valour of Valerius, but also of the manifest favour of the Gods, he
cried aloud, "Soldiers, do as Valerius hath done, and slay multitudes
of Gauls as he hath slain their champion." Thus was there won a great
victory over the Gauls, for though some of them fought valiantly, the
greater part fled before even the Romans had come within a spear's cast
of them. As for Valerius, he was made Consul in the year following,
though he was but twenty and three years of age (It was not lawful in
those days that a man should be Consul till he was forty and two years
of age); and he and his posterity after him had for themselves the
surname of Corvus, which is, being interpreted, a crow. In the four
hundred and twelfth year after the building of the city there was war
between the Romans and the Samnites, in which war, when the one Consul,
Valerius, had won a great victory, the other, Cornelius, was well-nigh
destroyed together with his army. For, leading his soldiers into a
certain narrow pass, he did not perceive that it was surrounded on all
sides by the enemy, and that these were also on the higher ground
above him. And while he doubted what he should do (for it was no longer
possible that he should return by the same way by which he came), a
certain Decius Mus, being a tribune of the soldiers, perceived a hill
above the camp of the enemy, and that this hill might easily be climbed
by soldiers lightly armed. Thereupon he said to the Consul, "Cornelius,
seest thou that hill? Thereby we may save ourselves if we only make
haste and occupy it; for the Samnites are blind that they have not
occupied it before. Give me only the front rank and the spearmen of one
legion; and when with these I shall have climbed to the top, do thou
move forward with the legions, fearing nothing, for the Samnites cannot
follow thee, having to pass this hill. As for us, the fortune of the
Roman people or our own valour will deliver us." And when he had said
this, leading his men by secret paths, he climbed to the top of the
hill, the Samnites not perceiving what he did. And while these doubted
what they should do for wonder and fear, the Consul escaped with his
army. As to Decius also, they knew not whether they should surround the
hill on all sides, and so shut him in, or, leaving a way open, should
attack him when he should have come down to the plain. And while they
doubted, darkness came upon them.

At the first Decius thought that the enemy would come up the hill
against him, and that he should fight against them with advantage from
the higher ground, but when they neither came nor yet began to build a
rampart round the hill, he called his centurions to him and said, "What
ignorance or indolence is this in these men, that they sit still and do
nothing when they might by this time have shut us in? Surely we shall be
as bad as they if we stop longer in this place than shall be convenient
to us. Come then with me, and while there is yet some light, let us
see where they have set their guards, and where we may find a way of
departing from this place." So the centurions, having clad themselves in
the garb of common soldiers, lest the enemy should know them, spied out
the nature of the place. Afterwards, when he had posted the sentinels,
he commanded that the rest of the soldiers should assemble at the
second watch. To them he said, "Ye must hear my words in silence, not
signifying your assent by a shout in soldiers' fashion. Such as shall
approve my counsel let them come over to the right side; and if the
greater part of you shall so come, we will abide by it. The enemy having
neglected to occupy this place at the first, have neglected also to to
shut us in with a rampart. Stay we cannot, lest we perish with hunger
and thirst. Sally forth we must, if we are to be delivered. And if we
wait for day, can we doubt that the enemy will do that which he should
have done long since, and make a ditch and a rampart about the place?
Night therefore is the better time, and if the night, then also this
hour of the night is better than all others; for at this second watch
the sleep of men is commonly the deepest. Follow me therefore even as ye
have followed me hitherto. Let them to whom this counsel seems good come
over to the right side." They came over all of them, and followed Decius
as he led the way by a place which the enemy had left without guards.
But when they were now come to the middle of the camp, one of the
Romans, as he would have stepped over a sleeping man, stumbled upon
his shield and so woke him. The man roused his neighbour, and he again
others; and Decius, perceiving that he was discovered, commanded his men
to shout; and the Samnites, being confused and scarcely yet awake,
nor able to bestir themselves, could not hinder him and his men from
escaping. The next day, after he had entered the camp of the Consul (for
though he reached it before the night was spent, he would not enter till
it was day, thinking that they came back to their countrymen with such
glory as should not be concealed by darkness), Cornelius summoned the
soldiers to assembly and began to set forth the praises of Decius. But
Decius said, "I would counsel, Cornelius, that you postpone everything
to the occasion of victory that is now given you. Attack the enemy while
they are in confusion and scattered, for doubtless many have been sent
to pursue me." This the Consul did, and won a great victory over the
Samnites, and took their camp, wherein were slain, it is said, thirty
thousand men.

