other men's property; whose inhuman rage is not satiated by the death of the guilty, by the surrender of their lifeless bodies, and by their goods, accompanying the surrender of the owner; who cannot be appeased, otherwise than by giving them our blood to drink, and our entrails to be

torn.

"Samnites! war is just, when it becomes necessary ; and arms are clear of impiety, when men have no hope left but in arms. Wherefore, as the issue of every human undertaking depends, chiefly, on men's acting either with or without the favor of the gods, be assured, that the former wars you waged in opposition to the gods, more than to men; in this, which we are now to undertake, you will act under the immediate guidance of the gods themselves."

After uttering these predictions, not more favorable than true, he led out the troops, and placed his camp about Caudium, as much out of view, as possible. Thence, he sent to Calatia, where he heard that the Roman consuls were encamped, ten soldiers, in the habit of shepherds, and ordered them to keep some cattle feeding, in several different places, at a small distance from the Roman posts; and that, when they fell in with any of their foragers, they should all agree in the same story, that the legions of the Samnites were then in Apulia, besieging Luceria, with their whole force, and very near becoming masters of it. Such a rumor had been industriously spread, before, and had already reached the Romans; but these prisoners caused them to give it greater credit, especially, as they all concurred in the same report. The Romans did not hesitate to resolve on carrying succor to the Lucernians, because they were good and faithful allies; and for this further reason, lest all Apulia, through apprehension of the impending danger, might go over to the enemy.

The only point which came under deliberation was, by what road they should go. There were two roads leading to Luceria, one along the coast of the upper sea, wide and open; but, as it was the safer, so it was proportionably longer the other, which was shorter,

through the Caudine forks. The nature of the place is this there are two deep glens, narrow, and covered with wood, connected together by mountains, ranging on both sides, from one to the other: between these, lies a plain, of considerable extent, abounding in grass and water, through the middle of which the passage runs; but, before this is arrived at, the first defile must be passed, while the only way back is through the road by which it was entered; or, in case of resolving to proceed forward, it must be by the other glen, which is still more narrow and difficult.

Into this plain, the Romans marched down their troops, by one of those passes through the cleft of a rock; and, when they advanced to the other defile, found it blocked up, by trees thrown across, with a mound of huge stones. The stratagem of the enemy now became apparent; and, at the same time, a body of troops was seen on the eminence, over the glen. Hastening back, then, to the road by which they had entered, they found that also shut up, by such another fence and men in arms. Then, without orders, they halted; amazement took possession of their minds, and a strange kind of numbness, their limbs. They then remained, a long time, motionless and silent, with their eyes fixed on each other, as if each thought the other more capable of judging and advising, than himself. After some time, the consul's pavilions were erected, and they got ready the implements for throwing up works, although they were sensible that it must appear ridiculous, to attempt to raise a fortification in their present desperate condition, and when almost every hope was lost. Yet, not to add a fault to their misfortunes, they all, without being advised or ordered by any one, set earnestly to work, and enclosed a camp with a rampart, close to the water, while themselves, besides enduring the haughty taunts of their enemies, seemed with melancholy to acknowledge the apparent fruitlessness of their labor. The lieutenantgenerals and tribunes, without being summoned to consultation, (for there was no room for either consultation or remedy,) assembled round the dejected consul; while

the soldiers, crowding to the general's quarters, demanded from their leaders that succor, which it was hardly in the power of the immortal gods, themselves, to afford them.

Night came on, while they were employed in lamenting their situation, all urging, with warmth, whatever their several tempers prompted. Some crying out, "Let us go over those fences, which obstruct the roads ;" others, "over the steeps; through the woods; any way, where arms can be carried. Let us be but permitted to come to the enemy, whom we have been used to conquer, now, near thirty years. All places will be level and plain to a Roman, fighting against the perfidious Samnite." Another would say, "Whither, or by what way, can we go? Do we expect to remove the mountains from their foundations? While these cliffs hang over us, how can we proceed? Whether armed or unarmed, brave or dastardly, we are all, without distinction, captured and vanquished. The enemy will not even show us a weapon, by which we might die, with honor. He will finish the war, without moving from his seat.” In such discourse, thinking of neither food nor rest, they passed the whole night.

