Livy's History of Rome: Book 7:
Frontier Wars -(366 -341 B.C.)
7.1
This year will be
noteworthy for the first consulship held by a plebeian, and also for two new
magistracies, the praetorship and the curule aedileship. These offices the
patricians created in their own interest as an equivalent for their concession
of one consulship to the plebs, who bestowed it on L. Sextius, the man who
had secured it for them. The patricians secured the praetorship for Sp.
Furius, the son of old Camillus, and the two aedileships for Gnaeus
Quinctius Capitolinus and P. Cornelius Scipio, members of their own order.
L. Aemilius Mamercus was elected from the patricians as colleague to L.
Sextius. The main themes of discussion at the beginning of the year were the
Gauls, about whom it was rumoured that after wandering by various routes
through Apulia they had reunited their forces and the Hernici, who were
reported to have revolted. All preparations were deferred with the sole
purpose of preventing any action from being taken by the plebeian consul;
everything was quiet and silent in the City, as though a suspension of all
business had been proclaimed, with the one exception of the tribunes of the
plebs. They did not silently submit to the procedure of the nobility in
appropriating to themselves three patrician magistrates, sitting in curule
chairs and clothed in the praetexta like consuls, as a set-off against one
plebeian consul -the praetor even administering justice, as though he were a
colleague of the consuls and elected under the same auspices. The senate felt
somewhat ashamed of their resolution by which they had limited the curule
aediles to their own order; it had been agreed that they should be elected in
alternate years from the plebs; afterwards it was left open.
The consuls for the following year were L. Genucius and Q.
Servilius. Matters were quiet as regarded domestic troubles or foreign wars,
but, lest there should be too great a feeling of security, a pestilence broke
out. It is asserted that one of the censors, one of the curule aediles, and three
tribunes of the plebs fell victims, and in the population generally there was a
corresponding proportion of deaths. The most illustrious victim was M. F.
Camillus, whose death, though occurring in ripe old age, was bitterly
lamented. He was, it may be truly said, an exceptional man in every change
of fortune; before he went into exile foremost in peace and war, rendered
still more illustrious when actually in exile by the regret which the State felt
for his loss, and the eagerness with which after its capture it implored his
assistance, and quite as much so by the success with which, after being
restored to his country, he restored his country's fortunes together with his
own. For five-and-twenty years after this he lived fully up to his reputation,
and was counted worthy to be named next to Romulus, as the second
founder of the City.
7.2
The
pestilence lasted into the following year. The new consuls were C. Sulpicius
Peticus and C. Licinius Stolo. Nothing worth mentioning took place, except
that in order to secure the peace of the gods a lectisternium was instituted,
the third since the foundation of the City. But the violence of the epidemic
was not alleviated by any aid from either men or gods, and it is asserted that
as men's minds were completely overcome by superstitious terrors they
introduced, amongst other attempts to placate the wrath of heaven, scenic
representations, a novelty to a nation of warriors who had hitherto only had
the games of the Circus. They began, however, in a small way, as nearly
everything does, and small as they were, they were borrowed from abroad.
The players were sent for from Etruria; there were no words, no mimetic
action; they danced to the measures of the flute and practiced graceful
movements in Tuscan fashion. Afterwards the young men began to imitate
them, exercising their wit on each other in burlesque verses, and suiting their
action to their words. This became an established diversion, and was kept up
by frequent practice. The Tuscan word for an actor is istrio, and so the
native performers were called histriones. These did not, as in former times,
throw out rough extempore effusions like the Fescennine verse, but they
chanted satyrical verses quite metrically arranged and adapted to the notes of
the flute, and these they accompanied with appropriate movements. Several
years later Livius for the first time abandoned the loose satyrical verses and
ventured to compose a play with a coherent plot. Like all his
contemporaries, he acted in his own plays, and it is said that when he had
worn out his voice by repeated recalls he begged leave to place a second
player in front of the flutist to sing the monologue while he did the acting,
with all the more energy because his voice no longer embarrassed him. Then
the practice commenced of the chanter following the movements of the
actors, the dialogue alone being left to their voices. When, by adopting this
method in the presentation of pieces, the old farce and loose jesting was
given up and the play became a work of art, the young people left the regular
acting to the professional players and began to improvise comic verses.
These were subsequently known as exodia (after-pieces), and were mostly
worked up into the "Atellane Plays." These farces were of Oscan origin, and
were kept by the young men in their own hands; they would not allow them
to be polluted by the regular actors. Hence it is a standing rule that those
who take part in the Atellanae are not deprived of their civic standing, and
serve in the army as being in no way connected with the regular acting.
Amongst the things which have arisen from small beginnings, the origin of
the stage ought to be put foremost, seeing that what was at first healthy and
innocent has grown into a mad extravagance that even wealthy kingdoms
can hardly support.
7.3
However,
the first introduction of plays, though intended as a means of religious
expiation, did not relieve the mind from religious terrors nor the body from
the inroads of disease. Owing to an inundation of the Tiber, the Circus was
flooded in the middle of the Games, and this produced an unspeakable dread;
it seemed as though the gods had turned their faces from men and despised
all that was done to propitiate their wrath. C. Genucius and L. Aemilius
Mamercus were the new consuls, each for the second time. The fruitless
search for effective means of propitiation was affecting the minds of the
people more than disease was affecting their bodies. It is said to have been
discovered that the older men remembered that a pestilence had once been
assuaged by the Dictator driving in a nail. The senate believed this to be a
religious obligation, and ordered a Dictator to be nominated for that
purpose. L. Manlius Imperiosus was nominated, and he appointed L.
Pinarius as his Master of the Horse. There is an ancient instruction written in
archaic letters which runs: Let him who is the praetor maximus fasten a nail
on the Ides of September. This notice was fastened up on the right side of
the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, next to the chapel of Minerva. This
nail is said to have marked the number of the year -written records being
scarce in those days -and was for that reason placed under the protection of
Minerva because she was the inventor of numbers. Cincius, a careful student
of monuments of this kind, asserts that at Volsinii also nails were fastened in
the temple of Nortia, an Etruscan goddess, to indicate the number of the
year. It was in accordance with this direction that the consul Horatius
dedicated the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the year following the
expulsion of the kings; from the consuls the ceremony of fastening the nails
passed to the Dictators, because they possessed greater authority. As the
custom had been subsequently dropped, it was felt to be of sufficient
importance to require the appointment of a Dictator. L. Manlius was
accordingly nominated, but, regarding his appointment as due to political
rather than to religious reasons and eager to command in the war with the
Hernici, he caused a very angry feeling among the men liable to serve by the
inconsiderate way in which he conducted the enrolment. At last, in
consequence of the unanimous resistance offered by the tribunes of the
plebs, he gave way, either voluntarily or through compulsion, and laid down
his Dictatorship.
7.4
This did
not, however, prevent his impeachment the following year, when Q. Servilius
Ahala and L. Genucius were consuls, the prosecutor being M. Pomponius,
one of the tribunes of the plebs. He had incurred universal hatred through the
unfeeling severity with which he had carried out the enlistment; the citizens
had not only been fined, but subjected to personal ill-treatment, some
scourged and others imprisoned because they had not answered to their
names. But what men most loathed was his brutal temperament, and the
epithet "Imperiosus " (masterful) which had been fastened on him from his
unblushing cruelty, an epithet utterly repugnant to a free State. The effects of
his cruelty were felt quite as much by his nearest kindred, by his own blood,
as by strangers. Amongst other charges which the tribune brought against
him was his treatment of his young son. It was alleged that although guilty of
no offence he had banished him from the City, from his home and household
gods, had forbidden him to appear in public in the Forum or to associate
with those of his own age, and had consigned him to servile work, almost to
the imprisonment of a workshop. Here the youth, of high birth, the son of a
Dictator, was to learn by daily suffering how rightly his father was called
"Imperiosus." And for what offence? Simply because he was lacking in
eloquence, in readiness of speech! Ought not this natural defect to have been
helped and remedied by the father, if there were a spark of humanity in him,
instead of being punished and branded by persecution? Not even do brute
beasts show less care and protection to their offspring if they happen to be
sickly or deformed. But L. Manlius actually aggravated his son's misfortune
by fresh misfortunes, and increased his natural dullness and quenched any
faint glimmerings of ability which he might have shown by the clodhopper's
life to which he was condemned and the boorish bringing up amongst cattle
to which he had to submit.
The youth himself was the last to be exasperated by these
accusations brought against his father. On the contrary, he was so indignant
at finding himself made the ground of the charges against his father and the
deep resentment they created that he was determined to let gods and men
see that he preferred standing by his father to helping his enemies. He formed
a project which, though natural to an ignorant rustic and no precedent for an
ordinary citizen to follow, still afforded a laudable example of filial affection.
Arming himself with a knife, he went off early in the morning, without any
one's knowledge, to the City, and once inside the gates proceeded straight to
the house of M. Pomponius. He informed the porter that it was necessary for
him to see his master at once, and announced himself as T. Manlius, the son
of Lucius. Pomponius imagined that he was either bringing some matter for a
fresh charge, to revenge himself on his father, or was going to offer some
advice as to the management of the prosecution. After mutual salutations, he
informed Pomponius that he wished the business in hand to be transacted in
the absence of witnesses. After all present had been ordered to withdraw, he
grasped his knife and standing over the tribune's bed and pointing the
weapon towards him, threatened to plunge it into him at once unless he took
the oath which he was going to dictate to him, "That he would never hold an
Assembly of the plebs for the prosecution of his father." The tribune was
terrified, for he saw the steel glittering before his eyes, while he was alone
and defenceless, in the presence of a youth of exceptional strength, and what
was worse, prepared to use that strength with savage ferocity. He took the
required oath and publicly announced that, yielding to violence, he had
abandoned his original purpose. The plebs would certainly have been glad of
the opportunity of passing sentence on such an insolent and cruel offender,
but they were not displeased at the son's daring deed in defence of his parent,
which was all the more meritorious because it showed that his father's
brutality had not in any way weakened his natural affection and sense of
duty. Not only was the prosecution of the father dropped, but the incident
proved the means of distinction for the son. That year, for the first time, the
military tribunes were elected by the popular vote; previously they had been
nominated by the commander-in-chief, as is the case now with those who are
called Rufuli. This youth obtained the second out of six places, though he
had done nothing at home or in the field to make him popular, having passed
his youth in the country far from city life.
7.5
In this year,
owing either to an earthquake or the action of some other force, the middle
of the Forum fell in to an immense depth, presenting the appearance of an
enormous cavern. Though all worked their hardest at throwing earth in, they
were unable to fill up the gulf, until at the bidding of the gods inquiry was
made as to what that was in which the strength of Rome lay. For this, the
seers declared, must be sacrificed on that spot if men wished the Roman
republic to be eternal. The story goes on that M. Curtius, a youth
distinguished in war, indignantly asked those who were in doubt what
answer to give, whether anything that Rome possessed was more precious
than the arms and velour of her sons. As those around stood silent, he
looked up to the Capitol and to the temples of the immortal gods which
looked down on the Forum, and stretching out his hands first towards
heaven and then to the yawning chasm beneath, devoted himself to the gods
below. Then mounting his horse, which had been caparisoned as
magnificently as possible, he leaped in full armour into the cavern. Gifts and
offerings of fruits of the earth were flung in after him by crowds of men and
women. It was from this incident that the designation "The Curtian Gulf"
originated, and not from that old-world soldier of Titius Tatius, Curtius
Mettius. If any path would lead an inquirer to the truth, we should not shrink
from the labour of investigation; as it is, on a matter where antiquity makes
certainty impossible we must adhere to the legend which supplies the more
famous derivation of the name.
7.6
After this
appalling portent had been duly expiated, the deliberations of the senate were
concerned with the Hernici. The mission of the Fetials who had been sent to
demand satisfaction proved to be fruitless; the senate accordingly decided to
submit to the people at the earliest possible day the question of declaring war
against the Hernici. The people in a crowded Assembly voted for war. Its
conduct fell by lot to L. Genucius. As he was the first plebeian consul to
manage a war under his own auspices the State awaited the issue with keen
interest, prepared to look upon the policy of admitting plebeians to the
highest offices of state as wise or unwise according to the way matters
turned out. As chance would have it, Genucius, whilst making a vigorous
attack upon the enemy, fell into an ambush, the legions were taken by
surprise and routed, and the consul was surrounded and killed without the
enemy being aware who their victim was. When the report of the occurrence
reached Rome, the patricians were not so much distressed at the disaster
which had befallen the commonwealth as they were exultant over the
unfortunate generalship of the consul. Everywhere they were taunting the
plebeians: "Go on! Elect your consuls from the plebs, transfer the auspices to
those for whom it is an impiety to possess them! The voice of the plebs may
expel the patricians from their rightful honours, but has your law, which
pollutes the auspices, any force against the immortal gods? They have
themselves vindicated their will as expressed through the auspices, for no
sooner have these been profaned by one who took them against all divine
and human law than the army and its general have been wiped out as a lesson
to you not to conduct the elections to the confusion of all the rights of the
patrician houses." The Senate-house and the Forum alike were resounding
with these protests. Appius Claudius, who had led the opposition to the law,
spoke with more weight than ever while he denounced the result of a policy
which he had severely censured, and the consul Servilius, with the
unanimous approval of the patricians, nominated him Dictator. Orders were
issued for an immediate enrolment and the suspension of all business.