As for Decius, the Consul gave him a golden crown and a hundred oxen,
whereof one was white and of surpassing beauty, having gilded horns. And
to each of the soldiers that had followed him he gave a double portion
of corn for ever and an ox and two garments. And the legion set on the
head of Decius a crown of grass, by which was signified deliverance
from siege; his own men also gave him another such crown. Then Decius
sacrificed the white ox to Mars, and gave the other oxen to his soldiers.
To these men the rest of the legions made a contribution, a pound of
corn and a pint of wine for each.

In the third year after these things, Decius being then Consul together
with Manlius, there was a great war with the Latins. And while the
armies lay over against each other in a place near to the city of Capua,
there appeared to both Consuls, as they slept, the same figure of a man,
only of greater stature and of more dignity than belongs to man, which
figure spake to each the same words: "There is due to the Gods that
dwell below, and to Mother Earth, from the one side a general, and from
the other an army. And on which side soever of these two a general shall
devote himself, together with the army of the enemy, to the Gods below
and to Mother Earth, that side shall have the victory." When the Consuls
had told their dreams one to the other, they ordered that sacrifices
should be offered to avert the wrath of the gods; and that if the
soothsayers examining the entrails of the beasts should find the signs
therein to agree with the dreams that they had dreamed, one or other
of the Consuls should fulfil the decree of fate. So they sacrificed the
beasts, and hearing from the soothsayers that such signs had been found,
they called the officers together and told them how they agreed that if
either side began to give way the consul then commanding should devote
himself for the Roman people and for his country.

On the morning of the day when the battle was fought (the place being
near to Mount Vesuvius) the Consuls offered sacrifice each for himself.
Then the soothsayer showed the Consul Decius how, the signs being in
other respects altogether favourable, the head of the liver was wounded
on that side that regarded himself. Manlius, on the other hand, found
all things altogether favourable. Then said Decius, "It is well if the
offering of my colleague has been accepted." After these things they
marched forth to the battle, Manlius commanding the right wing and
Decius the left.

For a while both armies fought with equal courage and strength. Then the
Roman spearmen, being the front rank, gave way before the Latins, and
fell back upon the rank behind them. Thereupon Decius cried with a loud
voice to Valerius, "Valerius, we have need of the help of the Gods. Come
therefore, and, as high priest of the Roman people, dictate to me the
words in which I may devote myself for the legions." Then the high
priest bad him put on the robe that is called Prætexta--that is to say,
having a stripe of purple about it-and to cover his head, and, thrusting
his hand under his gown up to his chin, to say after him these words: "O
Janus, Jupiter, Father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Gods of the households,
Gods of the land, Gods of the dwellings below, I beseech you that
ye grant strength and victory to the Roman people, and send upon the
enemies of the Roman people terror, and panic, and death. And now I
devote myself, and with me the legions of our enemies, to the infernal
Gods, on behalf of the commonwealth of Rome and the legions of the Roman
people."

[Illustration: Decius devoting himself for his country 300]

Then girding himself after the manner of Gabii, and taking his sword, he
leapt upon his horse and hastened into the midst of the enemy. To both
armies he seemed to be more than man, being sent, as it were, from
heaven, to avert the anger of the gods, to avert destruction from
his countrymen, and to bring it upon his enemies; and the Latins were
overwhelmed with terror, giving way before him wherever his horse
carried him, and when at last he fell slain by a shower of javelins,
flying from the place where he lay. As for the Romans, they fought with
greater hope and courage, as knowing that they had been delivered from
the anger of the gods.

