Ab urbe condita

It is not easy to say what gave the advantage where the two sides were so evenly matched, unless it be that the Fortune which ever watches over each nation had the power to raise and to depress their courage.

The Romans followed up the fleeing Hernici as far as their camp; but they abstained from attacking it, as it was late in the day. They offered sacrifices the next morning for a long time without obtaining any favourable omen, and this prevented the Dictator from giving the signal for attack before noon; the fight consequently went on into the night.

The next day they found the camp abandoned; the Hernici had fled and left some of their wounded behind. The people of Signium saw the main body of the fugitives streaming past their walls with their standards few and far between, and sallying out to attack them they scattered them in headlong flight over the fields.

The victory was anything but a bloodless one for the Romans; they lost a quarter of their whole force, and by no means the smallest loss fell on the cavalry, a considerable number of whom perished.

The consuls for the following year were C. Sulpicius and C. Licinius Calvus. They resumed operations against the Hernici, and invaded their territory, but did not find the enemy in the open. They attacked and captured Ferentinum, a Hernican city; but as they were returning home the Tiburtines closed their gates against them.

There had previously been numerous complaints made on both sides, but this last provocation finally decided the Romans, in case the Fetials failed to get redress, to declare war against the Tiburtines.

It is generally understood that T. Quinctius Pennus was the Dictator and Ser. Cornelius Maluginensis the Master of the horse. According to Licinius Macer, the Dictator was nominated by the consul Licinius.

His colleague, Sulpicius, was anxious to get the elections over before he departed for the war, in the hope of being himself re-elected, if he were on the spot, and Licinius determined to thwart his colleague's self-seeking ambition.

Licinius Macer's desire to appropriate the credit of this to his house (the Licinii) lessens the weight of his authority. As I find no mention of this in the older annalists, I am more inclined to believe that it was the prospect of a Gaulish war which was the immediate cause why a Dictator was nominated.

At all events it was in this year that the Gauls formed their camp by the Salarian road, three miles from the City at the bridge across the Anio. In[*](Titus Manlius' Exploit.) face of this sudden and alarming inroad the Dictator proclaimed a suspension of all business, and made every man who was liable to serve take the military oath.

He marched out of the City with an immense army and fixed his camp on this side the Anio. Each side had left the bridge between them intact, as its destruction might have been thought due to fears of an attack.

There were frequent skirmishes for the possession of the bridge; as these were indecisive, the question was left unsettled. A Gaul of extraordinary stature strode forward on to the unoccupied bridge, and shouting as loudly as he could, cried: “Let the bravest man that Rome possesses come out and fight me, that we two may decide which people is the superior in war.”

A long silence followed. The best and bravest of the Romans made no sign;they felt ashamed of appearing to decline the challenge, and yet they were reluctant to expose themselves to such terrible danger.

Thereupon T. Manlius, the youth who had protected his father from the persecution of the tribune, left his post and went to the Dictator.“Without

your orders, General,” he said, “I will never leave my post to fight, no, not even if I saw that victory was certain ; but if you give me permission I want to show that monster as he stalks so proudly in front of their lines that I am a scion of that family which hurled the troop of Gauls from the Tarpeian rock.”

Then the Dictator: “Success to your courage, T. Manlius, and to your affection for your father and your fatherland . Go, and with the help of the gods show that the name of Rome is invincible.”

Then his comrades fastened on his armour; he took an infantry shield and a Spanish sword[*](This was a short pointed double-edged weapon, and was used like a large dagger.) as better adapted for close fighting; thus armed and equipped they led him forward against the Gaul, who was exulting in his brute strength, and even —the ancients thought this worth recording —putting his tongue out in derision.

They retired to their posts and the two armed champions were left alone in the midst, more after the manner of a scene on the stage than under the conditions of serious war, and to those who judged by appearances, by no means equally matched.

The one was a creature of enormous bulk, resplendent in a many-coloured coat and wearing painted and gilded armour; the other a man of average height, and his arms, useful rather than ornamental, gave him quite an ordinary appearance. There was no singing of war-songs, [*](Compare the action of Taillefer before the battle ofSenlac.) no prancing about, no silly brandishing of

weapons. With a breast full of courage and silent wrath Manlius reserved all his ferocity for the actual moment of