7.7
After
Genucius had fallen, C. Sulpicius had assumed the command, and before the
arrival of the Dictator and the newly-raised legions, he distinguished himself
by a smart action. The death of the consul had led the Hernici to think very
lightly of the Roman arms, and they surrounded the Roman camp fully
expecting to carry it by assault. The defenders, encouraged by their general
and burning with rage and indignation at their recent defeat, made a sortie,
and not only destroyed any hopes the Hernici had of forcing the
entrenchment but created such disorder amongst them that they precipitately
retreated. By the arrival of the Dictator and the junction of the old and
newly-raised legions, their strength was doubled. In the presence of the
entire force, the Dictator commended Sulpicius and the men who had so
gallantly defended the camp, and whilst he raised the courage of those who
listened to the praise which they so well deserved, he at the same time made
the rest all the keener to emulate them. The enemy showed no less energy in
preparing for a renewal of the struggle. Aware of the increase in the strength
of their enemy, and animated by the thought of their recent victory, they
called every man in the Hernican nation who could bear arms. Eight cohorts
were formed of four hundred men each, who had been carefully selected.
These, the picked flower of their manhood, were full of hope and courage,
and they were further encouraged by a decree which had been passed to
allow them double pay. They were exempt from all fatigue duty, in order
that they might devote themselves more than the rest of the troops to the one
duty reserved for them -that of fighting. In order to make their courage
more conspicuous they occupied a special position in the fighting line. The
Roman camp was separated from the Hernican by a plain two miles broad. In
the middle of this plain, almost equally distant from both camps, the battle
took place. For some time neither side gained any advantage, though the
Roman cavalry made frequent attempts to break the enemy's line. When they
found that the effect produced was much feebler than the efforts they made,
they obtained the Dictator's permission to abandon their horses and fight on
foot. They raised a loud cheer and commenced a novel kind of fighting by
charging as infantry. Their onset would have been irresistible had not the
special cohorts of the enemy opposed them with a strength and courage
equal to their own.
7.8
Then the
struggle was kept up by the foremost men of each nation. Whatever losses
the common chances of battle inflicted on each side were many times greater
than could have been expected from their numbers. The rest of the soldiers
stood like a crowd of spectators, leaving the fighting to their chiefs as if it
were their special privilege, and placing all their hopes of victory on the
courage of others. Many fell on both sides, still more were wounded. At
length the cavalry began to ask each other somewhat bitterly, "What was left
for them to do if after failing to repulse the enemy when mounted they could
make no impression on them whilst fighting on foot. What third mode of
fighting were they looking for? Why had they dashed forward so eagerly in
front of the standards to fight in a position which was not their proper one?
"Urged on by these mutual reproaches, they raised their battle shout again
and pressed forward. Slowly they compelled the enemy to give ground, then
they drove them back more rapidly, and at last fairly routed them. It is not
easy to say what gave the advantage where the two sides were so evenly
matched, unless it be that the Fortune which ever watches over each nation
had the power to raise and to depress their courage. The Romans followed
up the fleeing Hernici as far as their camp; but they abstained from attacking
it, as it was late in the day. They offered sacrifices the next morning for a
long time without obtaining any favourable omen, and this prevented the
Dictator from giving the signal for attack before noon; the fight consequently
went on into the night. The next day they found the camp abandoned; the
Hernici had fled and left some of their wounded behind. The people of
Signium saw the main body of the fugitives streaming past their walls with
their standards few and far between, and sallying out to attack them they
scattered them in headlong flight over the fields. The victory was anything
but a bloodless one for the Romans; they lost a quarter of their whole force,
and by no means the smallest loss fell on the cavalry, a considerable number
of whom perished.
7.9
The consuls
for the following year were C. Sulpicius and C. Licinius Calvus. They
resumed operations against the Hernici and invaded their territory, but did
not find the enemy in the open. They attacked and captured Ferentinum, a
Hernican City; but as they were returning home the Tiburtines closed their
gates against them. There had previously been numerous complaints made
on both sides, but this last provocation finally decided the Romans, in case
the Fetials failed to get redress, to declare war against the Tiburtines. It is
generally understood that T. Quinctius Pennus was the Dictator and Ser.
Cornelius Maluginensis the Master of the Horse. According to Licinius
Macer, the Dictator was nominated by the consul Licinius. His colleague,
Sulpicius, was anxious to get the elections over before he departed for the
war, in the hope of being himself re-elected, if he were on the spot, and
Licinius determined to thwart his colleague's self-seeking ambition. Licinius
Macer's desire to appropriate the credit of this to his house (the Licinii)
lessens the weight of his authority. As I find no mention of this in the older
annalists, I am more inclined to believe that it was the prospect of a Gaulish
war which was the immediate cause why a Dictator was nominated. At all
events it was in this year that the Gauls formed their camp by the Salarian
road, three miles from the City at the bridge across the Anio. In face of this
sudden and alarming inroad the Dictator proclaimed a suspension of all
business, and made every man who was liable to serve take the military oath.
He marched out of the City with an immense army and fixed his camp on this
side the Anio. Each side had left the bridge between them intact, as its
destruction might have been thought due to fears of an attack. There were
frequent skirmishes for the possession of the bridge; as these were
indecisive, the question was left unsettled. A Gaul of extraordinary stature
strode forward on to the unoccupied bridge, and shouting as loudly as he
could, cried: "Let the bravest man that Rome possesses come out and fight
me, that we two may decide which people is the superior in war."
7.10
A long
silence followed. The best and bravest of the Romans made no sign; they felt
ashamed of appearing to decline the challenge, and yet they were reluctant to
expose themselves to such terrible danger. Thereupon T. Manlius, the youth
who had protected his father from the persecution of the tribune, left his post
and went to the Dictator. "Without your orders, General," he said, "I will
never leave my post to fight, no, not even if I saw that victory was certain;
but if you give me permission I want to show that monster as he stalks so
proudly in front of their lines that I am a scion of that family which hurled
the troop of Gauls from the Tarpeian rock." Then the Dictator: "Success to
your courage, T. Manlius, and to your affection for your father and your
fatherland! Go, and with the help of the gods show that the name of Rome is
invincible." Then his comrades fastened on his armour; he took an infantry
shield and a Spanish sword as better adapted for close fighting; thus armed
and equipped they led him forward against the Gaul, who was exulting in his
brute strength, and even -the ancients thought this worth recording -putting
his tongue out in derision. They retired to their posts and the two armed
champions were left alone in the midst, more after the manner of a scene on
the stage than under the conditions of serious war, and to those who judged
by appearances, by no means equally matched. The one was a creature of
enormous bulk, resplendent in a many-coloured coat and wearing painted
and gilded armour; the other a man of average height, and his arms, useful
rather than ornamental, gave him quite an ordinary appearance. There was
no singing of war-songs, no prancing about, no silly brandishing of weapons.
With a breast full of courage and silent wrath Manlius reserved all his
ferocity for the actual moment of conflict. When they had taken their stand
between the two armies, while so many hearts around them were in suspense
between hope and fear, the Gaul, like a great overhanging mass, held out his
shield on his left arm to meet his adversary's blows and aimed a tremendous
cut downwards with his sword. The Roman evaded the blow, and pushing
aside the bottom of the Gaul's shield with his own, he slipped under it close
up to the Gaul, too near for him to get at him with his sword. Then turning
the point of his blade upwards, he gave two rapid thrusts in succession and
stabbed the Gaul in the belly and the groin, laying his enemy prostrate over a
large extent of ground. He left the body of his fallen foe undespoiled with the
exception of his chain, which though smeared with blood he placed round his
own neck. Astonishment and fear kept the Gauls motionless; the Romans ran
eagerly forward from their lines to meet their warrior, and amidst cheers and
congratulations they conducted him to the Dictator. In the doggerel verses
which they extemporised in his honour they called him Torquatus ("adorned
with a chain"), and this soubriquet became for his posterity a proud family
name. The Dictator gave him a golden crown, and before the whole army
alluded to his victory in terms of the highest praise.
7.11
Strange
to relate, that single combat had such a far-reaching influence upon the
whole war that the Gauls hastily abandoned their camp and moved off into
the neighbourhood of Tibur. They formed an alliance offensive and defensive
with that city, and the Tiburtines supplied them generously with provisions.
After receiving this assistance they passed on into Campania. This was the
reason why in the following year the consul, C. Poetilius Balbus, led an
army, by order of the people, against the Tiburtines, though the conduct of
the war against the Hernici had fallen by lot to his colleague, M. Fabius
Ambustus. Though the Gauls had come back from Campania to their
assistance, it was undoubtedly by the Tiburtine generals that the cruel
depredations in the territories of Labici, Tusculum, and Alba were carried
out. To act against the Tiburtines, the republic was content with a consul,
but the sudden re-appearance of the Gauls required a Dictator. Q. Servilius
Ahala was nominated, and he selected T. Quinctius as Master of the Horse.
On the authority of the senate, he made a vow to celebrate the Great Games,
should the issue of the war prove favourable. After giving orders for the
consul's army to remain where it was, in order to confine the Tiburtines to
their own war, the Dictator made all the "juniors" take the military oath,
without a single refusal. The battle, in which the whole strength of the City
was engaged, took place not far from the Colline Gate in the sight of the
parents and wives and children of the Roman soldiers. Even when absent, the
thought of those near and dear to one is a great incentive to courage, but
now that they were within view they fired the men with a firm resolve to win
their applause and secure their safety. There was great slaughter on both
sides, but the Gauls were in the end repulsed, and fled in the direction of
Tibur as though it were a Gaulish stronghold. The straggling fugitives were
intercepted by the consul not far from Tibur; the townsmen sallied out to
render them assistance, and they and the Gauls were driven within their
gates. So the consul was equally successful with the Dictator. The other
consul, Fabius, crushed the Hernici in successive defeats, at first in
comparatively unimportant actions and then finally in one great battle when
the enemy attacked him in full strength. The Dictator passed splendid
encomiums on the consuls, both in the senate and before the people, and
even transferred to them the credit for his own success. He then laid down
his office. Poetilius celebrated a double triumph -over the Gauls and over
the Tiburtines. It was considered a sufficient honour for Fabius to be allowed
to enter the City in an ovation. The Tiburtines laughed at Poetilius' triumph.
"When," they said, "had he ever met them in a pitched battle? A few of them
had come outside their gates to watch the disordered flight of the Gauls, but
when they found that they, too, were being attacked and cut down
indiscriminately they retreated into their city. Did the Romans deem that sort
of thing worthy of a triumph? They must not look upon it as too great and
wonderful a thing to create disorder in an enemy's gates; they would
themselves see greater confusion and panic before their own walls."
7.12
Accordingly, the following year, when M.
Popilius Laenas and Cnaeus Manlius were the consuls, an army from Tibur
marched in the early hours of the night when all was still against the City of
Rome. The citizens, suddenly aroused from sleep, were alarmed by the
danger of a nocturnal attack and one quite unlooked for, and the alarm was
heightened by their ignorance as to who the enemies were and whence they
came. However, the word quickly passed "To arms"; the gates were
protected by pickets and the walls manned. When the early dawn revealed a
comparatively small force before the walls and the enemy turned out to be
none other than the Tiburtines, the consuls decided upon an immediate
attack. They issued from two separate gates and attacked the enemy, as they
were advancing to the walls, on both flanks. It soon became obvious that
they had been trusting more to the chances of a surprise than to their own
courage, so little resistance did they offer to the very first onset of the
Romans. Their expedition turned out to be an advantage to the Romans, for
the apprehensions aroused by a war so close to their gates stifled a nascent
conflict between the patricians and the plebs. In the war which followed
there was another hostile incursion, but one more formidable to the country
districts than to the City; the Tarquinians were carrying on their depredations
within the Roman frontiers mainly on the side towards Etruria. As redress
was refused, the new consuls, C. Fabius and C. Plautius, by order of the
people, declared war against them. This campaign was allotted to Fabius, the
one against the Hernici to Plautius. Rumours of hostilities on the part of the
Gauls were becoming more frequent. Amidst these numerous alarms,
however, there was one consolation -peace had been granted on their
request to the Latins, and a strong contingent was sent by them in
accordance with the old treaty which for many years they had not observed.
Now that the cause of Rome was strengthened by this reinforcement, there
was less excitement created by the news that the Gauls had recently reached
Praeneste and from there had settled in the country round Pedum. It was
decided that C. Sulpicius should be nominated Dictator; the consul, C.
Plautius, was summoned home for the purpose. M. Valerius was appointed
Master of the Horse. They selected the finest troops out of the two armies
which the consuls had commanded and led them against the Gauls.
