Dio's Rome Volume I Part 9

[Footnote 8: This was probably one of the Manlii Cincinnati.]

[Footnote 9: The second "Manlius" is evidently an error of Zonaras.

The name should be _Fabius_.]

Again was a war waged against them by the Etruscans. And when the Romans were in dejection and at a loss to know how they should withstand the enemy, the Fabii came to their help. [Sidenote: FRAG.

20^1] THEY, THREE HUNDRED AND SIX IN NUMBER, WHEN THEY SAW THAT THE ROMANS WERE DEJECTED, were not following profitable counsels, and were on all points in desperation, took upon themselves the burden of the war against the Etruscans, exhibiting readiness to carry on the conflict by themselves with their persons and with their wealth. They occupied and fortified an advantageous position from which as a base they harried the entire hostile domain, since the Etruscans would not venture to engage in combat with them, or, if they ever did join issue, were decisively defeated. But, upon the accession of allies, the Etruscans laid an ambuscade in a wooded spot: the Fabii, being masters of the whole field, a.s.sailed them without [Sidenote: FRAG.

20^2] precaution, fell into the snare, were surrounded and all ma.s.sacred. And their race would have entirely disappeared, had not one of them because of his youth been left at home, in whose descendants the family later attained renewed renown.

After the Fabii had been destroyed as related the Romans received rough treatment at the hands of the Etruscans. Subsequently they concluded a peace with the enemy, but turning against one another committed many deeds of outrage, the populace not even refraining from attack upon the praetors. They beat their a.s.sistants and shattered their fasces and made the praetors themselves submit to investigation on every pretext, great and small. They actually planned to throw Appius Claudius into prison in the very midst of his term of office, inasmuch as he persistently opposed them at every point and had decimated the partners of his campaign after their giving way before the Volsci in battle. Now decimation was the following sort of process. When the soldiers had committed any grave offence the leader told them off in groups of ten and taking one man of each ten (who had drawn the lot) he would punish him by death. At Claudius's retirement from office the popular party straightway brought him to trial; and though they failed to condemn him, they forced him, by postponing their vote, to commit suicide. And among the measures introduced by some of the tribunes to the prejudice of the patrician interests was one permitting the populace to convene separately, and without interference from the patricians to deliberate upon and transact as much business as they pleased. They also ordained that, if any one for any cause should have a penalty imposed upon him by the praetors, the populace might thereupon have the case appealed to them and decide it.

And they increased the number of aediles and of tribunes, in order to have a large body of persons to act as their representatives.

[Sidenote: FRAG. 21^1] DURING THE PROGRESS OF THESE EVENTS THE PATRICIANS OPENLY TOOK SCARCELY ANY RETALIATORY MEASURES, EXCEPT IN A FEW CASES, BUT SECRETLY SLAUGHTERED A NUMBER OF THE BOLDEST SPIRITS.

NEITHER THIS, HOWEVER, NOR THE FACT THAT ON ONE OCCASION NINE TRIBUNES WERE DELIVERED TO THE FLAMES BY THE POPULACE SEEMED TO RESTRAIN THE REST. NOT ONLY WERE THOSE WHO SUBSEQUENTLY HELD THE TRIBUNEs.h.i.+P NOT CALMED, BUT ACTUALLY THEY WERE THE RATHER EMBOLDENED. [Sidenote: FRAG.

21^2] THIS WAS THE CONDITION INTO WHICH THE PATRICIANS BROUGHT THE POPULACE. AND THEY WOULD NOT OBEY THE SUMMONS TO GO ON A CAMPAIGN, THOUGH THE FOE a.s.sAILED, UNLESS THEY SECURED THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THEY WERE STRIVING, AND IF THEY EVER DID TAKE THE FIELD, THEY FOUGHT LISTLESSLY, UNLESS THEY HAD ACCOMPLISHED ALL THAT THEY DESIRED. HENCE MANY OF THE TRIBES LIVING CLOSE TO THEM, RELYING ON EITHER THE DISSENSION OF THEIR FOES OR THEIR OWN STRENGTH, RAISED THE STANDARD OF REVOLT. [Sidenote: FRAG. 22^1] AMONG THESE WERE ALSO THE aeQUI, WHO, AFTER CONQUERING AT THIS TIME MARCUS MINUCIUS WHILE HE SERVED AS PRaeTOR, BECAME PRESUMPTUOUS. [Sidenote: FRAG. 22^2] THOSE AT ROME, LEARNING THAT MINUCIUS HAD BEEN DEFEATED, CHOSE AS DICTATOR LUCIUS QUINCTIUS, WHO WAS A POOR MAN AND HAD DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO FARMING, BUT WAS DISTINGUISHED FOR HIS VALOR AND WISE MODERATION; AND HE LET HIS HAIR GROW IN CURLS, WHENCE HE WAS NAMED CINCINNATUS.[10] He, being selected as dictator, took the field that very day, used wariness as well as speed, and simultaneously with Minucius attacked the aequi, killing very many of them and capturing the rest alive: the latter he led under the yoke and then released. This matter of the yoke I shall briefly describe. The Romans used to fix in the ground two poles (upright wooden beams, of course, with a s.p.a.ce between them) and across them they would lay another transverse beam; through the frame thus formed they led the captives naked. This conferred great distinction upon the side that conducted the operation but vast dishonor upon the side that endured it, so that some preferred to die rather than submit to any such treatment. Cincinnatus also captured a city of theirs called Corvinum[11] and returned: he removed Minucius from his praetors.h.i.+p because of his defeat, and himself resigned his office.

