e horse, without consulting the dictator, sallied out
furiously at the head of all the troops of cavalry, and drove back the
enemy. In this desultory kind of fight, fortune worked up the strength
of the combatants in such a manner, as to occasion an extraordinary
loss on both sides, and the remarkable deaths of the commanders
themselves. First, the general of the Samnites, indignant at being
repulsed, and compelled to fly from a place to which he had advanced
so confidently, by entreating and exhorting his horsemen, renewed the
battle. As he was easily distinguished among the horsemen, while he
urged on the fight, the Roman master of the horse galloped up against
him, with his spear directed, so furiously, that, with one stroke, he
tumbled him lifeless from his horse. The multitude, however, were not,
as is generally the case, dismayed by the fall of their leader, but
rather raised to fury. All who were within reach darted their weapons
at Aulius, who incautiously pushed forward among the enemy's troops;
but the chief share of the honour of revenging the death of the
Samnite general they assigned to his brother; he, urged by rage and
grief, dragged down the victorious master of the horse from his seat,
and slew him. Nor were the Samnites far from obtaining his body also,
as he had fallen among the enemies' troops: but the Romans instantly
dismounted, and the Samnites were obliged to do the same; and lines
being thus formed suddenly but, at the same time, untenable through
scarcity of necessaries: "for all the country round, from which
provisions could be supplied, has revolted; and besides, even were the
inhabitants disposed to aid us, the ground is unfavourable. I will not
therefore mislead you by leaving a camp here, into which ye may
retreat, as on a former day, without completing the victory. Works
ought to be secured by arms, not arms by works. Let those keep a camp,
and repair to it, whose interest it is to protract the war; but let us
cut off from ourselves every other prospect but that of conquering.
Advance the standards against the enemy; as soon as the troops shall
have marched beyond the rampart, let those who have it in orders burn
the camp. Your losses, soldiers, shall be compensated with the spoil
of all the nations round who have revolted." The soldiers advanced
against the enemy with spirit inflamed by the dictator's discourse,
which seemed indication of an extreme necessity; and, at the same
time, the v