The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08
had done to the Sidicinian. Valerius, having delayed for a few days in
slight skirmishes for the purpose of making trial of the enemy,
displayed the signal for battle, exhorting his men in few words "not to
let the new war or the new enemy terrify them. In proportion as they
should carry their arms to a greater distance from the city, the more
and more unwarlike should the nation prove to be against whom they
should proceed. That they should not estimate the valour of the Samnites
by the defeats of the Sidicinians and Campanians. Let the combatants be
of what kind they may be, that it was necessary that one side should be
vanquished. That as for the Campanians indeed, they were undoubtedly
vanquished more by circumstances flowing from excessive luxury and by
their own want of energy than by the bravery of the enemy. What were the
two successful wars of the Samnites, during so many ages, against so
many glorious exploits of the Roman people, who counted almost more
triumphs than years since the building of their city? who held subdued
by their arms all the states around them, the Sabines, Etruria, the
Latins, Hernicians, Æquans, Volscians, Auruncans? who eventually drove
by flight into the sea, and into their ships, the Gauls, after
slaughtering them in so many engagements? That soldiers ought both to
enter the field relying on their national military renown, and on their
own valour, and also to consider under whose command and auspices the
battle is to be fought; whether he be one which is to be listened to as
a pompous exhorter, bold merely in words, unacquainted with military
labours, or one who knows how to wield arms himself also, to advance
before the standards, and to show himself in the midst of the danger. My
acts, not my words merely, I wish you to follow; and to seek from me not
military orders only, but example also. It was not by intrigues merely,
nor by cabals usual among the nobles, but by this right hand, I procured
for myself three consulships, and the highest eulogies. There was a time
when this could be said; [no wonder,] for you were a patrician, and
sprung from the liberators of your country; and that family of yours had
the consulship the same year that the city had consuls. Now the
consulship lies open in common to us patricians and to you plebeians;
nor is it, as formerly, the prize of birth, but of valour. Look forward,
therefore, soldiers, to even the highest honour. Though you, as men,
have, with the approbation of the gods, given me this new surname of
Corvus, the ancient surname of our family, Publicolæ, has not been
erased from my memory. I ever do and ever have cultivated the good will
of the Roman commons abroad and at home, as a private man and in public
offices, high and low, as tribune equally as when consul, with the same
undeviating line of conduct through all my successive consulships. Now,
with respect to that which is at hand, with the aid of the gods, join
with me in seeking a new and complete triumph over the Samnites."
33. Never was a general on a more familiar footing with his soldiers, by
his performing all the duties among the lowest of the soldiers without
reluctance. Moreover in the military sports, wherein equals vie with
their equals in contests of swiftness and strength, affable and
condescending, he conquered and was conquered with the same countenance;
nor did he spurn any competitor who should offer; in his acts kind
according to the occasion; in his conversation no less mindful of the
ease of others than of his own dignity; and, a thing than which nothing
is more agreeable to the people, he administered his offices by the same
line of conduct by which he had gained them. The whole army therefore,
cheering the exhortation of their leader with the utmost alacrity, march
forth from the camp. The battle commenced with equal hopes and equal
strength on both sides, as much as any battle ever did, with confidence
in themselves, and without contempt of their enemies. Their recent
exploits and their double victory a few days before, increased the
spirits of the Samnites on the other side; the glories of four hundred
years and victory coeval with the building of their city [had the same
effect] on the Romans; to both sides, however, the circumstance of the
enemy being a new one gave additional anxiety. The battle was a proof
what spirits they possessed; for they maintained the conflict in such a
manner, that, for a considerable time, the armies inclined to neither
side. Then the consul, thinking that some confusion should be caused
among them, since they could not be overpowered by force, endeavours to
disorder their foremost battalions by a charge of cavalry. And when he
saw them wheel their troops within a narrow compass in fruitless
disorder, and that they could not open a passage to the enemy, riding
back to the van of the legions, after leaping from his horse, he says,
"Soldiers, this is the task for us infantry; come on, as ye shall see me
making way with my sword, in whatever direction I shall advance into the
enemy's line, so let each man, with all his might, beat down those who
oppose him. All those places, where their erected spears now glitter,
you shall see cleared by widely-extended slaughter." He had uttered
these words, when the cavalry by order of the consul turn to the wings,
and open a passage for the legions to the centre of the line. First of
all, the consul attacks the enemy, and slays him whom he happened to
engage. Those on the right and left, fired at this sight, commence a
dreadful fight, each with the foe opposite him. The Samnites obstinately
stand their ground, though they receive more wounds than they inflict.
