4.61
These tribunes were T.
Quinctius Capitolinus, Q. Quinctius Cincinnatus, C.
Julius Julus -for the second time -Aulus Manlius,
L. Furius Medullinus -or the third time -and
Manius Aemilius Mamercus. It was by them that Veii
was first invested. Immediately after the siege had
commenced, a largely-attended meeting of the
national council of the Etruscans was held at the
fane of Voltumna, but no decision was arrived at as
to whether the Veientines should be defended by the
armed strength of the whole nation. The following
year the siege was prosecuted with less vigour owing
to some of the tribunes and a portion of the army
being called off to the Volscian war. The consular
tribunes for the year were C. Valerius Potitus -for
the third time -Manius Sergius Fidenas, P.
Cornelius Maluginensis, Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus,
Kaeso Fabius Ambustus, and Spurius Nautius Rutilus -for the second time. A pitched battle was fought
with the Volscians between Ferentinum and Ecetrae,
which resulted in favour of the Romans. Then the
tribunes commenced the siege of Artena, a Volscian
town. In attempting a sortie the enemy were driven
back into the town, giving thereby an opportunity to
the Romans of forcing an entrance, and with the
exception of the citadel the whole place was
captured. A body of the enemy retired into the
citadel, which was protected by the nature of its
position; below the citadel many were killed or
taken prisoners. The citadel was then invested, but
it could not be taken by assault as the defenders
were quite sufficient for the extent of the
fortifications, nor was there any hope of its
surrendering, as all the corn from the public
magazines had been conveyed there before the city
was taken. The Romans would have retired in disgust
had not a slave betrayed the place to them. The
soldiers, guided by him up some steep ground,
effected its capture, and after they had massacred
those on guard, the rest, panic-struck, surrendered.
After the town and citadel had been demolished, the
legions were withdrawn from Volscian territory and
the whole strength of Rome was directed against
Veii. The traitor was rewarded not only with his
freedom, but also with the property of two
households, and was called Servius Romanus. Some
suppose that Artena belonged to the Veientines, not
the Volscians. The mistake arises from the fact that
there was a city of the same name between Caere and
Veii, but it was destroyed in the time of the kings
of Rome, and it belonged to Caere, not Veii. The
other town of the same name whose destruction I have
mentioned was in the Volscian territory.
End of Book 4