Ab urbe condita

On receiving this information the consul led his army round to that side of the city which the cavalry had examined. Halting the standards near the gates, he ordered five horsemen to enter the city, and after going some distance three were to remain where they were, and two were to return and report to him what they had discovered.

They reported that they had reached a point from which a view was obtained in all directions, and everywhere they saw a silent solitude.

The consul immediately sent some light-armed cohorts into the city, the rest of the army received orders to form an entrenched camp.

The soldiers who had entered the place broke open some of the houses and found a few old and sick people and such property left behind as they found too difficult to transport.

This was appropriated, and it was ascertained from the prisoners that several cities in the neighbourhood had mutually agreed to leave their homes, and the Romans would probably find the same solitude in other cities.

What the prisoners had said proved to be true, and the consul took possession of the abandoned towns.