9.41
Owing to
his splendid services in the subjugation of Etruria, the consulship of Fabius
was extended to another year, Decius being his colleague. Valerius was
elected praetor for the fourth time. The consuls arranged their respective
commands; Etruria fell to Decius, and Samnium to Fabius. Fabius marched
to Nuceria, where the people of Alfaterna met him with a request for peace,
but as they had refused it when offered to them before, he declined to grant
it now. It was not till he actually began to attack the place that they were
forced into unconditional surrender. He fought an action with the Samnites
and won an easy victory. The memory of that battle would not have survived
if it had not been that the Marsi engaged for the first time on that occasion in
hostilities with Rome. The Peligni, who had followed the example of the
Marsi, met with the same fate. The other consul, Decius, was also
successful. He inspired such alarm in Tarquinii that its people provided his
army with corn and asked for a forty years' truce. He captured several
fortified posts belonging to Volsinii, some of which he destroyed that they
might not serve as retreats for the enemy, and by extending his operations in
all directions he made his name so dreaded that the whole Etruscan league
begged him to grant a treaty. There was not the slightest chance of their
obtaining one, but a truce was granted them for one year. They had to
provide a year's pay for the troops and two tunics for every soldier. That was
the price of the truce.
While matters were thus quieted in Etruria fresh trouble was caused
by the sudden defection of the Umbrians, a people hitherto untouched by the
ravages of war beyond what their land had suffered from the passage of the
Romans. They called out all their fighting men and compelled a large section
of the Etruscan population to resume hostilities. The army which they
mustered was so large that they began to talk in very braggart tones about
themselves and in very contemptuous terms about the Romans. They even
expressed their intention of leaving Decius in their rear and marching straight
to attack Rome. Their intentions were disclosed to Decius; he at once
hastened by forced marches to a city outside the frontiers of Etruria and took
up a position in the territory of Pupinia, to watch the enemy's movements.
This hostile movement on the part of the Umbrians was regarded very
seriously in Rome, even their menacing language made people, after their
experience of the Gaulish invasion, tremble for the safety of their City.
Instructions were accordingly sent to Fabius, ordering him, if he could for
the time being suspend operations in Samnium, to march with all speed into
Umbria. The consul at once acted upon his instructions and proceeded by
forced marches to Mevania, where the forces of the Umbrians were
stationed. They were under the impression that he was far away in Samnium,
with another war on his hands, and his sudden arrival produced such
consternation amongst them, that some advised a retreat into their fortified
cities, while others were in favour of abandoning the war. There was one
canton -the natives call it Materina -which not only kept the rest under
arms but even induced them to come to an immediate engagement. They
attacked Fabius while he was fortifying his camp. When he saw them making
a rush towards his entrenchments he called his men off from their work and
marshalled them in the best order that the ground and the time at his disposal
allowed. He reminded them of the glory they had won in Etruria and in
Samnium, and bade them finish off this wretched aftergrowth of the Etruscan
war and exact a fitting retribution for the impious language in which the
enemy had threatened to attack Rome. His words were received with such
eagerness by his men that their enthusiastic shouts interrupted their
commander's address, and without waiting for the word of command or the
notes of the trumpets and bugles they raced forward against the enemy. They
did not attack them as though they were armed men; marvellous to relate,
they began by snatching the standards from those who bore them, then the
standard-bearers were themselves dragged off to the consul, the soldiers
were pulled across from the one army to the other, the action was
everywhere fought with shields rather than with swords, men were knocked
down by the bosses of shields and blows under the arm-pits. More were
captured than killed, and only one cry was heard throughout the ranks: "Lay
down your arms!" So, on the field of battle, the prime authors of the war
surrendered. During the next few days the rest of the Umbrian communities
submitted. The Ocriculans entered into a mutual undertaking with Rome and
were admitted to her friendship.