quickly lost. Thither did fortune divert the force of Camillus from Antium: for as those places were situated opposite Etruria, and served as barriers, or gates, as it were, on that side, that people, on the one hand, whenever any new enterprise was undertaken, were ever anxious to get possession of them; and the Romans, on the other, to recover and secure them. The senate therefore resolved, that application should be made to Camillus, to drop the design against Antium, and undertake the Etrurian war. The city legions, which had been under the command of Quintius, were decreed to him: although he would have preferred the army which was in the country of the Volscians, of which he had made trials, and which was accustomed to his command, yet he offered no objections; he only insisted on Valerius being associated with him in command. Accordingly Quintius and Horatius were sent to succeed Valerius, in the country of the Volscians. Camillus and Valerius marching from the city to Sutrium, found one part of the town already taken by the Etrurians; and, in the other part, the passages to which were barricaded, the townsmen with great difficulty in repelling the assault of the enemy. The approach of aid from Rome, together with the name of Camillus, universally celebrated among friends and foes, not only gave them respite for the present from the ruin which impended, but also afforded an opportunity of effectuating their relief. Camillus then, dividing his army into two parts, ordered his colleague to lead round his division, to that side which was in possession of the enemy, and to make an assault on the walls; not so much in expectation that the city should be taken by scalade, as that, whilst the enemy should be diverted to that side, the townsmen, now fatigued with fighting, might gain some relaxation, and also that he himself might have an opportunity of entering the city without a dispute: both which consequences taking place, at the same time, and terrifying the Etrurians by the double

danger to which they stood exposed, when they saw the walls of one part assailed with the greatest fury, and the enemy within the walls of the other, they were struck with such consternation, that they threw themselves out, in one body, by a gate which alone happened to be unguarded. Great numbers were slain in their flight, both in the city and in the fields the greatest execution done by the soldiers of Camillus was within the walls: those of Valerius were more alert in the pursuit; nor did they desist from the slaughter, until it was so dark that they could see no longer. Sutrium being thus recovered, and restored to the allies, the army was conducted to Nepete, of which the Etrurians had now the entire possession, having received it by capitulation.

X. It was expected, that the recovery of this city would have been attended with greater difficulty; not only because the whole of it was possessed by the enemy, but also, because it was in consequence of a party of the Nepesinians betraying the public, that the surrender had been made. However, it was thought proper that a message should be sent to their principal men, to separate themselves from the Etrurians, and show on their own part the same faithful attachment, which they had implored from the Romans. But their answer importing, that there was nothing in their power, for that the Etrurians held possession of the walls and the guards of the gates, a trial was first made to terrify the townsmen, by laying waste their lands. But when they were found to adhere more religiously to the terms of the capitulation, than to those of the alliance, the army was led up to the walls, with fascines, made of bushes, collected in the country, with which the ditches being filled, the scaling ladders were raised, and the town taken at the first attack. Proclamation was then made that the Nepesinians should lay down their arms, and that the unarmed should be spared. The Etrurians, armed and unarmed, were put to the sword without distinction: of the Nepe

ginians, likewise, the authors of the surrender were beheaded. To the guiltless multitude their effects were restored, and a garrison was left in the town. Having thus recovered two allied cities from the enemy, the tribunes, with great glory, led home the victorious army. During this year, satisfaction was demanded from the Latines and Hernicians, and the reason required, of their not having, for some years past, sent the supplies of soldiers stipulated by treaty. An answer was given in full assembly by both nations, that "there was "neither design nor blame to be imputed to the public, be“ cause some of their young men carried arms in the service " of the Volscians. That these, however, had suffered the "penalty of their improper conduct; not one of them having "returned home. As to the supplies of soldiers, the reason "of their not sending them was, their continual apprehen"sions from the Volscians, that pest still clinging to their 66 side, which so many successive wars had not been able to "exhaust." Which answer being reported to the senate, they were of opinion, that a declaration of war, in consequence of it, would rather be unseasonable than ill-grounded.

