A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

1. A.CorneliusCossusArvina, P. F. A. N., whom Livy sometimes calls A. Cornelius Cossus, and sometimes A. Cornelius Arvina, was magister equitum B. C. 353, and a second time in 349. (Liv. 7.19, 26.) He was consul ill B. C. 343, the first year of the Samnite war, and was the first Roman general who invaded Samnium. While marching through the mountain passes of Samniam, his army was surprised in a valley by the enemy, and was only saved by the heroism of P. Decius, who seized with a body of troops a height which commanded the road. The consul then conquered the Samnites, and triumphed on his return to Rome. (7.28, 32, 34-38, 10.31; Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. iii. p. 120, &c.) Arvina was consul again in B. C. 322 (A. Cornelius iterum, Liv. 8.17), and dictator in 320, in the latter of which years he defeated the Samnites in a hardfought battle, though some of the ancient authorities attributed this victory to the consuls of the year. (Liv. 8.38, 39; Niebuhr, iii. p. 200, &c.)