The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty Six - Titus Livius
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9. To this Postumius replied, "In the mean time surrender us as
unsanctified persons, which ye may do, without offence to religion;
those sacred and inviolable personages, the tribunes, ye will
afterwards deliver up as soon as they go out of office: but, if ye
listen to me, they will be first scourged with rods, here in the
Comitium, that they may pay this as interest for their punishment
being delayed. For, as to their denying that the people are acquitted
of the religious obligation, by our being given up, who is there so
ignorant of the laws of the heralds, as not to know, that those men
speak in that manner, that they themselves may not be surrendered,
rather than because the case is really so? Still I do not deny,
conscript fathers, that compacts, on sureties given, are as sacred as
treaties, in the eyes of all who regard faith between men, with the
same reverence which is paid to duties respecting the gods: but I
insist, that without the order of the people, nothing can be ratified
that is to bind the people. Suppose that, out of the same arrogance
with which the Samnites wrung from us the convention in question, they
had compelled us to repeat the established form of words for the
surrendering of cities, would ye, tribunes, say, that the Roman people
was surrendered? and, that this city, these temples, and consecrated
grounds, these lands and waters, were become the property of the
Samnites? I say no more of the surrender, because our having become
sureties is the point insisted on. Now, suppose we had become sureties
that the Roman people should quit this city; that they should set it
on fire; that they should have no magistrates, no senate, no laws;
that they should, in future, be ruled by kings: the gods forbid, you
say. But, the enormity of the articles lessens not the obligation of a
compact. If there is any thing in which the people can be bound, it
can in all. Nor is there any importance in another circumstance, which
weighs, perhaps, with some: whether a consul, a dictator, or a
praetor, be the surety. And this, indeed, was what even the Samnites
themselves proved, who were not satisfied with the security of the
consuls, but compelled the lieutenants-general, quaestors, and
military tribunes to join them. Let no one, then, demand of me, why I
entered into such a compact, when neither such power was vested in a
consul, and when I could not either to them, insure a peace, of which
I could not command the ratification; or in behalf of you, who had
given me no powers. Conscript fathers, none of the transactions at
Caudium were directed by human wisdom. The immortal gods deprived of
understanding both your generals and those of the enemy. On the one
side we acted not with sufficient caution in the war; on the other,
they threw away a victory, which through our folly they had obtained,
while they hardly confided in the places, by means of which they had
conquered; but were in haste, on any terms, to take arms out of the
hands of men who were born to arms. Had their reason been sound, would
it have been difficult, during the time which they spent in sending
for old men from home to give them advice, to send ambassadors to
Rome, and to negotiate a peace and treaty with the senate, and with
the people? It would have been a journey of only three days to
expeditious travellers. In the interim, matters might have rested
under a truce, that is, until their ambassadors should have brought
from Rome, either certain victory or peace. That would have been
really a compact, on the faith of sureties, for we should have become
sureties by order of the people. But, neither would ye have passed
such an order, nor should we have pledged our faith; nor was it right
that the affair should have any other issue, than, that they should be
vainly mocked with a dream, as it were, of greater prosperity than
their minds were capable of comprehending, and that the same fortune,
which had entangled our army, should extricate it; that an ineffectual
victory should be frustrated by a more ineffectual peace; and that a
convention, on the faith of a surety, should be introduced, which
bound no other person beside the surety. For what part had ye,
conscript fathers; what part had the people, in this affair? Who can
call upon you? Who can say, that he has been deceived by you? Can the
enemy? Can a citizen? To the enemy ye engaged nothing. Ye ordered no
citizen to engage on your behalf. Ye are therefore no way concerned
either with us, to whom ye gave no commission; nor with the Samnites,
with whom ye transacted no business. We are sureties to the Samnites;
debtors, sufficiently wealthy in that which is our own, in that which
we can offer--our bodies and our minds. On these, let them exercise
their cruelty; against these, let them whet their resentment and their
swords. As to what relates to the tribunes, consider whether the
delivering them up can be effected at the present time, or if it must
be deferred to another day. Meanwhile let us, Titus Veturius, and the
rest concerned, offer our worthless persons, as atonements for the
breaking our engagements, and, by our sufferings liberate the Roman
armies."