When the battle had now lasted many hours, and the Latins had no fresh
soldiers to bring up, the consul Manlius cried to the veterans whom
he had kept behind, kneeling on one knee, till they should be needed,
"Rise, and deal with the enemy as men that are fresh to the battle
should deal with the weary. Remember your wives and children; remember
also your Consul that has died that ye may have, victory." So the
veterans rose and advanced, bringing up a fresh line against the enemy;
nor could these withstand them, but turned and fled. Many were slain in
the field, and many also in the camp, which was taken that same day. The
day following the body of Decius was found, covered with javelins, with
many dead corpses of the enemy about it; and the consul Manlius made for
this a great funeral.

In the forty-second year after these things, Publius Decius Mus, being
son to that Decius who devoted himself for the army in the battle of
Mount Vesuvius, was made consul together with Quintus Fabius, having
been consul three times before. In that year the Gauls had leagued
together with the Etrurians against the Romans, having also upon their
side the Umbrians and the Samnites. And the armies pitched their camps
near to Sentinum, having a space of about four miles between them. Now
it had been agreed among the enemy that on the day of battle the Gauls
with the Samnites should fight with the army, and that the Etrurians
with the men of Umbria should attack the camp. But this counsel certain
deserters from Clusium declared to the Consuls. Thereupon the Consuls
sent word by letter to their lieutenants that they should lay waste the
country of the Etrurians. And this they did, working such destruction
that the Etrurians with the men of Umbria straightway departed, that
they might defend their own possessions. Then the Consuls made haste
that they might fight before these should come back. For two days,
therefore, they challenged the enemy to battle; but though a few were
killed on either side, nothing worthy of note was done. But on the third
day both the armies came down into the plain ready to do battle,
and, while they stood, a hind that fled from a wolf ran down from the
mountains across the plain that lay between the two hosts, and the two
beasts went different ways, the hind among the Gauls and the wolf among
the Romans. The hind, indeed, the Gauls slew, but the Romans gave place
to the wolf to pass through their lines. Then a soldier that stood in
the front rank cried aloud, "Look ye, flight and slaughter go that way
where ye see the hind, a beast that is sacred to the goddess Diana,
lie dead; but to us the wolf of Mars, whom we have left unharmed, is a
pledge of victory, reminding us of him of whose race we come."

