8.16
The
consuls for the following year were L. Papirius Crassus and Caeso Duillius.
There was war with the Ausonians; the fact that it was against a new enemy
rather than a formidable one made it noticeable. This people inhabited the
city of Cales, and had joined arms with their neighbours, the Sidicines. The
combined army of the two cities was routed in a quite insignificant
engagement; the proximity of their cities made them all the sooner seek a
safety in flight which they did not find in fighting. The senate were none the
less anxious about the war, in view of the fact that the Sidicines had so
frequently either taken the aggressive themselves or assisted others to do so,
or had been the cause of hostilities. They did their utmost, therefore, to
secure the election of M. Valerius Corvus, the greatest commander of his
day, as consul for the fourth time. M. Atilius Regulus was assigned to him as
his colleague. To avoid any chance of mistake, the consuls requested that
this war might be assigned to Corvus without deciding it by lot. After taking
over the victorious army from the previous consuls, he marched to Cales,
where the war had originated. The enemy were dispirited through the
remembrance of the former conflict, and he routed them at the very first
attack. He then advanced to an assault upon their walls. Such was the
eagerness of the soldiers that they were anxious to bring up the scaling
ladders and mount the walls forthwith, but Corvus perceived the difficulty of
the task and preferred to gain his object by submitting his men to the labours
of a regular siege rather than by exposing them to unnecessary risks. So he
constructed an agger and brought up the vineae and the turrets close to the
walls, but a fortunate circumstance rendered them unnecessary. M. Fabius, a
Roman prisoner, succeeded in eluding his guards on a festival, and after
breaking his chains fastened a rope from a battlement of the wall and let
himself down amongst the Roman works. He induced the commander to
attack the enemy while they were sleeping off the effects of their wine and
feasting, and the Ausonians were captured, together with their city, with no
more trouble than they had previously been routed in the open field. The
booty seized was enormous, and after a garrison was placed in Cales the
legions were marched back to Rome. The senate passed a resolution
allowing the consul to celebrate a triumph, and in order that Atilius might
have a chance of distinguishing himself, both the consuls were ordered to
march against the Sidicines. Before starting they nominated, on the
resolution of the senate, L. Aemilius Mamercinus as Dictator, for the
purpose of conducting the elections; he named Q. Publilius Philo as his
Master of the Horse. The consuls elected were T. Veturius and Spurius
Postumius. Although there was still war with the Sidicines, they brought
forward a proposal to send a colony to Cales in order to anticipate the
wishes of the plebs by a voluntary act of kindness. The senate passed a
resolution that 2500 names should be enrolled, and the three commissioners
appointed to settle the colonists and allocate the holdings were Caeso
Duillius, T. Quinctius, and M. Fabius.