History of Rome

​In the following year, when Quintus Fabius and Lucius Fulvius were consuls, Aulus Cornelius Arvina as dictator and Marcus Fabius Ambustus as master of the horse, due to the fear of a more serious war in Samnium—for it was said that the youth had been hired for pay from neighboring peoples—held a more rigorous levy and led an excellent army against the Samnites.

​Having carelessly placed their camp in enemy territory, as if the enemy were far away, suddenly the legions of the Samnites arrived with such ferocity that they pushed their rampart right up to the Roman outpost. Night was already approaching;

​this prevented them from attacking the fortifications; nor did they conceal that they would do so on the next day at dawn. When the dictator saw that the conflict was closer than he had hoped, ​lest there should be any opportunity for the courage of the soldiers to suffer damage, leaving numerous fires to deceive the sight of the enemy, he led out the legions in silence; yet he could not escape notice because of the proximity of the camps.

​The cavalry immediately followed and pressed upon the column in such a way that, while refraining from battle until it grew light, they closely pursued them;

​not even the infantry forces had left the camp before dawn. The cavalry, only when it was light, dared to charge the enemy, and by cutting off the rearmost and pressing them in places unfavorable for passage, they delayed the column. Meanwhile, the infantry caught up with the cavalry; and the Samnite was now pressing with all his forces.

​Then the dictator, when he could not proceed without great disadvantage, ordered the camp to be measured out in that very place where he had halted. But this, with the cavalry surrounding them on all sides, could not be done so that they might reach the rampart and begin the work.

​Therefore, when he saw that there was no opportunity either for going or for remaining, he drew up the battle line, having removed the baggage from the column. The enemy also drew up against them, equal both in spirit and in strength.

​This especially had increased their courage, because, ignorant that the retreat was due to an unfavorable location and not to the enemy, they had followed, as if they were fleeing and terrified, being themselves terrible.

​This for some time made the battle equal, since the Samnites had long been unaccustomed to enduring the shout of the Roman army. But indeed on that day, from the third to the eighth hour of the day, the contest is said to have stood so balanced that neither the shout, as it was raised once in the first onset, was repeated, nor were the standards moved forward or withdrawn from their place, nor was there a retreat on any side.

​Each standing firm in his own position, pushing with their shields, they fought without breathing space or looking back; the shouting was uniform and the steady course of the fight looked forward either to ultimate exhaustion or to night.

​Now strength was failing the men, now the sword its force, now plans the leaders, when suddenly the Samnite cavalry, when one squadron had advanced further and found that the Roman baggage was standing far from the armed men without protection, without fortification, made an attack in greed for plunder. When a trembling messenger brought this news to the dictator, ’Let them only,’ he said, ‘entangle themselves with the booty.’ Then, others after others kept shouting that the fortunes of the soldiers were being plundered and carried off everywhere. Then, having summoned the master of the horse, he said, ‘Do you see, ​Marcus Fabius, that the battle has been abandoned by the enemy’s cavalry? They are sticking, entangled in our baggage.

​Attack them, and—as happens to a whole multitude in the midst of plundering—you will find them scattered, few sitting on horses, few with a weapon in hand; while they load themselves and their horses with booty, slaughter them unarmed, and make the booty bloody for them.

​The legions and the infantry battle shall be my care; let the cavalry’s glory be in your hands.’