Rome,
the indignity of the affair, rather than the danger, called out the
other consul from the city; thus two consular armies advanced against
the enemy in order of battle, so that they might at once engage. But as
it so happened that much of the day did not now remain, a person from
the advanced guard of the enemy cries out, "This is making a display of
war, Romans, not waging it; you draw up your army in line of battle,
when night is at hand; we require a greater length of day-light for the
contest which is to come on. To-morrow by sun-rise return to the field:
you shall have an opportunity of fighting, never fear." The soldiers,
stung by these threats, are marched back into the camp till the
following day; thinking that the approaching night was tedious, which
would cause delay to the contest. Then indeed they refresh their bodies
with food and sleep: on the following day, when it was light, the Roman
army took their post considerably sooner. At length the AEquans also came
forward. The battle was obstinate on both sides, because both the Romans
fought under the influence of resentment and hatred; and a consciousness
of danger brought on by misconduct, and despair of obtaining future
confidence afterwards, obliged the AEquans to exert and have recourse to
the most desperate efforts. The AEquans however did not withstand the
Roman troops, and when on being beaten they had betaken themselves to
their own territories, the outrageous multitude, with dispositions not
at all more disposed to peace, began to chide their leaders: "that their
interest was committed to the hazard of a pitched battle, in which mode
of fighting the Romans were superior. That the AEquans were better fitted
for depredations and incursions, and that several parties acting in
different directions conducted wars more successfully than the unwieldy
mass of one single army."

[Footnote 105: _Dederat_. The _oratio obliqua_ would require _dederit_
here, but such instances of the indicative being used for the
subjunctive are by no means infrequent.]

3. Having left therefore a guard on the camp, they marched out and
attacked the Roman frontiers with such fury, as to carry terror even to
the city: the unexpected nature of the thing also caused more alarm,
because nothing could be less apprehended, than that an enemy,
vanquished and almost besieged in their camp, should entertain a thought
of depredation: and the peasants, in a panic pouring in at the gat