On the right wing of the enemy were the Gauls, and on the left the
Samnites, Quintus Fabius being set to fight against these, and Decius
Mus against the Gauls. At the first when the battle was begun the
strength on either side was so equal that, if only the Etrurians or the
men of Umbria had been there, the Romans had doubtless suffered some
great loss either in the field or in the camp. Nevertheless the fashion
of the battle was not the same in both wings. For Fabius and his legions
defended themselves rather than attacked; Fabius judging that the Gauls
and Samnites were most to be feared at their first charge, and that if
only this could be sustained the day would go well with the Romans; the
Samnites growing slack in valour, and the Gauls being unaccustomed to
endure toil and heat for a long space of time, so that at the first they
would fight with more than the strength of men, and at the last with
less than the strength of women. Wherefore he kept the best strength of
his soldiers till such time as the enemy were accustomed to be worsted.
But Decius, being vigorous in body and of a high spirit, used his whole
strength to the utmost in the very beginning of the battle. And because
the foot soldiers seemed to him to fight with a certain slackness, he
brought up the horsemen to their help. Then riding into the midst of one
of the squadrons in which were many youths of noble birth, he cried to
them, saying, "Follow me against the enemy. Ye shall win for yourselves
a double share of glory if the victory shall be first won on this side."
Twice did they put to flight the horsemen of the Gauls; but when they
charged now for a third time, riding far on among the enemy, they were
thrown into confusion by a certain new and strange manner of fighting.
For suddenly there came upon them a number, of the enemy that stood upon
chariots, and who, advancing against them with a great noise both of
horses' hoofs and of wheels, affrighted their horses. Thus there came
a sudden panic upon them in the very hour of their victory, and turning
their backs they fled headlong. Then the legions also were disordered,
many that stood in the front rank being cast to the ground and crushed,
both by their horsemen and by the chariots of the enemy. And when
the Gauls saw how the Romans gave way they pressed on, giving them no
breathing space nor time of recovery. Then cried the Consul Decius,
"Whither do ye fly? what hope have ye in flight?" And he strove to stay
them as they fled, and call them back into the battle. But when he saw
that he could avail nothing, so overwhelmed were they with fear, he
called aloud on the name of Publius Decius, his father, and said, "Why
do I delay any longer the fate that belongs to my race? This is
the privilege of my house, to be victims whereby the dangers of the
commonwealth may be expiated. Therefore I give myself, and together with
me the army of the enemy, to Mother Earth, and to the Gods of the dead."
When he had so spoken, he bade Marcus Livius, the high priest (on whom,
when he went into the battle, he had laid his commands that he should
never depart from his side), dictate the words by which he might devote
himself and the army of the enemy for the army of the Roman people. Then
he arrayed himself in the same manner and prayed the same words as his
father had done in the battle by Mount Vesuvius. To this he added these
words, "Lo! I carry before me terror and flight, slaughter and blood,
and the wrath of the Gods of heaven and of hell; with the curses of
death will I smite the standards, weapons, and armour of the enemy,
accomplishing in one and the same place my own destruction and the
destruction of the Gauls and of the Samnites." And when he had thus
cursed both himself and the enemy he spurred his horse into the lines of
the Gauls, where he saw them to be thickest, and so fell pierced through
with many spears.

After the death of Decius the Romans fought with such strength and
courage as seemed beyond the nature of men. For the Romans, when their
leader was dead (a thing that commonly is wont to be the cause of much
fear), stayed from their flight and took heart to begin the battle
afresh. But as for the Gauls, and those especially that stood about the
dead body of the Consul, they cast their javelins at random and to
no purpose, as though they were beside themselves; and some were so
stupefied with fear that they could neither fight nor fly. Then Livius
the high priest, to whom the Consul Decius had given over his lictors,
bidding him take upon himself the command, cried aloud, "The Romans have
conquered, being delivered from peril by the death of the Consul. The
Gauls and the Samnites are the possession of Mother Earth and of the
Gods of the dead. Decius is calling and drawing to him the army that he
devoted to death together with himself; and the whole host of the enemy
is full of madness and fear." And while he set the battle in order again
on this side of the field there came up two lieutenants whom Fabius the
Consul had sent from the rereward to the help of his colleague. And when
they heard that Decius was dead, and in what manner, they all addressed
themselves to the battle with fresh courage. So when the Gauls stood
in close array, with their shields set up before them, and it seemed no
easy thing to come to close combat with them, the lieutenants commanded
that they should gather together the javelins which lay on the ground in
the space between the two armies, and cast them against the shields of
the enemy. And when most of these pierced their shelter, and some that
had the longer points were even driven into their bodies, the army was
overthrown, not a few falling to the ground though their bodies were
unhurt. Such changes of fortune were there in the left wing of the
Romans.

