erge into a more open valley in the interior of the hills.

But as they advanced the pass contracted, until it became but a narrow
gorge, and this they found to be blocked up with great stones and felled
trees. Brought to a halt, the troops stood gazing in dismay and dread on
these obstacles, when suddenly the silence was broken, loud war-cries
filled the air, and armed Samnites appeared as if by magic, covering the
hills on both flanks, and crowding into the pass in the rear.

The Romans were caught in such a trap as that from which Cincinnatus had
rescued a Roman army many years before. But there was here no
Cincinnatus with his stakes, and they were far from Rome. The entrapped
army made a desperate effort to escape, attacking the Samnites in the
rear, and seeking to force their way up the rugged surrounding hills.
They fought in vain. Many of them fell. The Samnite foe pressed them
still more closely into the rocky pass. Only the coming of night saved
them from total destruction.

But escape was impossible. The gorge in front was completely blocked up.
The pass in the rear was held by the enemy in force. The flanking hills
could hardly have been climbed by an army, even if they had not been
occupied. No resource remained to the Romans but to encamp in the
broader part of the narrow valley, and there wait in hopeless despair
the outcome of their folly.

The Samnites could well afford to let them wait. The rear was held by
the bulk of their army. The obstacles in front were strongly guarded.
Every possible track by which the Romans might try to scale the hills
was held. Some desperate attempts to break out were made, but they were
easily repulsed. Nothing remained but surrender, or death by famine.

One or other of these alternatives had soon to be chosen. A large army,
surprised on its march, and confined within a barren pass, could not
have subsistence for any long period. Nothing was to be gained by delay,
and they might as well yield themselves prisoners of war at once.

So the Romans evidently thought, and without delay they put themselves
at the mercy of their conquerors. "We yield ourselves your captives,"
they said, "to do with as you will. Put us all to the sword, if such be
your decision; sell us into slavery; or hold us as prisoners until we
are ransomed: one thing only we ask, save our bodies, whether living or
dead, from all unworthy insults."

In this request they forgot the record that Rome had ma