[Footnote 10: Zonaras spells _Cicinatus_.]

[Footnote 11: The town is called _Corbio_ by Livy (II, 39, 4).]

VII, 18.--The Romans, however, now got another war on their hands at home, in which their adversaries were composed of slaves and some exiles who moved unexpectedly by night and secured possession of the Capitol. This time, too, the mult.i.tude did not arm themselves for the fray till they had wrung some further concessions from the patricians.

Then they a.s.sailed the revolutionists and overcame them, but lost many of their own men.

For these reasons, accordingly, and because of certain portents the Romans became sobered and dismissed their mutual grievances and voted to establish the rights of citizens.h.i.+p on a fairer basis. And they sent three men to Greece with an eye to the laws and the customs of the people there. Upon the return of the commission they abolished all the political offices, including that of the tribunes, and chose instead eight of the foremost men, and [Sidenote: B.C. 451 (_a.u._ 303)] designated Appius Claudius and t.i.tus Genucius praetors with dictatorial powers for that one year. They empowered them to compile laws and further voted that no case could be appealed from them,--a lat.i.tude granted previously to none of the magistrates save the dictators. These men held sway each for a day, a.s.suming by turns the dignity of rulers.h.i.+p. They compiled laws and exposed the same to view in the Forum. These statutes being found pleasing to all were put before the people, and after receiving their ratification were inscribed on ten tablets; for all records that were deemed worthy of safekeeping used to be preserved on tablets.

[Sidenote: B.C. 450 (_a.u._ 304)] The above mentioned magistrates at the expiration of the year surrendered their office, but ten more chosen anew (for the overthrow of the State, as it almost seemed) came to grief. They all held sway at once on equal terms and chose from among the patricians some most brazen youths, through whom, as their agents, they committed many acts of violence. At last, toward the end of the year, they compiled a few additional statutes written upon two tablets, all of which were the product of their own individual judgment. From these not harmony, but greater disputes, were destined to fall to the lot of the Romans.

The so-called twelve tablets were thus created at that time. But besides doing this the lawgivers in question, when their year of office had expired, still maintained control of affairs, occupying the city by force; and they would not convene the senate nor the people, lest, if they came together, they should depose them. And when the aequi and the Sabines now stirred up war against the Romans, these officials by arrangement with their adherents gained their object of having the conduct of the wars entrusted to them. Of the decemvirate Servius Oppius and Appius Claudius remained at home: the other eight set out against the enemy.

Absolutely all [Sidenote: FRAG. 22^3] THE INTERESTS, however, OF STATE AND CAMP ALIKE WERE THROWN INTO CONFUSION, AND HENCE CONTENTION AGAIN AROSE. The leaders of the force had invaded the land of the Sabines and sent a certain Lucius Sicius, who was accounted a strong tower in warfare and likewise one of the most prominent representatives of the populace, with companions, avowedly to seize a certain position; but they had the man slain by the party that had been sent out with him.

The report was brought into camp that the man with others had been killed by the foe, and the soldiers went out to gather up the dead bodies. They found not one corpse belonging to the enemy but many of their own race, whom Sicius had killed in his own defence when they attacked him. And when they saw that the dead were lying all around him and had their faces turned toward him, they suspected what had been done and furthermore raised a tumult.--There was still another incident that had a bearing on the situation.

