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There they fought with varying success, and as it were with equal advantage. The right wings of both armies were victorious, the left worsted. The Veientines, accustomed to defeat at the hands of the Roman soldiers, were routed and put to flight. The Tarquinians, who were a new foe, not only stood their ground, but on their side even forced the Romans to give way.
Whereupon, the Veientines, like those others of whom mention has just now been made, had to pay the penalty of their insolence. Wise captains of armies, therefore, and prudent governors of cities, should take all fit precautions to prevent such insults and reproaches from being used by their soldiers and subjects, either amongst themselves or against an enemy.
The Æquans took up arms: the Veientines also invaded and plundered the Roman territory: as the anxiety about these wars increased, Cæso Fabius and Spurius Furius were appointed consuls. The Æquans were laying siege to Ortona, a Latin city. The Veientines, now sated with plunder, threatened to besiege Rome itself.
The truth of what I say is confirmed by Titus Livius where he relates how the Roman envoys, who were conveying the spoils of the Veientines as an offering to Apollo, were seized and brought on shore by the corsairs of the Lipari islands in Sicily; when Timasitheus, the prince of these islands, on learning the nature of the offering, its destination, and by whom sent, though himself of Lipari, behaved as a Roman might, showing his people what sacrilege it would be to intercept such a gift, and speaking to such purpose that by general consent the envoys were suffered to proceed upon their voyage, taking all their possessions with them.
My own belief is that, because no important event signalized his consulate, all record of it has been lost. The Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol had not yet been dedicated; the conuls Valerius and Horatius cast lots which should dedicate it. The duty fell by lot to Horatius. Publicola departed to conduct the war against the Veientines.
And the very same thing befell the Veientines, who, not content, as we have seen, to make war on the Romans with arms, must needs assail them with foul reproaches, advancing to the palisade of their camp to revile them, and molesting them more with their tongues than with their swords, until the Roman soldiers, who at first were most unwilling to fight, forced the consuls to lead them to the attack.
There, although the Romans gained the upper hand by only a trifling advantage, yet that contest rendered the soldiers more serviceable for future battles by the restoration of their former courage. Aulus Verginius and Spurius Servilius were next chosen consuls. After the defeat sustained in the last battle, the Veientines declined an engagement.
The Veientines and Etruscans, therefore, as I have said already, were misled by false hopes, and in the end were routed by the Romans in a single pitched battle; and any who should look hereafter to prevail on like grounds and by similar means against a divided people, will always find themselves deceived.
The Veientines, struck with fear and wonder at this event, permitted the workmen to deliver up the earthenware chariot to the Romans. XIV. Tarquinius the son of Demaratus, when at war with the Sabines, vowed that he would build the temple of Jupiter Olympius, but it was built by Tarquinius Superbus, the son or grandson of him who made the vow.
There was no kind of injury and petty annoyance that was not practised against the Volscians; they could not, however, be prevailed on to come to an engagement in the field. Lucius Furius and Gaius Manlius were the next consuls. The Veientines fell to Manlius as his province.
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