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But a certain Tyrrhenian by birth encouraged them, saying that Victory, even if she had descended, yet by advancing forward and being established more firmly upon the earth, was foretelling to them the mastery in the war; and from this, many sacrifices would be made to the gods; for the altars, and especially those on the Capitol, where they offer sacrifices for victory, were customarily bloodied in their successes, but not in their misfortunes. From these things, then, he persuaded them to expect some good, but from the honey, sickness, because those who are ill need it, and from the milk, famine; for they would arrive at so great a shortage of grain as to seek even the naturally growing and self-sown food. Manius, then, so interpreted the signs, and when later the outcome of events matched his prophecy, he gained a reputation for wisdom and foresight; but Volumnius was ordered to make war on the Samnites, and to stand against the Gauls and the others with them were sent Fabius Rullus Maximus and Publius Decius, having been elected consuls. They, having arrived in Tyrrhenia 2.171 with haste, and seeing the camp of Appius fortified with a double palisade, both tore up and scattered the stakes, teaching the soldiers to place their hope of safety in their arms. They attacked the enemy, therefore; and at that moment a wolf chasing a deer rushed into the space between the armies, and it, for its part, darting toward the Romans, passed through and encouraged them, as they considered it pertained to them since a she-wolf had nursed Romulus, just as has been recorded; but the deer, having gone toward the others, was cut down, and left them with both fear and the coincidence of its fate. When the armies clashed, then, Maximus rather easily defeated those opposite him, but Decius was being defeated. But remembering the self-dedication of his father, which he had made because of a dream, he similarly devoted himself, without communicating with anyone about the deed. And he had just been slain when those arrayed with him, partly out of respect for him, as one who had died a volunteer for their sakes, and partly in the hope of certainly gaining the victory from this, both checked their flight and bravely stood against their pursuers. And at that moment Maximus also fell upon their rear and slew a great many; and the ones left over were destroyed while fleeing. And Fabius Maximus burned the body of Decius with the spoils, and made a truce with those who requested peace. In the next year Atilius Regulus again made war on the Samnites. And for a time they fought on equal terms; then when the Samnites were gaining the upper hand, the Romans in turn prevailed, and having captured them, they sent them under the yoke, and so let them go. 2.172 But the Samnites, being indignant at what had happened, rushed to desperation, resolved either to conquer or to perish utterly, having threatened death to anyone who remained at home. And some invaded Campania, but the consuls, since Samnium was devoid of soldiers, were ravaging it and took some cities. Whence the Samnites, leaving Campania, hastened to their own land, and having engaged with one of the consuls, they were defeated by a certain stratagem, and fleeing they suffered terribly, and lost their camp, and in addition the town which they were trying to help. And the consul both sent news of the victory and confiscated for the state the things collected from the spoils. And the other consul, having marched against the Tyrrhenians, and having subdued them in a short time, and having exacted grain and money from them, distributed some to the soldiers, and brought the rest into the treasury. But when a severe plague occurred, the Samnites and Faliscans, scorning the Romans both because of the disease and because they had not chosen their consuls based on merit, as if there were no wars, stirred up trouble. When the Romans learned this, therefore, they sent out with Junius Brutus, Carvilius, and with Quintus Fabius, his father Rullus Maximus, as lieutenant-generals or legates. Brutus, then, conquered the Faliscans and was plundering their lands and those of the other Tyrrhenians, but Fabius of Rome before his father

