The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08
filial affection. Wherefore the pleading of his cause was not only
dispensed with for the father, but the matter even became a source of
honour to the young man; and when it had been determined on that year
for the first time that tribunes of the soldiers for the legions should
be appointed by suffrage, (for before that the commanders themselves
used to appoint them, as they now do those whom they call Rufuli,) he
obtained the second place among six, without any merit of a civil or
military nature to conciliate public favour; as he had spent his youth
in the country and at a distance from all intercourse with the world.
6. On the same year the middle of the forum is said to have fallen in to
an immense depth, forming a sort of vast cave, either by reason of an
earthquake, or some other violent cause; nor could that gulf be filled
up by throwing earth into it, every one exerting himself to the utmost,
until by the admonition of the gods an inquiry began to be instituted,
as to what constituted the chief strength of the Roman people? for the
soothsayers declare that must be devoted to that place, if they desired
the Roman state to be perpetual. Then they tell us that Marcus Curtius,
a youth distinguished in war, reproved them for hesitating, whether
there was any greater Roman good than arms and valour. Silence being
made, looking to the temples of the immortal gods, which command a view
of the forum, and towards the Capitol, and extending his hands at one
time towards heaven, at another towards the infernal gods, through the
gaping aperture of the earth, he devoted himself: then, mounted on a
horse accoutred in the most gorgeous style possible, he plunged in full
armour into the opening, and offerings and the fruits of the earth were
thrown in over him by the multitude of men and women, and the lake was
called Curtian not from Curtius Mettus, the ancient soldier of Titus
Tatius, but from this circumstance. If any way would lead one's inquiry
to the truth, industry would not be wanting: now, when length of time
precludes all certainty of evidence, we must stand by the rumour of
tradition; and the name of the lake must be accounted for from this more
recent story. After due attention being paid to so great a prodigy, the
senate, during the same year, being consulted regarding the Hernicians,
(after having sent heralds to demand restitution in vain,) voted, that a
motion be submitted on the earliest day to the people on the subject of
declaring war against the Hernicians, and the people, in full assembly,
ordered it. That province fell by lot to the consul Lucius Genucius. The
state was in anxious suspense, because he was the first plebeian consul
that was about to conduct a war under his own auspices, being sure to
judge of the good or bad policy of establishing a community of honours,
according as the matter should turn out. Chance so arranged it that
Genucius, marching against the enemy with a considerable force, fell
into an ambush; the legions being routed by reason of a sudden panic,
the consul was slain after being surrounded by persons who knew not whom
they had slain. When this news was brought to Rome, the patricians, by
no means so grieved for the public disaster, as elated at the
unsuccessful guidance of the plebeian consul, every where exclaim, "They
might now go, and elect consuls from the commons, they might transfer
the auspices where it was impious to do so. The patricians might by a
vote of the people be driven from their own exclusive honour: whether
had this inauspicious law availed also against the immortal gods? They
had vindicated their authority, their auspices; which as soon as ever
they were defiled by one by whom it was contrary to human and divine law
that they should have been, the destruction of the army with its leader
was a warning, that elections should hereafter be conducted in utter
violation of the rights of birth." The senate-house and the forum
resound with expressions such as these. Appius Claudius, because he had
dissuaded the law, and now with greater authority blamed the issue of a
measure which had been found fault with by himself, the consul Servilius
appoints dictator by the general wish of the patricians, and a levy and
cessation of business are procaimed.
7. Before the dictator and the new legions could arrive among the
Hernicians, matters were conducted with great success under the
direction of Caius Sulpicius the lieutenant-general, making use of a
favourable opportunity. On the Hernicians, who after the death of the
consul came up contemptuously to the Roman camp with the certainty of
taking it, a sally was made by the exhortations of the consul, the minds
of the soldiers also being full of rage and indignation. The Hernicians
were much disappointed in their hopes of approaching the rampart; in
such complete confusion did they retire from thence. Then on the arrival
of the dictator the new army is joined to the old, the forces are
doubled; and the dictator in a public assembly, by bestowing praises on
the lieutenant-general and the soldiers by whose valour the camp had
been defended, at the same time raises the spirits of those who heard
their own deserved praises, and at the same time stimulates the others
to rival such valour. With no less vigour are the military preparations
made on the part of the enemy, who, mindful of the honour previously
acquired, and not ignorant that the enemy had increased their strength,
augment their forces also. The entire Hernician race, all of military
age, are called out. Eight cohorts, each consisting of four hundred men,
the chosen strength of their people, are levied. This, the select flower
of their youth, they filled with hope and courage by their having
decreed that they should receive double pay. They were exempt also from
military work, that, being reserved for the single labour of fighting,
they might feel that they should make exertions more than are made by
ordinary men. They are placed in an extraordinary position in the field,
that their valour might be the more conspicuous. A plain two miles in
breadth separated the Roman camp from the Hernicians; in the middle of
this, the spaces being about equal on both sides, they came to an
engagement. At first the fight was kept up with doubtful hope; the Roman
cavalry having repeatedly essayed to no purpose to break the enemy's
line by their charge. When their fighting as cavalry was less marked by
success than by great efforts, the cavalry, having first consulted the
dictator, and then obtained his permission, leaving their horses behind,
rush forward in front of the line, with a loud shout, and recommence the
battle after a new style; nor could they be resisted, had not the
extraordinary cohorts, possessing equal vigour both of body and spirit,
thrown themselves in their way.
