The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty Six - Titus Livius
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28. However, although the victory was still undecided, fortune not
having declared in favour of either party, yet the course of the fight
was by no means similar on both right and left wings. The Romans,
under Fabius, rather repelled than offered assault, and the contest
was protracted until very late in the day, for their general knew very
well, that both Samnites and Gauls were furious in the first onset, so
that, to withstand them would be sufficient. It was known, too, that
in a protracted contest the spirits of the Samnites gradually flagged,
and even the bodies of the Gauls, remarkably ill able to bear labour
and heat, became quite relaxed, and although, in their first efforts,
they were more than men, yet in their last they were less than women.
He, therefore, reserved the strength of his men as unimpaired as
possible, until the time when the enemy were the more likely to be
worsted. Decius, more impetuous, as being in the prime of life and
full flow of spirits, exerted whatever force he had to the utmost in
the first encounter, and thinking the infantry not sufficiently
energetic, brought up the cavalry to the fight. Putting himself at the
head of a troop of young horsemen of distinguished bravery, he
besought those youths, the flower of the army, to charge the enemy
with him, [telling them] "they would reap a double share of glory, if
the victory should commence on the left wing, and through their
means." Twice they compelled the Gallic cavalry to give way. At the
second charge, when they advanced farther and were briskly engaged in
the midst of the enemy's squadrons, by a method of fighting new to
them, they were thrown into dismay. A number of the enemy, mounted on
chariots and cars, made towards them with such a prodigious clatter
from the trampling of the cattle and rolling of wheels, as affrighted
the horses of the Romans, unaccustomed to such tumultuous operations.
By this means the victorious cavalry were dispersed, through a panic,
and men and horses, in their headlong flight, were tumbled
promiscuously on the ground. Hence also the battalions of the legions
were thrown into disorder, through the impetuosity of the horses, and
of the carriages which they dragged through the ranks, many of the
soldiers in the van were trodden or bruised to death, while the Gallic
line, as soon as they saw their enemy in confusion, pursued the
advantage, nor allowed them time to take breath or recover themselves.
Decius, calling aloud, "Whither were they flying, or what hope could
they have in running away?" strove to stop them as they turned their
backs, but finding that he could not, by any efforts, prevail on them
to keep their posts, so thoroughly were they dismayed, he called on
his father, Publius Decius, by name. He said, "Why do I any longer
defer the fate entailed on my family? It is destined to our race, that
we should serve as expiatory victims to avert the public danger. I
will now offer the legions of the enemy, together with myself, to be
immolated to Earth, and the infernal gods." Having thus said, he
commanded Marcus Livius, a pontiff, whom, at his coming out to the
field, he had charged not to stir from him, to dictate the form of
words in which he was to devote himself, and the legions of the enemy,
for the army of the Roman people, the Quirites. He was accordingly
devoted with the same imprecations, and in the same habit, in which
his father, Publius Decius, had ordered himself to be devoted at the
Veseris in the Latin war. When, immediately after the solemn
imprecation, he added, that "he drove before him dismay and flight,
slaughter and blood, and the wrath of the gods celestial and infernal,
that, with the contagious influence of the furies, the ministers of
death, he would infect the standards, the weapons, and the armour of
the enemy, and that the same spot should be that of his perdition, and
that of the Gauls and Samnites." After uttering these execrations on
himself and the foe, he spurred forward his horse, where he saw the
line of the Gauls thickest, and, rushing upon the enemy's weapons, met
his death.
29. Thenceforward the battle seemed to be fought with a degree of
force scarcely human. The Romans, on the loss of their general, a
circumstance which, on other occasions, is wont to inspire terror,
stopped their flight, and were anxious to begin the combat afresh. The
Gauls, and especially the multitude which encircled the consul's body,
as if deprived of reason, cast their javelins at random without
execution, some became so stupid as not to think of either fighting or
flying, while on the other side, Livius, the pontiff, to whom Decius
had transferred his lictors, with orders to act as propraetor, cried
out aloud, that "the Romans were victorious, being saved by the death
of their consul. That the Gauls and Samnites were now the victims of
mother Earth and the infernal gods. That Decius was summoning and
dragging to himself the army devoted along with him, and that, among
the enemy, all was full of dismay, and the vengeance of all the
furies." While the soldiers were busy in restoring the fight, Lucius
Cornelius Scipio and Caius Marcius, with some reserved troops from the
rear, who had been sent by Quintus Fabius, the consul, to the support
of his colleague, came up. There the fate of Decius is ascertained, a
powerful stimulus to brave every danger in the cause of the public.
