e provinces
between them, Etruria fell to Scipio, the Samnites to Fulvius; and
they set out by different routes, each against the enemy allotted to
him. Scipio, while he expected a tedious campaign, like that of the
preceding year, was met near Volaterra by the Etrurians, in order of
battle. The fight lasted through the greater part of the day, while
very many fell on both sides, and night came on while it was uncertain
to which side victory inclined. But the following dawn showed the
conqueror and the vanquished; for the Etrurians had decamped in the
dead of the night. The Romans, marching out with intent to renew the
engagement, and seeing their superiority acknowledged by the departure
of the enemy, advanced to their camp; and, finding even this fortified
post deserted, took possession of it, evacuated as it was, together
with a vast quantity of spoil. The consul then, leading back his
forces into the Faliscian territory, and leaving his baggage with a
small guard at Falerii, set out with his troops, lightly accoutred, to
ravage the enemy's country. All places are destroyed with fire and
sword; plunder driven from every side; and not only was the ground
left a mere waste to the enemy, but their forts and small towns were
set on fire; he refrained from attacking the cities into which fear
had driven the Etrurians. The consul Cneius Fulvius fought a glorious
battle in Samnium, near Bovianum, attended with success by no means
equivocal. Then, having attacked Bovianum, and not long after
Aufidena, he took them by storm.

This year a colony was carried out to Carseoli, into the territory of
the Aequicolae. The consul Fulvius triumphed on his defeat of the
Samnites.

13. When the consular elections were now at hand, a report prevailed,
that the Etrurians and Samnites were raising vast armies; that the
leaders of the Etrurians were, in all their assemblies, openly
censured for not having procured the aid of the Gauls on any terms;
and the magistrates of the Samnites arraigned, for having opposed to
the Romans an army destined to act against the Lucanians. That, in
consequence, the people were rising up in arms, with all their own
strength and that of their allies combined; and that this affair
seemed not likely to be terminated without a contest of much greater
difficulty than the former. Although the candidates for the consulship
were men of illustrious characters, yet this alarming intelligence
turned the thoughts of a