Y.R.370.

XI. In the following year, Aulus Manlius, Publius Cornelius, Titus and Lucius Quintii Capitolini, Lucius Papirius Cursor a second time, and Caius B.C.382. Sergius a second time, being military tribunes, with consular power, a grievous war broke out abroad, and a more grievous sedition at home: the war was set on foot by the Volscians, assisted by a revolt of the Latines and Hernicians: the sedition, by one, from whom it could, least of all, have been apprehended; a man of patrician birth, and of illustrious character, Marcus Manlius Capitolinus; who, being of a temper too aspiring, while he looked with contempt on the other men of chief distinction, burned with envy of one, who was most eminently distinguished, at the same time, by honours and by merit, Marcus VOL. II.-D

Furius Camillus. It gave him great uneasiness, that “he "should be the only man considered among the magistrates, "the only man at the head of the armies; that he was now "exalted to such eminence, that the persons elected under "the same auspices with himself, he used, not as colleagues, "but as subordinate officers; while, at the same time, if a "just estimate were made, it would have been impossible "for Camillus to have recovered their native city from the "Gauls who besieged it, if he himself had not first saved the "Capitol and citadel. The other indeed attacked the Gauls 66 when, between the receiving of the gold and the expecta"tion of peace, they were off their guard: but he had beaten "them off, when armed for fight, and taking possession of "the citadel. In the other's glory, as far as bravery was "concerned, every soldier who conquered along with him "had a right to share; in his own victory, no man living "could claim a part." Puffed up with such notions as these, and being, besides, of a vicious disposition, vehement and headstrong, when he perceived that his interest had not that prevailing influence among the patricians which he thought his due, he, the first of all the patricians, became a partizan of the plebeians; formed schemes in conjunction with the magistrates of the commons, and, while he criminated the patricians, and allured the commons to his side, he came to be actuated by ambition for popular applause, not by prudence, and to prefer a great to a good character. Not content with agrarian laws, which had ever served the plebeian tribunes as matter of sedition, he attempted to undermine public credit: for debt, he knew, supplied sharper incentives, as it not only threatened poverty and ignominy, but menaced personal freedom with stocks and chains: and the amount of the debts which the people had contracted by building, an undertaking most distressing to the circumstances even of the rich, was immense. The Volscian war therefore, heavy in itself, and charged with additional weight by the defec

tion of the Latines and Hernicians, was held out as a colourable pretext for having recourse to a higher authority; while, in fact, they were the reforming plans of Manlius which obliged the senate to create a dictator. Aulus Cornelius Cossus being created, he nominated Titus Quintius Capitolinus master of the horse.

XII. The dictator, although he perceived that he should have a greater struggle to maintain at home than in the field; yet, either because the war required dispatch, or because he thought that, by a victory and triumph, he might add to the power of the dictatorship itself, as soon as the levies were completed, proceeded to the Pomptine territory; where he was informed, the Volscians had appointed the assembling of their army. To persons reading in so many former books, of wars continually waged with the Volscians, I doubt not that, besides satiety, this difficulty also will occur, whence the Volscians and Equans, so often vanquished, could procure supplies of soldiers? which having been passed over in silence by the ancient writers, what can I possibly advance, but opinion? and that every one, indeed, can form for himself. It seems probable, however, either that they employed, according to the present practice in the Roman levies, the several different generations of their young men successively, as they sprung up, during the intervals between wars; or, that the troops were not always enlisted out of the states of the nation making war; or, that there was an innumerable multitude of freemen in those places, which, at present, were it not for the Roman slaves, would be a desert, and where scarcely the smallest seminary of soldiers remains. Certain it is, all authors agreeing therein, that notwithstanding their strength had lately been greatly reduced under the conduct and auspices of Camillus, yet the forces of the Volscians were exceedingly numerous; and to them were added the Latines and Hernicians, a number of the Circeians, to