The war was somewhat more tedious than was agreeable to either
side. At first it was only the Gauls who were anxious to fight, then the
Romans showed even more alacrity than the Gauls in arming themselves for
action. The Dictator by no means approved of this, since there was no
necessity for him to run any risks. The enemy was daily becoming weaker by
remaining inactive in a disadvantageous position, without any supplies
previously collected, and with no proper entrenchments thrown up. Their
whole strength both of mind and body depended upon rapid movements, and
even a short delay told upon their vigour. For these reasons the Dictator
prolonged the war and announced that he would inflict severe punishment on
any one who fought against orders. The soldiers grew impatient at this state
of things. When on picket or outpost duty at night, they talked in very
disparaging terms about the Dictator, sometimes they abused the senators
generally for not having given orders that the war should be conducted by
consuls. "An extraordinary commander," they said, "had been selected, one
man out of a thousand, who thought that if he sat still and did nothing
himself, victory would fly down from heaven into his lap." Then they uttered
these sentiments and still more angry ones openly in the daytime; they
declared that they would either fight without waiting for orders or they
would march back in a body to Rome. The centurions made common cause
with the soldiers; the murmurs were not confined to scattered groups, a
general discussion went on in the main thoroughfares of the camp and in the
open space before the headquarters' tent. The crowd grew to the dimensions
of an Assembly, and shouts were raised from all sides to go at once to the
Dictator. Sextius Tullius was to be spokesman for the army, a position he
was well worthy to fill.
7.13
Tullius
was now first centurion for the seventh time and there was not in the whole
army amongst the infantry officers a more distinguished soldier. He led the
procession to the tribunal, and Sulpicius was not more surprised at seeing
the gathering than at seeing Tullius at the head of it. He began: "Do not be
surprised, Dictator, at my being here. The whole army is under the
impression that it has been condemned by you for cowardice and to mark its
disgrace has been deprived of its arms. It has asked me to plead its cause
before you. Even if we could be charged with deserting our ranks and
turning our backs to the enemy, or with the disgraceful loss of our standards,
even then I should think it only fair for you to allow us to amend our fault by
courage and to wipe out the memory of our disgraceful conduct by winning
fresh glory. Even the legions which were routed at the Alia marched out
afterwards from Veii and recovered the City which they had lost through
panic. For us, thanks to the goodness of the gods and the happy fortune
which attends on you and on Rome, our fortunes and our honour remain
unimpaired. And yet I hardly dare mention the word 'honour' whilst the
enemy ventures to mock us with every kind of insult, as if we were hiding
ourselves like women behind our rampart, and -what grieves us much more
-even you our commander have made up your mind that your army is
without courage, without weapons, without hands to use them, and before
you have put us to the proof have so despaired of us that you look upon
yourself as the commander of cripples and weaklings. What other reason can
we believe there to be, why you, a veteran commander, a most gallant
soldier, should be as they say sitting with your arms folded? However the
case may be, it is more true to say that you appear to doubt our courage than
that we doubt yours. But if this is not your doing, but a piece of State policy,
if it is some concerted scheme of the patricians and not war with the Gauls
that is keeping us in banishment from the City and from our household gods,
then I ask you to regard what I am now going to say as addressed not by
soldiers to their commander but to the patricians by the plebs, who say that
as you have your projects so they will have theirs. Who could possibly be
angry with us for regarding ourselves as your soldiers, not your slaves, sent
to war not into banishment, ready, if any one gives the signal and leads us
into battle, to fight as becomes men and Romans, equally ready, if there is no
need for arms, to live a life of peace and quietness in Rome rather than in
camp? This is what we would say to the patricians. But you are our
commander, and we your soldiers implore you to give us a chance of
fighting. We are eager to win a victory, but to win it under your leadership;
it is on you that we want to bestow the laurels of glory, it is with you that we
desire to enter the City in triumphal procession, it is behind your chariot that
we would go with joyous thanksgivings up to the temple of Jupiter Optimus
Maximus." This speech of Tullius' was followed by earnest requests from the
whole army that he would give the signal and order them to arm.
7.14
Although
the Dictator recognised that, however satisfactory the soldiers' action might
be, a most undesirable precedent had been set, he nevertheless undertook to
carry out their wishes. He interrogated Tullius privately as to what the whole
thing meant and what warrant he had for his procedure. Tullius earnestly
entreated the Dictator not to think that he had forgotten military discipline or
the respect due to his commanding officer. "But an excited multitude is
generally swayed by their advisers, and he had consented to act as their
leader to prevent any one else from coming forward whom they might have
chosen because he shared their excitement. He himself would do nothing
against the wish of the commander-in-chief, but the commander also must be
most careful to keep his men in hand. They were too excited now to be put
off; they would themselves choose the place and time for fighting if the
Dictator did not do so." During this conversation some cattle which
happened to be grazing outside the rampart were being driven off by a Gaul,
when two Roman soldiers took them from him. The Gauls pelted them with
stones, a shout was raised by the Roman outpost and men ran together from
both sides. Affairs were rapidly approaching a pitched battle had not the
centurions promptly stopped the fighting. This incident confirmed the
Dictator's belief in what Tullius had told him, and as matters no longer
admitted of delay he issued orders to prepare for battle on the following day.
The Dictator was going into action feeling more assured as to the
courage than as to the strength of his troops. He began to turn over in his
mind every possible device by which he could inspire fear into the enemy. At
last he thought out an ingenious and original plan, one, too, which has since
been adopted by many of our own generals as well as those of other
countries and which is even practiced to-day. He ordered the packsaddles to
be taken off the mules and two pieces of coloured cloth placed on their
backs. The muleteers were then furnished with arms, some taken from the
prisoners and others belonging to the invalided soldiers, and after thus
equipping about a thousand of them and distributing a hundred of the cavalry
amongst them he ordered them to ascend the mountains which overlooked
the camp and conceal themselves in the woods, and remain there motionless
till they received the signal from him As soon as it grew light the Dictator
extended his lines along the lower slopes of the mountain in order that the
enemy might have to form their front facing the mountain. The arrangements
for creating a groundless alarm were now completed, and that groundless
alarm proved almost more serviceable than an actual increase of strength
would have been. At first the leaders of the Gauls did not believe that the
Romans would come down on to the plain, but when they saw them
suddenly descending, they rushed on to meet them, eager for the encounter,
and the battle commenced before the signal had been given by the
commanders.
7.15
The
Gauls directed their fiercest attack upon the Roman right, and the Dictator's
presence with that division alone prevented the attack from succeeding.
When he saw the men wavering he called out sharply to Sextius and asked
him if this was the way in which he had pledged his soldiers to fight.
"Where," he cried, "are the shouts of the men who clamoured for arms?
Where are their threats of going into battle without their commander's
orders? Here is the commander, calling loudly to them to fight, and himself
fighting in the forefront of the battle; who out of all those who were just
now going to lead the way was following him? Braggarts in camp, cowards
in battle!" They felt the truth of what they heard, and they were so stung by a
sense of shame that they rushed on the enemy's weapons without any
thought of danger. They charged like madmen and threw the enemy's lines
into confusion, and a cavalry attack which followed turned the confusion
into rout. As soon as the Dictator saw their line broken in this part of the
field he turned the attack on to their left, where he saw them closing up into
a crowded mass, and at the same time gave the agreed signal to those on the
mountain. When a fresh battle shout arose and these were seen crossing the
mountain slope in the direction of the Gauls' camp, the enemy, afraid of
being cut off, gave up the fight and ran in wild disorder to their camp. They
were met by Marcus Valerius, the Master of the Horse, who after putting
their right wing to flight was riding up to their lines, and he turned their
flight towards the mountain and woods. A great many were intercepted by
the muleteers whom they took for cavalry, and a terrible slaughter took place
amongst those whom panic had driven into the woods after the main battle
was over. No one since Camillus celebrated a more justly deserved triumph
over the Gauls than C. Sulpicius. A large quantity of gold taken out of the
spoil was dedicated by him and stored away in a vault beneath the Capitol.
The campaigns in which the consuls for the year were engaged ended in a
very different way. Whilst the Hernici were defeated and reduced to
submission by his colleague, Fabius showed a sad want of caution and skill in
his operations against the Tarquinians. The humiliation which Rome incurred
through his defeat was embittered by the barbarity of the enemy, who
sacrificed 307 prisoners of war. That defeat was followed by a sudden
predatory incursion of the Privernates and afterwards by one in which the
Veliternians took part. In this year two additional tribes were formed -the
Pomptine and the Publilian. The Games which Camillus had vowed when
Dictator were celebrated. A measure dealing with improper canvassing was
for the first time submitted to the people, after passing the senate, by C.
Poetilius, tribune of the plebs. It was intended to check the canvassing,
mainly by rich plebeians, in the markets and promiscuous gatherings.
7.16
Another
measure, by no means so welcome to the patricians, was brought forward
the following year, the consuls being C. Marcius and Cnaeus Manlius. M.
Duilius and L. Menenius, tribunes of the plebs, were the proposers of this
measure, which fixed the rate of interest at 8 1/3 per cent.; the plebs adopted
it with much more eagerness than the Poetilian Law against canvassing. In
addition to the fresh wars decided upon the previous year, the Faliscans had
been guilty of two acts of hostility; their men had fought in the ranks of the
Tarquinians, and they had refused to give up those who had fled after their
defeat to Tarquinii, when the Fetials demanded their surrender. That
campaign fell to Cn. Manlius; Marcius conducted the operations against
Privernum. This district had remained uninjured during the long years of
peace, and when Marcius led his army thither, they loaded themselves with
plunder. Its value was enhanced by the munificence of the consul, for he
appropriated none of it for the State, and so encouraged the efforts of the
private soldier to increase his private means. The Privernates had formed a
strongly entrenched camp in front of their walls, and before attacking it
Marcius summoned his troops to assembly, and said: "If you promise me that
you will do your duty bravely in battle and are quite as ready for fighting as
for plunder, I give you now the camp and city of the enemy." With a mighty
shout they demanded the signal for battle, and with heads erect and full of
confidence they marched proudly into line. Sex. Tullius, who has been
already mentioned, was in the front, and he called out, "See, General, how
your army is fulfilling its promise to you," and with the word he dropped his
javelin and drawing his sword charged the enemy. The whole of the front
line followed him and at the very first onset defeated the Privernates and
pursued them as far as the town, which they prepared to storm. When the
scaling ladders were actually placed against the walls the place surrendered.
A triumph was celebrated over the Privernates. Nothing worth recording
was done by the other consul, except his unprecedented action in getting a
law passed in camp by the tribes levying 5 per cent. on the value of every
slave who was manumitted. As the money raised under this law would be a
handsome addition to the exhausted treasury, the senate confirmed it. The
tribunes of the plebs, however, looking not so much to the law as to the
precedent set, made it a capital offence for any one to convene the Assembly
outside their usual place of meeting. If it were once legalised, there was
nothing, however injurious to the people, which could not be carried through
men who were bound by the oath of military obedience. In this year C.
Licinius Stolo was impeached by M. Popilius Laenas for having violated his
own law; he and his son together occupied a thousand jugera of land, and he
had emancipated his son in order to evade the law. He was condemned to
pay a fine of 10,000 ases.
7.17
The new
consuls were M. Fabius Ambustus and M. Popilius Laenas, each for the
second time. They had two wars on hand. The one which Laenas waged
against the Tiburtines presented little difficulty; after driving them into their
city he ravaged their fields. The other consul, who was operating against the
Faliscans and Tarquinians, met with a defeat in the first battle. What mainly
contributed to it and produced a real terror amongst the Romans was the
extraordinary spectacle presented by their priests who, brandishing lighted
torches and with what looked like snakes entwined in their hair, came on like
so many Furies. At this sight the Romans were like men distraught or
thunderstruck and rushed in a panic-stricken mass into their entrenchments.
The consul and his staff officers and the military tribunes laughed at them
and scolded them for being terrified by conjuring tricks like a lot of boys.
Stung by a feeling of shame, they suddenly passed from a state of terror to
one of reckless daring, and they rushed like blind men against what they had
just fled from. When, after scattering the idle pageantry of the enemy, they
got at the armed men behind, they routed the entire army. The same day they
gained possession of the camp, and after securing an immense amount of
booty returned home flushed with victory, jesting as soldiers do, and
deriding the enemy's contrivance and their own panic. This led to a rising of
the whole of Etruria, and under the leadership of the Tarquinians and
Faliscans they marched to the salt-works. In this emergency C. Marcius
Rutilus was nominated Dictator -the first Dictator nominated from the plebs
-and he appointed as Master of the Horse C. Plautius, also a plebeian. The
patricians were indignant at even the dictatorship becoming common
property, and they offered all the resistance in their power to any decree
being passed or any preparations made to help the Dictator in prosecuting
that war. This only made the people more ready to adopt every proposal
which the Dictator made. On leaving the City he marched along both banks
of the Tiber, ferrying the troops across in whichever direction the enemy
were reported to be; in this way he surprised many of the raiders scattered
about the fields. Finally he surprised and captured their camp; 8000 prisoners
were taken, the rest were either killed or hunted out of the Roman territory.
