Ab urbe condita

The proximity of this city to Rome made the senate take a more serious view of the position, and they decided to send the fetials to demand redress.

Satisfaction was refused, and by order of the people with the sanction of the senate war was formally declared against the Faliscans. The consuls were ordered to decide by lot which of them should transport his army from Samnium into Etruria.

By this time Carvilius had taken from the Samnites three of their cities, Velia, Palumbinum, and Herculaneum. Velia he took after a few days' siege, Palumbinum on the day he arrived before its walls.

Herculaneum gave him more trouble; after an indecisive battle in which, however, his losses were somewhat the heavier he moved his camp close up to the town and shut up the enemy within their walls.

The place was then stormed and captured. In these three captures the number of killed and prisoners amounted to 10,000, the prisoners forming a small majority of the total loss. On the consuls casting lots for their respective commands, Etruria fell to Carvilius, much to the satisfaction of his men, who were now unable to stand the intense cold of Samnium.

Papirius met with more resistance at Saepinum. There were frequent encounters, in the open field, on the march, and round the city itself when he was checking the sorties of the enemy. There was no question of siege operations, the enemy met him on equal terms, for the Samnites protected their walls with their arms quite as much as their walls protected them.

At last by dint of hard fighting he compelled the enemy to submit to a regular siege, and after pressing the siege with spade and sword he finally effected the capture of the place.

The victors were exasperated by the obstinate resistance, and the Samnites suffered heavily, losing no less than 7400 killed, while only 3000 were made prisoners. Owing to the Samnites having stored their property in a limited number of cities there was a vast amount of plunder, the whole of which was given to the soldiery.

Everything[*](Papirius celebrates his Triumph.) was now deep in snow, and it was impossible to remain any longer in the open, so the consul withdrew his army from Samnium.

On his approach to Rome a triumph was granted to him by universal consent. This triumph, which he celebrated while still in office, was a very brilliant one for those days.

The infantry and cavalry who marched in the procession were conspicuous with their decorations, many were wearing civic, mural, and vallarian crowns.[*](The corona civica (made of oak leaves) was awarded to the soldier who had saved a comrade's life in battle; the corona muralis to him who first entered the breach in storming a town; the corona vallaris was given to the man who first scaled the rampart in assaulting an enemy's camp.)

The spoils of the Samnites attracted much attention; their splendour and beauty were compared with those which the consul's father had won, and which were familiar to all through their being used as decorations of public places Amongst those in the victor's train were some prisoners of high rank distinguished for their own or their fathers' military services;

there were also carried in the procession 2,533,000 bronze ases, stated to be the proceeds of the sale of the prisoners, and 1830 pounds of silver taken from the cities. All the silver and bronze was stored in the treasury, none of this was given to the soldiers.

This created dissatisfaction amongst the plebs, which was aggravated by the collection of the war tax to provide the soldiers' pay, for if Papirius had not been so anxious to get the credit of paying the price of the prisoners into the treasury there would have been enough to make a gift to the soldiers and also to furnish their pay. He dedicated the temple of Quirinus.

I do not find in any ancient author that it was he who vowed this temple in the crisis of a battle, and certainly he could not have completed it in so short a time; it was vowed by his father when Dictator, and the son dedicated it when consul, and adorned it with the spoils of the enemy.