At length he put out the signal for battle and spoke a few words of encouragement to his men. He told them not to let themselves be daunted by a new war or a new enemy, for the further they carried their arms from the City the more unwarlike were the nations whom they approached.
They were not to measure the courage of the Samnites by the defeats they had inflicted on the Sidicines and the Campanians; whenever two nations fought together, whatever the qualities they possessed, one side must necessarily be vanquished.
There was no doubt that as far as the Campanians were concerned they owed their defeats more to their want of hardihood and the weakening effects of excessive luxury than to the strength of their enemies. What could two successful wars an the part of the Samnites through all those centuries weigh against the many brilliant achievements at the Roman people,
who reckoned up almost more triumphs than years since the foundation of their City, who had subdued by the might at their arms all the surrounding nations —Sabines, Etruscans, Latins, Hernici, Aequi, Volscians, and Auruncans —who had slain the Gauls in so many battles and driven them at last to their ships?
His men must not only go into action in full reliance upon their own courage and warlike reputation, but they must also remember under whose auspices and generalship they were going to fight, whether under a man who is only
to be listened to provided he is a big talker, courageous only in words,
ignorant of a soldier's work, or under one who himself knows how to
handle weapons, who can show himself in the front, and do his duty in
the
“I want you, soldiers,” he continued, “to follow my deeds not my words, and to look to me not only for the word at command but also for example. It was not by party struggles nor by the intrigues so common amongst the nobles but by my own right hand that I won three consulships and attained the highest reputation.
There was a time when it might have been said to me, “Yes, for you were a patrician descended from the liberators at our country, and your family held the consulship in the very year when this City first possessed consuls.”
Now, however, the consulship is open to you, plebeians, as much as to us who are patricians; it is not the reward of high birth as it once was, but of personal merit. Look forward then, soldiers, to securing all the highest honours!
If with the sanction of the gods you men have given me this new name at
Corvinus, I have not forgotten the old cognomen of our family; I have
not forgotten that I am a Publicola.
I always study and always have studied the interests of the Roman plebs, both at home and in the field, whether as a private citizen or holding public office, whether as military tribune or as consul. I have been consistent to this aim in all my successive consulships.
And now for what is immediately before us: go on with the help at heaven, and win with me for the first time a triumph over your new foes —the Samnites.”
Nowhere was there ever a general who endeared himself more to his soldiers by cheerfully sharing every duty with the humblest
of his men In the military sports when the soldiers got up contests of speed and strength among themselves he was equally ready to win or to lose, and never thought any man unworthy to be his antagonist.
He showed practical kindness as circumstances required; in his language he was not less mindful of other men's liberty than of his own dignity, and what made him most popular was that he displayed the same qualities in discharging the duties of his office which he had shown as a candidate for it.
Following up their commander's words, the whole army marched out of camp with extraordinary alacrity.
In no battle that was ever fought did men engage with strength more equally matched, or more assured hopes of victory on both sides, or a stronger spirit of self-confidence unaccompanied, however, by any feeling of contempt for their opponents.
The fighting temper of the Samnites was roused by their recent achievements and the double victory won a few days previously; the Romans on the other hand were inspired by their glorious record of four centuries of victory reaching back to the foundation of the City.
But each side felt some anxiety at meeting a new and untried foe.
The battle was an index to their feelings; for some time they fought so resolutely that neither line showed any signs of giving way.