Ab urbe condita

Titus Livius (Livy)

Livy. History of Rome, Volumes 1-2. Roberts, Canon, Rev, translator. London, New York: J. M. Dent and Sons; E. P. Dutton and Co., 1912.

If these mild remonstrances proved ineffective, they were to solemnly warn the Samnites in the name of the senate and people of Rome to keep their hands off the city of Capua and the territory of Campania.

The[*](The Samnites Defiant —War Declared.) envoys delivered their instructions in the national council of Samnium. The reply they received was couched in such defiant terms that not only did the Samnites declare their intention of pursuing the war against Capua, but their magistrates went outside the council chamber and, in tones loud

enough for the envoys to bear, ordered the prefects of cohorts to march at once into the Campanian territory and ravage it.