Meanwhile, in the right wing, when Fabius perceived that the enemy
shouted not as loudly as before, nor cast their javelins with as much
strength, he commanded the captains of the horsemen to take a compass
with their squadrons and fall upon the Samnites in the rear when he
should give the signal. This done he bade the legions advance their
standards. And when he saw that the enemy were beyond all doubt wearied
with fighting, he called to him all the reserves that he had kept back
for this end, and gave the signal, so that the legions fell upon the
enemy from before and the horsemen fell upon them from behind at one and
the same time. Thereupon the Samnites turned their backs and fled with
all speed to their camp; but the Gauls, locking their shields in close
array, stood fast. And now there came tidings to Fabius how that
his colleague was dead; and when he heard them he bade the Companion
Knights, being a company of about five hundred horsemen, leave the line
and fall upon the Gauls in the rear; with whom went also a part of
the third legion, to fall upon the enemy wherever their line should be
broken by the horsemen. And he himself, having first vowed a temple and
all the spoils of victory to Jupiter the Conqueror, marched to the camp
of the Samnites. Then again was there a battle, for the multitude of
them that fled was so great that they could not enter by the gates, so
that they fought perforce. Then Egnatius, captain of the host of the
Samnites, was slain. And in no great space of time the Samnites were
driven within the ramparts and the camp also was taken. The Gauls also,
being surrounded on all sides, could withstand the Romans no more. That
day there fell five and twenty thousand of the enemy, and eight thousand
were taken alive. Nor did the Romans escape without damage, for in the
army of Decius were slain seven thousand and in the army of Fabius one
thousand seven hundred. Fabius, having first sent men to search for the
body of his colleague, gathered together in a great heap all the spoils
of the enemy, and offered them for a burnt offering to Jupiter the
Conqueror. On the morrow they found the body of Decius, covered with
dead bodies of the Gauls, and brought it back to the camp amidst much
weeping of the soldiers. And Fabius made for him as great a funeral as
he could prepare.

CHAPTER XVII. ~~ THE STORY OF THE PASSES OF CAUDIUM.

In the four hundred and thirty-third year after the building of the city
there was war between the Romans and the Samnites. Now there is in the
land of the Samnites a certain pass which men call the Pass of Caudium.
Near to this the captain of the host of the Samnites, a man very skilful
in war, Caius Pontius by name, pitched his camp, hiding it from sight as
much as might be. This done he sent twelve soldiers, clad as shepherds,
to Calatia, in which place he knew the Consuls to be with the army of
the Romans. He commanded these men that they should feed their flocks
not far from the camp of the Romans, one in one place and another in
another, and that when the plunderers should fall upon them and take
them they should tell all of them the same tale, that the legions of the
Samnites were in Apulia, laying siege to the town of Luceria with all
their might, and were on the point to take it. Now this same report had
been spread abroad before of set purpose, and had come to the ears of
the Romans; and now when these prisoners said the same words, agreeing
all of them one with another, the Romans must needs believe it to be
true. Now that the Romans would help the men of Luceria was manifest,
because they were good allies and faithful, and because also, if it
should be taken, all Apulia would fall away from them from present fear
of the enemy. But by which way they would go men doubted much: for there
were two ways, the one broad and easy, along the coast of the Upper Sea;
but this way, as it was safe, so also was long. The other way, and this
the shorter by far, lay through the Passes of Caudium. Now the nature
of these passes is this. There are two deep glens, narrow and grown with
woods, having mountains on either side of them; and between these there
is a plain, of no small extent, grassy and well watered, and the road
passes through the midst of it. But before a man can come to this plain
he must needs go through the first pass; and when he would leave, if he
will not return by the way by which he came, he must needs go through
the second, and this is yet more narrow and difficult than the first.
Into this plain, therefore, the Romans marched with their whole army
through a cleft in the rocks--that is to say, through the first pass;
but when they came to the second, they found it shut with the trunks
of trees and great stones. And now the stratagem of the enemy became
manifest, and at the same time also there was seen on the mountains
above them a great army of the Samnites. And when they went back in all
haste to the pass by which they had entered, they found this also shut
by a fence of the like sort, kept by armed men. Thereupon they halted,
though no man had given the word, for they were utterly confounded,
neither was there any strength left in their limbs; and they stood
speechless, looking upon each other as men that sought for help.
Nevertheless, the tents of the Consuls were set up, and the tools for
fortifying the camp got ready, though it seemed an idle thing for men
that were in such plight to fortify a camp; but because they would not
make their trouble worse by neglect they addressed themselves to work,
and, without bidding or command from any man, fortified a camp; but not
the less they knew their labour to be in vain; nor did the enemy cease
to mock at them. This being done, the lieutenants and the tribunes came
together without any bidding, for the Consuls called no council, as
knowing that there was no device or knowledge that could avail them.
The soldiers also ran together to the Consuls' tent, asking from their
leaders such help as the gods themselves could scarce have given. And
while they doubted what might be done darkness came upon them. Some
said, "Let us make our way through these things that bar the way," and
others, "Why should mountains and wood hinder us while we have swords in
our hands? Suffer us only to come at the enemy, whom we have conquered
now for thirty years; there is no place whereon the Romans cannot
prevail over the Samnites, how many soever they may be."

