that the other consul Postumius was charged to see to it that the commonwealth took no harm,[5] a form of decree which has ever been deemed to be one of extreme urgency.  It seemed most advisable that the consul himself should remain at Rome to enlist all such as were able to bear arms:  that Titus Quinctius should be sent as proconsul[6] to the relief of the camp with the army of the allies:  to complete this army the Latins and Hernicans, and the colony of Antium were ordered to supply Quinctius with troops hurriedly raised-such was the name (subitarii) that they gave to auxiliaries raised for sudden emergencies.

During those days many manoeuvres and many attacks were carried out on both sides, because the enemy, having the advantage in numbers, attempted to harass the Roman forces by attacking them on many sides, as not likely to prove sufficient to meet all attacks.  While the camp was being besieged, at the same time part of the army was sent to devastate Roman territory, and to make an attempt upon the city itself, should fortune favour.  Lucius Valerius was left to guard the city:  the consul Postumius was sent to prevent the plundering of the frontiers.  There was no abatement in any quarter either of vigilance or activity; watches were stationed in the city, outposts before the gates, and guards along the walls:  and a cessation of business was observed for several days, as was necessary amid such general confusion.  In the meantime the consul Furius, after he had at first passively endured the siege in his camp, sallied forth through the main gate[7] against the enemy when off their guard; and though he might have pursued them, he stopped through apprehension, that an attack might be made on the camp from the other side.  The lieutenant Furius (he was also the consul’s brother) was carried away too far in pursuit:  nor did he, in his eagerness to follow them up, observe eitherhis own party returning, or the attack of the enemy on his rear:  being thus shut out, having repeatedly made many unavailing efforts to force his way to the camp, he fell, fighting bravely.  In like manner the consul, turning about to renew the fight, on being informed that his brother was surrounded, rushing into the thick of the fight rashly rather than with sufficient caution, was wounded, and with difficulty rescued by those around him.  This both damped the courage of his own men, and increased the boldness of the enemy; who, being encouraged by the death of the lieutenant, and by the consul’s wound, could not afterward have been withstood by any force, as the Romans, having been driven into their camp, were again being besieged, being a match for them neither in hopes nor in strength, and the very existence of the state would have been imperilled, had not Titus Quinctius come to their relief with foreign troops, the Latin and Hernican army.  He attacked the Aequans on their rear while their attention was fixed on the Roman camp, and while they were insultingly