.
But when they were now come to the middle of the camp, one of the
Romans, as he would have stepped over a sleeping man, stumbled upon
his shield and so woke him. The man roused his neighbour, and he again
others; and Decius, perceiving that he was discovered, commanded his men
to shout; and the Samnites, being confused and scarcely yet awake,
nor able to bestir themselves, could not hinder him and his men from
escaping. The next day, after he had entered the camp of the Consul (for
though he reached it before the night was spent, he would not enter till
it was day, thinking that they came back to their countrymen with such
glory as should not be concealed by darkness), Cornelius summoned the
soldiers to assembly and began to set forth the praises of Decius. But
Decius said, "I would counsel, Cornelius, that you postpone everything
to the occasion of victory that is now given you. Attack the enemy while
they are in confusion and scattered, for doubtless many have been sent
to pursue me." This the Consul did, and won a great victory over the
Samnites, and took their camp, wherein were slain, it is said, thirty
thousand men.

As for Decius, the Consul gave him a golden crown and a hundred oxen,
whereof one was white and of surpassing beauty, having gilded horns. And
to each of the soldiers that had followed him he gave a double portion
of corn for ever and an ox and two garments. And the legion set on the
head of Decius a crown of grass, by which was signified deliverance
from siege; his own men also gave him another such crown. Then Decius
sacrificed the white ox to Mars, and gave the other oxen to his soldiers.
To these men the rest of the legions made a contribution, a pound of
corn and a pint of wine for each.

In the third year after these things, Decius being then Consul together
with Manlius, there was a great war with the Latins. And while the
armies lay over against each other in a place near to the city of Capua,
there appeared to both Consuls, as they slept, the same figure of a man,
only of greater stature and of more dignity than belongs to man, which
figure spake to each the same words: "There is due to the Gods that
dwell below, and to Mother Earth, from the one side a general, and from
the other an army. And on which side soever of these two a general shall
devote himself, together with the army of the enemy, to the Gods below
and to Mother Earth, that side shall have the victory." When the Consuls
had