§6.30.1comitia inde habita tribunorum militum consulari potestate, quibus aequatus patriciorum plebeiorumque numerus. §6.30.2ex patribus creati P. et C. Manlii cum L. Iulio; plebes C. Sextilium, M. Albinium, L. Antistium dedit. §6.30.3Manliis, quod genere plebeios, gratia Iulium anteibant, Volsci provincia sine sorte, sine conparatione extra ordinem data; cuius et ipsos postmodo et patres, qui dederant, paenituit. §6.30.4inexplorato pabulatum cohortes misere; quibus velut circumventis, cum id falso nuntiatum esset, dum, praesidio ut essent, citati feruntur, ne auctore quidem adservato, qui eos, hostis Latinus pro milite Romano, frustratus erat, ipsi in insidias praecipitavere. §6.30.5ibi dum iniquo loco sola virtute militum restantes caedunt caedunturque, castra interim Romana iacentia in campo ab altera parte hostes invasere. §6.30.6ab ducibus utrobique proditae temeritate atque inscitia res; quidquid superfuit fortuna populi Romani et militum, etiam sine rectore stabilis, virtus tutata est. §6.30.7quae ubi Romam sunt relata, primum dictatorem dici placebat; deinde, postquam quietae res ex Volscis adferebantur et apparuit nescire eos victoria et tempore uti, revocati etiam inde exercitus ac duces, otiumque inde, quantum a Volscis, fuit; §6.30.8id modo extremo anno tumultuatum, quod Praenestini concitatis Latinorum populis rebellarunt. §6.30.9eodem anno Setiam, ipsis querentibus penuriam hominum, novi coloni adscripti.
Then the elections were held for military tribunes with consular power, in which the number of patricians and plebeians was made equal. From the patricians were elected Publius and Gaius Manlius, along with Lucius Iulius; the plebs contributed Gaius Sextilius, Marcus Albinius, and Lucius Antistius. To the Manlii, because they surpassed the plebeians in birth and Iulius in popularity, the Volscian campaign was assigned without drawing lots or mutual agreement, out of the regular order; a decision which afterwards both they themselves and the patricians who had assigned it regretted. Having sent out cohorts to forage without reconnoitering, and when a false report was brought that these had been surrounded, while they hurried at full speed to support them—without even securing the informant, a Latin enemy who had deceived them in the guise of a Roman soldier—they themselves plunged headlong into an ambush. There, while in an unfavorable position, holding out by the sole courage of the soldiers, they were slaying and being slain, in the meantime the enemy attacked the Roman camp, which lay in the plain, from the other side. By the commanders on both sides, the situation was betrayed through rashness and ignorance; whatever survived, the fortune of the Roman people and the courage of the soldiers, steadfast even without a leader, preserved. When these tidings were brought to Rome, it was at first resolved that a dictator should be named; but afterwards, when quiet news was brought from the Volsci, and it appeared that they did not know how to use their victory and opportunity, the armies and commanders were recalled from there as well, and there was peace from that quarter, as far as the Volsci were concerned. Only at the end of the year was there a disturbance, because the Praenestines, having excited the Latin peoples, renewed the war. In the same year, new colonists were enrolled for Setia, as the inhabitants themselves complained of the scarcity of men.
rebusque haud prosperis bello domestica quies, quam tribunorum militum ex plebe gratia maiestasque inter suos obtinuit, solacium fuit.
And amidst the unsuccessful events in the war, domestic quiet, which the popularity and influence of the military tribunes from the plebs maintained among their own class, was a consolation.