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Hannibal, having most destructively ravaged the Fregellan territory, on account of the bridge having been broken down, came into the territory of the Lavici, passing through those of Frusino, Ferentinum, and Anagnia; thence passing through Algidum he directed his course to Tusculum; but not being received within the walls, he went down to the right below Tusculum to Gabii; and marching his army down thence into the territory of the Pupinian tribe, he pitched his camp eight miles from the city.

At the close of this period the Roman burgess-body, in a tolerably compact mass, filled Latium in its widest sense, Sabina, and a part of Campania, so that it reached on the west coast northward to Caere and southward to Cumae; within this district there were only a few cities not included in it, such as Tibur, Praeneste, Signia, Norba, and Ferentinum.

Similar scenes had taken place in Ferentinum, likewise a town holding the best position in law, and even in the old and important Latin colony of Cales.

They were both the sons of Rougham people, and it will be necessary to pursue the history of each of them to make you understand how things went in those "good old times." First let me deal with Peter the Roman. He was the son of a Rougham lady named Isabella, by an Italian gentleman named lacomo de Ferentino, or if you like to translate it into English, James of Ferentinum.

The same year the legions were led out by the consul Furius against the Volscians, who were ravaging the country of the Hernicians, and finding no enemy there, they took Ferentinum, whither a great multitude of the Volscians had betaken themselves.

They routed on the plains of Ferentinum, and stripped of their camp, the Latins, who, in resentment of the land they had lost, took up arms again. Publilius, under whose guidance and auspices the action had been fought, receiving the submission of the Latin states, who had lost a great many of their young men there, Æmilius marched the army to Pedum.

On the following year, when the consuls Caius Sulpicius and Caius Licinius Calvus led an army against the Hernicians, and finding no enemy in the country took their city Ferentinum by storm, as they were returning thence, the Tiburtians shut their gates against them.

A pitched battle was fought with the Volscians between Ferentinum and Ecetra; the result of the battle was favourable to the Romans. Artena then, a town of the Volscians, began to be besieged by the tribunes. Thence during an attempt at a sally, the enemy being driven back into the town, an opportunity was afforded to the Romans of forcing in; and every place was taken except the citadel.

However, the soldiers, now inured to plunder, overcame every obstacle. Three thousand of the enemy were killed round the walls, and the spoil was given to the troops. In some annals, the principal share of the honour of taking these cities is attributed to Maximus. They say that Murgantia was taken by Decius; Romulea and Ferentinum by Fabius.

This they were obliged to sell in like manner as the former; and, though no rest was allowed them, they proceeded, nevertheless, with the utmost alacrity to Ferentinum. But here they met a greater share both of difficulty and danger: the fortifications were defended with the utmost vigour, and the place was strongly fortified both by nature and art.