2.47
Whilst the battle was
restored in one direction, the consul Cn. Manlius
was showing no less energy on the other wing, where
the fortunes of the day took a similar turn. For,
like Q. Fabius on the other wing, the consul Manlius
was here driving the enemy before him and his
soldiers were following up with great vigour, when
he was seriously wounded and retired from the front.
Thinking that he was killed, they fell back, and
would have abandoned their ground had not the other
consul ridden up at full gallop with some troops of
cavalry, and, crying out that his colleague was
alive and that he had himself routed the other wing
of the enemy, succeeded in checking the retreat.
Manlius also showed himself amongst them, to rally
his men. The well-known voices of the two consuls
gave the soldiers fresh courage. At the same time
the enemies' line was now weakened, for, trusting to
their superiority in numbers, they had detached
their reserves and sent them to storm the camp.
These met with but slight resistance, and whilst
they were wasting time by thinking more about
plundering than about fighting, the Roman triarii,
who had been unable to withstand the first assault,
despatched messengers to the consul to tell him the
position of affairs, and then, retiring in close
order to the headquarters tent, renewed the fighting
without waiting for orders. The consul Manlius had
ridden back to the camp and posted troops at all the
gates to block the enemies' escape. The desperate
situation roused the Tuscans to madness rather than
courage; they rushed in every direction where there
seemed any hope of escape, and for some time their
efforts were fruitless.
At last a compact body of young soldiers made
an attack on the consul himself, conspicuous from
his arms. The first weapons were intercepted by
those who stood round him, but the violence of the
onset could not long be withstood. The consul fell
mortally wounded and all around him were scattered.
The Tuscans were encouraged, the Romans fled in
panic through the length of the camp, and matters
would have come to extremities had not the members
of the consul's staff hurriedly taken up his body
and opened a way for the enemy through one gate.
They burst through it, and in a confused mass fell
in with the other consul who had won the battle;
here they were again cut to pieces and scattered in
all directions. A glorious victory was won, though
saddened by the death of two illustrious men. The
senate decreed a triumph, but the consul replied
that if the army could celebrate a triumph without
its commander, he would gladly allow them to do so
in return for their splendid service in the war. But
as his family were in mourning for his brother,
Quintus Fabius, and the State had suffered partial
bereavement through the loss of one of its consuls,
he could not accept laurels for himself which were
blighted by public and private grief. The triumph he
declined was more brilliant than any actually
celebrated, so much does glory laid by for the
moment return sometimes with added splendour.
Afterwards he conducted the obsequies of his
colleague and his brother, and pronounced the
funeral oration over each. The greatest share of the
praise which he conceded to them rested upon
himself. He had not lost sight of the object which
he set before him at the beginning of his
consulship, the conciliation of the plebs. To
further this, he distributed amongst the patricians
the care of the wounded. The Fabii took charge of a
large number, and nowhere was greater care showed
them. From this time they began to be popular; their
popularity was won by no methods which were
inconsistent with the welfare of the State.