By an order of the people which was not confirmed by the senate a triumph
was awarded him. As the senate would not have the elections conducted by
a plebeian Dictator or a plebeian consul, they fell back on an interregnum.
There was a succession of interreges -Q. Servilius Ahala, M. Fabius, Cn.
Manlius, C. Fabius, C. Sulpicius, L. Aemilius, Q. Servilius, and M. Fabius
Ambustus. In the second of these interregna a contest arose because two
patrician consuls were elected. When the tribunes interposed their veto and
appealed to the Licinian Law, Fabius, the interrex, said that it was laid down
in the Twelve Tables that whatever was the last order that the people made
that should have the force of law, and the people had made an order by
electing the two consuls. The tribunes' veto only availed to postpone the
elections, and ultimately two patrician consuls were elected, namely C.
Sulpicius Peticus (for the third time) and M. Valerius Publicola. They
entered upon their office the day they were elected.
7.18
So in the
400th year from the foundation of the City and the 35th after its capture by
the Gauls, the second consulship was wrested from the plebs, for the first
time since the passing of the Licinian Law seven years previously. Empulum
was taken this year from the Tiburtines without any serious fighting. It seems
uncertain whether both consuls held joint command in this campaign, as
some writers assert, or whether the fields of the Tarquinians were ravaged by
Sulpicius at the same time that Valerius was leading his legions against the
Tiburtines. The consuls had a more serious conflict at home with the plebs
and their tribunes. They considered it as a question not only of courage but
of honour and loyalty to their order that as two patricians had received the
consulship so they should hand it on to two patricians. They felt that they
must either renounce all claims to it, if it became a plebeian magistracy, or
they must keep it in its entirety as a possession which they had received in its
entirety from their fathers. The plebs protested: "What were they living for?
Why were they enrolled as citizens if they could not with their united
strength maintain the right to what had been won for them by the courage of
those two men, L. Sextius and C. Licinius? It were better to put up with
kings or decemvirs or any other form of absolutism, even though with a
worse name, than to see both consuls patricians, the other side not
alternately governing and being governed but regarding itself as placed in
perpetual authority, and looking upon the plebs as simply born to be their
slaves." There was no lack of tribunes to lead the agitation, but in such a
state of universal excitement everybody was his own leader. After many
fruitless journeys to the Campus Martius, where numerous election days had
been wasted in disturbances, the plebs was at last worsted by the steady
persistence of the consuls. There was such a feeling of despair that the
tribunes, followed by a gloomy and sullen plebs, exclaimed as they left the
Campus that there was an end to all liberty, and that they must not only quit
the Campus but must even abandon the City now that it was crushed and
enslaved by the tyranny of the patricians. The consuls, though deserted by
the majority of the people, only a few voters remaining behind, proceeded
none the less determinedly with the election. Both the consuls elected were
patricians, M. Fabius Ambustus (for the third time) and T. Quinctius. In
some of the annalists I find M. Popilius given as consul instead of T.
Quinctius.
7.19
Two
wars were brought to a successful close this year. The Tiburtines were
reduced to submission; the city of Sassula was taken from them and all their
other towns would have shared the same fate had not the nation as a whole
laid down their arms and made peace with the consul. A triumph was
celebrated over them, otherwise the victory was followed by mild treatment
of the vanquished. The Tarquinians were visited with the utmost severity. A
large number were killed in battle; of the prisoners, all those of noble birth to
the number of 358 were sent to Rome, the rest were put to the sword. Those
who had been sent to Rome met with no gentler treatment from the people,
they were all scourged and beheaded in the middle of the Forum. This
punishment was an act of retribution for the Romans who had been
immolated in the forum of Tarquinii. These successes in war induced the
Samnites to ask for a league of friendship. Their envoys received a
favourable reply from the senate and a treaty of alliance was concluded with
them. The plebs did not enjoy the same good fortune at home which they
had met with in the field. In spite of the reduction in the rate of interest,
which was now fixed at 8 1/3 per cent., the poor were unable to repay the
capital, and were being made over to their creditors. Their personal distress
left them little thought for public affairs and political struggles, elections, and
patrician consuls; both consulships accordingly remained with the patricians.
The consuls elected were C. Sulpicius Peticus (for the fourth time) and M.
Valerius Publicola (for the second).
Rumours were brought that the people of Caere, out of sympathy
with their co-nationalists, had sided with the Tarquinians. Whilst the minds
of the citizens were in consequence filled with apprehensions of a war with
Etruria, the arrival of envoys from Latium diverted their thoughts to the
Volscians. They reported that an army had been raised and equipped and
was now threatening their frontiers and intended to enter and ravage the
Roman territory. The senate thought that neither of these movements ought
to be ignored; orders were issued for troops to be enrolled for both wars; the
consuls were to draw lots for their respective commands. The arrival of
despatches from the consul Sulpicius made the Etruscan war appear the
more serious of the two. He was directing the operations against Tarquinii,
and reported that the country round the Roman salt-works had been raided
and a portion of the plunder sent to Caere, some of whose men had
undoubtedly been amongst the depredators. The consul Valerius, who was
acting against the Volscians and had his camp on the frontiers of Tusculum,
was recalled and received orders from the senate to nominate a Dictator.
Titus, the son of Lucius Manlius, was nominated, and he named A. Cornelius
Cossus as Master of the Horse. Finding the army which the consul had
commanded sufficient for his purpose, he was authorised by the senate and
the people to formally declare war upon the Caerites.
7.20
It would
seem as though this formal declaration of war brought home to the Caerites
the horrors of a war with Rome more clearly than the action of those who
had provoked the Romans by their depredations. They realised how unequal
their strength was to such a conflict; they bitterly regretted the raid, and
cursed the Tarquinians who had instigated them to revolt. No one made any
preparation for war, but each did his utmost to urge the despatch of an
embassy to Rome to beg pardon for their offence. When the deputation came
before the senate they were referred by the senate to the people. They
besought the gods whose sacred things they had taken charge of and made
due provision for in the Gaulish war that the Romans in their day of
prosperity might feel the same pity for them that they had shown for Rome
in her hour of distress. Then turning to the temple of Vesta they invoked the
bond of hospitality which they formed in all purity and reverence with the
Flamens and the Vestals. "Could any one believe," they asked, "that men
who had rendered such services would all of a sudden, without any reason,
have become enemies, or if they had been guilty of any hostile act that they
had committed it deliberately rather than in a fit of madness? Was it possible
that they could, by inflicting fresh injuries, obliterate their old acts of
kindness, especially when they had been conferred on those who were so
grateful for them; or that they would make an enemy of the Roman people
now that it was prosperous and successful in all its wars after having sought
its friendship at a time when it was in trouble and adversity? That should not
be described as deliberate purpose which ought to be called violence and
constraint. After simply asking for a free passage, the Tarquinians traversed
their territory in hostile array and compelled some of their country-folk to
accompany them in that predatory expedition for which the city of Caere
was now held responsible. If it was decided that these men must be
surrendered, they would surrender them, if they must be punished, punished
they should be. Caere, once the sanctuary of Rome, the shelter of her sacred
things, ought to be declared innocent of any thought of war, and acquitted of
any charge of hostile intentions in return for her hospitality to the Vestals
and her devotion to the gods." Old memories rather than the actual
circumstances of the case so wrought upon the people that they thought less
of the present grievance than of the former kindness. Peace was accordingly
granted to the people of Caere, and it was agreed to leave to the senate the
question of a truce for 100 years. The Faliscans were implicated in the same
charge and the war was diverted to them, but the enemy was nowhere to be
found in the open. Their territory was ravaged from end to end, but no
attempt was made against their cities. After the return of the legions, the rest
of the year was spent in repairing the walls and towers. The temple of Apollo
was also dedicated.
7.21
At the
close of the year the consular elections were put off owing to the quarrel
between the two orders -the tribunes declared that they would not permit
the elections to be held unless they were conducted in accordance with the
Licinian Law, whilst the Dictator was determined to abolish the consulship
altogether rather than make it the common property of plebeians and
patricians. The elections were still postponed when the Dictator resigned
office; so matters reverted to an interregnum. The interreges declined to hold
the elections in consequence of the hostile attitude of the plebs, and the
contest went on till the eleventh interregnum. Whilst the tribunes were
sheltering themselves behind the Licinian Law and fighting the political
battle, the plebs felt their most pressing grievance to be the steadily growing
burden of debt; the personal question quite overshadowed the political
controversy. Wearied out with the prolonged agitation the senate ordered L.
Cornelius Scipio, the interrex, to restore harmony to the State by conducting
the consular elections in accordance with the Licinian Law. P. Valerius
Publicola was elected and C. Marcius Rutilus was his plebeian colleague.
Now that there was a general desire for concord, the new consuls
took up the financial question which was the one hindrance to union. The
State assumed the responsibility for the liquidation of the debts, and five
commissioners were appointed, who were charged with the management of
the money and were hence called mensarii (="bankers"). The impartiality and
diligence with which these commissioners discharged their functions make
them worthy of an honourable place in every historical record. Their names
were: C. Duilius, Publius Decius Mus, M. Papirius, Q. Publilius, and T.
Aemilius. The task they undertook was a difficult one, and involved hardship
generally to both sides; on one side, at any rate, it always pressed heavily;
but they carried it out with great consideration for all parties, and whilst
incurring a large outlay on the part of the State they did not involve it in loss.
Seated at tables in the Forum, they dealt with long-standing debts due to the
slackness of the debtor more than to his want of means, either by advancing
public money on proper security, or by making a fair valuation of his
property. In this way an immense amount of debt was cleared off without
any injustice or even complaints on either side. Owing to a report that the
twelve cities of Etruria had formed a hostile league, a good deal of alarm
was felt, which subsequently proved to be groundless, and it was thought
necessary that a Dictator should be nominated. This took place in camp, for
it was there that the consuls received the senatorial decree. C. Julius was
nominated and L. Aemilius was assigned to him as Master of the Horse.
7.22
Abroad,
however, everything was tranquil. At home, owing to the Dictator's attempt
to secure the election of patricians to both consulships, matters were brought
to an interregnum. There were two interreges, C. Sulpicius and M. Fabius,
and they succeeded where the Dictator had failed, as the plebs, owing to the
pecuniary relief recently granted them, were in a less aggressive mood. Both
consuls elected were patricians -C. Sulpicius Peticus, who had been the first
of the two interreges, and T. Quinctius Pennus, some give as his third name
Caeso, others Gaius. They both proceeded to war; Quinctius against Falerii,
Sulpicius against Tarquinii. The enemy nowhere faced them in open battle;
the war was carried on against fields rather than against men; burning and
destroying went on everywhere. This waste and decay, like that of a slow
decline, wore down the resolution of the two peoples, and they asked for a
truce first from the consuls then by their permission from the senate. They
obtained one for forty years. After the anxiety created by these two
threatening wars was in this way allayed, there was a respite for a time from
arms. The liquidation of the debts had in the case of many properties led to a
change of ownership, and it was decided that a fresh assessment should be
made. When, however, notice was given of the election of censors, C.
Marcius Rutilus, who had been the first Dictator nominated from the plebs,
announced that he was a candidate for the censorship. This upset the good
feeling between the two orders. He took this step at what looked like an
unfavourable moment because both consuls happened to be patricians, and
they declared that they would allow no votes for him. But he resolutely held
to his purpose, and the tribunes, anxious to recover the rights of the plebs
which were lost in the consular elections, assisted him to the utmost of their
power. There was no dignity which the greatness of his character was
unequal to supporting, and the plebs were desirous of being called to share
the censorship by the same man who had opened up the path to the
dictatorship. There was no division of opinion shown in the elections,
Marcius was unanimously elected censor, together with Manlius Gnaeus.
This year also saw M. Fabius as Dictator, not from any apprehension of war
but to prevent the Licinian Law from being observed in the consular
elections. The Dictatorship, however, did not make the combined efforts of
the senate more influential in the election of consuls than it had been in the
election of censors.
7.23
M.
