Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 3
Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.

43. To the disaster suffered at the hands of the enemy the decemvirs added two shameful crimes, one committed in the field, the other at home. [2] Lucius Siccius¹ was serving in the Sabine campaign. Taking advantage of the hatred entertained for the decemvirs, he would scatter hints, in secret conversations with the common soldiers, that they should elect tribunes and secede. [3] So the generals sent him to look out a place for an encampment; and instructed the men whom they assigned to share his expedition to set [p. 143]upon him when they had got to a suitable spot,² and kill him. [4] He died not unavenged. For he laid about him, and several of the assassins fell, for he was very strong, and though surrounded, defended himself with a courage equal to his strength. [5] The others reported at the camp that they had fallen into an ambuscade, and that Siccius had perished, fighting valiantly, and with him certain soldiers. [6] At first their report was believed; afterwards a cohort set out, by permission of the decemvirs, to bury the slain; and finding that none of the bodies there had been despoiled, and that Siccius lay armed in the midst, with all the bodies facing him, while the enemy had left no dead nor any indication of having withdrawn, they brought back the corpse, and declared that Siccius had certainly been murdered by his own men. [7] The camp was ablaze with indignation, and it was resolved that Siccius should be carried to Rome forthwith; but the decemvirs made haste to give him a military funeral at the public cost. The soldiers sorrowed greatly at his burial, and the worst reports were current about the decemvirs.