Wherefore, when the Gauls stood in close order, with their shields
formed into a fence before them, and but little prospect of success
appeared from a close fight, the javelins, which lay scattered between
the two lines, were, therefore, by order of the lieutenants-general,
gathered up from the ground, and thrown against the enemy's shields,
and as most of them pierced the fence, the long pointed ones even into
their bodies, their compact band was overthrown in such a manner, that
a great many, who were unhurt, yet fell as if thunderstruck. Such were
the changes of fortune on the left wing of the Romans; on the right,
Fabius had at first protracted the time, as we mentioned above, in
slow operations, then, as soon as he perceived that neither the shout,
nor the efforts of the enemy, nor the weapons which they threw,
retained their former force, having ordered the commanders of the
cavalry to lead round their squadrons to the flank of the Samnites, so
that, on receiving the signal, they should charge them in flank, with
all possible violence, he commanded, at the same time, his infantry to
advance leisurely, and drive the enemy from their ground. When he saw
that they were unable to make resistance, and that their exhaustion
was certain, drawing together all his reserves, whom he had kept fresh
for that occasion, he made a brisk push with the legions, and gave the
cavalry the signal to charge. The Samnites could not support the
shock, but fled precipitately to their camp, passing by the line of
the Gauls, and leaving their allies to fight by themselves. These
stood in close order under cover of their shields. Fabius, therefore,
having heard of the death of his colleague, ordered the squadron of
Campanian cavalry, in number about five hundred, to fall back from the
ranks, and riding round, to attack the rear of the Gallic line, then
the chief strength of the third legion to follow, with directions that
wherever they should see the enemy's troops disordered by the charge,
to follow the blow, and cut them to pieces, when in a state of
consternation. After vowing a temple and the spoils of the enemy to
Jupiter the Victorious, he proceeded to the camp of the Samnites,
whither all their forces were hurrying in confusion. The gates not
affording entrance to such very great numbers, those who were
necessarily excluded, attempted resistance just at the foot of the
rampart, and here fell Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite general. These,
however, were soon driven within the rampart; the camp was taken after
a slight resistance; and at the same time the Gauls were attacked on
the rear, and overpowered. There were slain of the enemy on that day
twenty-five thousand: eight thousand were taken prisoners. Nor was the
victory an unbloody one; for, of the army of Publius Decius, the
killed amounted to seven thousand; of the army of Fabius, to one
thousand two hundred. Fabius, after sending persons to search for the
body of his colleague, had the spoils of the enemy collected into a
heap, and burned them as an offering to Jupiter the Victorious. The
consul's body could not be found that day, being hid under a heap of
slaughtered Gauls: on the following, it was discovered and brought to
the camp, amidst abundance of tears shed by the soldiers. Fabius,
discarding all concern about any other business, solemnized the
obsequies of his colleague in the most honourable manner, passing on
him the high encomiums which he had justly merited.
30. During the same period, matters were managed successfully by
Cneius Fulvius, propraetor, he having, besides the immense losses
occasioned to the enemy by the devastation of their lands, fought a
battle with extraordinary success, in which there were above three
thousand of the Perusians and Clusians slain, and twenty military
standards taken. The Samnites, in their flight, passing through the
Pelignian territory, were attacked on all sides by the Pelignians;
and, out of five thousand, one thousand were killed. The glory of the
day on which they fought at Sentinum was great, even when truly
estimated; but some have gone beyond credibility by their
exaggerations, who assert in their writings, that there were in the
army of the enemy forty thousand three hundred and thirty foot, six
thousand horse, and one thousand chariots, that is, including the
Etrurians and Umbrians, who [they affirm] were present in the
engagement: and, to magnify likewise the number of Roman forces, they
add to the consuls another general, Lucius Volumnius, proconsul, and
his army to the legions of the consul. In the greater number of
annals, that victory is ascribed entirely to the two consuls.
Volumnius was employed in the mean time in Samnium; he drove the army
of the Samnites to Mount Tifernus, and, not deterred by the difficulty
of the ground, routed and dispersed them. Quintus Fabius, leaving
Decius's army in Etruria, and leading off his own legions to the city,
triumphed over the Gauls, Etrurians, and Samnites: the soldiers
attended him in his triumph. The victory of Quintus Fabius was not
more highly celebrated, in their coarse military verses, than the
illustrious death of Publius Decius; and the memory of the father was
recalled, whose fame had been equalled by the praiseworthy conduct of
the son, in respect of the issue which resulted both to himself and to
the public. Out of the spoil, donations were made to the soldiers of
eighty-two _asses_ [Footnote: _5s. 31d._] to each, with
cloaks and vests; rewards for service, in that age, by no means
contemptible.
