affairs, without any concert with the rest, or much regard to orders.  This was judged the fittest time for the attack, and daylight was now approaching; he gave orders to sound the charge, and fell on the enemy as they were marching out.  The Samnites being embarrassed with the spoil, and very few armed, some quickened their pace, and drove the prey before them; others halted, deliberating whether it would be safer to advance, or to return again to the camp; and while they hesitated, they were overtaken and cut off.  The Romans had by this time passed over the rampart, and filled the camp with slaughter and confusion:  the Samnite army, in addition to the disorder caused by the enemy, had their disorder increased by a sudden insurrection of their prisoners; some of whom, getting loose, set the rest at liberty, while others snatched the arms which were tied up among the baggage, and being intermixed with the troops, raised a tumult more terrible than the battle itself.  They then performed a memorable exploit:  for making an attack on Statius Minacius, the general, as he was passing between the ranks and encouraging his men; then, dispersing the horsemen who attended him, they gathered round himself, and dragged him, sitting on his horse, a prisoner to the Roman consul.  By this movement the foremost battalions of the Samnites were brought back, and the battle, which seemed to have been already decided, was renewed:  but they could not support it long.  Six thousand of them were slain, and two thousand five hundred taken, among whom were four military tribunes, together with thirty standards, and, what gave the conquerors greater joy than all, seven thousand four hundred prisoners were recovered.  The spoil which had been taken from the allies was immense, and the owners were summoned by a proclamation, to claim and receive then property.  On the day appointed, all the effects, the owners of which did not appear, were given to the soldiers, who were obliged to sell them, in order that they might have nothing to think of but their duty.

21.  The depredations, committed on the lands of Campania, had occasioned a violent alarm at Rome, and it happened, that about the same time intelligence was brought from Litruria, that, after the departure of Volumnius’s army, all that country had risen up in arms, and that Gellius Egnatius, the leader of the Samnites, was causing the Umbrians to join in the insurrection, and tempting the Gauls with high offers.  Terrified at this news, the senate ordered the courts of justice to be shut, and a levy to be made of men of every description.  Accordingly not only free-born men and the younger sort were obliged to enlist, but cohorts were formed of the elder citizens, and the sons of freed-men were incorporated in the centuries.  Plans were formed for the defence of the city, and the praetor, Publius Sempronius, was invested with the chief command.  However, the senate was exonerated of one half of their anxiety,