To avoid any chance of mistake, the consuls requested that this war might be assigned to Corvus without deciding it by lot. After taking over the victorious army from the previous consuls, he marched to Cales, where the war had originated. The enemy were dispirited through the remembrance of the former conflict, and he routed them at the very first attack.
He then advanced to an assault upon their walls . Such was the eagerness of the soldiers that they were anxious to bring up the scaling ladders and mount the walls forthwith, but Corvus perceived the difficulty of the
task and preferred to gain his object by submitting his men to the
labours of a regular siege rather than by exposing them to unnecessary
risks. So he con- structed an
M. Fabius, a Roman prisoner, succeeded in eluding his guards on a festival, and after breaking his chains fastened a rope from a battlement of the wall and let himself down amongst the Roman works.
He induced the commander to attack the enemy while they were sleeping off the effects of their wine and feasting, and the Ausonians were captured, together with their city, with no more trouble than they had previously been routed in the open field. The booty seized was enormous, and after a garrison was placed in Cales the legions were marched back to Rome.
The senate passed a resolution allowing the consul to celebrate a triumph, and in order that Atilius might have a chance of distinguishing himself, both the consuls were ordered to march against the Sidicines.
Before starting they nominated, on the resolution of the senate, L. Aemilius Mamercinus as Dictator, for the purpose of conduct- ing the elections; he named Q. Publilius Philo as his Master of the Horse.
The consuls elected were T. Veturius and Spurius Postumius. Although there was still war with the Sidicines, they brought forward a proposal to send a colony to Cales in order to anticipate the wishes of the plebs by a voluntary act of kindness.
The senate passed a resolution that 2500 names should be enrolled, and the three commissioners appointed to settle the colonists and allocate the holdings were Caeso Duillius, T. Quinctius, and M. Fabius.
The new consuls, after taking over the army from their predecessors, entered the enemy's territory and carried their depredations up to the walls of their city.
The Sidicines had got together an immense army, and were evidently prepared to fight desperately for their last hope; there was also a report that Samnium was being roused into hostilities.
A Dictator was accordingly nominated by the consuls on the resolution of the senate —P. Cornelius Rufinus; the Master of the Horse was M. Antonius.