Popilius Laenas was the consul elected from the plebs, L. Cornelius Scipio
the one from the patricians. Fortune conferred the greater distinction upon
the plebeian consul, for upon the receipt of information that an immense
army of Gauls had encamped in the territory of Latium, the conduct of that
war, owing to Scipio's serious illness at the time, was entrusted by special
arrangement to Popilius. He promptly raised an army, and ordered all who
were liable for active service to meet under arms outside the Capene Gate at
the temple of Mars; the quaestors were ordered to carry the standards from
the treasury to the same place. After bringing up four legions to full strength,
he handed over the rest of the troops to P. Valerius Publicola, the praetor,
and advised the senate to raise a second army to protect the republic against
any emergency. When all preparations were completed and everything in
readiness, he advanced towards the enemy. With the view of ascertaining
their strength before testing it in a decisive action, he seized some rising
ground as near to the camp of the Gauls as possible and began to construct
the rampart. When the Gauls saw the Roman standards in the distance they
formed their line, prepared, with their usual impulsiveness and instinctive
love of fighting, to engage at once. Observing, however, that the Romans
did not come down into the plain and were trusting to the protection of their
position and their rampart, they imagined that they were smitten with fear,
and at the same time would be more open to attack whilst they were
occupied in the work of entrenchment. So raising a wild shout they advanced
to the attack. The triarii, who formed the working party, were not
interrupted, for they were screened by the hastati and principes who were
posted in front and who began the fighting. Their steady courage was aided
by the fact that they were on higher ground, for the pila and hastae were not
thrown ineffectively as often happens on level ground, but being carried
forward by their weight they reached their mark. The Gauls were borne
down by the weight of the missiles which either pierced their bodies or stuck
in their shields, making them extremely heavy to carry. They had almost
reached the top of the hill in their charge when they halted, uncertain what to
do. The mere delay raised the courage of the Romans and depressed that of
the enemy. Then the Roman line swept down upon them and forced them
back; they fell over each other and caused a greater loss in this way than that
inflicted by the enemy; so headlong was their flight that more were crushed
to death than were slain by the sword.
7.24
But the
victory was not yet decided. When the Romans reached the level ground
another mass remained to be dealt with. The number of the Gauls was great
enough to prevent them from feeling the loss already sustained, and as
though a new army had risen from the earth, fresh troops were brought up
against their victorious enemy. The Romans checked their onset and stood
still, for not only had they, wearied as they were, to sustain a second fight,
but the consul, while riding incautiously in the front, had his left shoulder
almost run through by a heavy javelin and had retired. The victory was all
but forfeited by this delay, when the consul, after his wound was bound up,
rode back to the front. "Why are you standing still, soldiers?" he exclaimed.
"You have not to do with Latins or Sabines whom, after you have defeated,
you can make into allies, it is against wild beasts that we have drawn the
sword; we must either drain their blood or give them ours. You have
repulsed them from your camp, you have driven them headlong down into
the valley, you are standing over the prostrate bodies of your foes. Fill the
valley with the same carnage with which you filled the mountain side. Do not
look for them to flee while you are standing here; the standards must go
forward, you must advance against the enemy." Thus encouraged they made
a fresh charge, dislodged the front companies of the Gauls, and closing up
their maniples into a wedge penetrated the enemy's center. Then the
barbarians were broken up, and having no leadership or definite orders they
turned the attack on to their own reserves. They were scattered over the
plain, and their headlong flight carried them past their camp in the direction
of the Alba hills. As the hill on which the old Alban stronghold stood
appeared to be the highest in the range, they made for it. The consul did not
continue the pursuit beyond the camp as his wound was troublesome and he
did not wish to risk an attack upon hills held by the enemy. All the spoil of
the camp was given up to the soldiers, and he led back to Rome an army
flushed with victory and enriched by the plunder of the Gauls, but owing to
his wound his triumph was delayed. As both consuls were on the sick list,
the senate found it necessary to appoint a Dictator to conduct the elections.
L. Furius Camillus was nominated, and P. Cornelius Scipio was associated
with him as Master of the Horse. He restored to the patricians their old
monopoly of the consulship, and for this service he was through their
enthusiastic support elected consul, and he procured the election of Appius
Claudius Crassus as his colleague.
7.25
Before
the new consuls entered upon their office Popilius celebrated his triumph
over the Gauls amidst the delighted applause of the plebs, and people asked
each other with bated breath whether there was any one who regretted the
election of a plebeian consul. At the same time they were very bitter against
the Dictator for having seized the consulship as a bribe for his treating the
Licinian Law with contempt. They considered that he had degraded the
consulship more by his greedy ambition than by his acting against the public
interest, since he had actually procured his own election as consul whilst he
was Dictator. The year was marked by numerous disturbances. The Gauls
came down from the hills of Alba because they could not stand the severity
of the winter, and they spread themselves in plundering hordes over the
plains and the maritime districts. The sea was infested by fleets of Greek
pirates who made descents on the coast round Antium and Laurentum and
entered the mouth of the Tiber. On one occasion the sea-robbers and the
land-robbers encountered one another in a hard-fought battle, and drew off,
the Gauls to their camp, the Greeks to their ships, neither side knowing
whether they were to consider themselves victors or vanquished.
These various alarms were followed by a much more serious one.
The Latins had received a demand from the Roman government to furnish
troops, and after discussing the matter in their national council replied in
these uncompromising terms: "Desist from making demands on those whose
help you need; we Latins prefer to bear arms in defence of our own liberty
rather than in support of an alien dominion." With two foreign wars on their
hands and this revolt of their allies, the anxious senate saw that they would
have to restrain by fear those who were not restrained by any considerations
of honour. They ordered the consuls to exert their authority to the utmost in
levying troops, since, as the body of their allies were deserting them, they
would have to depend upon their fellow-citizens entirely. Men were enlisted
everywhere, not only from the City but also from the country districts. It is
stated that ten legions were enrolled, each containing 4200 foot and 300
horse. In these days the strength of Rome, for which the world hardly finds
room, would even, if concentrated, find it difficult on any sudden alarm to
raise a fresh army of that size; to such an extent have we progressed in those
things to which alone we devote our efforts -wealth and luxury. Amongst
the other mournful events of this year was the death of the second consul,
Ap. Claudius, which occurred while the preparations for war were going on.
The government passed into the hands of Camillus, as sole consul, and the
senate did not think it well for a Dictator to be appointed, either because of
the auspicious omen of his name in view of trouble with the Gauls, or
because they would not place a man of his distinction under a Dictator.
Leaving two legions to protect the City, the consul divided the remaining
eight between himself and L. Pinarius, the praetor. He kept the conduct of
the war against the Gauls in his own hands instead of deciding upon the field
of operations by the usual drawing of lots, inspired as he was by the memory
of his father's brilliant successes. The praetor was to protect the coast-line
and prevent the Greeks from effecting a landing, whilst he himself marched
down into the Pomptine territory. His intention was to avoid any
engagement in the flat country unless he was forced to fight, and to confine
himself to checking their depredations; for as it was only by pillaging that
they were able to maintain themselves, he thought that he could best crush
them in this way. Accordingly he selected suitable ground for a stationary
camp.
7.26
Whilst
the Romans were passing their time quietly at the outposts, a gigantic Gaul
in splendid armour advanced towards them, and delivered a challenge
through an interpreter to meet any Roman in single combat. There was a
young military tribune, named Marcus Valerius, who considered himself no
less worthy of that honour than T. Manlius had been. After obtaining the
consul's permission, he marched, completely armed, into the open ground
between the two armies. The human element in the fight was thrown into the
shade by the direct interposition of the gods, for just as they were engaging a
crow settled all of a sudden on the Roman's helmet with its head towards his
antagonist. The tribune gladly accepted this as a divinely-sent augury, and
prayed that whether it were god or goddess who had sent the auspicious bird
that deity would be gracious to him and help him. Wonderful to relate, not
only did the bird keep its place on the helmet, but every time they
encountered it rose on its wings and attacked the Gaul's face and eyes with
beak and talon, until, terrified at the sight of so dire a portent and bewildered
in eyes and mind alike, he was slain by Valerius. Then, soaring away
eastwards, the crow passed out of sight. Hitherto the outposts on both sides
had remained quiet, but when the tribune began to despoil his foeman's
corpse, the Gauls no longer kept their posts, whilst the Romans ran still
more swiftly to help the victor. A furious fight took place round the body as
it lay, and not only the maniples at the nearest outposts but the legions
pouring out from the camp joined in the fray. The soldiers were exultant at
their tribune's victory and at the manifest presence and help of the gods, and
as Camillus ordered them into action he pointed to the tribune, conspicuous
with his spoils, and said: "Follow his example, soldiers, and lay the Gauls in
heaps round their fallen champion!" Gods and man alike took part in the
battle, and it was fought out to a finish, unmistakably disastrous to the
Gauls, so completely had each army anticipated a result corresponding to
that of the single combat. Those Gauls who began the fight fought
desperately, but the rest of the host who came to help them turned back
before they came within range of the missiles. They dispersed amongst the
Volscians and over the Falernian district; from thence they made their way to
Apulia and the western sea.
The consul mustered his troops on parade, and after praising the
conduct of the tribune presented him with ten oxen and a golden chaplet. In
consequence of instructions received from the senate he took over the
maritime war and joined his forces with those of the praetor. The Greeks
were too lacking in courage to run the risk of a general engagement, and
there was every prospect of the war proving a long one. Camillus was in
consequence authorised by the senate to nominate T. Manlius Torquatus as
Dictator for the purpose of conducting the elections. After appointing A.
Cornelius Cossus as Master of the Horse, the Dictator proceeded to hold the
consular elections. Marcus Valerius Corvus (for that was henceforth his
cognomen), a young man of twenty-three, was declared to be duly elected
amidst the enthusiastic cheers of the people. His colleague was the plebeian,
M. Popilius Laenas, now elected for the fourth time. Nothing worth
recording took place between Camillus and the Greeks; they were no
fighters on land and the Romans could not fight on the sea. Ultimately, as
they were prevented from landing anywhere and water and the other
necessaries of life failed them, they abandoned Italy. To what Greek state or
nationality that fleet belonged is a matter of uncertainty; I think it most likely
that it belonged to the Tyrant of Sicily, for Greece itself was at that time
exhausted by intestine wars and was watching with dread the growing power
of Macedonia.
7.27
After the
armies were disbanded there was an interval of peace abroad and harmony
between the two orders at home. To prevent things, however, from
becoming too pleasant, a pestilence attacked the citizens, and the senate
found themselves under the necessity of issuing an order to the decemvirs
requiring them to consult the Sibylline Books. On their advice a lectisternium
was held. In this year colonists from Antium rebuilt Satricum, which had
been destroyed by the Latins, and settled there. A treaty was concluded
between Rome and Carthage; the latter city had sent envoys to ask for a
friendly alliance. As long as the succeeding consuls -T. Manlius Torquatus
and C. Plautius -held office the same peaceful conditions prevailed. The rate
of interest was reduced by one half and payment of the principal was to be
made in four equal instalments, the first at once, the remainder in three
successive years. Though many plebeians were still in distress, the senate
looked upon the maintenance of public credit as more important than the
removal of individual hardships. What afforded the greatest relief was the
suspension of military service and the war-tax. Three years after Satricum
had been rebuilt by the Volscians, whilst M. Valerius Corvus was consul for
the second time with Caius Poetilius, a report was sent on from Latium that
emissaries from Antium were going round the Latin cantons with the view of
stirring war. Valerius was instructed to attack the Volscians before the
enemy became more numerous, and he proceeded with his army to Satricum.
Here he was met by the Antiates and other Volscian troops who had been
previously mobilised in case of any movement on the side of Rome. The old
standing hatred between the two nations made each side eager for battle;
there was consequently no delay in trying conclusions. The Volscians, bolder
to begin war than to sustain it, were completely defeated and fled
precipitately to Satricum. The city was surrounded, and as it was on the
point of being stormed -the scaling ladders were against the walls -they lost
all hope and surrendered to the number of 4000 fighting men, in addition to
a multitude of noncombatants. The town was sacked and burnt; the temple
of Matuta the Mother was alone spared by the flames; all the plunder was
given to the soldiers. In addition to the booty, there were the 4000 who had
surrendered; these were marched in chains before the consul's chariot in his
triumphal procession, then they were sold and a large sum was realised for
the treasury. Some authors assert that these prisoners were slaves who had
been captured in Satricum, and this is more likely to have been the case than
that men who had surrendered should have been sold.
7.28
M.
Fabius Dorsuo and Ser. Sulpicius Camerinus were the next consuls. A
sudden raid by the Auruncans led to a war with that people. Fears were
entertained that more than one city was concerned in this, that in fact it had
been planned by the entire Latin League. To meet all Latium in arms L.
Furius Camillus was nominated Dictator; he appointed Cnaeus Manlius
Capitolinus Master of the Horse. As usual in great and sudden alarms a
suspension of all business was proclaimed and the enlistment was made
without any claims to exemption being allowed; when it was completed the
legions were marched as rapidly as possible against the Auruncans. They
showed the temper of marauders rather than of soldiers, and the war was
finished in the very first battle. But as they had begun the war without any
provocation and had shown no reluctance to accept battle, the Dictator
thought it his duty to secure the help of the gods, and during the actual
fighting he vowed a temple to Juno Moneta. On his victorious return to
Rome, he resigned his Dictatorship to discharge his vow. The senate ordered
two commissioners to be appointed to carry out the construction of that
temple in a style commensurate with the greatness of the Roman people, and
a site was marked out in the Citadel where the house of M. Manlius
Capitolinus had stood. The consuls employed the Dictator's army in war with
the Volscians and took from them by a coup-de-main the city of Sora. The
temple of Moneta was dedicated in the following year, when C. Marcius
Rutilus was consul for the third time and T. Manlius Torquatus for the
second. A portent followed close on the dedication similar to the old portent
on the Alban Mount; a shower of stones fell and night seemed to stretch its
curtain over the day. The citizens were filled with dread at this supernatural
occurrence, and after the Sibylline Books had been consulted the senate
decided upon the appointment of a Dictator to arrange the ceremonial
observances for the appointed days. P. Valerius Publicola was nominated
and Q. Fabius Ambustus was appointed Master of the Horse. It was
arranged that not only the Roman tribes but also the neighbouring
populations should take part in the public intercessions, and the order of the
days which each was to observe was definitely laid down. There were
prosecutions this year of moneylenders by the aediles, and heavy sentences
are stated to have been passed on them by the people. For some reason,
which is not recorded, matters reverted to an interregnum. As, however, it
ended in the election of two patrician consuls, this would appear to be the
reason why it was resorted to. The new consuls were M. Valerius Corvus
(for the third time) and A. Cornelius Cossus.
