Text #9786
History of Rome. Vol. 1 .
In the consulship of Servius Sulpicius and1 Manius Tullius nothing worthy of note occurred. They were succeeded by Titus Aebutius and Gaius Vetusius. [2] During their year of office Fidenae was besieged, Crustumeria taken; Praeneste went over from the Latins to the Romans, and it was no longer possible to postpone the Latin war, which had now been smouldering for several years. [3] Aulus Postumius as dictator,2 and Titus Aebutius as master of the horse, set out with large forces of infantry and cavalry, and at Lake Regillus, in the territory of Tusculum, met the enemy’s advancing column. [4] The Romans had learned that the Tarquinii were with the Latin army, and were so enraged that they could not be withheld from instantly attacking, and the battle itself, in consequence of this report, was fought with a good deal more determination and bitterness than any other had been. [5] For the leaders were not only in the field to direct the engagement with their strategy, but joined battle and fought in their own persons. Almost none of the nobles on either side came off unscathed, except the Roman dictator. [6] Postumius was in the front rank encouraging his men and forming them, when Tarquinius Superbus, though now burdened with years and broken in strength, rode full-tilt against him. But the old man received a thrust in the side, and his followers rushed in and rescued him. [7] Similarly on the other wing, Aebutius, the master of the horse, charged Octavius Mamilius. But the Tusculan commander saw him coming, and he too spurred his horse to3 the encounter; [8] and so great was the force in their levelled lances as they met, that the arm of Aebutius was transfixed, while Mamilius was struck in the breast. [9] Mamilius was received by the Latins within their second line: Aebutius, being unable to manage a weapon with his wounded arm, retired from the battle. [10] The Latin leader, not a jot discouraged by his wound, urged on the fighting, and, because he saw that his men were in retreat, called up a cohort of Roman exiles, commanded by a son of Lucius Tarquinius,4 and these, fighting with greater fury on account of the loss of their property and native land, restored the battle for a while.
When the Romans were now beginning to give way in that part of the field, Marcus Valerius, Publicola’s brother, espied the young Tarquinius, who was boldly inviting attack in the front rank of the exiles. [2] Valerius found in his brother’s glory an additional incentive, and resolving that the family which had the honour of expelling the tyrants should also gain the credit for their death, he dug his spurs into his charger and rode at Tarquinius with levelled spear. [3] Tarquinius drew back within the company of his followers to avoid his desperate antagonist. Valerius was plunging blindly into the exiles’ line when one of them attacked him in the flank and ran him through the body. But the rider’s wound did not check the career of his horse, and the dying Roman came down in a heap upon the ground with his arms upon him. [4] When the dictator Postumius perceived that so brave a soldier had fallen, that the exiles [5] were advancing boldly at the double, and that his troops were checked and were giving ground, he issued orders to his own cohort, a picked1 body of men which he kept about his person as a guard, that if they saw any Roman running away they should treat him as an enemy. [6] Being thus between two dangers, the Romans faced about to meet the foe, and the battle-line was formed again. The cohort of the dictator then entered the engagement for the first time. [7] With fresh strength and spirit they attacked the weary exiles and cut them to pieces. Then began another combat between leaders. The Latin general, perceiving that the cohort of the exiles was nearly cut off by the Roman dictator, took a few companies of his reserves and hurried them to the front. [8] As they came marching up, Titus Herminius, the lieutenant, caught sight of them, and in their midst, conspicuous in dress and accoutrements, he saw and recognized Mamilius. [9] Whereupon he hurled himself upon the enemy’s commander with so much more violence than the master of the horse had done a little before, that not only did he pierce Mamilius through the side and slay him with a single lunge, but in the act of stripping the body of his antagonist he was himself struck by a hostile javelin, and after being borne off in the moment of victory to the Roman camp, expired just as they began to dress his wound. [10] The dictator then dashed up to the knights and besought them, since the foot-soldiers were exhausted, to dismount and enter the fight. They obeyed: they leaped down from their horses, hastened to the front, and covered the front-rankers with their shields. [11] It restored at once the courage of the foot to see the young nobles on even terms with themselves and sharing in the danger. Then at last the Latins received a check, and their battle-line was2 forced to yield. [12] The knights had their horses brought up that they might be able to pursue the enemy, and they were followed by the infantry. Then the dictator, neglecting no help, divine or human, is said to have vowed a temple to Castor, and to have promised rewards to the soldiers who should be first and second to enter the camp of the enemy; [13] and so great was the ardour of the Romans, that with a single rush they routed their opponents and took their camp. Such was the battle at Lake Regillus. The dictator and his master of the horse returned to the City and triumphed.
B.C. 500-499 ↩
Postumius had not held the consulship, which in chap. xviii. 5 Livy stated to have been a necessary qualification for the dictatorship. ↩
B.C. 500-499 ↩
Of the sons of Tarquinius, Sextus’s death is mentioned in I. lx. 2 and that of Arruns in II. vi. 9. This must therefore have been Titus (I. lvi. 6). ↩