As it was near Rome, the nature of the ground was well known, and the Dictator was aware that the side of the city remote from his camp was weakly fortified owing to its natural strength. He determined to carry a mine through from that side to the citadel.

He formed his army into four divisions, to take turns in the fighting, and by keeping up a constant attack upon the walls in all directions, day and night, he prevented the enemy from noticing the work.

At last the hill was tunnelled through and the way lay open from the Roman camp up to the citadel. Whilst the attention of the Etruscans was being diverted by feigned attacks from their real danger, the shouts of the enemy above their

heads showed them that the city was taken. In that year the censors C. Furius Pacilus and M. Geganius Macerinus passedPublic works were let out to contractors, and it was the duty of the censors, after satisfying themselves that they were constructed according to specifications, to take them over for the State. the government building on the Campus Martius, and the census of the people was made there for the first time.

Matters in EtruriaI find in Macer Licinius that the same consuls were re-elected for the following year-Julius for the third time and Verginius for the second. Valerius Antias and Q. Tubero give M. Manlius and Q. Sulpicius as the consuls for that year.

In spite of this discrepancy Tubero and Macer both claim the authority of the “Linen Rolls”; both admit that in the ancient historians it was asserted that there were military tribunes that year.

Licinius considers that we ought unhesitatingly to follow the “Linen Rolls”; Tubero has not made up his mind. But amongst the many points obscure through lapse of time, this also is left unsettled. The capture of Fidenae created alarm in Etruria.

Not only were the Veientines apprehensive of a similar fate, but the Faliscans too had not forgotten the war which they had commenced in alliance with them, though they had taken no part in its renewal.