neighbouring states could be subdued,
while the Roman people all the time enjoyed profound peace. The day
following, the Fabii took up arms; they assembled where they had been
ordered. The consul, coming forth in his military robe, beheld the
whole family in the porch drawn up in order of march; being received
into the centre, he ordered the standards to be advanced. Never did
an army march through the city, either smaller in number, or more
distinguished in renown and more admired by all. Three hundred and six
soldiers, all patricians, all of one family, not one of whom an honest
senate would reject as a leader under any circumstances whatever,
proceeded on their march, threatening the Veientine state with
destruction by the might of a single family. A crowd followed,
one part belonging to themselves, consisting of their kinsmen and
comrades, who contemplated no half measures, either as to their hope
or anxiety, but everything on a grand scale:[60] the other aroused by
solicitude for the public weal, unable to express their esteem and
admiration. They bade them proceed in their brave resolve, proceed
with happy omens, and render the issue proportionate to the
undertaking: thence to expect consulships and triumphs, all rewards,
all honours from them. As they passed the Capitol and the citadel, and
the other sacred edifices, they offered up prayers to all the gods
that presented themselves to their sight, or to their mind, that they
would send forward that band with prosperity and success, and soon
send them back safe into their country to their parents. In vain were
these prayers uttered. Having set out on their luckless road by the
right-hand arch of the Carmental gate,[61] they arrived at the river
Cremera:[62] this appeared a favourable situation for fortifying an
outpost.

Lucius Aemilius and Gaius Servilius were then created consuls. And as
long as there was nothing else to occupy them but mutual devastations,
the Fabii were not only able to protect their garrison, but through
the entire tract, where the Tuscan territory adjoins the Roman, they
protected all their own districts and ravaged those of the enemy,
spreading their forces along both frontiers. There was afterward a
cessation, though not for long, of these depredations: while both the
Veientines, having sent for an army from Etruria,[63] assaulted the
outpost at the Cremera, and the Roman troops, brought up by the consul
Lucius Aemilius, came to a close