10.17
While
they were thus busy with their intrigues in Etruria the warfare which the
Romans were carrying on in Samnium was terribly destructive. When P.
Decius had ascertained through his scouts the departure of the Samnite army
he summoned a council of war. "Why," he asked, "are we foaming through
the country districts, making war only upon the villages? Why are we not
attacking the walled cities? There is no army to defend them, the army has
abandoned its country and gone into voluntary exile." His proposal was
unanimously adopted and he led them to the attack of Murgantia, a
powerfully fortified city. Such was the eagerness of the soldiers, due partly
to the affection they felt for their commander and partly to the expectation of
a larger amount of plunder than they were securing in the country districts,
that they stormed and captured the city in a single day. Two thousand one
hundred combatants were cut off and made prisoners and an enormous
quantity of plunder was seized. To avoid loading the army with a lot of
heavy baggage Decius called his men together and addressed them thus:
"Are you going to content yourselves with this one victory and this spoil?
Raise your hopes and expectations to the height of your courage. All the
cities of the Samnites and all the wealth left in them are yours now that their
legions, routed in so many battles, have at last been driven by you beyond
their frontiers. Sell what you now hold and attract traders by the hope of
profit to follow our armies; I shall frequently supply you with things for sale.
Let us go on to the city of Romulea where still greater spoil awaits you but
not greater exertions."
The booty was then sold and the men, urging on their commander,
marched to Romulea. Here, too, no siege works were constructed, no
artillery employed, the moment the standards were brought up to the walls
no resistance on the part of the defenders could keep the men back; they
planted their scaling-ladders just where they happened to be, and swarmed
on to the walls. The town was taken and sacked, 2300 were killed, 6000
taken prisoners, and a vast amount of plunder secured, which the troops, as
before, were obliged to dispose of to the traders. The next place to be
attacked was Ferentinum, and though no rest was allowed the men, they
marched thither in the highest spirits. Here, however, they had more trouble
and more risk. The position had been made as strong as possible by nature
and by art, and the walls were defended with the utmost energy, but a
soldiery habituated to plunder overcame all obstacles. As many as 3000 of
the enemy were killed round the walls; the plunder was given to the troops.
In some annalists the greater part of the credit of these captures is given to
Maximus; Decius they say took Murgantia, Ferentinum and Romulea being
captured by Fabius. Some again claim this honour for the new consuls, while
a few restrict it to L. Volumnius, to whom they say Samnium was assigned
as his sphere of action.