10. Both these arguments, and, still more, the author of them,
powerfully affected the senators; as they did likewise every one, not
excepting even the tribunes of the commons who declared, that they
would be directed by the senate. They then instantly resigned their
office, and were delivered, together with the rest, to the heralds, to
be conducted to Caudium. On passing this decree of the senate, it
seemed as if some new light had shone upon the state: Postumius was in
every mouth: they extolled him to heaven; and pronounced his conduct
as equal even to the devoting act of the consul Publius Decius, and to
other illustrious acts. "Through his counsel, and exertions," they
said, "the state had raised up its head from an ignominious peace. He
now offered himself to the enemy's rage, and to torments; and was
suffering, in atonement for the Roman people." All turned their
thoughts towards arms and war, [and the general cry was,] "When shall
we be permitted with arms in our hands to meet the Samnites?" While
the state glowed with resentment and rancour, the levies were composed
almost entirely of volunteers. New legions, composed of the former
soldiers, were quickly formed, and an army marched to Caudium. The
heralds, who went before, on coming to the gate, ordered the sureties
of the peace to be stripped of their clothes, and their hands to be
tied behind their backs. As the apparitor, out of respect to his
dignity, was binding Postumius in a loose manner, "Why do you not,"
said he, "draw the cord tight, that the surrender may be regularly
performed?" Then, when they came into the assembly of the Samnites,
and to the tribunal of Pontius, Aulus Cornelius Arvina, a herald,
pronounced these words: "Forasmuch as these men, here present, without
orders from the Roman people, the Quirites, entered into surety, that
a treaty should be made, and have thereby rendered themselves
criminal; now, in order that the Roman people may be freed from the
crime of impiety, I here surrender these men into your hands." On the
herald saying thus, Postumius gave him a stroke on the thigh with his
knee, as forcibly as he could, and said with a loud voice, that "he
was now a citizen of Samnium, the other a Roman ambassador; that the
herald had been, by him, violently ill-treated, contrary to the law of
nations; and that his people would therefore have the more justice on
their side, in waging war."
11. Pontius then said, "Neither will I accept such a surrender, nor
will the Samnites deem it valid. Spurius Postumius, if you believe
that there are gods, why do you not undo all that has been done, or
fulfil your agreement? The Samnite nation is entitled, either to all
the men whom it had in its power, or, instead of them, to a peace. But
why do I call on you, who, with as much regard to faith as you are
able to show, return yourself a prisoner into the hands of the
conqueror? I call on the Roman people. If they are dissatisfied with
the convention made at the Caudine forks, let them replace the legions
within the defile where they were pent up. Let there be no deception
on either side. Let all that has been done pass as nothing. Let them
receive again the army which they surrendered by the convention; let
them return into their camp. Whatever they were in possession of, the
day before the conference, let them possess again. Then let war and
resolute counsels be adopted. Then let the convention, and peace, be
rejected. Let us carry on the war in the same circumstances, and
situations, in which we were before peace was mentioned. Let neither
the Roman people blame the convention of the consuls, nor us the faith
of the Roman people. Will ye never want an excuse for not standing to
the compacts which ye make on being defeated? Ye gave hostages to
Porsena: ye clandestinely withdrew them. Ye ransomed your state from
the Gauls, for gold: while they were receiving the gold, they were put
to the sword. Ye concluded a peace with us, on condition of our
restoring your captured legions: that peace ye now annul; in fine, ye
always spread over your fraudulent conduct some show of right. Do the
Roman people disapprove of their legions being saved by an ignominious
peace? Let them have their peace, and return the captured legions to
the conqueror. This would be conduct consistent with faith, with
treaties, and with the laws of the heralds. But that you should, in
consequence of the convention, obtain what you desired, the safety of
so many of your countrymen, while I obtain not, what I stipulated for
on sending you back those men, a peace; is this the law which you,
Aulus Cornelius, which ye, heralds, prescribe to nations? But for my
part, I neither accept those men whom ye pretend to surrender, nor
consider them as surrendered; nor do I hinder them from returning into
their own country, which stands bound under an actual convention,
formally entered into carrying with them the wrath of all the gods,
whose authority is thus baffled. Wage war, since Spurius Postumius has
just now struck with his knee the herald, in character of ambassador.
