d cattle: the
consul Servilius, having pursued them with a determined army, was unable
to come up with the main body itself on the campaign country; he carried
his devastation however so extensively, that he left nothing unmolested
by war, and returned after obtaining plunder much exceeding that carried
off by the enemy. The public interest was supported extremely well
against the Volscians also by the exertions as well of the general as of
the soldiers. First they fought a pitched battle, on equal ground, with
great slaughter and much bloodshed on both sides: and the Romans,
because the fewness of their numbers was more likely to make the loss
felt, would have given way, had not the consul, by a well-timed fiction,
re-animated the army, crying out that the enemy were flying on the other
wing; making a charge, they, by supposing that they were victorious,
became so. The consul, fearing lest by pressing too far he might renew
the contest, gave the signal for a retreat. A few days intervened; rest
being taken on both sides as if by a tacit suspension of arms; during
these days a vast number of persons from all the states of the Volscians
and AEquans came to the camp, certain that the Romans would depart during
the night, if they should perceive them. Accordingly about the third
watch they come to attack the camp. Quintius having allayed the
confusion which the sudden panic had occasioned, after ordering the
soldiers to remain quiet in their tents, leads out a cohort of the
Hernicians for an advance guard: the trumpeters and horneteers he mounts
on horseback, and commands them to sound their trumpets before the
rampart, and to keep the enemy in suspense till daylight: during the
rest of the night every thing was so quiet in the camp, that the Romans
had even the advantage of sleep. The sight of the armed infantry, whom
they both considered to be more numerous than they were, and to be
Romans, the bustle and neighing of the horses, which became restless,
both from the strange riders placed on them, and moreover from the sound
of the trumpets frightening them, kept the Volscians intently awaiting
an attack of the enemy.

65. When day dawned, the Romans, invigorated and refreshed with sleep,
on being marched out to battle, at the first onset overpowered the
Volscians, wearied from standing and want of rest; though the enemy
rather retired than were routed, because in the rear there were hills to
which there was a secure retre