7.29
The
history will now be occupied with wars greater than any previously
recorded; greater whether we consider the forces engaged in them or the
length of time they lasted, or the extent of country over which they were
waged. For it was in this year (343 B.C.) that hostilities commenced with the
SAMNITES, a people strong in material resources and military power. Our
war with the Samnites, with its varying fortunes, was followed by the war
with Pyrrhus, and that again by the war with Carthage. What a chapter of
great events! How often had we to pass through the very extremity of
danger in order that our dominion might be exalted to its present greatness, a
greatness which is with difficulty maintained! The cause of the war between
the Romans and the Samnites, who had been our friends and allies, came,
however, from without; it did not arise between the two peoples themselves.
The Samnites, simply because they were the stronger, made an unprovoked
attack upon the Sidicines; the weaker side were compelled to fly for succour
to those who were more powerful and threw in their lot with the
Campanians. The Campanians brought to the help of their allies the prestige
of their name rather than actual strength; enervated by luxury they were
worsted by a people inured to the use of arms, and after being defeated on
Sidicine territory diverted the whole weight of the war against themselves.
The Samnites, dropping operations against the Sidicines, attacked the
Campanians as being the mainstay and stronghold of their neighbours; they
saw, too, that whilst victory would be just as easily won here, it would bring
more glory and spoils. They seized the Tifata hills which overlook Capua
and left a strong force to hold them, then they descended in close order into
the plain which lies between the Tifata hills and Capua. Here a second battle
took place, in which the Campanians were defeated and driven within their
walls. They had lost the flower of their army, and as there was no hope of
any assistance near, they found themselves compelled to ask for help from
Rome.
7.30
On being
admitted to an audience, their envoys addressed the senate to the following
effect: "Senators! the people of Capua have sent us as ambassadors to you to
ask for a friendship which shall be perpetual, and for help for the present
hour. Had we sought this friendship in the day of our prosperity it might
have been cemented more readily, but at the same time by a weaker bond.
For in that case, remembering that we had formed our friendship on equal
terms, we should perhaps have been as close friends as now, but we should
have been less prepared to accept your mandates, less at your mercy.
Whereas now, won over by your compassion and defended in our extremity
by your aid, we should be bound to cherish the kindness bestowed on us if
we are not to appear ungrateful and undeserving of any help from either
gods or men. I certainly do not consider that the fact of the Samnites having
already become your friends and allies should be a bar to our being admitted
into your friendship; it only shows that they take precedence of us in the
priority and degree of the honour which you have conferred upon them.
There is nothing in your treaty with them to prevent you from making fresh
treaties. It has always been held amongst you to be a satisfactory reason for
friendship, when he who made advances to you was anxious to be your
friend. Although our present circumstances forbid us to speak proudly about
ourselves, still we Campanians are second to no people, save yourselves, in
the size of our city and the fertility of our soil, and we shall bring, I consider,
no small accession to your prosperity by entering into your friendship.
Whenever the Aequi and Volscians, the perpetual enemies of this City, make
any hostile movement we shall be on their rear, and what you lead the way in
doing on behalf of our safety, that we shall always continue to do on behalf
of your dominion and your glory. When these nations which lie between us
are subjugated -and your courage and fortune are a guarantee that this will
soon come about -you will have an unbroken dominion up to our frontier.
Painful and humiliating is the confession which our fortunes compel us to
make; but it has come to this, senators, we Campanians must be numbered
either amongst your friends or your enemies. If you defend us we are yours,
if you abandon us we shall belong to the Samnites. Make up your minds,
then, whether you would prefer that Capua and the whole of Campania
should form an addition to your strength or should augment the power of the
Samnites. It is only right, Romans, that your sympathy and help should be
extended to all, but especially should it be so to those who, when others
appealed to them, tried to help them beyond their strength and so have
brought themselves into these dire straits. Although it was ostensibly on
behalf of the Sidicines that we fought, we really fought for our own liberty,
for we saw our neighbours falling victims to the nefarious brigandage of the
Samnites, and we knew that when the Sidicines had been consumed the fire
would sweep on to us. The Samnites are not coming to attack us because we
have in any way wronged them, but because they have gladly seized upon a
pretext for war. Why, if they only sought retribution and were not catching
at an opportunity for satisfying their greed, ought it not to be enough for
them that our legions have fallen on Sidicine territory and a second time in
Campania itself? Where do we find resentment so bitter that the blood shed
in two battles cannot satiate it? Then think of the destruction wrought in our
fields, the men and cattle carried off, the burning and ruining of our farms,
everything devastated with fire and sword cannot all this appease their rage?
No, they must satisfy their greed. It is this that is hurrying them on to the
storm of Capua; they are bent on either destroying that fairest of cities or
making it their own. But you, Romans, should make it your own by
kindness, rather than allow them to possess it as the reward of iniquity.
"I am not speaking in the presence of a nation that refuses to go to
war when war is righteous, but even so, I believe if you make it clear that
you will help us you will not find it necessary to go to war. The contempt
which the Samnites feel for their neighbours extends to us, it does not mount
any higher; the shadow of your help therefore is enough to protect us, and
we shall regard whatever we have, whatever we are, as wholly yours. For
you the Campanian soil shall be tilled, for you the city of Capua shall be
thronged; you we shall regard as our founders, our parents, yes, even as
gods; there is not a single one amongst your colonies that will surpass us in
devotion and loyalty towards you. Be gracious, senators, to our prayers and
manifest your divine will and power on behalf of the Campanians, and bid
them entertain a certain hope that Capua will be safe. With what a vast
crowd made up of every class, think you, did we start from the gates? How
full of tears and prayers did we leave all behind! In what a state of
expectancy are the senate and people of Capua, our wives and children, now
living! I am quite certain that the whole population is standing at the gates,
watching the road which leads from here, in anxious suspense as to what
reply you are ordering us to carry back to them. The one answer will bring
them safety, victory, light, and liberty; the other -I dare not say what that
might bring. Deliberate then upon our fate, as that of men who are either
going to be your friends and allies, or to have no existence anywhere."
7.31
When the
envoys had withdrawn, the senate proceeded to discuss the question. Many
of the members realised how the largest and richest city in Italy, with a very
productive country near the sea, could become the granary of Rome, and
supply every variety of provision. Notwithstanding, however, loyalty to
treaties outweighed even these great advantages, and the consul was
authorised by the senate to give the following reply: "The senate is of
opinion, Campanians, that you are worthy of our aid, but justice demands
that friendship with you shall be established on such a footing that no older
friendship and alliance is thereby impaired. Therefore we refuse to employ on
your behalf against the Samnites arms which would offend the gods sooner
than they injured men. We shall, as is just and right, send an embassy to our
allies and friends to ask that no hostile violence be offered you." Thereupon
the leader of the embassy, acting according to the instructions they had
brought with them, said: "Even though you are not willing to make a just use
of force against brute force and injustice in defence of what belongs to us,
you will at all events defend what belongs to you. Wherefore we now place
under your sway and jurisdiction, senators, and that of the Roman people,
the people of Campania and the city of Capua, its fields, its sacred temples,
all things human and divine. Henceforth we are prepared to suffer what we
may have to suffer as men who have surrendered themselves into your
hands." At these words they all burst into tears and stretching out their hands
towards the consul they prostrated themselves on the floor of the vestibule.
The senators were deeply moved by this instance of the vicissitudes
of human fortune, where a people abounding in wealth, famous for their
pride and luxuriousness, and from whom, shortly before, their neighbours
had sought assistance, were now so broken in spirit that they put themselves
and all that belonged to them under the power and authority of others. It at
once became a matter of honour that men who had formally surrendered
themselves should not be left to their fate, and it was resolved "that the
Samnite nation would commit a wrongful act if they attacked a city and
territory which had by surrender become the possession of Rome." They
determined to lose no time in despatching envoys to the Samnites. Their
instructions were to lay before them the request of the Campanians, the reply
which the senate, mindful of their friendly relations with the Samnites, had
given, and lastly the surrender which had been made. They were to request
the Samnites, in virtue of the friendship and alliance which existed between
them, to spare those who had made a surrender of themselves and to take no
hostile action against that territory which had become the possession of the
Roman people. If these mild remonstrances proved ineffective, they were to
solemnly warn the Samnites in the name of the senate and people of Rome to
keep their hands off the city of Capua and the territory of Campania. The
envoys delivered their instructions in the national council of Samnium. The
reply they received was couched in such defiant terms that not only did the
Samnites declare their intention of pursuing the war against Capua, but their
magistrates went outside the council chamber and, in tones loud enough for
the envoys to hear, ordered the prefects of cohorts to march at once into the
Campanian territory and ravage it.
7.32
When the
result of this mission was reported in Rome, all other matters were at once
laid aside and the fetials were sent to demand redress. This was refused and
the senate decreed that a formal declaration of war should be submitted for
the approval of the people as soon as possible. The people ratified the action
of the senate and ordered the two consuls to start, each with his army;
Valerius for Campania, where he fixed his camp at Mount Glaurus, whilst
Cornelius advanced into Samnium and encamped at Saticula. Valerius was
the first to come into touch with the Samnite legions. They had marched into
Campania because they thought that this would be the main theatre of war,
and they were burning to wreak their rage on the Campanians who had been
so ready first to help others against them and then to summon help for
themselves. As soon as they saw the Roman camp, they one and all
clamoured for the signal for battle to be given by their leaders; they declared
that the Romans would have the same luck in helping the Campanians that
the Campanians had had in helping the Sidicines. For a few days Valerius
confined himself to skirmishes, with the object of testing the enemy's
strength. At length he put out the signal for battle and spoke a few words of
encouragement to his men. He told them not to let themselves be daunted by
a new war or a new enemy, for the further they carried their arms from the
City the more unwarlike were the nations whom they approached. They
were not to measure the courage of the Samnites by the defeats they had
inflicted on the Sidicines and the Campanians; whenever two nations fought
together, whatever the qualities they possessed, one side must necessarily be
vanquished. There was no doubt that as far as the Campanians were
concerned they owed their defeats more to their want of hardihood and the
weakening effects of excessive luxury than to the strength of their enemies.
What could two successful wars on the part of the Samnites through all
those centuries weigh against the many brilliant achievements of the Roman
people, who reckoned up almost more triumphs than years since the
foundation of their City, who had subdued by the might of their arms all the
surrounding nations -Sabines, Etruscans, Latins, Hernici, Aequi, Volscians,
and Auruncans -who had slain the Gauls in so many battles and driven them
at last to their ships? His men must not only go into action in full reliance
upon their own courage and warlike reputation, but they must also
remember under whose auspices and generalship they were going to fight,
whether under a man who is only to be listened to provided he is a big talker,
courageous only in words, ignorant of a soldier's work, or under one who
himself knows how to handle weapons, who can show himself in the front,
and do his duty in the melee of battle. "I want you, soldiers," he continued,
"to follow my deeds not my words, and to look to me not only for the word
of command but also for example. It was not by party struggles nor by the
intrigues so common amongst the nobles but by my own right hand that I
won three consulships and attained the highest reputation. There was a time
when it might have been said to me, 'Yes, for you were a patrician descended
from the liberators of our country, and your family held the consulship in the
very year when this City first possessed consuls.' Now, however, the
consulship is open to you, plebeians, as much as to us who are patricians; it
is not the reward of high birth as it once was, but of personal merit. Look
forward then, soldiers, to securing all the highest honours! If with the
sanction of the gods you men have given me this new name of Corvinus, I
have not forgotten the old cognomen of our family; I have not forgotten that
I am a Publicola. I always study and always have studied the interests of the
Roman plebs, both at home and in the field, whether as a private citizen or
holding public office, whether as military tribune or as consul. I have been
consistent to this aim in all my successive consulships. And now for what is
immediately before us: go on with the help of heaven, and win with me for
the first time a triumph over your new foes -the Samnites."