Nor could the Samnites, though in circumstances so accordant to their wishes, instantly determine how to act it was therefore universally agreed, that Herennius. Pontius, father of the general, should be consulted, by letter. He was now grown feeble, through age, and had withdrawn himself, not only from all military, but also from all civil, occupations; yet, notwithstanding the decline of his bodily strength, his mind retained its full vigor. When he was informed that the Roman armies were shut up at the Caudine forks, between the two glens, and was asked for advice, by his son's messenger, he gave his opinion; that they should all be immediately dismissed thence, unhurt. On this counsel being rejected, and the same messenger returning, to advise with him, a second time, he recommended that they should all, to a man, be put to death. On receiving these answers, so opposite to each other, like the ambiguous re

sponses of an oracle, his son, although, as well as others, persuaded that the powers of his father's mind, together with those of his body, had been impaired by age, was yet prevailed on, by the general desire of all, to send for him and consult him in person.

The old man, we are told, complied, without reluctance, and was carried in a wagon to the camp, where, when he came to speak, he made no alteration in the opinions which he had given: he only added the reasons on which he founded them: That, "by his first plan, which he esteemed the best, he meant, by an act of extraordinary kindness, to establish perpetual peace and friendship with a most powerful nation; by the other, to put off the return of war, to the distance of many ages, during which, the Roman state, after the loss of those two armies, could not easily recover its strength. A third plan there was not." His son, and the other chiefs, then asking him if "a plan of a middle kind might not be adopted,-of dismissing them, unhurt; and, at the same time, by the right of war, imposing terms on them, as vanquished ?" That, indeed," said he, "is a plan of such a nature, as neither procures friends nor removes enemies. Only consider who they are, whom you would irritate by ignominious treatment. The Romans are a race who know not how to sit down quiet, under defeat; any scar, which the present necessity shall imprint in their breasts, will rankle there, for ever, and will not suffer them to rest, until they have wreaked manifold vengeance on your heads." Neither of these plans was approved, and Herennius was

carried home.

In the other camp, the Romans, having made many fruitless efforts to force a passage, and being now destitute of every means of subsistence, were reduced, by necessity, to send ambassadors, who were, first, to ask peace, on equal terms; which, if they did not obtain, they were to challenge the enemy to battle. To this, Pontius answered, "that the war was at an end; and since, even in their present vanquished and captive state, they were not willing to make acknowledgement of their situation, he would send them under the yoke, unarmed,

and only partly clothed that the other conditions of peace should be such as were just and proper, between the conquerors and the conquered. Their troops must depart, and their colonies be withdrawn, out of the territories of the Samnites; and, for the future, the Romans and Samnites, under a treaty of equality, shall live according to their own respective laws. On these terms, he was ready to negotiate with the consuls; and, if any of these should not be accepted, he forbade the ambassadors to come to him, again."

When the result of this embassy was made known, such general lamentation suddenly arose, and such melancholy took possession of every mind, that, had they been told that all were to die on the spot, they could not have felt deeper affliction. Silence continued a long time, the consuls not being able to utter a word, either in favor of a treaty so disgraceful, or against a treaty so

necessary.

At length, Lucius Lentulus, who was the first among the lieutenant-generals, both in respect of bravery and of the public honors which he had attained, addressed them, thus:

Consuls, I have often heard my father say, that he was the only person in the capitol who did not advise the senate to ransom the state from the Gauls, with gold and this he would not concur in, because they had not been enclosed with a trench and rampart, by the enemy, (who were remarkably slothful, with respect to works and raising fortifications,) and because they might sally forth, if not without great danger, yet without certain destruction. Now, if, in like manner, as they had it in their power to run down from the capitol, in arms, against their foe, as men besieged have often sallied out on their besiegers, it were possible for us to come to blows, either on equal or unequal ground, the advice which I should give would not be devoid of the same spirit which animated my father.

"I acknowledge, indeed, that death, in defence of our country, is highly glorious; and I am ready, either to devote myself for the Roman people and the legions, or to plunge into the midst of the enemy. But, in this