her consul. Ordering his men instantly to take arms,
and leading them out to the field with the utmost haste, he charged
the flank of the enemy's line, which had enough to do in the other
dispute, at the same time exclaiming, that "it would be the height of
infamy if they suffered Marcius's army to monopolize the honour of
both victories, and did not assert their claim to the glory of their
own war." He bore down all before him, and pushed forward, through the
midst of the enemy's line, to their camp, which, being left without a
guard, he took and set on fire; which when the soldiers of Marcius saw
in flames, and the enemy observed it on looking about, a general
flight immediately took place among the Samnites. But they could not
effect an escape in any direction; in every quarter they met death.
After a slaughter of thirty thousand men, the consuls had now given
the signal for retreat; and were collecting, into one body, their
several forces, who were employed in mutual congratulations, when some
new cohorts of the enemy, which had been levied for a reinforcement,
being seen at a distance, occasioned a renewal of the carnage. On
these the conquerors rushed, without any order of the consuls, or
signal received, crying out, that they would make these Samnites pay
dearly for their introduction to service. The consuls indulged the
ardour of the legions, well knowing that the raw troops of the enemy,
mixed with veterans dispirited by defeat, would be incapable even of
attempting a contest. Nor were they wrong in their judgment: all the
forces of the Samnites, old and new, fled to the nearest mountains.
These the Roman army also ascended, so that no situation afforded
safety to the vanquished; they were beaten off, even from the summits
which they had seized. And now they all, with on voice, supplicated
for a suspension of arms. On which, being ordered to furnish corn for
three months, pay for a year, and a tunic to each of the soldiers,
they sent deputies to the senate to sue for peace. Cornelius was left
in Samnium. Marcius returned into the city, in triumph over the
Hernicians; and a decree was passed for erecting to him, in the forum,
an equestrian statue, which was placed before the temple of Castor. To
three states of the Hernicians, (the Alatrians, Verulans, and
Ferentines,) their own laws were restored, because they preferred
these to the being made citizens of Rome; and they were permitted to
intermarry with each oth