The gods are to believe that Postumius is a citizen of Samnium, not of
Rome; and that a Roman ambassador has been violated by a Samnite; and
that therefore a just war has been waged against us by you. That men
of years, and of consular dignity, should not be ashamed to exhibit
such mockery of religion in the face of day! And should have recourse
to such shallow artifices to palliate their breach of faith, unworthy
even of children! Go, lictor, take off the bonds from those Romans.
Let no one delay them from departing when they think proper."
Accordingly they returned unhurt from Caudium to the Roman camp,
having acquitted, certainly, their own faith, and perhaps that of the
public.
12. The Samnites finding that instead of a peace which flattered their
pride, the war was revived, and with the utmost inveteracy, not only
felt, in their minds, a foreboding of all the consequences which
ensued, but saw them, in a manner, before their eyes. They now, too
late and in vain, applauded the plans of old Pontius, by blundering
between which, they had exchanged the possession of victory for an
uncertain peace; and having lost the opportunity of doing a kindness
or an injury, were now to fight against men, whom they might have
either put out of the way, for ever, as enemies; or engaged, for ever,
as friends. And such was the change which had taken place in men's
minds, since the Caudine peace, even before any trial of strength had
shown an advantage on either side, that Postumius, by surrendering
himself, had acquired greater renown among the Romans, than Pontius
among the Samnites, by his bloodless victory. The Romans considered
their being at liberty to make war, a certain victory; while the
Samnites supposed the Romans victorious, the moment they resumed their
arms. Meanwhile, the Satricans revolted to the Samnites, who attacked
the colony of Fregellae, by a sudden surprise in the night,
accompanied, as it appears, by the Satricans. From that time until
day, their mutual fears kept both parties quiet: the daylight was the
signal for battle, which the Fregellans contrived to maintain, for a
considerable time, without loss of ground; both because they fought
for their religion and liberty; and the multitude, who were unfit to
bear arms, assisted them from the tops of the houses. At length a
stratagem gave the advantage to the assailants; for they suffered the
voice of a crier to be heard proclaiming, that "whoever laid down his
arms might retire in safety." This relaxed their eagerness in the
fight, and they began almost every where to throw away their arms. A
part, more determined, however, retaining their arms, rushed out by
the opposite gate, and their boldness brought greater safety to them,
than their fear, which inclined them to credulity, did to the others:
for the Samnites, having surrounded the latter with fires, burned them
all to death, while they made vain appeals to the faith of gods and
men. The consuls having settled the province between them, Papirius
proceeded into Apulia to Luceria where the Roman horsemen, given as
hostages at Caudium were kept in custody: Publilius remained in
Samnium, to oppose the Caudine legions. This proceeding perplexed the
minds of the Samnites: they could not safely determine either to go to
Luceria, lest the enemy should press on their rear or to remain where
they were, lest in the mean time Luceria should be lost. They
concluded, therefore, that it would be most advisable to trust to the
decision of fortune, and to take the issue of a battle with Publilius:
accordingly they drew out their forces into the field.