31. Notwithstanding these successes, peace was not yet established,
either among the Samnites or Etrurians: for the latter, at the
instigation of the Perusians, resumed their arms, after his army had
been withdrawn by the consul; and the Samnites made predatory
incursions on the territories of Vescia and Formiae; and also on the
other side, on those of Aesernia, and the parts adjacent to the river
Vulturnus. Against these was sent the praetor Appius Claudius, with
the army formerly commanded by Decius. In Etruria, Fabius, on the
revival of hostilities, slew four thousand five hundred of the
Perusians, and took prisoners one thousand seven hundred and forty,
who were ransomed at the rate of three hundred and ten _asses_
[Footnote: L1.] each. All the rest of the spoil was bestowed on the
soldiers. The legions of the Samnites, though pursued, some by the
praetor Appius Claudius, the others by Lucius Volumnius, proconsul,
formed a junction in the country of the Stellatians. Here sat down the
whole body of the Samnites; and Appius and Volumnius, with their
forces united in one camp. A battle was fought with the most rancorous
animosity, one party being spurred on by rage against men who had so
often renewed their attacks on them, and the other now fighting in
support of their last remaining hope. Accordingly, there were slain,
of the Samnites, sixteen thousand three hundred, and two thousand and
seven hundred made prisoners: of the Roman army fell two thousand and
seven hundred. This year, so successful in the operations of war, was
filled with distress at home, arising from a pestilence, and with
anxiety, occasioned by prodigies: for accounts were received that, in
many places, showers of earth had fallen; and that very many persons,
in the army of Appius Claudius, had been struck by lightning; in
consequence of which, the books were consulted. At this time, Quintus
Fabius Gurges, the consul's son, having prosecuted some matrons before
the people on a charge of adultery, built, with the money accruing
from the fines which they were condemned to pay, the temple of Venus,
which stands near the circus. Still we have the wars of the Samnites
on our hands, notwithstanding that the relation of them has already
extended, in one continued course, through four volumes of our
history, and through a period of forty-six years, from the consulate
of Marcus Valerius and Aulus Cornelius, who first carried the Roman
arms into Samnium. And, not to recite the long train of disasters
sustained by both nations, and the toils which they underwent, by
which, however, their stubborn breasts could not be subdued; even in
the course of the last year, the Samnites, with their own forces
separately, and also in conjunction with those of other nations, had
been defeated by four several armies, and four generals of the Romans,
in the territory of Sentinum, in that of the Pelignians, at Tifernum,
and in the plains of the Stellatians; had lost the general of the
highest character in their nation; and, now, saw their allies in the
war, the Etrurians, the Umbrians, and the Gauls, in the same situation
with themselves; but, although they could now no longer stand, either
by their own or by foreign resources, yet did they not desist from the
prosecution of hostilities. So far were they from being weary of
defending liberty, even though unsuccessfully: and they preferred
being defeated to not aspiring after victory. Who does not find his
patience tired, either in writing, or reading, of wars of such
continuance; and which yet exhausted not the resolution of the parties
concerned?
32. Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were succeeded in the consulship
by Lucius Postumius Megellus and Marcus Atilius Regulus. The province
of Samnium was decreed to both in conjunction; because intelligence
had been received that the enemy had embodied three armies; with one
that Etruria was to be recovered; with another the ravages in Campania
were to be repeated; and the third was intended for the defence of
their frontiers. Sickness detained Postumius at Rome, but Atilius set
out immediately, with design to surprise the enemy in Samnium, before
they should have advanced beyond their own borders; for such had been
the directions of the senate. The Romans met the enemy, as if by
mutual appointment, at a spot where, while they could be hindered, not
only from ravaging, but even from entering the Samnite territory, they
could likewise hinder the Samnites from continuing their progress into
the countries which were quiet, and the lands of the allies of the
Roman people. While their camps lay opposite to each other, the
Samnites attempted an enterprise, which the Romans, so often their
conquerors, would scarcely have ventured to undertake; such is the
rashness inspired by extreme despair: this was to make an assault on
the Roman camp. And although this attempt, so daring, succeeded not in
its full extent, yet it was not without effect. There was a fog, which
continued through a great part of the day, so thick as to exclude the
light of the sun, and to prevent not only the view of any thing beyond
the rampart, but scarcely the sight of each other, when they should
meet. Depending on this, as a covering to the design, when the sun was
scarcely yet risen, and the light which he did afford was obscured by
the fog, the Samnites came up to an advanced guard of the Romans at
one of the gates, who were standing carelessly on their post. In the
sudden surprise, these had neither courage nor strength to make
resistance: an assault was then made, through the Decuman gate, in the
rear of the camp: the quaestor's quarters in consequence were taken,
and the quaestor, Lucius Opimius Pansa, was there slain; on this a
general alarm was given to take up arms.
