e Latins were utterly
defeated, and Vesuvius looked down on the massacre of one army by the
swords of another, scarcely a fourth of the Latins escaping. Thus the
gods seemed to keep their word, though probably the Roman reserve force
had more to do with the victory than all the gods of Rome.

The next event which we have to relate took place during the second
Samnite war. Its hero was L. Papirius Cursor, one of the favorite heroes
of Roman tradition, and the avenger of the disgrace of the Caudine
Forks, the story of which we have next to tell. This famous soldier is
said to have possessed marvellous swiftness of foot and gigantic
strength, with extraordinary capacity for food, while his iron
strictness of discipline was at times relieved by a rough humor. All
this made his memory popular with the Romans, who boasted that Alexander
the Great would have found in him a worthy champion, had that conqueror
invaded Italy.

The event we have now to narrate occurred early in the war. One of the
consuls, being taken ill, was ordered to name a dictator to replace him,
and chose Papirius Cursor. This champion appointed Q. Fabius Rullianus,
another famous soldier, his master of the horse, and marched out to
attack the Samnites.

As it happened, the auspices taken by the dictator at Rome before
marching to the seat of war were of no particular significance. Not
satisfied with them, he decided to take them again, and returned to Rome
for this purpose, the auspices being of a kind which could only be taken
within the city walls. He ordered the master of the horse to remain
strictly on the defensive during his absence.

Fabius did not obey this order. He attacked the enemy and gained some
advantage. The annals say that he won a great victory, defeating the
Samnites with a loss of twenty thousand men; but the annals have a habit
of magnifying small affairs into large ones where they have any object
to gain.

On hearing that his orders had been disobeyed, Papirius hurried back to
the camp in a violent rage, and with the intention of making such an
example of discipline as Manlius had made in the execution of his son.
On reaching camp he ordered that Fabius should be immediately executed.
His authority as dictator gave him power for this violent act; but he
failed to reckon on the spirit of the soldiers, who supported Fabius to
a man, and broke into a violent demonstration that was almost mutiny. So
strong was their feeling that the