trength, nor
despising the adversary. Meanwhile matters went on actively in
Etruria; for a decisive battle was fought with the Umbrians, in which
the enemy was routed, but lost not many men, for they did not maintain
the fight with the vigour with which they began it. Besides this the
Etrurians, having raised an army under the sanctions of the devoting
law, each man choosing another, came to an engagement at the Cape of
Vadimon, with more numerous forces, and, at the same time, with
greater spirit than they had ever shown before. The battle was fought
with such animosity that no javelins were thrown by either party:
swords alone were made use of; and the fury of the combatants was
still higher inflamed by the long-continued contest; so that it
appeared to the Romans as if they were disputing, not with Etrurians,
whom they had so often conquered, but with a new race. Not the
semblance of giving ground appeared in any part; the first lines fell;
and lest the standards should be exposed, without defence, the second
lines were formed in their place. At length, even the men forming the
last reserves were called into action; and to such an extremity of
difficulty and danger had they come, that the Roman cavalry
dismounted, and pressed forward, through heaps of arms and bodies, to
the front ranks of the infantry. These starting up a new army, as it
were, among men now exhausted, disordered the battalions of the
Etrurians; and the rest, weak as their condition was, seconding their
assault, broke at last through the enemy's ranks. Their obstinacy then
began to give way: some companies quitted their posts, and, as soon as
they once turned their backs, betook themselves to more decided
flight. That day first broke the strength of the Etrurians, now grown
exuberant through a long course of prosperity; all the flower of their
men were cut off in the field, and in the same assault their camp was
seized and sacked.

40. Equal danger, and an issue equally glorious, soon after attended
the war with the Samnites; who, besides their many preparations for
the field, made their army to glitter with new decorations of their
armour. Their troops were in two divisions, one of which had their
shields embossed with gold, the other with silver. The shape of the
shield was this; broad at the middle to cover the breast and
shoulders, the summit being flat, sloping off gradually so as to
become pointed below, that it might be wielded with ease; a l