Lucius Virginius, a man of the people, had a daughter of surpa.s.sing beauty whom he intended to bestow in marriage upon Lucius Icilius,[12]

a person of similar rank in society. For this maiden Claudius conceived a pa.s.sion, and not otherwise able to attain his ends he arranged with certain men to declare her a slave: he was to be the arbiter. The father of the girl accordingly came from the camp and pled his case. When Claudius had given sentence against her and the girl was delivered to those who had declared her a slave and no one came to the rescue, her father wild with grief took a cleaver and ended his daughter's life and, just as he was, rushed out to the soldiers. They, who had been previously far from tractable, were so wrought up that they straightway set out in haste against the city to find Claudius. And the rest, who had gone on a campaign against the Sabines, when they learned this abandoned their intrenchments, and, joining with the rest, set at their head twenty men, determined to accomplish something of importance. The remainder of the mult.i.tude in the city likewise espoused their cause and added to the tumult.

[Footnote 12: Zonaras spells _Icillius_.]

Meanwhile Claudius in terror had hidden himself and Oppius convened the senate; and sending to the populace he enquired what they wanted.

They demanded that Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, two of the senators who favored their cause, be sent to them, saying that through these men they would make their reply. Owing to the fear of the ten magistrates (for they were now all on the scene) that the people would employ the two as leaders against them they were not sent, whereupon the populace grew still more angry. As a consequence the senators were inspired with no slight fear and against the will of the magistrates they sent Valerius and Horatius to the people. By this means a reconciliation was effected: the rioters were granted immunity for their acts, and the decemvirate was abolished; the annual magistracies, including that of tribunes, were restored with the same privileges as they had formerly enjoyed. Virginius was one of the magistrates appointed; and they cast into prison Oppius and Claudius (who committed suicide before their cases were investigated), and indicted, convicted, and banished the remainder of the board.

[Sidenote: B.C. 449 (_a.u._ 305)] VII, 19.--Now the consuls--it is said that this is the first time they were known as consuls, being previously called praetors; and they were Valerius and Horatius--both then and thereafter showed favor to the populace and strengthened their cause rather than that of the patricians. The patricians, though subdued, would not readily convene and did not put matters entirely in the power of the lower cla.s.s, but granted the tribunes the right of practicing augury in their a.s.semblies: nominally this was an honor and dignity for them, since from very ancient times this privilege had been accorded the patricians alone, but really it was a hindrance. The n.o.bles intended that the tribunes and the populace should not accomplish easily everything they pleased, but should sometimes be prevented under this plea of augury. The patricians as well as the senate were displeased at the consuls, whom they regarded as favorable to the popular cause, and so did not vote a triumph to them--though each had won a war--and did not a.s.sign to each a day as had been the custom. The populace, however, both held a festival for two days and voted triumphal honors to the consuls.

_(BOOK 6, BOISSEVAIN.)_

[Sidenote: B.C. 448 (_a.u._ 306)] When the Romans thus fell into discord their adversaries took courage and came against them. It was in the following year, when Marcus Genucius and Gaius Curtius were consuls, that they turned against each other. The popular leaders desired to be consuls, since the patricians were in the habit of becoming tribunes by transference to their order, and the patricians clung tenaciously to the consular office. They indulged in many words and acts of violence against each other. But in order to prevent the populace from proceeding to greater extremities the n.o.bles yielded to them the substance of authority though they would not relinquish the name; and in place of the consuls they named military tribunes in order that the honor of the t.i.tle might not be sullied by contact with the vulgar throng. It was agreed that three military tribunes be chosen from each of the cla.s.ses in place of the two consuls. However, the name of consul was not lost entirely, but sometimes consuls were appointed and at other times military tribunes. This, at all events, is the tradition that has come down of what took place, with the additional detail that the consuls nominated dictators, though their own powers were far inferior to those appertaining to that office, and even that the military tribunes likewise did so sometimes. It is further said that none of the military tribunes, though many of them won many victories, ever celebrated a triumph.

