In the three hundred and ninety-third year after the building of the
city there was seen suddenly to open in the market-place a great gulf of
a deepness that no man could measure. And this gulf could not be filled
up though all the people brought earth and stones and the like to cast
into it. But at the last there was sent a message from the gods that
the Romans must enquire what was that by which more than all things the
State was made strong. "For," said the soothsayer, "this thing must be
dedicated to the Gods in this place if the commonwealth of Rome is to
stand fast for ever." And while they doubted, one Marcus Curtius, a
youth that had won great renown in war, rebuked them saying, "Can ye
doubt that Rome hath nothing better than arms and valour?" Then all the
people stood silent; and Curtius, first beholding the temples of the
immortal gods that hung over the market-place and the Capitol, and
afterwards stretching forth his hands both to heaven above and to this
gulf that opened its mouth to the very pit, as it were, of hell, devoted
himself for his country; and so, being clothed in armour and with arms
in his hand, and having his horse arrayed as sumptuously as might be, he
leapt into the gulf; and the multitude, both of men and women, threw in
gifts and offerings of the fruits of the earth, and afterwards the earth
closed together.
[Illustration: Curtius leaping into the chasm 288]
About the space of thirteen years after these things there was again
war with the Gauls; and when the Romans had levied a great army of ten
legions of men, Camillus the Consul (being son to that Camillus that
the city in time past) marched therewith into the Latin plain, and
pitched his camp near to the marshes by the sea, over against the camp
of the Gauls.
And while the two armies lay quiet, a Gaul of great stature, and having
splendid arms, came forth, who, striking his shield with his spear, by
way of token that he would have silence, challenged by the mouth of an
interpreter any one that would of the men of Rome to do battle with
him. Thereupon a certain Marcus Valerius, thinking that he might win
for himself like renown with Manlius, that was surnamed of the Twisted
Chain, came forth fully armed into the space between the two armies,
having first obtained permission of the Consul. When these two were
about to join battle, a crow lighted suddenly upon the helmet of
Valerius, with his face towards the Gaul. And Valerius received it with
joy as an augury sent from heaven, crying out, "May the god or goddess
that hath sent this bird of good omen to me be favourable to me and
succour me." Then, marvellous to relate, the bird not only remained
steadfast in the place whereupon it had lighted, but as soon as the two
began to fight together, raised itself upon its wings, and wounded with
its beak and claws the face and eyes of the enemy, so that, terrified
by so marvellous a thing, he was easily slain by Valerius. Now, up to
this time the foremost lines of both armies had remained quiet; but when
Valerius began to strip the spoils from the body of the dead man, the
Gauls ran forward to hinder him. Then with yet greater speed ran the
Romans to his help; and there was a great fight about the dead body. And
Camillus seeing that the men were confident by reason not only of the
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.