Ab urbe condita

All that ground which is now glittering with uplifted spears you shall see cleared by a vast carnage.” During those words the cavalry, at the consul's order, retired an both flanks, leaving the centre clear for the legions. The consul led the charge, and slew the first man he engaged with.

Fired at the sight, every man, right and left, charged straight forward and began a fight to be remembered. The Samnites did not flinch, though they were receiving more wounds than they inflicted.

The battle had now gone on for a considerable time; there was a terrible slaughter round the Samnite standards but no signs of flight anywhere, so resolved were they that death alone should be their conqueror.