But others said, "Whither shall we go? and by what way? Shall we move
these mountains from their place? for while they yet hang over us how
can we come at our enemies? Truly we are given into their hands bound
hand and foot, and they will conquer us without so much as moving from
their place." Thus did they talk one to the other; and that night they
thought neither of food nor of sleep.

The Samnites also doubted much what they should best do now that their
counsels had so greatly prospered. With one consent, therefore, they
wrote letters to Herennius Pontius, father to Pontius their general,
seeking for his advice. Now Pontius was a very old man, and had long
since withdrawn himself not from war only, but also from all affairs of
state. Nevertheless, though his body was weak, the power of his mind was
not abated. When he heard that the Roman army had been shut in between
the Passes of Caudium, and that his son would fain have his counsel,
he said, "Let the men go, and harm them not." And when, despising this
counsel, they sent the messenger again, asking the same question, he
answered, "Slay them all; spare not one." When they heard these two
answers, being so different the one from the other, it seemed to Pontius
that his father's mind had failed him, even as his body had failed him.
Nevertheless, when all would have it that the old man himself should be
sent for, he yielded to their desire. And Pontius the elder agreeing was
carried to the camp, they say, in a waggon; and when he was come they
brought him into the council. There he spoke, changing indeed nothing of
that which he had said, but adding his reasons. "My first counsel I yet
judge to be the best, for thus by a great benefit ye will make peace and
friendship for ever with a very powerful nation. If ye follow my second
counsel ye will put off war with Rome for many generations; since,
losing two great armies, they will not readily recover their strength.
But counsel other than these two there is none." And when his son and
others of the captains asked him whether there were not some middle way,
so that the prisoners should be sent away unhurt but with conditions
according to the right of war, "That," said he, "is a counsel which will
neither get friends for you nor rid you of enemies. For think who they
are that ye will provoke by such disgrace. The Romans cannot endure to
sit quiet under defeat, nor will they rest till they have got manifold
vengeance for that which present necessity shall have compelled them
to suffer." Then, the Samnites not approving either counsel, Pontius
departed to his home.

And now the Romans, having sought many times in vain to break forth, and
being now destitute of everything, sent ambassadors to the Samnites
to seek peace, and, if peace were not given, to challenge the enemy to
battle. To these Pontius made answer, "Since ye will not confess your
plight, prisoners though ye be, I will send you under the yoke without
arms, each having one garment only. As to the conditions of peace, they
shall be equal and right. Ye shall depart from the land of the Samnites,
and take away your colonies; and hereafter both Romans and Samnites
shall live under their own laws. If these conditions please the Consuls,
I will make a treaty with them; if they please them not, return not
hither again." When this message was brought back there arose a general
lamentation; for it seemed better to die than to suffer such disgrace.
And when the Consuls knew not what to say, Lucius Lentulus, being first
of the lieutenants, both in respect of valour and of the honours which
he had received, then spake: "Consuls, I have often heard from my father
that he only gave counsel to the Senate that they should not ransom
their country for gold, and that he did this because the Gauls had not
enclosed the capital, and that therefore they might sally forth, not
indeed without danger, yet without certainty of destruction. I also
would give like advice this day if we could come near our enemies to
fight with them. But seeing this may not be, and that if this army be
destroyed, Rome is destroyed with it (for how can an unarmed multitude
defend it?) my counsel is that we accept these conditions. So shall we
deliver our country, not indeed by our death, yet by our disgrace."

