§7.34.1ceterum hoc gaudium magna prope clade in Samnio foedatum est.
But this joy was defiled in Samnium by a nearly great disaster.
nam ab Saticula profectus Cornelius consul exercitum incaute in saltum cava valle pervium circaque insessum ab hoste induxit §7.34.2nec prius, quam recipi tuto signa non poterant, imminentem capiti hostem vidit. §7.34.3dum id morae Samnitibus est, quoad totum in vallem infimam demitteret agmen, P. Decius tribunus militum conspicit unum editum in saltu collem, inminentem hostium castris, aditu arduum inpedito agmini, expeditis haud difficilem. §7.34.4itaque consuli territo animi “videsne tu” inquit, “A. Corneli, cacumen illud supra hostem? arx illa est spei salutisque nostrae, si earn, quoniam caeci reliquere Samnites, inpigre capimus. §7.34.5ne tu mihi plus quam unius legionis principes hastatosque dederis; cum quibus ubi evasero in summum, perge hinc omni liber metu teque et exercitum serva; neque enim moveri hostis, subiectus nobis ad omnes ictus, sine sua pernicie poterit. §7.34.6nos deinde aut fortuna populi Romani aut nostra virtus expediet. ” §7.34.7conlaudatus ab consule accepto praesidio vadit occultus per saltum nec prius ab hoste est visus, quam loco, quem petebat, adpropinquavit. §7.34.8inde admiratione paventibus cunctis cum omnium in se vertisset oculos, et spatium consuli dedit ad subducendum agmen in aequiorem locum et ipse in summo constitit vertice.
For Cornelius the consul, having set out from Saticula, incautiously led his army into a forest pass accessible through a hollow valley and occupied on all sides by the enemy, nor did he see the enemy threatening his head until the standards could not be safely withdrawn. While this served as a delay for the Samnites, until he could lower the entire line of march into the lowest part of the valley, P. Decius, a military tribune, caught sight of a single hill rising in the pass, commanding the enemy's camp, steep of approach for an encumbered army, but not difficult for unencumbered men. Therefore he said to the consul, who was terrified in mind: "Do you see, A. Cornelius, that summit above the enemy? That is the citadel of our hope and safety, if we quickly capture it, since the blind Samnites have left it. Do not give me more than the principes and hastati of a single legion; when I have ascended to the summit with them, proceed from here free from all fear, and save yourself and the army; for the enemy, subjected to us for all missiles, will not be able to move without their own ruin. Thereafter, either the fortune of the Roman people or our own valor will extricate us." Highly praised by the consul, having received the guard, he went secretly through the pass, nor was he seen by the enemy until he approached the place he was seeking. Then, while all were trembling with wonder, when he had turned the eyes of everyone upon himself, he both gave time to the consul to withdraw his line of march into a more level place, and himself stood on the highest summit.
Samnites, §7.34.9dum huc illuc signa vertunt, utriusque rei amissa occasione neque insequi consulem nisi per eandem vallem, in qua paulo ante subiectum eum telis suis habuerant, possunt nec erigere agmen in captum super se ab Decio tumulum. §7.34.10sed cum ira in hos magis, qui fortunam gerendae rei eripuerant, tum propinquitas loci atque ipsa paucitas incitat; §7.34.11et nunc circumdare undique collem armatis volunt, ut a consule Decium intercludant, nunc viam patefacere, ut degressos in vallem adoriantur.
The Samnites, while they turned their standards this way and that, having lost the opportunity for both things, were neither able to pursue the consul except through the same valley in which a little before they had held him subjected to their weapons, nor to march their line up onto the hill captured above them by Decius. But they were incited, on the one hand, more by anger against those who had snatched away the opportunity of managing the affair, and on the other hand, by the proximity of the place and their very small number; and now they wished to surround the hill on all sides with armed men, so that they might cut off Decius from the consul, now to lay open a way so that they might attack them when they descended into the valley.
incertos, quid agerent, nox oppressit. §7.34.12Decium primum spes tenuit cum subeuntibus in adversum collem ex superiore loco se pugnaturum; deinde admiratio incessit, quod nec pugnam inirent nec, si ab eo consilio iniquitate loci deterrerentur, opere se valloque circumdarent. §7.34.13tum centurionibus ad se vocatis: “quaenam illa inscitia belli ac pigritia est, aut quonam modo isti ex Sidicinis Campanisque victoriam pepererunt? huc atque illuc signa moveri ac modo in unum conferri, modo diduci videtis; opus quidem incipit nemo, cum iam circumdati vallo potuerimus esse.
Night overtook them while they were uncertain what they should do. At first hope held Decius that he would fight from a higher place against those ascending the opposite hill; then wonder came upon him that they neither entered into battle, nor, if they were deterred from that plan by the unfavorable nature of the place, did they surround them with works and a rampart. Then, having called the centurions to himself, he said: "What is that ignorance of war and laziness, or in what manner did those fellows win victory from the Sidicini and Campanians? You see the standards being moved hither and thither, and now brought together into one place, now separated; yet no one begins any work, although we could have already been surrounded by a rampart.
tum vero nos similes istorum simus, si diutius hic moremur, quam commodum sit. §7.34.14agitedum, ite mecum, ut, dum lucis aliquid superest, quibus locis praesidia ponant, qua pateat hinc exitus, exploremus. ” §7.34.15haec omnia sagulo gregali amictus centurionibus item manipularium militum habitu ductis, ne ducem circumire hostes notarent, perlustravit.
Then indeed we would be like them, if we should linger here longer than is advantageous. Come then, go with me, so that, while some of the light remains, we may explore in what places they post guards, and where the exit lies open from here." All these things he surveyed, clad in a common soldier's cloak, and having led the centurions likewise in the habit of common soldiers, lest the enemy should notice a commander going around.