4.10
Up to that time the
Volscian commander had not laid in any stock of
provisions, as he had been able to maintain his army
upon the corn carried off each day from the
surrounding country. Now, however, that he was
suddenly shut in by the Roman lines, he found
himself destitute of everything. He invited the
consul to a conference, and said that if the object
for which the Romans had come was to raise the
siege, he would withdraw the Volscians. The consul
replied that it was for the defeated side to submit
to terms, not to impose them, and as the Volscians
had come at their own pleasure to attack the allies
of Rome, they should not depart on the same terms.
He required them to lay down their arms, surrender
their general, and make acknowledgment of their
defeat by placing themselves under his orders;
otherwise, whether they remained or departed, he
would prove a relentless foe, and would rather carry
back to Rome a victory over them than a faithless
peace. The only hope of the Volscians lay in their
arms, and slight as it was they risked it. The
ground was unfavourable to them for fighting, still
more so for flight. As they were being cut down in
all directions, they begged for quarter, but they
were only allowed to get away after their general
had been surrendered, their arms given up, and they
themselves sent under the yoke. Covered with
disgrace and disaster, they departed with only one
garment apiece. They halted not far from the city of
Tusculum, and owing to an old grudge which that city
had against them, they were suddenly attacked, and
defenceless as they were, suffered severe
punishment, few being left to carry the news of the
disaster. The consul settled the troubles in Ardea
by beheading the ringleaders of the disturbance and
confiscating their property to the treasury of the
city. The citizens considered that the injustice of
the recent decision was removed by the great service
that Rome had rendered, but the senate thought that
something ought still to be done to wipe out the
record of national avarice. The consul Quinctius
achieved the difficult task of rivalling in his
civil administration the military renown of his
colleague. He showed such care to maintain peace and
concord by tempering justice equally for the highest
and the lowest, that whilst the senate looked upon
him as a stern consul, the plebeians regarded him as
a lenient one. He held his ground against the
tribunes more by personal authority than by active
opposition. Five consulships marked by the same even
tenor of conduct, a whole lifetime passed in a
manner worthy of a consul, invested the man himself
with almost more reverence than the office he
filled. Whilst these two men were consuls there was
no talk of military tribunes.