The battle had now lasted for a considerable time, great slaughter
occurred around the standards of the Samnites; in no part was there a
flight, so firmly had they made up their minds to be vanquished by death
alone. Wherefore the Romans, when they perceived their strength to relax
by fatigue, and but a small part of the day still remained, fired with
fury, rush upon the enemy. Then for the first time it appeared that they
were giving ground, and that the matter was inclining to a flight; then
the Samnites were taken, some slain; nor would many have survived, had
not night terminated the victory rather than the battle. Both the Romans
confessed, that they had never fought with a more determined enemy; and
the Samnites, on being asked what cause first drove them to fly after
being so determined, said, that it was the eyes of the Romans which
seemed to them to flash fire, and their distracted looks, and furious
aspect; that more of terror arose from thence, than from any thing else.
Which terror they confessed not only in the issue of the battle, but in
their departure by night. Next day the Romans take possession of the
deserted camp of the enemy, whither all the Campanians flocked to
congratulate them.
34. But this joy was well nigh alloyed by a great loss sustained in
Samnium. For the consul Cornelius, having set out from Saticula,
incautiously led his army into a mountainous tract, passable through a
deep defile, and beset on all sides by the enemy; nor did he perceive
the enemy stationed over his head, until a retreat could no longer be
made with safety. Whilst the Samnites delayed only till he should bring
down his entire army into the valley; Publius Decius, a tribune of the
soldiers, espies in the tract a hill higher than the rest, hanging over
the enemies' camp, rather steep to be ascended by an encumbered army,
not difficult for such as were lightly armed. He says therefore to the
consul, greatly alarmed in mind, "Aulus Cornelius, do you perceive that
elevated point above the enemy? That is the bulwark of our hope and
safety, if we briskly gain possession of it, which the Samnites in their
blindness have given up. Only give me the first rank and spearmen of one
legion; when with these I shall have gained the summit, do you proceed
hence free from all apprehension, and save yourself and the army. For
the enemy, lying beneath us and [exposed thereby] to all our weapons,
will not be able to stir without destruction to themselves. After that
either the good fortune of the Roman people or our own bravery will
extricate us." Being commanded by the consul, he received the body of
men [required] and proceeds by secret paths through the mountain, nor
was he observed by the enemy until he approached the place which he was
making for. Then, whilst all were struck with astonishment, after he had
attracted the eyes of all to himself, he both afforded the consul time
to draw off his army to more advantageous ground, and he himself was
posted on the top of the hill. The Samnites, whilst they march their
forces now in this direction, now in that, having lost the opportunity
of effecting either object, can neither pursue the consul, unless
through the same defile in which they had him a little before exposed to
their weapons, nor march up the rising ground over themselves, which had
been seized on by Decius. But both their resentment stimulated them more
against the latter, who had taken from them the favourable opportunity
of achieving their object, and also the proximity of the place, and the
paucity of the enemy; and one time they would fain surround the hill on
all sides with armed men, so as to cut off Decius from the consul; at
another time they wished to open a passage, so that they may fall on
them when they had descended into the defile. Before they had determined
on what they should do, night came on them. Decius at first entertained
a hope, that he would have to engage them from the higher ground, as
they ascended against the steep; then surprise took possession of him,
that they neither commenced the fight, nor if they were deterred from
that by the unevenness of the ground, that they did not surround him
with works and a circumvallation. Then summoning the centurions to him,
he said, "What ignorance of war and indolence is that? or how did such
men obtain a victory over the Sidicinians and Campanians? You see that
their battalions move to and fro, that sometimes they are collected to
one spot, at other times they are drawn out. As for work, no one
attempts it, when we might by this time have been surrounded with a
rampart. Then indeed should we be like to them, if we delay longer here
than is expedient. Come on, accompany me; that whilst some day light
remains, we may ascertain in what places they put their guards, in what
direction an escape may lie open from hence." All these points he
carefully observed, clad in a soldier's vest, the centurions whom he
took with him being also in the attire of common soldiers, lest the
enemy might notice the general going the round.
35. Then having placed watch-guards, he commands the ticket to be issued
to all the rest, that when the signal had been given by the trumpet of
the second watch, they should assemble to him in silence fully armed.
Whither when they had assembled in silence according to the orders
issued, "Soldiers," says he, "this silence is to be observed in
listening to me, waving the military mode of expressing assent. When I
shall have thoroughly explained my sentiments to you, then such of you
as shall approve the same, will pass over; we will follow that line of
conduct which shall meet the judgment of the majority. Now hear what I
meditate in mind. The enemy have surrounded you, not brought hither in
flight, nor left behind through cowardice. By valour you seized this
ground; by valour you must make your way from it. By coming hither you
have saved a valuable army of the Roman people; by forcing your way
hence, save yourselves. You have proved yourselves worthy, though few in
number, of affording aid to multitudes, whilst you yourselves stand in