t nothing decisive was hazarded. On the third day, both
parties marched out their whole force to the field: here, while the
armies stood in order of battle, a hind, chased by a wolf from the
mountains, ran through the plain between the two lines: there the
animals taking different directions, the hind bent its course towards
the Gauls, the wolf towards the Romans: way was made between the ranks
for the wolf, the Gauls slew the hind with their javelins; on which
one of the Roman soldiers in the van said, "To that side, where you
see an animal, sacred to Diana, lying prostrate, flight and slaughter
are directed; on this side the victorious wolf of Mars, safe and
untouched, reminds us of our founder, and of our descent from that
deity." The Gauls were posted on the right wing, the Samnites on the
left: against the latter, Fabius drew up, as his right wing, the first
and third legions: against the Gauls, Decius formed the left wing of
the fifth and sixth. The second and fourth were employed in the war in
Samnium, under the proconsul, Lucius Volumnius. In the first encounter
the action was supported with strength so equal on both sides, that
had the Etrurians and Umbrians been present, either in the field or at
the camp, in whichever place they might have employed their force, the
Romans must have been defeated.

28. However, although the victory was still undecided, fortune not
having declared in favour of either party, yet the course of the fight
was by no means similar on both right and left wings. The Romans,
under Fabius, rather repelled than offered assault, and the contest
was protracted until very late in the day, for their general knew very
well, that both Samnites and Gauls were furious in the first onset, so
that, to withstand them would be sufficient. It was known, too, that
in a protracted contest the spirits of the Samnites gradually flagged,
and even the bodies of the Gauls, remarkably ill able to bear labour
and heat, became quite relaxed, and although, in their first efforts,
they were more than men, yet in their last they were less than women.
He, therefore, reserved the strength of his men as unimpaired as
possible, until the time when the enemy were the more likely to be
worsted. Decius, more impetuous, as being in the prime of life and
full flow of spirits, exerted whatever force he had to the utmost in
the first encounter, and thinking the infantry not sufficiently
energetic, brought up the cavalry to t