8. Then the contest is carried on between the leading men of the two
states. Whatever the common fortune of war carried off from either side,
the loss was many times greater than can be estimated by the numbers:
the rest, an armed populace, as if they had delegated the fight to the
leading men, rest the issue of their own success on the bravery of
others. Many fall on both sides; more are wounded. At length the
horsemen, chiding each other, asking, "what now remained," if neither
when mounted they had made an impression on the enemy, nor as infantry
did they achieve any thing of moment; what third mode of fighting did
they wait for? Why had they so fiercely rushed forward before the line,
and fought in a post not belonging to them? Aroused by these mutual
chidings, they raise the shout anew, and press forward; and first they
made the enemy shrink, then made them give way, and at length fairly
made them turn their backs. Nor is it easy to say what circumstance
obtained the advantage against strength so well matched; except that the
constant fortune of both people might have raised or depressed their
spirits. The Romans pursued the Hernicians in their flight to their
camp; they refrained from attacking the camp, because it was late. The
fact of not having finished the sacrifices with success detained the
dictator, so that he could not give the signal before noon, and hence
the contest was protracted till night. Next day the camp of the
Hernicians was deserted, and some wounded men were found left behind,
and the main body of the fugitives was routed by the Signians, as their
standards were seen passing by their walls but thinly attended, and
dispersed over the country in precipitate flight. Nor was the victory an
unbloody one to the Romans; a fourth part of the soldiers perished; and,
where there was no less of loss, several Roman horsemen fell.
9. On the following year, when the consuls Caius Sulpicius and Caius
Licinius Calvus led an army against the Hernicians, and finding no enemy
in the country took their city Ferentinum by storm, as they were
returning thence, the Tiburtians shut their gates against them. Though
many complaints had been made on both sides before this, this was the
determining cause why war was declared against the Tiburtian people,
restitution having been demanded through heralds. It is sufficiently
ascertained that Titus Quinctius Pennus was dictator that year, and that
Servius Cornelius Maluginensis was his master of the horse. Macer
Licinius writes, that he was named by the consul for the purpose of
holding the elections, because his colleague hastening to have the
elections over before undertaking the war, that he might continue the
consulship, he thought it right to thwart his ambitious designs. This
being designed as a compliment to his own family, renders the authority
of Licinius of the less weight. As I find no mention of that
circumstance in the more ancient annals, my mind inclines me to consider
that the dictator was appointed on account of the Gallic war. On that
year, certainly, the Gauls pitched their camp at the third stone on the
Salarian road, at the further side of the bridge of the Anio. The
dictator, after he had proclaimed a cessation of civil business on
account of the Gallic tumult, bound all the younger citizens by the
military oath; and having set forth from the city with a great army,
pitched his camp on the hither bank of the Anio. The bridge lay between
both armies, neither side attempting to break it down, lest it should be
an indication of fear. There were frequent skirmishes for the possession
of the bridge; nor could it be clearly determined who were masters of
it, the superiority being so indecisive. A Gaul of very large stature
advanced on the bridge, then unoccupied, and says with as loud a voice
as he could exert, "Let the bravest man that Rome now possesses come
forward here to battle, that the event of an engagement between us both
may show which nation is superior in war."
10. There was for a long time silence among the young Roman nobility, as
they were both ashamed to decline the contest, and unwilling to claim
the principal post of danger. Then Titus Manlius, son of Lucius, the
same who had freed his father from the vexatious persecution of the
tribune, proceeds from his station to the dictator: "Without your
commands, general, I would never fight out of the ordinary course, not
though I should see certain victory before me. If you permit me, I wish
to show that brute, who insolently makes such a parade before the
enemy's line, that I am sprung from that family which dislodged a body
of Gauls from the Tarpeian rock." Then the dictator says, "Titus
Manlius, may you prosper for your valour and dutiful affection to your
father and your country. Go on, and make good the invincibility of the
Roman name with the aid of the gods." His companions then arm the youth;