4.39
As it was impossible to
check them in any direction, the Volscian commander
gave a signal for a passage to be opened for this
novel cohort of targeteers, until by the impetus of
their charge they should be cut off from the main
body. As soon as this happened, they were unable to
force their way back in the same directional they
had advanced, as the enemy had massed in the
greatest force there. When the consul and the Roman
legions no longer saw anywhere the men who had just
been the shield of the whole army, they endeavoured
at all risks to prevent so many brave fellows from
being surrounded and overwhelmed by the enemy. The
Volscians formed two fronts, in one direction they
met the attack of the consul and the legions, from
the opposite front they pressed upon Tempanius and
his troopers. As these latter after repeated
attempts found themselves unable to break through to
their main body, they took possession of some rising
ground, and forming a circle defended themselves,
not without inflicting losses on the enemy. The
battle did not terminate till nightfall. The consul
too kept the enemy engaged without any slackening of
the fight as long as any light remained. Night at
last put an end to he indecisive action, and through
ignorance as to the result such a panic seized each
of the camps that both armies, thinking themselves
defeated, left their wounded behind and the greater
part of their baggage and retired to the nearest
hills. The eminence, however, which Tempanius had
seized was surrounded till after midnight, when it
was announced to the enemy that their camp was
abandoned. Looking upon this as a proof that their
army was defeated, they fled in all directions
wherever their fears carried them in the darkness.
Tempanius, fearing a surprise, kept his men together
till daylight. Then he came down with a few of his
men to reconnoitre, and after ascertaining from the
enemies' wounded that the Volscian camp was
abandoned, he joyfully called his men down and made
his way to the Roman camp. Here he found a dreary
solitude; everything presented the same miserable
spectacle as in the enemies' camp. Before the
discovery of their mistake could bring the Volscians
back again, he collected all the wounded he could
carry with him, and as he did not know what
direction the Dictator had taken, proceeded by the
most direct road to the City.