§2.64.1extremo anno pacis aliquid fuit, sed, ut semper alias, sollicitae pacis certamine patrum et plebis.
\nAt the end of the year there was some peace, but, as always at other times, a peace disturbed by the contest between the patricians and the plebeians.
irata plebs interesse consularibus comitiis noluit; §2.64.2per patres clientesque patrum consules creati T. Quinctius Q. Servilius.
The angry plebeians did not wish to take part in the consular elections;\n\nby the patricians and their clients, Titus Quinctius and Quintus Servilius were elected consuls.
similem annum priori consules habent, seditiosa initia, bello deinde externo tranquilla. §2.64.3Sabini Crustuminos campos citato agmine transgressi cum caedes et incendia circum Anienem flumen fecissent, a porta prope Collina moenibusque pulsi ingentes tamen praedas hominum pecorumque egere. §2.64.4quos Servilius consul infesto exercitu insecutus ipsum quidem agmen adipisci aequis locis non potuit, populationem adeo effuse fecit, ut nihil bello intactum relinqueret multiplicique capta praeda rediret. §2.64.5et in Volscis res publica egregie gesta cum ducis tum militum opera.
The consuls had a year similar to the previous one, with mutinous beginnings, but afterwards tranquil because of foreign war.\n\nThe Sabines, having crossed the Crustumine plains in a rapid march, when they had caused slaughter and fires around the river Anio, though repulsed from near the Colline gate and the walls, nevertheless drove off huge spoils of men and cattle.\n\nThe consul Servilius, having pursued them with a hostile army, could not indeed overtake the main body itself in a favorable position, but he carried out plundering so extensively that he left nothing untouched by war and returned with manifold booty captured.\n\nAnd in the territory of the Volscians, the public interest was splendidly managed by the efforts of both the commander and the soldiers.
primum aequo campo signis conlatis pugnatum ingenti caede utrimque, plurimo sanguine. §2.64.6et Romani, quia paucitas damno sentiendo propior erat, gradum rettulissent, ni salubri mendacio consul fugere hostes ab cornu altero clamitans concitasset aciem.
First, a battle was fought on a level plain with standards joined, with great slaughter on both sides and very much blood.\n\nAnd the Romans, because their small number made them more liable to feel loss, would have retreated, had not the consul, by a salutary lie, shouting that the enemy were fleeing from the other wing, excited the battle-line.
impetu facto, dum se putant vincere, vicere. §2.64.7consul metuens, ne nimis instando renovaret certamen, signum receptui dedit. §2.64.8intercessere pauci dies, velut tacitis indutiis utrimque quiete sumpta, per quos ingens vis hominum ex omnibus Volscis Aequisque populis in castra venit, haud dubitans, si senserint, Romanos nocte abituros. §2.64.9itaque tertia fere vigilia ad castra oppugnanda veniunt. §2.64.10Quinctius sedato tumultu, quem terror subitus exciverat, cum manere in tentoriis quietum militem iussisset, Hernicorum cohortem in stationem educit, cornicines tubicinesque in equos inpositos canere ante vallum iubet sollicitumque hostem ad lucem tenere. §2.64.11relicum noctis adeo tranquilla omnia in castris fuere, ut somni quoque Romanis copia esset.
An assault having been made, while they thought they were winning, they won.\n\nThe consul, fearing lest by pressing on too much he might renew the contest, gave the signal for retreat.\n\nA few days intervened, rest being taken on both sides as if by a tacit truce, during which a huge force of men from all the Volscian and Aequian peoples came to the camp, not doubting that, if the Romans perceived them, they would depart by night.\n\nAnd so, they came to assault the camp at about the third watch.\n\nQuinctius, having allayed the tumult which sudden terror had excited, when he had ordered the soldiers to remain quiet in their tents, led out a cohort of the Hernici to the outpost, ordered the horn-blowers and trumpeters, placed on horses, to sound before the rampart, and to keep the anxious enemy occupied until daylight.\n\nFor the rest of the night everything in the camp was so tranquil that the Romans even had an abundance of sleep.
Volscos species armatorum peditum, quos et plures esse et Romanos putabant, fremitus hinnitusque equorum, qui et insueto sedente equite et insuper aures agitante sonitu saeviebant, intentos velut ad impetum hostium tenuit.
As for the Volscians, the appearance of the armed infantry, whom they thought both to be more numerous and to be Romans, and the noise and neighing of the horses, which were wild because of both the unaccustomed riders sitting on them and moreover the sound shaking their ears, kept them alert as if for an attack of the enemy.