[Sidenote: B.C. 447 (_a.u._ 307)] It was in this way, then, that military tribunes came to be chosen at that time: censors were appointed in the following year, during the consuls.h.i.+p of Barbatus and Marcus Macrinus. Those chosen were Lucius Papirius and Lucius Semp.r.o.nius. The reason for their election was that the consuls were unable, on account of the number of the people, to supervise them all; the duties now a.s.signed to the censors had until that time been performed by the consuls as a part of their prerogatives. Two was the original number of the censors and they were taken from the patricians. They held office at first and at the last for five-year periods, but during the intervening time for three half-years; and they came to be greater than the consuls, though they had taken over only a part of their functions. They had the right to let the public revenues, to supervise roads and public buildings, to make complete records of each man's wealth, and to note and investigate the lives of the citizens, enrolling those deserving of praise in the tribes, in the equestrian order, or in the senate (as seemed to fit the case of each one), and similarly erasing from any cla.s.s the names of those who were not right livers: this power was greater than all those now left to the consuls. They made declarations attested by oath, in regard to every one of their acts, that no such act was prompted by favor or by enmity but that their considerations and performances were both the result of an unbiased opinion of what was advantageous for the commonwealth. They convened the people when laws were to be introduced and for other purposes, and employed all the insignia of the greater offices save lictors. Such, at its inception, was the office of the censors. If any persons did not register their property and themselves in the census lists, the censors sold the property and the consuls the men. This arrangement held for a certain time, but later it was determined that a man once enrolled in the senate should be a senator for life and that his name should not be erased, unless one had been disgraced by being tried for the commission of a crime or was convicted of leading an evil life: the names of such persons were erased and others inscribed in their stead.

In the case of those who gave satisfaction in office princ.i.p.al honors were bestowed upon dictators, honors of the second rank upon censors, and third place was awarded to masters of horse. This system was followed without distinction, whether they were still in office or whether they had already laid it down. For if one descended from a greater office to an inferior one, he still kept the dignity of his former position intact. One particular man, whom they styled _princ.i.p.a_ of the senate (he would be called _prokritos_ by the Greeks) was preferred before all for the time that he was president (a person was not chosen for this position for life) and surpa.s.sed the rest in dignity, without wielding, however, any power.

VII, 20.--For a time they maintained peace with each other and with the adjacent tribes, but then a famine mastered them, so severe that some not able to endure the pangs of hunger threw themselves into the river, and they fell to quarreling. The one cla.s.s blamed the prosperous as being at fault in the handling of the grain, and the other cla.s.s blamed the poorer men for unwillingness to till the soil.

[Sidenote: B.C. 439 (_a.u._ 315)] Spurius Maelius, a wealthy knight, seeing this attempted to set up a tyranny, and buying corn from the neighboring region he lowered the price of it for many and gave it free to many others. In this way he won the friends.h.i.+p of a great many and procured arms and guardsmen. And he would have gained control of the city, had not Minucius Augurinus, a patrician, appointed to have charge of the grain distribution and censured for the lack of grain, reported the proceeding to the senate. The senate on receiving the information nominated at once and at that very meeting Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, though past his prime (he was eighty years old), to be dictator. They spent the whole day sitting there, as if engaged in some discussion, to prevent news of their action from traveling abroad. By night the dictator had the knights occupy in advance the Capitol and the remaining points of vantage, and at dawn he sent to Maelius Gaius Servilius, master of the horse, to summon him pretendedly on some other errand. But as Maelius had some suspicions and delayed, Servilius fearing that he might be rescued by the populace--for they were already running together--killed the man either on his own responsibility or because ordered to do so by the dictator. At this the populace broke into a riot, but Quinctius harangued them and by providing them with grain and refraining from punis.h.i.+ng or accusing any one else he stopped the riot.

Wars with various nations now a.s.sailed the Romans, in some of which they were victorious within a few days; but with the Etruscans they waged a long continued contest. Postumius conquered the aequi and had captured a large city of theirs, but the soldiers neither had had it turned over to them for pillage nor were awarded a share of the plunder when they requested it. Therefore they surrounded and slew the quaestor who was disposing of it, and when Postumius reprimanded them for this and strove to find the a.s.sa.s.sins, they killed him also. And they a.s.signed to their own use not only the captive territory but all that at the time happened to be found in the public treasury. The uprising would have a.s.sumed even greater dimensions but for the fact that war against the Romans was renewed by the aequi. Alarmed by this situation they became quiet, endured the punishment for the murders, which touched only a few, and took the field against their opponents, whom they engaged and conquered. For this achievement the n.o.bles distributed the plunder among them, and voted pay first to the infantry and later also to the cavalry. Up to that time they were used to undertaking campaigns without pay and lived at their own expense; now for the first time they began to draw pay.

