nous as it seemed, was but an event in her career of
conquest. The city was no sooner rebuilt than the old regime of war was
resumed, and it was no longer a struggle between neighboring cities, but
of Rome against powerful confederacies and peoples, such as the
Volscians, the Etruscans, the Latins, the Campanians, and the Samnites,
the final conquest of which gave her the dominion of Italy.

The war with the Latins was attended with some circumstances showing
strongly the stern and indomitable spirit of the Romans. This war was
carried into Campania, in Southern Italy; and here, on a celebrated
occasion, when the two armies lay encamped in close vicinity on the
plain of Capua, the Roman consuls issued a strict order against
skirmishing or engaging in single encounters with the enemy. The two
peoples were alike in arms and in language, and it was feared that such
chance combats might lead to confusion and disaster.

The only man to disobey this order was T. Manlius, the son of one of
the consuls. A Latin warrior, Geminus Metius, of Tusculum, challenged
young Manlius to meet him in single combat; and the youthful warrior,
fired by ambition and warlike zeal, and eager to sustain the honor of
Rome, accepted the challenge, despite his father's order. If killed, his
fault would be atoned; if successful, victory over a noted warrior must
win him pardon and praise.

The duel that ensued was a fierce and gallant one. It ended in the
triumph of the young Roman, who laid his antagonist dead at his feet.
Shouts of triumph from the Roman soldiers hailed his victory; and when
he had despoiled his slain foe of his arms, and borne them triumphantly
from the field, the exultation of the Romans was as unbounded as the
chagrin of the Latins was deep. Towards his father's tent the young
victor proudly went, through exulting lines of troops, and laid his
spoils in triumph at the feet of the stern old man.

The poor youth, the rejoicing soldiers, knew not the man with whom they
had to deal. A military order had been disobeyed. To old Manlius the
fact that the culprit was his son, and that he had added honor to the
Roman arms, weighed nothing. Discipline stood above affection or
victory. Turning coldly away, the iron-hearted old Roman ordered that
the soldiers should be immediately summoned to the praetorium, or
general's tent, and that his son should be beheaded before them.

This cruel and inhuman order filled the whole army with horror