was also
extremely well supported among the Volscians by the exertions both of
the general and the soldiers. First a pitched battle was fought, on
level ground, with great slaughter and much bloodshed on both sides:
and the Romans, because their small numbers caused their loss to be
more keenly felt, would have given way, had not the consul, by a
well-timed fiction, reanimated the army, by crying out that the enemy
was in flight on the other wing; having charged, they, by believing
themselves victorious, became so. The consul, fearing lest, by
pressing on too far, he might renew the contest, gave the signal for
retreat. A few days intervened, both sides resting as if by tacit
suspension of hostilities: during these days a vast number of persons
from all the states of the Volscians and Equans came to the camp,
feeling no doubt that the Romans would depart during the night, if
they perceived them. Accordingly, about the third watch [81], they
came to attack the camp. Quinctius having allayed the confusion which
the sudden panic had occasioned, and ordered the soldiers to remain
quiet in their tents, led out a cohort of the Hernicans for an advance
guard: the trumpeters and horn blowers he mounted on horseback, and
commanded them to sound their trumpets before the rampart, and to keep
the enemy in suspense till daylight: during the rest of the night
everything was so quiet in the camp, that the Romans had even the
opportunity of sleeping.[82] The sight of the armed infantry, whom
they both considered to be more numerous than they were, and at the
same time Romans, the bustle and neighing of the horses, which became
restless, both from the fact of strange riders being mounted on them,
and moreover from the sound of the trumpets frightening them, kept the
Volscians intently awaiting an attack of the enemy.

When the day dawned, the Romans, invigorated and having enjoyed a full
sleep, on being marched out to battle, at the first onset caused the
Volscians to give way, wearied as they were from standing and keeping
watch: though indeed the enemy rather retired than were routed,
because in the rear there were hills to which the unbroken ranks
behind the first line had a safe retreat. The consul, when he came to
the uneven ground, halted his army; the infantry were kept back
with difficulty; they loudly demanded to be allowed to pursue the
discomfited foe. The cavalry were more violent: crowding round the
general, they cried o