[Sidenote: B.C. 408 (_a.u._ 346)] A war arising between them and Veii, the Romans won frequent victories and reduced the foe to a state of siege as long as the latter fought with merely their own contingent: but when allies had been added to their force they came out against the Romans and defeated them. Meanwhile the lake situated close to the Alban Mount, which was shut in by the surrounding ridges and had no outlet, overflowed its banks during the siege of Veii to such an extent that it actually poured over the crests of the hills and went rus.h.i.+ng down to the sea. The Romans deeming that something supernatural was certainly signified by this event sent to Delphi to consult the oracle about the matter. There was also among the population of Veii an Etruscan who was a soothsayer. The Pythian interpretation coincided with his; and both declared that the city would be captured when the overflowing water should not fall into the sea but be used up differently. The Romans consequently ordered several religious services to be performed. But the Pythian G.o.d did not specify to which of the divinities nor in what way they should offer these, and the Etruscan appeared to have the knowledge but would explain nothing. So the Romans who were stationed about the wall from which he was wont to issue to consort with them pretended friendliness toward him, permitted him to make himself at ease in every way, and allowed him to come to visit them without interference. Thus they succeeded in seizing him and forced him to give all the requisite information. According to the indications he furnished they offered sacrifices, tunneled the hill, and conducted the superfluous water by a secret ca.n.a.l into the plain, so that all of it was used up there and none ran down into the sea.

_(BOOK 7, BOISSEVAIN.)_

VII, 24.--A certain Marcus Fabius, a patrician, who chanced to be the father of two daughters, betrothed the elder to a Licinius Stolo, much inferior to him in rank, and married the younger to Sulpicius Rufus, who belonged to his own cla.s.s. [Sidenote: FRAG. 27^1] NOW WHILE RUFUS WAS MILITARY TRIBUNE, ONCE WHEN HE WAS IN THE FORUM HIS WIFE HAD A VISIT FROM HER SISTER. AT THE ARRIVAL OF THE HUSBAND THE LICTOR, ACCORDING TO SOME ANCIENT CUSTOM, KNOCKED AT THE DOOR. THE CLATTER STARTLED THE WOMAN, WHO WAS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THIS PROCEDURE: THEREUPON BOTH HER SISTER AND THE OTHERS PRESENT BURST OUT LAUGHING AND SHE WAS MADE FUN OF AS A SIMPLETON. SHE TOOK THE MATTER AS A SERIOUS AFFRONT AND ROUSED HER HUSBAND TO CANVa.s.s FOR OFFICE. Stolo, accordingly, incited by his wife, confided his intentions to Lucius s.e.xtius, one of his peers, and both forced their way into the tribunes.h.i.+p; they thus overturned the good order of the State to such an extent that for four years the people had no rulers, since these men repeatedly obstructed the patrician elections. This state of affairs would have continued for a still longer time, had not news been brought that the Celtae were again marching upon Rome.

VII, 25.--It is related that after this a disaster befell Rome. The level land between the Palatine and the Capitoline is said to have become suddenly a yawning gulf, without any preceding earthquake or other phenomenon such as usually takes place in nature on the occasion of such developments. For a long time the chasm remained _in statu quo_, and neither closed up in the slightest degree nor was to be filled, albeit the Romans brought and cast into it ma.s.ses of earth and stones and all sorts of other material. In the midst of the Romans'

uncertainty an oracle was given them to the effect that the aperture could in no way be closed except they should throw into the chasm their best possession and that which was the chief source of their strength: then the thing would cease, and the city should command power inextinguishable. Still the uncertainty remained unresolved, for the oracle was obscure. But Marcus Curtius, a patrician, young in years, of a remarkably beautiful appearance, powerful physique, and courageous spirit, conspicuous also for intelligence, comprehended the meaning of the oracle. He came forward before them all and addressed them, saying: "Why, Romans, convict the revelation of obscurity or ourselves of ignorance? We are the thing sought and debated. For nothing lifeless may be counted better than what has life, nor shall that which has comprehension and prudence and the adornment of speech fail of preference before what is uncomprehending, speechless and senseless. What should any one deem superior to Man to be cast into the earth-fissure, that therewith we might contract it? [Sidenote: FRAG. 28^2] THERE IS NO MORTAL CREATURE EITHER BETTER OR STRONGER THAN MAN. FOR, IF ONE MAY SPEAK SOMEWHAT BOLDLY, MAN IS NAUGHT ELSE THAN A G.o.d WITH MORTAL BODY, AND A G.o.d NAUGHT ELSE THAN A MAN WITHOUT BODY AND THEREFORE IMMORTAL, and we are not far sundered from divine Power.

