and arms, of furious courage, both from their natural temper, and particularly against the people of Rome, whom they boasted, without infringing the truth, of having made their prisoners, and of having ransomed for gold.  If the Etrurians possessed the same spirit which formerly Porsena and their ancestors once had, there was nothing to prevent their obliging the Romans, driven from all the lands on this side of the Tiber, to fight for their own existence, and not for the intolerable dominion which they assumed over Italy.  The Samnite army had come to them, in readiness for action, furnished with arms and pay, and were willing to follow that instant, even should they lead to the attack of the city of Rome itself.”

17.  While they were engaged in these representations, and intriguing at Etruria, the operations of the Romans in their own territories distressed them severely.  For Publius Decius, when he ascertained through his scouts the departure of the Samnite army, called a council, and there said, “Why do we ramble through the country, carrying the war from village to village?  Why not attack the cities and fortified places?  No army now guards Samnium.  They have fled their country; they are gone into voluntary exile.”  The proposal being universally approved, he marched to attack Murgantia, a city of considerable strength; and so great was the ardour of the soldiers, resulting from their affection to their commander, and from their hopes of richer treasure than could be found in pillaging the country places, that in one day they took it by assault.  Here, two thousand one hundred of the Samnites, making resistance, were surrounded and taken prisoners; and abundance of other spoil was captured.  Decius, not choosing that the troops should be encumbered in their march with heavy baggage, ordered them to be called together, and said to them, “Do ye intend to rest satisfied with this single victory, and this booty? or do ye choose to cherish hopes proportioned to your bravery?  All the cities of the Samnites, and the property left in them, are your own; since, after so often defeating their legions, ye have finally driven them out of the country.  Sell those effects in your hands; and allure traders, by a prospect of profit, to follow you on your march.  I will, from time to time, supply you with goods for sale.  Let us go hence to the city of Romulea, where no greater labour, but greater gain awaits you.”  Having sold off the spoil, and warmly adopting the general’s plan, they proceeded to Romulea.  There, also, without works or engines, as soon as the battalions approached, the soldiers, deterred from the walls by no resistance, hastily applying ladders wherever was most convenient to each, they mounted the fortifications.  The town was taken and plundered.  Two thousand three hundred men were slain, six thousand taken prisoners, and the soldiers obtained abundance of spoil.  This they were obliged to sell in like manner as the former; and, though no rest was allowed them, they