Veientine foe
owing to the rashness of the other consul; and the army would have
been all cut off, had not Caeso Fabius come to their assistance
in time. From that time there was neither peace nor war with the
Veientines: their mode of operation had now come very near to the form
of brigandage. They retired before the Roman troops into the city;
when they perceived that the troops were drawn off, they made
incursions into the country, alternately mocking war with peace and
peace with war. Thus the matter could neither be dropped altogether,
nor brought to a conclusion. Besides, other wars were threatening
either at the moment, as from the Aequans and Volscians, who remained
inactive no longer than was necessary, to allow the recent smart of
their late disaster to pass away, or at no distant date, as it was
evident that the Sabines, ever hostile, and all Etruria would soon
begin to stir up war: but the Veientines, a constant rather than a
formidable enemy, kept their minds in a state of perpetual uneasiness
by petty annoyances more frequently than by any real danger to be
apprehended from them, because they could at no time be neglected, and
did not suffer the Romans to turn their attention elsewhere. Then the
Fabian family approached the senate: the consul spoke in the name of
the family: "Conscript fathers, the Veientine war requires, as you
know, an unremitting rather than a strong defence. Do you attend to
other wars: assign the Fabii as enemies to the Veientines. We pledge
ourselves that the majesty of the Roman name shall be safe in
that quarter. That war, as if it were a family matter, it is our
determination to conduct at our own private expense. In regard to it
let the republic be spared the expense of soldiers and money."
The warmest thanks were returned to them. The consul, leaving the
senate-house, accompanied by the Fabii in a body, who had been
standing in the porch of the senate-house, awaiting the decree of the
senate, returned home. They were ordered to attend on the following
day in arms at the consul's gate: they then retired to their homes.

The report spread through the entire city; they extolled the Fabii
to the skies: that a single family had undertaken the burden of the
state; that the Veientine war had now become a private concern, a
private quarrel. If there were two families of the same strength in
the city, let them demand, the one the Volscians for itself, the other
the Aequans; that all the