Ab urbe condita

The battle was exactly like one fought in a civil war; there was nothing in the Latin army different from the Roman except their courage. At[*](Changes in the Roman Military System.) first the Romans used the large round shield called the clipeus, afterwards, when the soldiers received pay, the smaller oblong shield called the scutum was adopted.

The phalanx formation, similar to the Macedonian of the earlier days, was abandoned in favour of the distribution into companies (manipuli); the rear portion being broken up into smaller divisions.