§10.25.1concursus inde ad consulem factus omnium ferme iuniorum, et pro se quisque nomina dabant; tanta cupido erat sub eo duce stipendia faciendi. §10.25.2qua circumfusus turba “quattuor milia” inquit “peditum et sescentos equites dumtaxat scribere in animo est; hodierno et crastino die qui nomina dederitis, mecum ducam. §10.25.3maiori mihi curae est, ut omnes locupletes reducam, quam ut multis rem geram militibus. ” profectus apto exercitu §10.25.4et eo plus fiduciae ac spei gerente, quod non desiderata multitudo erat, ad oppidum Aharnam, unde haud procul hostes erant, ad castra Appi praetoris pergit. §10.25.5paucis citra milibus lignatores ei cum praesidio occurrunt; qui ut lictores praegredi viderunt Fabiumque esse consulem accepere, laeti atque alacres dis populoque Romano grates agunt, quod eum sibi imperatorem misissent. §10.25.6circumfusi deinde cum consulem salutarent, quaerit Fabius, quo pergerent, respondentibusque lignatum se ire “ain tandem?” §10.25.7inquit; “num castra vallata non habetis?” ad hoc cum subclamatum esset, duplici quidem vallo et fossa, et tamen in ingenti metu esse, “habetis igitur” inquit “adfatim lignorum: redite et vellite vallum. ” redeunt in castra terroremque ibi vellentes vallum §10.25.8et iis, qui in castris remanserant, militibus et ipsi Appio fecerunt;
Thereupon a rush was made to the consul by almost all the younger men, and each of them was giving his name; so great was the desire of serving under that leader. Surrounded by this crowd, he said, "I intend to enlist only four thousand infantry and six hundred cavalry; those of you who give your names today and tomorrow, I will take with me. It is of greater concern to me to bring everyone back rich, than to carry on the campaign with many soldiers." Having set out with a well-fitted army, and one which carried all the more confidence and hope because a vast multitude had not been required, he proceeded to the town of Aharna, from which the enemy were not far distant, to the camp of the praetor Appius. A few miles this side of it, some wood-cutters with a guard met him; when they saw the lictors preceding him and learned that Fabius was the consul, they were glad and cheerful, and returned thanks to the gods and the Roman people for having sent him to them as general. Then, as they crowded around to salute the consul, Fabius asked where they were going; and on their replying that they were going to get wood, "Are you indeed?" he said; "have you not a fortified camp?" When they cried out in reply that they had indeed a double rampart and a trench, but were nevertheless in great fear, "Then you have," said he, "plenty of wood; return and pull up the palisade." They returned to the camp, and there, pulling up the palisade, they caused terror both to the soldiers who had remained in the camp and to Appius himself; then everyone on his own part told one another that they were doing so by order of the consul Quintus Fabius.
§10.25.9tum pro se quisque alii aliis dicere consulis se Q. Fabi facere iussu. postero inde die castra mota, et Appius praetor Romam dimissus. §10.25.10inde nusquam stativa Romanis fuere.
On the following day, the camp was moved, and the praetor Appius was sent back to Rome. From that time, the Romans had no permanent camp anywhere.
negabat utile esse uno loco sedere exercitum; itineribus ac mutatione locorum mobiliorem ac salubriorem esse.
He denied that it was useful for an army to remain in one place, saying that by marches and change of scene it became more active and healthy.
fiebant autem itinera, quanta fieri sinebat hiems hauddum exacta. §10.25.11vere inde primo relicta secunda legione ad Clusium, quod Camars olim appellabant, praepositoque castris L. Scipione pro praetore Romam ipse ad consultandum de bello rediit, §10.25.12sive ipse sponte sua, quia bellum ei maius in conspectu erat, quam quantum esse famae crediderat, sive senatus consulto accitus; nam in utrumque auctores sunt. §10.25.13ab Ap. Claudio praetore retractum quidam videri volunt, cum in senatu et apud populum, id quod per litteras adsidue fecerat, terrorem belli Etrusci augeret: non suffecturum ducem unum nec exercitum unum adversus quattuor populos; §10.25.14periculum esse, sive iuncti unum premant sive diversi gerant bellum, ne ad omnia simul obire unus non possit. §10.25.15duas se ibi legiones Romanas reliquisse, et minus quinque milia peditum equitumque cum Fabio venisse.
And marches were made, as long as the winter, not yet ended, permitted. At the beginning of spring, leaving the second legion at Clusium, which they formerly called Camars, and placing Lucius Scipio in command of the camp as propraetor, he himself returned to Rome to consult about the war, whether of his own accord, because a war of greater magnitude was in his view than he had believed from report, or because he was summoned by a decree of the senate; for there are authorities for both accounts. Some wish to make it appear that he was brought back by the praetor Appius Claudius, since Appius in the senate and before the people, as he had continually done in his letters, exaggerated the terror of the Etruscan war, saying that one leader and one army would not suffice against four nations; that there was danger, whether they pressed upon one point in conjunction or waged war in different quarters, lest one man might not be able to attend to all things at once. He said that he had left two Roman legions there, and that less than five thousand infantry and cavalry had come with Fabius.
sibi placere P. Decium consulem primo quoque tempore in Etruriam ad collegam proficisci, L. Volumnio Samnium provinciam dari; §10.25.16si consul malit in suam provinciam ire, Volumnium in Etruriam ad consulem cum exercitu iusto consulari proficisci. §10.25.17cum magnam partem moveret oratio praetoris, P. Decium censuisse ferunt, ut omnia integra ac libera Q. Fabio servarentur, donec vel ipse, si per commodum rei publicae posset, Romam venisset vel aliquem ex legatis misisset, §10.25.18a quo disceret senatus, quantum in Etruria belli esset quantisque administrandum copiis et quot per duces esset.
It was his opinion that the consul Publius Decius should proceed to his colleague in Etruria at the earliest opportunity, and that the province of Samnium should be given to Lucius Volumnius; or, if the consul preferred to go to his own province, that Volumnius should proceed to the consul in Etruria with a regular consular army. Though the speech of the praetor moved a great part of the senate, they say that Publius Decius proposed that everything should be kept intact and free for Quintus Fabius, until either he himself should come to Rome, if it could be done consistently with the public advantage, or should send one of his legates, from whom the senate might learn how great a war there was in Etruria, and with what forces and by how many leaders it ought to be conducted.