Thereupon the Consuls going to Pontius made with him, not indeed, a
treaty, for such could not be made without the consent of the people
and the ministry of the heralds, but a covenant, for which the Consuls,
lieutenants, quaestors, and tribunes were made sureties. And because
peace could not be confirmed forthwith it was agreed that six hundred
horsemen should be given as hostages, who should suffer death if the
covenant should not be fulfilled. But when the Consuls came back to
the camp the grief in the camp broke out afresh, and the soldiers could
scarcely be kept from doing them violence. "Your rashness," they cried,
"brought us into this place, and through your cowardice we come out of
it with disgrace. No guide had ye, nor sent scouts to explore, but
went blindly, even as beasts fall into a pit. As for us, we have been
overcome and yet have not suffered a wound or struck a blow." While they
thus murmured the time came when they must endure this great disgrace.
First they were bidden to come without the rampart, having no arms and
one garment only for each man. Afterwards the hostages were given up
and led away to prison. Then the lictors were commanded to leave the
Consuls; and these had their soldiers cloaks taken from them, so that
they who had just cursed them, crying out that they should be delivered
to the torturers, now pitied them, turning their eyes away, and thinking
not of their own condition for shame that the majesty of so high an
office should be so brought low. First the Consuls were sent under the
yoke, half naked, and after them the other officers, according to their
rank, and lastly the soldiers according to their legions. The enemy
stood about, mocking and reviling them; some they threatened with their
swords, and others that seemed to bear themselves too proudly they
wounded and even slew.

Then, going on their way, the Romans came near to Capua, but for shame
and for fear lest their allies should desert them, entered not the
city, but cast themselves down upon the road. But the men of Capua
had compassion on them, and sent to them all that they needed, and
entertained them both publicly and privately with all hospitality. But
the Romans answered not a word, nor so much as lifted up their eyes, so
overwhelmed were they with shame and grief. The next day certain young
noblemen of Capua, going with them to the borders of their country, made
this answer to some that questioned them in the Senate concerning
the behaviour of the Romans: "These men are wholly sunk in grief and
despair, and have lost not their arms only but also their courage.
Verily they seem to have yet on their necks the yoke under which they
were made to pass; and as for the Samnites, they have won a victory to
which there will be no end. The Gauls took the city of Rome, but these
men have taken the very courage of the Roman people." Then said a
certain Calavius, a man of renown and venerable for his age, "This
silence, this shame, this refusing of all comfort are signs of a wrath
that is both great and deep. If I know aught of the Roman people from
this silence will come loud lamentation to the Samnites."

Meanwhile these ill tidings had been carried to Rome. First they heard
that the army was besieged; after that there had been made this shameful
peace. Thereupon the soldiers, whom the magistrates had begun to levy on
news of the siege, were dismissed, and a public mourning made by common
consent. The shops were shut round the market-place, and also the courts
of the judges; and the magistrates laid aside their ornaments and gold
rings. At the first there was great wrath, not against the generals
alone, but also against the soldiers, whom they counted unworthy to be
admitted into the city; but when the army came in pitiable plight wrath
was changed to compassion.

So soon as the Consuls of the next year were appointed they called the
Senate to consider what should be done concerning the peace of Caudium.
And first they bade Postumius, that was one of the Consuls, speak his
mind. Then said Postumius (and as he spake he bare the same look that he
had borne under the yoke), "I hold that by this peace the Roman people
is not bound, seeing that it was made without their authority, but only
they that made themselves surety for it. Let us therefore be delivered
up to the Samnites naked and in chains by the heralds; so shall we
set free the people if they be in any wise bound. I hold also that the
Consuls should forthwith levy an army and march forth therewith, but
that they should not cross the border of the enemy till all these
things be duly finished. And I pray to the Gods of heaven that they be
satisfied with our disgrace, and that they prosper the arms of Rome even
as they have prospered them in time past."

