LITMIR.BIZ

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There were eight towns besides under the sway of the Prænestines. Hostilities were carried round to these also; and these being taken one after the other without much difficulty, the army was led to Velitræ. This also was taken by storm. They then came to Præneste, the main source of the war. That town was obtained, not by force, but by capitulation. Titus Quinctius, being once victorious in a pitched battle, having taken also two camps belonging to the enemy, and nine towns by storm, and Præneste being obtained by surrender, returned to Rome: and in his triumph brought into the Capitol the statue of Jupiter Imperator, which he had conveyed from Præneste. It was dedicated between the recesses of Jupiter and Minerva, and a tablet fixed under it, as a monument of his exploits, was engraved with nearly these words: "Jupiter and all the gods granted, that Titus Quinctius, dictator, should take nine towns." On the twentieth day after the appointment he abdicated the dictatorship.

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      An election was then held of military tribunes with consular power; in which the number of patricians and plebeians was equal. From the patricians were elected Publius and Caius Manlius, with Lucius Julius; the commons gave Caius Sextilius, Marcus Albinius, and Lucius Antistius. To the Manlii, because they had the advantage of the plebeians in family station, and of Julius in interest, the province of the Volscians was assigned out of the ordinary course, without lots, or mutual arrangement; of which circumstance both themselves and the patricians who conferred it afterwards repented. Without any previous reconnoitre they sent out some cohorts to forage. It having been falsely reported to them that these were ensnared, whilst they march in great haste, in order to support them, without even retaining the author (of the report) who had deceived them, he being a Latin enemy instead of a Roman soldier, they themselves fell into an ambuscade. There, whilst they suffer and commit great havoc, making resistance on disadvantageous ground solely by the valour of the soldiers, the enemy in the mean time in another quarter attacked the Roman camp which was situate on a plain. By their temerity and want of skill, matters were brought into jeopardy in both places by the generals. Whatever portion (of the army) was saved, the good fortune of the Roman people, and the steady valour of the soldiers, even without a director, protected. When an account of these events was brought to Rome, it was at first agreeable to them that a dictator should be appointed; then when intelligence was received from the Volscian country that matters were quiet, and it appeared manifest that they knew not how to take advantage of victory and of opportunity, the army and generals were recalled from thence also; and there was quiet from that quarter, as far as regarded the Volscians. The only disturbance there was towards the end of the year was, that the Prænestines, having stirred up some of the states of the Latins, renewed hostilities. During the same year new colonists were enrolled for Setia, the colony itself complaining of the paucity of men. Domestic tranquillity, which the influence of the plebeian military tribunes and the respect shown to them among their own party procured, was a consolation for the want of success in war.

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      The commencement of the following year blazed forth with violent sedition, the military tribunes with consular power being Spurius Furius, Quintus Servilius a second time, Caius Licinius, Publius Clœlius, Marcus Horatius, Lucius Geganius. The debt was both the ground-work and cause of the disturbance: for the purpose of ascertaining which Spurius Servilius Priscus and Quintus Clœlius Siculus, being appointed censors, were prevented by war from proceeding in the business. For alarming news at first, then the flight (of the country people) from the lands, brought intelligence that the legions of the Volscians had entered the borders, and were laying waste the Roman land in every direction. In which alarm, so far was the fear of the foreign enemy from putting a check to the domestic feuds, that on the contrary the tribunitian power became even more vehement in obstructing the levy; until these conditions were imposed on the patricians, that no one was to pay tribute as long as the war lasted, nor issue any judicial process respecting money due. This relaxation being obtained for the commons, there was no delay with respect to the levy. New legions being enlisted, it was resolved that two armies should be led into the Volscian territory, the legions being divided. Spurius Furius and Marcus Horatius proceed to the right, towards the sea-coast and Antium; Quintus Servilius and Lucius Geganius to the left, to Ecetra towards the mountains. On neither side did the enemy meet them. Devastation was therefore committed, not similar to that straggling kind which the Volscian had practised by snatches under the influence of trepidation after the manner of a banditti, relying on the dissensions among the enemy and dreading their valour; but committed with the full meed of their resentment by a regular army, more severe also by reason of their continuance. For the incursions had been made by the Volscians on the skirts of the borders, as they were afraid lest an army might in the mean time come forth from Rome: the Romans, on the contrary, had a motive for tarrying in the enemy's country, in order to entice them to an engagement. All the houses therefore on the lands, and some villages also, being burnt down, not a fruit-tree nor the seed being left for the hope of a harvest, all the booty both of men and cattle, which was outside the walls, being driven off, the troops were led back from both quarters to Rome.

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      A short interval having been granted to the debtors to recover breath, when matters became perfectly quiet with respect to the enemy, legal proceedings began to be instituted anew; and so remote was all hope of relieving the former debt, that a new one was now contracted by a tax for building a wall of hewn stone bargained for by the censors: to which burden the commons were obliged to submit, because the tribunes of the commons had no levy which they could obstruct. Forced by the influence of the nobles, they elected all the military tribunes from among the patricians, Lucius Æmilius, Publius Valerius a fourth time, Caius Veturius, Servius Sulpicius, Lucius and Caius Quinctius Cincinnatus. By the same influence they succeeded in raising three armies against the Latins and Volscians, who with combined forces were encamped at Satricum, all the juniors being bound by the military oath without any opposition; one army for the protection of the city; the other to be sent for the sudden emergencies of war, if any disturbance should arise elsewhere. The third, and by far the most powerful, Publius Valerius and Lucius Æmilius led to Satricum. Where when they found the enemy's line of battle drawn up on level ground, they immediately engaged; and before the victory was sufficiently declared, the battle, which held out fair hopes of success, was put a stop to by rain accompanied by a violent storm of wind. On the following day the battle was renewed; and for a considerable time the Latin troops particularly, who had learned the Roman discipline during the long confederacy, stood their ground with equal bravery and success. A charge of cavalry broke their ranks; when thus confused, the infantry advanced upon them; and as much as the Roman line advanced, so much were the enemy dislodged from their ground; and when once the battle gave way, the Roman prowess became irresistible. When the enemy being routed made for Satricum, which was two miles distant, not for their camp, they were cut down chiefly by the cavalry; their camp was taken and plundered. The night succeeding the battle, they betake themselves to Antium in a march resembling a flight; and though the Roman army followed them almost in their steps, fear however possessed more swiftness than anger. Wherefore the enemy entered the walls before the Roman could annoy or impede their rear. After that several days were spent in laying waste the country, as the Romans were neither supplied with military engines to attack walls, nor the others to hazard the chance of a battle.

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      At this time a dissension arose between the Antians and the Latins; when the Antians, overcome by misfortunes and reduced by a war, in which they had both been born and had grown old, began to think of a surrender; whilst their recent revolt after a long peace, their spirits being still fresh, rendered the Latins more determined to persevere in the war. There was an end to the contest, when it became evident to both parties that neither would stand in the way of the other so as to prevent them from following out their own views. The Latins by departing redeemed themselves from a share in what they deemed a dishonourable peace. The Antians, on the removal of those who by their presence impeded their salutary counsels, surrender their city and lands to the Romans. The resentment and rage of the Latins, because they were neither able to damage the Romans in war, nor to retain the Volscians in arms, vented itself in setting fire to the city of Satricum, which had been their first place of retreat after their defeat; nor did any

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