7.33
Nowhere
was there ever a general who endeared himself more to his soldiers by
cheerfully sharing every duty with the humblest of his men. In the military
sports when the soldiers got up contests of speed and strength among
themselves he was equally ready to win or to lose, and never thought any
man unworthy to be his antagonist. He showed practical kindness as
circumstances required; in his language he was not less mindful of other
men's liberty than of his own dignity, and what made him most popular was
that he displayed the same qualities in discharging the duties of his office
which he had shown as a candidate for it. Following up their commander's
words, the whole army marched out of camp with extraordinary alacrity. In
no battle that was ever fought did men engage with strength more equally
matched, or more assured hopes of victory on both sides, or a stronger spirit
of self-confidence unaccompanied, however, by any feeling of contempt for
their opponents. The fighting temper of the Samnites was roused by their
recent achievements and the double victory won a few days previously; the
Romans on the other hand were inspired by their glorious record of four
centuries of victory reaching back to the foundation of the City. But each
side felt some anxiety at meeting a new and untried foe. The battle was an
index to their feelings; for some time they fought so resolutely that neither
line showed any signs of giving way. At length the consul, seeing that the
Samnites could not be repulsed by steady fighting, determined to try the
effect of a sudden shock and launched his cavalry at them. This made no
impression, and as he watched them wheeling round in the narrow space
between the opposing armies after their ineffective charge, having utterly
failed to penetrate the enemy's line, he rode back to the front ranks of the
legions, and after dismounting said: "Soldiers, this task belongs to us
infantry. Come on! Wherever you see me making my way through the
enemy's lines with my sword follow, and each of you do his best to cut down
those in front. All that ground which is now glittering with uplifted spears
you shall see cleared by a vast carnage." During these words the cavalry, at
the consul's order, retired on both flanks, leaving the center clear for the
legions. The consul led the charge, and slew the first man he engaged with.
Fired at the sight, every man, right and left, charged straight forward and
began a fight to be remembered. The Samnites did not flinch, though they
were receiving more wounds than they inflicted.
The battle had now gone on for a considerable time; there was a
terrible slaughter round the Samnite standards but no signs of flight
anywhere, so resolved were they that death alone should be their conqueror.
The Romans began to find their strength failing through fatigue and not
much daylight remained, so goaded on by rage and disappointment they
flung themselves madly upon their foe. Then for the first time the Samnites
were seen to be giving ground and preparing to flee; they were being taken
prisoners and killed in all directions, and not many would have survived had
not night put an end to what was becoming a victory rather than a battle.
The Romans admitted that they had never fought with a more obstinate
enemy, and when the Samnites were asked what it was that first turned
them, with all their determination, to flight, they said that the eyes of the
Romans looked like fire, and their faces and expression like those of
madmen; it was this more than anything else which filled them with terror.
This terror showed itself not only in the result of the battle but also in their
hurrying away in the night. The next day the Romans took possession of
their empty camp, and all the population of Capua came out there to
congratulate them.
7.34
But these
rejoicings were very nearly being embittered by a great disaster in Samnium.
The consul Cornelius had advanced from Saticula and led his army by a
mountain pass which descended into a narrow valley. All the surrounding
heights were occupied by the enemy, and he did not notice them high up
above him till retreat was impossible. The Samnites were waiting quietly till
the whole of the column should descend into the lowest part of the valley,
but meantime P. Decius, a military tribune, descried a peak jutting out on the
pass which commanded the enemy's camp. This height would have been a
difficult one for a heavy-armed force to climb but not for one in light
marching order. Decius came up to the consul, who was in a great state of
alarm, and said to him: "Do you see, A. Cornelius, that height above the
enemy? If we promptly seize that position which the Samnites were blind
enough to leave unoccupied, it will prove a stronghold in which all our
hopes of safety will center. Do not give me more than the hastati and
principes of one legion. When I have reached the summit with them you may
march on out of this and save yourself and the army, for the enemy below, a
mark for every missile we hurl, will not be able to move without being
destroyed. Either the Fortune of Rome or our own courage will then clear
the way for our escape." The consul warmly thanked him, and after being
furnished with the detachment he asked for, he marched through the pass
unobserved and only came into view of the enemy when he was close to the
spot for which he was making. Then whilst every eye was fixed upon him in
silent astonishment, he gave the consul time to withdraw his army into a
more favourable position until he had halted his own men on the summit.
The Samnites marched aimlessly hither and thither; they could not follow the
consul except by the same path where he had been exposed to their weapons
and which was now equally dangerous to them, nor could they lead a force
up the hill above them which Decius had seized.
He and his men had snatched victory from their grasp, and
therefore it was against him that their rage was mainly directed, whilst the
nearness of the position and the paucity of its defenders were additional
incentives to them to attack it. First they were bent upon investing the peaks
on all sides so as to cut Decius off from the consul, then they thought of
retiring and leaving the way open for him so that they could attack when he
had descended into the valley. Whilst they were still in this state of indecision
night overtook them. At first Decius hoped to be able to attack them from
his higher ground while they were coming up the height; then he began to
wonder why they did not show fight, or, at all events, if they were deterred
by the nature of the ground why they did not enclose him with a
circumvallation. He called the centurions round him. "What ignorance, what
cowardice this is!" he exclaimed. "How on earth did those men win a victory
over the Sidicines and Campanians? You see them there marching up and
down, at one time forming up in close order, at another extending. We could
by this time have been completely invested yet no one begins to entrench.
We shall be like them if we stay here longer than we need. Come along with
me and let us reconnoitre their positions while some light is still left and find
out where the exit from here is open.'' Disguised in a common soldier's cloak
that the enemy might not mark the general going his rounds, and with his
centurions similarly attired, he made a thorough examination of all these
details.
7.35
After
arranging the watches, he ordered the tessera to be given to the rest of the
troops; when the bugle sounded for the second watch they were to muster
round him in silence. When they had assembled in accordance with
instructions, he said: "This silence, soldiers, must be maintained, and all
applause as you listen to me checked. When I have laid my proposals fully
before you, those of you who approve will cross over silently to the right.
The opinion of the majority will be adopted. Now listen to my plans. You
were not carried here in flight, nor have you been abandoned through
cowardice, and the enemy are investing you. You seized this position by
your courage, by your courage you must get away from it. By coming here
you have saved a splendid army for Rome, now you must save yourselves by
cutting your way out. Though few in number you have brought aid to many,
and it is only fitting to your deserts that you yourselves should need the aid
of none. We have to do with an enemy who through his slackness yesterday
failed to use the chance which Fortune gave him of wiping out an entire
army; who did not perceive this most useful peak hanging over his head until
it had been seized by us. With all their thousands of men they did not prevent
us, few as we are, from climbing it, and now that we are holding it, did they,
though plenty of daylight remained, enclose us with lines of circumvallation?
The enemy whom you eluded while his eyes were open, and he was on the
watch, you certainly ought to evade when he is heavy with sleep. In fact, it is
absolutely necessary for you to do so, for our position is such that I have
rather to point out the necessity in which you are placed than to suggest any
plan of action. For there can be no question as to your remaining here or
departing, since Fortune has left you nothing but your arms and the courage
which knows how to use them. If we show more fear of the sword than
becomes men and Romans we shall have to die of hunger and thirst. Our one
chance of safety, then, lies in our breaking our way through and departing.
We must do that either in the daytime or at night. But this is a point which
admits of little doubt; if we wait for daylight how can we hope that the
enemy, who, as you see, has drawn a ring of men all round us, will not
completely enclose us with entrenchments? On the other hand, if night be
best for our sortie, as it most certainly is, then this hour of the night is most
assuredly the fittest. You have mustered at the call for the second watch, an
hour when men are buried in sleep. You will pass through them in silence,
unnoticed by the sleepers, but should they become aware of your presence
you will throw them into a panic by a sudden shout. You have followed me
so far, follow me still, while I follow Fortune who has guided us here. Those
of you who think this a safe plan step forward and pass over to the right."
7.36
All
crossed over. They then followed Decius as he moved through the intervals
between the pickets. They had already got as far as the center of the Samnite
lines when a soldier striding over the bodies of the sleeping sentinels made a
noise by striking his shield against one of them. The sentinel awakened by
the sound shook the one next him; they both jumped up and aroused others,
not knowing whether friends or foes were amongst them, whether it was
Decius' force breaking out or the consul capturing the camp. As they were
no longer unobserved, Decius ordered his men to raise a shout, which
paralysed the half-awakened sleepers with terror. In their confusion they
were unable to seize their arms promptly and could neither offer any
resistance nor follow up their assailants. While the Samnites were in this
state of confusion and panic, the Romans, cutting down all who opposed
them, made their way in the direction of the consul's camp. A considerable
portion of the night still remained and they were evidently now in safety.
Decius addressed them: "All honour to you, brave Romans! your march up
that height and your return will be extolled in every age. But for the due
recognition of such courage the light of day is needed; you have deserved
something more than to carry your glory back to camp hidden in the silence
of the night. We will rest here and wait for the daylight." They rested
accordingly. As soon as it was light and the news was sent on to the consul
in camp, there was great excitement and rejoicing, and when it was officially
announced throughout the camp that the men who saved the army at the risk
of their own lives had themselves returned safe and sound, they all poured
out in crowds to meet them, showered congratulations upon them, gave
thanks and praise to the gods, and extolled Decius to the skies. He marched
through the camp in what amounted to a triumphal procession with his small
force fully armed. Every eye was fixed upon him; the military tribune was
treated with as much distinction as if he had been a consul. When he reached
the headquarters' tent, the consul ordered the Assembly to be sounded. He
was beginning to give Decius the praise he had so well earned, before the
whole army, when Decius interrupted him and begged him to postpone those
proceedings in view of the splendid opportunity which they now had in their
hands. He accordingly dismissed the parade and followed Decius' advice,
which was to attack the enemy before they had recovered from their
nocturnal panic and were still stationed round the height in separate
detachments; some who had been sent in pursuit were believed to be still
defiling through the pass. The legions were ordered to arm for battle and
were conducted by a more open route towards the enemy, as scouting
parties had brought back fuller information about the locality. The attack
was sudden and unexpected; the Samnites were everywhere in scattered
bodies, most of them without arms, unable to secure their weapons or get
into any compact formation or retire within their entrenchments. They were
first driven in panic into their camp, then the camp itself was rushed and
captured. The shouting rolled round the height and the detachments who had
been posted to watch it fled from a foe whom they had not yet seen. Those
who had fled panic-struck into their camp -some 30,000 -were all slain.
7.37
After this
success the consul summoned an Assembly, and in the presence of his
fellow-soldiers pronounced a eulogy on Decius not only for his former
services but also for this crowning proof of his soldierly qualities. In addition
to the other military rewards he presented him with a golden chaplet and a
hundred oxen, and one white one of especial beauty, the horns of which had
been gilded. The men who had been with him on the height were rewarded
with a standing order for double rations and also with one ox and two tunics
apiece. After the consul had made the presentation, the legionaries, amidst
loud cheers, placed on Decius' head an "obsidial " wreath of grass. Another
similar wreath was bestowed upon him by his own men. With these
decorations upon him he sacrificed the beautiful ox to Mars and presented
the hundred oxen which had been given him to the men who had
accompanied him on his expedition. The legionaries also contributed a pound
of meal and a pint of wine for each of them. During all these proceedings
enthusiastic cheering went on through the whole camp. After the rout it had
suffered at the hands of Valerius, the Samnite army was determined to put its
fortunes to the proof in a final conflict, and a third battle was fought at
Suessula. The whole fighting strength of the nation was brought up. The
alarming news was sent in haste to Capua; from there horsemen galloped to
the Roman camp to beg for help from Valerius. He at once ordered an
advance, and leaving a strong force to protect the camp and the baggage,
proceeded by forced marches to Suessula. He selected a site for his camp not
far from the enemy, and very restricted in area, as with the exception of the
horses there were no baggage, animals, or camp-followers to be provided
for. The Samnite army, assuming that there would be no delay in giving
battle, formed their lines, and as no enemy advanced against them they
marched on towards the Roman camp prepared to assault it. When they saw
the soldiers on the rampart and learnt from the report of the reconnoitring
parties who had been sent in every direction that the camp was of small
dimensions, they concluded that only a weak force of the enemy held it. The
whole army began to clamour for the fosse to be filled up and the rampart
torn down that they might force their way into the camp. If the generals had
not checked the impetuosity of their men, their recklessness would have
terminated the war. As it was, however, their huge numbers were exhausting
their supplies, and owing to their previous inaction at Suessula and the delay
in bringing on an action they were not far from absolute scarcity. They
determined, therefore, since, as they imagined, the enemy was afraid to
venture outside his camp, to send foraging parties into the fields. Meantime
they expected that as the Romans made no movement and had brought only
as much corn as they could carry with the rest of their equipment on their
shoulders, they, too, would soon be in want of everything. When the consul
saw the enemy scattered through the fields and only a few left on outpost
duty in front of the camp, he addressed a few words of encouragement to his
men and led them out to storm the Samnite camp. They carried it at the first
rush; more of the enemy were killed in their tents than at the gates or on the
rampart. All the standards which were captured he ordered to be collected
together. Leaving two legions to hold the camp, he gave strict orders that
they were not to touch the booty till he returned. He went forward with his
men in open column and sent the cavalry to round up the scattered Samnites,
like so much game, and drive them against his army. There was an immense
slaughter, for they were too much terrified to think under what standard to
rally or whether to make for their camp or flee further afield. Their fears
drove them into such a hasty flight that as many as 40,000 shields -far more
than the number of the slain -and military standards, including those
captured in the storming of the camp, to the number of 170 were brought to
the consul. He then returned to the Samnite camp and all the booty there
was given to the soldiers.
