Ab urbe condita

On hearing this he ordered the fleet to make for that river and sail up-stream. As the river channel did not admit the passage of his largest ships, the bulk of his troops went up in the lighter vessels and came to a populous district belonging to the maritime villages of the Patavii, who inhabit that coast.

After leaving a few to guard the ships they landed, seized the villages, burnt the houses, and carried off the men and cattle as booty.

Their eagerness for plunder led them too far from their ships. The people of Patavium were obliged to be always under arms owing to their neighbours, the Gauls, and when they heard what was going on, they divided their forces into two armies.

One of these was to proceed to the district where the invaders were reported to be carrying on their depredations; the other was to go by a different route, to avoid meeting any of the plunderers, to where the ships were anchored, about fourteen miles from the town. The latter attacked the ships, and after killing those who resisted them, they compelled the terrified sailors to take their vessels over to the opposite bank.

The other army had been equally successful against the plunderers, who in their flight to their ships were intercepted by the Veneti, and, hemmed in between the two armies, were cut to pieces.

Some of the prisoners informed their captors that King Cleonymus, with his fleet, was only three miles distant. The prisoners were sent to the nearest village for safe-keeping, and some of the defenders got into their river boats, which were flatbottomed to allow of their passing over the shallows in the lagoons, whilst others manned the vessels they had captured and sailed down the river.

When they reached the Greek fleet they surrounded the large ships, which were afraid to stir and dreaded unknown waters more than the enemy, and pursued them to the mouth of the river. Some which in the confused fighting had run aground were captured and burnt.

After this victory they returned. Failing to effect a successful landing in any part of the Adriatic, Cleonymus sailed away with barely a fifth part of his fleet undamaged.

There are many still living who have seen the beaks of the ships and the spoils of the Lacedaemonians hung up in the old temple of Juno in Patavium, and the anniversary of that battle is celebrated by a sham fight of ships on the river which flows through the town.

The[*](War in Etruria.) Vestinians had requested to be placed on the footing of a friendly State, and a treaty was made with them this year.

Subsequently several incidents created alarm in Rome. Intelligence was received of the renewal of hostilities by the Etruscans, owing to disturbances in Arretium. The powerful house of the Cilnii[*](The house of the Cilnii probably headed the aristocratic opposition to the commons ofArretium, and as in other similar cases sent for assistance to Rome, whose sympathies were always on that side. We learn in chap. v. that a reconciliation was effected. From this was descended Maecenas, the friend of Augustus and the patron of Horace.) had created widespread jealousy through their enormous wealth, and an attempt was made to expel them from the city. The Marsi also were giving trouble, for a body of 4000 colonists had been sent to Carseoli, and they were prevented by force from occupying the place.

In view of this threatening aspect of affairs, M. Valerius Maximus was nominated Dictator, and he named M. Aemilius Paulus Master of the Horse.

I think that this is more probable than that Q. Fabius was made Master of the Horse and, therefore, in a subordinate position to Valerius, in spite of his age and the offices he had held;

but I am quite prepared to admit that the error arose from the cognomen Maximus, common to both men.[*](Livy apparently thought that the epithet Maximus had been transferred from Valerius to Aemilius, and so the latter became confused with Q. Fabius Maximus. But the sentence is obscure. The Fasti Capitolini give both Valerius and Fabius as Dictators this year.) The Dictator took the field and routed the Marsi in one battle. After compelling them to seek shelter in their fortified cities, he took Milionia, Plestina, and Fresilia within a few days.

The Marsi were compelled to surrender a portion of their territory, and then the old treaty with Rome was renewed. The war was now turned against the Etruscans, and an unfor- tunate incident occurred during this campaign.