13. When Publilius was about to engage, considering it proper to
address his soldiers first, he ordered an assembly be summoned. But
though they ran together to the general's quarters with the greatest
alacrity, yet so loud were the clamours, demanding the fight, that
none of the general's exhortations were heard: each man's own
reflections on the late disgrace served as an exhortation. They
advanced therefore to battle, urging the standard-bearers to hasten;
at rest, in beginning the conflict, there should be any delay, in
wielding their javelins and then drawing their swords, they threw away
the former, as if a signal to that purpose had been given, and,
drawing the latter, rushed in full speed upon the foe. Nothing of a
general's skill was displayed in forming ranks or reserves; the
resentment of the troops performed all, with a degree of fury little
inferior to madness. The enemy, therefore, were not only completely
routed, not even daring to embarrass their flight by retreating to
their camp but dispersing, made towards Apulia in scattered parties:
afterwards, however, collecting their forces into one body, they
reached Luceria. The same exasperation, which had carried the Romans
through the midst of the enemy's line, carried them forward also into
their camp, where greater carnage was made, and more blood spilt, than
even in the field, while the greater part of the spoil was destroyed
in their rage. The other army, with the consul Papirius, had now
arrived at Arpi, on the sea-coast, having passed without molestation
through all the countries in their way; which was owing to the
ill-treatment received by those people from the Samnites, and their
hatred towards them, rather than to any favour received from the Roman
people. For such of the Samnites as dwelt on the mountains in separate
villages, used to ravage the low lands, and the places on the coast;
and being mountaineers, and savage themselves, despised the husbandmen
who were of a gentler kind, and, as generally happens, resembled the
district they inhabited. Now if this tract had been favourably
affected towards the Samnites, either the Roman army could have been
prevented from reaching Arpi, or, as it lay between Rome and Arpi, it
might have intercepted the convoys of provisions, and utterly
destroyed them by the consequent scarcity of all necessaries. Even as
it was, when they went from thence to Luceria, both the besiegers and
the besieged were distressed equally by want. Every kind of supplies
was brought to the Romans from Arpi; but in so very scanty proportion,
that the horsemen had to carry corn from thence to the camp, in little
bags, for the foot, who were employed in the outposts, watches, and
works; and sometimes falling in with the enemy, they were obliged to
throw the corn from off their horses, in order to fight. Before the
arrival of the other consul and his victorious army, both provisions
had been brought in to the Samnites, and reinforcements conveyed in to
them from the mountains; but the coming of Publilius contracted all
their resources; for, committing the siege to the care of his
colleague, and keeping himself disengaged, he threw every difficulty
in the way of the enemy's convoys. There being therefore little hope
for the besieged, or that they would be able much longer to endure
want, the Samnites, encamped at Luceria, were obliged to collect their
forces from every side, and come to an engagement with Papirius.
14. At this juncture, while both parties were preparing for an action,
ambassadors from the Tarentines interposed, requiring both Samnites
and Romans to desist from war; with menaces, that "if either refused
to agree to a cessation of hostilities, they would join their arms
with the other party against them." Papirius, on hearing the purport
of their embassy, as if influenced by their words, answered, that he
would consult his colleague: he then sent for him, employing the
intermediate time in the necessary preparations; and when he had
conferred with him on a matter, about which no doubt was entertained,
he made the signal for battle. While the consuls were employed in
performing the religious rites and the other usual business
preparatory to an engagement the Tarentine ambassadors put themselves
in their way, expecting an answer: to whom Papirius said, "Tarentines,
the priest reports that the auspices are favourable, and that our
sacrifices have been attended with excellent omens: under the
direction of the gods, we are proceeding, as you see, to action." He
then ordered the standards to move, and led out the troops; thus
rebuking the exorbitant arrogance of that nation, which at a time
when, through intestine discord and sedition, it was unequal to the
management of its own affairs, yet presumed to prescribe the bounds of
peace and war to others. On the other side, the Samnites, who had
neglected every preparation for fighting, either because they were
really desirous of peace, or it seemed their interest to pretend to be
so, in order to conciliate the favour of the Tarentines, when they
saw, on a sudden, the Romans drawn up for battle, cried out, that
"they would continue to be directed by the Tarentines, and would
neither march out, nor carry their arms beyond the rampart. That if
deceived, they would rather endure any consequence which chance may
bring, than show contempt to the Tarentines, the advisers of peace."
