enemy: it then passed beyond
the camp of the enemy, and reached that of the consul: in the one it
occasioned panic, in the other great joy. The Romans, observing
to each other with exultation that this was the shout of their
countrymen, and that aid was at hand, took the initiative, and from
their watch-guards and outposts dismayed the enemy. The consul
declared that there must be no delay; that by that shouts not only
their arrival was intimated, but that hostilities were already begun
by their friends; and that it would be a wonder if the enemy's camp
were not attacked on the farther side. He therefore ordered his men to
take up arms and follow him. The battle was begun during the night.
They gave notice by a shout to the dictator's legions that on that
side also the decisive moment had arrived. The AEquans were now
preparing to prevent the works from being drawn around them, when,
the battle being begun by the enemy from within, having turned their
attention from those employed on the fortifications to those who were
fighting on the inside, lest a sally should be made through the centre
of their camp, they left the night free for the completion of the
work, and continued the fight with the consul till daylight. At
daybreak they were now encompassed by the dictator's works, and were
scarcely able to maintain the fight against one army. Then their lines
were attacked by the army of Quinctius, which, immediately after
completing its work, returned to arms. Here a new engagement pressed
on them: the former one had in no wise slackened. Then, as the danger
that beset them on both sides pressed them hard, turning from fighting
to entreaties, they implored the dictator on the one hand, the consul
on the other, not to make the victory their total destruction, and to
suffer them to depart without arms. They were ordered by the consul to
apply to the dictator: he, incensed against them, added disgrace to
defeat. He gave orders that Gracchus Cloelius, their general, and the
other leaders should be brought to him in chains, and that the town of
Corbio should be evacuated; he added that he did not desire the
lives of the AEquans: that they were at liberty to depart; but that
a confession might at last be wrung from them that their nation was
defeated and subdued, they would have to pass under the yoke. The yoke
was formed of three spears, two fixed in the ground, and one tied
across between the upper ends of them. Under this yoke