To these words two tribunes of the Commons, having been among the
sureties, made objection, saying, "Ye cannot set the Roman people free
by giving up the sureties, but only by restoring all things as they were
at Caudium. Neither do we deserve punishment because we saved the army;
and seeing that we are sacred we may not be surrendered to the enemy."

To this Postumius made answer, "If this be so, men of Rome, give up us
that are common persons; and as for these sacred tribunes, touch them
not till their time of office be ended. Only, if ye will listen to
me, afterwards, before ye give them up, beat them with rods in the
market-place, and so take usury for the delay of payment. That the Roman
people are bound by this peace I deny. Think ye that they had been bound
if we had promised to surrender their city, their temples, their land,
their rivers, so that all that now belongs to the Romans should belong
to the Samnites? And if ye ask me why I made such a peace having no
authority, I answer this only. Nothing at Caudium was done wisely, but
all things foolishly. The Gods smote not us only, but also the enemy
with madness. We went blindly into the peril, and they cast away the
victory which they had won. For why did they not send ambassadors to
Rome, seeing that it was but a three days' journey, that peace might be
made in due form? Surely neither Fathers nor Commons are bound to that
in which they had no part. We that were sureties are bound, and we will
give ourselves up that they may work their will on us."

Even the tribunes of the Commons were persuaded by these words, so that
they abdicated their office, and were given to the heralds to be led to
Caudium together with the consuls and the other sureties. Thereupon the
heralds, going before, when they came to the gate, commanded that their
garments should be stripped from them that had been sureties for the
peace, and that their hands should be bound behind their backs. And when
the lictor, for reverence' sake, would have tied the cord loosely about
the hands of Postumius, Postumius said, "Nay, but bind tight the cord
that the matter may be done rightly." Afterwards, when they were come to
the judgment-seat of Pontius, the herald thus spake: "Forasmuch as these
men here present without bidding of the Roman people gave themselves
as sureties that a treaty should be made, and so did great wrong, I now
give up these men to you, that the Roman people may be set free
from guiltiness in this matter." While the herald was thus speaking,
Postumius with his knee smote him on the thigh with all his might,
saying, with a loud voice, "I am a citizen of Samnium, and thou art an
ambassador; I have smitten a herald contrary to the law of nations, so
that ye will wage war not without good cause."

Then said Pontius, "I accept not this surrender, neither I nor the
Samnites. If thou believest, Postumius, that there are gods, why dost
thou not either undo all that has been done or stand by thy covenant?
But I ask not this of thee, I ask it of the Roman people. If this peace
please them not, let them send back the legions to their place. Let all
that hath been done be undone. They shall have the arms which they gave
up. Then, if ye will, refuse this peace. Will ye never lack a cause for
going back from your word? Ye gave hostages to Porsenna and got them
back by stealth. Ye ransomed your State from the Gauls for gold, and
slew them even while ye paid it. Ye made peace with us that ye might get
back your legions that were taken, and now ye would disannul it. Is this
the law of nations, thou herald, as thou takest it to be? As for these
men, I accept them not. They may go back to their own country and carry
with them the wrath of the Gods whom they have despised. Ye will wage
war forsooth with us because Portumius hath struck the herald with his
knee. Ye will persuade the Gods that he is not a Roman but a Samnite,
and that therefore ye have just cause of war against us. Shame that old
men that have borne office should not be ashamed to work such mockeries
in the light of day, excusing themselves for their falsehood by such
tricks as verily children would count to be unworthy of them. Go,
lictor, loosen the bonds of the Romans; let no one hinder them from
going whither they will." So the Romans, having acquitted certainly
their own faith, and it may be the faith of the State, departed to their
own homes.

THE END.