Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 24
Frank Gardener Moore, Professor Emeritus in Columbia University, Ed.

14. At the same time not only did Quintus Fabius, the consul, come to Casilinum, to attack the city, held by a Carthaginian garrison,¹ but also, as if by prearrangement, Hanno, with a large force of infantry and cavalry, from the land of the Bruttii, came to Beneventum from one side, while on the other side Tiberius Gracchus came to it from Luceria. [2] The latter at first entered the town, and then, on hearing that Hanno had pitched his camp about three miles from the city by the river Calor, and from that point was ravaging the country, he likewise left the city and pitched camp about a mile from the enemy. There he held an assembly of the soldiers. [3] The legions he had were largely made up of slave-volunteers, who now for two years had preferred silently to earn their freedom rather than openly to demand it. Yet as he came out of winter quarters he had been aware that there was murmuring in the column, as they asked whether they were ever at all to serve as free men. [4] And he had written to the senate, not so much what they wanted as what they had deserved; that he had had good and brave service from them up to that time, and that they lacked [p. 219]nothing toward the standard of the real soldier except² their freedom. [5] In this matter he had been given permission to do whatever he thought to be for the good of the state. [6] And so, before engaging the enemy, he announced that the time had come for them to gain the freedom for which they so long had hoped; that the next day he would fight, standards against standards, in a clear and open field, where without any fear of ambush the battle could be fought with pure courage. [7] Whoever should bring back the head of an enemy would by his order be a free man at once. [8] Whoever retreated from his post would meet the punishment of a slave. Each man's fortune was in his own hand. The giver of their freedom would be not merely himself, but the consul Marcus Marcellus, but the whole senate, for they had been consulted by him and had given him permission in the matter of their freedom. [9] He then read the letter of the consul and the decree of the senate. Upon that a shout was raised with great applause. They clamoured for battle and with high spirit insisted that he give the signal at once. [10] Gracchus announced a battle for the morrow and dismissed the assembly. The soldiers were happy, especially those for whom freedom was to be the reward of a single day's service, and spent the rest of the day in putting their arms in order.