7.38
The
success which attended these operations made the people of Falerii anxious
to convert their forty years' truce into a permanent treaty of peace with
Rome. It also led the Latins to abandon their designs against Rome and
employ the force they had collected against the Paelignians. The fame of
these victories was not confined to the limits of Italy; even the Carthaginians
sent a deputation to congratulate the senate and to present a golden crown
which was to be placed in the chapel of Jupiter on the Capitol. It weighed
twenty-five pounds. Both the consuls celebrated a triumph over the
Samnites. A striking figure in the procession was Decius, wearing his
decorations; in their extempore effusions the soldiers repeated his name as
often as that of the consul. Soon after this an audience was granted to
deputations from Capua and from Suessa, and at their request it was
arranged that a force should be sent to winter in those two cities to act as a
check upon the Samnites. Even in those days a residence in Capua was by no
means conducive to military discipline; having pleasures of every kind at
their command, the troops became enervated and their patriotism was
undermined. They began to hatch plans for seizing Capua by the same
criminal means by which its present holders had taken it from its ancient
possessors. "They richly deserved," it was said, "to have the precedent which
they had set turned against themselves. Why should people like the
Campanians who were incapable of defending either their possessions or
themselves enjoy the most fertile territory in Italy, and a city well worthy of
its territory, in preference to a victorious army who had driven off the
Samnites from it by their sweat and blood? Was it just that these people who
had surrendered themselves into their power should be enjoying that fertile
and delightful country while they, wearied with warfare, were struggling
with the arid and pestilential soil round the City, or suffering the ruinous
consequences of an ever-growing interest which were awaiting them in
Rome?" This agitation which was being conducted in secret, only a few
being yet taken into the conspirators' confidence, was discovered by the new
consul, Caius Marcius Rutilus, to whom Campania had been allotted as his
province, his colleague, Q. Servilius, being left in the City. Taught by years
and experience -he had been four times consul as well as Dictator and
censor -he thought his best course would be, after he was in possession of
the facts as ascertained through the tribunes, to frustrate any chance of the
soldiers carrying out their design by encouraging them in the hope of
executing it whenever they pleased. The troops had been distributed amongst
the cities of Campania, and the contemplated plan had been propagated from
Capua throughout the entire force. The consul caused a rumour, therefore,
to be spread that they were to occupy the same winter quarters the following
year. As there appeared to be no necessity for their carrying out their design
immediately, the agitation quieted down for the present.
7.39
After
settling the army in their summer quarters, whilst all was quiet among the
Samnites the consul began to purify it by getting rid of the mutinous spirits.
Some were dismissed as having served their time; others were pronounced to
be incapacitated through age or infirmity; others were sent home on
furlough, at first separately, then selected cohorts were sent together, on the
ground that they had passed the winter far from their homes and belongings.
A large number were transferred to different places, ostensibly for the needs
of the service. All these the other consul and the praetor detained in Rome
on various imaginary pretexts. At first, unaware of the trick that was being
played upon them, they were delighted to revisit their homes. They soon,
however, found out that even those who were first sent away were not
rejoining the colours and that hardly any were disbanded but those who had
been in Campania, and amongst these mainly the leading agitators. At first
they were surprised, and then they felt a well-grounded apprehension that
their plans had leaked out. "Now," they said, "we shall have to suffer
court-martial, informers will give evidence against us, we shall one after
another be executed in secret; the reckless and ruthless tyranny of the
consuls and senators will be let loose on us." The soldiers, seeing how those
who were the backbone of the conspiracy had been cleverly got rid of by the
consuls, did not venture to do more than whisper these things to one
another.
One cohort, which was stationed not far from Antium, took up a
position at Lantulae in a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea to
intercept those whom the consul was sending home on the various pretexts
mentioned above. They soon grew to a very numerous body, and nothing
was wanting to give it the form of a regular army except a general. They
moved on into the Alban district, plundering as they went, and entrenched
themselves in a camp under the hill of Alba Longa. After completing their
entrenchments they spent the rest of the day in arguing about the choice of a
leader, as they had not sufficient confidence in any one amongst themselves.
But who could be invited from Rome? Which of the patricians or plebeians
would expose himself to such peril, or to whom could the cause of an army
maddened by injustice be safely committed? The next day found them still
engaged in the discussion, when some of those who had been dispersed in
the marauding expedition brought back the information that Titus Quinctius
was cultivating a farm in the neighbourhood and had lost all interest in his
City and the honourable distinctions he had won. This man belonged to a
patrician house, and after achieving great reputation as a soldier, had his
military career cut short by a wound which made him lame in one of his feet,
and he betook himself to a rural life, far from the Forum and its party
struggles. On hearing his name mentioned they recalled the man to mind, and
hoping that all might turn out well they ordered an invitation to be sent to
him. They hardly expected that he would come voluntarily, and prepared to
intimidate him into compliance. The messengers accordingly entered his
farmhouse in the dead of night and woke him up from a sound sleep, and
after telling him that there was no alternative, it must either be authority and
rank or, if he resisted, death, they carried him off to the camp. On his arrival
he was saluted as their commander, and all dismayed as he was by the
strangeness and suddenness of the affair, the insignia of his office were
brought to him and he was peremptorily told to lead them to the City. Acting
on their own impulse rather than their leader's advice they plucked up their
standards and marched in hostile array as far as the eighth milestone on what
is now the Appian Way. They would have gone on at once to the City had
they not received word that an army was on its march, and that M. Valerius
Corvus had been nominated Dictator, with L. Aemilius Mamercus as his
Master of the Horse, to act against them.
7.40
As soon
as they came into view and recognised the arms and standards, the thought
of their country instantly calmed the passions of them all. They had not yet
been hardened to the sight of civic bloodshed, they knew of no wars but
those against foreign foes, and secession from their own countrymen began
to be looked upon as the last degree of madness. First the leaders then the
men on both sides sought an opening for negotiations. Quinctius, who had
had enough of fighting for his country and was the last man to fight against
it, and Corvus, who was devoted to all his countrymen, especially to the
soldiers and above all to his own army, came forward to a colloquy. When
the latter was recognised, his opponents showed as much respect for him as
his own men by the silence with which they prepared to listen to him. He
addressed them as follows: "Soldiers! When I left the City I offered up
prayers to the immortal gods who watch over our State, your State and
mine, that they would of their goodness grant me, not a victory over you,
but the glory of bringing about a reconciliation. There have been and there
will be abundant opportunities for winning glory in war, on this occasion we
must seek for peace. That which I implored of the immortal gods, when I
offered up my prayers, you have it in your power now to grant me if you will
please to remember that you are encamped not in Samnium, not amongst the
Volscians, but on Roman soil. Those hills which you see are the hills of your
City; I, your consul, am the man under whose auspices and leadership you
twice defeated the legions of the Samnites a year ago and twice captured
their camp. I am Marcus Valerius Corvus, soldiers, a patrician it is true, but
my nobility has shown itself in benefits to you, not in wrongs; I have never
been the author of any law bearing harshly on you or of any oppressive
enactment of the senate; in all my commands I have been stricter with myself
than with you. If noble birth, if personal merit, if high office, if distinguished
service could make any man proud, I venture to say that such is my descent,
such the proof I have given of myself, such the age at which I obtained the
consulship, being only twenty-three, that I had it in my power to show
myself harsh and overbearing not only to the plebs but even to the patricians.
What have you heard that I have said or done as consul more than I should
had I been one of your tribunes? In that spirit I administered two successive
consulships, in that spirit will this dread Dictatorship be administered; I shall
not be more gentle towards these soldiers of mine and of my country than to
you who would be -I loathe the word -its enemies.
"You then will draw the sword against me before I shall draw it
against you; if there is to be fighting it is on your side that the advance will
be sounded, on your side will the battle-shout and charge begin. Make up
your minds to do what your fathers and grandfathers -those who seceded to
the Sacred Mount and those who afterwards took possession of the Aventine
-could not make up their minds to do! Wait till your wives and mothers
come out from the City with dishevelled hair to meet you as they once came
to meet Coriolanus! Then the Volscian legions refrained from attacking us
because they had a Roman for their general; will not you, an army of
Romans, desist from an impious war? Titus Quinctius! by whatever means
you were placed in your present position, whether willingly or unwillingly, if
there is to be a conflict, retire, I beg you to the rearmost line; it will be more
honourable for you to flee from a fellow-citizen than to fight against your
country. But if there is to be peace you will take your place with honour
amongst the foremost and play the part of a beneficent mediator in this
conference. Demand what is just and you shall receive it, though we should
acquiesce even in what is unjust rather than embrue impious hands in one
another's blood." T. Quinctius, bathed in tears, turned to his men and said:
"If, soldiers, I am of any use at all you will find that I am a better leader in
peace than in war. The words you have heard are not those of a Volscian or
a Samnite but of a Roman. They were spoken by your consul, your
commander, soldiers, whose auspices you have found by experience to be
favourable for you; do not desire to learn by experience what they may be
when directed against you. The senate had at its disposal other generals
more ready to fight against you; it has selected the one man who has showed
most consideration for his soldiers, in whom you have placed most
confidence as your commander. Even those who have victory in their power
wish for peace, what ought we to wish for? Why do we not lay aside all
resentment and ambitious hopes -those treacherous advisers -and trust
ourselves and all our interests to his tried fidelity?"
7.41
There
was a universal shout of approval, and T. Quinctius advancing to the front
asserted that his men would submit to the authority of the Dictator. He
implored Valerius to take up the cause of his unhappy fellow-citizens, and
when he had taken it up to maintain it with the same integrity that he had
always shown in his public administration. For himself he demanded no
conditions, he would not place his hope in anything but his innocence, but
for the soldiers there must be the same guarantee that was given in the days
of their fathers to the plebs and afterwards to the legions, namely, that no
man should be punished for having taken part in the secession. The Dictator
expressed his approval of what had been said, and after telling them all to
hope for the best he galloped back to the City, and after obtaining the
consent of the senate, brought a measure before the people who were
assembled in the Petilian Grove granting immunity to all who had taken part
in the secession. He then begged the Quirites to grant him one request,
which was that no one should ever either in jest or earnest bring that matter
up against any one. A military Lex Sacrata was also passed, enacting that no
soldier's name should be struck off the muster-roll without his consent. An
additional provision was subsequently embodied in it, forbidding any one
who had once been military tribune from being made to serve afterwards as a
centurion. This was in consequence of a demand made by the mutineers with
respect to P. Salonius, who had been every year either military tribune or
centurion of the first class. They were incensed against him because he had
always opposed their mutinous projects and had fled from Lautulae to avoid
being mixed up with them. As this proposal was aimed solely at Salonius the
senate refused to allow it. Then Salonius himself appealed to the senators not
to consider his dignity of more importance than the harmony of the State,
and at his request they ultimately passed it. Another demand just as impudent
was that the pay of the cavalry should be reduced -at that time they were
receiving three times the infantry pay -because they had acted against the
mutineers.
7.42
In
addition to these measures I find the following recorded by various
authorities. L. Genucius, a tribune of the plebs, brought before them a
measure declaring usury illegal, whilst other resolutions were adopted
forbidding any one to accept re-election to the same office in less than ten
years or fill two offices in the same year, and also that both consuls might
legally be elected from the plebs. If all these concessions were really made it
is quite clear that the revolt possessed considerable strength. In other
annalists it is stated that Valerius was not nominated Dictator, but the matter
was entirely arranged by the consuls; also that it was not before they came to
Rome but in Rome itself that the body of conspirators broke out into armed
revolt; also that it was not to T. Quinctius' farm but to the house of C.
Manlius that the nocturnal visit was paid, and that it was Manlius who was
seized by the conspirators and made their leader, after which they marched
out to a distance of four miles and entrenched themselves; also that it was
not their leaders who made the first suggestions of concord, but what
happened was that as the two armies advanced towards each other prepared
for action the soldiers exchanged mutual greetings, and as they drew nearer
grasped each other's hands and embraced one another, and the consuls,
seeing how averse the soldiers were from fighting, yielded to circumstances
and made proposals to the senate for reconciliation and concord. Thus the
ancient authorities agree in nothing but the simple fact that there was a
mutiny and that it was suppressed. The report of this disturbance and the
seriousness of the war which had been commenced with the Samnites made
many nationalities averse from an alliance with Rome. The Latins had long
been faithless to their treaty, and in addition to that the Privernates made a
sudden incursion and devastated the neighbouring Roman colonies of Norba
and Setia.
End of Book 7