2.59
None of this escaped the
notice of the Veientines, and they pressed on more
vigorously in the hope that the Roman army would
show the same spirit of disaffection towards Appius
which it had shown towards Fabius. But it was much
more violent towards Appius than it had been towards
Fabius, for the soldiers not only refused to
conquer, like the army of Fabius, but they wished to
be conquered. When led into action they broke into a
disgraceful flight and made for their camp, and
offered no resistance till they saw the Volscians
actually attacking their entrenchments and doing
frightful execution in their rear. Then they were
compelled to fight, in order that the victorious
enemy might be dislodged from their rampart; it was,
however, quite evident that the Roman soldiers only
fought to prevent the capture of the camp; otherwise
they rejoiced in their ignominious defeat. Appius'
determination was in no way weakened by this, but
when he was meditating more severe measures and
ordering an assembly of his troops, the officers of
his staff and the military tribunes gathered round
him and warned him on no account to try how far he
could stretch his authority, for its force wholly
depended upon the free consent of those who obeyed
it. They said that the soldiers as a body refused to
come to the assembly, and demands were heard on all
sides for the camp to be removed from the Volscian
territory; only a short time before the victorious
enemy had all but forced his way into the camp.
There were not only suspicions of a serious mutiny,
the evidence was before their eyes.
Appius yielded at last to their
remonstrances. He knew that they would gain nothing
but a delay of punishment, and consented to forego
the assembly. Orders were issued for an advance on
the morrow, and the trumpet gave the signal for
starting at dawn. When the army had got clear of the
camp and was forming in marching order, the
Volscians, aroused, apparently, by the same signal,
fell upon the rear. The confusion thus created
extended to the leading ranks, and set up such a
panic in the whole army that it was impossible for
either orders to be heard or a fighting line to be
formed. No one thought of anything but flight. They
made their way over heaps of bodies and arms in such
wild haste that the enemy gave up the pursuit before
the Romans abandoned their flight. At last, after
the consul had vainly endeavoured to follow up and
rally his men, the scattered troops were gradually
got together again, and he fixed his camp on
territory undisturbed by war. He called up the men
for an assembly, and after inveighing, with perfect
justice, against an army which had been false to
military discipline and had deserted its standards,
he asked them individually where the standards were,
where their arms were. The soldiers who had thrown
away their arms, the standard-bearers who had lost
their standards, and in addition to these the
centurions and duplicarii who had deserted their
ranks, he ordered to be scourged and beheaded. Of
the rank and file every tenth man was drawn by lot
for punishment.