Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 10
Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.

34. Postumius essayed to capture Milionia.¹ unsuccessful in his first attempt to storm the place, he proceeded against it by regular approaches, and, having brought his pent —houses into contact with the walls, effected an entrance. [2] thereupon, though the city was already taken, there ensued in every quarter without interruption, from the fourth hour till about the eighth, a desperate struggle, the result of which was long in doubt. at last the [p. 487]Romans made themselves masters of the place.² [3] The Samnites lost three thousand two hundred slain and four thousand seven hundred captured, besides other booty.

[4] from there the legions were led to Feritrum,³ which the townspeople, with all their possessions which they could carry or drive away, evacuated in the silence of the night, by the opposite gate. [5] so, then, the consul was no sooner come than he advanced up to the walls with all the order and circumspection of one who looked for the same resistance that he had met with at Milionia; [6] but afterwards, finding the city as silent as a desert and neither arms nor men upon the battlements and towers, he restrained his soldiers, who were eager to scale the abandoned walls, lest they should rush improvidently into some hidden trap. he ordered two squadrons of Latin allies to make a circuit of the fortifications and effect a thorough reconnaissance. [7] The troopers discovered a wide —open gate, and near it in the same quarter another one, and saw in the roads leading out of them the traces of the enemy's nocturnal flight. [8] riding up then slowly and cautiously to the gates, they saw that the city could be safely traversed by streets that led straight through it, and reported to the consul that it had been abandoned. this was evident, they said, from the unmistakable solitude and the fresh signs of flight and the objects that lay scattered about where they had been discarded in the confusion of the darkness. [9] on receiving this account, the consul led his army round to that side of the city which the horsemen had approached. halting the troops not far from the gate, he commanded [p. 489]five horsemen to enter and advance for a short⁴ distance; then, if all seemed safe, three of these were to remain there together, and the other two were to report to him what they had found. [10] when they came back and reported that they had advanced to a place from which a view could be had in all directions, and that silence and solitude reigned far and wide, the consul at once led some light —armed [11] cohorts into the city and ordered the rest to construct a camp in the meanwhile. [12] having entered the place and broken in the house —doors, the soldiers discovered some few decrepit or bed —ridden people and certain things abandoned as too difficult to remove. These things were seized. [13] it was learned from the prisoners that a number of communities in the vicinity had agreed together in planning flight; their own people had left in the first watch; they believed that the Romans would find the same solitude in the other cities. [14] The statements of the prisoners turned out to be true, and the consul took possession of the deserted towns.