two of their most distinguished men. The Patrician Consul
was, as already mentioned, T. Manlius Torquatus; his Plebeian colleague
was P. Decius Mus, who had gained great renown in the recent war against
the Samnites. The two Consuls marched through Samnium into Campania, and
threatened Capua, thus leaving Rome exposed to the attacks of the
Latins. But the Consuls foresaw that the Latins would not abandon Capua,
their great acquisition; and the event proved their wisdom. The contest
was thus withdrawn from the territory of Rome and transferred to
Campania, where the Romans could receive assistance from the neighboring
country of their Samnite allies. It was at the foot of Mount Vesuvius
that the two armies met, and here the battle was fought which decided
the contest. It was like a civil war. The soldiers of the two armies
spoke the same language, had fought by each others' sides, and were well
known to one another. Under these circumstances, the Consuls published a
proclamation that no Roman should engage in single combat with a Latin
on pain of death. But the son of Torquatus, provoked by the insults of a
Tusculan officer, accepted his challenge, slew his adversary, and
carried the bloody spoils in triumph to his father. The Consul had
within him the heart of Brutus; he would not pardon this breach of
discipline, and ordered the unhappy youth to be beheaded by the lictor
in the presence of the assembled army.

In the night before the battle a vision appeared to each Consul,
announcing that the general of one side and the army of the other were
doomed to destruction. Both agreed that the one whose wing first began
to waver should devote himself and the army of the enemy to the gods of
the lower world. Decius commanded the left wing; and when it began to
give way, he resolved to fulfill his vow. Calling the Pontifex Maximus,
he repeated after him the form of words by which he devoted himself and
the army of the enemy to the gods of the dead and the mother earth; then
leaping upon his horse, he rushed into the thickest of the fight, and
was slain. The Romans gained a signal victory. Scarcely a fourth part of
the Latins escaped (B.C. 340).

This victory made the Romans masters of Campania, and the Latins did
not dare to meet them again in the field. The war continued two years
longer, each city confining itself to the defense of its own walls, and
hoping to receive help from others in case of an attack. But upon the
captu