the consul, by the direction of the senate, answered as follows: "Campanians, the senate considers you deserving of aid. But it is meet that friendship be so established with you, that no prior friendship and alliance be violated. The Samnites are united in a treaty with us. Therefore we refuse you arms against the Samnites, which would be a violation of duty to the gods first, and then to men. We will, as divine and human law requires, send ambassadors to our allies and friends to entreat that no violence be committed against you?" To this the chief of the embassy replied, (for such were the instructions they had brought from home,) "Since you are not willing to defend by just force our possessions against violence and injustice, at least you will defend your own. Wherefore, conscript fathers, we surrender the Campanian people, and the city of Capua, their lands, the temples of the gods, all things divine and human, into your jurisdiction and that of the Roman people; whatever we shall suffer henceforth, being determined to suffer as men who have surrendered to you." On these words, all extending their hands towards the consuls, bathed in tears they fell prostrate in the porch of the senate-house. The fathers, affected at the vicissitude of human greatness, seeing that a nation abounding in wealth, noted for luxury and pride, from which a little time since their neighbours had solicited assistance, was now so broken in spirit, as to give up themselves and all they possessed into the power of others; moreover, their honour also seemed to be involved in not betraying those who had surrendered, nor did they consider that the people of the Samnites would act fairly, if they should attack a territory and a city which had become the property of the Roman people by a surrender. It was resolved therefore, that ambassadors should be sent forthwith to the Samnites; instructions were given "that they should lay before the Samnites the entreaties of the Campanians, the answer of the senate duly mindful of the friendship of the Samnites, and finally the surrender that had been concluded. That they requested, in consideration of the friendship and alliance subsisting between them, that they would spare their subjects; and that they would not carry hostilities into that territory which had become the property of the Roman people. If by gentle measures they did not succeed, that they should denounce to the Samnites in the name of the senate and Roman people, to withhold their arms from the city of Capua and the Campanian territory." When the ambassadors urged these matters in the assembly of the Samnites, so fierce an answer was returned, that they not only said that they would prosecute that war, but their magistrates, having gone out of the senate-house, in the very presence of the ambassadors, summoned the prefects of the cohorts; and with a distinct voice commanded them, to proceed forthwith into the Campanian territory, in order to plunder it.
The result of this embassy being reported at Rome, the care of all other concerns being laid aside, the senate, having despatched heralds to demand satisfaction, and, because this was not complied with, war being proclaimed in the usual way, they decreed that the matter should be submitted to the people at the very earliest opportunity; and both the consuls having set out from the city by order of the people with two armies, Valerius into Campania, Cornelius into Samnium, the former pitches his camp at Mount Gaurus, the latter at Saticula. The legions of the Samnites met with Valerius first; for they thought that the whole weight of the war would incline to that side. At the same time resentment stimulated them against the Campanians, that they should be so ready at one time to lend aid, at another to call in aid against them. But as soon as they beheld the Roman camp, they fiercely demanded the signal each from his leader; they maintained that the Roman would bring aid to the Campanian with the same fate with which the Campanian had done to the Sidicinian. Valerius, having delayed for a few days in slight skirmishes for the purpose of making trial of the enemy, displayed the signal for battle, exhorting his men in few words "not to let the new war or the new enemy terrify them. In proportion as they should carry their arms to a greater distance from the city, the more and more unwarlike should the nation prove to be against whom they should proceed. That they should not estimate the valour of the Samnites by the defeats of the Sidicinians and Campanians. Let the combatants be of what kind they may be, that it was necessary that one side should be vanquished. That as for the Campanians indeed, they were undoubtedly vanquished more by circumstances flowing from excessive luxury and by their own want of energy than by the bravery of the enemy. What were the two successful wars of the Samnites, during so many ages, against so many glorious exploits of the Roman people, who counted almost more triumphs than years since the building of their city? who held subdued by their arms all the states around them, the Sabines, Etruria, the Latins, Hernicians, Æquans, Volscians, Auruncans? who eventually drove by flight into the sea, and into their ships, the Gauls, after slaughtering them in so many engagements? That soldiers ought both to enter the field relying on their national military renown, and on their own valour, and also to consider under whose command and auspices the battle is to be fought; whether he be one which is to be listened to as a pompous exhorter, bold merely in words, unacquainted with military labours, or one who knows how to wield arms himself also, to advance before the standards, and to show himself in the midst of the danger. My acts, not my words merely, I wish you to follow; and to seek from me not military orders only, but example also. It was not by intrigues merely, nor by cabals usual among the nobles, but by this right hand, I procured for myself three consulships, and the highest eulogies. There was a time when this could be said; [no wonder,] for you were a patrician, and sprung from the liberators of your country; and that family of yours had the consulship the same year that the city had consuls. Now the consulship lies open in common to us patricians and to you plebeians; nor is it, as formerly, the prize of birth, but of valour. Look forward, therefore, soldiers, to even the highest honour. Though you, as men, have, with the approbation of the gods, given me this new surname of Corvus, the ancient surname of our family, Publicolæ, has not been erased from my memory. I ever do and ever have cultivated the good will of the Roman commons abroad and at home, as a private man and in public offices, high and low, as tribune equally as when consul, with the same undeviating line of conduct through all my successive consulships. Now, with respect to that which is at hand, with the aid of the gods, join with me in seeking a new and complete triumph over the Samnites."
