4.17
During their magistracy
Fidenae, where a body of Romans were settled,
revolted to Lars Tolumnius, king of the Veientines.
The revolt was made worse by a crime. C. Fulcinius,
Cloelius Tullus, Sp. Antius, and L. Roscius, who
were sent as envoys to ascertain the reasons for
this change of policy, were murdered by order of
Tolumnius. Some try to exculpate the king by
alleging that whilst playing at dice he made a lucky
throw and used an ambiguous expression which might
be taken to be an order for death, and that the
Fidenates took it so, and this was the reason of the
death of the envoys. This is incredible; it is
impossible to believe that when the Fidenates, his
new allies, came to consult him as to committing a
murder in defiance of the law of nations, he should
not have turned his thoughts from the game, or
should afterwards have imputed the crime to a
misunderstanding. It is much more probable that he
wished the Fidenates to be implicated in such an
awful crime in order to make it impossible for them
to hope for any reconciliation with Rome. The
statues of the murdered envoys were set up in the
Rostra. Owing to the proximity of the Veientines and
Fidenates, and still more to the heinous crime with
which they began the war, the struggle threatened to
be a desperate one. Anxiety for the national safety
kept the plebs quiet, and their tribunes raised no
difficulties in the election of M. Geganius
Macerinus as consul for the third time, and L.
Sergius Fidenas, who, I believe, was so called from
the war which he afterwards conducted. He was the
first who fought a successful action with the king
of Veii on this side of the Anio. The victory he
gained was by no means a bloodless one; there was
more mourning for their countrymen who were lost
than joy over the defeat of the enemy. Owing to the
critical aspect of affairs, the senate ordered
Mamercus Aemilius to be proclaimed Dictator. He
chose as his Master of the Horse L. Quinctius
Cincinnatus, who had been his colleague in the
college of consular tribunes the previous year, a
young man worthy of his father. To the force levied
by the consuls were added a number of war-seasoned
veteran centurions, to fill up the number of those
lost in the late battle. The Dictator ordered
Quinctius Capitolinus and M. Fabius Vibulanus to
accompany him as seconds in command. The higher
power of the Dictator, wielded by a man quite equal
to it, dislodged the enemy from Roman territory and
sent him across the Anio. He occupied the line of
hills between Fidenae and the Anio, where he
entrenched himself, and did not go down into the
plains until the legions of Falerii had come to his
support. Then the camp of the Etruscans was formed
in front of the walls of Fidenae. The Roman Dictator
chose a position not far from them at the junction
of the Anio and the Tiber, and extended his lines as
far as possible from the one river to the other. The
next day he led his men out to battle.