This, to my mind, is the matter and I urge you also to adhere to this view. May no one think that I shall have recourse to the lot or bid maiden or lad lose a life. I myself willingly bestow myself upon you, that you may send me this very day as herald and envoy to the cthonian G.o.ds, to be your representative and helper forever." At the close of these words Curtius proceeded to put on his armor and then mounted his horse. The rest grew mad with grief and mad with joy; they came flocking with adornments, and some adorned the man himself with them as a hero, and others threw some of them into the chasm. Scarcely had Curtius sprung into it fully mounted, when the earth-fissure was closed and no one ever again beheld either the chasm or Curtius. This is the way the story is related by the Romans. Should any person judge it fabulous and not to be credited, he has the right to pay no attention to it.

And again wars were waged against the Romans both by Gauls and by other nations, but they repelled all invaders, voting now for consuls, now for dictators. Whereupon somewhat of the following nature took place. Lucius Camillus was named dictator, as the Gauls were overrunning the environs of Rome. He proceeded against the barbarians with the intention of using up time and not risking the issue in conflict with men animated by desperation: he expected to exhaust them more easily and securely by the failure of provisions. And a Gaul challenged the Romans to furnish a champion for a duel. His opponent, accordingly, was Marcus Valerius, a military tribune, a grandson of the famous Maximus. The course of the battle was brilliant on both sides: the Roman excelled in cleverness and an unusual mastery of his art, and the Gaul in strength and daring. It was regarded as still more marvelous that a crow lighted on the helmet of Valerius and cawing all the time made dashes at the barbarian, confusing his sight and impeding his onset until he finally received a finis.h.i.+ng blow. The Gauls, consequently, indignant at being beaten by a bird, in a rage closed at once with the Romans and suffered a severe defeat. From the incident of the crow's a.s.sistance Valerius obtained the further name of Corvinus.

Thereafter, as the armies began to grow insubordinate and a civil war threatened to break out, the insurgents were brought to terms by the enactment of laws that no one's name should be erased from the lists against his will, that any person who had served as tribune of the soldiers should not be centurion, that both of the consuls might belong to and be appointed from the people, and that the same man should not hold two offices at the same time nor hold the same office twice within ten years.

VII, 26.--Now the Latins, although under treaty with the Romans, revolted and provoked a conflict. They were filled with pride for the reason that they had an abundance of youthful warriors and were practiced in the details of warfare as a result of the constant campaigning with the Romans. The other side, understanding the situation, chose Torquatus consul for the third time and likewise Decius, and came out to meet them. They fought a fierce battle, each party thinking that that day was a precise test of their fortune and of their valor. A certain event seemed to give the battle added distinction. The consuls, seeing that the Latins were equipped and spoke like the Romans, feared that some of the soldiers might make mistakes through not distinguis.h.i.+ng their own and the hostile force with entire ease. Therefore they made proclamation to their men to observe instructions carefully and in no case to fight an isolated combat with any of the antagonists. Most observed this injunction, but the son of Torquatus, who was on the field among the cavalry and had been sent to reconnoitre the enemy's position, transgressed it not through wilfulness but rather through ambition. The leader of the Latin horse saw him approaching and challenged him to a champions.h.i.+p contest; and when the youth would not accept the challenge on account of the notice that had been served, the other provoked him, saying: "Are you not the son of Torquatus? Do you not give yourself airs with your father's collar? Are you strong and courageous against those low-lived Gauls but fear us Latins? Where, then, do you find your right to rule? Why do you give orders to us as your inferiors?"--The Roman became frenzied with rage and readily forgot the injunction: he won the combat, and in high spirits conveyed the spoils to his father.

The latter, after a.s.sembling the army, said: "n.o.bly you have fought, my child, and for this I will crown you. But because you did not observe the orders issued, though under obligation both as a son and as a soldier to yield obedience, [Sidenote: FRAG. 32^2] FOR THIS REASON I SHALL EXECUTE YOU, THAT YOU MAY OBTAIN BOTH THE PRIZE FOR YOUR PROWESS AND THE PENALTY FOR YOUR DISOBEDIENCE." Having spoken these words he at the same moment placed the garland on his head and cut off the very head that bore it.

Soon after, a dream that appeared to both consuls the same night, of identical import in each case, seemed to tell them that they should overcome the enemy, if one of the consuls should devote himself.

