§3.22.1consules creati Q. Fabius Vibulanus tertium et L. Cornelius Maluginensis.
Quintus Fabius Vibulanus for the third time and Lucius Cornelius Maluginensis were elected consuls.
census actus eo anno; lustrum propter Capitolium captum, consulem occisum condi religiosum fuit. §3.22.2Q. Fabio, L. Cornelio consulibus principio statim anni res turbulentae.
A census was taken in that year; because of the capture of the Capitol and the death of the consul, it was deemed a religious impediment to close the lustrum. Under the consuls Quintus Fabius and Lucius Cornelius, immediately at the beginning of the year, affairs were turbulent.
instigabant plebem tribuni; bellum ingens a Volscis et Aequis Latini atque Hernici nuntiabant: iam Antii Volscorum legiones esse.
The tribunes were instigating the plebs; the Latins and Hernici reported a huge war from the Volsci and Aequi: that there were already legions of the Volsci at Antium.
et ipsam coloniam ingens metus erat defecturam; aegreque impetratum a tribunis, ut bellum praeverti sinerent.
There was also a great fear that the colony itself would revolt; and it was with difficulty obtained from the tribunes that they should allow the war to be attended to first.
consules inde partiti provincias: §3.22.3Fabio ut legiones Antium duceret datum, Cornelio ut Romae praesidio esset, ne qua pars hostium, qui Aequis mos erat, ad populandum veniret. §3.22.4Hernici et Latini iussi milites dare ex foedere; duaeque partes sociorum in exercitu, tertia civium fuit.
Thereupon the consuls divided their provinces: to Fabius it was assigned to lead the legions to Antium; to Cornelius, to remain as a guard for Rome, lest any part of the enemy, as was the custom of the Aequi, should come to plunder. The Hernici and Latini were ordered to supply soldiers according to the treaty; and two-thirds of the army consisted of allies, one-third of citizens.
postquam ad diem praestitutum venerunt socii, consul extra portam Capenam castra locat.
After the allies arrived on the appointed day, the consul pitched his camp outside the Capene gate.
inde lustrato exercitu Antium profectus haud procul oppido stativisque hostium consedit. §3.22.5ubi cum Volsci, quia nondum ab Aequis venisset exercitus, dimicare non ausi, quem ad modum quieti vallo se tutarentur, pararent, postero die Fabius non permixtam unam sociorum civiumque, sed trium populorum tres separatim acies circa vallum hostium instruxit; ipse erat medius cum legionibus Romanis. §3.22.6inde signum observare iussit, ut pariter et socii rem inciperent referrentque pedem, si receptui cecinisset.
Thereupon, having purified the army, he set out for Antium and took up a position not far from the town and the permanent camp of the enemy. There, since the Volsci did not dare to fight because the army from the Aequi had not yet arrived, and were preparing how they might protect themselves quietly behind their rampart, on the following day, Fabius drew up not one mixed battle-line of allies and citizens, but three separate lines of the three peoples around the enemy's rampart; he himself was in the center with the Roman legions. Then he ordered them to watch for the signal, so that the allies also might begin the fight together and retreat if the signal for retreat should be sounded.
equites item suae cuique parti post principia collocat. §3.22.7ita trifariam adortus castra circumvenit et, cum undique instaret, non sustinentes impetum Volscos vallo deturbat.
Likewise, he stationed the cavalry behind the front ranks for each respective division. Attacking thus in three divisions, he surrounded the camp, and as he pressed on them from all sides, he drove the Volsci, who could not withstand the assault, from the rampart.
transgressus inde munitiones pavidam turbam inclinatamque in partem unam castris expellit. §3.22.8inde effuse fugientes eques, cui superare vallum haud facile fuerat, cum ad id spectator pugnae adstitisset, libero campo adeptus parte victoriae fruitur territos caedendo. §3.22.9magna et in castris et extra munimenta caedes fugientium fuit, sed praeda maior, quia vix arma secum efferre hostis potuit.
Then, crossing the fortifications, he expelled from the camp the panicked crowd, which was already yielding in one direction. Thereupon, the cavalry—for whom it had not been easy to surmount the rampart, and who had stood by until then as spectators of the fight—overtook the enemy as they fled in disorder, and in the open plain enjoyed their share of the victory by slaughtering the terrified fugitives. There was a great slaughter of the fugitives both in the camp and outside the fortifications, but the booty was even greater, because the enemy could scarcely carry away their arms with them.
deletusque exercitus foret, ni fugientis silvae texissent.
And the army would have been utterly destroyed, had not the woods sheltered the fugitives.