r should
be appointed, either in consideration of his high character, which
should not be made subordinate to the dictatorship, or on account of the
auspicious omen of his surname with respect to a Gallic war. The consul,
then, having stationed two legions to protect the city, and divided the
remaining eight with the praetor Lucius Pinarius, mindful of his father's
valour, selects the Gallic war for himself without any appeal to lots:
the praetor he commanded to protect the sea-coast, and to drive the
Greeks from the shore. And after he had marched down into the Pomptine
territory, because he neither wished to engage on the level ground, no
circumstance rendering it necessary, and he considered that the enemy
were sufficiently subdued, by preventing from plunder persons whom
necessity obliged to live on what was so obtained, he selected a
suitable place for a fixed encampment.

26. Where when they were spending the time in quiet in their quarters, a
Gaul, remarkable for his size and the appearance of his arms, came
forward; and striking his shield with his spear, after he had procured
silence, through an interpreter he challenged any one of the Romans to
contend with him with the sword. There was a tribune of the soldiers, a
young man, Marcus Valerius, who considering himself not less worthy of
that distinction than Titus Manlius, having first ascertained the
consul's pleasure, advanced fully armed into the middle space. The human
contest was rendered less remarkable by reason of the interposition of
the divine power. For just as the Roman was commencing the encounter, a
crow settled suddenly on his helmet, facing the enemy, which, as an
augury sent from heaven, the tribune at first received with pleasure.
Then he prayed that whatever god or goddess had sent him the auspicious
bird, would willingly and kindly aid him. Wondrous to relate, the bird
not only kept the place it had once taken, but as often as the encounter
was renewed, raising itself on its wings, it attacked the face and eyes
of the foe with its beak and talons, until Valerius slays him, terrified
at the sight of such a prodigy, and confounded both in his vision and
understanding. The crow soaring out of sight makes towards the east.
Hitherto the advanced guards on both sides remained quiet. When the
tribune began to strip the body of the slain enemy, neither the Gauls
any longer confined themselves to their post, and the Romans began to
run to their succes