Discussing the dream together in the daytime, they decided that it was of divine origin, and agreed that it must be obeyed. And they disputed with each other, not as to which should be saved, but as to which of them preferably should devote himself: they even presented their arguments before the foremost men in camp. Finally they settled it that one should station himself on the right wing and the other on the left, and that whichever of those two divisions should be defeated, the consul stationed there should give up his life. There was so much rivalry between them in regard to the self-devotion that each of the consuls prayed that he might be defeated, in order to obtain the right to devote himself and the consequent glory. After joining battle with the Latins they carried on a closely contested fight for a long time, but finally Decius's wing gave way before the Latins a little. On perceiving this Decius devoted himself. Slipping off his armor he put on his purple-bordered clothing. Some say that in this costume he sprang upon a horse and rode toward the enemy and met his death at their hands, others that he was slain by a fellow-soldier of his own race. A short time after Decius had perished a decisive victory fell to the lot of the Romans and the Latins were all routed, yet certainly not on account of the death of Decius. [Sidenote: FRAG.

32^4] FOR HOW CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT FROM SUCH A DEATH OF ONE MAN SO GREAT A MULt.i.tUDE OF HUMAN BEINGS WAS DESTROYED ON THE ONE SIDE AND ON THE OTHER WAS SAVED AND WON A CONSPICUOUS VICTORY? So the Latins in this way were defeated, [Sidenote: FRAG. 32^6] AND TORQUATUS, THOUGH HE HAD KILLED HIS SON AND THOUGH HIS COLLEAGUE HAD LOST HIS LIFE, NEVERTHELESS CELEBRATED A TRIUMPH.

Once again did they subdue these very Latins, who had revolted, and they subjugated in battle other nations, employing now consuls and now dictators.

_(BOOK 8, BOISSEVAIN.)_

One of the latter was Lucius Papirius, also called Cursor from his physical condition (he was a very fleet runner) and on account of his practicing running. After this Papirius as dictator with Fabius Rullus as master of the horse was sent out against the Samnites and by defeating them compelled them to agree to such terms as he wished. But when he had resigned his leaders.h.i.+p they again arose in arms. They were attacked anew by the dictator Aulus Cornelius, [Sidenote: FRAG.

33^3] AND BEING DEFEATED MADE PROPOSALS OF PEACE TO THE MEN AT ROME.

THEY SENT THEM ALL THE CAPTIVES THAT THEY HAD, AND ASCRIBED THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WAR TO RUTULUS, A MAN OF INFLUENCE AMONG THEM.

HIS BONES, SINCE HE ANTIc.i.p.aTED THEM IN COMMITTING SUICIDE, THEY SCATTERED ABROAD. YET THEY DID NOT OBTAIN THEIR PEACE, BEING ACCOUNTED UNTRUSTWORTHY; BUT THE VICTORS, THOUGH ACCEPTING THE PRISONERS, VOTED FOR RELENTLESS WAR AGAINST THEM. [Sidenote: FRAG. 33^4] THE ROMANS, THEN, EXPECTING IN THEIR EXTREME ARROGANCE THAT THEY SHOULD CAPTURE THEM ALL AT THE FIRST BLOW, SUCc.u.mBED TO A TERRIBLE DISASTER. THE SAMNITES, BEING BADLY FRIGHTENED AND THINKING THE REFUSAL TO MAKE PEACE A CALAMITY, FOUGHT WITH DESPERATION; AND BY PLANTING AN AMBUSCADE IN A NARROW SPOT RATHER CLOSELY HEMMED IN BY HILLS THEY BOTH CAPTURED THE CAMP AND SEIZED ALIVE THE WHOLE FORCE OF THE ROMANS, ALL OF WHOM THEY SENT UNDER THE YOKE.--What the operation of the yoke was has already been described by me above.[13]--However, they killed not a man but took away their arms and horses and everything else they had save one garment, and released them thus stripped of possessions under an agreement that they should leave Samnite territory and be their allies on an equal footing. In order to insure the articles of the agreement being ratified also by the senate, they retained six hundred of the knights to serve as hostages.

[Footnote 13: Near the end of VII, 17.]