The consuls said that "they embraced the omen, and prayed that the
enemy might continue in the resolution of not even defending their
rampart." Then, dividing the forces between them, they advanced to the
works; and, making an assault on every side at once, while some filled
up the trenches, others tore down the rampart, and tumbled it into the
trench. All were stimulated, not only by their native courage, but by
the resentment which, since their disgrace, had been festering in
their breasts. They made their way into the camp; where, every one
repeating, that here was not Caudium, nor the forks, nor the
impassable glens, where cunning haughtily triumphed over error; but
Roman valour, which no rampart nor trench could ward off;--they slew,
without distinction, those who resisted and those who fled, the armed
and unarmed, freemen and slaves, young and old, men and cattle. Nor
would a single animal have escaped, had not the consuls given the
signal for retreat; and, by commands and threats, forced out of the
camp the soldiers, greedy of slaughter. As they were highly incensed
at being thus interrupted in the gratification of their vengeance, a
speech was immediately addressed to them, assuring the soldiers, that
"the consuls neither did nor would fall short of any one of the
soldiers, in hatred toward the enemy; on the contrary, as they led the
way in battle, so would they have done the same in executing unbounded
vengeance, had not the consideration of the six hundred horsemen, who
were confined as hostages in Luceria, restrained their inclinations;
lest total despair of pardon might drive on the enemy blindly to take
vengeance on them, eager to destroy them before they themselves should
perish." The soldiers highly applauded this conduct, and rejoiced that
their resentment had been checked, and acknowledged that every thing
ought to be endured, rather than that the safety of so many Roman
youths of the first distinction should be brought into danger.
15. The assembly being then dismissed, a consultation was held,
whether they should press forward the siege of Luceria, with all their
forces; or, whether with one of the commanders, and his army, trial
should be made of the Apulians, a nation in the neighbourhood still
doubtful. The consul Publilius set out to make a circuit through
Apulia, and in the one expedition either reduced by force, or received
into alliance on conditions, a considerable number of the states.
Papirius likewise, who had remained to prosecute the siege of Luceria,
soon found the event agreeable to his hopes: for all the roads being
blocked up through which provisions used to be conveyed from Samnium,
the Samnites, who were in garrison, were reduced so low by famine,
that they sent ambassadors to the Roman consul, proposing that he
should raise the siege, on receiving the horsemen who were the cause
of the war, to whom Papirius returned this answer, that "they ought to
have consulted Pontius, son of Herennius, by whose advice they had
sent the Romans under the yoke, what treatment he thought fitting for
the conquered to undergo. But since, instead of offering fair terms
themselves, they chose rather that they should be imposed on them by
their enemies, he desired them to carry back orders to the troops in
Luceria, that they should leave within the walls their arms, baggage,
beasts of burthen, and all persons unfit for war. The soldiers he
would send under the yoke with single garments, retaliating the
disgrace formerly inflicted, not inflicting a new one." The terms were
not rejected. Seven thousand soldiers were sent under the yoke, and an
immense booty was seized in Luceria, all the standards and arms which
they had lost at Caudium being recovered; and, what greatly surpassed
all their joy, recovered the horsemen whom the Samnites had sent to
Luceria to be kept as pledges of the peace. Hardly ever did the Romans
gain a victory more distinguished for the sudden reverse produced in
the state of their affairs; especially if it be true, as I find in
some annals, that Pontius, son of Herennius, the Samnite general, was
sent under the yoke along with the rest, to atone for the disgrace of
the consuls. I think it indeed more strange that there should exist
any doubt whether it was Lucius Cornelius, in quality of dictator,
Lucius Papirius Cursor being master of the horse, who performed these
achievements at Caudium, and afterwards at Luceria, as the single
avenger of the disgrace of the Romans, enjoying the best deserved
triumph, perhaps, next to that of Furius Camillus, which had ever yet
been obtained; or whether that honour belongs to the consuls, and
particularly to Papirius. This uncertainty is followed by another,
whether, at the next election, Papirius Cursor was chosen consul a
third time, with Quintus Aulus Ceretanus a second time, being
re-elected in requital of his services at Luceria; or whether it was
Lucius Papirius Mugillanus, the surname being mistaken.