Never was a general on a more familiar footing with his soldiers, by his performing all the duties among the lowest of the soldiers without reluctance. Moreover in the military sports, wherein equals vie with their equals in contests of swiftness and strength, affable and condescending, he conquered and was conquered with the same countenance; nor did he spurn any competitor who should offer; in his acts kind according to the occasion; in his conversation no less mindful of the ease of others than of his own dignity; and, a thing than which nothing is more agreeable to the people, he administered his offices by the same line of conduct by which he had gained them. The whole army therefore, cheering the exhortation of their leader with the utmost alacrity, march forth from the camp. The battle commenced with equal hopes and equal strength on both sides, as much as any battle ever did, with confidence in themselves, and without contempt of their enemies. Their recent exploits and their double victory a few days before, increased the spirits of the Samnites on the other side; the glories of four hundred years and victory coeval with the building of their city [had the same effect] on the Romans; to both sides, however, the circumstance of the enemy being a new one gave additional anxiety. The battle was a proof what spirits they possessed; for they maintained the conflict in such a manner, that, for a considerable time, the armies inclined to neither side. Then the consul, thinking that some confusion should be caused among them, since they could not be overpowered by force, endeavours to disorder their foremost battalions by a charge of cavalry. And when he saw them wheel their troops within a narrow compass in fruitless disorder, and that they could not open a passage to the enemy, riding back to the van of the legions, after leaping from his horse, he says, "Soldiers, this is the task for us infantry; come on, as ye shall see me making way with my sword, in whatever direction I shall advance into the enemy's line, so let each man, with all his might, beat down those who oppose him. All those places, where their erected spears now glitter, you shall see cleared by widely-extended slaughter." He had uttered these words, when the cavalry by order of the consul turn to the wings, and open a passage for the legions to the centre of the line. First of all, the consul attacks the enemy, and slays him whom he happened to engage. Those on the right and left, fired at this sight, commence a dreadful fight, each with the foe opposite him. The Samnites obstinately stand their ground, though they receive more wounds than they inflict. The battle had now lasted for a considerable time, great slaughter occurred around the standards of the Samnites; in no part was there a flight, so firmly had they made up their minds to be vanquished by death alone. Wherefore the Romans, when they perceived their strength to relax by fatigue, and but a small part of the day still remained, fired with fury, rush upon the enemy. Then for the first time it appeared that they were giving ground, and that the matter was inclining to a flight; then the Samnites were taken, some slain; nor would many have survived, had not night terminated the victory rather than the battle. Both the Romans confessed, that they had never fought with a more determined enemy; and the Samnites, on being asked what cause first drove them to fly after being so determined, said, that it was the eyes of the Romans which seemed to them to flash fire, and their distracted looks, and furious aspect; that more of terror arose from thence, than from any thing else. Which terror they confessed not only in the issue of the battle, but in their departure by night. Next day the Romans take possession of the deserted camp of the enemy, whither all the Campanians flocked to congratulate them.
But this joy was well nigh alloyed by a great loss sustained in Samnium. For the consul Cornelius, having set out from Saticula, incautiously led his army into a mountainous tract, passable through a deep defile, and beset on all sides by the enemy; nor did he perceive the enemy stationed over his head, until a retreat could no longer be made with safety. Whilst the Samnites delayed only till he should bring down his entire army into the valley; Publius Decius, a tribune of the soldiers, espies in the tract a hill higher than the rest, hanging over the enemies' camp, rather steep to be ascended by an encumbered army, not difficult for such as were lightly armed. He says therefore to the consul, greatly alarmed in mind, "Aulus Cornelius, do you perceive that elevated point above the enemy? That is the bulwark of our hope and safety, if we briskly gain possession of it, which the Samnites in their blindness have given up. Only give me the first rank and spearmen of one legion; when with these I shall have gained the summit, do you proceed hence free from all apprehension, and save yourself and the army. For the enemy, lying beneath us and [exposed thereby] to all our weapons, will not be able to stir without destruction to themselves. After that either the good fortune of the Roman people or our own bravery will extricate us." Being commanded by the consul, he received the body of men [required] and proceeds by secret paths through the mountain, nor was he observed by the enemy until he approached the place which he was making for. Then, whilst all were struck with astonishment, after he had attracted the eyes of all to himself, he both afforded the consul time to draw off his army to more advantageous ground, and he himself was posted on the top of the hill. The Samnites, whilst they march their forces now in this direction, now in that, having lost the opportunity of effecting either object, can neither pursue the consul, unless through the same defile in which they had him a little before exposed to their weapons, nor march up the rising ground over themselves, which had been seized on by Decius. But both their resentment stimulated them more against the latter, who had taken from them the favourable opportunity of achieving their object, and also the proximity of the place, and the paucity of the enemy; and one time they would fain surround the hill on all sides with armed men, so as to cut off Decius from the consul; at another time they wished to open a passage, so that they may fall on them when they had descended into the defile. Before they had determined on what they should do, night came on them. Decius at first entertained a hope, that he would have to engage them from the higher ground, as they ascended against the steep; then surprise took possession of him, that they neither commenced the fight, nor if they were deterred from that by the unevenness of the ground, that they did not surround him with works and a circumvallation. Then summoning the centurions to him, he said, "What ignorance of war and indolence is that? or how did such men obtain a victory over the Sidicinians and Campanians? You see that their battalions move to and fro, that sometimes they are collected to one spot, at other times they are drawn out. As for work, no one attempts it, when we might by this time have been surrounded with a rampart. Then indeed should we be like to them, if we delay longer here than is expedient. Come on, accompany me; that whilst some day light remains, we may ascertain in what places they put their guards, in what direction an escape may lie open from hence." All these points he carefully observed, clad in a soldier's vest, the centurions whom he took with him being also in the attire of common soldiers, lest the enemy might notice the general going the round.