Ab urbe condita

When they have hurled their ineffective missiles and their disordered ranks fling themselves upon you, then let your swords flash and let every man remember that it is the gods who are helping the Romans, it is the gods who have sent you into battle with favourable omens.

You, T. Quinctius, keep your cavalry in hand and wait till the fight has begun, but when you see the lines locked together, foot to foot, then strike with the terror of your cavalry those who are already overtaken with other terrors. Charge and scatter their ranks while they are in the thick of the fight.”

Cavalry and infantry alike fought in accordance with their instructions. The commander did not disappoint his soldiers, nor did Fortune disappoint the commander.

The vast host of the enemy, relying solely on their numbers and measuring the strength of each army merely by their eyes, went recklessly into the battle and as recklessly abandoned it.

Courageous enough in the battle shout, in discharging their weapons, in making the first charge, they were unable to stand the foot to foot fighting and the looks of their opponents, glowing with the ardour of battle.

Their front was driven in and the demoralisation extended to the supports; the charge of the cavalry produced fresh panic; the ranks were broken in many places, the whole army was in commotion and resembled a retreating wave. When each of them saw that as those in front fell he would be the next to be cut down, they turned and fled.

The Romans pressed hard upon them, and as long as the enemy defended themselves whilst retreating, it was the infantry to whom the task of pursuit fell. When they were seen to be throwing away their arms in all directions and dispersing over the field, the signal was given for the squadrons of cavalry to be launched against them, and these were instructed not to lose time by cutting down individual fugitives and to give the main body a chance of escaping.

It would be enough to check them by hurling missiles and galloping across their front, and generally terrifying them until the infantry could come up and regularly dispatch the enemy.

The flight and pursuit did not end till nightfall. The Volscian camp was taken and plundered on the same day, and all the booty, with the exception of the prisoners, was bestowed on the soldiers.