16. From henceforth, the accounts are clear, that the other wars were
conducted to a conclusion by the consuls. Aulius by one successful
battle, entirely conquered the Forentans. The city, to which their
army had retreated after its defeat, surrendered on terms, hostages
having been demanded. With similar success the other consul conducted
his operations against the Satricans; who, though Roman citizens, had,
after the misfortune at Caudium, revolted to the Samnites, and
received a garrison into their city. The Satricans, however, when the
Roman army approached their walls, sent deputies to sue for peace,
with humble entreaties; to whom the consul answered harshly, that
"they must not come again to him, unless they either put to death, or
delivered up, the Samnite garrison:" by which terms greater terror was
struck into the colonists than by the arms with which they were
threatened. The deputies, accordingly, several times asking the
consul, how he thought that they, who were few and weak, could attempt
to use force against a garrison so strong and well-armed: he desired
them to "seek counsel from those, by whose advice they had received
that garrison into the city." They then departed, and returned to
their countrymen, having obtained from the consul, with much
difficulty, permission to consult their senate on the matter, and
bring back their answer to him. Two factions divided the senate; one
that whose leaders had been the authors of the defection from the
Roman people, the other consisted of the citizens who retained their
loyalty; both, however, showed an earnest desire, that every means
should be used towards effecting an accommodation with the consul for
the restoration of peace. As the Samnite garrison, being in no respect
prepared for holding out a siege, intended to retire the next night
out of the town, one party thought it sufficient to discover to the
consul, at what hour, through what gate, and by what road, his enemy
was to march out. The other, against whose wishes defection to the
Samnites had occurred, even opened one of the gates for the consul in
the night, secretly admitting the armed enemy into the town. In
consequence of this twofold treachery, the Samnite garrison was
surprised and overpowered by an ambush, placed in the woody places,
near the road; and, at the same time, a shout was raised in the city,
which was now filled with the enemy. Thus, in the short space of one
hour, the Samnites were put to the sword, the Satricans made
prisoners, and all things reduced under the power of the consul; who,
having instituted an inquiry by whose means the revolt had taken
place, scourged with rods and beheaded such as he found to be guilty;
and then, disarming the Satricans, he placed a strong garrison in the
place. On this those writers state, that Papirius Cursor proceeded to
Rome to celebrate his triumph, who say, that it was under his guidance
Luceria was retaken, and the Samnites sent under the yoke.
Undoubtedly, as a warrior, he was deserving of every military praise,
excelling not only in vigour of mind, but likewise in strength of
body. He possessed extraordinary swiftness of foot, surpassing every
one of his age in running, from whence came the surname into his
family; and he is said, either from the robustness of his frame, or
from much practice, to have been able to digest a very large quantity
of food and wine. Never did either the foot-soldier or horseman feel
military service more laborious, under any general, because he was of
a constitution not to be overcome by fatigue. The cavalry, on some
occasion, venturing to request that, in consideration of their good
behaviour, he would excuse them some part of their business, he told
them, "Ye should not say that no indulgence has been granted you,--I
excuse you from rubbing your horses' backs when ye dismount." He
supported also the authority of command, in all its vigour, both among
the allies and his countrymen. The praetor of Praeneste, through fear,
had been tardy in bringing forward his men from the reserve to the
front: he, walking before his tent, ordered him to be called, and then
bade the lictor to make ready his axe, on which, the Praenestine
standing frightened almost to death, he said, "Here, lictor, cut away
this stump, it is troublesome to people as they walk;" and, after thus
alarming him with the dread of the severest punishment, he imposed a
fine and dismissed him. It is beyond doubt, that during that age, than
which none was ever more productive of virtuous characters, there was
no man in whom the Roman affairs found a more effectual support; nay,
people even marked him out, in their minds, as a match for Alexander
the Great, in case that, having completed the conquest of Asia, he
should have turned his arms on Europe.