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δέ τις Τυρσηνὸς τὸ γένος ἐθάρσυνεν αὐτούς, εἰπὼν τήν τε Νίκην, εἰ καὶ κατέβη, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν προχωρήσασαν καὶ βεβαιότερον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἱδρυθεῖσαν τὸ κράτος σφίσι προδηλοῦν τοῦ πολέμου· κἀκ τούτου καὶ θυσίας πολλὰς γενήσεσθαι τοῖς θεοῖς· τοὺς γὰρ βωμούς, καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς ἐν τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ, ἐν ῳ τὰ νικητήρια θύουσιν, ἐν ταῖς εὐπραγίαις αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν ταῖς συμφοραῖς κατ' εθος αἱμάττεσθαι. ἐκ μὲν ουν τούτων ἀγαθόν τι σφᾶς επειθε προσδοκᾶν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ μέλιτος νόσον, οτι αὐτοῦ οἱ κάμνοντες δέονται, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ γάλακτος λιμόν· ἐς γὰρ τοσαύτην σιτοδείαν ἀφίξεσθαι ωστε καὶ τὴν αὐτόφυτον τήν τε αὐτόνομον ζητῆσαι τροφήν. ̔Ο μὲν ουν Μάνιος ουτω τὰ τῶν σημείων ἡρμήνευσε, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων δ' ἐσύστερον τῆς αὐτοῦ μαντείας ἐκβάσης, σοφίας ἐκομίσατο δόξαν καὶ προγνώσεως· ὁ δὲ Οὐολούμνιος τοῖς Σαυνίταις πολεμεῖν ἐκελεύσθη, τοῖς δὲ Γαλάταις καὶ τοῖς αλλοις τοῖς μετ' αὐτῶν ἀντικαταστῆναι υπατοι αἱρεθέντες ἐπέμφθησαν ο τε ̔Ροῦλλος ὁ Φάβιος ὁ Μάξιμος καὶ ὁ ∆έκιος ὁ Πούπλιος. οι πρὸς τὴν Τυρσηνίδα 2.171 σπουδῇ ἀφικόμενοι, καὶ τὸ τοῦ ̓Αππίου στρατόπεδον ἰδόντες διπλῷ σταυρώματι κατωχυρωμένον, τοὺς σταυροὺς ἀνέσπασάν τε καὶ διεφόρησαν, ἐν τοῖς οπλοις ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας τοὺς στρατιώτας διδάσκοντες. προσέβαλον ουν τοῖς πολεμίοις· κἀν τούτῳ λύκος ελαφον διώκων εἰς τὸ μεταίχμιον εἰσπεσὼν αὐτὸς μὲν πρὸς τοὺς ̔Ρωμαίους ὁρμήσας διεξῆλθε καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐπεθάρσυνε, προσήκειν αὐτὸν νομίζοντας ἑαυτοῖς ὡς λυκαίνης θρεψαμένης τὸν ̔Ρωμύλον, καθάπερ ἱστόρηται· ἡ δ' ελαφος πρὸς τοὺς ἑτέρους χωρήσασα κατεκόπη, καὶ τόν τε φόβον αὐτοῖς καὶ τὴν συντυχίαν τοῦ πάθους κατέλιπε. συμπεσόντων ουν τῶν στρατευμάτων ὁ μὲν Μάξιμος ῥᾷον τοὺς κατ' αὐτὸν ἐνίκησεν, ηττητο δέ γε ὁ ∆έκιος. ἐνθυμηθεὶς δὲ τὴν ἐπίδοσιν τοῦ πατρός, ην διὰ τὸ ἐνύπνιον ἐποιήσατο, ἑαυτὸν ὁμοίως ἐπέδωκε, μή τινι περὶ τῆς πράξεως κοινωσάμενος. αρτι δὲ εσφακτο καὶ οἱ συντεταγμένοι αὐτῷ τὸ μὲν ἐκείνου αἰδοῖ ὡς δι' αὐτοὺς θανόντος ἐθελοντοῦ, τὸ δὲ καὶ ἐλπίδι τοῦ πάντως ἐκ τούτου κρατήσειν, τῆς τε φυγῆς ἐπέσχον καὶ τοῖς διώκουσι σφᾶς γενναίως ἀντικατέστησαν. κἀν τούτῳ καὶ ὁ Μάξιμος κατὰ νώτου τε αὐτοῖς προσέπεσε καὶ παμπόλλους ἐφόνευσεν· οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες ἀποδιδράσκοντες διεφθάρησαν. Μάξιμος δὲ Φάβιος τὸν μὲν τοῦ ∆εκίου νεκρὸν κατέκαυσε σὺν τοῖς σκύλοις, τοῖς δὲ εἰρήνης δεηθεῖσι σπονδὰς ἐποιήσατο. Τῷ δ' ἑξῆς ετει αυθις τοῖς Σαυνίταις ἐπολέμησεν ̓Ατίλιος ̔Ρήγουλος. καὶ μέχρι μέν τινος ἰσορρόπως ἐμάχοντο· ειτα κρατησάντων τῶν Σαυνιτῶν αυθις οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι ἀντεπεκράτησαν, καὶ ἑλόντες αὐτοὺς ὑπήγαγον ὑπὸ τὸν ζυγόν, καὶ ουτως ἀφῆκαν. 2.172 Σαυνῖται δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγονόσιν ἀγανακτήσαντες πρὸς ἀπόνοιαν ωρμησαν, ὡς η κρατήσοντες η παντελῶς ἀπολούμενοι, θάνατον ἀπειλήσαντες τῷ οικοι μενοῦντι. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐς τὴν Καμπανίαν ἐνέβαλον, οἱ δ' υπατοι ερημον ον στρατιωτῶν τὸ Σαύνιον ἐπόρθουν καὶ πόλεις ειλόν τινας. οθεν οἱ Σαυνῖται τὴν Καμπανίαν λιπόντες εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἠπείχθησαν, καὶ τῷ ἑνὶ τῶν ὑπάτων συμμίξαντες εκ τινος ηττηντο στρατηγήματος, καὶ φυγόντες δεινῶς επταισαν, καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἀπέβαλον, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τὸ πόλισμα, ῳ ἐπεβοήθουν. ὁ δὲ υπατος τά τε ἐπινίκια επεμψε καὶ τὰ ἀθροισθέντα ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων ἐδημοσίωσεν. ὁ δ' ετερος υπατος κατὰ τῶν Τυρσηνῶν στρατεύσας, καὶ καταστήσας αὐτοὺς δι' ὀλίγου, σῖτόν τε καὶ χρήματα παρ' αὐτῶν εἰσπράξας, τὰ μὲν τοῖς στρατιώταις διέδωκε, τὰ δ' εἰσήνεγκεν εἰς τοὺς θησαυρούς. Συμβεβηκότος δὲ λοιμοῦ ἰσχυροῦ, οἱ Σαυνῖται καὶ Φαλίσκοι καταφρονήσαντες τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων διά τε τὴν νόσον καὶ οτι τοὺς ὑπάτους οὐ κατ' ἀρετὴν ῃρηντο, ὡς μὴ πολέμων οντων, παρεκίνησαν. μαθόντες ουν τοῦθ' οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι, ̓Ιουνίῳ μὲν Βρούτῳ τὸν Καρουίλιον, Κυίντῳ δὲ Φαβίῳ τὸν πατέρα τὸν ̔Ροῦλλον τὸν Μάξιμον ὑποστρατήγους η πρεσβευτὰς συνεξέπεμψαν. ὁ μὲν ουν Βροῦτος Φαλίσκους ἐνίκησε καὶ τὰ τούτων καὶ τὰ τῶν αλλων Τυρσηνῶν ἐληίζετο, Φάβιος δὲ τῆς ̔Ρώμης πρὸ τοῦ πατρὸς