The consuls Spurius Postumius and Tiberius Calvinus with their army immediately withdrew, and at night they and the most notable of the rest of the force entered Rome, while the remaining soldiers scattered through the country districts. [Sidenote: FRAG. 33^9] THE MEN IN THE CITY ON HEARING OF THE EVENT DID NOT FIND IT POSSIBLE EITHER TO BE PLEASED AT THE SURVIVAL OF THEIR SOLDIERS OR TO BE DISPLEASED. WHEN THEY THOUGHT OF THE CALAMITY THEIR GRIEF WAS EXTREME, AND THE FACT THAT THEY HAD SUFFERED SUCH A REVERSE AT THE HANDS OF THE SAMNITES INCREASED THEIR GRIEF; WHEN THEY STOPPED TO REFLECT, HOWEVER, THAT IF IT HAD COME TO Pa.s.s THAT ALL HAD PERISHED, ALL THEIR INTERESTS WOULD HAVE BEEN ENDANGERED, THEY WERE REALLY PLEASED AT THE SURVIVAL OF THEIR OWN MEN. But concealing for a time their pleasure they went into mourning and carried on no business in the everyday fas.h.i.+on either at once or subsequently, as long as they had control of affairs. The consuls they deposed forthwith, chose others in their stead, and took counsel about the situation. And they determined not to accept the arrangement; but since it was impossible to take this action without throwing the responsibility upon the men who had conducted the negotiations, they hesitated on the one hand to condemn the consuls and the rest who, a.s.sociated with the latter in their capacity as holders of certain offices, had made the peace, and they hesitated on the other hand to acquit them, since by so doing they would bring the breach of faith home to themselves. Accordingly they made these very consuls partic.i.p.ate in their deliberations and they asked Postumius first of all for his opinion, that he might state separately his sentiments touching his own case, and the shame of having disgrace attach to all of them be avoided. So he came forward and said that their acts ought not to be ratified by the senate and the people, [Sidenote: FRAG. 33^11] FOR THEY THEMSELVES HAD NOT ACTED OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL, BUT UNDER THE COMPULSION OF A NECESSITY which the enemy had brought upon them not through valor but through craft and ambuscade.

Now men who had practiced deception could not, if they were deceived in turn, have any just complaint against those who turned the tables on them. When he had finished saying this and considerable more of the same nature, the senate found itself at a loss how to act: but as Postumius and Calvinus took the burden of responsibility upon their own shoulders, it was voted that the agreements should not be ratified and that these men should be delivered up.

Both the consuls, therefore, and the remaining officials who had been present when oaths were taken were conducted back to Samnium.

[Sidenote: FRAG. 33^14] THE SAMNITES, HOWEVER, WOULD NOT ACCEPT THEM, BUT DEMANDED BACK ALL THE CAPTIVES, AND INVOKED THE G.o.dS AND CONJURED THEM BY THE DIVINE POWER, AND FINALLY THEY DISMISSED THE MEN THAT HAD BEEN SURRENDERED. The Romans were glad enough to get them back, but were angry at the Samnites WHOM THEY ATTACKED IN BATTLE AND VANQUISHED, AFTER WHICH THEY ACCORDED THEM A SIMILAR TREATMENT, FOR THEY SENT THEM UNDER THE YOKE IN TURN AND RELEASED THEM without inflicting any other injury. They also got possession of their own knights, who were being held by the Samnites as hostages and were unharmed.

VIII, 1.--After a long interval the Romans under the leaders.h.i.+p of Gaius Junius were again warring with the Samnites, when they met with disaster. While Junius was pillaging the hostile territory, the Samnites conveyed their possessions into the Avernian[14] woods, so-called from the fact that on account of the closeness of the trees no bird flies into them. Being there ensconced they set out some herds without herdsmen or guards and quietly sent some pretended deserters who guided the Romans to the booty apparently lying at their disposal.

But when the latter had entered the wood, the Samnites surrounded them and did not cease from slaughter till they were completely tired out.

And though the Samnites fought on many other occasions against the Romans and were defeated, they would not be quiet, but having acquired the Gauls, besides others, as allies, they made preparations to march upon Rome itself. The Romans, when they learned of it, fell into alarm, for their original inclination to do so was augmented by many portents. On the Capitol blood is reported to have issued for three days from the altar of Jupiter, together with honey on one day, and milk on a second--if anybody can believe it: and in the Forum a bronze statue of Victory set upon a stone pedestal was found standing upon the ground below, without any one's having moved it; and, as it happened, it was facing in that direction from which the Gauls were already approaching. This of itself was enough to terrify the populace, who were even more dismayed by ill-omened interpretations published by the seers. However, a certain Manius, by birth an Etruscan, encouraged them by declaring that Victory, even if she had descended, had gone forward, and being now settled more firmly on the ground indicated to them mastery in the war. Accordingly, many sacrifices, too, should be offered to the G.o.ds; for their altars, and particularly those on the Capitol, where they sacrifice thank-offerings for victory, were regularly stained with blood in the midst of their successes and not in their disasters. From these developments, then, he persuaded them to expect some fortunate outcome, but from the honey to expect disease (because invalids crave it) and from the milk famine; for they should encounter so great a scarcity of provisions as to seek for food of native growth and pasturage.