33. The consul, being roused by the tumult, ordered two cohorts of the
allies, a Lucanian and Suessanian, which happened to be nearest, to
defend the head-quarters, and led the companies of the legions down
the principal street. These ran into the ranks, scarcely taking time
to furnish themselves with arms; and, as they distinguished the enemy
by their shout rather than by sight, could form no judgment how great
their number might be: thus, ignorant of the circumstances of their
situation, they at first drew back, and admitted the enemy into the
heart of the camp. Then when the consul cried out, asking them,
whether they intended to let themselves be beaten out beyond the
rampart, and then to return again to storm their own camp, they raised
the shout, and uniting their efforts, stood their ground; then made
advances, pushed closely on the enemy, and having forced them to give
way, drove them back, without suffering their first terror to abate.
They soon beat them out beyond the gate and the rampart, but not
daring to pursue them, because the darkness of the weather made them
apprehend an ambush, and content with having cleared the camp, they
retired within the rampart, having killed about three hundred of the
enemy. Of the Romans, including the first advanced guard and the
watchmen, and those who were surprised at the quaestor's quarters, two
hundred and thirty perished. This not unsuccessful piece of boldness
raised the spirits of the Samnites so high, that they not only did not
suffer the Romans to march forward into their country, but even to
procure forage from their lands; and the foragers were obliged to go
back into the quiet country of Sora. News of these events being
conveyed to Rome, with circumstances of alarm magnified beyond the
truth, obliged Lucius Postumius, the consul, though scarcely recovered
from his illness, to set out for the army. However, before his
departure, having issued a proclamation that his troops should
assemble at Sora, he dedicated the temple of Victory, for the building
of which he had provided, when curule aedile, out of the money arising
from fines; and, joining the army, he advanced from Sora towards
Samnium, to the camp of his colleague. The Samnites, despairing of
being able to make head against the two armies, retreated from thence,
on which the consuls, separating, proceeded by different routes to lay
waste the enemy's lands and besiege their towns.
34. Postumius attempted to make himself master of Milionia, at first
by storm and an assault; but these not succeeding, he carried his
approaches to the walls, and thus gained an entrance into the place.
The fight was continued in all parts of the city from the fourth hour
until near the eighth, the result being a long time uncertain: the
Romans at last gained possession of the town. Three thousand two
hundred of the Samnites were killed, four thousand seven hundred
taken, besides the other booty. From thence the legions were conducted
to Ferentinum, out of which the inhabitants had, during the night,
retired in silence through the opposite gate, with all their effects
which could be either carried or driven. The consul, on his arrival,
approached the walls with the same order and circumspection, as if he
were to meet an opposition here equal to what he had experienced at
Milionia. Then, perceiving a dead silence in the city, and neither
arms nor men on the towers and ramparts, he restrains the soldiers,
who were eager to mount the deserted fortifications, lest they might
fall into a snare. He ordered two divisions of the confederate Latin
horse to ride round the walls, and explore every particular. These
horsemen observed one gate, and, at a little distance, another on the
same side, standing wide open, and on the roads leading from these
every mark of the enemy having fled by night. They then rode up
leisurely to the gates, from whence, with perfect safety, they took a
clear view through straight streets quite across the city. They report
to the consul, that the city was abandoned by the enemy, as was plain
from the solitude, the recent tracks on their retreat, and the things
which, in the confusion of the night, they had left scattered up and
down. On hearing this, the consul led round the army to that side of
the city which had been examined, and making the troops halt at a
little distance from the gate, gave orders that five horsemen should
ride into the city; and when they should have advanced a good way into
it, then, if they saw all things safe, three should remain there, and
the other two return to him with intelligence. These returned and
said, that they had proceeded to a part of the town from which they
had a view on every side, and that nothing but silence and solitude
reigned through the whole extent of it. The consul immediately led
some light-armed cohorts into the city; ordering the rest to fortify
a camp in the mean time. The soldiers who entered the town, breaking
open the doors, found only a few persons, disabled by age or sickness;
and such effects left behind as could not, without difficulty, be
removed. These were seized as plunder: and it was discovered from the
prisoners, that several cities in that quarter had, in pursuance of a
concerted plan, resolved on flight; that their towns-people had gone
off at the first watch, and they believed that the same solitude they
should find in the other places. The accounts of the prisoners proved
well-founded, and the consul took possession of the forsaken towns.
