Thenceforward the battle seemed to be fought with a degree of force scarcely human. The Romans, on the loss of their general, a circumstance which, on other occasions, is wont to inspire terror, stopped their flight, and were anxious to begin the combat afresh. The Gauls, and especially the multitude which encircled the consul's body, as if deprived of reason, cast their javelins at random without execution, some became so stupid as not to think of either fighting or flying, while on the other side, Livius, the pontiff, to whom Decius had transferred his lictors, with orders to act as propraetor, cried out aloud, that "the Romans were victorious, being saved by the death of their consul. That the Gauls and Samnites were now the victims of mother Earth and the infernal gods. That Decius was summoning and dragging to himself the army devoted along with him, and that, among the enemy, all was full of dismay, and the vengeance of all the furies." While the soldiers were busy in restoring the fight, Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Caius Marcius, with some reserved troops from the rear, who had been sent by Quintus Fabius, the consul, to the support of his colleague, came up. There the fate of Decius is ascertained, a powerful stimulus to brave every danger in the cause of the public. Wherefore, when the Gauls stood in close order, with their shields formed into a fence before them, and but little prospect of success appeared from a close fight, the javelins, which lay scattered between the two lines, were, therefore, by order of the lieutenants-general, gathered up from the ground, and thrown against the enemy's shields, and as most of them pierced the fence, the long pointed ones even into their bodies, their compact band was overthrown in such a manner, that a great many, who were unhurt, yet fell as if thunderstruck. Such were the changes of fortune on the left wing of the Romans; on the right, Fabius had at first protracted the time, as we mentioned above, in slow operations, then, as soon as he perceived that neither the shout, nor the efforts of the enemy, nor the weapons which they threw, retained their former force, having ordered the commanders of the cavalry to lead round their squadrons to the flank of the Samnites, so that, on receiving the signal, they should charge them in flank, with all possible violence, he commanded, at the same time, his infantry to advance leisurely, and drive the enemy from their ground. When he saw that they were unable to make resistance, and that their exhaustion was certain, drawing together all his reserves, whom he had kept fresh for that occasion, he made a brisk push with the legions, and gave the cavalry the signal to charge. The Samnites could not support the shock, but fled precipitately to their camp, passing by the line of the Gauls, and leaving their allies to fight by themselves. These stood in close order under cover of their shields. Fabius, therefore, having heard of the death of his colleague, ordered the squadron of Campanian cavalry, in number about five hundred, to fall back from the ranks, and riding round, to attack the rear of the Gallic line, then the chief strength of the third legion to follow, with directions that wherever they should see the enemy's troops disordered by the charge, to follow the blow, and cut them to pieces, when in a state of consternation. After vowing a temple and the spoils of the enemy to Jupiter the Victorious, he proceeded to the camp of the Samnites, whither all their forces were hurrying in confusion. The gates not affording entrance to such very great numbers, those who were necessarily excluded, attempted resistance just at the foot of the rampart, and here fell Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite general. These, however, were soon driven within the rampart; the camp was taken after a slight resistance; and at the same time the Gauls were attacked on the rear, and overpowered. There were slain of the enemy on that day twenty-five thousand: eight thousand were taken prisoners. Nor was the victory an unbloody one; for, of the army of Publius Decius, the killed amounted to seven thousand; of the army of Fabius, to one thousand two hundred. Fabius, after sending persons to search for the body of his colleague, had the spoils of the enemy collected into a heap, and burned them as an offering to Jupiter the Victorious. The consul's body could not be found that day, being hid under a heap of slaughtered Gauls: on the following, it was discovered and brought to the camp, amidst abundance of tears shed by the soldiers. Fabius, discarding all concern about any other business, solemnized the obsequies of his colleague in the most honourable manner, passing on him the high encomiums which he had justly merited.
30
During the same period, matters were managed successfully by Cneius Fulvius, propraetor, he having, besides the immense losses occasioned to the enemy by the devastation of their lands, fought a battle with extraordinary success, in which there were above three thousand of the Perusians and Clusians slain, and twenty military standards taken. The Samnites, in their flight, passing through the Pelignian territory, were attacked on all sides by the Pelignians; and, out of five thousand, one thousand were killed. The glory of the day on which they fought at Sentinum was great, even when truly estimated; but some have gone beyond credibility by their exaggerations, who assert in their writings, that there were in the army of the enemy forty thousand three hundred and thirty foot, six thousand horse, and one thousand chariots, that is, including the Etrurians and Umbrians, who [they affirm] were present in the engagement: and, to magnify likewise the number of Roman forces, they add to the consuls another general, Lucius Volumnius, proconsul, and his army to the legions of the consul. In the greater number of annals, that victory is ascribed entirely to the two consuls. Volumnius was employed in the mean time in Samnium; he drove the army of the Samnites to Mount Tifernus, and, not deterred by the difficulty of the ground, routed and dispersed them. Quintus Fabius, leaving Decius's army in Etruria, and leading off his own legions to the city, triumphed over the Gauls, Etrurians, and Samnites: the soldiers attended him in his triumph. The victory of Quintus Fabius was not more highly celebrated, in their coarse military verses, than the illustrious death of Publius Decius; and the memory of the father was recalled, whose fame had been equalled by the praiseworthy conduct of the son, in respect of the issue which resulted both to himself and to the public. Out of the spoil, donations were made to the soldiers of eighty-two asses [[4]] to each, with cloaks and vests; rewards for service, in that age, by no means contemptible.
