5.32
These were L. Lucretius,
Servius Sulpicius, M. Aemilius, L. Furius Medullinus
-for the seventh time -Agrippa Furius, and C.
Aemilius -for the second time. They entered upon
office on the 1st of July. L. Lucretius and C.
Aemilius were charged with the campaign against the
Volsinians; Agrippa Furius and Servius Sulpicius
with the one against the Salpinates. The first
action took place with the Volsinians; an immense
number of the enemy were engaged, but the fighting
was by no means severe. Their line was scattered at
the first shock; 8000 who were surrounded by the
cavalry laid down their arms and surrendered. On
hearing of this battle the Salpinates would not
trust themselves to a regular engagement in the
field, but sought the protection of their walls. The
Romans carried off plunder in all directions from
both the Salpinate and Volsinian territories without
meeting any resistance. At last the Volsinians,
tired of the war, obtained a truce for twenty years
on condition that they paid an indemnity for their
previous raid and supplied the year's pay for the
army. It was in this year that Marcus Caedicius, a
member of the plebs, reported to the tribunes that
whilst he was in the Via Nova where the chapel now
stands, above the temple of Vesta, he heard in the
silence of the night a voice more powerful than any
human voice bidding the magistrates be told that the
Gauls were approaching. No notice was taken of this,
partly owing to the humble rank of the informant,
and partly because the Gauls were a distant and
therefore an unknown nation. It was not the
monitions of the gods only that were set at nought
in face of the coming doom. The one human aid which
they had against it, M. Furius Camillus, was removed
from the City. He was impeached by the plebeian
tribune L. Apuleius for his action with reference to
the spoils of Veii, and at the time had just been
bereaved of his son. He invited the members of his
tribe and his clients, who formed a considerable
part of the plebs, to his house and sounded their
feelings towards him. They told him that they would
pay whatever fine was imposed, but it was impossible
for them to acquit him. Thereupon he went into
exile, after offering up a prayer to the immortal
gods that if he were suffering wrongfully as an
innocent man, they would make his ungrateful
citizens very soon feel the need of him. He was
condemned in his absence to pay a fine of 15,000
"ases."