35. The war was by no means so easy with the other consul, Marcus
Atilius. As he was marching his legions towards Luceria, to which he
was informed that the Samnites had laid siege, the enemy met him on
the border of the Lucerian territory. Rage supplied them, on this
occasion, with strength to equal his: the battle was stubbornly
contested, and the victory doubtful; in the issue, however, more
calamitous on the side of the Romans, both because they were
unaccustomed to defeat, and that, on leaving the field, they felt more
sensibly, than during the heat of the action, how much more wounds and
bloodshed had been on their side. In consequence of this, such dismay
spread through the camp, as, had it seized them during the engagement,
a signal defeat would have been the result. Even as the matter stood,
they spent the night in great anxiety; expecting, every instant, that
the Samnites would assault the camp; or that, at the first light, they
should be obliged to stand a battle with a victorious enemy. On the
side of the enemy, however, although there was less loss, yet there
was not greater courage. As soon as day appeared, they wished to
retire without any more fighting; but there was only one road, and
that leading close by the post of their enemy; on their taking which,
they seemed as if advancing directly to attack the camp. The consul,
therefore, ordered his men to take arms, and to follow him outside the
rampart, giving directions to the lieutenants-general, tribunes, and
the praefects of the allies, in what manner he would have each of them
act. They all assured him that "they would do every thing in their
power, but that the soldiers were quite dejected; that, from their own
wounds, and the groans of the dying, they had passed the whole night
without sleep; that if the enemy had approached the camp before day,
so great were the fears of the troops, that they would certainly have
deserted their standards." "Even at present they were restrained from
flight merely by shame; and, in other respects, were little better
than vanquished men." This account made the consul judge it necessary
to go himself among the soldiers, and speak to them; and, as he came
up to each, he rebuked them for their backwardness in taking arms,
asking, "Why they loitered, and declined the fight? If they did not
choose to go out of the camp, the enemy would come into it; and they
must fight in defence of their tents, if they would not in defence of
the rampart. Men who have arms in their hands, and contend with their
foe, have always a chance for victory; but the man who waits naked and
unarmed for his enemy, must suffer either death or slavery." To these
reprimands and rebukes they answered, that "they were exhausted by the
fatigue of the battle of yesterday; and had no strength, nor even
blood remaining; and besides, the enemy appeared more numerous than
they were the day before." The hostile army, in the mean time, drew
near; so that, seeing every thing more distinctly as the distance grew
less, they asserted that the Samnites carried with them pallisades for
a rampart, and evidently intended to draw lines of circumvallation
round the camp. On this the consul exclaimed, with great earnestness,
against submitting to such an ignominious insult, and from so
dastardly a foe. "Shall we even be blockaded," said he, "in our camp,
and die, with ignominy, by famine, rather than bravely by the sword,
if it must be so? May the gods be propitious! and let every one act in
the manner which he thinks becomes him. The consul Marcus Atilius,
should no other accompany him, will go out, even alone, to face the
enemy; and will fall in the middle of the Samnite battalions, rather
than see the Roman camp enclosed by their trenches." The
lieutenants-general, tribunes, every troop of the cavalry, and the
principal centurions, expressed their approbation of what the consul
said; and the soldiers at length, overcome by shame, took up their
arms, but in a spiritless manner; and in the same spiritless manner,
marched out of the camp. In a long train, and that not every where
connected, melancholy, and seemingly subdued, they proceeded towards
the enemy, whose hopes and courage, were not more steady than theirs.
As soon therefore as the Roman standards were beheld, a murmur spread
from front to rear of the Samnites, that, as they had feared, "the
Romans were coming out to oppose their march; that there was no road
open, through which they could even fly thence; in that spot they must
fall, or else cut down the enemy's ranks, and make their way over
their bodies."