31
Notwithstanding these successes, peace was not yet established, either among the Samnites or Etrurians: for the latter, at the instigation of the Perusians, resumed their arms, after his army had been withdrawn by the consul; and the Samnites made predatory incursions on the territories of Vescia and Formiae; and also on the other side, on those of Aesernia, and the parts adjacent to the river Vulturnus. Against these was sent the praetor Appius Claudius, with the army formerly commanded by Decius. In Etruria, Fabius, on the revival of hostilities, slew four thousand five hundred of the Perusians, and took prisoners one thousand seven hundred and forty, who were ransomed at the rate of three hundred and ten asses [[5]] each. All the rest of the spoil was bestowed on the soldiers. The legions of the Samnites, though pursued, some by the praetor Appius Claudius, the others by Lucius Volumnius, proconsul, formed a junction in the country of the Stellatians. Here sat down the whole body of the Samnites; and Appius and Volumnius, with their forces united in one camp. A battle was fought with the most rancorous animosity, one party being spurred on by rage against men who had so often renewed their attacks on them, and the other now fighting in support of their last remaining hope. Accordingly, there were slain, of the Samnites, sixteen thousand three hundred, and two thousand and seven hundred made prisoners: of the Roman army fell two thousand and seven hundred. This year, so successful in the operations of war, was filled with distress at home, arising from a pestilence, and with anxiety, occasioned by prodigies: for accounts were received that, in many places, showers of earth had fallen; and that very many persons, in the army of Appius Claudius, had been struck by lightning; in consequence of which, the books were consulted. At this time, Quintus Fabius Gurges, the consul's son, having prosecuted some matrons before the people on a charge of adultery, built, with the money accruing from the fines which they were condemned to pay, the temple of Venus, which stands near the circus. Still we have the wars of the Samnites on our hands, notwithstanding that the relation of them has already extended, in one continued course, through four volumes of our history, and through a period of forty-six years, from the consulate of Marcus Valerius and Aulus Cornelius, who first carried the Roman arms into Samnium. And, not to recite the long train of disasters sustained by both nations, and the toils which they underwent, by which, however, their stubborn breasts could not be subdued; even in the course of the last year, the Samnites, with their own forces separately, and also in conjunction with those of other nations, had been defeated by four several armies, and four generals of the Romans, in the territory of Sentinum, in that of the Pelignians, at Tifernum, and in the plains of the Stellatians; had lost the general of the highest character in their nation; and, now, saw their allies in the war, the Etrurians, the Umbrians, and the Gauls, in the same situation with themselves; but, although they could now no longer stand, either by their own or by foreign resources, yet did they not desist from the prosecution of hostilities. So far were they from being weary of defending liberty, even though unsuccessfully: and they preferred being defeated to not aspiring after victory. Who does not find his patience tired, either in writing, or reading, of wars of such continuance; and which yet exhausted not the resolution of the parties concerned?
32
Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were succeeded in the consulship by Lucius Postumius Megellus and Marcus Atilius Regulus. The province of Samnium was decreed to both in conjunction; because intelligence had been received that the enemy had embodied three armies; with one that Etruria was to be recovered; with another the ravages in Campania were to be repeated; and the third was intended for the defence of their frontiers. Sickness detained Postumius at Rome, but Atilius set out immediately, with design to surprise the enemy in Samnium, before they should have advanced beyond their own borders; for such had been the directions of the senate. The Romans met the enemy, as if by mutual appointment, at a spot where, while they could be hindered, not only from ravaging, but even from entering the Samnite territory, they could likewise hinder the Samnites from continuing their progress into the countries which were quiet, and the lands of the allies of the Roman people. While their camps lay opposite to each other, the Samnites attempted an enterprise, which the Romans, so often their conquerors, would scarcely have ventured to undertake; such is the rashness inspired by extreme despair: this was to make an assault on the Roman camp. And although this attempt, so daring, succeeded not in its full extent, yet it was not without effect. There was a fog, which continued through a great part of the day, so thick as to exclude the light of the sun, and to prevent not only the view of any thing beyond the rampart, but scarcely the sight of each other, when they should meet. Depending on this, as a covering to the design, when the sun was scarcely yet risen, and the light which he did afford was obscured by the fog, the Samnites came up to an advanced guard of the Romans at one of the gates, who were standing carelessly on their post. In the sudden surprise, these had neither courage nor strength to make resistance: an assault was then made, through the Decuman gate, in the rear of the camp: the quaestor's quarters in consequence were taken, and the quaestor, Lucius Opimius Pansa, was there slain; on this a general alarm was given to take up arms.